Underdoom - Chapter 15

As the first few dozen monsters tumbled out of the Underground and into the sunlight, there were no shouts of elation, or glad rejoicing. There was no fanfare or celebration. Gone was the excitement and anticipation so profusely expressed by the now careworn throng only an hour prior. Certainly, there were tears, though not all were of joy. Certainly, there was relief, but not at the realization of the two day old news of emancipation from the barrier. No one saw the surface as a fulfilled dream any longer; now it was simply refuge. Shelter. Safety. That was all that mattered at that particular moment to each and every shaking soul that clambered out of that decrepit old staircase. Parents hugged children, and spouses embraced, all breathing either in short bursts between sobs or from exhaustion brought upon them by the terrifying rush or flight from certain death.

Luckily, the party was not wholly disorganized. Papyrus and Frisk had already taken it upon themselves to administer to the crowd, directing what few guards were left. What stumped them most was what their next step was going to be.

Papyrus looked around, beholding all the tired, sad relief and residual fear in everyone's eyes. There was uncertainty and doubt all around him, and nothing made him feel less comfortable. He turned and whispered to his companion while she rubbed her bloodied shoulder, now covered by a bandage. Her free hand was busy with her phone, texting Alphys and asking about the current situation.

“Frisk... Toriel's not here to get everyone gathered....”

“And apparently, she won't be back here anytime soon...” Her concerned expression relayed the worrisome messages on her screen. “She's completely tuckered out from all that fire magic, and if Doom guy didn't come and stop her, that would've been it.”

“What about the Demons?”

“Taken care of apparently.” She scrolled up, letting Papyrus see her previous updates. “The security went down, but Alphys got it back up. She didn't say how they took care of the ones that got past though...”

“Maybe Toriel took them all out?”

Frisk pocketed the small phone. “Maybe.... what are we gonna do now though?”

The question struck Papyrus with a sudden burden of leadership responsibility he was not used to having. Still, now wasn't the time for shaking one's knees and floundering. He knew that. Besides, it wasn't really a hard decision to make. “How many guards do we have left?”

“Here with us? Probably only nine or so....”

“That should be enough for now. Go ahead and call those two over by the exit. They'll take care of things here while you and me hook back up with the others.”

“Sounds good..” Frisk then called out to a familiar couple pulling an exhausted monster out of the stairwell top. “Dagamy! Dogaressa!”

The two acknowledged the child, Dogamy holding a hand up, meaning they needed just a second to get  some poor fellow out of the rubble. After the tired, red-horned man had been extracted, the two readied themselves for new orders. “Yes, Ambassador Frisk?”

Frisk was somewhat taken aback by the formality. “Oh, uh, yeah. That's right the title. No need for it, guys. You're good.”

Dogaressa's simple nod spoke for both Husband and Wife. “What did you need us for?”

“Me and Pap are gonna head back over tot eh lab. Can you guys take care of things here?”

'You got it.” Dogamy cracked his neck a bit, stretching before patting his wife on the back and departing. “C'mon hon. Let's go find #1 and #2.”

Papyrus noticed Frisk wincing a little while she grasped her bloody shoulder. “Right then, hop on up, Frisk.”

“It's alright, I can walk.”

“That shoulder's telling me you could use some rest, though.”

The child chortled just a little bit. “I don't think I need my shoulder to walk, Pap.”

“Oh, I beg to differ.”  Tired smiles adorned both of their faces as papyrus crouched down and hooked his arms around Frisks legs as she hopped on his back.



The la was mostly quiet. No one spoke or tried to lighten the mood. Words felt both cheap and coarse, no matter what they were. Everyone was too tired in body, mind, and spirit to break the bleak, awful silence. Toriel had regained consciousness, but like her husband, she had nearly no strength left to speak of, less so than her beleaguered husband. At least eh could move, albeit very little. Speech was herculean for her, as walking was for him. Undyne was lost both in her tether sickness and her battle fatigue. Sans was in a similar situation. His greeting towards VEGA felt awkward enough, and words felt like a waste of breath, to say nothing of quips or jokes. No one was in any shape to do anything but try and recover.

