Toby Fox owns Undertale and all associated characters. Vigil is mine.

Half an hour later, Toriel, Asgore and Chara exited the city in the family van, following the breadcrumbs they hoped would lead them to Frisk.

After giving them the location of the Overwatch stronghold, Vigil had taken off, saying that he would scout out the estate, and see if he could find anything to confirm his suspicions.

Since then, silence wrapped the rest of the family, each alone with their own thoughts.

Chara stared out the window, watching the landscape roll past, lost in thoughts of Frisk. He was obnoxious, and teased way too much for his own good. She could even admit that his teasing was sometimes good for her. Sometimes. Beyond that, he had saved her! Despite his many, many, many flaws, she loved him. One thing was for certain. She could not take losing another brother.

Toriel pulled the van over at the side of the road, unbuckling herself and exiting the vehicle. Her husband and daughter followed suit. Small puffs of powdery grit were kicked up into the air with each step on the dirt road. They had left the highway some time ago.

"This is the right place, correct?" Asgore asked, looking around at the massive pine trees growing all about them. Chara nodded slowly in response.

"This is as close as we can get in the van, anyways." She pointed north, where the trees were more sparse, and called up the internal note she'd left for herself, not wanting to risk forgetting Vigil's instructions.

"The estate is up ahead. Shouldn't be too far, I'd guess maybe a ten, twenty minute walk, tops. It's in the middle of a big clearing."

"Then let us go." Toriel immediately headed in the direction Chara had pointed, her white-furred feet brushing across the carpet of fallen pine needles. "Hopefully, we will meet Vigil on the way."

It was a lovely day, which put Chara out a bit as she followed her parents through the sunlit forest. They were about to attack a stronghold of Monster-hating fanatics, who might very well know they were coming. The outpost hadn't been too difficult to take down, but she guessed this wouldn't be as easy. At least she wasn't going to have to look out for Kid this time. It seemed wrong that despite all this, the sun shone merrily overhead.

The trees around them began to thin, and Chara managed to catch glimpses of what she assumed was the building they were targeting. It was very large, with walls made of wood and several massive, decorative windows.

The group slowed their approach, not wanting to be spotted prematurely, though there didn't appear to be anyone outside the building.

"There you are." The family started, whirling to see Vigil appear from behind one of the thicker trees, his wings folded behind him, and his tail twitching slightly.

"What have you found?" Toriel asked quickly.

"Not as much as I'd like," Vigil admitted. "There are no obvious security measures, though I would not expect there to be such. They would not want to rouse my suspicions about this place. Other than that, all I can tell you is that there are definitely quite a few people inside, and the place has three floors."

"So we could still be walking into a trap," Chara muttered.

"Yes. I'm afraid I haven't seen anything of Frisk either. Hopefully he is being held here, but…"

"I suppose we will find out when we get there," Toriel said quietly, looking towards the building in the distance." Vigil hesitated for a moment, then said quietly;

"Before we attack, you may wish to consider the implications here. It occurred to me that if this truly is a trap, then they may try to make this look like Monsters attacked Humans unprovoked, which could lead to… difficulties."

"It thought you didn't concern yourself with the political aspect," Chara noted wryly.

"Usually I don't have to. But I'm not working on my own right now, so I must consider more than I usually do."

Toriel and Asgore looked at each other before Toriel gave a little nod. Asgore stepped forward.

"We will deal with that when the time comes," he rumbled. "For now, Frisk is our only priority."

Vigil bowed low in response.

"As you wish. In that case, I would suggest an attack strategy, if I may?"

"Go ahead."

"Whatever it is we will find in there, we must be swift. We need to find out if your son is there, and if he isn't, see if we can find out where he is, and what Overwatch's counterattack will be. To that end, we need to cover as much ground as we can, as quickly as possible.

"I can reach the top floor with no difficulty. You will have to enter through the main doors on the other side of the building. I would suggest that two of you search the ground floor, while someone goes up to the second and searches there. Hopefully, we can find your son quickly, and if not, we can work our way through the floors, see if they have him hidden anywhere. It's possible they have hidden rooms or basement entrances, so be on the lookout for those."

Toriel and Asgore were both nodding as Vigil spoke.

"I believe that will suffice," Toriel murmured. "Chara, your father and I can take the ground floor, while you deal with the second."

"Got it."

