A/N: Sorry, this chapter took so long, I'm not good at writing Toriel and got stuck on her part which I eventually changed from my original plan. I also made an AU that got super popular, it's called SkeleChara and it's about Papyrus resurrecting Chara as a skeleton monster whom he adopts and cares for as his own child.
Chapter 3: Black Op(tical Illusion)
Gary and Shauna hiked the mountain, going up the same direction they had seen Toriel go not even three hours previous. She had grabbed gear out of the storage in the station and a few other essentials attached to the ATV. They climbed in near silence, the only thing that kept the ominous darkness of the surrounding forest at bay was the soft sound of crickets and night birds.
"How do you suppose this plan is going to work, Shauna?" The man asked. They both stopped for a moment to continue looking at the trails the monsters had left behind in their rush down the mountain.
"Well, I figure, though we aren't guaranteed to completely counteract whatever the government is planning, a little warning to the monsters couldn't hurt anything." She found the trail again and they continued up.
"It could hurt us?"
Shauna gave him a look over her shoulder. "So you're backin' out?"
The man looked startled at the accusation. "No! Of course not! I was just…y'know." His face started to heat up in embarrassment, not that anyone knew but him, "I'm just, ugh. I'm too literal sometimes but like hell if I'm not going to help you or those monsters."
She smiled back at him. "Good to hear."
It was only but a few more minutes before they found a relatively large ledge that curved around the side of a steeper portion of the mountain. Following it they came upon the gaping entrance to a cave. Darker than even the forest below had been, they shared a glance before entering the home of the monsters.
The cave seemed to drag on for quite a while, the darkness stretching deeper. They didn't voice it, but the seemingly endless cavern that lacked all light and sound was beginning to unnerve both of them. Shauna put a hand on her subordinate's shoulder, pausing to look behind them. The opening of the cave seemed far enough away now that using a flashlight wouldn't be as risky.
She flicked hers on, leading the way as they approached an ornate doorway. Passing through they found themselves in a cavern with a patch of the stone ground dimly illuminated by moonlight. Beyond that there was another doorway, light spilling out of it. Entering, they found themselves in a warmly lit room, floor carpeted with golden flowers, in the center was an enormous throne.
They didn't get to admire the otherworldly place for long, as Toriel walked through the doorway having heard someone enter.
"Oh! It is you both, the humans from the human sentry station. What brings you here to the mountain?" She asks, smiling and tilting her head slightly.
"Sorry to bring bad news, but if our guess is correct, everyone else who came out of the mountain was apprehended by the government after making a surprise appearance on a news broadcast." Shauna said, face grim. Toriel's eyes widened, her mouth opening in shock. It stayed like that for a moment before a look crossed her face that was clear as day, the look of an angry mother. It struck fear into both of the rangers.
"I will not have another child taken from me!" she seemed to seethe fire from her unfiltered anger. She moved as if to exit the mountain, before being blocked by Gary and Shauna.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we think we know what will happen next and we need your help. You're far more useful here than out there, trying to take on the US army alone." Toriel stopped, accepting what Gary had said but still clearly frustrated.
"What do you think they will do?" She looked at them both in the eyes, one after the other. The maternal vibe was gone, replaced with something far older than any living human - an ancient Queen, a skilled strategist.
~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~
Flowey sat in the ruins, having recently turned back. He sighed as he presided over the flower patch. He suddenly shot as straight up as he could on his stem, aware of a sudden beeping that sounded like...a phone! Flowey reasoned that Frisk must have dropped it here on accident and hadn't noticed it missing. He quickly snatched it up with a vine and answered it, seeing it was a call from Papyrus.
"HELLO? WHOEVER THIS IS NEEDS TO HELP ME RELAY AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE!"
"What's wrong, Papyrus?"
"OH! HI, FLOWEY! I NEED YOU TO GIVE A MESSAGE TO MS. TORIEL AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE HUMAN GOVERNMENT HAS CAPTURED US ALL! I'M AFRAID EVERYONE BACK IN THE UNDERGROUND WILL HAVE TO REMAIN FOR A WHILE LONGER, AND FIND A WAY TO CONCEAL THE EXITS. WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THEY JUST BARGE IN!"
