SCP-096: The Shy Guy.
In the SCP Universe, violent monsters are more or less a dime a dozen.
Much of the scp foundation's resources are spent containing creatures that would happily
murder the global population given the chance.
With this in mind then, what exactly does it take for one of these monsters to stand
out from the rest?
SCP-096 is an early scp, and yet it's managed to both stick around in popular discussion,
and garner one of the highest ratings across the whole site.
Let's look at what makes this monster unique and some of the interactions that the foundation
has had with it.
SCP-096 is a humanoid creature standing approximately 2.38 meters tall, or close to 8 feet.
It is pale, hairless, possesses very little muscle mass, and its arms are extremely out
of proportion in length, each being 1 and a half meters long.
It's eyes are also devoid of pigmentation, possibly suggesting that it is blind, and
it is capable of opening its jaw up to four times the norm of an average human.
Normally, 096 is completely docile, spending its time in its cell pacing across the floor.
It shows no signs of possessing any higher brain functions, and the foundation does not
consider it to be sapient.
However, whenever anyone, anywhere views 096's face, whether directly, through a camera,
a recording, or even a photograph, 096 will immediately enter a state of emotional distress.
It will begin screaming and crying, covering its face with its hands, lasting for a minute
or 2.
Following this, 096 will begin running towards the individual that viewed its face.
So far, the scp foundation has found no way to physically impede 096, and it's capable
of running in excess of a hundred kilometers per hour.
096 seems to have innate knowledge of when anyone sees it face, regardless of distance,
and knows exactly how to find them.
A test was done by sending a d-class in a deep sea submersible 10,800 meters down into
the Tonga Trench by New Zealand, hundreds of kilometers away from 096's position.
The d-class was instructed to view a photograph that had been taken of 096, at which point
096 quickly broke containment and began running in the direction of the d-class.
The path had been cleared of civilians, and the foundation tracked 096 by satellite.
Meanwhile, the d-class was instructed to sketch a drawing of the photograph, which is then
sent to the surface in a watertight container.
Reaching the Tonga Trench, 096 begins diving down, finally reaching the submerisble.
It tears it open, the d-class dies, and 096 is recovered.
Viewing the sketches of 096 cause no adverse reaction.
When 096 inevitable reaches a target that has seen its face, it kills the target, and
then does something to the body that leaves no trace.
It's likely that this is something more horrific than simply consumption.
Afterwards, if there is no one else that has seen its face, 096 will return to its docile
state and proceed to return to its natural habitat, an expunged location, but likely
a mountain range.
Retrieval of 096 is considered the highest priority to the foundation due to the risk
of a mass chain reaction of people seeing 096.
We're then given an interview between a Dr. and a former Captain of a retrieval team that
was sent to initially retrieve 096.
The retrieval took place in an extremely cold location, but 096 did not seem bothered by
this, simply wandering the area.
One of the retrieval squads landed their helicopter, and approached the target to apprehend it.
While doing so, the captain received a call, causing him to turn away.
At the same time, 096 turned around, causing the rest of the squad to see its face.
The captain says it began screaming and crying, sounding much more like a human than an animal,
and they fired upon it as it tore off the leg of one of the agents.
The team utilized heavy weaponry against 096 to no effect, including an anti-tank gun that
destroyed half of its torso, and roughly 600 rounds from a .50 caliber gatling gun.
It seems as though 096's flesh and organs are vulnerable to conventional weaponry, it's
bones were completely unaffected, and it continued to slaughter the squad.
The second squad arrived and placed a bag over its head, causing it to become docile.
Somehow, the captain managed to survive by never actually viewing its face.
The interview led to the doctor requesting that 096 be terminated as soon as possible.
Terminations are not often attempted at the SCP foundation, going against their mission
statement, and often the foundation doesn't even possess the means to terminate most SCPs.
That's a big part of what makes 096 unique, as we're given a lengthy log of an incident
that convinces the o5 council that 096 should be terminated.
This itself is not the termintion attempt, which depending on your canon view has not
actually occured, but it does add quite a bit to 096's story.
The incident begins at 096's containment cell, as a dozen or so researchers are looking at
monitors in the adjacent control booth.
Suddenly, a wall of the containment cell begins bulging outwards as 096 fights against it.
096 soon breaks the wall, and two security teams enter the room to try and subdue or
tranquilize it to no effect.
Most of the security team and the researchers have viewed 096's face at this point, and
so the rooms are flooded with a nerve agent.
Two minutes later, 096 escapes from the research site and begins running at high speeds across
the surrounding desert.