"One more thing before we begin, then." Asgore said quietly, looking at his daughter. "When we go in there, I want you to promise me that you will not expose their souls when you fight them."

Chara stared at her father incredulously.

"Why not?" she demanded. "Don't tell me we're going easy on them!"

"We're not," Toriel replied. "But we don't want you killing anyone either." Toriel raised a hand, stalling Chara's next outburst. "I know you're angry, but our goal here is to get Frisk back. We can deal with the rest later, understand?"

Chara bit back a growl, looking away for a moment before reluctantly nodding.

"Fine," she bit out. "Let's just go then."

"Very well," Vigil intoned. "When you are in position, I will strike first, then you will follow. May fortune favor us all."

"Ready?" Toriel whispered, crouched just next to Asgore and Chara at the edge of the trees surrounding the house. As they both nodded at her, she looked to where Vigil stood some distance away and gave him a firm nod.

The Shifter sprang into the air immediately, flapping hard to gain speed. He rocketed towards the highest level of the house, wrapping his wings about him in a protective cocoon and spinning at the last moment, smashing through the wooden wall with a loud crash.

"Well, that's certainly one way to do it," Asgore remarked, calling his trident into his hands as they lost sight of Vigil, and heard shouts of alarm coming from the house. "Let's go add to the chaos, shall we?"

Chara already had a knife in each hand, and she sprinted for the large, ornate double doors set before them, both her parents hot on her heels. She checked the door handle, grateful to find it unlocked, and the door swung open easily under her touch.

Inside was a large, spacious room, ornate paintings lining the walls and various rugs arranged neatly on the hardwood floor. There was a door on either side of the room, and each flung open as Humans milled about in panic, shouting in fear, and fumbling with their weapons upon sight of the invaders. But Chara focussed on the large stairway in the middle of the room that lead up to the next floor.

Well, that's convenient. Chara thought. Then she started, cursing herself for forgetting as she bolted for the stairs, Asgore letting out a mighty roar that shook the entire house behind her. Frisk? Frisk, are you there?

There was no response. He either wasn't here, or he wasn't conscious. Still, they hadn't come this far for nothing. With that in mind, she sprinted up the stairs, sparing a moment to glance around her next surroundings, which appeared to be another large room, with a few small decorative tables and cabinets scattered about. She darted to the closest door she saw, only to have it burst open in her face, sending her stumbling back.

A man and a woman stood before her, both dressed in jeans and t-shirts with the officer's insignia sewn into their shoulders. They already had handguns drawn and they fired instinctively at their aim was wild, a few managed to hit their mark.

She grunted in pain, then called upon her magic, striking at the man with a beam of energy from one knife tip. He yelped, and she ducked in close, retracting the beam and sinking the blade of one knife into the woman's side, simultaneously shoulder checking the man so he stumbled back.

She let her knives fade and quickly knocked both of their weapons to the floor, crushing them underfoot. A swift flurry of blows later, and both the Humans were laid out unconscious on the floor and she was on the move again, calling her weapons back to her.

She found herself in a short hallway with doors lining either side,and one large one at the end. She checked every door, sweeping the room inside with a quick glance before moving on to the next. They all appeared to be bedrooms, not much differentiating them from the next, each holding four bunk beds on either side of the room and a small foot locker.

While there didn't appear to be any others around her, the sound of battle from above and below was increasing . She could hear shouts, screams and gunfire, occasionally punctuated by Asgore's angry roars. She could barely suppress a shudder at each one.

She had never seen her father angry before. When she had fought him in this timeline, which was the only time she and Frisk had ever gotten that far, he had fought with sad resignation, not anger. She had only heard of his anger after she and Asriel had died, but never seen it for herself. It was hard to believe that the gentle, kind Monster she knew was capable of producing that terrifying sound.

Refocusing on the task before her, she found herself at the far end of the hallway beside the last door. If he wasn't here, she'd have to check the other side of this level. She opened the door, and her eyes widened at the sight inside this far more ornate bedroom.

There was Frisk, lying prone on a large bed, hooked up to two different machines that beeped quietly to themselves. His shirt was torn and bloodstained, one of his eyes was swollen and a light shade of purple, and his right arm was covered in bandages, but he was there.

Standing next to him was another man, his back to Chara. It seemed that he loaded a pistol, his movements made jerky with haste and desperation. Chara narrowed her eyes at him and stepped into the room, walking towards him, anger blazing in her red eyes.

