I am so, so sorry this took so long to update, guys. Unfortunately, it's probably gonna take a while for the next chapter as well – I just checked what my schedule for my next semester of classes is, and I have at least a couple of classes that will keep me on campus all day.


"I d-don't like this."

"Private, be quiet. Now is not the time for your whining." Crane snapped. Normally she could tolerate her partner's attitude, even if she didn't particularly like it – she knew that buried very deep underneath that simpering exterior was a fairy that actually gave a damn, unlike some members of the force – but considering what the two of them, a couple other volunteers, and their techies were about to try to pull… no, she really didn't have the patience for his usual attitude.

"I still don't think l l-like this. Why do we have to get involved? We're not trained in bomb disposal, Lieutenant!"

"Which is why the techies are getting involved. If it bothers you so much, you can be one of the lookouts – just stop whining."

Thankfully, he finally did shut up, and Crane took advantage of the silence to scan the multi-species squads of police officers down below, and the crowds of bystanders that had been moved to a safe distance away.

Crane hadn't known what to expect when Frisk – the Ambassador – had, after waiting for their police escort to be otherwise occupied with the news of the bomb threat, used Queen Toriel's massive form to shield them from view and gesture for the shielded sprite to come down. Crane hadn't wasted a moment, lighting down on the ground in front of the child even while keeping an eye on the arguing police officers.

She supposed, considering what she'd just overheard, she should have expected the child's question of "Can you take care of the bombs?" It was obvious, in hindsight, but it had taken her by surprise then.

"We could," she'd whispered back.

"Will you?"

That was when Crane had stalled for time to call Captain Short and let her – and through her, Fowl – what was going on. And had gotten full permission for doing what the Ambassador asked.

"If the Council tries to take this out on you, I'll take the blame," Short had said bluntly. "After all, it's their fault for putting a known loose cannon like me in charge of a squad of fairies, isn't it? And you were just following orders."

It would be easier said than done, "taking care of the bombs," though. For one thing, there was the threat of the bombs blowing when the doors were opened – which was highly unlikely. Considering the public avenue being threatened, it would have been difficult enough for anyone to sneak in to plant those bombs, let alone rig them to blow like that, and this bomb threat was coming completely out of nowhere. It was, the fairies had agreed after some conversation between the techies and Fowl, much more likely that there were people with detonators nearby keeping an eye on the doors, ready to blow the buildings sky-high once one opened. Which meant that before the squad did anything with the bombs, they first needed to be able to make an educated guess as to who they should avoid.

"Any luck so far?" Crane asked the squad at large. "Anybody suspicious?"

"Not yet, Lieutenant, sorry."

"N-no."

"Not a one – wait, hold on a second –"

Crane sat bolt upright, listening intently. After a few moments, the fairy finally spoke again. "We've got possible hostiles. The techies just finished a face trace on a couple of people in the crowds – known anti-monster folk that were seen talking to O'Reilly at several anti-monster gatherings before Humanity's Resurgence really took hold. No guarantee they're involved, but it's definitely a possibility."

"Where?"

"Edge of the crowd of bystanders, just off to the side of the department store. Woman with hair dyed bright pink, man in a blue overcoat. And Pinkie looks a little too happy about this whole scenario to be completely innocent, I guarantee it."

Crane quickly located the department store and scanned the crowds around it until she found one of the humans described. The woman was practically a beacon with how bright the pink in her hair was, and she grimaced when she saw that yes, the human looked far too happy to be anything but anti-monster.

"Alright," she said. "Anybody else find anybody suspicious?"

"'Couple others, but only a couple. No-one else is really standing out as dangerous."

She took a deep breath. "Then we can't afford to wait any longer. Everyone who's volunteered for the bomb disposal, to me. Everyone else keep an eye on the crowds, especially those people that we think might be involved."

A chorus of confirmations sounded over the airwaves, and within minutes, three other winged forms settled next to her on the roof.

"Right." The sprite took another deep breath, and continued on grimly. "Here's the plan – it's not a good one, but it's the best we got considering the circumstances here. The four of us will sneak into the buildings from the upper floors, and try to locate the bombs. Considering the bomb threat is credible even though nothing's blown up yet, that means that the bombs must be somewhere that either the hostages or the police officers were able to see them – probably on the upper floors, since that would cause more damage to the hostages no matter where they are in the buildings. We scan each building from the top down until we find the bombs, make sure that nobody will stumble across us when we do, and disarm them as quickly as we can. The techies and Foaly will talk us through it once we get to that point – for now, just focus on finding the explosives. And whatever you do – don't. Get. Caught."

Another smattering of agreements, and as one "just following orders I swear" LEP officer, the fairies lifted off and flitted away to buildings scattered around the plaza.


