Glen sat at the park right outside the entrance to the underground, her arms crossed as she waited beside Frisk as Toriel braided the little girl's hair. The entrance was unguarded; the underground was open to anyone who wished to view how the monsters lived before their liberation.
"Some of the younger monsters have started moving back into the old cities." Toriel said, "They call it 'retro', I believe."
"They would." Glen said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Listen, Tori, I really don't think it's a good idea-"
"Oh, hush! I may be a silly old lady, but I can still hold my own. Besides, Frisk agrees that you'll need me to show the way once we reach Home."
The smug look on Frisk's face was insufferable. She hadn't told Toriel about Asriel, but still managed to convey their need to reach the bottom of the underground. Glen would've been impressed had she not been so annoyed.
"Just ... be careful." Glen said, "Both of you, yeah? We have no idea what could be waiting down there."
"Relax, Glenda." Toriel said, tying Frisk's braids with purple ribbons before moving behind Glen. "I've been wanting to go back anyway; it's been awhile since I've seen my old place. Now hold still; I've wanted to try a half-crown braid, and Frisk's hair isn't long enough yet."
Glen sighed and held still as the bossun woman's large fingers carefully braided her hair. When Toriel was done, she stood back and asked Frisk, "What do you think?"
Frisk gave her a thumbs up. Glen walked over to the water fountain and looked at her reflection; Toriel had wrapped two of the braids around her head, giving them a crown-like appearance. The two braids joined together at the base of her neck, merging into one long braid that hung with the rest of her long hair.
"I look like a woman from a fantasy movie." She paused and tilted her head to the side to get another view. "I like it."
A grinning blue-scaled face appeared over her shoulder. "Sup, clutz?"
"Undyne?" Glen turned to greet another of her old friends. Standing just a few inches taller than Glen, Undyne had stark red hair, an eyepatch covering her left eye, and very large, pointy teeth.
Undyne gave Glen a fierce hug before punching her in what she likely thought was a playful manner. "Ha! You goin' to a prom or somethin'? What's with the fancy hair?"
"Toriel was nice enough to fix this for me." Glen said evenly.
"I was trying out something I saw in a beauty catalog.' Toriel said, smiling.
"Oh?" Undyne said, looking at the bossun woman. Coughing, she said in a quiet voice, "Well, if you want, you could try something else on me. I mean, if you're not busy or anything."
"Of course." Toriel said, patting the bench. "Sit down."
As Undyne took a seat, she said, "So, we're headin' down into the Underground, huh?"
"Sans told you?" Glen asked.
Undyne laughed until Toriel said, "Please hold still."
"Sorry. Yeah, old bone-head came and got me. Said we were goin' on a rescue mission and might have to thrash some kinda big reality-jumping monster. That's way too awesome for me to pass up!"
Glen chuckled at her old friend's fierce enthusiasm. "Hey, the more the merrier. Is Alphys coming along?"
"In a manner of speaking." said a slightly nervous yet oddly amplified voice coming from the pack at Undyne's side.
"Alphy's gonna be our spotter!" Undyne said, digging in the pack and pulling out a number of wristbands.
"That's right!" Alphys said, her voice coming from a small speaker set into every bracelet. "I've activated the old surveillance system, so I can let you know what's ahead. I know you probably wanted me there in person, but-"
"Are you kidding?" Glen said, "This is brilliant. You're in the perfect position to let us know if anything funny's going on down there." And if we do run into trouble, you can warn the city before it endangers anyone else, thought Glen.
"Oh! Well, I'll do my best!" Alphys replied, sounding a little more confident.
"Any sign of ... well, anything down there?" Glen asked, hoping Sans either didn't tell them about Asriel or that he knew Tori would be coming along and told them not to mention it.
"Well, everything seems to be normal so far." Alphys said, "But the surveillance system only goes as far as the fields west of Snowdin. I never had cameras in the old ruins, though, so what you're looking for could be over there."
"Don't worry, Alphys dear." Toriel said, "I can guide us from that point."
"All right." Glen said, slipping a band on her wrist. "Then as soon as Sans and the rest of his team get here, we'll be off."
"There." Tori said patting Undyne's shoulder. "Go have a look and tell me what you think."
