The group and the rest of the field personnel were called to a meeting by the general of operations, General Brooks, for conference regarding the increasing threat of the Serpent's Hand.
There was mixed chatter inside the large conference room, mainly because of the field personnel talking to each other.
There were a considerable number of chairs set up to accommodate the large number of the field personnel, and there was a stage on the north of the room.
The group had gotten there, and sat on chairs in the back of the conference room, since those were the only chairs available. They left one seat reserved for Dustin, next to Drista, in case he arrives after his medical examination.
"Why're we here again?" Adrian asked.
"The general called for every single field personnel." Riley answered. "I told you this three times already."
"Yeah, but why?" Adrian asked again.
"Something regarding the missions we're going on." Drista answered for Riley.
"Might be regarding the Serpent's Hand." Freddie added.
"Yeah, probably." Cunningham replied. "They have attacked us multiple times already, so it would make sense."
Then the door opened which revealed Dustin, back from his medical examination from last mission. The group looked at Dustin, who was looking around, trying to find the group.
"Dusty, over here!" Adrian called out to him.
Dustin noticed and he immediately went over to the group, sitting down on the seat reserved for him.
"Hey, Dustin. Glad you made it." Riley greeted.
"Are you alright? Did the doctor say anything?" Freddie asked.
"Nah, he said I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." Dustin answered. "Am I late? Did the higher-up already talk?"
"She's about to." Riley answered.
"Just glad you're okay, Dustin." Cunningham said.
"Yeah, we're so worried about you." Drista added.
"What can I say? This man can take anything." Adrian said. "Well, anything but mind games and brain teasers."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Dustin narrowed his eyes at Adrian.
Then the general came up to the stage. She was wearing her officer uniform, which is no different from a standard officer uniform of the US Army. She was also wearing her several medals on her uniform.
She had brown medium length hair, reaching below her shoulders, blue eyes, fair skin and was of slightly above average height.
"Everyone cut the chatter!" General Brooks told the personnel in conference room.
The chatter immediately turned into silence as soon as the personnel heard the general's stern voice.
"Now, let's get started on why you're all here." the general said. "You're all here since the Serpent's Hand had done deliberate attacks against the Foundation, from their dormancy for several years. We have reason to believe that they have gotten stronger and have some sort of plan, since they almost completely wiped out most of Captain Polonskaya's Wolves Task Force on their mission with SCP-1000. Not only that, they have SCP-1000 and all the instances of SCP-939 in their possession. Is that correct, Captain Polonskaya?"
"Yes, ma'am..." Captain Polonskaya replied.
"Due to this, I expect all of you to be serious with your jobs." the general continued. "It is of upmost importance that all of you are to protect the Foundation, especially now, since we are in danger of the Serpent's Hand. Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am!" all the personnel in the room responded.
"That will be all, General Brooks."
The field personnel now paid their attention to the new voice in the room, which originated from Site Director Thomas.
"Sir, the stage is yours." the general acknowledged, then got off the stage and let the site director take over.
"Alright, everyone. I have an announcement for you all." the site director told everyone. "I have chosen a new assistant site director, in order to help me manage the site. Everyone, I would like you to welcome Doctor Marcus Hurst."
Then a man, presumably early 30s, went up to the stage alongside the site director. He was of average height and he was wearing a brown suit, black tie, with a black bowler hat. He has short brown hair, fair skin, and had green eyes.
"Good day to everyone here." Hurst greeted. "Pleasure to meet you all."
"Now, I expect you all to make him feel welcome to the Foundation." the site director said. "Is that clear, everyone?"
"Yes, sir." the personnel responded.
"Welcome to the SCP Foundation, Doctor Hurst." the site director put out his hand to the deputy.
"It's an honour, sir." Hurst shook his hand, solidifying his new position in the Foundation.
"Anyways, with that settled, you're all dismissed." the site director said everyone. "You may now exit the conference room."
-----
Drista was in her and Athena's room, all by herself since Athena was busy with tests. She just spent the time looking at the photo of her greatest fantasy from SCP-978, being married to Freddie.
"When will this become reality?" Drista sighed. "Anyways, maybe I'll just go outside or something. Beats laying around all day."