Technically, the Private had been right to worry. Your typical Recon fairy was not trained in bomb disposal or retrieval – there was no need for them to know such things. The most that any Recon fairy was typically expected to do with a bomb was either retreat to a safe distance or, if they felt like being daring or wanted to prevent immediate loss of life, relocate the bomb to a location where it would cause less damage when it exploded. A situation like this – multiple bombs in an urban avenue that they didn't have time to move to a safe distance, with an unknown detonation time – was usually a job for Retrieval – or, barring that, the LEP tech division or even Section Eight, if there were any of the latter's officers in the area.

However, their little group of volunteers was composed mostly of Recon officers, as most of the Retrieval and Section Eight fairies were either sticking close to the Fowl Estate (in case Humanity's Resurgence figured out that one of the Fowls were involved and tried to retaliate) or had taken up posts watching over the Ambassador (in case this was a double-pronged attack.) Which meant that the only reason they stood a chance at successfully disarming the bombs at all was several techies, including a certain centaur, watching via their helmet feeds and ready to broadcast instructions upon finding a bomb.

Considering that not all of the techies were good at dumbing down their lingo for the Recon jocks… well, Crane wasn't exactly filled with confidence. Still, the situation could be worse, a lot worse, so she didn't really have any room to complain. Or time, for that matter.

A window on the upper floor of a little store that was a combination of cafe and bookstore creaked open, and the sprite Lieutenant crept in, closing it carefully behind her.

"I'm in," she whispered. "Techies, any cameras I need to watch out for?"

"None so far, Lieutenant," one of the elves on the other end of the line reported. "Looks like you got lucky and ended up in an empty room – doesn't even look like this place is used much."

"What kind of bomb am I looking for here?"

"We don't know exactly. Sneaking in a bomb would have been tricky, so our best guess is either some sort of plastic explosive, something that could be squashed into a smaller form or naturally small to begin with. Humanity's Resurgence isn't exactly a well-funded group either, we think, so it can't have been anything ridiculously expensive either…"

Crane nodded, murmured an affirmative, and tread lightly across the floorboards towards the door, booted feet not making so much as a single creak as she moved.

"Careful, Lieutenant," the techie murmured. "I'm not picking up any camera feeds anywhere on this floor, so you're going in blind here."

She nodded, and paused briefly at the door, tugging off her helmet so she could press a pointed ear against the wood. She listened for several long moments, and when she heard nothing but some scared murmurs from the hostages below, she decided that it was safe enough to open the door to the hallway beyond, and did so.

No people in the hallway, be they hostages or hostiles. No signs of a bomb, either, though there were several other doors. Moving quickly – they didn't have time for her to dawdle – Crane snuck down the hall, pausing at each door to listen for movement on the other side before opening them and searching the rooms beyond.

She hit gold, figuratively speaking, at the third door – there was a box that looked very out of place in the little bathroom she'd just entered, and upon inspection there was what was definitely some form of plastic explosives, connected to wires and a remote detonator.

"Oh thank Frond," she sighed. She'd been worried she'd have to disarm something a lot more complicated than this. All she'd really need to do was remove the remote detonator and the wires, and dispose of the explosive putty so no one could blow it up manually. She did both quickly under the instructions of the techie, carefully separating the explosives from the detonators and then stored the putty away in one of her suit's pouches. With any luck, she'd be able to find the next bomb just as quickly as she'd found these ones. "Bomb disarmed and ready to be disposed of. I'll check the rest of the rooms just to be safe, but I'm moving onto the next building afterwards."

"You do that, Lieutenant. Remember –"

"Don't get caught," she confirmed. "I know."

After that, the rest of the explosives were found with relative speed. The squad of fairies picked their way through the threatened buildings with the kind of grim efficiency that would drive a war veteran, removing plastic explosives and detonators alike while the remaining officers outside kept them posted about what was going on. None of the humans suspected to be holding detonators were doing anything overtly suspicious, and while some monster officers, including Undyne, were still milling around trying to find ways into the buildings without opening doors, they were keeping their distance – a boon for the fairies, for as long as it happened to last.

Crane herself disposed of four more explosives – two of which had been in two different rooms in the same building – before word came over the coms that most, if not all, of the explosives had been removed. At which point, she gave a sigh of relief, and retreated to a nearby creek to dump the plastic explosives. It wasn't the best place to dispose of them, and normally she'd drop them off with another officer, but since this was an unofficial mission that could end up with their entire squad waist-deep in troll dung, she had to make do.

Then she flitted back to the plaza, pulled out a sheet of paper she'd snuck out of one of the buildings, along with a pen, and quickly jotted down a quick note.

Bombs were plastic explosives. Have hopefully all been disposed of. Will send information on bystanders that might be involved – couple of them known to be anti-monster. Be careful. -Fs

With that note scrawled, Crane quickly flitted over to one of the faces in the swarms of police she recognized – Frisk's fish-lady friend, Undyne if she was remembering correctly – and, when nobody was looking in the monster's direction, she quickly shoved the note into the monster's hand and shot up into the sky before she could react.

