Muffet glanced to Alphys. "What was this 'needing our help'?" she half mused despite that they still came forward in case some stragglers decided to come forth. Not seeing any, she raised her voice. "How are you faring?"

Judgement shook her head.

"As well as I can be. I have never faced anything as horrific as these creatures. I would have thought they would be full of hate, rendering us vulnerable to them… but I sense nothing but pain from them all."

"W-well," Alphys began, tapping her hands nervously. "Whatever they're supposed to be, it didn't go the way it was planned, right? I mean… they probably weren't supposed to attack everything on sight…"

Grillby nodded slowly. "I thought them to be Beast Monsters, those driven on negative emotions, but...between their physicality, and what you just described...I fear we might be dealing with something darker…" His expression morphed into a scowl. "We need to find the boy swiftly."

"Yes," Judgement confirmed, her eyes narrowing in concern

Together, the group moved as fast as they could, following the directions the blue-eye had relayed to Kid. The cavern was eerily silent now, save for their running footsteps and the quiet flow of the river. Bodies were littered everywhere and the stench of death hung heavy in the air.

Quickly, they saw it up ahead, a small building set apart from the rest, nestled near the back of the cavern. Not far from it was a scattered group of dead abominations, seven in total.

The group would have just gone past, focused on their task, had Vigil not stopped with a start before tearing over to the scattered corpses and falling to his knees beside one. He pulled at the body, attempting to move it off of something.

Judgement hesitated before following him, tightening her grip on her still-drawn sword.

The fusions turned, with Grillby moving forth, raising a hand-perhaps partially to light up the area better-but mostly to prepare to blast something in the face if it tried to attack Vigil. "What is it…?" he asked.

Finally, Vigil managed to pull the abomination to the side. Underneath where it had been, lay a large cat-like Monster. Its scales were blackened and bloodied, and wounds covered its body.

Vigil gently rested a hand on its head.

"Deception…"

The creature opened golden eyes and weakly raised his head to look up at the Shifter.

"Vigil..." Deception's voice was dry and soft, and he let his head sink back down to the ground, as if that simple motion had exhausted him.

Muffet's thread vanished as her hands briefly drew to her face-before she raced forward with a soft sound of alarm.

Judgement came forward, sinking to one knee beside the fallen one and resting her own hand on him, her lower two eyes narrowing in concentration.

"You know him?"

Vigil nodded, not taking his eyes off the feline.

"He was the one I called to infiltrate the base, to try and find our people. He is one of the best spies I know… and my friend."

"Too many… creatures," Deception managed. "All at once… I'm sorry."

"Quiet," Vigil soothed, while Judgement let light shine from her palm, attempting to heal the myriad wounds on the felines body.

Deception tried to shake his head, the motion barely noticeable.

"Forget about...me. You must… must find the prince."

Muffet reached them. "Leave me with him...I may not know a lot of healing magic-but I can slow the damage that is being done, and buy him some time…"

Grillby's flames dimmed with concern, but he didn't argue. She was formidable-if something attacked, she could handle it.

"I will stay with you," Vigil declared. "There must be more healers up where the others have retreated to, yes? He should be fine if we can get him there."

Judgement inclined her head in agreement.

"Then we will go on without you. Be careful." With that, she turned to the building, sizing it up for a moment before heading to the door.

Grillby cast one last glance to his wife. She dipped her head, and then turned to tend to the wounded Shifter, while the elemental's flames danced quietly as he followed Judgement, the light becoming darker around him. Alphys and Kid followed cautiously behind.

The building's interior was small, and most of what space there was filled with various desks and chairs that had been smashed and carelessly thrown about. There were a few bloodstains on the cement floor and walls, though no sign of any bodies.

In the middle of the single room, was a set of stairs leading down, and it was here that the three remaining Monsters went. All was quiet, and the air seemed… colder down here somehow.

When they finally reached the bottom, they were greeted with a large room connected to three long corridors. Large metal doors lay on the ground, one still hanging slightly from the doorframe. Science equipment was scattered about, broken glass littering the floor. Four Humans were also on the floor, two wearing bloodstained lab coats, one dressed as a guard with a rifle lying close by, and a well-dressed man in a black suit lying face-down in a pool of his own blood.

"We need to cover as much ground as possible, as quickly as we can," Judgement murmured, looking at the three ways she could go."Alphys, stick with Grillby for now. Grillby, Kid, each of you take one of the corridors, and I will take the third."

"Right," Grillby started, and turned his gaze to Alphys briefly, before starting down one of the corridors, only giving a partial glance to the dead around him. The reptile scurried after him, while Kid took the middle route and Judgement the final one.