Drista then slipped the photo back inside her drawer, which is the only thing she puts inside the said drawer, and started to head for the door. She opened the door, then she was surprised as to what happened next.
"Hello, little girl!"
"Ah! What the hell?"
What she saw on the other side of the door, surprised her. It was a two person llama costume, wearing galoshes.
"I'm Larry, Larry the Loving Llama! Nice to meet you!" the person controlling the front introduced themselves in a funny voice, as if to imitate the llama character. "Do you want to come play with me and have some fun?"
"Uuuhh... I think I'll pass..." Drista answered, still not knowing what the situation was.
"Alrighty! Well, if you change your mind, just come see me! I'll be here for quite a while, so see you later!"
With that, the llama left the tomboy, leaving her to still question what just happened. She looked to her right and she saw Dustin with Durham and Athena walk over to her, out of breath.
"Hey... hey, Drista..." Dustin greeted.
"What happened to you guys?" Drista asked. "You guys ran a marathon or something?"
"Drista, have you seen a two-person llama costume pass through here?" Athena asked the tomboy.
"Yeah, it even talked to me as I opened the door." Drista answered.
"Where did they go, Drista?" Durham asked.
"That way." Drista pointed to the direction of where the llama costume went. "What's going on?"
"Drista, you gotta help us catch up to him." Dustin said. "You're gonna help us, right?"
"Yeah, I'll help you guys, but just tell me what's going on first." Drista replied.
"We'll tell you on the way." Dustin responded. "Right now, we gotta catch up to that llama costume."
With that, the tomboy proceeded to follow them to chase after the llama costume.
"So, what's with the costume?" Drista started to ask questions.
"The llama costume is a Safe-Class SCP." Durham explained. "That's SCP-1545, or as you probably know now, as 'Larry The Loving Llama'."
"And what does the costume do exactly?" Drista asked again.
"The costume in itself has no anomalous properties, but its anomalous properties only manifest whenever someone wears the costume." Durham explained again. "Once two people wear the costume, they will become completely in character, and imitate Larry."
"And the reason why we're chasing after the costume is that the people inside can't get out of their own accord. We have to force them out of the costume." Athena continued. "It'll be tough, so that's why we need all the help we can get."
"Who's inside the costume?" Drista asked again.
"D-Class." Dustin answered for the researchers. "Thea and Durham did a testing earlier and they suddenly left the room, just to meet and entertain people."
"Shouldn't we let them do what they want?" Drista asked. "I mean, if they wanna entertain people, it doesn't sound that bad."
"Well, we can't just let them roam free." Durham answered. "Since they can't get themselves out of the suit of their own accord, they could potentially die of dehydration."
"Okay, nevermind..." Drista responded.
"Yeah, so we need to get them out of the suit." Dustin concluded. "Man, they run fast for a costume."
"The main goal is to imitate the character as much as possible." Athena replied. "Come on, they're heading to the field."
The four followed the researcher to the mostly empty part of the field. They saw that the llama was walking around, gathering the attention of the few personnel around them.
"Hey, everyone! I'm Larry the Loving Llama! And today, I'll be doing the world famous llama jig! Here I go!"
The people inside the costume started to do a jig: with both people moving their legs side to side, with the person in the front moving the llama head around, making it bob back and forth. The few personnel were captivated by the sight of it, with smiles on their faces because of how silly it looked.
"Hey, this llama's awesome." Adrian said, since he was among the few personnel present. "Hey! Fleeced to meet you, Mister Llama!"
"And fleeced to meet you too, mister!"
"Adrian!" Dustin called out to him, as the llama was slowly waking away. "Don't just stand there, help us get him!"
"Why's that?" Adrian asked.
"He got out of testing!" Drista answered. "Just help us already!"
"Kay, kay." Adrian responded and proceeded to help the group to catching the llama costume.
The group immediately went after the llama, then Dustin, Adrian and Drista grabbed hold of the costume.
"Gotcha!" Drista shouted. "You have nowhere left to run, Larry!"
"Stop right there, Larry!" Dustin added.
"Yeah, not so much of a llamaghini now, are ya?" Adrian added.
