As predicted, the machine had been completed by the end of the week.
Now a day into a new week, the machine was ready to be used, ready for its ultimate test.
First though, other planning had to be made...
"So, who's going to that laboratory?" Sci asked.
All of the skeletons stood around the machine that wasn't yet running, getting decisions off the table.
"Error and I can go." Said the creator with a confident smile, subconsciously intertwining one of his hands in the closest one of the destroyer's.
"Let us come with you as well." Dream added, a determined look on his face. "You know how dangerous it could be, and the more the merrier."
"You guys can't." Ink stated. "You two have to stay here just in case Nightmare and his gang attack some AU while we're gone. We have no clue how long it will take, and putting the Multiverse in more danger isn't something I want to do."
Dream let out a quiet sigh.
"Okay... You make a fair point." He reluctantly agreed. "Just try to be careful."
"He'lL bE fInE." Error stated. "It's nOt lIke hE's gOinG alOne."
"What's that supposed to mean..?" The creator questioned.
"Nothing." The destroyer replied with a small smirk as he glanced over at the other.
"Don't worry Dream, I'm sure they will be fine." Blueberry chimed in, then turned his gaze over to the creator and destroyer.
"We'll make sure nothing bad happens when you two are gone!"
The guardian of positivity smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Good, that's cleared up." Said Sci, making his way over to the computer panel on the side of the machine.
He began to type in some information, the information being a small strand of the Void's code. Once done, he tapped a few more of the buttons before hitting the portal summon key.
A blast of energy went through the room, being felt in every monster's bones in the surrounding area and even other parts of the lab. Within the time of the blast, a portal of a pastel rainbow filled in the archway built for one person to pass through at a time.
Sci clicked a couple more buttons on the computer pad, stabilizing the portal to the best of his ability, then he straightened his posture. He pushed up his glasses and read the stats on the small computer screen. All seemed well according to what was on the screen.
Ink approached first, curious, letting go of Error's hand. Once close enough, he stuck a hand through the portal, waving his hand around and wiggling his fingers. To him, it felt normal.
"Everything seem alright?" Sci asked.
"Yeah, it feels normal." The creator replied with a smile.
He turned back around to face Error.
"Ready to go make a surprise visit?" He jokingly asked.
"Guess so." The destroyer replied, stepping to stand beside the other. "They better not be wanting a warm greeting. We both know how I feel about socializing."
Ink stifled a laugh at the other's joke. He looked behind himself and waved farewell, then stepped through the portal, Error stepping in after.
Just as hoped, the larger portal built within the laboratory hidden within the Void turned on, summoning a portal of its own. From this portal, Ink and Error stepped out in one piece and unharmed. Once through, the creator quickly looked over himself, making sure all went accordingly.
"Yes! It worked." He exclaimed with a smile.
"Of course it worked." Error replied. "It's suppose to."
Ink lost his enthusiasm at the other raining on his parade.
"I love you, but why do you have to be like that?" Ink rhetorically asked.
They soon turned their gaze to the room around them. Besides the portal machine behind them, it was completely empty. The only place to go was the door in front of them.
"We have any plan?" The creator questioned.
"I thought you had one." Replied the destroyer.
This caused the other to facepalm.
"We really didn't think this through, did we..?" Ink mused.
"I guess we're winging it."
With that said, the destroyer walked forwards, noticing how normal the door was. Unlike all the doors they saw when trapped here, it had an actual doorknob and keyhole. He twisted the doorknob, it surprisingly turning with ease.
Error glanced behind himself and at Ink, who in return, grabbed Broomy in his hands. Ink then gave a nod in reply, signaling that he was ready.
The doorknob was turned slowly to not make a sound, then the door was slowly pushed open so Error could peak around it. All he spotted was one scientist with golden locks of hair and white fur walking with their back turned to face the door, appearing to be holding a couple folders.
"Should we catch someone for ransom?" Error asked, turning back to face the other.
"What?!" Ink questioned, keeping his voice low. "No! We're only here to deal with three people, not kidnap multiple."
The destroyer let out a disappointed sigh.
"Fine... So much for fun."
Error went to step out into the hallway when he felt something light weight hit his back and fall to the floor. He turned around, slightly shutting the door, to see a large lab coat on the floor in front of him. He also noticed a matching one in one of the creator's hands while he held his giant paint brush in the other.
"We need some kind of disguise if we're sneaking around." Said Ink, setting down his paint brush to pull the large lab coat on over his other clothing.