Flowey remained calm, sure that if anything were to go catastrophically wrong then Frisk would be able to reload. All the same, if they were out of contact and saved at any point after something goes wrong for himself there might be an extensive amount of time in captivity...being...experimented on by dumb humans who don't know what they're doing. Ultimately he decided on self preservation.
"Alrighty! You got it, Papyrus," he responded in the most cheerful way he could, which often sounded mildly sarcastic. "Just, uh, one question."
"N'YES?"
"Why didn't the humans take your phone away?"
"OH, THEY DID TAKE EVERYONE'S PHONES, EXCEPT MINE, BECAUSE I KEEP IT IN MY RIBCAGE. MY BATTLE BODY'S METAL PREVENTED ITS DETECTION! NYEH HEH HEH!"
"Huh. Well, try to keep it that way for as long as possible to keep us updated."
"OF COURSE! NOW I'VE GOT TO GO. PLEASE INFORM MS. TORIEL IMMEDIATELY." And with a bloop the call ended.
Flowey looked around the now dimly lit cave of flowers he assigned himself to watch over and sighed before disappearing into the ground.
~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~
He popped back up into the throne room, causing two weirdly dressed humans to jump away in surprise. Toriel, on the other hand, seemed to not recall the friendliness pellet incident from earlier that day, at least for the moment.
"Excuse me, miss!" He spoke, faux cheer on full blast. "I got a call from Papyrus and he told me to tell you that they've all been captured, and the human authorities are probably on their way to the mountain."
"Then it is as the humans say. We will need to construct illusions for every opening so they cannot find their way in." She turned to walk farther into the castle, Gary and Shauna following after her.
"Where are you going?" The woman called after her.
"I must find the most skilled illusionists to assist me. It has been awhile since I have performed this type of magic." The rangers just continued to follow her, not really wanting to be left alone in this unfamiliar place.
They walked up some stairs and seemed to enter a depressingly grey house. Besides the drab color scheme, it seemed to be rather cozy. They weren't there for much longer as they breezed through, and Toriel opened a door that could have been easily missed. Through the door and down several hallways and stairs they walked out into a city just as grey as the house, save for pops of color coming from the lights inside the houses and various rugs. Soon enough, the humans began passing by a few monsters who paid none of them any mind as they did not recognize them as the former queen nor a pair of humans. Most weren't out though, most were busy packing.
Soon, they came to a relatively open and populous square. Toriel stepped into the center, her authoritative manner already drawing the attention of nearby monsters without a word.
"Attention! I am looking for monsters capable of projecting a convincing illusion spell!" Monsters peeked out onto the square from doorways and window frames. "We must postpone our exit of the underground, for the human government has captured the king, captain, royal scientist, and ambassador, as well as two civilians. We must protect ourselves from a likely oncoming invasion from the humans. I will need a convincing projection of a rock wall." And with that, several monsters stepped forward.
~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~
The rangers began scaling down the mountain, occasionally having to hide from the personnel dispatched to find a way into the mountain. Luckily, with the warning from the rangers, they were able to get illusions cast over the entrances before they had arrived. Soon, they were upon the ranger station. They managed to make it inside to at least pretend to look like they hadn't moved when an unfamiliar person dressed in the same uniforms as everyone else on the mountain "escorted" (code for shoved) a very familiar woman into the station with a camera person.
"You two," the incredibly obvious black ops looking man said, "take these two back down the mountain, along with yourselves. The park is closed to civilians which would include you both." Then he turned and left, with nary an additional word.
The reporter that was instantly recognized by Gary and Shauna to be Cassidy Embers from the channel 11 news, the very same woman who interviewed the monsters, stood straight and leveled them with a steely gaze. "You're not seriously going to listen to him, are you? Something is happening here and we all know it has to do with the monsters."
Gary and Shauna glanced at each other, then did a quick sweep of the station with their eyes. The man shrugged and the woman ranger nodded. She brought her hand to her chest, and visibly crossed her fingers.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we'll have to leave just as the man said." She once again brought attention to her crossed fingers by tapping them on her chest, "I will need to get back up the mountain to retrieve my purse from my own station, and for safety's sake I will need to have to take both of you, and my subordinate with me."
