And we're back.


"A-are you sure you want to go through with this, Sierra? I mean, my history with the Don taken into consideration, I'm… I'm not sure he's going to like it"

"Your history is your history, Alphys. I've heard it a few times by now – your old boss tried getting creative with the results of your research and that got your panties in a knot, but rest assured, I won't have a problem like that. Once I wave this moneymaker under his nose he's gonna salivate more than the dupes at my Uncle's BBQ. He wouldn't expect something as daring as this from you, but from me? A nobody newcomer? Heh, don't worry, boss, it's in the bag"

"I'm not so sure, bu-but I'll keep my finger's crossed"

"Yeah, you do that while I go get rich"

"O-ok, ehhm, see you tomorrow, and good luck!"

Alphy's well-wishing was ignored by everyone save the wind and the moon as Sierra traipsed down the stairs from their lab and towards her car, a reinforced steel briefcase in hand, leaving Alphys alone nervously wringing her hands before going inside and coming back out with her gaudy mewmew jacket, headed for home.

For a short spell, all was quiet at the Ebott lab, until a rustling in the bushes beside the parking lot revealed a group of hiding figures.

"Alright, looks like the coast is clear. 'bout friggin' time too" the first figure said as he emerged. A tall, wolf-like monster sporting a matted but long dull-blonde mane, a dirty gray hoodie and holed jeans.

"Yeah, you said it, Cor. I don't like hiding in bushes, I think I got a small garden worth of leaves in my eye" the second figure emerged. A thuggish-looking loox with a backwards cap and several ring-piercings surrounding its eye.

"Shut your trap, I didn't bring you along for your commentary" Cor snorted before turning his attention to the bush they crawled out from "And that goes doubly for you, Kuro. Get your feathery ass out here" he barked, giving a swift kick to the bush, eliciting a startled yelp.

"S-sorry, I'm coming" A meek voice responded as the third figure crawled out. A petite, crow-like monster wearing a home-knitted pink sweater and light-blue skirt.

"'Atta girl. Keep this up and by the time we're through you'll actually have done something interesting in your life for once" Cor said before leaning down to Kuro, digging a finger into the hem of her shirt to pull her face closer to his "Of course, if you make a mess of things… I'll be taking more than just your lunch money" the threat seeped from him as he licked his chops.

"Pl-please, I won't cause any trouble" Kuro whimpered, weakly trying to push herself away.

"Wow Cor, you're soooo cool, you really put her in her place" The loox gasped excitedly.

"Well, it's like my dear ol' dad always says. Gotta put the women-folk in their place so you can put yourself above them. That's why I got like 5- no, 7 girlfriends"

"Woah, 7 girlfriends!? That's like… 7 more than I have!"

"Just try and keep up and maybe we'll have you make out with more than just the schoolyard fountain before the years' over"

"R-really!?" The loox gasped, the pupil of his eye expanding as he imagined his future.

"Sure, now shut up and follow me"

The trio sneaked through the bushes to the back of the lab, Cor hissing an insult each time the loox stepped on a branch or Kuro whimpered, until they came to rest in front of a service entrance door hidden in the shrubbery.

"Alright, this is it. Time for you to do the one thing you're actually not totally worthless at, looxie, go pick the lock" Cor ordered.

"O-oh, you really put me in my place too…" The loox whimpered.

"It's like my dad always says; better to raise your voice at someone else than raise your hands in effort, now get your finger outta your hole and into this one" Cor nodded at the keyhole in the door before turning to Kuro, cowering before him as he did.

"And you, you know the deal, being the most pathetic nerd in school. Once we get inside, you're gonna find me something nice and sciency and expensive I can sell on. Need the dough for my kegger"

"I-I, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, we're stealing-" Kuro protested.

"News flash, genius, this is Ebott. Theft is literally the local pastime"

"But we're talking about stealing from the Don himself! This is his lab! We could get in so much trouble!"

"Pfft, if you worried half as much about not being a dork as you worry about this maybe you'd actually have a friend or two" Cor scoffed and kneeled down on his haunches, leaning his face close to Kuro's.

"Our oh-so-great and magnanimous boss has more than enough moolah to coat each of his hairs in gold with diamond filigree. What we're doing is nothing, it's like my dad always says; it's ok to bite the hand that feeds you as long as you only take a finger or two"

"Bu-but what about security? And the cameras and-"

"Oh my god, stop whining!" Cor barked and lashed out with a slap that sent Kuro to the ground as a quivering mess with a pained sob.

"Nothings' gonna happen. A friend of my dad told me all the cameras are down for maintenance tonight, and the Don only hires security if his pet nerd is working on something important, so there's nothing to worry about, see?" Cor leaned down to the shaking Kuro who was meekly attempting to hold back years while nursing her reddish chin.

"So, be a good bird, find me something nice and pricey and we're good. Hell, I might even invite you to my kegger if you do a good enough job" He said, taking Kuro by the arm and harshly lifting her up.

