Ambush
The next morning had actually managed to raise Frisks hopes. It had started like any other; Papyrus was up bright and early as usual with a gigantic confident smile already plastered on his face. He greeted her enthusiastically as he prepared for the big day ahead of him. At first Frisk felt a wave of relief wash away her worry at the familiar sight of Papyrus’ cheery disposition, as she allowed herself to think that everything was actually going to be ok for once. That was until Sans sauntered over to the breakfast nook about twenty minutes later.
“Heya.” He greeted nervously as he entered the kitchenette.
Papyrus’ happy smile immediately fell from his face as he pointedly turned away from his brother, only mumbling a brief hello in response. Frisk felt the knot from earlier quickly reform in her stomach as she watched Sans shoulders fall at his brothers curt response. She then quickly tried to flash Sans an overly cheerful smile and strike up a light hearted conversation in an effort to bring back the happy atmosphere that was slowly slipping away through her fingers. But, much like how Papyrus had ignored her efforts last night, Sans also only seemed to respond to her prompts with brief nods or brisk reply’s as the majority of his attention was focused onto his brothers back.
She gave up trying after she had only managed to get half of a forced chuckle out of him with a pun that she had spent most of the night coming up with. A heavy silence then surrounded the group as Papyrus continued to ignore his brothers presence, while sans continued to pretend not to notice as he sipped at his coffee while reading his morning paper. Frisk could see him struggling to keep up the act as his pinpricks would always flicker over to his younger brother, worry very present within his sockets.
Frisk sighed to herself. She couldn’t help but be reminded of when she had first been brought to stay with the brothers. She felt unwelcomed, like she didn’t belong all of a sudden. Only now this feeling was much worse as it wasn’t caused by her own fear or unwillingness to get too close to the brothers like it had been at the beginning. Now it was like there was an invisible wall placed between her and them, forcing her away when she didn’t want to go.
Sans cleared his throat as he folded up his paper and placed it back on the table, before turning toward his brother. Frisk held her breath when she realized that Sans had finally gotten tired of putting on this charade. She prayed that he would apologize quickly so that they could all just go back to being happy again.
“Paps?” Sans started out meekly. Papyrus paused but didn’t respond to his brother’s call. Sans sighed.
“Look Papyrus.” He said trying again. “I know you’re mad at me, and I was hoping to maybe talk to you about this more in private, but we really don’t got all that much time left.”
Frisks straitened up at that comment. Sans had wanted privacy? She then felt a sharp sting at the realization that Sans had not been responsive with her attempts at conversation earlier because he had been waiting for her to leave. Frisk bowed her head, shrinking in on herself. She was more out of place then what she had first thought.
“IF YOU ARE REFERRING TO THE JOB THAT UNDYNE HAS OFFERED ME, I DON’T THINK THERE IS MUCH MORE LEFT TO TALK ABOUT BROTHER.” Papyrus replied.
“Paps, you know this isn’t a good idea.” Sans said trying again to make his brother see reason. “Asgore even offered you an out, you should take it. No one would think any less of you if you did.” Papyrus’ shoulders fell forward as he shook his head disappointedly.
“WELL IF THAT’S ALL YOU WANTED TO SAY THEN I THINK I AM GOING TO HEAD OUT EARLY THIS MORNING.” He retorted as he made his way toward the door.
“Paps common, don’t be like this.” Sans called out as he quickly stood from his seat. “look, you don’t have any work until the siege in the evening, we can still talk this out.” Papyrus stopped in his tracks and spun around to face his brother with narrowed sockets.
“NO WE CANT TALK IT OUT SANS BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME!” He snapped. Sans winced. Papyrus sighed heavily as his angry eye sockets quickly turned sad.
“SANS YOU’RE MY BROTHER, WHY DO YOU NOT BELIEVE THAT I CAN DO THIS?” He asked. At the question sans felt a very prominent pang of guilt shoot up his spine.
“Bro… of course I believe in ya. It’s just I don’t want you to get hurt is all.” Sans replied. Papyrus’ gaze softened a bit.
“I KNOW SANS, I OFTEN WORRY ABOUT YOU AS WELL WHEN YOU ARE OFF ON YOUR OWN MISSIONS.” He admitted “BUT I ALSO KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY BROTHER, AND ARE MORE THEN CAPABLE OF HANDLING YOURSELF, AND I JUST WISH THAT YOU WOULD INSTALL THAT SAME TRUST IN ME .” Sans felt his pinpricks slide to the floor.