Cass gave one slow nod. "I see, then I suppose we have no choice." Shauna put her hand down, uncrossing her fingers.
"The ATV I rode here is too small for four people, so we'll have to walk."
They all quickly exited the building and did their best to avoid the government agents, which got harder as some were equipped with night vision, though when they were confronted on two occasions Shauna simply gave them the cover story she said back in the cabin. As the agents were unfamiliar with the forest, they simply believed her, unaware that the station her purse resided in was far and away from the path they took. Luckily for the rangers, the agents they happened to stumble into happened to be more dedicated to trying to find monsters than stopping two rangers escorting two civilians (and camera hidden in Gary's ranger duffle bag).
Soon, they came to the almost shelf-like rock formation on the mountain, quickly looking around to make sure they were not being watched. The rangers led the reporter and cameraman to what appeared to be a solid rock wall, moss and wild vegetation growing from the water-worn grooves of the mountain face. Cass brought her hand to the wall after Shauna motioned towards it. It felt as it looked, solid and unflinching, gritty in areas where the rock peaked through and slightly squishy when her hand ran over the moss.
Then Gary walked through the wall.
Cass and her camera person shared shocked looks before turning to Shauna, who reached out and grabbed them both. Instantly, they could see through the illusion and into a deep cave, which Shauna pulled them into. Through the entrance cavern and into the throne room they went, meeting Toriel in the flower carpeted room.
"Oh! Helpful humans, I did not expect to see you again so soon, and you brought friends?" she quickly looked at her ancient phone to check the time, "Well, the pie I made for the volunteer illusionists is almost done. I could make you all one as well, if you would like?"
"No, that's alright, Toriel." Shauna motioned at her coworker's duffle, which reminded him of the camera that he immediately took out and handed to the, as of yet, unnamed fourth human, "We're just going to show these two around, because I get the feeling video evidence of you all will be useful."
"Well, then go on ahead, I am sure you will love to see some of the unique ecosystems down here!" She smiled before walking away to tend to something.
~~~~/\^/\^/\~~~~
Papyrus sat in the room, waiting for someone to come in again to interrogate him. It's been like that for a few days now. Initially, he was allowed to return to the sectioned off area where he could see his friends in similar holding cells. Once the humans realized he didn't sleep, which didn't take long as they were recording everyone, they kept him in the interrogation room all day and night. The humans coming in being his only indicator for what time of day it was. There were three of them working in shifts, which were interrupted by a 45 minute lunch break. He counted. The shift switches took about five minutes average.
Now, it was transitioning into a night shift, approximately 12:02 AM. The man coming in - named Allen, though it wasn't specified if that was a last name or a first - should be here in less than 3 minutes. He was bored out of his mind as they had been asking the same few questions over and over, most of which had the answer of "magic". From what he had overheard, most of his friends and his brother had been retired from interrogation. The only other person still being interrogated was Alphys, but only when someone else was in her room with her. Beyond that, he didn't know why the others had their questioning stopped while he didn't.
'I MEAN, I GET WHY THEY KEEP ASKING ALPHYS QUESTIONS. SHE'S THE ROYAL SCIENTIST. BY ALL ACCOUNTS, IT MAKES SENSE TO CONTINUE ASKING HER QUESTIONS EVEN IF SHE GETS STRESSED OUT BY IT.' He thought about the potential reasons why they kept him in interrogation, until the door opened. Papyrus, without making any indication he even glanced at Allen (because he didn't), decided to ask him.
"WHY DO YOU KEEP ASKING ME QUESTIONS WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO NOT BE STUCK IN A DULL ROOM WITH UNCOMFORTABLE CHAIRS?" He paused while the man jumped for a second at the sudden question, as he was used to Papyrus not saying anything unless he was spoken to first.
"Because you're the ambassador?" He said in a way that indicated he was confused by the question. Papyrus could have slapped his face at his own obliviousness there, but to be completely fair they had been giving him pre-made human food which he couldn't eat as is and was more difficult to add magic to, to make edible. Basically, he was very hungry and stressed out from all of this questioning.
