What a gross waste of time. That flamboyant aluminum box of sardines had led her on a wild goose chase. She realized far too late into the pursuit that he had been toying with her the whole time. The moment she had managed to corner him he just took flight and shot out of there like a rocket, insults scrolling across his screen as he waved farewell in an arc overhead.

She felt Rain stir inside of her, curling up like a pleased cat thanks to this petty victory. She was glad that someone out there was smart enough to play as something other than the hero. It was her belief that whoever this Alphys character was, they were damn smart to know it was best no to fight them. That knowledge seemed to be present in their robotic creation as well.

Chara grumbled to herself about having allowed the robot to get away. She should have known better. She had been so patient and sneaky when she had been the lesser of the two entities in control of this body. Now that she was free of Rain’s restraints she had overdone it in her excitement. She needed to remember to keep a level head. Asgore could still come out and ruin her after all. It was a wonder that he hadn’t already.

Curious, really.

She continued the long and arduous journey to the capital. She could feel New Home calling to her like a lost childhood song only just now being remembered.

Childhood. Hah! Was she still a child? Had she ever really been one?

A thought for another day perhaps.

Either way, it felt strange to be coming home again. Everything was far different from how she remembered it yet still there were memories hidden under the new layers of paint and glit that had been put up over old roads and chipped signs.

Nothing really changed much in the Underground. Even if everyone tried to pretend otherwise.

She took a deep, haggard breath and pushed away strands of sticky hair from her face. The buzz and whirr of machines working to keep everything alive was a constant steampunk-themed white noise in her ear. The swish of rhythmic steam kept pace with her own breath.

She would like to find a place to cool down soon. The chase had worn her out more than she should have let it and in this part of the Underground heat struggled to find new places to escape to. It was quite unpleasant and goading Rain into keeping the heat off of her was difficult. She could still be quite stubborn in her own squirmy way when she wanted to be.

But Chara did not let that slow her down. She was getting closer to the surface. Closer to the sun. She was almost there now. It felt surreal.

How long had it been since she had last seen her old village anyway? She didn’t know. She didn’t really care to be honest. She was just ready for it to be over. She was ready to wipe everything clean so she could rest. Who knows, after this world fell quiet she may even try and move on to the next one. If she was strong enough.

She kept going. Her spear felt warm in her hand. Its weight was reassuring. She had not had the opportunity to use it much thanks to the evacuation but that would soon change.

…Soon all of this would change.

***

Going back was technically an option. He didn’t know much about Alphys’s “True Lab” aside from the revelation that it existed but he would not be surprised if she had some way of keeping an eye out for stragglers.

Yet the choice seemed like some distant half-baked plan to him now. He had allowed the human to chase him this far. He had had his grand exit and done his job. He should take a bow and head out. But now he realized that something was up. The stakes were perhaps much higher than he had originally thought.

It was everyone’s belief that sooner or later the human and Asgore would collide and that would be the end of it. From this tragedy Asgore would at long last have the last soul needed to break through the barrier and they would be free. The human would be dead and the Underground would be safe once more. Her execution would be the eager price paid for their freedom.

But as Mettaton found himself alone on a nearly abandoned street, watching the human prey on anyone caught unaware like it was some sick sport, he could not help but wonder where his mighty king had gone.

Something was up and as he shadowed the human he caught disturbing snippets of conversation she had only with herself. Should she manage to pull off the impossible and kill the king- which at this point Mettaton was starting to consider a possibility- it did not sound like she was going to be happy with just escaping the Underground. No, it sounded like she would carry on with her rampage on the surface as well.

Mettaton had never really been a big fan of the idea of the total destruction of humanity. He had always been rather fond of the idea of humans. This little abomination however… well, the proof was in the pudding. There was something seriously wrong with her.

At first Mettaton hung back instead of seeking shelter because as the marvelous new reporter that he was, he believed it his duty to be there to record and relay Asgore’s triumph over the human when he eventually caught up to her.

…But no one came.

The human cut deeper and deeper into the Hotland, drawing closer and closer to the Core. Mettaton began to feel some strange unsettling feeling collecting in the pit of his existence; like a cold mildew that seeped into his surrounding wires and circuits.

