Richard Tenenbaum loresheet

Reference

Unusual Incidents Unit:

• Paramax.
• Narrative Watch.

Department of Analytics:

• To Be Noir Not To Be: core!

Other SCPs:

• SCP-2176: (ectomorph classifications).
• Murphy Law: approved!
• CI "Mike" units: approved!
• Unphotographable
• Hutchinson's Hidden Truths: maybe!

• Plot reference to "X3N14": inconsequential! it's a parallel universe! I'm paying back a shoutout to my OC.
• Title ref: https://twitter.com/bobvulfov/status/1069088499213787137
  • "But at what cost? Rick died in the heist"

Character inspiration

• Albert Nussbaum (short story "Collision");
• Richard Stark's "Parker":
  • His routine in "The Score": "Terrify them speechless; group them together; personalize the moment (address them by name); give them a minute to absorb".
  • Nussbaum's commentary: "cold, methodical [and] humorless"; "surrounded by criminals even more ruthless than he"; "[rarely] initiates violence except in self-defense".
  • Lucy Sante: "In Parker's world there is no good or evil, but simply different styles of crime. […] The subversive implication is not that crime pays, but that all business is crime."
• Joubert, from Three Days of the Condor: "No need to believe in either side, or any side. There is no cause; there is only yourself. The belief is in your own precision."

Narrative Spine

Real Name: Richard Cole Tenenbaum.
Pen Names: Carl Fischer (ghostwriter), Doc Franklin (Hutchinson's), R.T. Tenenbaum (mundane).
Aliases: "King" Cole (classic); Richard Bauman (heist man); Merlin Thomas (cat burglar); Chandler Sharp (honorable detective), Duncan Modie (criminal sidekick);

Pseudonyms	Characters	#	Examples
Carl Fischer	Chandler Sharp, Duncan Modie	22	Sharp and Modie Beat the Mob
R.T. Tenenbaum	Richard Bauman	18	The Name of the Game is Vengeance
	Merlin Thomas	8	Steal City
Doc Franklin	Doc Franklin	4	The Oxford Incident

"Stay down, stay quiet, and don't make me kill you."
"Nobody double-crosses me."
"Any idiot can kill. Professionals only kill for a reason."

Life

• 1934 — Born.
• 1943 (age 9) — Father dies in WW2. Tenenbaum becomes the family breadwinner.
• 1953 (19) — Tenenbaum's magical Potential is activated by an upswing in metafictional warfare. He starts freelancing. (To Be Noir Not To Be)
• 1958 (24) — Forms a gang with Duke Wilcox (muscle) and Peter "Prince" Quitman (driver). They start with small scores and work their way up, building an arsenal of traditional and fictional weapons. Their first noteworthy heist involves a fake bomb threat.
• 1961 (27) — During a bank robbery, Wilcox executes a guard in cold blood. The plan immediately goes sideways. Quitman dies in the escape; Wilcox turns up dead a few weeks later.
• 1963 (29) — Arrested, but plays it cool and goes to USP Marion.¹ Perfect place to write, and easy to smuggle information out through meta-steganography.
• 1972 (38) — Writes "The Oxford Incident" for Hutchinson's, describing a British Occult Service raid on Other London.
• 1973 (39) — Paroled. Turns to mundane writing.
• Marries late (after 1974, over 40?); raises his wife's young children as his own.
• 1990 (56) — Arrested by the UIU and sent to Paramax.
• 1994 (60) — Cuts a deal with Chase Brigham, extracts assets from "Oxford Incident" via narrativic ascension, gets paroled. Promises daughter that he will go completely straight. (Spec Scripts and Spaceships)
• Money dries up. Daughter's mortgage is looking bad.
• 1998 (64) — dies in an attempted stickup.