"OH. OF COURSE." He looked to the bowl of hot soup he was carrying, likely for Papyrus to eat. He got food after every shift change and human lunch break. Whether or not he would be able to eat it was another matter entirely. It suddenly occurred to him to wonder whether Sans was in the same boat. The soup bowl was placed in front of him, the pleasant aroma of vegetable beef soup rising with the steam it gave off. Now, this was something he'd be able to infuse with enough magic to be edible. He summoned a small green bone to place into the soup.
"Why do you do that? Is there something wrong with the food?"
Papyrus glanced up with his lightless sockets, the only indication he had looked up at all being the way the sockets would subtly move. He stirred the soup and thought of how strange this must appear to a human if they were not informed, which seems unlikely as both he and Sans needed to magically infuse their food to eat it.
"I AM INFUSING IT WITH MAGIC SO I CAN EAT IT. IF I DON'T IT WILL JUST FALL RIGHT OUT OF THE BACK OF MY JAW. USUALLY DOWN INTO MY SHIRT AND INTO THE INSIDE OF MY BODY AND CLOTHING." The man looked horrified at that answer, which made Papyrus even more worried about Sans. "BY THE WAY, HAS MY BROTHER, SANS, BEEN EATING? HE ALSO HAS TO DO THIS OR ELSE HE CAN'T EVEN GET SOLID FOOD PAST HIS TEETH. BECAUSE THEY DON'T OPEN."
"I...I don't know? I'm assigned to you, not Sans."
Papyrus frowned, his brow bones pulling down and together to make a rather intimidating face. "WELL. YOU BETTER CHECK ON HIM AND FIND OUT. NOW." The tone he was using and the face he was making - both first experiences for the man - sent him scrambling back towards the door. He swiped his card and ran out as quickly as he could. Once he was gone Papyrus began to sip on the soup. He was glad to be rid of the human while he ate as he didn't like the way humans stared at him while he chewed. They always looked at him like he was some science experiment, so interesting but utterly repulsive.
Even though he hated eating messily, he tried to eat the whole bowl before Allen got back, lest he deal with uncomfortable staring. Just as he had managed to finish it, Allen came back in, still looking a little frightened. He raised a brow bone as if to ask 'WELL?' The human stood straighter to collect himself.
"He's fine." The total stillness from Papyrus, along with the unnerving stare he was giving the human, made them elaborate, "They noticed right away that he couldn't open his mouth and so he had been put on a liquid diet."
The ambassador nodded. "ALRIGHTY. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW NO-" Before Papyrus could finish his sentence there was a knock on the door.
Allen snapped to look at it, confused as to what could have changed since he was last outside the room. He stood and answered the door, and a voice began to immediately instruct him in a hushed tone, an attempt to keep the ambassador from overhearing but pointless as he had excellent hearing.
"We have been instructed to let them go. You recall the debriefing about the news broadcast? Well, the teams were still unable to locate the entrance to the mountain, and coupled with the pressure by the public to release them, we've decided there's no way we could cover this up. Inform it that we're releasing it and its friends."
The human at the door walked away, and Papyrus took a moment to let his metaphorical skin crawl at being referred to as an 'it'. Though some monsters did not mind 'it' pronouns, Papyrus was not one of them, preferring exclusively he/him pronouns, not to mention the inherent disrespect and contempt in their voice as he said it. Once he had taken his moment to recover from his discomfort, he refocused on the situation, aware of how Allen had shut the door and turned to face him.
"We are being instructed to inform you that you are going to be let go, so prepare yourself to be released."
Papyrus stood and brandished his signature skeleton grin. "WOWIE! THIS IS GREAT! WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT I'D GET TO EXPERIENCE FREEDOM FROM HUMAN IMPRISONMENT TWICE IN MY LIFE!"
Allen seemed to find the ground very interesting before he turned and left out the door, likely to await further instruction. Papyrus began to jog little laps around the small room, having not had the chance to properly exercise the last few days.
