Glen spotted Asriel as they passed near the Junkyards. She gave him a wave, the manacles ensuring that one hand soon followed the other.
"Hey Asriel." She said, her tone glum. "Find anything interesting?"
"Glen!" He said, eyes wide. "What the hell happened?"
"Funny thing; did you know ice is slippery even when you're barefoot, and that there are way too many precipices between the Ruins and Snowdin?"
Alphys let out a laugh. She'd been in high spirits since catching Glen hanging from a root by her numb feet. Alphys had been all too polite in assisting her from the edge, which somehow made the situation all the more embarrassing, especially after she was clapped in irons and flung over Alphys's shoulder like a sack of old laundry.
"Guess I'm going to see the Queen." Glen said in a resigned tone. "Any sign of our metal friend?"
"Metal friend?" Undyne said. She was riding alongside Alphys in a floating car about the size of a beachball, looking quite comical. "Are you referring to Napstaton? Is he involved in this?"
"Napstaton." Glen repeated. "Television celebrity, I'm guessing."
"Radio DJ, actually." Undyne said, pride in her smile. "My finest invention."
"Oh. Well, no, I've never met him." Glen said.
"I'll get Mister Kidd." Asriel said.
"No, Asriel, it's ..." Glen sighed as Asriel ran back into the Junkyard. "Nice kid."
"Yeah." Alphys said. "Shame about what happened with his parents though."
"Alphys!" Undyne said, the scales on her cheeks growing red. "You shouldn't speak of the royal family like that!"
"Ha! I was there, Undyne. Never thought I'd see the day those two would go at it like that." Alphys shook her head, the ridges on the back of her head poking briefly into Glen's side. "Just cause I serve the queen doesn't mean I can't have an opinion, Undyne."
"I know," Undyne said nervously, "But her majesty's been on edge lately, more so than usual. I don't want you to end up hurt or in prison for antagonizing her."
Alphys turned and pulled Undyne's face to hers. Glen watched them kiss with eyebrows raised.
"You go, girl." Glen said as they released.
"Don't worry about me, sweetheart." Alphys said, running a claw through Undyne's vibrantly red hair. "The queen just cares about results, and I sure got 'em today."
"But what about the other human?"
Alphys let out a grunt as she shifted Glen slightly. "We only need one. The other one's just a kid. We'll worry about it later; right now, we got everything we need to take down the barrier."
A timid smile fell over Undyne's face. "I can't wait to see the sun."
"Me either." Alphys said. "We'll go find a nice beach somewhere. Think about it; a whole big ocean to swim in, plenty of soft, warm sand ... just you and me and that bikini you know I like."
Undyne's face went completely red at that. "Alphy!"
"Sounds nice to me." Glen said, winking at her. "You oughtta check out Florida; nice clear waters and glistening white sand. Or hey, Hawaii's always a fun place to plan a honeymoon."
"Oh, gosh." Undyne said, turning her head away but not before Glen saw the shy smile.
Alphys chucked. "You're all right, human. I have to admit, you gave me a pretty good chase there until the end too. A shame I gotta bring you to the queen. You got someone on the surface?"
"Not on this planet."
Undyne looked at Glen, eyes wide. "This ... oh, wow. Your from another world?"
"Nah, but my wife is." Glen said. "Teria Myssohn. Beautiful woman, though not much of a beach-goer. Messes with her fur."
"Oh ... I'm sorry." Undyne said. "Can we deliver her a message?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"But the Queen-"
"Oh, I'm sure I'll figure out something. I'm clever like that."
"Don't give up until the very end, eh?" Undyne nodded approvingly. "Good on you."
They were nearing Hotland now, the last of the waterfalls giving way to deep pools of lava. A familiar face waited for them at a sentry station ahead, his orange hood up over his skull.
Grunting in way of greeting, Alphys tried to pass the sentry station only for a warning tone to sound and a long metal railroad gate to swing down, blocking the path ahead.
"What the ..." Alphys said, clearly taken aback. "Hey! What's the big idea? When the hell did you even install that?"
"Good afternoon slash day slash morning, fellow monster.!" Papyrus said. "This path is restricted. I'll need to see some identification before I can let you pass."