A recontainment team proceeds to chase after 096 in a helicopter, and attempts to stop
it with a modified anti-material rifle.
A shot hits 096 in the leg, causing it to stumble for a moment but not slow down, and
a shot to the head causes it to fall and roll, but quickly gets back to its feet and continues
running.
The foundation began trying to figure out where and who the target was that caused the
breach, and cleared out population centers in 096's path, the process overseen by a Dr.
Oleksei.
Another researcher working on 096, Dr. Dan, was in a mountain range trying to find out
more about 096's origins.
Dr. Dan and Dr. Oleksei had designed a new piece of technology to help with containing
096, called Project Scramble.
Project Scramble was an eyepiece containing a microprocessor that constantly analyzed
its viewing field for the facial features of 096.
If detected, it would scramble 096's face into an unrecognizable mess before the light
reached the wearer's eye, protecting them from 096's effect.
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Mobile Task Force Tau-1 was also sent into to recontain 096, equipped with project scramble
visors.
By this point, 096 is outrunning the helicopters, and is tearing up a highway.
096's travel of direction caused it to pass through a few towns, and so the MTF is forced
to gather up all of the townspeople and blindfold them, so that they don't see 096's face.
The fourth town however, holds the original target of 096's rage.
All of the citizens of the town are gathered in the town square, blindfolded, and are told
by the MTF to stay where they are and keep their blindfolds on, otherwise they will be
shot.
As 096 comes over a hill and lets out a loud shrieking sound, several of the civilians
are shot, presumably for removing their blindfolds.
096 barrels into the crowd, throwing people aside and trampling others while it looks
for its target, and more shots are heard.
Finally, 096 locates its target, a middle aged man, and the camera feed goes out once
it grabs him.
We learn from the commander of mtf tau-1 that the target was a mountaineer that took a trip
to a mountain range, again likely 096's natural habitat, and took a picture of the landscape.
Apparently this picture contained four pixels of 096's face in the background.
The commander guesses that at some point after the fact, the target looked at the picture
and noticed the four pixels, without actually realizing what he was looking at.
The team's scramble gear picked up the pixels right away while looking at the photo, but
he goes on to say that scramble was a colossal failure that led to the death of most of his
team.
He says they could've just put a bag over his head, but instead they had to use the
idiotic scramble gear.
Dr. Dan explains that scramble failed because they didn't fully understand how 096 worked.
He says that in theory it should've worked, but before the computers could actually scramble
the image, a split-second of light would hit the eye, activating 096's effect.
He says that the mountaineer went on his trip over a decade ago, and had the picture hanging
in his house the entire time.
He wonders how many other ticking time bomb photographs are out there that contain 096's
face and are waiting to be noticed.
He repeats his request to have 096 terminated.
We learn that after killing its original target, along with most of the MTF, 096 went back
to the highway to finish off everyone else that had seen its face.
It was found sitting on the highway after tearing apart a minivan, and they managed
to get a bag over its head.
The agent who bagged 096 was later found to have committed suicide, and it's implied that
he witnessed 096 doing something horrific to an infant.
We're given a short seperate log taken from a confiscated tape belonging to CNN.
It shows a field reporter discussing a crashed plane with a large hole in the side of it,
and only three bodies were found inside, compared to the expected 20.
Apparently, 096 is capable of reaching targets in the air as well as on the ground and underwater,
making it even more dangerous.
Dr. Oleksei, who earlier in the log said that he was in a break room getting coffee when
096 breached confinement, is caught in his lie, as there is no break room at that site.
He proceeds to confess to both his and Dr. Dan's involvement in causing the breach.
It seems that they were both convinced of the need to terminate 096, but the o5 council
wasn't going for it, so they wanted to show how dangerous it could be.
How exactly they engineered the breach is unknown, but it is likely they made project
scramble faulty on purpose, or knew it wouldn't work.
Their plan ultimately worked, horrific as it was, and the council decides to approve
their request for 096's termination, along with the termination of the two doctors.
So far, there hasn't been any document written by the original 096 author going over it's
termination or attempted termination, but scp canon being what it is, you can decide
for yourself how you think that played out.
SCP-096 is an early scp, and shows a lot of hallmarks of an early scp, but it is nonetheless
a great way to get into the weird world of SCP.
Why does this monster exist, why does it hate having its face seen, and are there more than
one of them in the world?
Questions like these, with no answers, are what draw most people into the mysteries of
the scp universe, and even after nearly a decade, 096 is still drawing people in.