In all your time working for the Foundation, you never thought this day would come.
Panic hits you in an instant.
If you weren’t so horrified then you might think about running for your life.
But deep down you know that would be futile.
You had hoped – prayed even – that you’d never hear those fateful words yelled over
your walkie-talkie: “SCP-682 has breached containment.”
Of course, everyone working for the Foundation knows what SCP-682 is.
The ‘Hard-to-Destroy Reptile’, known for being fiercely aggressive, highly adaptive
to all forms of damage and coldly intelligent.
You look down at the handgun in your shaking hand, your palm hot and clammy around the
grip.
It might as well be a super-soaker.
You already know that conventional weapons won’t even pierce SCP-682’s skin, it’s
just too powerful.
A voice in the back of your head is reminding you that everything the Foundation has ever
hurled at this enormous, vicious creature has already failed to do anything but temporarily
slow it down.
Even the most complex methods of destruction haven’t been enough to put SCP-682 down
permanently, only causing massive physical damage, but even that’s not enough to stop
its relentless nature.
You realize your options couldn’t possibly be more limited, attempting to fight the Hard-to-Destroy
Reptile would only spell a grisly death for you.
But, of course, if you were to run, the Foundation would never forgive you for abandoning your
post.
You can’t kill the beast, so your only hope is to find some way to get it back into containment...
but how?
You would be forgiven for first thinking that as a reptile, SCP-682 would be susceptible
to extremes in temperature, maybe some method of creating searing heat or freezing cold
might stand a chance of beating it, even just for long enough to re-establish containment.
But you’d be wrong.
During one experiment, Foundation staff poured a single ton of liquid nitrogen onto SCP-682,
hoping to freeze the beast solid - a plan that worked… for ten minutes.
The reptile started generating massive amounts of heat, fully thawing its frozen body and
continuing to increase its body temperature until the walls of its containment chamber
started melting.
You could try to recreate this, of course, but even if you could freeze the reptile,
you’d only buy yourself ten minutes, followed by a very angry SCP-682 letting off enough
heat to potentially burn down the entire facility around you.
So, if freezing won’t work, what about heating it up?
A different test exposed the beast to extreme heat, but this also yielded similar results.
Heating a chamber containing SCP-682 to a high Kelvin, researchers witnessed the reptile
form a shell of solid helium in order to protect itself.
With fear still coursing through you, you begrudgingly accept that SCP-682 could easily
shrug off any method you alone could employ to try and recapture it.
Any traditional weapon you could get your hands on would be little more than a pea-shooter
against SCP-682, so what else could you possibly use to get the monster back in its cage?
Then it hits you, your gun might be useless, but there’s an arsenal of other weapons
at your disposal that could maybe, just maybe, give you enough of an edge against the creature.
What is this wonderful weapon?
One of the other SCPs.
With a threat as big and ruthless and adaptable as SCP-682, perhaps trying to fight fire with
fire isn’t your best option.
Given the reptile’s regenerative capabilities and innate ability to adapt to any form of
damage, it makes sense that the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile has both the nickname and reputation
it does.
Unleashing another powerful SCP in the hopes it will cause enough damage to the reptile
that it’ll retreat back to its containment unit, or at least render it weak enough for
Foundation security to restrain and recapture it, seems like a pipe dream.
Maybe rather trying to deal damage to SCP-682, a better strategy would be trying to find
some way of subduing the beast, slowing it down or maybe even making it susceptible to
commands.
That thought reminds you of SCP-061, and the effect it had on 682, and for a moment, gives
you hope that you might yet be able to win against the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile.
SCP-061 is a music program, copies of its source code are found on four separate CD-ROMs
located in four different lockers.
That certainly works in your favor, if one was to break, you’d still have three spares.
The primary function of SCP-061 is to control brain functions by tricking a subject’s
brain into a sleep state, preventing any and all thoughts, leaving the body suggestible
enough to follow commands.
When SCP-682 was exposed to the SCP-061 program, the creature entered the usual state of relaxation
that other subjects experienced, and even responded to basic commands like ‘lie down’
and ‘roll onto your back’ after a brief period of unresponsiveness.
Although its movements were sluggish – almost reluctant – SCP-682 did, for a brief moment,
respond positively to the commands it was given.
Unfortunately, after undergoing what appeared to be some form of seizure, SCP-682 rejected
any further instructions and emitted a high-pitched screeching noise, causing nearby Foundation
research staff to suffer the relaxed state one experiences after exposure to SCP-061.
These personnel were consumed by the reptile shortly after and it remains unknown how the
creature integrated the SCP-061 program into its biology.
Assuming you found some way to utilize the SCP-061 program – which would likely violate
the program’s own containment procedures – then the chances of it being effective
against SCP-682 are slim.
Sure, you might get a few short moments of obedience out of the creature, but you would
not be able to subdue it long enough to convince the reptile to return to the vat of acid it
is normally contained in.
Perhaps introducing an SCP that 682 has at least behaved passively around might be better.