"What?" Alphys said, narrowing her eye at the skeleton. "It's me you bone-brain. Captain Alphys."
"Oh, of course it is." Papyrus said, his tone conveying a sense of deep disbelief. "And I'm sure your fishy friend here would say the same thing."
"I'm Royal Scientist Undyne!" Undyne pulled her nametag from her coat, a small zipline attaching it to the cloth.
Papyrus looked it over and nodded. "Looks good ... though I hear they make some pretty good fakes these days."
"Pretty good ... Papyrus, what is this? You know me, and you know Alphys."
"I can't rightly say, madam. I'll have to clear it with the head office." Papyrus held his hand to the side of his head, pinky and thumb bone outstretched.
"Papyrus." Alphys growled.
"Hold on; it's still ringing." Papyrus said.
Alphys let Glen fall behind her and stomped over to the skeleton. Leaning heavily on the counter, she said in a low dangerous tone, "Whatever game your playing is seriously pissing me off right now."
"Madam, security is not a game. I'll have you know I take my job very ser- oh, yes, hello! Boss-who-totally-exists? Yeah, I've got this lizard person and her fish-girlfriend here ..."662Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSut9ITKJCu
While Undyne and Alphys were fuming and Papyrus continued his conversation, Glen felt tiny hands suddenly working at her wrists. She turned to see Magnificent and Chara behind her, hurriedly working at her bonds with small devices that looked like pizza-cutters with tiny buzz-saws instead of blades. They cut through the manacles before quietly hurrying to her feet to get those as well.
It wasn't long before Alphys reached the point where her patience ran out. Grabbing the skeleton by his collar, she snarled, "Joke's over. You either let us pass or I'm going to crush you into dust with my bare hands."
"Oh!" Papyrus said, "You're THAT Alphys! Well why didn't you say so? Let me just get this gate open for you."
A loud 'bing' sounded, after which, the security arm slowly rose ... only to fall the moment later.
"Sorry, ladies." Papyrus said, flashing them an extra-wide smile. "Damn thing sticks like crazy."
The final manacle fell to the ground. It wasn't the sound of clinking metal chain that gave them away, however; it was Magnificent's loud cry of "Aha!"
He clamped his hands around his mouth, but Alphys was already turning around. Her eyes narrowed at Magnificent. "You."
"The Magnificent Sans is tactically knowledgeable enough to know when to fight and to run away!" With that, he took off running back toward Waterfall, Glen following with Chara on her shoulders.
"You son of a ... GET BACK HERE, HUMAN!"
Glen and Sans ran back into the water-filled cavern, leaving the oppressive heat of Hotland behind. Unfortunately, what Alphys lacked in speed she more than made up for in tenacity. Glen, on the other hand, had spent the last thirty minutes with her legs chained up. While the exercise felt good, she was also tiring out fast.
"I hope you have a plan, Magnificent."
"Uh ... can't you blast her with freezing rays? Humans have those, right?"
"No!"
"What? But Papyrus said ..."
"Uh-oh." Chara said.
Glen flashed her a glance. "Uh-oh what?"
Chara pointed behind them. Glen risked a glance back and saw
Undyne's little floater-thing zooming up behind Alphys. With a curt nod, Alphys leapt onto the floater. It nearly scraped along the ground, but still flew straight toward them at a frightening speed.
"All right." Glen said, "Are you two familiar with the PU strategy?"
"The what?" Chara said.
"Hold your nose."
"Hold my ..." Eyes wide, Chara clamped her hand over her nose. Glen pushed herself as fast as she could, her eyes on the place ahead where a river flowed under the path.662Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZwiN7LCzk
With Alphys and Undyne just moments behind them, Glen hurled herself from the path and into the river. Alphys made a grab at her, but the floater was going too fast, and wasn't designed for sudden stops. It sped on, Magnificent leaping out of the way moments before it would've crashed into him. Both Alphys and Undyne shrieking, the floater zoomed onward into the chamber beyond.
Having caught the very edge of the bridge, Glen pushed Chara up before climbing up herself.
Chara was giggling. "PU. I get it."
Chuckling as well, Glen and Chara hurried over to Magnificent.