She was going on unopposed. And even though she was on foot in the sweltering heat, she seemed to know exactly where she was going and what elevators to use. He often found her prying them open and somehow getting them to work even though they were supposed to have been in lockdown by now.

He thought of what that little kid had said about the dead dummy. He wondered which of his family members she and killed. Were there others that she had found? Would she ever be satisfied?

“Oh, this can hardly end well.” He groaned, finally realizing what he had been contemplating this whole time.

It wasn’t too hard to get ahead of her. Being able to fly short distances certainly had its perks. It also meant that he was able to warn a few stragglers to get off the main road before she got there.

He tried to activate a few of the faulty puzzles as he went, in an attempt to slow her down. He had seen Alphys do it remotely a few times in the past and figured he had a fair idea of how to reboot things but he was met with uncanny opposition.

“Come on you silly old thing. Why now of all days did you have to go and experience technical difficulties?” He lamented, trying to at least pull one of the elevators offline before she got to it. They were supposed to be locked in evacuation mode and only go down, but someone must have switched them back to their normal setting.

Luckily for all of monster and human kind, Mettaton had become fairly proficient in the manipulation of chips and wires. Electronic and robotic maintenance was simply a given when you had a body like his.

He pulled the panel away and gave a start, digital face blinking in surprise when the panel came away with an unusual degree of resistance. He backed up a bit in surprise. “What’s this?” Under the panel there was a tangled mess of green and brown tendrils jamming some settings in place and shielding others from tampering. He reached out with a tentative hand and pulled one of the fibrous strands away to examine it more closely. It was organic.

“Roots?” He twirled it between his fingers to be sure. “Vines?”

He turned around in surprise when the elevator dinged and the door began to shut behind him. The human was already at the station down below and was attempting to call it down. He spun back around to the panel, a wave of panic washing over him as the door began to close. Well, he didn’t really need to fix the elevator to get his desired result, right?

He grasped a thick bundle of exposed wires and roots in his fist. “Nope!” He declared, ripping everything out of the wall and wheeling out of the closing door with the trail of colorful wires and ugly tendrils trailing behind him like victory streamers.

She would have to go the long way around now.

He raced ahead, searching for any sign of what may have gone wrong in order to cause their defenses to falter and their king to be delayed. On more than one occasion he found another faulty elevator that he used to get a few levels ahead of her, often pausing just long enough to find a familiar tangle of roots behind the panel that he had to tear away in order to set things back to their proper setting before moving on.

He ran into a few more fleeing residents that he instructed to go hide in any other direction than the one they had been heading in. He made a great show of being confidant and overplaying his heroic deeds and personal confidence in the king in front of these frightened people. After all, as an entertainer it was always his job to give his audience hope. Even if his own was starting to wane.

He didn’t encounter his first Royal Guardsmen until he had nearly reached his own resort.

Relief, frustration, confusion, and a dozen other emotions raced through him like bursts of electricity. He could practically feel his core overheating from the stress of it all. It took a good deal of self-control to keep from just waving his hands in the air and shouting frustrated profanities at them.

“Is that Mettaton?” One of them droned, his deep voice echoing inside his helmet as Mettaton turned the corner and hurried into view.

“Dude, like, I think it is! We like, thought you evacuated with the last wave.” The second balked.

“Well an unexpected arrival put a damper on that.” Mettaton explained, dusting himself off and standing a little straighter. “The human broke into the lab and I had to draw her back out.”

While the second guard stood in awe of this, the first and more solemn of the two cut right to the chase. The leather grip of his weapon squeaked under the strength of his tightening fists. “And where is the human now?”

“Not far behind me, I imagine. The little terror is on the warpath tonight. If you don’t mind me asking- where the hell is Asgore?”

“Oh man, Mettaton, it’s like, super complicated. A lot of really strange stuff keeps-”

“We are not sure he ever got Alphys’s message.”

Mettaton balked. This flipped everything on its head. For once he was speechless. “What?”

“A large part of New Home is stuck in a blackout. Communications are down. Automated Core defense systems have been acting strange and with the majority of Core workers having been evacuated, progress has ground to a halt.”

It felt like someone had just dropped a ton of bricks on his head. Really? Now? Was the whole world literally turning against them on this?