"What did you do to him?!" she demanded. In response, the man whirled around, bright blue eyes wide in fear and hatred, sweat beading on his brow and trickling down his face, wetting his beard.

He pointed the gun at her, taking a step back, and Chara realized with a start that this one was a lot bigger than the others. While her knowledge on this kind of weaponry was limited at best, she was pretty sure that thing would be able to cause more damage than the other firearms she had encountered. She would have to-

There was the explosive noise of a gun firing. A choked gasp of surprise and pain. The sound of metal clattering onto hardwood floor.

Chara blinked. The man before her was staring in bewilderment at his now empty hand, the gun he had been holding lying on the floor, dented and broken. She turned slowly, to see another man, just shorter than her, with black hair and piercing green eyes, lowering his own pistol.

"Who are you?" the robot demanded, twisting her body and stepping back so both men were within her field of vision.

"My name is Aaron." The black haired man stepped into the room, then slowly placed his gun to the ground in front of him. "I'm Vigil's contact."

Chara narrowed her eyes at him.

"The one that works for these guys?" She gestured at the other man, who was still staring blankly at his hand. Aaron lowered his head.

"I'm afraid so. But recent events have… changed my perspective. I'm also the one who let Vigil know that Overwatch was planning something big, and disabled most of the security cameras so you could take us by surprise."

"That was you?!" The other man yelled, his eyes bright with rage as he finally found his voice, glaring at Aaron. "You betrayed us!"

"The first betrayal was yours, Jake," Aaron shot back. "You led us to this."

"I have done nothing but strengthen Humanity! You would side with these… these creatures?"

"I looked the other way when you started sending us out against Humans who accepted Monsters," Aaron retorted. "But this? Kidnapping a teenager and experimenting on him in some… vain hope that it'll give us magic somehow? How long until you start turning on us too?"

"Anyone who consorts with Monsters is no better than they are!" Jake roared, flecks of spit flying from his lips. "No better than you are, traitor!"

Aaron shook his head, slowly falling to his knees and placing his hands on the back of his neck.

"I want no part in this anymore." He looked to Chara, who noted with surprise that his gaze was steady and calm. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a big fan of Monsters. But if this is the direction that Overwatch is taking, maybe it's time for me to re-think my my choices. I surrender."

Jake leapt towards the kneeling man with a cry, only to be intercepted by Chara's arm. Metal limbs thudded into flesh and she tossed the Human across the room to smack against the wall and slide down into a sitting position, a dazed look on his face.

"Don't bother getting up." Chara growled. She turned her attention back to Aaron who was watching quietly. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't. I can't even say I'd be all that useful, I wasn't high enough on the rankings to get most of the information. But I'm not going to fight you." He gave a small shrug. "Take that as you will."

Chara quickly grabbed the gun that had been lying in front of Aaron and tossed it out the window. When the man made no move to stop her, she turned away from him and walked over to Frisk. She paused for a moment, her hand hesitating just over the needles that attached him to the machines. Then she pulled it back, unwilling to risk unplugging him from something that might prove fatal for him.

"You might want to get rid of those sooner rather than later." Aaron recommended. "Whatever's being pumped into his system can't be pleasant."

"What is being put into him?" the mechanical girl asked, turning her head to look back at the former Overwatch member.

"I wasn't involved in this project. I know they were trying to keep him alive, but I also know the plans to re-awaken his magic were… unorthodox."

"He never had magic." Chara snarled.

"If you say so."

Chara took a moment to check Frisk's pulse and his breathing. He definitely wasn't conscious, but she thought his pulse felt mostly normal, and his breathing was steady, so that was good, at least. She bit her lip, hesitant to trust this man who so calmly surrendered to her, but she also didn't want him attached to those machines any longer than necessary. Reaching a decision, she carefully pulled the needles from his body, trying not to disturb them too much.

Frisk jerked as they were removed, and his pulse quickened for a moment, but he didn't wake up, and his heart rate quickly returned to normal. Chara looked at the needles she held, noting the pal blue liquid dripping from the tips. She tossed them to the floor and smashed them with her foot, internally crowing with triumph,. In the back of her mind, she noticed that the sounds of battle had gotten a lot quieter, though they had not completely disappeared.

Then she walked over to where Jake was still sitting against the wall, trying to stand. She pushed him back down roughly.