Undyne hurried over to the fountain, nearly plunging her head into the water in an effort to see herself. "Whoa!" She said, running her hands around "Hey, Alphy, can you see this?"
"Y-yes. I believe that's called a waterfall braid."
Undyne grinned back at Toriel. "Waterfall braid! Ha! I love it!"
"I dunno. Looks kinda fishy to me." Sans said, approaching the group with his brother Papyrus at his side.
"Sans, this is a serious mission! We don't need the team distracted by your questionable humor!"
"Sorry, Paps. Didn't mean to make a joke of our little excursion."
"Sans!"
"Hey, Papyrus." Glen said, hoping to stop the ensuing argument. "You're coming with us?"
"But of course! As the Captain of the Ebott Town Guard, it is my responsibility to lend my considerable talents to this quest!"
He leaned closer to Glen and said in a slightly lower yet still quite loud tone, "I understand this is a rescue mission."
"In part." Glen said, resisting the urge to chuckle.
"Ah, excellent. Of course, the great Papyrus is skilled in rescuology and rescuonomy; this mission will be as easy as making spaghetti!"
Glen, who had far more experience with Papyrus's cooking than she cared to remember, was nevertheless reassured by the tall skeleton's support.
"Okay." Glen said, clapping her hands together. "Who else?"
"That's it." Sans said. "Figured we'd best stick with close friends and family. I see Frisk convinced you to let her come along."
"Yeah." Glen said, glaring at the little girl. "Convinced."
Frisk stuck her tongue out at Glen before turning her attention back to Jake. The robot dog had definitely taken a shine to her, and seemingly had no problem letting the little girl ride on his back.
"All right." Glen said as Undyne passed around the rest of the bracelets, "Just one thing left before we head off."
She held out her arms, Headache appearing on them moments later. The rest of her impulse gear materialized in place, her visor appearing last. As she slipped it over her head like a circlet.
"Whoa." Undyne said, "You're really expectin' some serious trouble down there?"
"Frankly, I don't know what to expect." Glen said, adjusting one of the arm-mounted gauntlets. "If we find trouble, though, I intend to deal with it quickly."
"Hell yeah." Undyne said, a translucent blue spear materializing in her hands. "Let's go!"
"Um, Undyne," Alphys said, her voice full of concern, "P-please be careful, okay?"
"Don't worry, sweetie!" Undyne said, giving her bracelet a kiss. "We'll be back in no time!"
As Undyne ran into the passage, Glen said, "Don't worry; we'll bring her back safe."
"Thank you, Glen." Alphys said, sounding relieved. "You be careful too, all right? I'll let you know if I see or detect anything out of the ordinary here."
With that, the group set off into the Underground. Alphys took the lead with Papyrus close on her heels, followed by Glen, Frisk and Jake, Toriel, and finally Sans at the rear. The first tunnel was long and smooth, almost unnaturally so. Lower and lower it dipped down, never turning or twisting. All too soon, the light from outside was no longer visible.
There was something, though, a slightly discordant hum that seemed to grow steadily louder as the group continued walking.
"Ugh." Glen said, trying and failing to block the hum out. "What is that?"
Toriel seemed surprised at this. "Oh! You hear it too? I thought it was just me."
"Same here." Sans said.
"Given the length of time the barrier was in place and factoring in the power needed to create and destroy it, you're probably encountering residual magical energy from the barrier." Alphys told her. "Don't worry; it's just a remnant echo; it shouldn't hurt."
"It's not hurting." Glen said, "It's just really annoying."
"Well, the effect should lessen as you pass."
"I should hope so." Papyrus said. "It is quite unsettling."
"What's wrong, bro?" Sans said, "Something rattling your bones?"
Toriel giggled as Papyrus let out a sigh. Glen wanted to chuckle, but Sans was right; she could feel the hum in her bones. If anything, it grew worse the longer they walked. Even Jake's normally cheerful cartoon face grew subdued. He whined, prompting Frisk to pat him on the top of his monitor.
Still, the door leading into the back of Dremurr Castle was visible in the distance, so Glen grit her teeth and tried not to think about it. Unfortunately, that turned out to be impossible, especially when the humming started growing increasingly loud.
Glen was about to ask Papyrus if anyone had reported it to him when Alphys's voice came through her bracelet. "Uh, guys? I'm losing feeds all across the Snowdin Area."
