Alphys let out a tired sigh, resting her chin on her palms. Her flickering gaze remained transfixed on the containment pod, watching the fragments hovering inside. She sat up as she heard the creak of the shed door opening, and heard an equally heavy sigh from Sans as he closed the door behind her.

"How is he?" she queried. He shook his head.

"not good. went to check on him, i swear i thought he had stopped breathing on his own. the kid's gettin' worse alph. we need to do something to speed this up, or he ain't going to last another week like this."

Alphys looked back to the pod. "Y-You know as well as I, Sans, we ca-can't rush this process. We know the consequences of doing that."

Sans grunted, plopping down in a second chair. "i know. doesn't change the fact that he won't last. i wonder if…" His voice trailed away as a buzzing emitted from Alphys's pocket. She fished around in the lab coat, pulling her phone out. Immediately, she fumbled with it, putting it to her ear.

"Your h-highness! How can I-I be of service?"

Asgore's voice was grim. "I need you at the forward operating base immediately. How soon can you get there?"

Alphys's voice raised an octave. "I-I don't kn-know! I'm at M-Mount Ebott, is there a-anyway to get an a-aircraft over there?"

Asgore growled, "Already asked, no time."

She put her hand over the speaker. "Sans, can you shortcut m-me to the Forward Operating Base? My presence i-is required."

Sans shook his head. "i can't, never been there. though...i could let you take a lift with a friend."

He snapped his fingers, and a Gaster Blaster appeared next to him. She stared at it, mouth agape. Surely he must be joking.

"Are you still there, Doctor?"

"Y-Yes! I'm still h-here! I...I-I'm on my way!"

She slowly hung the phone up. Sans jerked his head to the creature.

"why're you still gawking? get on the thing. it'll get you there in no time."

She uncertainly walked towards the blaster, reaching out her hand to stroke it's boney muzzle. It let out a small huff, and the scientist climbed up onto the back of the skull. Clutching onto the horns, she let out a yelp as it suddenly turned around, darting away. Sans watched it go, then fell back in his chair, letting out a tired sigh. He took his turn to watch the pod.

He shook his head. He didn't tell Alphys just how bad it really was. Frisk was already refusing to eat or drink anything. The skeleton basically had to force his friend to keep himself alive. Without the will to live...there was nothing to motivate Frisk to keep on going. Sans knew that it was only a matter of time before Frisk's lack of Determination killed him from the inside out...or before Frisk finished the job himself.

Alphys clung tight to the Gaster Blaster, astonished by its speed carrying her as it darted over the landscape. Soon she adjusted to the force of the wind in her face, and while she still had to hold on, she could do so more easily. Rapidly increasing in size, she spied the lights of the Peacemaker base just up ahead of her. She grunted as the skull slowed dramatically as it flew to the roof of the base. It then lowered itself, setting her down on the ground. She stumbled slightly as she stepped off of the blaster. Carefully, she took a deep breath, giving a thankful nod to it. The blaster gave another grunt, and vanished.

A few moments later, a soldier ran to her. "Are you Doctor Almaro?"

Alphys nodded. "Y-Yes, that's me. Wh-What is wrong?"

The soldier turned around, glancing over his shoulder. "Follow me at once, please." He set off at a brisk walk. Alphys nearly had to run to keep up with the taller human. He led her towards one of the larger buildings. The scientist ducked inside after the soldier, who led her to a computer that had a program running on it. A phone was waiting with her. After glancing at some of the other faces, she took a seat behind it, picking up the phone.

"Hello?"

Asgore's voice came from the other end. "Good, you're here. Now I can brief you. We launched an attack on the nuclear compound. Just before we could take it, the base commander primed the compound's nukes for launch. The process has already begun. Luckily for us, we've got some time. It seems to be a safe guard in the event of a false launch to give the personnel time to abort."

Alphys was perplexed. "Wh-What about this c-commander? Would h-he not be able to shut down the l-launch?"

"No. The commander is dead, and the other personnel are not budging. The computer you are sitting in front of, as I understand, should be running a program to patch you into the compound's network. I need you to shut down the launch from there."