"R-really?" She whimpered.

"Sure… I'm gonna need a clean-up crew after all. Now get up"

"Hah! Got it!" The loox suddenly called, turning from the door as Cor approached with Kuro in tow.

"About time. Took any longer and Kuro might've started gushing about the Vigilante like she always does" Cor huffed.

"Yeah, well, I'm actually kinda proud of it. Took double the effort" The loox excitedly whooped.

"Hm? Whaddya mean?"

"The door was unlocked from the start! So when I lockpicked it the first time I actually locked it, so I had to lockpick it again to open it up again. See? Double the effort!"

Cor starred at the loox with an empty gaze, the slight twitching of his curled paws the only hint of emotion. After a few moments, he took a deep sigh, shaking his head.

"It's too bad we've wasted too much time already, otherwise I'd have half a mind to give you double the ass-kicking for your double effort" he snapped.

"Huh, guess it's my lucky day, then" The loox mused.

"Well, it's not mine I'll tell you that for free. Now get outta my way" Cor said and delivered a swift kick to the loox that sent it tumbling through the door.


If anything could ever make the difference of origin between the two rulers of Asgore's mob clearer to Sierra it would have a hard time to outdo the moment she entered their meeting room for her presentation. The room wasn't as big as might be expected of crime bosses with the influence and capital of a small nation. The round, oaken table to which the participants were to be seated was plain and didn't put any one seat in any kind of implied superiority over the others, and the windows providing an uninteresting overview of the Dreemurr Mansion's parking lot.

It spoke of the modesty, plainness and unassumingness of a personality that hadn't let wealth or power change their core values. It bore a simple message, that in here everyone was equal.

Conversely, the core of that message abandoned Sierra the moment a chill went up her feet from stepping on the polished marble floor, the veins magically transmogrified into the stylized "D" of the Dreemurr mob. Sierra had already gotten an inkling of the more imperial themes of the room from the white, ivory pillars supporting the ceiling with alabaster parapets that flanked the doorframe she had entered the room through, compounded even more as the windows, though only showing the parking lot, bore embossment in their glass that seemed to illustrate the story of Asgore's rise to his position and Toriel's flight from her controlling father. All of this cast in light from a chandelier blazing with all the rainbow's colors, each just strong enough to cancel each other out and not bathe the room in any one color, save a pleasant golden hue that seemed that cast every person present in a confident and benevolent light.

Asgore's and Toriel's origin at each end of the social ladder made manifest in clashing-without-becoming-too-garish decor that, while probably intended to comfort, took Sierra aback for a few moments as she entered. No doubt an expected reaction as she noticed the Don's amused chuckle at the end of the meeting table, pleasantly accompanied by the beautiful and calming smile of his wife beside him.

Sierra whistled at the sight of it all "Well fan my flames and call me fiery, did I enter a mobsters lair or a museum art piece?"

"Hah, well, you have my wife to thanks for the decor. She thought we should have it represent both of us while I wanted something simple… so we compromised and got it to represent both of us" the Don chuckled and rose from his chair, spreading his arms as if inviting the fire elemental in for a hug from the other end of the room.

"Good of you to come!" His voice boomed with warmth "I regret we couldn't make it earlier but, golly, if I said running a mob this size was easy they would call The Grandest Liar Alive"

"All fine with me" Sierra replied "Just meant I had more time getting the greatest thing since sliced bread ready for the presentation"

"That does sound interesting" Asgore said, amused, before turning to his wife to his left.

"Allow me to present the people who will preside over your presentation then; my lovely wife who needs no introduction" The Don cooed before leaning down for a quick peck on the cheek.

"And, while perhaps not as lovely as my Tori, the no less important officers of the Mob that helps us keep the lights on and money flowing" Asgore presented, introducing the Dreemurr Mob Lieutenants and captains that flanked the table one by one.

Sera gave a court nod to each one, understanding more and more at each greeting the importance of the moment. She was in the Lion's Den and these were the lions in the jungle that was Ebott.

"And, as an evaluator of your product's profitability in the, shall we say, more lawful sector, the biggest fish in the sea and my right paw; Stormstarh" Asgore boomed as he turned to his towards a large, sharply-dressed shark-monster sitting a few seats away to the Don's right, finishing the introductions.

The monster smiled, revealing rows of an apex predator's razor teeth as he nodded a greeting towards Sierra.

"Enchanted. I'm excited to see what you got for us Ms. Hayephaystus. Sliced bread was quite the hit back in the day I hear"

"This is going to do more than hit. It's gonna sweep your legs from out under you" Sierra strode confidently forward, plonking her steel briefcase down on the table and ominously clicked the latches open.

"I'm sure you're aware of Alphys's biggest breakthrough in recent time; the artificial synthesization of one of the chief soul aspects; Determination" Sierra began, slowly panning her vision left to right to build suspense.