“You know I trust you Paps.” He said. “It’s everyone else that I don’t trust.” He then offered up a light smirk but Papyrus only frowned in response.
“ I’M STILL GOING SANS, I’M NOT BACKING DOWN ON THIS ONE.” He said.
“Ya I figured, you uh, were always quite hard headed.” Sans replied with a dry chuckle. Papyrus rolled his eyes at his brother’s pun. “But if you are still going to go, could you at least do me a favor?” Sans continued.
“WHAT FAVOUR?” Papyrus asked.
“Take the gun with you ?” Sans said, his eyes sockets still glued to the floor boards. Payrus huffed at hiss request.
“Honestly Sans, I don’t need that thing. I’ll have my magic.” He argued.
“Please bro, for me ?” Sans begged.
“Fine.” papyrus reluctantly agreed as he angrily strutted back to his room to retrieve the weapon. He flashed it at Sans to prove that he was taking it with him before he strutted over to the door.
“YOU REALLY DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS, DO YOU?” He spat as he turned his head over his shoulder toward his brother. Sans averted his eye sockets. His hands clenched into fists hidden within his pockets as Papyrus stared him down. He didn’t respond. Finally Papyrus seemed to give up as he opened the apartment door and prepared to leave.
“I’LL BE BACK LATER TONIGHT. FRISK, I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY.” He said as he left the apartment.
After he was gone a heavy silence filled the room as Sans stood still staring at the empty entrance way, silently hoping that Papyrus would change his mind half way down the stairs and burst back through the door at any moment.
Frisk remained at the table. She wanted to go over and offer Sans some comfort, but she wasn’t sure if she should, if it was her place to even do so. She was still feeling a little sore at his comment. She knew that she had no real right to be however. Sans hadn’t meant anything bad by it when he had said it, he was just stating the simple fact that he wanted to discuss this matter involving his family with his family, and Frisk clearly was mistaken in thinking that she should have ever been involved in that conversation.
She knew that it was stupid to be offended. The simple truth of the matter was that she was not his family. She almost laughed at herself for thinking that just because she had been living in the same space as the brothers, meant that she was anything of even akin to family. In reality she was just a roommate, and she probably wouldn’t even be that anymore eventually. Now that her trial was over and she had become an official member of the Pansies, Sans didn’t have to keep an eye on her any more. He was probably even expecting her to move out soon . How long exactly had she been free loading off of the brothers for? She felt a heavy bout of guilt settle in her stomach at the thought. She would have to make sure to pay them back in full.
Frisk then got up from her chair and placed her dishes in the sink. The sound seemed to startle Sans out of his train of thought as he turned back to see her making her way over.
“Oh, you heading out too?” He asked. Frisk nodded.
“I still have to get my assignment from Grillby.” She replied. Sans only hummed in response, turning back toward the door. Frisk immediately felt a swell of worry form in her chest. Though Sans still had on his trade mark smile, she could tell that it was barely being kept in place.
“I could stay if you want.” She found herself blurting out. “ I mean um, if you wouldn’t mind the company.” Sans smile grew a little softer and a little more sincere at her offer.
“Na, thanks kiddo, but Asgore will have my hide if I ain’t working my new underling down to the bone.” He said with a wink. Frisk smiled lightly back at him.
“Ok then.” She said as she made her exit. However as soon as she closed the door behind her, her light smile fell immediately away from her face. She then headed down to the bar to get her assignment before going to work. She decided that after her job was completed for the day she would loop back around to the market square and maybe purchase a newspaper, or look for advertisements for cheep single bedroom apartments in the down town area. she figured the sooner that she started looking the better as she didn't want to force either of the brothers to have to confront her about it. That would probably make for a very awkward and uncomfortable conversation.
Papyrus strutted confidently around the corner of another darkened ally on the way to the meeting location for the heist. He had spent most of his morning working off his excited energy by completing minute tasks and household chores, such as grocery shopping, and picking up the dry cleaning. He had even managed to stumble upon a new type of pasta noodle at the market square. They were shaped like little bow ties. He had bought them when he thought of how Frisk would love the adorable little shapes. He was planning on cooking them tonight after he got back from his mission as a celebratory dinner.
The tasks had also helped him to get out of his less than optimistic mood thanks to the more then disappointing conversation he had with his older brother that morning. Papyrus quickly shook his head free of the memory. No, he would not allow his rough start to the day jeopardize the important mission at hand, especially after he had spent the entirety of the afternoon getting his spirits up in preparation for it.
