"50,000 feet achieved," the flight controller reported. Taking up an entire wall of the command center was a massive television display, presently showing a complex HUD that relayed back from a recon drone high above the earth. Undyne leaned against the back wall with folded arms, occasionally glancing to Asgore, who stood with General Stone just behind the operator. She looked up as one of the Raven soldiers entered the building.

"Baker. Where've you been?"

Baker patted his pocket. "Sorry, just had to make a little phone call. Families and all that."

Undyne nodded, looking back to the screen. With every day, the joint forces of the Peacemakers pushed further and further into Daica. Treaties were already being proposed by Minister Hemmingway, who was anxious to end the war on Croania as soon as he could. Resistance was wavering with every battle, and the battles themselves continued to get shorter.

It didn't take long for Wyatt to realize that the Defenders were pulling back their forces. Both he and Asgore knew that they would be retreating from Croania to regroup on the continent Ephin, home turf of the Defenders. They were desperate to finish things on Croania, and assault Ephin before they could dig in too deep.

So far, just one major obstacle remained. A compound believed to be stockpiled with most, if not all, of the Defenders' nuclear arsenal. From the swiftness of the Peacemaker's strikes, they assumed that they would not be able to prepare the weapons to fire in time, however they did not want to take the chance.

"We're over the compound," the operator reported. With a flick of a button, the screen switched to a camera on the belly of the drone, staring straight down. The camera magnified, allowing as clear of an image as they could get from that high up. Undyne looked intensely at the image, frowning. The compound was larger than she thought it would be. Based on a concerned look from Wyatt, he thought the same. They noted three dozen silos built into the ground. Undyne shook her head.

"How many bombs you reckon are in those?"

Wyatt grunted, "One, usually. But that means they have three dozen bombs ready to go, and no telling how many more they have in reserve. No way to see from up here. Can you get us a better view of the outer defenses, son?"

The operator shook his head. "Sorry, sir, this is as close as I can get."

Wyatt scratched his chin, continuing to stare. All at once, on the screen appeared a white light, growing steadily closer. The operator sprang upright, realizing what it was.

"Bogey coming in hot, taking evasive action!" He jerked the control stick hard to the right in an attempt to get the drone out of the way, but mere moments later static filled the screen. The man leaned back in his chair, huffing, clearly irritated. Wyatt turned to Asgore, ushering him aside. Undyne watched them as the two of them conversed. The king shook his head, looking uncertain, but after another few words were spoken nodded. She stood up straighter as they approached her and the other soldier.

"Captain," Wyatt began, "we have a mission for you. It'll be dangerous, should you choose to accept it."

Undyne smirked. "I should hope so. It's been boring sitting around here waiting for something to happen."

"Recon mission. You and Raven Company will be dropped about two miles east of the compound, and approach on foot. Your only mission is to get a good look at the exterior defenses, and report back. Avoid engagement by any means necessary."

"Understood, sir."

The general smirked. "Excellent. Suit up. You depart at 0100 hours."

Frisk stuffed his hands deeper into the pockets of the blue hoodie. A soft, yet chill breeze moved along the ground. Behind him, Sans pushed his wheelchair along the hard packed snow. Frisk was still groggy, and wasn't entirely certain what had happened. He had been woken up by Sans, urgently speaking to him, requesting his presence immediately. Now, he found himself being wheeled behind Sans's house. The skeleton had allowed Frisk to borrow one of his hoodies, mentioning they may be there for a while.

He wheeled Frisk behind his home in Snowdin, through the open shed door in the back. Frisk gazed around the dimly lit room, then blinked in surprise when he saw Alphys. Old equipment had been set up around the room, the two most curious of those pieces being a large pod and a smaller version of the animal skull-like machine that Frisk had discovered in the True Lab, so many years ago.

"What's going on, guys?" Frisk queried, noticing an open black notebook on another table, surrounded by tools.

"ever since i saw you, i've been doing a lot of thinking," Sans replied. "about the angel, this war, everything. well, alphys and i were reading over gaster's old notes again, and...then we both started thinking. we know what happens when a monster absorbs a human soul. we've seen it before. but...what would happen...if a human were to absorb the soul of a monster?"

Frisk took a deep breath at the question. He had not been expecting that when he was shaken awake this morning.

"I mean...I don't know...it's never happened before. Right?"