Undyne started, summoning a spear and looking around wildly, then looked down at the note in her hand. Crane watched as the monster read her hasty note, and then scowled and stuffed the paper into one pocket, and reached for her walkie-talkie.

"Undyne here!" She barked. "I've just gotten word that someone dealt with the bombs in the buildings – something about plastic explosives? And apparently there's people in the crowd that might be involved. Move in, everyone, move in!"

The squads, after some confusion, did so, and the sprite Lieutenant waited with bated breath to see if they had gotten all the bombs or not. Had they missed one? Were they wrong about the detonators?

"The pink-haired lady has a detonator!" The Private suddenly yelped over the coms. "She's pressing the button, but –"

Crane looked around until she found the woman again… and found the pink-haired human scowling at a tiny device in her hand, looking confused and disgruntled.

"We'll see if the Captain can send the police information on her later," she said, relieved. Nothing's happening. We got them all. "In the meantime, though… it looks like we got them all. Good job, everyone – now, let's get out of here."

And it was then, just as she was turning in the air to fly back to where she'd left Frisk, that Crane saw him. A familiar ruddy-skinned human, partially hidden in a back alleyway, scowling down at a device similar to the one that the other human had been carrying – and then disappearing almost as soon as she'd seen him, stalking deeper into the alley until he was out of sight.


"Looks like they were telling the truth – the bombs have been dealt with! Move it, punks, let's get these people out of here!"

Blocks away from where swarms of police officers were on the move, Frisk nearly went boneless with relief when they heard Undyne's voice over the walkie-talkie once more.

"Oh thank God," they whispered.


It was several hours later when Frisk and their escort arrived back at their hotel, and though the bone-deep relief that nobody had died was still at the forefront of their mind, they felt equally as paranoid as they were relieved – because barely a couple of minutes after hearing Undyne's voice over the radio again, Frisk had felt something brushing against one hand, and had looked down to find a slip of paper pressed into their palm with a written message that sent chills down their spine.

O'Reilly spotted near shops. Looked upset that nothing exploded. Keep an eye out.

They'd spent the next several hours jumping at shadows as a result of that note – they wouldn't be the least bit surprised if O'Reilly had decided to hit two birds with one stone, and come after them while the police were busy with dealing with the aftermath of the almost-catastrophe downtown. But nothing had happened. The police had kept Frisk informed of what was going on, and Undyne herself had eventually turned up, but other than that… nothing had happened. Not a single sign of O'Reilly or anybody that could be working for him or being controlled by him. Even now, as they signed in at the hotel lobby desk and started up the stairs with a smaller escort, Undyne, Flowey, and Toriel in tow, Frisk found themselves looking over their shoulder for an attack that didn't come.

A vine poked their forehead. "There's nobody else here but us, idiot. Stop looking so scared, it's annoying."

Frisk grimaced and gave the grumpy plant monster in his pot a sheepish grin. "Sorry. It's just – I can't help but feel like it's not over. Those bombs were gotten rid of too easily, you know?"

Undyne snorted. "Relax, punk. There's no way that O'Reilly guy will be able to get to you with all of us around!"

Frisk bit their lip and, noticing this, Undyne groaned, and turned to the rest of their escort. "You lot mind backing off a bit? I've got a wimp to reassure."

When the other police had agreed and backed off, Undyne lowered her voice (which was surprising, since Frisk rarely heard her use anything less than a loud indoor voice, and this was practically a whisper). "Seriously, Frisk, it's fine. We'll keep an eye out still, but this guy's probably gonna need some time to regroup before he attacks again. If he was going to use the bombs as a distraction, it's too late for that, and we're on guard and ready for him. We'll be fine."

The ambassador nodded uncertainly, not the least bit convinced.

"And while we've got a little privacy going for us," Undyne added, lowering her voice into an actual, genuine whisper this time, "you were the one that asked the fairies to help, right?"

"Yeah…"

Undyne grimaced, looking none too happy about them confirming this. "Seriously? Why'd you ask them for help?"

"I asked Flowey first," Frisk admitted quietly, "but he doesn't know how to deal with a bomb unless he's blowing it up. And… well, the fairies would be able to sneak around more easily. They can turn invisible, Undyne."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I figured that bit out. Makes sense that invisible people would be better at sneaking. But seriously, Frisk, why? They messed with your memories for fuck's sake, why would you trust them with something like that?"

Toriel cleared her throat. "Undyne, while it may be true that our new… allies have done some untrustworthy things in the past, we should still give them a chance to prove that such things will stay in the past from now on. And how are we to give them a chance if we don't give them a little trust?"