Papyrus quickly pulled on a bright confident smile, burying the negative words of his brother far away in his soul where he could no longer hear them. It didn’t matter what Sans thought because Papyrus already knew that things were going to go exceptionally, and once he completed his mission he would finally be able to prove to Sans that he was just as capable a monster as he was.
Papyrus beamed happily at the thought as he picked up his pace. The sun was setting now and he was nearing the location of the rendezvous. He felt himself growing a little nervous as he approached the old abandoned flour mill. This was his first serious mission with Undyne after all, the underboss of the entire Pansy organization. He hoped that he would make a good impression with the rest of her troop. If things went well then maybe he would be initiated in as an official member. He couldn’t help the smirk that broke through his serious façade as he slipped in to character. He then stuck to the shadows, slinking up to the door before rapping on it and striking a cool, aloof pose like how he had seen in all of his favorite movies.
The door creaked open as an orange bunny monster wearing a broad rimmed fedora peered out from within the abandoned building. He raised a skeptical eyebrow as he gave the skeleton monster leaning against the side wall a once over.
“You the new guy?” He asked. Papyrus let out a confident chuckle as he rolled his head over towards the bunny monster flashing him a poised grin.
“THE NAMES PAPYRUS…THE GREAT PAPYRUS.” He drawled as he winked and clicked his teeth at the bunny monster.
The orange bunny monsters face immediately fell at the gesture in slight annoyance. Yup, this was definitely the clown that the boss had described to him. He then opened the door fully to allow the skeleton inside.
“You’re still a little early; most of the troop hasn’t arrived yet.” He shot over his shoulder as he led the skeleton to the main area where the meeting was to take place. Papyrus just grinned happily as he followed close behind.
“WELL OF COURSE ITS ONLY POLITE TO ARRIVE EARLY AND THIS WAY WE WILL HAVE TIME TO ALL GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER BEFORE WE GET DOWN TO BUISSNESS.” Papyrus replied pleasantly.
The bunny monster rolled his eyes in disbelief. This was the guy that Asgore had personally assigned to Undyne? This was supposed to be their back up, really? What the hell was this goofball going to do in a jamb? Try and make friends with the enemy? The orange bunny monster growled to himself, but he kept his anger in check as Undyne had been extremely clear that if anyone so much as looked at Papyrus the wrong way then they would be doing patrol with her for an entire month. The bunny shuddered at the thought. He would play nice, albeit reluctantly.
“OH! THAT REMINDS ME I HAVEN'T GOTTEN YOUR NAME YET.” papyrus continued cheerily. The orange bunny monster sighed heavily.
“It’s Francis.” He said.
“IT’S VERY NICE TO MEET YOU FRANCIS!” Papyrus said with a happy smile. Francis ground his teeth as he fought very hard against his desire to put this smiling dufus in his place.
“Likewise.” He grumbled.
Papyrus then sat and waited in the main area of the abandoned flour mill as Francis left to go back to his post guarding the door. It was quite for a while, but soon the rest of Undyne's troop slowly began to filter into the building. Papyrus straightened up in his chair as he smiled and waved to each and every passing member. They didn’t really offer much in return, most of them only raised an eyebrow, but Papyrus didn’t mind. He knew that everyone was probably getting mentally prepared for the big heist ahead. He was sure that they would be much more talkative after the serious work was over. Maybe there would even be an after party.
Papyrus frowned slightly at this thought. If there was to be an after party he wasn’t sure if he would be able to stay as he had planned on making that bow tie pasta for dinner, and Frisk would be so disappointed. Not to mention that Sans would worry. Papyrus paused, before he quickly slapped at his cheekbones. No! What Sans thought didn’t matter! This was his mission, and if there was an after party then he would attend no matter the consequences!
A stern silence then fell over the group of monsters as Undyne strutted in to the room from the darkened streets outside. All of the other monsters instantly stood at attention as the underboss made her way to the center of the old mill. She eyed her comrades, making sure that everyone was accounted for. They all looked on back to her, meeting her gaze with a fierce absolute resolve, ready to receive her orders. Undyne cracked a sideways grin, pleased with her comrade’s aggressive display. Then her gaze fell to Papyrus who waved at her brightly from his seat. She sighed to herself before turning around to face the group.
“Alright, listen up!” She boomed. “We all know the score, so I’m not gonna bother with re explaining it! There has been a new addition however. I’m sure you’ve all been made aware of our new comrade Papyrus.” She said, gesturing over to the now happily blushing skeleton, who was clearly ecstatic about receiving such a grand introduction. The rest of the troop seemed to glower at the giddy new member and Undyne was quick to narrow her one good eye at the group, immediately reminding them of her promised threat if any one of them so much as stepped out of line.