"I said, don't try and get up," she snapped. "You-"

"Chara!"

At the sound of her name, the girl looked up to see Toriel standing in the doorway. The Boss Monster looked at her for a moment, before turning and calling down the hallway.

"Asgore! We found him!"

Chara stepped away from Jake, clenching her hands into fists as Toriel approached Frisk's bed, sparing only a brief glance at where Aaron knelt. Her clothes were mussed and her face bore a couple of scratches, but she seemed mostly fine.

"Frisk…" There were so many emotions in her voice as she said her son's name, it was difficult to distinguish them all. Before she could continue, there was the sound of heavy footsteps and Asgore burst in, his trident still gripped in his hands.

His gaze fell first to the two Humans.

"Who are you?" he demanded, looking ready to strike. Aaron looked up at him.

"My name is Aaron. I was Vigil's contact here. That one," He gestured with his head towards the other Human. "Is Jake. He's the leader of this base. He's the one who initiated the project to kidnap your son."

"Traitor!" Jake howled, though there was more fear than anger in his tone now, as the gazes of the three non-humans centred on him.

"It was you?" Chara hissed, stepping forward. "I'll-"

"Chara." Toriel's voice was calm, though it held a core of steel within it. Chara looked to her in confusion.

"Your father and I will handle this," she said quietly. "I need you to bring Frisk home so that he can be properly tended to."

"But Mom-"

"Papyrus has some healing magic. Bring Frisk home, then call him in. He'll be more than happy to help."

"I know you don't like driving the van," Asgore added. "But you need to get Frisk to safety. Your mother and I will finish things up here, then we will meet you back at the house."

Chara made as if to argue further, then stopped. Instead, she reached over the bed, tenderly lifted her brother, and walked out of the room. The former royals then looked to Aaron.

"Do you wish to harm us?" Toriel asked quietly. Aaron shook his head.

"Then go. If you want to help, I believe Vigil is still upstairs. Or you may leave, if you wish. Either way, I want you out of here."

Aaron nodded, then stood, keeping his hands behind his head as he walked out of the room.

Now that they were alone, Toriel turned her full attention to the man cowering before her.

"So," she began while Asgore went and shut the door, then came to stand next to his wife, both of them towering over the fallen Human. "You are the one responsible for taking my son."

"Yo, Papyrus, I didn't know you had healing magic!"

Kid stared in awe at the skeleton Monster, who was currently holding his hands over Frisk's body where he lay on the couch in Chara's living room. Papyrus's skull was creased in concentration while magic gently emerged from his fingertips.

"But of course! The great Papyrus is fluent in many magics!" The skeleton smiled at Kid briefly, before returning his attention to his work. "Lady Toriel has been teaching me healing magic over the past few months! And what better opportunity to use my talent than to help my cool friend?"

"How is he?" Chara asked quietly from where she knelt on the other side of the couch, her arms and head resting on the armrest as she looked down at her brother.

"Not well at all!" The other two jerked at this exclamation, staring at Papyrus in concern. "His magic levels are dangerously low! If I didn't know better, I would say he doesn't have any!"

Chara and Kid looked at each other for a moment.

"Papyrus… you do remember that Humans don't have magic anymore, right?" Chara said slowly. The skeleton stared at her blankly for a moment, before slapping a hand to his skull.

"Oh! Right! I always forget about that!" He hesitated for a moment. "Er… in that case, he's going to be completely fine! And that's not just baseless conjecture!"

"Mom hasn't taught you how healing Humans works yet, has she?"

"Not… as such." Papyrus admitted. "But this isn't the first time Frisk has had a Sans-induced nap! He'll wake up soon enough, Papyrus guaranteed!"

As if on cue, there was a groan from the prone boy turning everyone's attention to him. Frisk's unswollen eye opened and he let out another groan, reaching his unbandaged hand up to rub at his forehead.

"Oh man… I-" He stopped, looking at the excited faces around him.

"Yo! Frisk! You're okay!" Kid bounced up and down, unable to contain his excitement. "You had me worried for a minute there, haha!"

"Good to see you joining us in the land of the living," Chara smiled.

"Frisk! My dear friend, I am very happy to see you awake again!"

Frisk looked around in confusion for a moment, then he let a grin cross his features.

"You guys… you rescued me?"