He waved his hands in exasperation. “Well then send someone in on foot to go tell him! Or do I have to go do everything myself?”

“Dude, that’s just it!” The second guard fidgeted with unease. “We have sent three messengers to go see what’s up and make sure Asgore got the news. But once they entered the communication dead zone that was like, it. They never reported back and we can’t keep sending dudes out there with messages. Our defenses are stretched thin enough as it is.”

Mettaton sighed. “So it’s not just the elevators then.”

“What do you mean?” The dragon guard rumbled, standing up a little straighter.

“They were still accessible from the lower levels, their settings protected by strange overgrowth. I did what I could to slow the human down but she will be here soon. I really don’t think we have enough time to sit here and chat about the details.” His mind was racing. Things were bad. If Asgore was literally in the dark about all this then there was a chance the human could still beat him and take his soul after all. The more he learned about the situation the more he began to fear that outcome. With some reluctance his mind turned to Alphys. It was possible that she would know how to break past whatever was causing the communications to go dark. If only he could reach her…

He interrupted his own train of thought with an idea. “Hmm. Yes. I do believe I have a plan.” He tapped at the space between his screen and his buttons. “Gentlemen, as is common when meeting members of the Royal Guard, it has been a pleasure. But I’m afraid we must part ways. I think it may be possible for me to still reach Dr Alphys. She may be able to help us break through the blackout but I’m going to need some time.”

The more stern of the two guards clapped him on the top right side of his box with an armored hand in the area he must have interpreted as Mettaton’s nonexistent shoulder. The unexpected weight was enough to make him bob off kilter a little. “You better get out of there then. The human will have to pass this way sooner or later. We will handle her when she comes. Buy you some time. “

The other guard nodded, gripping his own weapon in anticipation, long white ears standing at attention. “Yeah! We still got a bone to pick with her after what she did to Undyne!”

Mettaton’s screen flashed with an appreciative smile. How fitting that it was synthetic. He wondered if they were as aware as he was of their chances against the human. Alphys really did seem to be the only one who had been smart enough to beat the little terror thus far. The trick seemed to be to refuse to play the same game as her.

He felt a darkness growing over his shoulder. Time was of the essence now. But he knew better than to let his own mounting dread get the best of him while in front of an audience. He was an actor after all. “Give her hell, boys.” He shook their hands in farewell- the hands of dead men- and carried on.

He had work to do.

He saw the glorious lights of his fabled resort long before the building itself came into view. At least he knew that the issues with the Core had touched his own establishment yet.

Despite the ever-growing chaos clawing at his back, seeing his resort filled him with a sense of courage and resolve. The MTT resort was a stunning location to behold. Truly it was a monument to what monsters could achieve if they really tried. It was a beacon of Hope in a world that had once been dulled with despair.

…It also gave him an excuse to make lots of things in the shape of his face.

But the streets were quiet and empty now. No bustling visitors lined up outside to cheer as he rounded the corner. A warm breeze that had managed to escape Hotland sent a flock of dirty burger wrappers skittering by in a dark alleyway like twitching rats. The foreboding grim of the Underground’s darkness hour left a heavy feeling in the air but that sober silence had hardly left a mark on his glorious if not somewhat empty resort. It continued to shine on as it always had, even though there were no other monsters there to see it.

When Mettaton checked the door it was still unlocked, the sign in one window still read as “Open.”

He was torn between sentimentality and annoyance by this. It was heartwarming to imagine his employees being so loyal to their cause that they were willing to stay behind in some poetic “we sink with our ship” type of gesture. But in reality all the rooms were quiet and empty, so they were just wasting power that he would have to pay for later. Not to mention the idea of that foul little devil wandering in through an unlocked door and scuffing up his carpets with her dusty boots was enough to send a shiver down his back.

Mettaton ducked inside. He didn’t like seeing the resort so empty. He called out once or twice to make sure he truly was alone on his way to the elevator. It wouldn’t do to have that little hellspawn murdering his most loyal employees after all. Luckily no one answered.

He took the elevator up to his own personal section of the building on the top floor. He was relived to find that his elevator had not gone and spontaneously grown roots or vines. That was not the MTT way!