Death

• 2008 — Resurrected by necromancer Karina Kimura and Maxwellist hacker Kim "X3N14" Van Eck. (Grave Intent)
• X3N14 pays off her student loans. Tenenbaum insists that she leave the gang. (Wages of Sin)
• 2016 — King's latest recruit strays from the script, resulting in a total wipeout. (Out of Options) PUBLISHED!
• SCP-XXXX is captured by the Foundation and incarcerated at Site-76. He starts exploring his narrative options, cultivating a "man on the inside" (Penelope Gore) and an "efficient extraction team" (the Chaos Insurgency). (The Write Stuff)
  • Junior Researcher Penelope Gore realizes that SCP-XXXX has sapience and agency.
  • "Mike" units assault Site-76. Penelope realizes that Tenenbaum is responsible, but convinces him to defend the Site and amnesticizes herself to hide the deceit.
  • With his family's future in the Foundation's hands, Tenenbaum starts working as a security consultant.
• June 2018 — The Insurgency compromises SCP-4061. Tenenbaum helps identify the perpetrator, who was communicating with the CI using book-code.
• BEFORE September 2020 — INKBLOT BROWN. The Chaos Insurgency tries to steal useful items from Site-76. Instead, double agent Remus Pohl walks into a narrative booby-trap arranged by Gore, Tenenbaum, Wren Masterson, X3N14 and their allies.
  • Pohl's anomalous link to the CI is broken.
  • Tenenbaum escapes to Other London through narrativic descension.
  • Penelope renegotiates her employment contract.
• AFTER September 2020 — Penelope and Richard meet up in Other London to negotiate containment protocols. (SCP-XXXX: Rick Died in the Heist)

UIU File

Initial Report

Electronic copy below as per Federal Records Act.

UIU File 1958-243: "The Script Doctor"

Summary: Anomalous criminal responsible for metanarrative heists throughout the Great Lakes Region. Primarily active 1958-1962, sporadically active 1962-1998, now deceased.

Suspect Description/Capabilities

Name: Richard Cole Tenenbaum, also known as "King Cole", aka "Doc Franklin", aka "R.T. Tenenbaum".

Irregularity Cross-reference: American, Human, Gangster, Mercenary, Narrative

Physical Description:

Sex	Height	Weight/Build	Race	Hair	Eyes	Identifying Attributes
Male	5' 8"	140 lbs, medium	White	Brown and gray, thin	Brown	Balding

Capabilities: Able to manipulate reality through narrative and fiction.

Purpose/Motive: Profit, contempt for authority, creative expression, personal pride in executing complex operations.

Modus Operandi: The suspect is strongly influenced by the norms and standards of genre fiction. Evidence indicates that he plans out criminal activities using a standard three-act structure, integrating distractions, twists, and other creative liberties that play out during the actual crimes.

Behavior: The suspect and his co-conspirators generally act in an exaggerated, overdramatic manner, like performers in a stage play or film. One gang member focuses on crowd control through emotional coercion and physical intimidation; other gangsters pursue strategic objectives associated with their archetypal roles, such as demolitions, safecracking, target shooting, and evasive driving.

Despite his stated willingness to use violence and destroy property, the suspect prefers not to use lethal force, stating on multiple occasions that "professionals only kill for a reason."

Evidence

Three dynamite charges: Linked to blasting caps and analog timers. Explosives appear to be live, but have been rendered inert through semantic links to the concept of a "dud". Placed in public spaces by the suspect's gang as part of a city-wide distraction.

Deterministic planning document: Typewritten script recovered from a deceased suspect following a shootout with federal agents. The postscript reads, "If Duke Wilcox screws up again, he's entitled to his share of blood money — but he'll never get a chance to spend it."

Pulp magazine article: "The Oxford Incident", by Doc Franklin, published in Hutchinson's Hidden Truths, May 1972. Nonfiction exposé on a classified British Occult Service (BOS) operation in anomalous territory, falsely presented as science fiction.

Mass-market paperback: "Murder in the Main Belt", by R.T. Tenenbaum, published 1988. Sci-fi mystery set in the same anomalous territory as "The Oxford Incident", with names and dates altered to avoid detection.

Photographs / Sketches

Bureau Record

Current Status: Paroled. Deceased.