This brought the group to a halt.
"What?" Undyne asked, "Something smashing them?"
"N-negative." Alphys said, the nervousness in her voice growing. "They're just shutting off one by one. I'm not seeing or hearing anything from the feeds.."
"Vandals!" Papyrus said, stamping his foot. "No good hooligans out to destroy our glorius history!"
"That's the spirit!" Undyne said, cackling with glee, "Let's go thrash the punks!"
Glen opened her mouth to call the zealous monsters back when Alphys said, "Oh no ..."
"What?" Glen asked. Perhaps it was something in her tone, but Toriel quickly picked Frisk up from Jake's back.
"W-we're losing feeds in waterfall. I didn't realize it at first, but I believe ... yes, I'm sure the feeds are vanishing based on location."
"The furthest disappearing first, right?" Glen said as even Pap and Undyne started to look worried.
"Affirmative. It's always the same; the feed seems perfectly fine, then it's just gone. Glen, this just isn't possible; I have cameras all over the place, but whatever's doing this has found every single one."
"Right." Glen said, thoroughly unnerved. "Okay, everyone, we're falling back to the city."
"What?" Undyne said, sounding disappointed. "Why? Because a bunch of cameras stopped working? C'mon, Glen, those things are ancient!"
"Whatever is killing the feeds is heading our way." Glen said, Jake trotting to his side. "Very quickly. It knows right where the cameras are, and is destroying them without being seen."
"I don't-"
"Think about it!" Glen snapped. "We're the only ones who knew those cameras were still active! Now it might just be a coincidence, but it seems to me like whatever this thing is wants us to know its coming."
Undyne's eyes widened, only to widen even more when Alphys said, "The cameras in Hotland are failing!"
"We should stay and fight it!" Undyne said, gripping her spear.
"Yeah." Sans said, already following Toriel and Frisk back toward Ebott. "Let us know how that works out. C'mon, Pap."
"I can't run away! I'm the head of the Royal ..." Papyrus stopped as his body was enveloped in a blue glow. "Sans! Put me down this instant, or I swear I will write you a ticket!"
"I think you need to reevaluate your citation." Sans said, his brother's body following him and his family out of the corridor.
"Aaagh!"
"If it's attacking Ebott, we're the first line of defence!" Undyne persisted.
"All right, fine." Glen said, "But not here; it's too narrow. We'll flank the entrance and attack it as it comes out."
"The feeds in New Home are going down now." Alphys said, her own voice panicked. "Undyne, please, get out of there!"
Undyne's face paled at the sound of her wife's distress. "Flank 'em outside, right." She said before taking off running after the others with Glen close behind her.
Glen and Undyne rejoined the others outside. Almost immediately, however, Frisk grabbed Glen's arm and shook it, a panicked look on her young face.
"It's okay." Glen said, eyes still on the corridor. "We're safe, we're all safe."
Frisk shook her head, and signed four letters that made Glen's blood run cold: 'Jake'.
"Jake!" Glen shouted, turning back to the passage, only for Sans to grab her shoulder.
"You go in there and you aren't gonna make it back!" Sans said. "I know your fast, but I'm guessing we've only got seconds."
"I can't just leave him behind!" Glen said, pulling free. She took a few steps before a blue glow surrounded her.
With a sigh, she clenched her rune hand. The blue field collapsed instantly, to Sans' evident surprise. She took advantage of his shock to run back into the passage with her tek-boots flaring behind her.
Jake was still halfway down the tunnel, looking at the door at the far end with his screen partially rotated as though it were a particularly interesting bug. Swearing under her breath, Glen ran over to him, her tech boots leaving energy trails in their wake.
Just as she reached the robot dog, the door leading underground flew off its hinges, narrowly smacking into Glen's head as it flew past. Blinding light radiated from the opening, its source a strange being of light. It didn't run so much as fly toward them at a speed that even Glen found frightening. She picked up Jake and raced toward the door as fast as her tek-boots could carry her.
She was still a good distance from the end of the passage when her tek boots started to malfunction. It was just a stutter at first, but in a matter of moments the boots powered down. Glen tried to keep running, but her speed combined with the weight of Jake sent her tumbling straight into the passage floor, where her head collided against the stone with a sickening crack that made her world go dark.
ns 15.158.61.45da2