A door knob clattered to the floor, before the door was forced open. Grillby looked about, and then slowly entered. "Front area is empty…" he muttered to Alphys as he strode in. Everything in this room looked like...it was prepared for something. There were lines of metal tables in the middle of the room, and counters on the walls, with chemicals and more.

There was a door in the back that he made his way to...he opened it-giving a hiss as a cold wind hit his form. A freezer…

Chara shuddered within his form and he saw why. There were...bodies in there-and then he understood. They were preserved. His flames dimmed, and warily, he entered-praying that Frisk was not one of them.

While he studied the freezer, Alphys went to the metal tables around the middle of the room, resting an armored hand on one of them. It was… so familiar.

She scanned the room, and started, her eyes widening behind her helmet. She made her way over to one of the cupboards, opening it and searching around inside before pulling out a vial of blue liquid.

She hurried over to the freezer and poked her head inside.

"Grillby?"

She found him at the far back, turning slowly to her, his flames seeming odd with the cold air constantly blowing against his form. "What is it?" he asked, approaching her as he did.

"T-take a look at this," she stammered, activating a few systems within her suit to keep away the cold. "Does this seem, umm… familiar?"

He frowned, leaning forward, taking it quietly. "It...feels familiar," he admitted, studying it closely.

"I think it's… magic. Liquid magic, extracted from… something. I've never seen anything like this before…"

Grillby frowned, and took it. "I...it feels like an old…" The flames halted their movement.

"...Sans. This is Sans's..."

Alphys froze, and this time, the cold had nothing to do with it.

"Your Sans?"

Grillby nodded. "This is his magic…" he stated slowly.

"They were doing something with magic here," Alphys murmured softly to herself. "And all those... those creatures originated from here. They were experimenting on something… something that went horribly wrong." Her fists clenched as memories washed over her.

Grillby stiffened, and then gently nudged her out of the freezer, closing it. "Alphys...when...I was fighting them, something felt off. I felt like...I felt like I was fighting old friends…"

The reptile didn't want to believe it, but all of her data was pointing towards a single conclusion.

"Those creatures.. They had far more physicality than any Monster I've seen… even from your side. They… they were Humans, weren't they?"

Grillby nodded slowly. "I think...I'm starting to see just what they were…"

Alphys hesitated.

"Wasn't that what Overwatch wanted?" She trembled slightly, her voice hitching as she spoke. "To give Humans magic again?"

"...Alphys-a lot of magic in one of our Humans can be taxing, and they can house magic. Your Humans...if they've never had magic to begin with…" His hands trembled and he nearly dropped the vial.

"We need to find him."

"We need to try," Alphys agreed slowly. She looked away, tears brimming in her eyes behind her helm. "But… I think we already did."

Grillby was silent for several long moments.

"Pray that isn't the case," he managed, his voice wavering along with his flames.

Judgement hurried down the corridor, banging open doors as she came to them, peering around inside before continuing on her search. She still didn't understand all the tech around them, the strange pods that had been smashed open, the bloody metal tables with frayed straps, the syringes lying discarded and broken on the floors. None of it meant anything to her. Her only driving focus was to find Toriel's son.

This doesn't look good, dammit! Undyne growled, frustrated by yet another empty room.

We have to keep looking, Toriel insisted, trying to keep her voice steady. Maybe the others are having more luck.

"We can hope," Judgement muttered. Sans had been strangely silent since just before they had descended into the building, though the fusion could tell he was still on the alert, which she appreciated.

They were nearing the end of the corridor, Judgement could see four more doors up ahead. Reaching the first one, she opened it to find her eyes greeted by another, shorter hallway. She hesitated for a moment, debating on whether to explore the rest of the main hallway before going in.

In the end, she decided to get this smaller hall over with first. She hurried in, her heavy boots crunching on shattered glass from the broken bulbs overhead. There was only one door in this hallway, hanging slightly ajar.

She pushed it the rest of the way open, and her eyes widened at the sight before her. There was a larger room, cut in half with a wall with a large window taking up most of the middle of it. A few scientist bodies were scattered about a door right beside the window.

On the other side, she saw him. Frisk, his shirt torn and bloodied, and his skin deathly pale. He lay still, strapped into a metal table in the middle of the other room, surrounded by machinery and other equipment.

Frisk! Toriel's image immediately appeared before Judgement and phased through the wall to get to her son. Being unable to do the same, Judgement instead took the door. Finding it locked, she punched a hole through the metal and tore the door off it's hinges, casting it carelessly aside before running in, past more bloodstained corpses, not taking note of the purple-tinged foam clinging to their lips.