Crimes: Grand larceny, criminal conspiracy, murder in the second degree, intrafictional espionage and smuggling.

Sentencing: Incarcerated at USP Marion, Illinois (1963-1972), paroled for good behavior. Incarcerated at Paramax (1990-1994), sentence commuted on the recommendation of Warden Brigham.

History of UIU Action:

/ /1958:

12/15/1961: bank robbery gone wrong

02/23/1963: Suspect apprehended at his family's home in Michigan. Brought up on mundane charges, Tenenbaum pleads guilty and is sentenced to 40 years at USP Marion.

/ /1972:

/ /1973:

/ /1990: UIU Narrative Watch conclusively links Tenenbaum to his pseudonym "Doc Franklin". Suspect is arrested, convicted of anomalous espionage, and incarcerated at Paramax.

/ /1994: Redacted by order of the United States Domestic Security Court.

/ /1998:

More bonding

+ show block

SCP-XXXX: I hear somebody had a busy week.

Gore: Oh God. Who told you about that?

SCP-XXXX: I'm on the Level 2 mailing list, remember? They BCC'd me on the Unrestricted update.

Gore: Ugh. You and everyone else at Site-76. What a mess.

SCP-XXXX: What's the damage?

Gore: SCP-4581 erased every single media file on my account. Including our conversations.

SCP-XXXX: Ours? Yours and mine? What about backups?

Gore: I don't know. Analytics and RAISA have separate systems.

---

Gore: They keep calling me Tipper and I hate it.

SCP-XXXX: Well, set 'em straight.

Gore: I can't!

SCP-XXXX: Why not? You told me off right quick, when I called you "doll".

Gore: That was different. This is a workplace culture thing. If I complain, then I'm the asshole, and the nickname will definitely stick. No. No thank you. I'm just gonna keep my head down and wait for the whole thing to blow over.

Future

INKBLOT BROWN

On 2020/08/██, double agent █████ ████ tried to take control of Site-76 through a combination of blackmail, sabotage, and collaboration with hostile Groups of Interest. This operation ended in total failure, as intended victims of the extortion scheme worked together to subvert ████'s plan. Additional information on INKBLOT BROWN is restricted to Site-76 Administration and personnel with LEVEL 5/CLOWNFISH clearance.

During the post-incident audit, containment specialists discovered that SCP-XXXX had taken advantage of the disorder to escape via narrative descension. The exact target coordinates for this metafictional jailbreak remain unknown, but forensic technicians recovered five electronic books by Jules Verne from SCP-XXXX's interaction terminal.

Tease

At last, after so many years, his journey was over. Richard Tenenbaum was home. His family was safe. He had gotten away clean, blameless, and free.

This would be a good place to end it. Maybe even the best place. There was a very narrow window between this story and the next; if he lingered too long, Richard would get caught up in the breeze and tossed back into the maelstrom.

It would be so easy.

Too easy.

Ah, what the hell.

L5/Thaumiel

Addendum XXXX-#: On 2021/03/20, SCP-XXXX contacted Site-76 and offered to negotiate new terms for secure containment. As part of these negotiations, SCP-XXXX requested a diplomatic meeting in Other London (FP-07), a Main Belt asteroid colony which has been independent from terrestrial authority since the Kitchener Accords of 1953. Since the Foundation lacks an official presence in Other London, talks were handled by a contract mediator with relevant expertise.

Audio-Visual Transcript:

+ Onboarding Interview

Interviewed: SCP-XXXX

Interviewer: Penelope Gore

Opening Statement: Penelope Gore was selected to represent the SCP Foundation based on her past experience with SCP-XXXX, her involvement in resolving Incident INKBLOT BROWN, and her Class E personnel status.

---

<Begin Log>

Penelope Gore: Hi, Richard.

SCP-XXXX: Penelope! It's so good to see you!

Gore: Likewise. Your new body looks nice.

SCP-XXXX: Thank you! It's custom.

(The android opens its jacket, revealing that SCP-XXXX's core hardware is housed in the Saker's torso.)

