The group of children on their bikes stare
intently at the large, abandoned house. Rumors have been circulating all school year
about a monster that lives inside. One child tells the others about the kid from
a couple towns over who went inside and never came back out and it’s easy to believe that
something evil could be lurking inside the rundown home with its peeling paint and many
broken windows. The children begin teasing each other, daring
one another to go in and see the monster for themselves. No one seems especially eager to volunteer
though as they all egg each other on. As the group of children joke about who should
be forced to go inside, another comes riding up behind them, struggling to catch his breath. “You left me behind again,” he complains. Clearly this is not the first time that this
smallest child of the group has been made to try and keep up with his bigger and faster
friends. The bigger kids all turn to look at him. They don’t need to discuss it any further,
the answer to who must go inside has already been decided. The smaller child tries to protest, but ultimately,
what decision does he have but to go inside? He can’t let everyone else think that he’s
a chicken, he’s got to prove once and for all that he’s just as tough as any of them. Without another word he lets his bike fall
into the dirt and makes his way towards the big, creepy house. The door pushes open without any resistance
and the boy looks into the dark house. The boy steps inside and the floorboards creak
loudly under his feet. The inside looks much like the outside, old,
worn, and abandoned. But then he hears something, a scratching
noise coming from above him. He turns to leave but he can see all of his
friends through the doorway, and they motion for him to keep going. The boy steels his nerves and turns back,
he’s going to show them just how brave he is. The boy starts up the stairs, each one groaning
as he steps onto it. He reaches the top of the stairs to find a
landing with more rooms, each full of dirt and debris. There’s spray paint on many of the walls
and lots of trash. It looks like teens may use this as a place
to hangout. But there at the other of the landing is one
more room. And the door is shut. From outside, the group of children can see
through the upper windows as the boy makes his way through the house. They’re not laughing and teasing any longer,
in fact they’re impressed by how bravely he is exploring the old home. Though none of them would admit it out loud,
he’s earning their respect. The boy reaches the shut door at the end of
the hall and presses his ear to it but he doesn’t hear anything inside. He places his hand on the doorknob and slowly
opens it. The boy screams and falls backwards as the
cat that was hiding inside panics and jumps through one of the open windows. The boy can’t help but laugh. Of course it was just a -
The boy screams again as the floor gives way beneath him and he crashes down onto the first
floor in a pile of debris. He’s stunned by the fall before starting
to scream again as that floor gives way too. His yelling is silenced by the air being knocked
out of him as he hits the basement floor. He’s covered in dust and pieces of two floors
he fell through. He feels bruised and sore, but he can wiggle
his fingers and toes. He’s not paralyzed, and it doesn’t even
feel like he’s broken a bone. Maybe he’s okay. But no, he’s definitely not okay, because
suddenly there’s something picking him up off the floor. As his eyes adjust to the dark basement, he
sees what it is that’s holding him - it’s half man half machine, a huge, disgusting
mix of metal and flesh. The boy is too scared to scream any more as
the creature's unmoving, dead looking eyes stare straight into his. It’s face looks as though the skin has been
stretched across a human metallic skull.The boy can only watch as the monster raises its
sharp, metallic fingers and… brushes the dirt out of the boy’s hair. The boy starts to whimper, but whatever this
thing is, it doesn’t seem to want to hurt him. A tinny robotic voice coming from a small
device on the creature’s face suddenly breaks the silence. هل أنتَ على ما يُرام؟ The boy doesn’t understand, but the robotic
man tilts his horrific head to the side and repeats the same thing. The boy is still confused, but he feels like
the robot is trying to tell him something. He somehow gets the sense that it’s not
going to hurt him. Is this the monster that everyone has been
afraid of? A misunderstood machine-man living down here
in the basement? The robotic flinches as something is smashed
on the back of his head. He tosses the boy to the side and turns to
see the boy’s friends, each of them armed with pieces of wood and other scraps as weapons. They’ve come here to save their friend from
the monster that they dared him to find. Another runs up to strike the robot but before
he can reach him, he falls to his knees in pain, as do the rest of the children. The creature has begun emitting a high frequency
noise and the children try to cover their ears. They all feel a searing pain that makes it
feel as though their heads will explode. The piercing noise continues to ring out,
but the monster looks like it has entered some kind of dormant state and is no longer
moving. The small boy is able to slowly get back to
his knees, hands still clasped to the side of his head, and stand up. He runs past the monster and his friends who
are writhing on the floor in pain, up the stairs, and out of the old house. A woman stands at a kitchen counter, chopping
vegetables for their dinner that evening, and talking to her oldest daughter about her
plans for that weekend when the back door suddenly bursts open. Standing there is her son, the small boy. He’s barely able to whisper the words “monster…
there’s a monster in the basement” before he collapses, blood pouring from his ears
and nose, before he begins convulsing on the floor. At the local police station, an officer is
speaking on the phone. “I see. Yes, that is quite strange. A metal man? You don’t say. I’ll send someone out there right away,
don’t go anywhere.” The police officer hangs up the phone and
looks around, making sure no one is nearby or listening to him, and then takes out a
cell phone. He dials a number from memory and someone
answers on the other end almost immediately. “Yes this is Field Agent Patch,” the police
officer says, “you need to get a containment team out here right away. And a good one too. I don’t know what it is, but it’s dangerous.” An SCP Foundation Mobile Task Force that specializes