"The Magnificent Sans is fine." He said shakily as they helped him to his feet. "Though I'll probably never be part of the Royal Guard after helping two huma-"
Chara hugged him, stopping him short. A moment later, Glen wrapped her arms around both of them and lifted them in the air, Chara squealing happily as Glen said, "My heroes!"
Another crash resounded through the cavern, drawing their celebration short.
"Captain Alphys! Doc Undyne!" Sans wiggled out of Glen's grasp and took off running toward the sound of the crash. Trading a quick glance with Chara, Glen nodded and hurried after him.
Signs of the floater's passage were evident all over the cavern; patches of flattened grass, large amounts of gravel near suspiciously new dents in the stone walls. From the look of it, Alphys had not been able to slow the floater before hitting the wall across from the passage, after which she lost control.
They hurried along the irregular path left by the out-of-control floater until they reached a long bridge of wooden planks over a deep chasm. While Glen couldn't see the bottom, she could see the plume of smoke rising from it. She could also see Alphys and Undyne hanging off the side of the bridge ... or more accurately, Undyne was hanging off of Alphys and Alphys was hanging off the side of the bridge."
"Hold on, Doc!" Magnificent said, kneeling at the side of the bridge and grabbing her wrist. He pulled with all his strength. For a moment, impossibly, he actually looked as though he might be able to lift the both of them.
Unfortunately, his balance shifted and he soon started to tip over the side as well.
He let out a cry as he fell over, but Glen was already moving. She dove at the little skeleton and caught him by the ankles. It was heavy, but fortunately, Undyne was fairly light without all the muscle and Sans barely weighed anything at all.
Pulling them up still wasn't easy; the bridge was only a few feet across, and not entirely stable. Still, She was able to drag Sans back onto the bridge. Undyne was next; Sans and Glen pulled her up together, Sans helping Undyne as Glen moved to grab Alphys's hands."
"You've gotta be kidding." Alphys said,still clinging to Undyne's lets. "You expect me to trust a human? You'll drop me the moment I let go!"
"So what? You want to drag Undyne down with you? That's a bluff, and you know it. You'd never intentionally harm Undyne, not in a million years."
There was surprise in Alphys's eye. "You say that like you know."
"I do. Now stop being stubborn and let me help you already."
"Alphys, please!" Undyne said.
Alphys looked at her for a long moment before looking at Glen. With a sigh, she grabbed one of Glen's hands and clenched it tightly, her talons digging into Glen's skin slightly. Wincing, Glen helped her to the Bridge, Magnificent, Chara, and Undyne assisting until Alphys collapsed on the side of the bridge, her breathing heavy.
Undyne and Alphys exchanged a long glance before hugging each other rightly.
"Aww!" Magnificent, his pupils little blue stars as he watched the lovers embrace. "That's so sweet!"
"Yeah." Glen said, smiling.
Undyne separated from Alphys to fix Glen and Chara with a glare. "This doesn't change anything ... I'm under orders to bring you in."
"Alphys!" Undyne said, her hand on Alphys's shoulder.
"I can't betray the Queen's trust." Alphys said, bowing her head. "I just ... I just can't."
Everyone looked uncertain for a long moment before Glen sighed and said, "Y'know? Go ahead and bring us to her."
"What?" Magnificent said, eye sockets wide. "But ... but our amazing rescue!"
"Went off perfectly, and I thank all three of you for the effort." Glen assured Sans, nodding at the far end of the bridge where Papyrus was no waiting. "Truth is, I've been thinking. The monsters of this universe don't deserve to be stuck down here. Probably didn't deserve it to begin with, given my knowledge of humans back in the day."662Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7K7yoS1tJ
"But we'll need seven souls." Alphys said, her tone hushed. "We'll need one more ... either yours or ..."
Chara clenched Glen's leg. Glen ruffled the little girl's hair. "Hey; I said I'd keep you safe, yeah? Don't worry. You're off the hook."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Sans said, "Are you sayin' your gonna give up your soul to save us?"
"I ain't gonna ..." Glen stopped, certain she'd felt the bridge wobble. "Okay, can we get off this thing before, y'know, it falls apart? We can talk along the way."
As they departed, Chara gave Glen a worried look.
"Don't worry, kid." Glen said. "They don't really need a soul; they just need the barrier broken, and if there's one thing I'm an expert at, it's breaking things."
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