"An incredible feat chemistry and magic, but of regrettably little use to us monsters as Determination can be highly lethal. To that end, I have decided to follow Alphy's footsteps but down a different path. I have studied her notes as treasure maps to unplumbed opportunities and through months of work I have come upon my ultimate achievement!" Sierra boomed as she thrust a vial filled with a black liquid into the air for all to see "My soul-based conversion agent; Soulific Oxysulfide Determinicalium! S.O.D, or, as I like to call it… The Stuff Of Dreams!" Sierra grandly boasted, the hue of her fires subtly changing to a bright yellow to cast herself and the S.O.D in an even more golden light.

"The Stuff Of Dreams… quite the, hah, imperious name for such an ominous-looking thing" Don Asgore chuckled, warily regarding the vial in Sierra's hand "And what did you say it was? A conversion agent? So, you can talk to it?"

"Uhh, what? No, it's a 'conversion' agent, not 'conversation'" Sierra replied.

"You must forgive my husband's limited vocabulary. He may be the head of one of the largest illicit organizations in the world but sometimes he forgets to pull his own head out of his backside" Toriel interceded as gently as a summer breeze in a stifling room.

"T-Tori, please, not in front of the others" Asgore whimpered as a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Ms. Hayephaestus" Stormstahr suddenly cut in "Giving that your S.O.D is soul-based I'd assume it does not use the regular chemical compounds for conversions, like zirconium or vanadium, so what exactly is your S.O.D meant to convert?" The shark monster put to her.

If Sierra had eyebrows she mused for a second that one would be raised in impression at Stormstahr's chemistry knowledge "Something of great value to people in your position" she coyly grinned.

"Oh?"

"When I set out to make S.O.D I asked myself 'what does every self-respecting mob boss always need?' money, for one, but also ready and able paws willing to get dirty. In a word… goons!"

"Goons?" Asgore raised an eyebrow at the sudden turn "Well… I suppose…"

"And then, I asked myself, what does a mob comprised mostly of monsters lack compared to humans?" Sierra continued.

"I am not sure I like where this is going…" Toriel whispered.

"As a species, we monsters lack the physical robustness, toughness and strength of humans. We make up for it in magic and a greater propensity towards kindness and compassion, which, as I'm sure you can understand, doesn't mesh well with being in a mob" Sierra clutched the vial to her chest, looking over the other occupants in the room with a low, serious voice.

"The only real way for a monster to get anywhere near a human's strength and toughness is through gaining LOVE with violent actions, a process that is neither quick, easy, cheap or pleasant… but that is why I am here today, to offer you a solution"

Sierra raised the vial high, letting light from the chandelier above refract through the black liquid inside, casting the room in a dark but powerful hue.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is what my magnum opus, my Stuff Of Dreams can do. By converting a monster's excess kindness and compassion into LOVE, we can essentially mass-produce monsters with all the strengths of both races but none of the weaknesses! The simple Tem can be a whirling ball of death! The meek Migosp an aerial predator of the skies! The smoldering Pyrope a blaze of fiery vengeance! The unassuming Woshua a tidal wave of destruction!...

All through a few drops from this simple glassware…" Sierra finished, enjoying the stunned looks of the Don and his wife.


"Oh my god, dude, could you make less of a racket!?" Cor snorted at the Loox on the floor.

"S-sorry Cor, I banged my head something fierce on the door when you punted me through it"

"I didn't punt you, I helped you through it, like what a good friend would do. You should thank me"

"Oh, ok, well thank yo-uurrff" The Loox wheezed as Cor stepped on him on his way into the room.

Kuro followed him through, making sure to step around the wriggling Loox. She brushed against a guardrail and took a look down.

They were on a gantry suspended above rows of vats, some empty, some holding liquids of dubious nature.

"Huh, guess we're on the inspection bridge" Cor mussed as he picked up a clipboard hanging from the guardrail "Hydrochloric Acid. Au – Molten. Soulific Ox-Oxe- holy crap – Soulific Oxysulfide Determi- Determinicalium… what the hell, who comes up with these names?" He grunted

"W-Wait, did you say Au?" Kuro asked as she stepped up to him.

"Kuro, I know being a loser dweeb is practically in your DNA, but I'm sure Au means something else than 'Alternate Universe', what, you're thinking of writing a fic about the Vigilante being a chemist or something?"

"No! I mean… yes, but no, Au is gold"

"Kuro, oh my god, fanfics are not g-"

"No, not fanfics! On the chemical table Au the designation for gold!" She gasped "Which means there might be a whole vat of molten gold right below us. Could we- maybe we could take that and get out of here… before we get into trouble?"

Cor let out a disappointed sigh, dragging a paw across his face "Kuro, you barely got the strength to change into your gym clothes for PE, how'd you imagine you would lift an entire vat of molten gold out of here?"

