The SCP Foundation

Chapter 94: SCP-4335

A week had passed by, and the joker was in the cafeteria eating his food. It was very silent, as he could only think about how the others were doing in the Serpent's Hand base.

All of a sudden, he felt a poke in his right cheek. He then realised that Iris was beside him, trying to get his attention.

"Hey, are you just gonna ignore me?" Iris asked the joker. "I'm literally right next to you but all I get is awkward silence."

"Sorry about that, Iris..." Adrian apologised. "I... I was just thinking about things..."

"Things like?"

"You know, my friends." the joker answered. "They're... they're hiding somewhere right now and... I just can't help but worry about them."

"Oh, okay..." the teenage girl responded. "Well, sorry for bothering you. I... I didn't know."

"It's alright..."

"Hello, Adrian, Iris."

The two then noticed that Athena was standing by his table, holding her tray of food, who then sat down across from him.

"Hey, Athena." Adrian greeted back.

"Hey again." Iris greeted.

"It's eerily quiet without the others around, isn't it?" Athena said. "I already miss them. It had already been two weeks since the attack."

"Yeah, I miss them too." Adrian then smirked. "But you might be missing one of them more than the other two, right?"

"Whatever are you on about, Adrian?"

"I mean, do you like him or not, Athena?" Iris asked.

"We are not going about this matter again." the researcher sighed. "Why do you keep reviving this topic?"

"We just need some closure, Athena." the joker responded. "That's all we ever wanted."

"If you keep pressing this matter onto me, I'll just go ahead and leave." the researcher responded, standing up. "I still have more work with Jaina anyways."

"Wait, no, don't!" Adrian conceded. "Come on, Athena, don't be like that. You know we're just messing with you, right?"

"Yeah, don't leave..." the teenage girl added. "Please?"

"Alright... fine..." Athena sighed once more, sitting back down. "Do not bring that ridiculous matter up again."

"I'm practically begging for you to stay here anyway." the joker agreed, smiling. "You won't hear it from me and Iris."

"Alright, good." the researcher responded. "So, moving forward from the topic, I heard that you're a task force commander?"

"Yeah, well, me and Iris are." the joker corrected. "We both command the task force."

"I see..." the researcher responded. "I didn't think I would see the day that you would carry this kind of responsibility on your shoulders."

"I didn't expect it either." Adrian replied. "But hey, I'm liking this new job, especially since I got Iris here with me."

"Yeah, we're unstoppable!" Iris smiled.

"If you say so..." Athena responded. "So... who are in this new task force?"

"A bunch of rookies." Adrian immediately answered. "They're alright, but they could be a bit of a pain to take care of..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well... you might know how it is, because you guys have been putting up with me and Drista for forever, right?"

"I suppose I could picture that image..."