Mettaton had nearly faced a mortality he was unaware he ever had, and even though Alphys' jury-rig repairs did a good job of making sure he didn't keel over, his self repair matrix was still laboring to undo the damage that Hayden had done. Alphys had nearly lost her creation and her life to that man, and VEGA, who once saw him as master, was still trying to come to terms with what his maker had done, as well as the mind burning regrets that lay on his shoulders. Undyne felt more than just her immediate, nauseous discomfort weighing her down. The breakthrough would have meant she will have lost even more men than before. That was what burned her most. They had been her friends, her comrades in arms for so many years. She dreaded to hear just how many were gone. Be it expressed in number or name, her ears waited with dread to hear the report. Asgore sat on the floor with Toriel resting on his bosom. Both were silently coming to terms with the fact that their son was still lost., Asgore having told Toriel of what happened upon her regaining her consciousness. All the while, the Hell Walker could feel a familiar sense of guilt well up within him. Although this place had not yet met the same fate as Argent, he still felt the same sense of utter failure; The same sense of rue and regret that accompanied the Demise of his home plane. All because of Hayden

Because of Hayden, their families and friends had been hurt, killed, or made missing. Because of Hayden, their home lay in burning ruins. Because of Hayden, they felt the blood of thousands on their hands

Everyone's feelings of exhaustion would be eclipsed by anger and vengeance if defeat and sorrow had not overtaken them first.

Then, with a noise that made everyone jump, the doors hissed open, and papyrus walked in, Frisk clambering down from his back. “Is everyone okay?” Wrought with worry, Papyrus looked all around the room, his eyes meeting hopeless eyes and weary gazes.

He didn't need an audible answer to see that no one was okay.

Regardless, his dear friend and mentor didn't hesitate to try and contradict the hopeless mood upon hearing her friend's inquiry. Though tired and fearful, Undyne saw no reason to drag papyrus down with her. Still, she had to be honest. “We're still breathing, buddy.”

Frisk's question then invoked at least a little hope in all of them“Did you guys get the Siphon?”

Everyone turned about to see the Doom Slayer holding up the jagged, bone-strewn shield.

Papyrus nodded his head. “Alright then. Well, we've gotten what's left of the guard taking care of everyone up top. What's our next step?”

A tired wheeze left Undyne's lips, Papyrus' straightforwardness coming off to her more as blitheness than initiative. “Pap, look at us right now. Do we really look like we're in any shape to keep this crap up?”

The skeleton was taken aback at the sound of those words. Undyne, who had always been so headstrong and valiant, so determined, so confident, was now sitting against a wall near a computer desk with forlorn eyes and a broken spirit. “What? What do you mean-”

“Papyrus, dear...” Toriel's voice barely rasped as she garnered whatever strength she had left to speak. “It's good to hear you got everyone out safely, but... we're in no condition to go on any further...”

'What do you mean-”

“Our son is gone...” Asgore interjected to relieve his ailing wife from further exertion, as little as speech would entail. “Hayden knocked him from my grasp and we still don't know where he is.”

“But we've-!”

“I ain't going back in there, little bro.” Sans lacked the usual joviality he usually possessed. “Not again... I'm with with it, bud. I'm done.”

“Sans, come on!” I know you-”

“You haven't been there!” The diminutive brother snapped at his sibling as he stood up. “You don't know what it's like in there, Pap!”\

“But we can't just give up!” Papyrus' vigor was now not only fueled by determination, but indignation. “We've already made so much progress!”

VEGA, though reeling in a state of emotions he had rarely felt, still knew his own analytical nature. “Statistically speaking, no we haven't. The Hell Invasion is still drawing strength from a source other than the Siphon. I have learned from Doctor Hayden myself that it was only a ruse: he intended to have the Doom Marine retrieve the Siphon so that he could obtain it for himself and unleash the Argent energy supply from within the crucible, thus negating the damage he did to the Argent filtration system on the Mars installation. Hayden himself is still at large, and Demons are still lying in wait to take the underground. We've gotten nowhere.”