“Francis!” She barked, and the orange bunny monster immediately stiffened.
“Yes boss?” He stammered.
“Papyrus is going to be stationed with you. You two will be remaining here, and will be ready to treat the injured if anything goes wrong, got it ?” She instructed.
“B- but boss wouldn’t I be of more use on the field? I aint got any heeling ability –.”
“You will be of use where I say you will be of use.” Undyne snapped, cutting off Francis’ rebuttal. “And you will be with Papyrus at all times, understand?” Francis audibly gulped.
“Yes boss.” He said. Undyne then turned away, satisfied.
“On top of our new healer, Asgore has also supplied us with some extra means of protection.” She continued as she waltzed over to a crate by the far wall. She then pounded her fist heavily down on its top causing the lid to fall forward, revealing the arsenal of firearms stored inside.
“Everyone will be required to carry one of these.” She said, picking up a loaded Tommy gun.
The weapon felt heavy and slightly unnatural in her grip. She much preferred using her own magic, which worked almost like an extension of herself, and would be infinitely more effective than this hunk of scrap metal. But, she couldn’t deny the fact that if anything did happen to her magic in the heat of battle, the gun would definitely be better than nothing at all.
The other monsters all moved forward to grab their own weapons. She could tell that all of them were having similar thoughts as they tested the weight of the guns in their hands. Well, all except for Papyrus who still sat in his chair. Undyne frowned and made her way over.
“Papyrus, when I say everyone that includes you as well.” She said sternly while crossing her arms in front of the younger skeleton brother.
“OH! YES UNDYNE, OF COURSE! ITS JUST I ALREADY HAVE ONE.” He replied. Undyne raised an eyebrow.
“You do?” She asked surprised. Papyrus then pulled out his revolver, presenting it to the underboss.
“YES, SANS MADE ME TAKE IT.” He explained. Undyne’s gaze softened at this. Geeze, Sans must be really worried if he was forcing Papyrus to carry a gun. She then felt guilt settle in her stomach when she thought about her last encounter with the shorter skeleton. Well, it looked like he couldn’t get Paps to back down after all. Maybe if she did go to him first he could have fixed this whole mess before she went and got Papyrus’s hopes up.
But that didn’t matter anymore. Now Papyrus was here, and he was her responsibility. Undyne made a silent promise to the shorter brother as she quickly buried her guilt under her resolve. Nothing bad was going to happen, she was sure of it. She and her troop had completed so many jobs just like this one without so much of a hitch in the past. Nothing was going to go wrong. No one was going to get hurt. Papyrus was just going to hang out in this mill for a bit with Francis and then go home. He would be happy enough with just being a part of her troop for the day, and then things would go back to normal.
Undyne nodded and placed a firm hand on Papyrus’ shoulder, before flashing him a confident grin.
“Glad you came prepared.” She said before she turned back to the rest of the troop to lead them forward.
They departed a few moments later, moving swiftly and silently under the cover of darkness to the Hollywood’s Troop’s warehouse only a few blocks away.
Francis watched them disappear into the night with a scowl on his face. Why did he have to be stuck babysitting? If it wasn’t for this fool of a skeleton then he would be out there now with the rest of his comrades actually doing something useful. A loud shuffling sound quickly drew his attention away from the grubby window and his glum thoughts as Papyrus dragged the empty crates, which had previously housed the weapons assigned to the monsters for protection, across the floor.
“What are you doing?” Francis asked raising an annoyed eyebrow at the skeleton monster. Papyrus straightened up as he wiped the sweat from his brow bone while proudly grinning at his accomplished work.
“I’M PREPARING FOR THE INJURED.” He stated. “WE’LL HAVE TO BE ORGANISED AND QUICK TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERONE GETTS ATTENDED TO.”
Francis rolled his eyes. There wasn’t going to be any injured, there almost never was as Undyne was a pro when it came to surprise attacks. The most her troop had ever suffered was a fractured arm when one of her underlings had grown careless and lost his footing on a flight of stairs. But, Francis would bet good money that the monsters broken arm was nothing next to the lashing he got from Undyne’s harsh tongue for dropping an entire cart load of confiscated magic. Francis chuckled slightly at the memory. The poor guy’s bruised ego took almost twice as long as his broken arm did to heal.