As she reached where Toriel stood next to the Human teen, Frisk's eyes snapped open and his back arched as a bloodcurdling scream tore from his lips. He began spasming violently, the tight straps cutting into his flesh everywhere they held him down. His eyes were wide, but unseeing, and blood began to trickle from them, running down his face and leaving red trails behind.

Frisk!

What the hell?

Oh, kiddo…

Judgement acted swiftly, ignoring the other's voices and dropping her sword, putting her hands on the boy and pouring forth her healing magic into him. Suddenly, Toriel screamed;

Don't! Stop it!

Startled, the fusion pulled her hands away, then recoiled in horror as she saw both spots her hands had been. Instead of healing him, her magic had had the opposite effect. In both spots there were welts that were already beginning to blister and weep pus.

"How…"

Look at his soul, Sans said grimly. You see all that magic, warring within him? It's tearing him apart as it is. Put more magic in his system and… well.

Oh gods… oh gods… Frisk… Toriel was shuddering, tears running down her image's face, flinching at each renewed scream from the boy.

We can't just stand here! We have to do something! Undyne shouted.

We need to find Alphys, Sans stated evenly. Focus on that for now. No one's gonna be helped if we panic.

Grillby's fire went wild as he whipped around. He didn't need to even shout at Alphys as they both crashed into the hallway-having briefly split up to look at different rooms. Flames were left trailing after the elemental as they tracked down the cries, and it didn't take long to track. They ran down the hall, sliding-and nearly crashing into Kid as they did.

They finally entered the room-all three sliding to a halt, catching sight of the boy...and horror swept through them.

Judgement turned to them. The lights in her eyes had dimmed, but they sparked again at seeing them.

"Alphys, we need your help."

The reptile was stunned still for a moment, staring at Frisk.

"Alphys!"

She jerked.

"R-right!" she hurried over to Frisk, trying to keep herself away from the teen's violent flailing. Toriel's image was on the other side of the boy, attempting to whisper words of comfort to him through her tears.

Alphys scanned him quickly, wincing at the data her suit fed to her.

"We need to get him back to my lab. The big one. I-I might need Mettaton's help too."

"Done," Judgement said immediately."Everyone, gather round, quickly!"

There was no argument as they all rushed forward. Kid's eyes were wide on his friend, and he could feel Chara's presence in the back of his mind, moaning softly at the sight.

"Yo, is he gonna be okay?" he asked as all four of Judgement's skeletal arms splayed out, magic crackling around them.

Alphys's voice was grim as she replied.

"Only if we're fast enough."

Up above, outside the entrance to the tunnel, most of the group was resting or speaking quietly amongst themselves. That all changed in a moment when suddenly, in their midst, Kid, Judgement, Grillby and Alphys appeared, as well as Frisk, still strapped onto the table. The screams emanating from the boy were enough to startle anyone who had drifted off from their slumber.

The little fusion jerked in alarm as the cries rang out-but Neo was already on the move. There was someone in pain-it was instinct at this point to rush over and help. His eyes were glowing as he raced to the boy. "Heavens-what has happened!?" he demanded, though his scans were already giving him a decent amount of information.

"Mettaton, I need you to come with us!" Alphys ordered. "I'll explain in a minute, but we have to get to my lab, I don't think we have much time!"

"Do as you need," the robot responded earnestly, while the young Frisk listened in horror to their counterpart, dread sinking into them.

Judgement laid hands on Neo, Alphys and the metal bed, and just like that, the three were gone, as swiftly as they arrived. Asgore stood frozen where he had half stood, staring numbly at the point where they had just been.

"You guys," Kid spoke up. "We should get back to the city…"

Grillby strode over, resting a hand on Asgore's shoulder. "He's in good hands...let's head back as quickly as we can." He glanced to the girl, frowning briefly. "We'll handle everything after that," he assured.

The former king shook himself.

"Yes… you are right." He looked around. "Is everyone ready to go?"

There was a chorus of agreements, except for Michael. "I need to go get Jeremiah," he called. "He's probably trying to hurry over...just go on ahead."

William frowned. "Are you sure?"

"We'll go too slow-the rest of you need to hurry back. We can find the city and work things out from there," the young man assured, before rushing back. "Jeremiah!"

"Then let us move out." Asgore looked around. "Anyone who is still wounded, or unfit to run, we will carry. Anything else can be dealt with later."

There were no arguments, wounded were swiftly gathered up, and the group, as a whole, began to make the trek back. Battered-but doing their best to not let that slow them down.