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A while had passed. It was hard to keep track of the days, but the brothers assumed it had been about a week since Subject 4 took Sans to be "observed," as Gaster had put it.
Papyrus had since pressed Sans for more details regarding the incident. All he had managed to get out of him was that Sans had been hooked up to some monitors, and that Gaster called him Subject 11. Sans made no mention of the "eye stabbing" incident, so as to not scare Papyrus.
Sans didn't like lying to his little brother, but he wanted to spare Papyrus any worry.
The two laid around in their cells, passing the time with random conversation. Suppertime rolled around after a while.
One of Gaster's assistants came to the door. He had a short, humanoid body with a large, round head and wide eyes. On his face was a look of perpetual worry, though nothing in what little of his behavior they'd seen seemed to indicate any apprehension. He was a strange one, but given Gaster's other assistants, he seemed par for the course.
The brothers expected the tray to be slid in through the opening in the lower door, and they approached to receive.
"Step away from the door," the assistant said.
"Huh?" Papyrus asked, "Why?"
"Step away from the door," the assistant repeated.
"Pap," Sans grabbed his brother's shoulder, "do what he says."
The two brothers complied, and backed away from the door. The assistant opened it, and stepped into the cell. He set the tray on the floor, and pointed at Papyrus.
"Subject 12," he said, "come with me."
"What?" Papyrus asked nervously, pointing to himself. "Me?"
"Yes, you," the assistant responded, "Come with me now."
"No!" Sans stepped in between Papyrus and the man. "No, you're not gonna take him!"
Papyrus began to look around nervously as the contention rose.
"Stand aside, Subject 11," the assistant said.
"No! Leave Papyrus alone!"
"Subject 11," Gaster's voice called from the intercom, "you will step aside. Subject 12, you will accompany Subject 7 to one of the upper laboratories."
"No!" Sans shot back, "You're not taking Papyrus!"
"You will follow instructions," Gaster's voice came through. "Now step aside."
"NO!"
"You will follow instructions, Subject 11," Gaster's voice repeated.
"I SAID NO!"
"You will follow instructions," Gaster replied coolly, "or there will be consequences."
"I DON'T CARE!" Sans yelled, "I don't care what you do, you're not taking Papyrus like you took me!"
"Sans…" Papyrus said quietly, "what did they do when they took you?"
"Don't worry, Papyrus," Sans dodged the question, "They won't take you, nothing will happen."
Gaster's voice came through the intercom again, speaking in the strange language the brothers had heard the staff use before. The assistant, Subject 7, responded in the tongue as well. He picked the tray of food up the floor and exited the cell, shutting the door behind him.
"Hey, wait!" Papyrus called out.
"Consequences," Gaster's garbled voice came over the speaker. He then said something unintelligible to Subject 7, who responded in a like manner.
Subject 7 stood there silently, staring in through the small window. Within a few minutes, Subject 4 appeared alongside him. The two spoke to each other in their tongue, and Subject 7 turned to the brothers.
"Are you prepared to cooperate?" he asked.
Papyrus made no response. Sans glared up at them from a bowed head, and said, "You're not taking Papyrus."
"Very well," Subject 4 answered. He opened the door and charged in, pinning Sans to the wall.
"SANS!" Papyrus called out, trying to reach his brother as Subject 7 seized him by the shoulders. "SANS, NO!"
Subject 4 growled something at Subject 7, and Papyrus was hauled away.
"No!" Sans coughed out weakly, "Papyrus… no…"
Papyrus' shouts faded away. A few seconds after they could no longer be heard, Subject 4 released Sans, dropping him to the floor.
Sans struggled to his hands and knees. He tried to stand, but fell onto his backside.
"Bring… him… back…," he managed to say.
"Subject 12 will be returned shortly," Subject 4 said, before turning away and exiting the cell. The steel door clanked shut behind him.
Sans regretted not telling his brother what had happened. At least then he'd have been prepared.
The elevator doors opened. Papyrus looked around. Gaster stood behind his desk studying annotations on his clipboard. Subject 9 was standing near the operating bench.
Gaster looked up at Papyrus and Subject 7. He spoke in his seemingly gibberish tongue, and pointed to the bench. Subject 7 led Papyrus to it and told him to climb on.
"…Wha …what are you going to do?" Papyrus asked apprehensively.
"Observations, Subject 12," Gaster responded. "Be quiet."
Papyrus obeyed, and climbed onto the bench. Subjects 7 and 9 fastened him to it with the attached leather straps.
"Hey!" Papyrus objected, "What? Why are you-?"
"Be quiet, Subject 12," Gaster interrupted. "Do not speak. Follow instructions."
The elevator dinged as Subject 4 arrived. He stepped out the doors and walked over towards Gaster.
Meanwhile, Subjects 7 and 9 continued preparing Papyrus for whatever it was that was going to happen. They stuck sensors to different parts of his body. They were to monitor his vitals and such, but he had no idea what they were for. They served only to make him more nervous.
Papyrus began to shake, his bones rattling as he grew more and more nervous regarding his situation.
The monitors began to beep faster and higher. Gaster spoke to his assistants, motioning them to come to him and leave Papyrus be for the moment.
As the two men left, Papyrus relaxed a little. He was still very worried about the entire ordeal and what it entailed, but at least those two weren't hovering over him any longer. It was a small comfort, but it was there.
Like his brother before him, he lay there for a long time, unsure of what was going on.
He wanted to speak up and ask what was happening. He made several false starts, but stopped himself when he thought of Gaster's orders to be quiet.
Finally, his thoughts drifted towards Sans, and what he had been through. Papyrus opened his mouth.
"What… what did you do to my brother?"
No response came.
"What did you do to Sans?" Papyrus asked again.
Gaster looked over to Papyrus and responded, "Be quiet, Subject 12."