“So how exactly is rearranging crates going to help you heal?” He asked, his boredom getting the better of him.
“WELL, WE WILL NEED PLACES FOR THOSE IN NEED OF MEDICAL ATTENTION TO LAY DOWN SO I CAN WORK ON THEM.” Papyrus explained. “THEY WON’T BE THE COMFIEST, BUT IF I LINE THESE CRATES UP PROPERLY THEY WILL MAKE FOR DECENT BEDS.” Papyrus then let his eye sockets roam around the room before they brightened upon settling on a few forgotten sacks of flour in the corner.
“PERFECT!” He exclaimed as he hauled the sacks over to his makeshift hospital beds before placing one on the end of each crate bed like a pillow. Francis looked on at the neat row of makeshift beds slightly impressed. Well, at least Papyrus was good at keeping himself entertained saving him from having to do it.
Undyne crept forward through the darkness. Her team was directly behind her as they approached the Hollywood Troops warehouse. She smirked to herself when she saw the human gangs meager defense, just a few schmucks leaning against the door sharing a cigar with a few others probably lazing around inside. Undyne’s pointed teeth glinted in the moonlight as her lips curled into a happy snarl this was going to be a piece of cake.
She shot her hand out and threw a quick signal to the decoy team behind her. She didn’t even have to look to see if they understood as she heard them swiftly break from the pack to get to their position. When their footsteps faded from ear shot she knew all that was left to do was wait until the signal.
It was quite for a while after that. Undyne and her troop stood as rigid as stone, their eyes all fixed on the human group of mobsters by the front door. Then a flare of blinding white magic exploded in front of the warehouse entrance way, effectively dazzling the guard men. They shouted and cursed as they rubbed at their eyes and searched sightless for their weapons. Then gunfire sounded as the men stationed within the warehouse began to shoot sporadically into the night. Undyne held her group firmly for a little while more as the decoy team bounded out of their hiding place with their shield magic up, deflecting any of the oncoming bullets. They swiftly took out the guards at the entrance way before storming inside the warehouse. The men at the windows then withdrew from their posts as they rushed to the first floor to try and stop the barrage of monsters from progressing any farther into their stronghold.
Undyne then gave the signal to charge forward before leaping into action. The rest of her troop were right on her heels. She could almost taste victory as she neared the entrance way. She sprinted, her spear already materialized in her hand ready to dive head first into battle, but as soon as she entered the building she was hit in the face by a heavy cloud of suffocating red smoke. She hacked and coughed as she tried to signal to the rest of her troop that it was a trap, but it was too late as they had all succumbed to the soul smoker having followed Undyne directly into the building. The Hollywood Troop were quick to advance on the magic less monsters and many of the members of the decoy team were already trying desperately to hold them off. Undyne’s good eye widened at how many were already injured and also at the dust that was getting kicked and scattered across the warehouse floor in the struggle.
Undyne tried to use her powerful spear to knock the human mobsters away but as soon as she tightened her grip on it the spear fizzled before it shattered and disappeared from her grasp. Without a second of hesitation Undyne reached for the Tommy gun she had stung over her shoulder and began to open fire on the approaching mobsters, the rest of her troop tried their best to follow her example. the humans fled for cover but immediately started shooting back from behind the safety of the crates piled in the warehouse.
Undyne gritted her teeth. This wasn’t good, they were out in the open with no cover surrounded by the enemy who was firing wildly at them, and they had no magic to shield themselves. Undyne turned and raised her hand signaling to every monster left standing to grab the injured and fall back. She tried her best to hold off the attacking humans as she furiously screamed and fired her weapon wildly around the room to give her comrades some cover and the opportunity to escape. When her gun ran out of ammo she only fiddled with the trigger for a few moments before, she through the useless thing to the ground and turned to run with her soldiers, but as she did so something hot tore its way through her shoulder. She stumbled as a sharp stab of pain racked through her body, leaving her breathless.
She only managed a few steps before she fell to one knee, her hand already clutching at the wound trying desperately to subdue the burning sting of the bullet hole. Then someone gruffly grabbed one of her arms and yanked her to her feet, urging her onwards. They were yelling something in her ear but Undyne was finding it hard to make out exactly what it was that they were saying. She turned toward them it was one of her own. He looked frantic as he continued to scream something desperate for her to respond to him. Undyne quickly focused her gaze, forcing herself to hear his words.
“Boss! Boss! It was an ambush! What do we do?! Are your orders?!” He demanded.
“Retreat!” She screamed back. “Get everyone the hell out of here!”