When confronted with the concept of an undead, possibly extradimensional rendition of a deceased (adopted) princess, there were only a few things one could do. And those things were what Sans had to confront when deciding where to go. The original concept of, 'observe' and let live, facing a single large obstacle. And that was the ever so alarming realization that the check prompt, an instinctual action provided presence by the laws of reality- spoke to him directly.
It wasn't meant to do that.
So, he went to the only place he knew he could go with even part of all this crap. Sans appeared, touching down against the pale tile of a laboratory. The air was hotter here, and smelled a like junk food in general.
He had landed beside a computer, covered in various sticky notes. Each written in chicken scratch. Various bowls, and wrappers from junk food were present. Alongside various machine parts, and several copies of various dvd's and vhs tapes. He felt a sensation, teleporting a bit forward to avoid a series of yellow blasts coming his way.
"a-alpys, hey, hey-" Sans laughed nervously. "would ya chill out for a second?" The strange tiny machines stopped firing. "not here to monitor ya, figured you newt I was comin by."
There was a low groan, followed by a lab coat wearing yellow lizard monster stepping from the shade. Clapping her hands, as the lights to the lab came on. A set of floating robots moving over to the desk, their cannons retreating into them. Tilting her glasses, she gave a little glare.
"I saw you run away, if that's what you meant." She added. "Not like you to chicken out, Sans." Her voice full of sarcasm. "Bail on work, responsibility, all that, absolutely. But to run away?" She tsk'd.
"heh, didn't think you saw that." Sans admitted, making a mental note.
Alphys smirked a little. "Sansy, I've got my eyes everywhere. Heh heh heh." Her little laugh ending, into a serious look "So, care to explain how our dearly deceased princess is back on her feet?" She tilted her head. "Or, why you didn't tell me first?"
While she was asking this, the screen behind her, on a larger monitoring terminal came on. Displaying the kid, and the flower. A second display prompting in the corner, showing an image of the royal family that was quite old. Or, three of the four. Toriel was present, smiling a much sillier smile than he'd seen before. Hugging two kids.
One who clearly had a forced smile and was only barely participating in the photo. And the human, hugging her, with a look of absolute content in her face. He recognized Chara immediately, noting that the only major note of difference seemed to be eye color. Even in the long-faded photo, he could make out the red eyes. He pondered the meaning of the check briefly, but opted not to bring it up. Refocusing to the there, and then.
"al, c'mon-" He began. "this is literally the first place I showed up. and you're the first one I've told." Sans remarked, leaning on the table. "figured, since we're such good friends, I aughta come share the good news."
"You're an awful liar Sans. Pretty sure Sun-Wukong has a better poker face than you." She scoffed.
"bout that-" Sans pushed a hand into his pocket, the drones quickly arming again. "heh, no need, just had somethin I was meanin to drop off-" He held up a copy of Dragon Crystal Z. - Resurrection of C. "found this and thought-" It was promptly snatched from his hand. "you might like it." He chuckled. "I'm an excellent judge of taste though."
Alphys let out a gasp, her intimidating expression shifting into raw excitement. "Where did you get this?" She asked. "I've been trying to secure a copy for months!?" She noted, breathing faster. "You probably don't even know the plot, do you?"
Sans replied. "na." He decided, against his better judgement to say. "but I figured you could let me know?"
The look on her face was, impressive. The good doctor nearly crying at the suggestion. Then again, he knew only one other person who listened to her talk about her shows. She then proceeded to excitedly rant about the events leading up to the movie. About some space emperor, and his brother.
She talked about a warrior monkey man. Who could turn into different colored monkey spirits, or something? Blasting magic and blowing up enemies.
She continued, commenting about resurrections, and the return of a fan favorite character. Someone who apparently was non-canon, but the creator really liked him. So said character was reinvented. And then she talked about a sexy green alien that everyone was really into on the forums.