As he ran, he went over in his head certain topics he'd been mentally marinating to find the proper solution towards, like a puzzle but the puzzle was monster civil rights and how to achieve them. Firstly, there was the issue of obtaining land for the monsters to live, which in the end would likely come down to monsters using the funds they will get in a currency exchange to buy houses while monsters unable to would be shuffled into public housing. There was also the issue of currency exchange, but according to what little info he was able to pry out of some of the humans asking him questions, that might end relatively well for monsters.
As he reviewed these thoughts, time passed without much notice, much like how it would when he couldn't sleep at night and thought up plans to distract him from the inevitable night thoughts which often were negative and an abysmal void of uselessness. Soon the door opened, revealing a human that Papyrus had not seen during his internment.
"You are to follow me." They spoke in short, clipped sentences, "I will lead you to where your friends are. You will board a bus and be dropped off back in the city of Victoria where you were taken from. You will not speak of this incident besides to say that we simply asked questions. You may not elaborate."
"OH, THAT'S JUST ADORABLE. HOW ABOUT YOU BUY MY SILENCE BY APPROVING CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS FOR MONSTERS?"
"We assumed that is what you would want, and, as such, bills have been introduced to the House. As public pressure and the public's current opinion of monsters being both high and positive respectfully, they are likely to be passed. I hope the laws are to your liking, Mr. Ambassador." Papyrus squinted, careful not to agree nor disagree as he did not know the exact terminology of the bills in question and would not pledge his silence on useless paper nor damn good proposals by refusing. They began to leave the room, and he followed as instructed.
"I SUPPOSE EVERYONE WILL KNOW WHAT I THINK WHEN I GET TO READ THEM." He responded, taking in the blandly sterile hallway, seeing a few doors open up ahead, his friends and brother exiting their rooms.
"I'm sure we will." The human responded, collecting the rest of the monsters and telling them to follow as they did with Papyrus.
Papyrus smiled upon seeing his brother for the first time in days, and he could see some of the tension leave Sans' smile when he saw Papyrus was unharmed. Undyne was even more relieved to see Papyrus was okay, or at the very least she expressed it more. She caused everyone to stop by tackling him and suplexing him in one movement, she was so relieved.
Some nearby guards approached, thinking their prisoners had snapped and were trying to kill each other, but stopped when Papyrus easily recovered acting fake annoyed by the affection.
"WILL THE SUPLEXES OF GENUINE FRIENDSHIP EVER CEASE!?" Undyne cackled in response before clapping a hand on his shoulder.
"Nope!" The uptight human that head been leading them pointedly cleared their throat.
"If you're quite finished I would like to lead you out of the facility some time this week." Their tone was somehow more sour than before.
Upon exiting the building all the monsters present took in the night sky. Where they were the stars were even more visible than they had been on the mountain, as they were even farther from human towns than before. The human, as impersonal as they have been allowed this for a silent moment before they turned to the bus that was picked due to the size of the monsters.
They opened the door, the scrape and clank drawing the monsters attention as a new human with two guards entered the bus through the now open door. The sour human walked away, not looking back. The new human wore a name tag that said "Jen" as well as dirty jeans, a band t-shirt, and an aged flannel jacket, her wiry, gray-streaked hair barely contained by a baseball cap with a bus company logo on it. She honestly looked like she didn't need guards but there they were.
"Alright," she said, her voice rough from smoking, if the smell was anything to go by, "I was told to tell you that this ain't 'standard procedure' and normally a driver for this bus would be a Fed or whatever, but none of those ninnies wanted to be on a bus with a bunch a giant magic Halloween decorations." She spat away from the monsters and towards the building, "So they shopped around for someone with a minimum Class C driver's license who doesn't give a shit. Since I am your driver I'm laying down my rules, not the Fed's rules." She lifted a hand, flicking out a finger with each rule.
"I was told you have magic, well I want none of that on my bus, nothing against you, I'd say the same thing to Edward Scissorhands. No screaming on the bus, one of the suits said a few of you tend to yell, but if you do that I am pulling the bus over until you shut your trap. Finally, I play my own music, I don't do requests, whether it's on the song or the volume." She curled her fingers back into a fist before sticking out her thumb and gesturing to the bus, "Now, get on."
