soothing breath brushed across his face. Adam slowly opened his eyes. The golden-white ceiling of Heaven dazzled him, his heavy wings resting on a bed of light. He remembered having defeated 076-2, who must now once again be inside 076-1 according to the Foundation's information. But Adam did not know how long his resurrection would take. For the moment, he decided not to think about it. He looked around and…
At his bedside stood Lute, Sera, Emile, and several exterminators. All of them seemed torn between relief and anger.
Lute: "Finally… you have returned, Adam."
It had been a millennium since Adam had heard Lute call him by his name. He would be lying if he said he didn't miss it. He decided to tell Lute that from now on she should always call him by his name.
Adam tried to sit up but a sharp pain spread through his body. His axis was laid beside him, covered in restoration seals.
Sera (relieved): "You should never have gone alone. You put not only your life in danger, but also our plan. Do you think we need a suicidal hero right now?"
Adam lowered his eyes. The frustration he had felt before the battle was still there, though softened by fatigue. But he did not regret what he had done; after all, he had done it to learn whether this Abel was truly his son from another world—killing him was secondary.
Emile: "Sera, don't be too harsh with him. Yes, he was reckless, but everything ended well, isn't that the most important thing? And if the situation had turned against him in the fight, Michael would have intervened."
Sera knew that reprimanding Adam would not be done, because after all, it had taken five more minutes to gather the cherubim, and those five minutes could have cost the lives of many humans. Adam had done the right thing—not only had he eliminated the threat, but he had also made sure to do it far from any human life.
An exterminator added: "Know, Captain, that your act was not useless. When you eliminated the anomaly, the Foundation was able to reactivate the containment protocols. SCP-076 has been secured."
Adam raised his head, surprised. Their battle had lasted more than thirty minutes.
Sera: "Yes. And the Foundation… they also healed your most serious wounds. Without their technology, even our light would not have been enough to put back together what was broken."
At that moment, Sera still wondered how the Foundation had been able to heal Adam's wounds. When Lute had brought him back to Heaven half-dead, she had used the Authority of Life so that he could not die of his wounds (as if she had given Adam a temporary buff of immortality so he would not succumb). But when she tried to heal his wounds, they would not close. Neither she nor Emile could heal him. Were 076-2's weapons made to prevent angelic power from healing Adam? She still asked herself this question.
While she was still thinking about how to heal him, a portal opened and an individual came out—
a man in a doctor's coat. He wore a strange necklace around his neck, but what attracted the most attention of everyone in the room was the logo on his coat: the logo of the Foundation.
This man threw a bottle with a red liquid inside Lute, who was closest to Adam. As he was about to leave, he put two fingers in front of him and licked them like one licks a…👉👌 then he made a gesture with a hole and a finger—and that bastard…
Sera would be lying if she said that in that moment she did not want to screw the entire family tree of that asshole. In fact, every woman in the room had the same thought. But they decided not to do anything, because after all, that bastard came from the Foundation.
After seeing that his provocation did not work, the man left, not forgetting to give them a middle finger. The portal closed, and everyone in the room was still wondering what they had just witnessed. They were so destabilized by the attitude of that bastard that they could not even interrogate him. If Sera, Emile, and Lute had known that the deepest wish of this man (Dr. Bright) was to die, they would have been delighted to help him achieve his goal.
(Know that the hologram had stopped after the confinement of 076, so apart from the people at Adam's bedside, no one else is aware of this incident.)
Silence fell. Adam then understood: he owed his survival to the Foundation.
Then the hologram reappeared, floating in the sky. The black and white symbol of the Foundation was printed in the air. A neutral, mechanical voice resounded:
📡 [Interdimensional Broadcast – SCP Foundation]
[Final Containment Report]
Containment: Successful
Participant: Adam
Participation Level: S+
Scientific Research Level: D-
Damage Caused by the Anomaly: Too severe
Reward Granted: Skill – Divine Replication (the ability possessed by Adam from Valkyrie Apocalypse)
Divine Replication (Skill Description):
The host can instantly copy the skills, techniques, and abilities of any opponent he observes, whether they are physical, magical, or supernatural. The ability does not consume energy, whether angelic or demonic. Every copy remains perfect, including combined techniques and the use of the environment, as if Adam had always known them. All techniques are usable instantly, including ultimate attacks and abilities of mass destruction. The cost of copied magical skills will consume only a fixed amount of angelic energy, 10% only. So, even if the host copies an ability that costs about 50% of his opponent's power, the host will use it perfectly and with the same effect, while spending only 10% of his own energy.
(I'm sorry this chapter is shorter than the others, it's because I don't have much time to write anymore, but I promise I'll continue this story.)