VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 45

The hours passed by, and in no time at all, the sun was setting over the horizon, disappearing behind the remains of Mt. Ebott. Trickster sat on a bench uncomfortably, feeling her rear go numb as she stared across the street at the laboratory. All day she'd been here and she hadn't seen a single soul enter or leave. She was tempted to infiltrate the place at nightfall, but another, more paranoid part of her wanted to wait until someone entered or left. Almost immediately as that thought concluded, a vehicle pulled up to the nearby curb, ever so slowly. Inside of the car was a familiar blue fish monster, who looked incredibly pissed.

Okay. Now she was getting somewhere. She considered getting closer in an attempt to see, or even hear, what was going on inside, but that'd be a risky move and potentially blow her cover.

As Undyne emerged from the car, her eyes instantly locked with the disguised Trickster, folding her arms. ". . . didn't I see you at the police station?" she questioned.

"Eh? Raisins?" Trickster furrowed her brow, perfectly mimicking the voice of a confused elderly man.

"Police station," Undyne corrected.

"Pardon?"

"POLICE- oh, damn it, I don't care," Undyne snarled, clearly already frustrated enough from her day.

"More raisins for me," Trickster replied as Undyne made her way into the lab, and Trickster looked about her. She was completely alone. Quickly, she stood as her form shifted, and she now had the appearance of some random delinquent she'd seen spray-painting underneath a bridge once, with baggy jeans, a baggy shirt, and a sideways ball cap. With that, she dashed to the side of the building and found herself a window to duck under. The windows were closed, so hearing clearly wasn't an option, but with it getting dark she could sneak a few peaks.

Trickster could see Undyne approaching a yellow dinosaur monster about half her height—Alphys, no doubt. The smaller girl looked a bit troubled by Undyne's foul mood, and they didn't say much to each other . . . then they started walking toward the far end of the lab, forcing the assassin to move to a different window for a better view.

She watched as they approached a door, which opened and the two walked inside, the door closing behind them. Trickster frowned, narrowing her eyes. The building didn't seem to have any more room for wherever they'd gone, leading the girl into believing it must have been an elevator of some kind, and with the lack of additional floors above, that could only mean there was more below.

Trickster scowled through the window; she wouldn't be able to access the lower floors at the moment, which pissed her off, but now she was almost certain that Magnum was down there. Finally . . . Trixie was finally going to get her back. And she wasn't going to let Alphys, Sans, or even Undyne get in her way. But even so, it would have to wait. Trixie just didn't know how patient she could be.

It would be best to let the leaders know, especially Father. Maybe he could even help her. She'd heard rumors about Alphys and what she was capable of. Stories of freak experimentations on other monsters that left the subjects in a worse fate than anything even the Messiah had done. Rumors of deadly traps and inventions. Talk was that the monster scientist was ruthless and cruel beneath her act of a nervous and sweet young woman.

Trickster turned, ready to return to the base and tell Father what she'd learned . . . perhaps he could provide her with some blueprints; she wanted to know every in and out of this laboratory. There was no way she could mess this up now, not after coming so far. "I'm coming to save you," Trixie whispered, taking one final peak through the glass. "Just hang tight a little bit longer."

Inside, Magnum perked up when she heard the familiar ding of the elevator, and peered out to see Undyne and Alphys exit, deep in conversation. "-still being held. They aren't even being given a chance at parole," Undyne was saying, appearing extremely annoyed.

"T-t-there's gotta be a way we c-can clear their names . . ." Alphys stammered, appearing extremely anxious.

Undyne stared at two prisoners for a couple of seconds, noticing that Magnum seemed to be in good shape, more or less- Raptor, on the other hand, was looking awfully pale, and hadn't eaten much of the food Alphys had given him.

"If there is, I don't know yet," Undyne replied, narrowing her eyes as she slowly made her way to the cell, her eye quickly catching onto the harmonica in the corner of the room atop a fluffy pillow on Magnum's side. "You're giving them entertainment, Alphys?" she scoffed. "What, gonna install a TV into their cell, next?"

"That'd actually be great," Magnum stated, but was silenced by a threatening glare Undyne shot at her.

"I-I just figured they'd get bored in there," Alphys swallowed.

"Who cares? The more bored they get, the more likely they are to give up information," Undyne grunted, arms folded.

"I'm glad the fish one isn't smart enough to be a scientist," Raptor whispered to Magnum, the pink-haired girl suppressing a smirk as Undyne looked over, a murderous look in her eye.

"I heard that," she hissed.

"I know," Raptor replied as Undyne conjured a spear in her hand, taking a step forward. "Wanna go round two? I'll kick your ass again."

"U-Undyne, please stop," Alphys intruded, stepping in front of Undyne. "Maybe we should go back upstairs . . ."

"If you think you can get lucky again," Raptor jabbed, appearing calm, which just pissed Undyne off even more. Despite Alphys' best efforts, her girlfriend raised up the blue spear and threw it through the energy barrier, the weapon flying toward Raptor.

Raptor simply leaned to the side, and the spear missed his head by an inch. For a guy who'd spent days in a cell underground, his reflexes were quite sharp.

"Undyne!" Alphys yelled, and Undyne finally looked at her.

"What!?"

"Out. Upstairs. Now." the smaller monster ordered, taking Undyne aback. She quickly recovered, staring at Raptor for a moment, before heading for the elevator. Once the door had closed behind her, Alphys turned to the prisoners. "S-sorry about that. Undyne has . . . a temper."

"Whatever," Raptor replied, still facing the wall of his cell.

"So does he," Magnum replied, giving Alphys a smile. "Thanks, by the way. That was . . . cool of you."

"Y-Yeah . . ." Alphys smiled back nervously- but the only reason she was nervous was because she knew that, the moment she got back up there, she would have to face Undyne. An Undyne who'd just gotten back from another awful day at work, and was just a ticking bomb waiting to explode.

"I-I'll be back later," Alphys told them, before turning and heading back toward the elevator.

"Later, dude," Magnum replied, snatching up her harmonica and beginning to play.

"I'd say you were getting better, but that'd be a lie," Raptor stated.