Then you remember the experiment with SCP-053; a strange little girl who has a profound effect
on those who come into close contact with her.
Any who touch SCP-053 or spend an excess of ten minutes around her are filled with a violent
anger and an overwhelming compulsion to murder anyone nearby.
While normally it would seem cruel to offer up what looks like a three-year-old child
to a hateful, vicious reptile, you have no reservations about doing so with SCP-053.
Luckily, she can regenerate and any who try to kill her suffer a massive, instantaneous
heart attack, undoubtedly a perfect defence mechanism when faced with a creature that
normally attacks anything in its path.
When first introduced to SCP-682, the little girl was understandably afraid of the creature,
although the reptile did not devour the girl as it had done when presented with ordinary
human children.
Instead, 682 lowered its head and invited 053 to come and pat it.
As she did, the creature exhaled through its nostrils, causing the girl to clap her hands
in excitement and hug the creature by its head.
For the remainder of the experiment, SCP-682 remained docile as SCP-053 brought toys and
other items to the reptile, and even made drawings with crayons on the creature’s
carapace.
To this day, this encounter is one of the only instances where SCP-682, who usual despises
all forms of life, has not been aggressive towards another living creature.
Now that sounds like a viable solution, right?
Calm down the reptile with the little girl, and while it’s not looking, figure out a
way to recapture it.
Sounds easy enough.
Well, assuming you can get SCP-053 from her containment unit to the reptile without succumbing
to the murderous rage she infects people with, there’s still the problem of what happens
if you attempt to separate her from her reptile friend.
During the original test, the Foundation staff who were supposed to contain the two SCPs
were immediately torn apart by 682.
This means, even if you can get them together and pacify the reptile, you might still struggle
to get it back to containment, as any attempt to capture the creature in a docile state
would likely cost you your head and probably a few limbs too.
Plus you can’t rule out SCP-682 figuring out your plan to distract it using SCP-053.
After all, the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile is fiercely intelligent, and there is nothing
stopping it from seeing through your plans and possibly even turning on SCP-053 in the
process.
And as much as you’d like to think it possible, the heart attack 682 would suffer if it attempted
to kill 053 would likely have little to no effect on the reptile.
If all else fails, there might just be one SCP that could possibly slow 682 down long
enough to get the reptile back into its acid bath cell.
SCP-162 was another SCP that the Foundation previously used in an experiment designed
to neutralize 682 permanently.
While unsuccessful, SCP-162 did manage to inflict severe bodily damage to the Hard-to-Destroy
Reptile, which might be just what you need to buy enough time to recapture the beast.
SCP-162 is a seven foot tall ball, a seething mass of sharp implements, ranging from fishing
hooks and line, to scissors and needles.
Anyone in the vicinity of SCP-162 will find themselves feeling drawn towards the razor-sharp
mass, reaching their hands out, compelled to touch it.
The longer someone is around SCP-162, the more they feel themselves drawn to it and
when they touch it, they’ll find hooks being embedded into the flesh of their hands, ensnaring
and pulling them closer to cut them to ribbons.
Previously, when these two SCPs have interacted, 162 has dealt massive physical damage to 682
which, while not enough to kill it, could slow it down.
During the experiment, SCP-682 became agitated in the presence of SCP-162, thrashing about
and hurling profanities at the nearby Foundation staff.
The reptile’s lower body, head and left forelimb quickly became entangled by the sharp
mass, the creature writhing and letting out cries of pain.
SCP-162 refused to release its grip on the reptile, and when the lizard attempted to
detach itself from the ball of bladed implements, its lower jaw and left hind limb were wrenched
clean of its body.
Naturally, this angered 682 enough to breach containment, using SCP-162 to cause the deaths
of eleven Foundation staff and a further eighty-six injuries.
You’d have to be feeling pretty brave to unleash SCP-162 on the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile,
and of course, brave isn’t what you’re feeling.
You’re afraid, and you hardly stand a chance at killing 682 with another SCP, let alone
re-containing it.
Then again, you never know, you might get lucky.
Maybe 162 will entangle 682, ripping its limbs from its body and slicing its flesh into ribbons.
Sure, the reptile will regenerate and reconstitute itself, but if luck is on your side you might
just be able to contain the beast before it has fully healed.
Or you might just make it angrier and thus make the entire situation worse.
Ultimately, as you already know, your options are more limited than they ever have been.
Run for cover, hide while your fellow Foundation personnel are slaughtered, or free one of
the other SCPs and let it deal some damage to the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile while hoping
for the best.
Whatever you are going to do though, you’d better decide fast; heavy, crocodilian footsteps
are drawing closer around the corner, and if you don’t act fast and do something then
it’s a guarantee that SCP-682 most certainly will…
Now go check out the rest of our You Vs Playlist to get more tips and tricks on taking down
terrifying creatures.
And want more SCP Content?
Check out our new channel, SCP Explained, with videos like “SCP – 106 – The Old
Man.”