“He has a point.” Mettaton's tired voice of defeat only further aggravated papyrus. “Hayden nearly killed me and Alphys both. I'll be out of commission for the immediate future.”

Alphys stayed silent, her feeling of self doubt resurfacing and keeping her silenced.

Asgore's last comment then sent papyrus over the edge. “What more can we do? We've lost.....”

The skeleton then shouted nearly at the top of his lungs, once again making everyone jump. “What IS this?! What HAPPENED to all of you?! We've pushed them back! We've gotten everyone to safety! WE STILL HAVE THE UPPER HAND!”

Undyne tried to calm her infuriated pupil down, somewhat shocked at his sudden rage. “Pap, calm down! No one said we're giving u-”

“That's PRECISELY what everyone's saying!!”

Having been restored to some of her strength, the Queen tried to placate him. “papyrus, you have to realize that unless you're a parent you'll never know what it feels like to know your child is out there among those things all while knowing they're not themselves!”

Asgore added to his wife's lamentations. “I don;t know of you've ever lost anyone that dear to you papyrus, but you must realize that-”

“Oh, I realize something alright! I realize tat if you don;t do anything, he'll be lost forever! And not only him, but EVERYONE you people know and love!!” A pause gave way to tense air as everyone processed what he was saying before eh continued. “ I can't believe you're all sitting here moping while we could be taking the fight back to them RIGHT NOW!”

Alphys finally spoke up, now with some defensiveness in her voice. “Look at us, Papyrus. Does anyone look like they're in the shape to be fighting?”

VEGA further added to her thoughts. “Doctor Hayden never disclosed to me where the original source of their power is. He has given me Dr. Pierce's codex, but after reviewing it, I can find nothing that will help us locate it.”

“Look, Papyrus....” Mettaton practically spoke for all as his disgruntled, tired words landed on Papyrus' indignant ears.  “Honestly, what would you have us do? We're tired. Some of us (including me) are badly injured. You're right, we can't give up, but what on earth could we actually do?!”

He thought for just a moment. It was true, everyone was at the end of their rope, but they couldn't afford to just let the horde overrun them again while they sat and moped. To his own surprise, his thoughts led him to the right answer. “We find out where Hayden went and we either ask him where this source is, even if it means putting his lights out. From what I hear, you all say he's fled, correct?”

Asgore answered him without delay. “He ran right past me, yes.”

'Then we look on the security footage to see where eh went. In the meantime, Alphys, VEGA, you two keep looking at that codex you were talking about. See if there's anything you may have missed, such as patterns in the runes or hidden or alternative meanings, all that jazz. Those of you who are too tired can stay and recuperate while Doomguy can take another team down to track that Cyborg and make him talk! Once we've found what we're looking for, we go there, destroy their power source and finish this! Simple enough?”

There wasn't a single person in the room who wasn't both shocked and put to shame by papyrus' great burst of rebuking initiative. He was right. This was no time to mope around and wait for the enemy to regroup. This was no time to give up or give in. Now was the time to fight. Time to fight and win.

Undyne turned to her new armored friend. “Well, bucko... what do you say?”

The Doom Slayer felt that same, mischeivous smile crawl back onto his face. Papyrus' determined sermon had given him some invigoration, much needed in the aftermath of Argent and the breach. He pointed to Undyne and then to VEGA.

“You really think I can handle it, huh?” the captain smiled a bit as she saw his confident smile radiating out from that opaque visor. She grunted a bit as she got up from the floor, addressing him. 'Well, then, I'm glad to know someone's got that kind of opinion about me...”

VEGA was hardly as recipient. “Will I not be needed here to keep things secure and run communications?”

“I can do that myself.” Alphys diminutive stature forced the AI to look down at the royal scientist, who now stood at his side. “You go help Doomguy and me and Mettaton will take care of things around here.”

“As long as it give me a shot at Hayden, I suppose....”

Papyrus rubbed his hands together, neither his aggravation nor  the other's inertia longer an issue. 'All right then... let's get to work.”