Chapter 20 : - GASTER -
"Gaster! Gaster, open your eyes! For goodness' sake! Doggalicia, report." Asgore's voice boomed.
"Dogerina and Boomer are dead. I saw Blast run after the tiny skeleton. I think humans stopped chasing us."
Gaster half-opened his eye sockets. Sitting against a big rock, he struggled to get a grip on himself. His brain warned him about an important wound on his chest, but somehow couldn't transform the nervous message into pain, only giving him a terrible headache instead. One of the other effects of his experimentations on himself.
He sat up in a growl and inspected the damages with expert eyes. He lost a few HP in the process, but he was pretty fine. Lots of bruises, and the chest wound Asgore immediately healed for him. Luckily, his son couldn't do a lot of damage. Yet.
The scientist gently pushed Asgore's hand away to stand up, once he considered he was able to. No way he would give up on the weakness in a time like this. The situation was catastrophic. That diplomatic slip-up could have cost them the peace treaty on which the King, the scientist, and the royal guard worked so hard these last months.
"You're hurt." Asgore lectured him. "Don't be childish and let me heal you fully."
He sighed and let the King do whatever he wanted to him, pouting, arms crossed. Doggalicia, the captain of the royal guard, stared at them a moment before gaining back a military composure. Still wary, her sword ready to hit, she decided to have the situation under control again.
"Your Majesty, we need to go back to the camp. The woods are too dangerous. Blast will report to us as soon as possible, if he doesn't bring back the kid. We don't know if the child's attack seriously hurt some humans. They might retaliate if we stay here too long. It isn't worth the risk."
"Absolutely not!" Gaster jumped in. "Sans is the absolute priority. If he was there, it means the Queen and the other children are close. We still need to find that human child as soon as possible. We need its determination. This should be the most urgent issue."
"With all due respect, doctor, this is not an urgent matter at all," Doggalicia answered, annoyed. "The King's evacuation must be a priority before anything else. The skeleton child won't last long trying to escape from Blast. He is the best sleuth of the Royal Guard after all."
"Excuse me? The best? Should I remind you how efficient you were yesterday in the woods?! You are the reason why we are in this situation in the first place. Asgore, please, they're unqualified. With my magic, we could track Sans in a few hours."
"You can talk about qualifications when you can't even go up against your own child!"
Asgore clenched his fists. "Silence! Both of you!"
The skeleton and the dog lady immediately came to attention, still hostile toward one another. The King rubbed his temples, thinking, then looked up to meet their expecting eyes. He looked around him for a bit before making a decision.
"Doggalicia is right. We can't stay here and risk worsening the situation. The last thing we need is that one of us three to fall between their hands. Especially you, Gaster." he added, a finger on his forehead. "Lieutenant Blast has my full trust to find the child, and I hope so my wife. Rushing the events won't bring them faster."
The scientist rolled his eyes but didn't answer back. Asgore knew he wouldn't go against his will. Despite his defaults, he was one of his most loyal counselors. However, the captain of the Royal Guard smiled victoriously at Gaster, which he didn't appreciate, silently promising he wasn't done with her.
Now that it was settled, Doggalicia led the way back to the camp. She opted for a safe longer trip, through the dense forest. They walked for two long hours, trying to avoid hidden roots and stinging nettle that irritated their ankles. The camp's sentinels localized them half an hour before they reached their shelter, which gave them time to gather a team of healers to check them as soon as they arrived.
Gaster coldly shooed away any hand wanting to help him and got a move on, straight to his lab, not even giving them a stare back.
As soon as he passed the doors, his followers knew now was not the time to talk to him. Most of them scattered as fast as they could out of his way, the others suddenly found an interest in the wall or random experiments to not cross his eye sockets. Gaster insulted their mediocrity and entered his office. He slammed the door with all his strength so his coworkers think twice before bothering him for something stupid.
His eye sockets scanned the room angrily before landing on his desk, full of useless pieces of junk and boring paperwork. Perfect. He let go of a savage scream and knocked the desk over. Everything spilled on the floor in a huge mess. He then kicked the piece of wood until a part of it broke. It served no purpose other than making him feel better and calm down this growing frustration rising in his chest.