in containing dangerous humanoid threats soon arrived at the house and took the anomaly
into captivity. Misinformation teams concocted a cover story
about a gas leak leading to the unfortunate deaths of several of the town’s children
and administering amnestics to any potential witnesses. Once the messy business of containment was
over though, it was time to figure out just what this strange creature was. SCP-203 appears to have at one time been a
Caucasian human male, though its appearance now is far different than it once was. This bipedal humanoid creature stands 2.5
meters tall and weighs roughly 200 kilograms. Both its incredible height and weight are
due to the fact that the man’s original skeleton has been entirely removed, and replaced
with a mechanical framework made of cast iron. The metal skeleton is much larger than the
original bones, and in many places SCP-203’s skin has split from being stretched over it,
revealing the mechanical structure underneath. Other parts of the framework appear to have
been intentionally made to protrude through the skin, though it is unclear for what purpose. In addition to this larger than normal mechanical
skeleton, a number of other augmentations are present on SCP-203. Its fingers have been extended into sharpened,
hook-like barbs that are approximately 1 meter long. Its lips have been removed entirely, making
it clear that there is no movable jaw bone, and that the skull is likely one large hollow
piece of metal, and there are several more hook-like protrusions jutting out around the
mouth area, smaller but similar in appearance to the fingers. SCP-203’s legs have been modified as well,
with two added joints that give them an appearance more akin to a dog’s, and its toes have
been removed and replaced with a solid piece of metal similar to those found in steel toed
boots. It’s chest has no sternum or breastplate,
which causes the skin stretched across to pull inward as its diaphragm contracts. Its ears have also been removed, though it
still seems to possess hearing that is far beyond that of an average human, and while
its eyes still remain, they are held in a permanently forward facing position by several
needles that emerge from the eye sockets. The irises also appear permanently dilated
and do not react to light. In place of a mouth is a small speaker covered
by a metal grate that is capable of producing basic vocalizations, though with a distinctly
robotic sound to them. Tests have shown that SCP-203 has a basic
understanding of English, but its own primary language seems to be a type of Arabic, though
there are no records of the exact dialect. SCP-203 does not need to eat or drink, and
without any visible mouth, it is likely incapable of either. Instead it runs off of a power cell located
within its body, that will provide energy for up to 72 hours. After those three days, SCP-203 will shut
down and enter a hibernation state for 3 to 4 hours during which its power source will
recharge, providing it with another 72 hours of energy. All attempts to examine SCP-203 by either
X-ray, CT, ultrasound, and other forms of diagnostic imagery have failed, and attempts
at exploratory surgery have triggered its defense mechanisms which are both painful
and deadly. When it perceives that it is being threatened
in some way, SCP-203 is capable of emitting a high-frequency droning sound that has a
profoundly damaging effect on the human nervous system. The effects of this defense mechanism were
able to be observed directly when a D Class Personnel accidentally struck SCP-203 and
its droning sound was activated. Immediately after being exposed to the sound,
D-104 experienced a severe headache. After 15 minutes the headache grew worse and
D-104 began to bleed from the ears. After a half hour, the D Class, who had now
gone to the infirmary, began to experience seizures and was bleeding from all of his
orifices. Ten minutes later, the D Class was dead. Another test was performed and the results
were nearly identical, with symptoms progressing at roughly the same rate. However this time, rather than move the D
Class to the infirmary, it was kept in the cell with SCP-203. After forty minutes, the D Class was dead,
and a few minutes later, 203 finally ceased its droning sound. SCP-203 then approached the body of the deceased
D Class and began to use its own augmentations to start removing the skeleton of the D Class. While SCP-203 was stopped before it could
complete its task, it now appears that the droning sound it produces is a defense mechanism,
but may also be a part of the process by which it creates new instances of SCP-203. In interviews with SCP-203, it claims to have
no memories of its life prior to its augmentation. It says that it now exists in a near constant
state of pain and confusion and that the times when its battery is expended and it enters
a rest state are its only escape from the pain of its existence. It also claims that it has no memory of what
happens once its defense mechanism is activated, nor does it remember what it did to the body
of the D Class that was left in its cell. However it is unknown just how truthful SCP-203
is being. There has been no way to verify anything that
SCP-203 tells researchers, and for the time being, its statements are to be regarded by
Foundation staff as an attempt to elicit sympathy or otherwise manipulate them emotionally. It’s made several requests for pain killing
medication and anesthetics, but so far all of these requests have been denied. SCP-203 has been classified as Euclid, and
it is kept in a specialized storage bunker at a research site. Two D Class personnel equipped with sound
filtering equipment guard it at all times, and it is accompanied by an armed escort to
any testing or research sessions. Is SCP-203 the ultimate victim? A normal human that was transformed against
his will into a crude amalgamation of man and machine? Maybe there is something more to SCP-203,
or rather less. Is SCP-203 fooling all of us? Is this Tortured Iron Soul nothing more than
a metallic monster, disguising itself with the skin of its last victim? Perhaps with more research, we will one day
know the answer. Now go and watch another entry from the files
of Dr. Bob, like SCP-783 There Was a Crooked Man, for another anomaly with very interesting
ideas of what a human’s body should look like. And make sure you subscribe and turn on notifications,
so you don’t miss a single anomaly, as we delve further and further into the SCP Foundation’s
classified archives.