With his other clothes on, the lab coat fit perfectly.
"This isn't going to stop them from recognizing us." Error replied.
"It might fool any cameras planted around here." Ink argued back.
The destroyer knew fighting against the other's ideas would get him no where, and he was the one who had asked him about a plan, so he willing put on the lab coat over his own clothing. Error then turned back towards the door.
"Walk out of the door like you normally would." The creator stated. "It would be better to not draw suspicion."
"Since when did you get good at this sort of thing?" Error questioned.
"I've seen enough shows and been in enough situations to know the basics." Ink replied, walking over to the other.
Error opened the door like he normally would, casually exiting the room. Ink followed not far behind him, shutting the door tightly behind them. They began their way down the hallway, walking at a normal pace, glancing around with only their eye lights as they ventured down the hallway. They made sure to keep to the right side of the hall, just as others going the same direction did. Meanwhile, a couple scientists passed by them on the opposite side of the hallway.
The creator and destroyer glanced at any sign that they saw, most signs pointing certain directions and saying what was where. They saw one on a hallway labeled "examination rooms", another on a different hallway that read "medical", then another they passed said "storage and supplies", and the different hallways continued to sprout off of the one they walked down.
They were getting closer to the end of the hallway, seeing it branch off in two different directions at the end. So far, none of the hallways have caught their attention and no one seemed to be suspicious of them.
"Hey y'all! Hold up a sec, won't ya'?" They heard a shout from behind.
Both were a little anxious as they came to a stop and turned to face the voice. A bunny monster, with shiny brown fur, came towards them, almost running, with a worried expression. She was holding a few folders in her arms and was clearly in a rush. She stopped in front of them, a bit out of breath.
"I've been put in a spot where I'm needed somewhere else now." She told them. "Would ya' do me a favor and drop this here folder off at the head scientist's lab office?"
"Oh, sure." Ink replied for the both of them, a little nervous as his eye lights flickered to a yellow square and a bluish green circle. "Could you remind us how to get to it from here? We're kinda new."
"Oh, sure thing sugar." The bunny scientist replied.
The destroyer couldn't help but glare a little at the monster due to the nick name she had carelessly tossed.
"Ya'll take a right at the end of this hallway, then ya' hang a left at the second hallway to the left. Should be the very last room in the hall." She told them. "Also, take this just in case."
She handed them a key attached to a blue lanyard that previously sat in the pocket of her lab coat.
"He wants it in his lab if he's there or not." She stated. "Remember to knock!"
With her reminder said, she handed them the folder she had spoken of, then hurried down the hallway and took a right.
"How the hell did your disguise idea work so well?" Error whispered, a shocked expression on his face.
Ink shrugged.
"Beats me."
They soon made their way to the lab room, arriving at the door, both luckily remembering the instructions on how to get to it. They both approached the door, neither one of them knocking.
"This is going to be interesting if he's here..." Ink mused, reluctantly raising a hand to the door.
He lightly knocked on it, then waited for a reply.
When no one answered, he sighed in relief.
"Guess that freak is out..." Error stated, taking the lanyard off from around his neck and inserting the key into the keyhole on the doorknob.
The key opened the door with ease, and they both stepped inside. With all the objects, the room almost felt cramped. Papers were scattered on the desk, the computer had a few sticky notes on its keyboard, and a couple papers even sat on the floor.
"With him not here, how about we find some answers." Said Ink with a smile.
"Sounds like a good idea." Error replied, shutting and locking the door.
From what they saw by just quickly glancing around, this was the only room without cameras.
The creator started their search by opening up the folder he was given, glancing through the papers. It was about some patient's test results that dealt with their sanity levels. Just by a few pictures included in the folder, it was easy to tell this monster wasn't very stable, and their smile was fake.
The folder, in the end, appeared unimportant to their task. Ink closed it up and sat it down on a clean spot on the desk.
Meanwhile, Error had made his way behind the desk and sat down on the swivel chair by the computer system. He scoffed at the site of what was written down on one of the sticky notes on the side of the keyboard.
"Idiot." The destroyer mused. "Who the hell just leaves their password out in the open?"
"Wait... It's out in the open?" Ink questioned, looking up from a few of the scattered papers he was reading through.
"That's what I just said." Error replied, typing in the password on the pink sticky note.
As predicted, it unlocked the computer and all of its files.