**SCP-XXXX

Gore: So… this is Other London.

SCP-XXXX: Is it everything you imagined?

Gore: Close. The air is cleaner than I expected.

I didn't want to be a professional criminal. That's not a career, it's a sentence.
It was always about money.
When I went to prison, I figured I'd turn over a new leaf. Go legit.
Bad investments, no royalties, mortgage due. I got desperate. I went back to the old life, and it got me killed.

I figured it would be nice to finally retire. Turns out it's boring. Not as boring as prison, but still.
You're not writing?
Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm writing plenty. It just isn't the same. It's… easy. I miss the challenge.

SCP-XXXX: So that's the deal. Either I work for you, at a reasonable rate, or I work against you. What'll it be?

Gore: Whatever happened to "I prefer not to work with fascists"?

(SCP-XXXX's vocoder emits a loud humming sound, approximating laughter.)

SCP-XXXX: What, you think the Jailors were my first choice? Nah. I tried cutting a deal with the UIU Field Office up here, but the Ravens didn't bite. No imagination.

Gore: Wait, you came up here first? Why?

(SCP-XXXX looks out over the park, where children are playing basketball. The hoop is higher than regulation standard to account for the microgravity.)

SCP-XXXX: I like it here. Started visiting in the 50s. The kids are punks, the music's good, and nobody pays rent. Reminds me of my hometown.

Off-Camera: Oi! Hydro! You found another oxy to hang with!

(SCP-XXXX raises his hand in greeting to the child out of view.)

Gore: "Hydro"? Another pen name?

SCP-XXXX: No, no. They all know me here. Otherners just talk in slang. "Hydrogen bomb" rhymes with "Tenenbaum", see? And "oxygen tank" rhymes with-

Gore: "Yank". American.

SCP-XXXX: You got it.

Gore: Seems confusing.

SCP-XXXX: It's part of the charm. The people up here, they've got the souls of writers and bards. Though they do delight in being obtuse.

---

Gore: Analytics doesn't trust you. They want guarantees.

SCP-XXXX: "Analytics"? The assholes who spied on my grandkids? I don't trust them either.

Gore: You're a ghost, so writing a new contractual geas isn't an option. Tactical Theology was talking about bindings…

SCP-XXXX: Hell no.

Gore: …but I told them that wouldn't be necessary. I can demonstrate your honesty for the official record.

SCP-XXXX: Really? How?

Gore: Booleans. Just like old times. (laughing) Say something and I'll reply "yes" or "no".

SCP-XXXX: Okay. (pause) I am Richard Tenenbaum.

Gore: Yes.

SCP-XXXX: My proposal is in earnest.

Gore: Yes.

SCP-XXXX: I will adhere to the terms of the contract.

Gore: Yes.

SCP-XXXX: And… the Foundation will honor it, too?

Gore: (pause) Barring extenuating circumstances… yes.

SCP-XXXX: That's the best I'm going to get, isn't it?

Gore: Yes.

SCP-XXXX: All right then. I guess it'll do. Nice work, Researcher. Another feather in your cap.

Gore: I am not a Researcher anymore. (pause) We, uh, worked something out. Anyway, I'll have to file a report and wait for a response from Earth to make it official. That'll take a couple hours, at least.

SCP-XXXX: In that case, would you like to catch a show? They're doing Lear at the Globe.

Gore: I've had enough drama for a while. How about chess?

SCP-XXXX: Bring it on, partner.

<End Log>

---

Closing Statement: Given the current location and psychological profile of SCP-XXXX, traditional containment is considered infeasible at this time. Instead, SCP-XXXX has been registered as an external security contractor for the SCP Foundation, conditional on adherence to the terms of its employment contract. These terms include continued residence in FP-07, non-disclosure of proprietary information, desistance from paracriminal activity, and ongoing work with the Foundation. In exchange, it is compensated with wages and benefits on the O-2 payscale.

Footnotes

1. Adjusted to 1963 to match IRL timeline.