"Well… maybe you could…" Kuro meekly tried, touching the tips of the quills on her hands together in embarrassment.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, but even with the retard-strength of the whats-his-name Loox we got with us I seriously doubt we could vamoose with a 5-ton vat of molten gold. 'Sides, the hell am I gonna do with molten gold? Pour it in a cup and have it served? I need something tangible, not liquid assets, or whatever you call it!" Cor snorted, whipping Kuro across the head with the clipboard.

"Dumb bird, I brought you along 'cause you're the class nerd. If I'd have known you were this dense I might as well have brought my pet rock instead" He hissed.

"Hey guys, what about them boxy boxes over here?" The Loox suddenly called from a small stack of crates.

Cor gave a quick, annoyed growl before stomping over, just as the Loox managed to get the lid off of one of the crates, revealing layers of styrofoam stacked on top of another inlaid with vials holding a clear liquid.

"Whaddya got?" Cor snorted.

"Dunno, looks like water" The Loox replied.

"… Water?"

"Hah, yeah, that's funny, I think that's what comes out of the faucet in my bathroom at home, too"

"… Loox, I swear to god-"

"Wow, there must be at least a thousand here"

"It says 999 here on the side"

"Wait, that's NPH Isophane" Kuro suddenly gasped from behind Cor.

The larger monster looked over his shoulder down at the smaller bird with thinly-veiled irritation "You talking smack, Kuro?"

"No no, that's not water, it's insulin! NPH Isophane is a kind of insulin!"

"Insulin? You mean that medicine for lardasses who can't keep their fingers from the cookie jar?"

"Well… you can be born with it too… like my mom…" Kuro meekly tried, cowering.

"Woah, wait a sec, your moms' a diabetic fatass? Sheesh, Kuro, you're making it too easy. Guess all those 'your mom' jokes were more on point than I thought" Cor chuckled.

"Says here they're for the queenpin's giveaway next week" The Loox read from a note on the crate.

"Well, if the bosses' missus was going to give it away anyway, this barely counts as stealing. Hell, they're probably stolen from somewhere else in the first place. It's like my dad always says; if someone extends an olive branch, uproot their whole garden. Loox, you take those four crates, I'll carry the rest"

"Wait, no! You can't do that!" Kuro protested with a jump.

"Chill out you dumb bird, I know insulin ain't exactly molten gold, but I know a way to turn most medicine into hooch. Call it a, heh, family recipe. Perfect for my kegger"

"You don't understand! Without this medicine, people could die!"

"You mean diabetics could die, oughta teach them to lay off the sugar" Cor snorted as he bent down to pick up one of the crates.

"C-Cor, please! Don't do this!" Kuro begged, tugging on the wolf-monster's sleeves "Coul-couldn't you at least leave one crate behind so people don't-"

"Do you have any idea how many people I've invited for the kegger? No can do, I'm gonna need every last drop"

"Please, don't…"

"And get your hands off me you dumb bitch!" Cor growled, batting her away and sending her to the floor with a crash.

Kuro sobbed in pain and fear, tears ran down her beak as she weakly tried to pick herself up, made harder as a consuming feeling of helplessness made her limbs feel heavy, and the horror of knowing there was nothing she could do as Cor and Loox carried the life-saving medicine away.

"Please… my mom needs it…" she sobbed.¨

"So do I" Cor chuckled "That's the good thing about Ebott, there's nothing stopping you from taking what you want from those below you"

"Hnngh…"

"That's why weak losers like you are always gonna end up under the boot of winners like me. It's not about what kind of monster you are, it's all about the attitude, about having the guts to take what you want and give nothing back"

"You… you can't…"

"Do something about it then" Cor laughed heartily "Man, you really are pathetic. Can't do nothin' but sit and cry" he gave a curt gesture as he turned towards the exit "Whelp, guess we're done here. See you in class tomorrow, Kuro. And say hi to your mom for me" The wolf chuckled.

The feeling of powerlessness suffused Kuro's body to the point it made her feel completely numb. Her breaths came out as panicked sobs and her limbs tense to the point that her quills were protruding like spikes.

What made it all worse was that she knew Cor was right. This was Ebott, the City of Thieves. Even if it was found out Cor had stolen from the Don chances were he would be lauded as a kind of hero for daring to steal from the boss. At worst he would get a slap on the wrist.

But for her, she now had to face up to having put her mom in danger of dying, but that was the reality of it all. Cor was strong, therefore he could take what he wanted without a second's thought from the weak.

It was all too much. Within her she felt a smoldering ember of resentment flare up. Maybe she was weak, but that was another thing about Ebott.

You always had the opportunity to become strong.

"I… won't let you…" She hissed as she finally managed to stand up.

"Pfft, whatever" Cor scoffed.

"I…won't… LET YOU!" Kuro screamed and dived at the wolf like an eagle spotting prey.

All Cor managed was a stupefied "Huh?" before a black-feathered missile suddenly smashed into him, sending the crates flying in all directions and Cor into the guardrail. All Cor's world consisted off was black feathers and screeching as he tried to fight off Kuro, and he grunted as he could feel her talons and quills rip and slash at him.