His penthouse was garnished only with the best and the finest the Underground had to offer. Lush red carpet- his favorite kind to walk on- spectacular views of the cavern framed by massive windows and several shelves full of glinting awards sat on display in polished wood cabinets all came together in the finest interpretation of luxury. Various show posters and his own memorabilia plastered large portions of the luscious purple walls to the point that you could hardly see the paint anymore.

Off in the far corner there was a computer. It was a little less flashy than the rest of the room. It was an old gift from Alphys that he had never quite gotten around to replacing with something nicer. It still had some of her old sticky notes with his favorite body concept sketches stuck to the sides of the monitor. He couldn’t help but smile internally just a bit when he saw those notes. As he booted up the computer he contemplated all that she had done for him over the years. It had been a while since they had done more than exchange pleasantries and updates over the Undernet since he had become a star.

A hand went over to the dent in his side, a souvenir from his encounter with the human. That blow probably would have killed him if Alphys had not made his current model so sturdy. He resolved to try and make up for the way he had been treating her once all this was over. Blooky and the rest of his family too.

...If they were still alive.

He pulled out his phone and tried to reach the lab while he waited. It came as no surprise when no one answered. He wasn’t exactly sure how far down that elevator of hers went but there was probably enough solid rock between the two of them to prevent his calls from getting through. That or the silly goose had forgotten to bring her phone down with her in her panic.

The computer finished booting up and greeted him with a simulation of his own voice.

He had needed something to match the screensaver of himself.

“Alright Alphys, don’t fail me now darling.” His fingers began to fly across the keys.

Back when Alphys had first given him a body, she had been paranoid about something going wrong and hurting him. She had given him a special emergency contact code in the event that something malfunctioned. She had assured him that she had set things up so that no matter where she was she would get his message. Now that he knew about her deep dark secret lab, he had a gut feeling that this was where she had been going that had caused her to become paranoid about missing regular calls in the first place.

He booted up her special program and started up the IM system. God, it had been ages since he had used this thing. The last message they had exchanged was still in his history log, several years old.

He began to type.

MTT: Alphys, are you there?

The seconds ticked by. A little animated emoji in Alphys’s likeness ran in place by his message with a little envelope held above her head. The words “User is offline. Delivering message to next appliance…” blinked across the screen for what felt like an eternity.

He sighed and drummed his fingers against the desk.

Suddenly the little yellow avatar disappeared and the text changed.

Message sent!

Message received!

If Mettaton could breathe, he would have been holding his breath.

Alphys is typing…

He couldn’t help but beam at that little message. “Why did I ever even doubt you, darling?”

Alphys: METTATON?! OH MY GOD! YOU ARE ALIVE! I WAS SOAFRAID WHARHAPPENED?

Alphys is typing…

Alphys: Sorry, caps. Are you ok? is it safe to come out yet? I tried to access some of the security cameras but a lot of them seem to be glitching. Did Asgore stop the human?

Mettaton took a deep synthetic breath and began to type.

MTT: No. She is still out there. She will catch up to me again soon so I can’t talk long. Something is wrong with the Core. The Royal Guards said that the security systems won’t stay online and now power has gone out in a large part of New Home. Communications are down in the capitol so no one even knows if the king got your message.

Message received.

Alphys is typing…

Alphys is typing…

Message received.

Alphys is typing...

Message received.

Alphys is typing…

Alphys: He doesn’t know? oh my god. I don’t know if he can stop her if he doesn’t know to absorb the souls! Convincing the souls to do anything is not easy for him, Mettaton! He needs time to do that! Do you know what’s causing the issue? Oh god, all the Core workers have evacuated haven’t they? No one is left to try and fix it.

She was panicking now. He had to try and draw her back on track.

MTT: Stay with me, Alphys. That’s where you come in. I was hoping you may be able to work your magic and give me a solution. Forget about the puzzles and the power outage for now. If we can just get the phones back up and running in New Home for a few minutes we can still save this. Use that brilliant brain of yours. Is there anything we can do?

Once again the chat cycled through several notifications that his message had been received and that Alphys was typing and then apparently erasing everything she had said before she managed to say anything at all.

Alphys: um I don’t know. maybe? Do you know what’s wrong?