"And that bastard GreenPix74 thought he was so high and mighty, cuz he had the only known copy!?" She began to cackle maniacally. "WHOSE LAUGHING NOW GREENPIX?"
The little robots began to laugh with her. In truth, while her behavior and evil laughs concerned countless people. Sans knew, at that moment, he was safer there than perhaps anywhere else.
"funny you bring up the only copy. I uh, heard this jerk talkin bout it. mentioned makin fun of 'mewmistress69' for not having seen it?" Sans grinned a little wider.
Alphys blushed some. "I-I can't change the username Sans. It's iconic at this point!" She noted, adding tiredly. "Honestly...you make one stupid name choice as a teen, and nobody lets it go."
"hey I ain't judgin. just hope you like it." Sans remarked.
She shifted some and asked. "So...what do you want for it?"
"believe it or not, just to know you'll enjoy it." He told her. "had it around the house the last week. been meanin to give it to ya."
"You're right, I don't believe it. But...well, you knew I would be curious about our little monarch anyways so..." She hesitated. "Thanks...Sans."
"don't mention it buddy." He replied, adding. "so, regarding the kid."
"Not here. In the lab." She motioned. "I'll meet you down there."
"alright. see you there." He gave a little salute and vanished.
Teleporting down, and through the ground, he arrived in a location known to very few. The list being, him, Alphys, and the King. He arrived in the TRUE LAB. It was a place he'd rather avoid, even if he did slip into it about a week prior. But that was for an unrelated experiment, in a section that didn't have...containment issues, like the rest did.
Normally, he'd keep far away. But,this instance of things demanded at least a little bit of effort on his part. Though, he made himself a nice little mental note, to go along with the other one. The moment something got near him, he'd do one of three things. Too close, then he'd bail. The moment he heard a noise, he'd blast the damn thing. He was not about to become a meal for what he knew was down there.
He waited in the dark, and cold, outside the elevator that Alphys was taking. As he waited, he heard a noise. Motioning, a blaster formed in the air beside him. The massive skull styled weapon, glowing red. Turning, to see something rushing at him. His eye flashed, and it fired. Tearing through the screaming abomination. The thing reeling back, crawling to the dark. Sans glanced at his blaster.
"best you stay on standby buddy." Sans suggested, as it vanished. "and I know some of you all can hear me...maybe some part of you will even understand me-"
The creatures lurking in the shadows watching him. Squirming through cracks. Hiding in reflections. Disguised as things, listening.
"You know damn well I'll tear every last one of you apart." Sans warned, with his serious tone. "The things you've done, the things've been done to you... You ain't worth sparin."
They slunk back into the dark. Avoiding the Skeleton. Or his furious eye. The elevator tinging, opening to Alphys, presently cleaning her glasses.
"Did they give you trouble Sans?" She asked.
"nothin I can't handle." He chuckled. "so-"
"I moved the records to the old rec room. C'mon." The Doctor motioned, as he followed along. "You know, I could use your hand with-"
"I don't do this stuff anymore al. I'ma sentry now." He responded.
"Which is a waste of talent." She said, giving him a side-glance. "Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into you Sans. I wager something happened, not that you'd tell me." He glanced away. "But it is nice to see you take some initiative regarding this...peculiar situation."
The pair wandered through the facility. Place be place. Heading down, and deeper in. Eventually, coming to a sort of living room, within the depths of the facility. With video tapes, and files nearby. Spread out across a few tables, and an old entertainment center. It was too familiar to him.
Sans glanced at the couch and chuckled some. "you kept this?"
Alphys glanced, noticing a blanket was still there. "I...uhm..." It had been a gift, from when the duo was working late. "simply forgot to toss it out. Probably a dust magnet at this point."
"it's okay to say we're friends al." He noted, heading over to some files.
"Were...at the best." She noted.
"I dunno, lots of jokes, and laughs last week." He recalled.