"GET OFF ME YOU STUPID BIRD!" He howled to little effect as he frantically tried to cover his face.

"Wow, you guys are acting just like my parents" The Loox commented from the side, still holding the crates.

"I SAID GET OFF- AARRH!" Cor screamed as Kuro managed to clamp her beak down on his fingers and he felt bone being crushed.

The sudden rush of pain spurred him to action and with a scream of pain and desperation, Cor grabbed Kuro by the shoulders and threw her off with all his strength.

He rolled onto his side, clutching his bloody mess of paw to his chest "You friggin' psycho! What's wrong with you!?" He snarled.

But as he looked up at Kuro the hot anger in his chest turned cold with fear.

The bird-monster, beak, and talons still flecked with blood were hanging from the guardrail just above one of the vats.

"SHIT! NO!" Cor barked as he leapt to catch her before she fell, running past the vacuous loox who had a finger buried in his nose, but already he could tell it would be too late. Her feathers and talons too slick with blood, she fell with a scream just as he dived to catch her. All he got for his efforts was the sight of Kuro falling into a vat filled with a black liquid, her screams silenced by a wet splash.


Sierra practically had to clench her jaw shut to keep herself from cackling at the display in front her. The leadership of the Dreemurr mob, all flabbergasted at the well-proportioned moneymaker she had presented them.

"Not bad for the niece of a burger flipper, huh?" she grinned "And just to point out the ease of manufacture, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know I have a vat with enough S.O.D to supply the Dreemurr mob's entire outfit back at the lab set and ready to go"

Sierra mentally chided herself for leaving her phone at home as a courtesy to the Don and his wife. Had she had it she would have taken a picture of the amazed faces of the Dreemurrs for posterity.

Amazed at her S.O.D! Amazed at her genius! Amazed at her!

She let out an involuntary guffaw. Hurriedly, she cleared her throat to try and cover it up and spread her arms wide. Time to strike while the iron was hot and seal the deal.

"So, how about it? Are we ready to spin some gold or are we just gonna leave money on the table?" she beamed.

The two Dreemurrs shared one last look before settling into apprehensive frowns that were a little too dismissive for Sierra's like.

Asgore scooted forward in his chair and folded his paws, taking a deep breath before he spoke.

"Ms. Sierra Hayephaestus, I think the answer on both me and my wife's mind is an unfortunate-"

"Absolutely Fucking Not!"

Sierra almost extinguished at the sudden outburst, not just at the shouting but also at how the grand and baritone Don's rumbling voice suddenly turned feminine without losing any of its authority.

What really confused her was how even the Don seemed taken aback. Right up until the answer presented herself, in the form of a walking suit of armor, stepping out of the shadows from behind the Dreemurrs, a red ponytail trailing from the helmet while a blue orb blazed from the visor.

The knight's presence was a complete anomaly to her, and therefore, as a scientist, supremely aggravating as well. She hadn't even noticed the imposing knight at all. Her only solace was that her outburst seemed to be aimed at Don Asgore and not at her.

"Look, Asgore, I don't give a hoot if this witch is Alphys's assistant or the king of my ass, we are NOT peddling that poison to the guys!" she snarled.

"U-Undyne, please" Asgore stammered.

The only island of calm on the other side of the table, Toriel, leaned forward, apparently unaffected at the storm raging at her husband and still focused on her.

"Ms. Hayephaestus, despite Undyne's brusqueness I feel she does well to elucidate our reception towards your S.O.D" She said.

Sierra felt her inner fires turn blue in a cold denial at what was happening and how quickly it had all turned around on her.

"Have you given any thought to what your S.O.D would actually do to people?" she just barely had enough composure to realize Toriel was asking.

"Of course I have, I just finished explaining that not two minutes ago" she replied with more venom than intended, but goddammit, what was happening!?

"Have you worked out any countermeasures, maybe an antidotal solution that could reverse the effects of your S.O.D?" Stormstahr suddenly cut in.

It was like a kick on the gut. If she had then maybe she could turn things back around but she hadn't even considered an antidote – why would anyone want a cure for being stronger, tougher and faster?

"Given the nature of souls, an 'antidote' for LOVE is… unfeasible" she managed, not quite a lie, not quite the whole truth.

"So, essentially, there's no way to, how to put this… restore someone who has used S.O.D to their former selves?" Stormstarh continued.

"Fuck's sake, lay off…"

"What?"
"I mean, no, not at present, no"

The shark monster's frown as he scribbled something on his notepad felt like a hammer strike on a nail in her coffin. Both he and Toriel were obviously put off, only the Don remained but the big guy was still getting his ear chewed off by Undyne.

"I feel like I need to ask, have you attempted any clinical trials?" Toriel chimed in again. She couldn't help but notice a hint of warning in the otherwise gentle monster's voice.

"You mean if I have actually tested S.O.D on live subjects? What kind of monster do you take me for?"