Gaster closed his eyes one moment and rubbed his temples to appease his persisting headache. He had to think more calmly and logically. In his state, Sans couldn't go that far, it was true, but the scientist well knew his son was way more clever than these idiots from the Royal Guard. The only positive point in all of this was that he was separated from his brother at the moment, and so way more vulnerable. If the guards found Papyrus first, it wouldn't be too difficult to force Sans to come back home with a few threats. Sans would never leave his brother behind.
Was even Sans really alone back then? Papyrus could have been hiding during the human attack, near. He doubted it though. His older son was emotionally distressed and didn't control any of his attacks, which suggested he had one of these magic crises recently. Stress, probably.
His attacks were still weak, at least confirming one of his theories. Sans would need a mental shock to activate his full potential and more destructive spells. Fear was not enough to reach this objective.
Gaster put his hands behind his back. He paced up and down in the room, annoyed. If only Toriel didn't get involved in all this mess! She ruined all his plans, and he couldn't believe Asgore was still finding her excuses. Several heads had been cut off for high treason for less reasons than this. But no, she was the Queen, and everyone forgave her!
She was good at masking her tracks too. The trackers localized the tunnel she used to escape, but by the time they reached its end, the snow had hidden any prints. However, with four children in her hands, she couldn't get very far. Now that Sans had reappeared, he assumed he was right. But where could she be? She was too careful to let kids sleep in the snow.
He walked to the huge map hanging on the back wall of his office. The scientist jumped slightly when he met his own eyes in the reflection of the glass next to it. He still wasn't quite used to his new appearance, to these huge scars on each side of his face. More worrisome, a red liquid was leaking from his nasal hole. He cleaned it with his finger and winced. Blood. Or what he assumed was blood. Determination had very interesting secondary effects. Monsters who could bleed like humans. This was a first. The runoff was superficial, so he ignored it and focused on the map.
With a marker, he drew a red circle around the place he met the humans sooner, and carefully inspected its surroundings, searching for a safe place the Queen could have been hiding in. Sans probably didn't run away from her that far, maybe two hours, and it seemed he was coming from the east. His finger followed a straight line to a sparse part of the forest.
"The old camp, of course."
A risky choice. The monsters left that place after a huge human attack from nearby villages. It cost the life of numerous monsters as the trees were hiding the assaulters. The place was dangerous and difficult to access, but a force field could be created around the old Dreemur's manor. Toriel was probably there, thinking she was unreachable. The message was clear: she wouldn't surrender without a fight.
He circled the place in red, then picked up his phone. He dealt Asgore's number and waited patiently for the King to answer.
"Gaster! Where did you go? I lost sight of you for one second and…"
"Lab." he answered coldly. "I know where Toriel and the children are hiding."
"You're sure? Even the Royal Guard couldn't find their tracks."
"I'm certain. She is in the old east camp, but she is well protected. She has so to speak all of the arsenal we gave up behind when we fled. I need a Royal Guard squad. Good warriors, not idiots, please. She will fight us. We're living tonight."
"Gaster… Is this really an emergency? You were supposed to rest…" Asgore complained.
"Are you coming or not?" the scientist answered, ignoring him.
"Yes…"
"Good. I will see you tonight. Have a nice afternoon, your Majesty."
"Right, I'll be there. I can't believe how stubborn y-"
He hung up. He didn't need to be lectured like a child right now. He couldn't waste time.
His eyes fall on the determination extractor. Sans could be a problem as well. Maybe if he found a way to block his determination for a few seconds with a special short wave, it would be enough to make him pass out. It could work on the human too, even if it could be resistant to it. Maybe if he injected some determination into Toriel as well to weaken her for a short time… The only problem with that was that the wave could touch the scientist as well. He had to make sure his invention was not going to fall into bad hands. That started by not talking about it to Asgore. The King probably wouldn't appreciate him playing with forces he didn't understand fully.
If the operation was a success, he would have a few days to train Sans before he and his brother would be delivered to the humans. This time, he would make sure the kids are locked and safe. They got too many liberties so far and that only led to troubles.
He put his desk up again and grabbed the service phone. He called the mechanic department. A hesitant voice answered.
"Number twenty-eight at your service. Can… Can I help you with something Doctor Gaster?"
"I need pieces, a construction kit, and one of your best engineers. I'm sending you a text with the details. I want it now."
"Right, this should be done in ten minutes."
"Five." he ordered sternly.
"R-right, five, of course!"
He hung up and put his hand under his chin, thoughtful.
"Well done, Sans. You just betrayed them all. I knew I could trust you after all."