"Until you bailed again. Leaving me to clean up the mess that was that...machine of yours." She glared. "Ugh, you're infuriating Sans." Alphys remarked, adding. "You just do whatever you want, everyone else be damned. And then when things go wrong, you fuck off to Angel knows where. And now...now I hear you've somehow gotten even lazier."
The commentary was scathing. But definitely not unearned. He met her angry gaze, which softened some after a moment.
"sorry al. just had a lot on my mind recently." He admitted.
"Well...toughen up Sans." She requested. "If you don't, someone will kill you...you're not exactly playing with a full deck in the HP department." She reminded him. "And...I don't...want you to die." She shifted some, and let out a breath. "Especially not now. Too much work to do, and you'll not slack off, just cuz you're dead, got it?"
Sans chuckled. "got it boss.
Alphs smiled some. "Idiot...went and got us distracted." She spoke, adding. "I've completely forgotten what I was looking for."
"undead human princess from a few hundred years ago suddenly wandering around. question is how, what the hell, and more importantly, why the hell?" He reminded her.
"You just...nevermind. Alright. Gather everything you can on the human. As for the rest just...put them to the side." She sighed some. "I've been meaning to organized this mess."
"you got it boss." He remarked, making finger guns. She let out an exasperated sigh, but was smiling anyways. The duo beginning their hunt for, anything that might be important.
The process was boring, but with a bit of effort, they started to mull over as much as they could, before a phone began ringing. Alphys pulling it out and putting it to her ear. Speaking to someone. Sans however was a bit more concerned with some of the files he'd found.
Work from the artificial souls experiment. Work from the determination project Alyphs had been working on. A few autopsy, and soul study notes from the various humans who had come there, and died, in the past.
He paused, finding research notes he didn't recall having jotted down. It was also very legible, so it wasn't Alphy's handwriting. Examining it, the manilla folder was old, older than most the rest. Likely from the former royal scientist, whose name he could never quite recall. It appeared to be something like doctors notes, and visits.
An image within revealed a child, looking a whole lot like Chara. With various tubes running into her. There were various inspection notes, heartrates, different scans of the body. There was also a section on the soul, which it seemed was being studied while the kid was unconscious. At the request of Asgore.
He flipped through, finding the pages were a bit out of order. One of them, which seemed to be the first proper page, was marked as 'Vessel Study.' The subheading indicating that it was marked to be a failure. Before he could get too far into it, he heard her whistle.
"Hey, Sans, your brother is wondering where you're at." Alphys stated, covering the receiver briefly. "I told him you had to stop by to pick something up. Go get the noodles in the fridge, and head back."
"oh, oh crap right-" Sans scrambled some. "sorry al. gotta go."
"Hey-" She motioned at him. "keep the...whatever that is distracted. At least until we can either verify the identity, or confirm the human is a fake."
"what do we do if she ain't, her?" Sans asked.
"Handle it like the last human." Alphys remarked, before saying. "Now get going." She hummed, and put the phone back to her ear. "Yeah, yeah, he's on his way...don't you tell me what to do you bag of bones."
Sans sighed some, tossing the report back on the table, before vanishing. After a moment, Alphys heard him on the other end of the line. Rolling her eyes, and closing the phone. Glancing over what she'd found, most of it was functionally useless information.
Things about family interactions. Requests from the former Queen Toriel, to study human media and the sort. Silly things like trips, gifts the kid got and the impact they had.
The most fascinating of which was an impressive number of injuries that were labelled as 'accidental' in a large file. They included broken bones, various minor lacerations. One or two concussions, a few cases of minor burning, and the sort. Including one that left a deep slash up the arm. It appeared the Queen was seeking something to ensure these things didn't occur, believing the child to be self-destructive in nature.
She tossed these files to the side. They weren't specifically helpful. Moving on from it, she heard something fall. Glancing back to what Sans had been looking at. Wandering over, she picked it up. Raising a brow.
"What's this?" She wondered, opening it up. Skimming through a few pages. "Interesting...very, very interesting."