"Goodness, that is a relief..." Toriel sighed.

"Of course I have, I wouldn't present something like this without proof to its effect, now, would I?" She said, producing a bundle of pictures from the suitcase and sliding them across the table towards the Dreemurrs.

"It was hard finding people to test on, but we had a cluster of Vegetoids growing out behind the lab, told them I had this new fertilizer I wanted to try on them" She explained. She remembered the exchange with the vegetable monsters with no small amount of fondness. A group of test subjects, right at her workplace, and better yet, a group of monsters of a type no one really took seriously – if something went wrong with them, no one would care if the veggies turned into vegetables.

And then again, she wasn't lying; her fertilizer was going to make them stronger, although she hadn't expected the LOVE in the S.O.D to make the vegetoids grow hard shells, cactus-like spines and for their juices and sap to turn downright poisonous.

Only made them better goons… if anyone ever needs a bunch of intimidating veggies to sort out unruly weeds, she had concluded.

The Dreemurrs, Stormstahr, and Undyne perused the pictures of the Vegetoid's transformation with the same shocked expressions as before, though, by now she realized this probably wasn't a good thing.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Undyne, surprisingly, was the first to speak.

"What?"

"You poisoned them!"

That was it, no more Ms. Nice Scientist.

"You keep using that word, poison, do you even know what it means, or have you hit your head too much, you damn sardine soldier!? I made them stronger, I didn't poison them!" She snarled.

The single blue flame in Undyne's visor flared up in response as she stood to her full height. She was an imposing and intimidating sight yet Sierra was not about to back down. Though she was quietly grateful there was a large table separating the two of them.

"And what would a little lab rat like you know about being strong!? You, who've never left the safety of your sterile lab environments. Who are you to decide what a monster does or doesn't need to be strong!? You can't research bravery, you can't bottle strength, you can't study to become courageous. You have to actually experience where LOVE comes from and what it can do to a monster to know just how insanely dangerous and incredibly stupid your S.O.D is!" Undyne snarled.

"What Did You Just Call It!?"

"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!" The Don's powerful voice boomed through the room, hitting Sierra like a slap to the face that knocked all the spite out of her and replaced it with cold fear at the realization of her behavior in front of her boss.

Asgore almost looked like a completely different person. His usual warm and welcoming appearance was now all sharp edges and accusing authority, while the verdant green of his eyes now was more of a sea of acid deep enough to drown the whole room in.

Luckily, the Don aimed his smoldering gaze towards Undyne instead of her.

"Undyne, while I, as always, appreciate your blunt honesty in all things, I would very much appreciate if you did not interrupt proceedings like this in the future. Do I make myself clear?"

Incredibly, the boisterous knight actually seemed to shrink beneath the Don's scrutiny and the flaming orb of her eye almost dissipated completely.

"Yes boss, sorry boss" She said as bowed her head, all vitriol gone from her voice.

Satisfied, Asgore turned his attention towards Sierra. She had to make a conscious effort to keep her flames from sputtering in sheer fright.

"Ms. Hayephaestus, I don't think there's anything left unsaid regarding your S.O.D. It is an incredible feat of magitek and chemistry, no doubt. But it is also incredibly dangerous and, I must say, supremely irresponsible"

"D-Don Asgore, please, I-"

"I'm not finished!" The Don cut in and Sierra wasn't too ashamed to admit to a small whimper.

"You are clearly a talented and intelligent young lady, which is why it baffles me why you would ever expect us to agree to your so-called Stuff Of Dreams. Some mobs might be willing to sell out their underling's souls for profit, but if you had done even the slightest bit of research on us you would know; Not Us!"

Toriel leaned forward, paws clasped and a stern look aimed at Sierra. "See this as a learning experience, young Hayephaestus. We might be more willing to accept the fruits of controversial science than others, but even in a place like Ebott, maybe especially in a place like Ebott, it is important to never take your heart out of your work. Profit is important, but not if it comes at the expense of our souls. The only thing something like your S.O.D would propagate would be suffering and chaos, not wealth or strength"

The dual barbs of her S.O.D's rejection and her scolding were almost too much for Sierra to bear. Never before had she been so indignified, even the knowledge that her burger-flipping uncle was a greater star than her was completely overshadowed.

"How would you know… you ignorant, unknowing, uneducated… ingrates..." she hissed in a small whisper literally dripping with flaming spite.

Fortunately, the Dreemurs didn't appear to hear or notice.

"I… have to agree" Stormstarh, almost all but forgotten, suddenly chimed in "No one in the civilian market would ever accept something like your S.O.D on their shelves. I might be able to entice military contractors, but even if they accepted it, and that's a big IF, we have no idea if your S.O.D would even work on humans. Did you say you had a vat of this stuff back at the lab?" He asked.

Sierra simply nodded. She couldn't help but notice how the shark-monster seemed distracted, as if deep in thought about something, but even then, his words were a few more spade digs in her grave that had already reached the bedrock.