Alphys nodded. "Q-Quite right. B-But, we were th-thinking, maybe i-if we could achieve th-this, we...we c-could bring about the p-prophesied coming of t-the angel!"

Frisk's eyes widened as understanding dawned. "You think…"

Sans stared earnestly at him. "I'm not saying it's a guarantee. we don't know if it will work. we will only continue if you want to, but...it could help ensure that we can win this fight."

"I mean...it's a possibility...but how would you get the monster soul? I mean, you told me yourself that you couldn't recreate Gaster's work."

"B-Because we d-didn't have any Determination!"

Frisk leaned forward. "Determination makes up a vast portion of human souls. Almost all of it. That, I understand...but how did Gaster manage to get the Determination himself? No humans fell before you were created, Sans."

"there were some pages that even i wasn't able to read. with alphys's help, i managed to decode them. apparently...he didn't have any, either. It was a literal fluke. a stroke of luck. i tried everything that he did on his successful attempts, nothing. well, alphys and i decided to do the math with determination. we've concluded that if we can get just the right amount...it might just work."

"Geez…"

Frisk rubbed the back of his head as Sans continued. "now, our only question is, where do we get it from now? i mean, monster souls aren't filled with dt like you humans are. neither alphys or myself can risk it on ourselves. human souls...while filled with determination, they are also filled with other things too. they don't need Determination to survive. so, we were thinking we'd get it from a human. the question would be, who? we were hoping you would know somebody."

Frisk stared down at the floor, deep in thought. Matthias would never agree to it. He had too much on his plate as it was. He couldn't dare to ask any one of the doctors, and god forbid he brought other children from the orphanage into this.

"I'll do it." The firmness of his voice even surprised himself. Sans exchanged an uneasy glance with Alphys. Eventually, she spoke up.

"F-Frisk...y...y-you've already lost much of your d-determination. It's wh-why you aren't able t-to walk! The amount that w-we would need to make th-this work…"

Frisk locked eyes with her. "If you extract what you need...would it kill me?"

She took a deep breath. "U-Uhh...l-likely, no...but D-Determination is wh-what gives one the w-will to live. If we e-extract that...y-you may lose that will."

Frisk nodded. "I watched everything fall apart in my time. I've seen things that you could not even begin to imagine. Trust me...I have nothing to lose by doing this. But if it makes you feel better, I can try to convince doctors that I can be discharged from the hospital. They've already told me anyway that there's nothing more they can do for me. Then you can just keep me around, and keep a close eye on things. Unless you have a better idea...that's all I got for you."

"alph...a word please."

Alphys nodded. The two of them walked to the second room of the shed. Sans stared up at the chronographer, looking at all the lines.

"so many outcomes...yet somehow so little time…"

"What are you thinking?"

"i'm not sure what to think. you know what my thoughts were on being used as a lab experiment, and using others as lab experiments...if we do this, it goes against all the precautions that we tried to take."

Alphys shook her head. "We may not have a choice, Sans…"

"i know. that's what bothers me. i can tell that that kid's got heart. but...what if by some freak chance, it doesn't work? what if it turns out like the dt experiments? i'm sorry, but that's not something i want to have on my conscience right now."

Alphys closed her eyes. "I-If there is o-one thing I learned while w-working for your f-f-father, it's that s-sometimes we n-n-need to make choices we don't want to make. B-besides...he has a point. Wh-what do we have to lose?"

Sans looked to the floor, contemplating everything. He ran through every single scenario in his mind. Every possible outcome. A majority of them were negative. There were so many ways things could go wrong. More than he was comfortable admitting to. But still...there was one way when things could work out, with so much at stake…

He walked back to Frisk.

"alright... we can make it work."

Frisk slowly wheeled himself over to the miniature DT Extractor. Alphys walked back into the room, following Sans to a little control panel. It wasn't anywhere near as sophisticated as the one in the lab, but both scientists hoped it would be enough. As the machine whirred to life, Frisk asked Sans:

"Will it hurt?"

Sans looked up, hesitant in his response. In the end, he decided to be honest. "yeah. it'll hurt. sorry."

Frisk nodded. He stopped next to the machine. Alphys came from behind the panel, helping to lift Frisk out of the chair and up into the machine. She stepped back, and Frisk watched from behind the single window as the machine closed in around him.