The destroyer began to shift through all that was there, soon finding a large folder that caught his interest. The folder read "The Multiverse Project". Without hesitating, he opened it to find a separate folder labeled Resources and another labeled Personal Entries. Error ignored the Resources one and instead clicked on the Personal Entries category. He discovered a total of 31 entries, arranged in numerical order. So, he began to read them, drawing the creator's attention.
Ink sat down what he was reading and walked over to his husband, peaking over his shoulder and reading the entries as well.
The first entry alone gave them surprising information...
"'Out of the way', huh?" Ink mused.
"To me, that means whoever wrote this killed the bastard." Error replied, scrolling to the next entry.
"Then who's running this place?" The creator questioned.
"Why are you asking me?" Error questioned, glancing over his shoulder at the other. "I don't work here."
Both turned their attention back to the entries, reading through each carefully.
Twelve entries in, and some questions were answered: Purpose of the experiment, most of the how, they were known about by this person, the confirmed appearances of the skeletons, that the skeletons were in fact linked to them, and that whoever wrote these entries had another helper with the name of Mary.
They were even able to find pictures of the two skeletons and the mentioned scientist within the pages of entries, helping them with matching names to faces.
As they read through the entries, Ink took a couple notes with a pencil on a blank piece of paper he had found in the room.
"Sounds like they haven't been tortured much." Ink mused as he wrote a few more things down. "It's kinda surprising."
"I guess they just didn't like us." Error joked, glancing at a glitching clock in the bottom corner of the computer screen.
There was no way for him to tell how long they had been in here for.
A few more entries read, a few more things discovered. It was almost sad to realize that the writer of these entries had created artificial creatures - that were like the normal monster - for their own bidding. Tricking and manipulating them into doing their dirty work. It was even worse that these creatures were nothing more than children.
After some time, Ink stopped taking notes and looked away form the paper and the computer screen, eye lights a red triangle and purple diamond. He then leaned on the chair the destroyer sat in.
"Something wrong?" Error questioned, feeling the other's weight on the chair.
He glanced behind himself to see the other looking away with an expression he was beginning to identify too well. He raised a hand up and behind himself, placing it gently on the creator's cheekbone.
"I'll think about it..." Error whispered, knowing the thought on the other's mind.
Ink adjusted his position, resting his head on top of Error's while wrapping his arms around the other's front.
"I just don't know why I care about it so much." He mumbled, glancing back at the computer screen. "I'm so happy with just you, I shouldn't want more."
Ink's cheekbones got dusted with a light rainbow hue and he closed his eyes.
"I can't tell if it's because I see you in them, or not." Continued the creator. "I just don't know, maybe I've grown soft-"
"More like softer than before." Error interrupted, playfully teasing the other.
Ink stifled a laugh and smiled.
"I just don't think I'd be able to kill them, if it came to that." Ink stated.
"They seem pretty afraid of us, so I doubt we'd have to." The destroyer replied. "Hell, us being there might dust them."
The creator let out a giggle, snorting a little. At the sound of the other giggling, Error couldn't help but smile.
"What do you say we get out of here?" He asked, changing the subject. "Staying in this room any longer might be a terrible idea."
Ink opened his eyes and seemed to think something over for a second. He then let go of the other and stood up straight, pulling a miniaturized Broomy out of the pocket of his lab coat. He used it in its tiny form to paint a small flash drive.
"I say we at least steal the files first." Ink replied, handing it to the destroyer.
Error took it from his hand and plugged it into the computer's flash drive port without a second thought, then began downloading the data. It was done within a few minutes with no issues.
He then grabbed the flash drive, closed the files he had open, and logged out of the computer and put it back to the login screen it had started at. Error then went to put the flash drive in his lab coat pocket before stopping, deciding to put it in his jacket pocket instead.
The destroyer stood up from the chair and tried to roll it back into its original position before he had used it, hoping to hide as much evidence of their presence as possible.
Once that was done, they made their way back to the door they had entered from, opening it and stepping out into the hallway.
They sighed in relief of the hallway being mostly empty, one scientist down the hall carrying a container of some green glowing liquid, back towards them.
"Where should we go next?" Ink asked as they began to walk forwards.
"I don't know, you're the one who usually has all the ideas." Error replied.
"You don't even have a tad of inspiration to decide?"
Error stifled a laugh and smiled.
"No."
Ink playfully rolled his eyes.
Ka-thunk!
Both quickly turned around at the sound coming from behind.
Then their vision went dark.