Alphys could practically feel herself growing pale. "I...I-I…"

Asgore's voice came through again. Firm, yet reassuring. "Alphys, I've seen what programming you have been able to put into the CORE. You've made so many digital upgrades that I would not even be able to tell what it once was. I trust that you can do this, but I need you to focus. If you do not...then we are all going to die today."

"...H...H-How much time do I h-have…" Her voice was barely a croak.

"As far as we can tell, twenty minutes."

Alphys took a shaky breath, setting the phone down. She set a timer on her own phone. "No pressure…" Her eyes glued to the screen, watching as the decoder slowly did its work. Thankfully, the program had been running before she arrived, so it was only mere seconds before she was fully patched into the interface.

Immediately her hands went to work. There was much to sift through, and she only had so long. She could feel the eyes in the room searing into her as she scrambled to find what she was looking for. A minute passed, then two...three...four...five...six...then suddenly,

"There you are…" the exclamation was mumbled, partially meant simply to ease her own nerves. Fourteen minutes on the clock. She dove into the launch codings, spotting what she was searching for within minutes. A few ones turned into zeroes would be able to do the trick…

"D-DAMNIT!" Her shout made several of the soldiers jump. She immediately grabbed the phone again.

"The C-Commander's body! Wh-What happened to it?!"

Asgore's voice was one of puzzlement. "As far as I am aware, he is where he fell. Why?"

"Patch me through t-to Undy-, I mean, C-Captain Vernilot!"

Undyne paced back and forth in the room, watching the timer slowly tick away on the screen. Just five minutes remaining. A voice suddenly screamed into her ear, making her shout.

"UNDYNE! ARE YOU THERE?!"

She recognized Alphys's voice, and snapped back, "Yes I'm here! Why are you trying to make me deaf?!"

She shut up when she heard the rising fear in Alphys's voice. "L-Listen to me very closely! I c-c-can disable the launch f-from here, but if I try t-to do it straight away, it w-will trigger another safeguard wh-which will cause the nukes to self-destruct, taking th-that compound down w-with it!"

Undyne grew pale. "What do you need?"

"Th-The base c-commander! Where is h-he?!" She looked down, nudging the body laying in a puddle of blood forming around his head.

"Right here. Why?"

"O-Okay, somewhere on the c-central control p-panel there, you should s-s-see a bl-black panel. That is a f-fingerprint scanner. I n-need you to take one of his f-fingers and press it against that sc-scanner to bypass the block! Hurry!"

Undyne sprang into action, immediately grabbing the corpse. She dragged it around one of the smaller desks to the main panel. She felt her own panic rising as she searched high and low for the panel amidst the multiple switches, dials, buttons, and...well, other panels. At last though, she found it. Three minutes on the clock. She flipped it up, and took one of the commander's thumbs, jamming it against the scanner.

"Anything?!" she hollered back into the radio.

A tense moment passed, broken by Alphys' relieved tone. "Y-Yes, that's helped."

Undyne smirked. "Now what?!"

"Shut up and let me focus!"

Alphys quickly bypassed the final safeguard, delving into the launch programming. She couldn't remember the last time her fingers had moved this fast over a keyboard. The seconds continued to tick away. Three minutes turned to two...and soon that turned to ninety seconds. The countdown grew closer, and closer to the deadly zero. One minute.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, before spotting the line of code that she was searching for. Thirty seconds. She searched for the digit to change. In her shakiness, she knocked the keyboard from the table. One of the soldiers looked away. She dove to the floor, grabbing the keyboard.

"Doctor?!" One of the soldiers asked anxiously. Ten seconds. She prayed the cursor was in the right place. She hit the delete button, punched in a zero, then hit enter. She squeezed her eyes shut, holding her breath. Her timer rang. Time was up. She slowly opened one of her eyes, setting the keyboard back at the desk. She backed out, searching for the countdown. When she found it, she nearled sobbed in relief. Just six seconds were left on the frozen timer. She let out a weary chuckle...and then promptly passed out.