"But –" Undyne protested.

"I don't like what they did," Frisk interjected quickly before the monster could dig any deeper into that vein of venom, "but they're at least trying, Undyne. They're willing to help."

"But they mind-wiped you!" Undyne hissed.

"I know, but… holding a grudge won't help us, Undyne. And we need all the help we can get with HuRg on the move." They ignored the stab of guilt at them being such a hypocrite – they were still holding a grudge, even now – and gave Undyne a weak smile. "Besides, everyone deserves a second chance, right? And so far, they haven't made us regret it."

The fish-lady grumbled irritably. "… Okay, you've got a point. But I still don't like it!"

"You don't have to," Frisk said, more firmly this time. "Just… keep an open mind, please?"

"...Fine."

It was at this point that two things happened – firstly, their little group reached Frisk and Toriel's hotel room. And secondly? A sudden commotion dragged their attention to the escort of police officers behind them – the escort of police officers apparently suddenly occupied with fending off attacks from other police officers?

"The hell?" Undyne immediately whirled around and stormed back down the hall. "What the fuck is going on?"

One of the attackers looked up, blinking slowly as if in a daze and eyes oddly glazed over… and Frisk suddenly felt that tiny seed of unease that had taken root in their gut hours ago sprout and begin to grow.

"Undyne," they said urgently. "Undyne, wait."

The monster paused, looking over her shoulder at them in irritated puzzlement – then the man with the glazed eyes raised one hand, and Frisk's eyes widened in alarm at the sight of the gun being aimed at their friend.

"Look out!" They shrieked.

With a whoosh, a wall of white fire surged up to the ceiling just as the bang of a gun firing pierced their eardrums. Frisk yelped as a bullet disintegrated in the wall of flames, and Undyne cursed colorfully.

"What the actual fuck?"

"They're – they're being controlled!" Frisk was almost certain of this now – the few times they'd seen eyes like that had been on the faces of men whose minds were not quite their own at the moment. On top of that… they knew that officer well enough by now to know that the man wouldn't shoot at them. Heck, they knew for a fact that he wasn't even supposed to have a gun! "Which means –"

"That the bastard that kidnapped you is nearby!" Undyne finished for them with a snarl. "Shit. Frisk, Your Majesty, get out of here! Now!"

There was the sound of footsteps, another bang – a yelp from one of the non-hostile officers, a yelp of there's more of them coming, what the hell, and the next thing Frisk knew, Toriel had scooped them up off their feet and was barging into their room. The door banged shut behind them, a ball of white fire slamming the bolt across and locking their attackers out.

"The window!" They managed through their panic. "We can – the fire escape!"

Toriel wrenched the window open – only to come face to face with the barrel of a gun, and freeze.

*Fuck, there's people on the fire escape too?!

Frisk's heart felt like it was about to burst out of their chest.

People in the hall, people outside – and Mom locked the door behind us.

They were trapped. At the mercy of a mind-controlled goon with a gun, when they should have been safe here.

What do I do? What can I do? There's gotta be something, there's gotta be – c'mon Frisk, think!

Except they couldn't think of anything. Toriel was still holding them, furry arms tightening protectively, so they couldn't jump into the path of a bullet and LOAD. The dazed officer slinking in through the window was in the way, so they couldn't jump. Flowey was hissing in his pot in their arms, but because he was squashed between them and Toriel, he wouldn't be able to see the attackers – and he'd probably kill them if he could, which was best avoided anyway. And for all Toriel could block bullets with her fire, there was no way she'd be able to raise a flame wall in time – even her reflexes weren't that fast.

Someone's going to die, Frisk realized, panic slowly growing into outright terror. And I can't do anything to stop it!

And then there was a loud zap. And the mindless drone of an officer went down like a sack of bricks as a beam of neon light hit him in the back of the head.

For a moment, all Frisk could do was stare, dumbfounded, with their mouth hanging open. In the back of their mind, Chara was spluttering incredulously – and out of the corner of their eye, they saw Toriel looking almost as dumbfounded as both of the children themselves felt.

Then a black-suited winged figure materialized next to the unconscious man, a futuristic ray-gun in one hand.

"Sorry it took us so long to get here, Ambassador," the fairy said. "But we're here now." There was flash of a grin underneath the visor. "You're safe."

And all Frisk could do was let out a hiccuping, hysterical sob of relief.


I wasn't entirely happy with how this chapter had been written until daniel got his claws into it and changed a few things, so THANK GOD for proofreaders/editors/coauthors, amiright?

Guess who the pink-haired woman is a reference to? :3

Also, nice to see the fairies making an effort to help the monsters out, eh? Now they only have to make sure that the Council doesn't catch wind of what they're doing before they can convince them that an official alliance would be beneficial.

(No asterisks or worldbuilding notes for this chapter, sorry guys.)