MTT: No I have not gone out there myself yet. I’m in the resort right now. It still has its Undernet connection but between all these problems and you being so far underground, I don’t know if I will be able to talk once I go into the Core. I doubt I will be able to loop back around to the resort again once I leave. The Royal Guard is buying me time but I don’t know how much of it I have.

Alphys: Oh my god. Uh ok. hold on. some of the Core workers are down here with me. we will try to work something out.

The wait was agonizing. He was all for pausing for dramatic effect but with the way things were going it felt like every second was dragging on for an eternity. Over the next few minutes Alphys gave him one false alarm after the other as she asked questions about the situation in her attempts to get a feel for what had gone wrong. Each time she began to type he jumped a little, ethereal heart racing on new bursts of excitement over the assumption that her next message would be the one he was waiting for.

Mettaton kept glancing out of one of his many windows in the growing paranoia that he would see the dust covered silhouette of his newest stalker making her way down the road soon.

When he got the notification that Alphys was typing again several minutes later, he found himself gripping his screen in both hands and muttering for her to hurry up. “Come on Alphys, I have seen you text a magazine column’s worth of material in under a minuet. Now is not the time for spellcheck!”

Alphys: ok I think we got it. or at least I hope so. we don’t have a lot to go on so there is no guarantee any of this will work.

MTT: Some Hope is better than none.

Alphys: the Core workers have helped me type out some basic commands for the Core that should run a diagnostic. We are in luck. One of these guys specializes on repair and had a bunch of his repair shortcuts on a USB already. I’m going to send you the whole file and you will need to take it down to the Core. find an access point and plug it in. give it time to do its thing and when it finds the problem it should give you step by step instructions on how to fix it. ok?

MTT: Alphys darling, you are practically a goddess. Send the link. I will leave at once.

Alphys: are you sure you want to do this MTT? Maybe you should give this to one of the guards and go find someplace safe to hide. You have done enough, haven’t you?

His fingers were flying across the keyboard in response before he had even finished reading her message.

MTT: they have enough on their plate. Besides, it’s probably best if they stuck to the sword swinging and let the monster with the mechanical body do the technical stuff. You wouldn’t want to rob me of my finest hour, would you darling?

Alphys: yeah…ok. just… stay safe, alright? if you see her just run. Ok? I don’t want to lose you too.

She sent him the link. Mettaton descended upon it like some sort of starving animal, uploading it onto his personal USB. He bid Alphys a hasty farewell and bolted without bothering to wait for a reply. He didn’t even shut the window down before he left. He rushed back into the elevator, excitement and dread running through his wires like uneven jolts of electricity. His finest hour was upon him. All of monster kind would be counting on their favorite star to save the day.

The elevator doors began to close. He pivoted around in surprise. He had not pushed any buttons yet.

The lift was being called down to the first floor.

“Oh dear. That can’t be good.” He stuck out a hand and caught the closing doors, pushing them back open again.

The Elevator dinged and the doors tried to close again.

“Ah, nope. Not going to happen.” He pushed the doors open again with one hand and reached for the emergency stop button.

Someone tried to call the elevator down a third time.

“It’s occupied, I’m afraid.” He sniffed, locking things down and waiting with his back against the wall.

Maybe it was just a scared monster looking for a place to hide. Or an employee who had missed the memo.

But then again…maybe not.

How long had he been up here? Thirty minutes? How long had it taken him to get here? Could the human have caught up to him by now?

No, no this couldn’t be happening. Not now. He had work to do!

He waited several minutes in the tense silence, straining to hear some whisper of a sound that may tip him off to what was going on. He couldn’t stay up here forever.

When what he hoped was an adequate amount of time had passed, he removed the lock on the elevator’s commands and descended back down to the first floor. It felt like a dramatic decent into hell, his back ridged, face stoic. The cheery elevator music and the meek little ding that sounded on his arrival to the first floor did not put a dent in this interpretation.

The door slid open, slower than usual in his mind. He peered out of the widening crack, listening for footsteps or voices. The resort was bathed in friendly, bright lighting that reached into all of its far corners. Yet he still felt like something could be lurking in every shadow or behind any and every corner.

He inched out into the main room.