She was dimly aware of Don Asgore laying down his final refusal, but she had already had more than enough misery for today.

Like a dormant volcano, Sierra quietly closed her briefcase, turned on her heel, and left the room, barely making a sound and completely masking the roiling magma of fury pent up inside her.


Kuro found herself in a nightmare. It had to be. She was submerged in a black mud-like liquid and no matter how much she flailed, kicked, and crawled she couldn't get up and out of it. But what mostly convinced her it was a nightmare was her sheer inability to drown and die. She had tried screaming, causing the black liquid to seep in and into her lungs. She had coughed and gasped for breath and although she didn't find it, neither did unconsciousness. For what felt like hours she found herself just on the border between life and death, constantly choking, gasping, screaming, and dying but never being allowed to fully cross over.

In a rare moment of clarity, she noticed how fatigue hadn't set in either. She wasn't a particularity athletic or strong monster, to begin with, and any adrenaline would have ebbed away long ago, and yet the thick, heaving mud that obstructed her limbs did nothing to tire her out. She could flail and roil as energetically as when she first fell in.

Suddenly, after what felt like another hour, rescue came in the form of a sudden flow in the mud, as if she had been caught in an underwater draft or stream.

She fell out into the light and unto the steel floor of the lab in a flood of mud-like, viscous spray, the gantry she had fallen from a few meters above her. The view then became obscured by the gray-haired face of a rat-like monster, clad in the blue overalls of cleaning staff.

"M-my goodness, are you alright? I'm so sorry I didn't notice you earlier. It, well, it's a miracle you could hold on for so long!" The rat squeaked. She briefly glanced over at the silo she had been in – the rat had opened a small compartment door in the side from which she had come out off, no doubt having spotted her through a thick glass pane.

Kuro tried to talk but what should have been words instead took the shape of black projectile vomit as the motion caused her lungs to expel all the strange substance she had swallowed.

She turned away from the rat monster with more energy than she thought she had. In a strange mix of surprise and pride she found she wasn't thrilled to be rescued. Happy to be let out, to be sure, but not grateful in the slightest to her rescuer.

Her retching ceased and she sensed the rat step closer above her.

"Dear me, you poor thing. I can't even imagine what that must have been like, trapped inside a tank like that" the rat said. His voice was gentle but with a soft grovel that implied old age. He leaned down, put a paw on her shoulder while offering the other one.

"Why don't I take you to the restroom so we can get you cleaned up? Then you can call your parents and I can get ahold of my boss. You know her? Alphys is her name, she a good one, one of the Don's favored. We'll sort this out, don't you worry"

Kuro took it all in strides, almost, to her mild surprise, finding the rat's consoling tone of voice somewhat irritating. Nevertheless, she reached out and took his hand.

The moment they did was the moment the rat died.

A brief look of shock and pain alongside a strained gasp as their paws connected. A moment later all that was left of the janitor was a pile of dust on the floor.

Kuro stepped back, confused. Not horror, not fear, not panic at the murder she had apparently just committed through sheer touch alone. Just a mild sense of discombobulation.

She glanced down at her hand, still offered up as if she was still holding the rat's hand. Her feathers had always been black as befitting a crow-monster, but never to this extent. Each feather like a sliver of the deepest night sky inserted into her body.

Dripping too, she noticed. Black, thick droplets of the same kind she had drowned-but-not-really in fell from her hands.

She tried wiping them on her skirt, but found her feathers and quills cutting clean through the fabric and leaving a deep gash on her leg.

Yet it barely felt like anything more than a tickle. The liquid didn't stop dripping from her hands no matter what she did, her feathers were sharper than even the feared Undyne's spear and receiving what would have been a painful, crippling leg wound actually felt… good.

This was all a bit too weird she concluded. Dazed and confused, Kuro turned on her heel and left for the exit sign, if only because she wouldn't want to be found with the dust of a dead monster and the spilled contents of whatever experimental liquid she had fallen into.


Kuro stumbled out unto the streets, following the street lights almost mindlessly like a moth drawn to a flame.

Walking the streets of Ebott alone at night was usually a dangerous proposition for a small girl like her, Kuro thought, but for some reason, that description sounded wrong.

Sure, she was still small in stature, but she didn't feel small. She felt strong, powerful if still a little confused.

She tripped over a rock, stumbling to catch herself on an iron girder, flinching as she felt the metal contort and bend under the strength of her grip. Turning around to look, she also found the stone she had tripped on turned to dust by the momentum of her walking pace alone.

She raised her hands to her face, as if the answer to the mystery that had suddenly become her life was written on her palms. The black liquid that had seemingly transformed her still dripped from them.

"What is happening to me?" she whispered out loud, more in curiosity than fear.

She noticed a bed of flowers underneath a residence window. A random assortment of roses, echo flowers, and even a single, lightly snoring Vegetoid half-submerged in the dirt.