"A llama-what?" Drista asked.
"You know, it's a mix of a llama and a lamborghini." Adrian answered. "You know what? Just forget it."
"Oho! It seems that a few people latched on to Larry! You know what that means? It's time for the Larry the Loving Llama Carousel!"
"Wait, what?" the three asked at the same time.
With that, the llama began to spin around in a circle, progressively getting faster and faster every full revolution. This made Dustin, Adrian and Drista a bit dizzy, but avoided letting go.
The llama stopped spinning, and by chance, Drista and Adrian both let go of the costume and tried to walk. They didn't know where they were walking since they could only see the world spinning.
"Whoop-dee-doo! Now wasn't that fun?"
Adrian and Dustin dropped to the ground, since they couldn't handle being dizzy, but Drista kept on walking until she eventually bumped into someone and fell to the ground.
"Are you alright there?"
Drista looked up to see the new assistant site director, Doctor Hurst. She immediately stood up, just to apologise to him.
"Sorry for bumping into you, doctor..." Drista apologised. "It's just that I was a bit dizzy so I didn't know where I was going..."
"It's alright, I saw the ruckus that was happening." Hurst answered, smiling. "That SCP can be a handful, but be sure to be careful."
"Right..." Drista agreed. "Thank you for your concerns, and I'm sorry again for bumping into you, sir."
"As I said it's alright." Hurst replied.
Drista went back to the others, and she noticed that Freddie was now present in the scene and helped up Adrian.
"Is everyone alright?" Freddie asked. "That's quite a ruckus you guys caused."
"I'm still standing." Adrian answered. "This is one doozy of a llama costume."
"Yeah, I'm up." Dustin answered.
"What about you, Drista?" Freddie turned to the tomboy. "I saw you bump into the new assistant site director. Did he get mad?"
"No... I don't think so..." Drista answered. "But I'm good."
"Alright, glad he didn't get mad on his first day." Freddie responded, then turned to Athena. "Athena, what's going on here?"
"We're chasing an SCP that got out of testing and we're trying to get the people outof the suit, since they can't get out of there on their own accord." Athena briefly explained.
"Alright, so how do we get them out?" Dustin asked.
"The only way to remove them is by the midsection of the llama costume." Durham explained. "You need to open that and force the two D-Class out of the costume."
"Sound plan." Freddie commented. "Alright, let's try this again, yeah?"
"Yeah!" Adrian, Dustin and Drista answered and went through with the plan.
The four then got to the llama costume again, who was still doing jigs on the spot, and Freddie proceeded to open the midsection of the costume.
From there, they saw the two D-Class inside the costume. Then, Dustin and Adrian proceeded to force the frontward operator of the costume out, while Freddie and Drista forced the rearward operator out.
After a few seconds of struggling, the group successfully forced the two D-Class out of the costume. They were both male, both adults, and one was younger than the other. They were both breathing heavily and were exhausted.
"Are you two alright?" Durham asked the two D-Class. "D-5613, D-5614, are you two alright?"
"Huh? Yeah, I think so..." D-5613 answered.
"Alright, glad that you two are fine." Durham said. "Luckily, some of our field personnel have successfully forced you out of the costume before you two have perished from dehydration."
"Yeah, thanks for the help you guys." Athena said to the group. "We couldn't have handled this situation ourselves..."
"It's nothing, Athena." Freddie answered.
"Yeah, we're right there if you need us, Thea." Dustin added. "Just call on us if you need anything."
"Do you guys have any water?" D-5614 asked. "I'm feeling really thirsty."
"I'll take you to the nearest water cooler." Durham answered, then turned to her assistant. "Athena, get the costume and come with me."
"Got it." Athena responded.
"We'll see ya later, Thea." Drista said.
"Yeah, we will." Athena replied as she gathered the costume.
"You sure you can handle that, Thea?" Dustin asked. "I could help you with it if you want."
"No, I got it." Athena answered. "I can handle carrying a costume."
With that, the group returned to the field, waiting for another field mission, while Athena and Durham took the D-Class back inside the site, to hydrate, then later to recontain the llama costume.
To Be Continued