"Course we did, bro, What would I do without your constant teasing?"

"You'd be bored out of your mind." Frisk chuckled. He rubbed his bandaged arm and winced.

"Have I mentioned that I really don't like needles?"

"Only four or five hundred times." Came the amused response. Then Chara frowned in concern.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I got hit by a bus." Frisk admitted, wincing slightly. "I'm going to have to complain to their manager later. I mean, the building itself easily gets five stars, but the room service was terrible!"

"Always with the jokes." Chara shook her head in exasperation.

There was the sound of a door opening and shutting, and Chara smiled, and stepped away from the couch.

"Papyrus, Kid, you guys might wanna get out of the way," she warned. "I think Mom and Dad just got home and… I don't think you want to be between them and Frisk when they see him."

Sure enough, just a few moments later, Toriel and Asgore raced into the room, and seeing their son, immediately went to him, kneeling by the couch.

"Frisk!"

He managed a slightly pained smile.

"I'm fine, guys. Alright, so I'm a little sore, but…"

His voice trailed off as Toriel laid her hands on him, sending healing magic flowing through the boy. He close his eye and sighed in contentment at the warm feeling of the restoring power flowing through him.

In just a few minutes, the swelling on the boy's face had gone down, and the cuts and bruises crossing his body had faded completely. Frisk was able to open both eyes this time and smile warmly at his mother.

"Thanks Mom."

"You are welcome," Toriel replied tenderly, gathering up the unresisting Human into her arms and hugging him tight. "I am just glad you are home!"

"Wowie! I can't wait until I can heal people as quickly as you, your Majesty!"

Toriel smiled up at the excitable skeleton.

"You're already doing very well so far. I'm sure it's only a matter of time, and practice."

"Of course! The great Papyrus can accomplish any task he puts his mind to!" Papyrus enthused.

Toriel gave a soft laugh and released Frisk who sat up fully, only to be embraced by his father.

"Looks like there's a line, huh?" Frisk chuckled, returning Asgore's embrace. He grinned cheekily up at Chara. "Are you next, sis?"

"Don't push your luck, brother," Chara warned, though her smile took any sting out of her words. "We both know you're going to make me regret rescuing your sorry hide soon enough. Let's not start that process too soon, alright?"

"You wound me deep."

Chara shook her head at him, then looked over to her mother.

"Mom… can I talk to you for a moment?"

Toriel nodded, and they both walked to the other side of the room, just far away enough that quiet conversation would not be overheard.

"How did it go after I left?"

"Fairly smoothly. We had already defeated most of them by the time I found you. It seemed they didn't have any extra surprises in store for us."

"I wanted to mention that… This place was supposed to be an Overwatch stronghold, right? Should it… really have been that easy for us to defeat them?"

"I actually spoke with Vigil about that before we left. He seemed to think that they would have had a smaller garrison here to keep him from getting suspicious about the place. Add in the element of surprise, and we had the advantage, at least in tactical terms. Still," Toriel hesitated more moment before saying;

"It is strange to see how far the balance has shifted. During the war, we could not fell a single Human, and here, the four of us took down thirty or forty of them with little difficulty."

"I'd rather have the power in our hands than theirs." Chara muttered. "We've already seen what happens when they have it."

"True enough. I do not think Overwatch anticipated how much the balance has shifted either. If we run into them again, they may well be more prepared."

"You think they'll try something again?"

"Vigil seemed to think that this was not their main headquarters, and I would have to agree. This was a severe blow to them, I am sure, but they have not been completely defeated, I am sure of it."

Chara gave quiet hum of thought."Speaking of Vigil, where is he?"

"He left not long after you did," Toriel informed Chara. "He brought that one man… Aaron, I think, with him too. He told us that his part in this was done, and he had other work to do."

"I see." Chara's eyes flicked over to Frisk, who now had Kid seated next to him, excitedly informing him about what had happened while he was gone. "Do you think we'll run into him again?"

"I do not know," the Boss Monster admitted. "But if Overwatch makes another move, then we may well see him again"

"One thing's for sure, the next Monster-Human relations meeting's going to be an absolute nightmare."

"We will handle it," Toriel assured. "For now though, we have Frisk back, and that's what's most important.

Chara nodded in silent agreement. For now, at least, their ordeal was over. But if Overwatch or anyone else tried to pull a stunt like this again, there would be hell to pay.