AN: As always, please remember to read the first eight episodes of Oblivion before beginning this one.

Can't believe I've been working on this for over a year...and now this installment will be the one that really changes everything at last. The Wham Episode, if you'll pardon my TVTropes jargon.

R&R and enjoy!

Episode 9 - The Swan Song of the Melodious Nocturne

Chapter 1

Thursday, November 1, 8am. The Lethal Tomatoes left their instruments in the gym so they wouldn't have to carry them around all day. The assembly and concert celebrating the re-opening of the school wasn't scheduled till lunchtime, which just for that day would be extended to 45 minutes instead of the usual half-hour. Until then, it was mostly business as usual.

The band piled their instruments on the small raised platform that had been placed at the far end of the gym, while two silver-haired janitors (neither of which were Saix, since Saix was the night guy) helped arrange the speaker system and, for whatever reason, a fog machine.

"Didn't know we were that famous already," Tim said. "A fog machine. Isn't that a bit too over-the-top for this stage in our careers?"

"Nothing's too over-the-top, Timmy," said Ashley. "You should have seen the time we played the Pyramids. Half the crowd was blinded by our lasers, the other half deafened by our speakers."

"Did they go up to twelve?" Tim cracked.

Bobby raised his eyebrow and winked. "Thirteen."

The Tomatoes started to laugh uproariously as they left the room. They remained unaware that as they left, there was only one janitor in the room instead of two, the first having just vanished from existence, and the second having just finished plugging a second fog machine on the other side of the room. Once he was done, he pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt and pressed the call button six times. Six squawks to signal that his first part of the mission was a success.

He waited a moment before receiving a single squawk in reply. "Thank you, Superior," Enzo Lessico muttered under his breath, even though he was all alone and nobody could see or hear him. He left the gym, got into his car, peeled off his zip-up janitor's uniform, and drove away, heading in entirely the wrong direction at first. Ansem's orders, because it just wouldn't do for people to follow him back to the townhouse with any kind of eyes, electronic or otherwise. The paranoia on that guy, Enzo thought to himself as he drove. It's so annoying, what he makes me do for him sometimes.

Meanwhile, in the underground lab beneath the townhouse, Braig Bidos slipped into the break room and took a cup of coffee from the rack. Except this was not his cup. Someone else had just used it and left their own prints on it.

All he had to do was wait, and not for long. Within minutes, his contact entered the break room and held out his hand. Braig placed the used coffee cup - which was now sealed in a plastic bag - and a small test tube full of faintly bubbling clear liquid into his contact's hand, and the contact immediately placed these objects in turn in the pocket of his lab coat.

"He thinks he can see everything coming," the contact said, rolling his eyes. "Nobody's that perfect."

"This'll futz with his plans and leave them beyond repair," said Braig. "I've checked and double-checked. He only has one more chance, otherwise he'll have to wait, what, six hundred thousand years?"

"Six hundred and forty," said the contact. "But I get your point."

Braig nodded. "I just hope when all is said and done, we can save him. The real Ansem-"

"-might well have become just as power-hungry as the one we know today, given time." The contact shook his head. "I know he was your best friend, Braig, but...the guy's a big corporate giant. Face it, it was gonna happen sooner or later."

"I don't wanna use Ansem's catchphrase," Braig said, "but this is actually a great moment for it."

The contact chuckled. "Funny. Now I gotta get outta here. I'm not supposed to be here, remember? If it's a success, I'll come and collect you, and then the kids."

Braig nodded again. "Good luck, Alexis."

Alexis Terra winked. "Not that I need it."