He snuck along, senses heightened and alert. He was exceedingly glad that he always made sure his wheel was well oiled because he was gliding by as silently as…well, as a ghost.

He lurched to a halt when something over by the fountain caught his eye. Red and white stains in the carpet. Blood and dust.

“Uhuh. Sure. Like I would really want to buy any of your weird dusty items off of you.” A familiar voice snarked.

Mettaton straightened up and hid behind the fountain shaped in his golden likeness. “Oh no.” He groaned, hardly believing what he was hearing. “Of all the days he decides to take his job seriously enough to come in late, why did he have to choose today?” He peeked over the golden glit of his statue. The doors to the small fast food joint had been propped open so he could see inside now. Sure enough one of his employees was standing behind the counter, his little paper hat askew between his fuzzy orange ears.

“Oh come on. It’s perfectly good, see? Who knows what it could open up.” A second voice teased.

“Seriously lady?” He laughed, his voice cracking a little. “You want me to give you free food in exchange for some stupid misshapen house key? If you want to go swap trash with someone, go visit the ally out back.”

The human was leaning up against the counter, putting on a casual act. She had her cloak tugged tightly around her lower half. There were a few droplets of blood pooling under her. Her words started out as a seductive purr that quickly took a nosedive into a pool of venom as she laughed, throwing her head back. “You really are a special shade of stupid, aren’t you? Don’t you know who I am? Or did your depression -brought on by your own pathetic existence- cause you to sleep in past the memo?”

“Memo?” He squeaked.

“Everyone has evacuated! Vicious genocidal human on the loose. Didn’t you know?”

The kid laughed and attempted to straighten his hat but only succeeding to make it sit all the more crooked. “Evacuation? Heh, you’re yanking my chain, you weirdo.”

“Oh but I’m not! Everyone is dead. I killed them. It was quite funny the way they would run or cry when I dusted their friends. But if you decide to be a nice little cat thing and make me some food, I will let you go.” She purred.

Mettaton could see a weapon gripped in her hand, held just below the counter and hidden by the her dirty cloak sleeve. Even without seeing her face he could practically feel her venom and honey smile trying to bore a hole through the guy.

“Everyone is dead, huh?” The kid smiled, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. The reality of the whole situation seemed to be flying right over his little fuzzy little ears. “Boy if that were true, weirdo, if that were true. It would be nothing but vacation days for me from then on out.” He cleared his throat and tapped a paw against the counter. “So you gonna buy something or not? I shouldn’t be talking to you if you’re not going to buy something.”

Reaching the end of her patience, the human sighed in annoyance and revealed her weapon. “Oh forget it. I will just climb over there and get it myself!” In a flash of iron she struck at him. There was an audible crack and her hand went flying back, bouncing off of an unseen barrier.

The kid chuckled; smoke rising out of his nose. “Threats won’t work on me, you little weirdo. Mettaton may be hell to work with but he takes care of his stuff. One-way Anti-magic bullet barrier- works on other stuff too. I can toss cheap food at you all day from this side but if anything too large or too fast tries to pass through on your end? Blocked.”

Mettaton began to slowly back away. It looked like the field would hold. If he was lucky the human would continue to try to draw his last remaining employee out into the open for a while longer. So long as the kid was smart enough to stay behind the vendor shield there would be a stalemate. The little guy would be ok. Probably.

“Sorry kid, you’re on your own this time. Play it smart.” He pleaded, inching back to the elevator. He had been hoping that he would have enough time to get to the Core on foot so as to avoid any potential technical difficulties the elevator may have if he tried to ride it all the way there. But if the human had already made it this far then he was just going to have to risk it. If he did run into any issues and got stuck in the blackout zone he could fly out of the escape hatch.

At least this way she couldn’t get into his pent house. He really didn’t want anyone messing with his stuff during the apocalypse.

He slipped back inside the elevator and set its destination for the Core. The doors slid shut on the resort, cutting him off from the voice of the increasingly agitated human, who was now making loud insulting comments in an attempt to lure her prey out from the safety of his shop.

There was a heavy weight growing inside of him for leaving one of his employees with her but right now that was probably the safest place the little guy could be. The human’s interest would falter long before the magic barrier did. At least that’s what he hoped would happen.

God, he sure hoped this worked.