Chapter Seventeen: A Number of Undetermined Factors

The day began with the now-familiar death threats, the wake up routine persisting in the general manner it had been. He shared a pot of coffee with this world's version of Papyrus, the two of them united in their irritation at Undyne. He drove "his" younger sister to school and made his way to the library. It was a gloomy morning. The sun was hidden behind a thick veil of grey clouds, leaving him with little in terms of scenery. Oh well. His attention was meant to be on the road anyway.

Movement hadn't ceased to be a tiresome endeavor. It'd grown faintly easier, and for that he was thankful. Sans pulled carefully into a parking spot and checked the time. He was a few minutes early. The idea of a nap sprang to mind. Tempting as it was, he resisted sleep's beckoning call. For what must have been the hundredth time, he removed the stone from his pocket. Looking at it for the umpteenth time didn't return the pink glow it'd had. He knew what this meant. Furthermore, he now had the knowledge of why things had turned out this way. Nil, magic, was unstable here.

He shoved the stone back into his pocket, burying the problem in thoughts of the new day.

It was Friday. Even secret agents were allowed some time off, and he found himself impatient for his. It was an odd feeling, but one overshadowed by a hesitant curiosity. The human's words had lingered in the back of his mind. Today he was meant to fulfill Other Sans' promise and assist. He words had of course been too vague for him to dig up any information on the task. Much like everything leading up to this, he'd be going in blind and hoping for the best.

"Okay," he whispered with a deep breath. "Here we go."

He entered the extravagant building and didn't glance at the wealth of knowledge. He left behind the countless pages of information. He ambled through the various rooms hidden from public view. He stepped into the room of seemingly no purpose and closed the door behind. He stood upon the piece of descending floor and waited for its halt. He walked down the dark hallway to the metallic doors, putting on his best "serious face" as he did. He strode into the hub. Kira was beside him moments later.

"You have time for coffee today," she told him, and he found a cup in his hand before she finished her sentence. "You've got about forty five minutes in your office to catch up on some things. Mason said he'll stop by and you can go handle that project he's been working on. Any idea how long that will take?"

"Nope."

"Okay, well after that, there's a Euclid Class wandering around a neighborhood. It's been eating their pets, raccoon bits everywhere. Council wants that one alive. Then, there's some kind of deadly hamster thing going on in Ruby. No official category or anything, just hamsters ripping people's butts off. Then…."

He listened as they walked, taking a sip of coffee to find the taste almost pleasant. He gave the beverage a suspicious look, waiting for his chance to speak. Another try confirmed that the liquid's taste was far better than what he'd grown somewhat used to. He'd finished half the cup by the time they reached his office, and made a mental note to find out what she'd mixed in to create such a sweet variation of the dirt water.

"Th' thing Mason's workin' on. What's th' project ID number?"

She uttered the sequence quickly. He struggled to keep up, then repeated the numbers aloud to ensure he'd heard them correctly. She confirmed, and excused herself from the room before he could ask about the coffee. Some assistant! Though it was likely she believed he wanted to be alone, so he could work without distraction.

He finished the drink, tossing the empty styrofoam into the garbage bin. Sans booted up the computer, immediately looking up this "project" he was to take part in. He sat back with a yawn. The text before him appeared blurry. He made a series of zombie-like sounds whilst blinking. The words gradually came into focus.

Anomalous Creature Project #588008: "Determination"

Class: Keter

Catagory: "Timetwist"

Before he had the chance to read any further, the silence of the room was broken. The door opened to reveal the human as his uninvited "guest".

"Hey. Ya ready?"

"I- uh- it's kinda early, isn't it? Kira said-"

Mason interrupted him with an apologetic smile and a, "yeah, sorry 'bout that. Some stuff got rescheduled."

"Okay," he said with a shrug, and joined the human.

The fragments of information he'd attained buzzed around in his skull like an angry wasp. There was something about it, something he couldn't seem to place. Determination was a powerful force indeed, but what was "Timetwist" meant to signify? Some part of him felt he should know exactly, felt as though he did know. What he sought must have been a forgotten memory, beyond the boundaries of some mental wall he couldn't break through. Merely trying was enough to bring a mild fog to his already-sleepy mind. Once it receded, he concluded that whatever form of time manipulation this being possessed wouldn't be a mystery for long.

"So, hows yer week been?"

Mason's cheery expression lifted his mood to some degree. "Pretty boring. How abo- uh- how 'bout yours?"

"Mine's been kinda weird. Buncha little things mostly, but th' other day, somebody done got th' brilliant idea t' dump a pile o' cat poop on one of th' cafeteria tables."

This place had a cafeteria? He supposed it made sense, though found it surprising nonetheless. They'd entered a different part of the building. He failed to recognize this section of halls, leading him to wonder how vast the facility was.

Mason glanced at him as they turned a corner, grinning. "Guess y' could say it was a…. Shitty situation."

He laughed, not caring for whether or not Other Sans would find it funny. The joke had caught him off guard, and was welcomed despite the colorful language. His amusement echoed faintly in the underground maze and earned him an odd look from a passing guard. His soul felt lighter, a weight he hadn't noticed being lifted. His pupils shone brightly as he formulated a reply.

"Were ya table t' deal with it?"

This the human chuckled at before responding, "me? Nope. But I gotta janitor t' clean it up. There was no odor person for th' job!"

His laughter reverberated until he found himself short on breath. They paused for a moment as he recovered.

"You okay?" It was contagious. Now it was Mason's turn force air into his lungs. "Y-ya don't usually think those 'r so funny."

"Heh…. Yeah well, I- I guess I jus' needed that."

"I can believe it," he said as they continued their trip. "You been really on-edge lately." A few wordless breaths, before, "we better hurry up. Can't be late jus' 'cause I'm hilarious."

The closer they grew to their destination, the stronger the phantom force became. He hadn't previously been aware that something had triggered it. Upon realizing such, he spent the rest of their trip attempting to figure out what had set it off. There was nothing in these bright, barren passages to suggest any kind of threat. The instinct-like sensation coursed through him with every pulse of his soul. Still he found himself unable to place exactly what it felt like. Nevertheless, he was on high-alert by the time they arrived.