She raised her hand over it. Gently, like drizzling salt over a premium steak, she let the dark droplets drop into the flower bed, into the dirt, and unto the flowers.

The effect was immediate enough to catch the breath in her throat.

The first to change were the small flowers. Like a TV losing its saturation, the color drained from them, as if sucked out by the dirt itself, before crumbling in on themselves, the stalks become thin and dry while the petals folded and died.

The larger flowers took on a less extreme but even more fascinating change. Instead of dying out, they instead grew slightly outwards. Thin, needle-sharp spines grew from stalks that had become as coarse as sandpaper, while watery droplets spilled from the crown of the petals, hissing with acidic portent as it fell to the dirt.

Worse still was the Vegetoid. Tossing and turning in its earthy bed as if suddenly gripped in a nightmare, the small monster didn't wake up despite some drastic bodily changes. Its shell grew dark as it hardened, almost coming to resemble something like a coconut, if it wasn't for the spines dripping with venom that began protruding from beneath. In between its snores, Kuro also saw its teeth - vestigial as they were, since the plant monsters lived of nutrients from the soil, turn into fangs and incisors beastly enough to make an Ice Wolf blush.

She stepped back from the flower bed in awe at the change she had wrought. With a few drops of what she was starting to assume was her blood she had turned an innocent flower bed into a lair of spines and toxic torment.

The changes also posed fascinating possibilities. Did the size of living organisms have an effect on the kind of change her blood did? Could smaller ones simply not handle it and hence die off? And was there a difference between a few drops and actual physical touch?

She raised her hands again.

"This… IS AMAZING!" She howled with a cackle she had never heard before and ran from the scene of the crime.

Thoughts raced in her head as she did likewise down the streets, no real goal in mind. She had never felt so good! Fantastic even! The air had never tasted so sweet, her clothes never caressed her body so comfortably and the ground never massaged her feet so well. By all accounts, she had even killed someone but there were no regrets, no stone of sin wrapped around her heart, just pure exultation in the feeling of power.

She briefly cringed as she thought back to how her life had been beforehand. How utterly pathetic and weak she had been. Meek little Kuro, always getting pushed around by bigger monsters and bullies like Cor. Always keeping her head low, always keeping her beak clean, always doing her homework on time, always so pleased when Headmistress Toriel was proud of her.

Always doing and giving. Never taking.

'But no more' she thought to herself with a grin. Now it was her time to take.

"But what exactly?" she mused to herself as she stopped her sprint in front of the Monster City River, so named by the Don himself, the city skyline looming in the distance on the other bank.

"Could take some food, wet my beak. Am feeling a little peckish" She said out loud.

"Need some gloves, too. Something waterproof or enchanted, to hide the dripping, then maybe-"

A flash of light in the distance caught her eye. A figure, paws wreathed in magical fire and head obscured by a cloud, was battling a trio of monsters atop a warehouse on the other side of the river. The sight of the unmistakable figure woke a passion in her she realized in an instant had also been supercharged by the same chemicals that had given her her new abilities.

She watched as the Vigilante manifested two fireballs and threw one at one of the monsters, sending him flying back, while tossing the other into the air above him. Another of the goons tried to tackle him from behind, but he jumped and roundhoused the airborne fireball, kicking it straight into the attacking monster and sending him flying back as well. The final goon seized what he took was a moment of vulnerability and punched out at the Vigilante, still in the air, only to have him contort his upper body out of the way, while wrapping one leg around his neck and the other around his waist. With a pull, he was sent to the floor, arm caught in a joint-lock he couldn't escape.

"So cool..." Kuro drooled.

In an instant, she knew.

This is what she wanted. The tall, dark, brooding, mysterious, and no doubt handsome Vigilante. So far, she had had to make do with posters and fanfics of Ebott's mysterious avenger, but now, with her new powers, the sky was the limit. The amount of self-inserts she had written in which her hero would swoop down, take her into strong but caring arms and whisk her away to a life of adventure and steamy romance already filled a shamefully large part of her desk-drawers at home. But now she didn't need those! Now, she could have the real thing!

'But how to go about it?' she mused. The identity of the Vigilante was an unknown and the greatest source of debate among most of her most visited undernet forums. A problem that couldn't be solved through brute force alone.

'… or, maybe it could' she grinned as a plan started to form in her mind.

Maybe she couldn't come to him, which meant she just had to make the Vigilanteer come to her.

And if there was one thing that attracted Heroes like nothing else…

… It was a vile Villain.

Kuro turned on her heel and marched back towards the city, check- and shopping lists worth of things to be done and items to be acquired filling her mind.

The next few days were going to be busy, but soon enough, she knew, she would spread her wings...

... and all of Ebott would be covered in their shadows.


Ebott has another humbled scientist, another babbozzled bully and another villain, the likes it has never seen.

With this the introductory chapters are just about done, but we're only getting started.

Thank you and have a blessed weekend all!