Papyrus whined, but complied. Slowly, his nervousness was subsiding. So far, all they'd done was tie him up and talk about whatever it was they were talking about. That language of theirs was so alien and strange. It placed him even more on edge.
Hours passed by. Papyrus would work up the nerve to ask again, only to either be ignored, or be told to be quiet.
He spoke up one more time. "Doctor, please," he said, "tell me what you did to Sans."
Gaster laid down his clipboard on his desk and sighed. He walked over to the bench where Papyrus lie and spoke. "We observed him, just as we are doing with you. Now be quiet, Subject 12."
Papyrus didn't buy it, but it seemed he wasn't going to get a good answer out of Gaster. He frowned and looked away from the doctor.
"Subject 12," Gaster called, "look at me."
Papyrus swallowed nervously. He turned his head slowly towards Gaster. His eyes went wide with fear. Gaster held a scalpel in his hand, lifted over Papyrus' head.
Papyrus began to stammer unintelligibly in fear. His eyes darted left and right as he looked around for help, whimpering and trying to protest. The monitors began to beep rapidly. Gaster brought the scalpel down towards Papyrus' eye, just as he had done with Sans.
Papyrus let out a cry of terror as the scalpel rushed towards his face. It stopped short, however, and Gaster withdrew his hand as Papyrus' scream died down.
Papyrus began to pant heavily, tears welling up in his eyes. Gaster, meanwhile, turned to his assistants and spoke to them in their usual vocal cipher. They began making annotations on their own packets and clipboards. Gaster soon walked away.
Papyrus' panting and cries soon died down, though the monitors hooked up to the sensors on him still beeped rather quickly. He was still quite afraid of the entire situation.
"Wha… why?" he managed to say, "Why did you…"
"Be quiet, Subject 12," Gaster cut him off, not looking away from the compilation of notes the four men had taken.
"Why?" Papyrus repeated, "Why are you doing this?"
Gaster put on some gloves as he spoke to his assistants, and returned to the bench, picking up the scalpel from the tool table. Subjects 4 and 7 followed him.
"Because it's my duty," he said, and took the scalpel to Papyrus' skull. Subjects 4 and 7 held Papyrus down as the scalpel cut into his skull, above the brow bone.
"No! NO!" Papyrus screamed in protest. His cries of fear devolved into ones of pain as Gaster cut into the bone.
After nearly an hour of picking at various pieces of bone, Gaster set the scalpel down.
Papyrus had passed out from the pain only moments before the "procedure" ended. His breathing was shallow as he lay unconscious. Occasionally, his hands would twitch.
Gaster wiped the sweat from his brow. He removed the gloves, and spoke to his assistants in their tongue.
"Subject 7, bandage him up. Make sure he has all his pieces and take him back to the sub-lab. Keep him separate from Subject 11 while he recovers. Subject 4, bring the annotations and recorded observations to my office. Subject 9, clean this up."
"Yes, Doctor," they all replied, and set off about their assignments.
As they did so, Gaster set off towards the washroom. He turned on the sink, and splashed some water on his face. He dried off and headed to his office.
He sat down, and grabbed a nearby mug. As Subject 4 entered and set down the notes, Gaster handed him the mug. "Coffee. Black."
"Yes, Doctor," Subject 4 said, and took the mug from the doctor's hand. He left, and Gaster began flipping through his assistant's observation notes.
"Subject 12. Struggled more than Subject 11, but objected less," he read aloud. "Vitals rose faster. More excitable. Aura and energy levels higher than Subject 11, somewhat more potent. Hmmm. Interesting."
After a few more minutes of reading, Subject 4 returned with the coffee. Subject 7 followed him.
"Doctor Gaster, sir," Subject 7 said as Subject 4 set the mug down in front of Gaster, "Subject 12 is stable, but still unconscious. Worsening of condition is possible."
"Monitor him," Gaster responded, and took a sip of coffee. "Hook him up to a monitor, and keep an eye on him. Any signs of worsening, try to stabilize him. Notify me of any changes."
"Yes, sir. Should Subject 12's condition worsen beyond chance of recovery?"
"It shouldn't. We weren't careless in the procedure. But if it does, we still have Subject 11. All the same, keep him stable as best you can. He's shown more or less impressive endurance. He may prove to be a valuable test subject."
"As you say, Doctor," Subject 7 said, and exited the office. Subject 4 cleared his throat.
"What is it, Subject 4?"
"Captain Flamesman stopped by, sir," Subject 4 answered. "He wishes to speak with you."
"Is he here now?" Gaster asked, looking up from the notes.
"No, sir. He said he'd return tomorrow morning."
"Very well," Gaster said, returning to the papers. "Keep him on the entry floor when he arrives. When I call you, you will escort him to my office."
"Yes, Doctor," Subject 4 nodded and turned to leave. Gaster continued flipping through the notes.
"One more thing, Subject 4." Subject 4 stopped in his tracks. "Tell Subject 9 to analyze our findings. See if he can find out what exactly separates Subject 11 and 12 in terms of strength and health."
Subject 4 nodded in compliance. "Yes, sir," he said, and left the office.
Gaster took another sip of coffee as he read through the observations. "Interesting. Very interesting. Perhaps a prime candidate for the DT Project."
CAPITULO TRÊS, MUITO BOM.
So, I'm going to use Bold+Italics to capture Wingdings speak. Unfortunately, my commentary is also in Bold+Italics, so yeah. Chapter's over in case you weren't sure.
I HAVE YET TO FIND A BETTER SYSTEM, LEAVE ME ALONE.
So, yeah, this chapter was pretty similar to the last one. I wish I could've thought of a way to differentiate the two more, but I couldn't. Sorry.
So tell me, what did you think? Good? Bad? Why? Leave a review.