After hearing Francis' message, the Donbot almost crushed his cell phone with one angry grip of the small flip phone. He threw the damaged cell in the trash with a loud clunk. He grunted angrily and walked to the window of his mansion.
It has been three weeks since two of his goons went up and quit with just a single message; along with those weeks were the repeating of the message. Donbot looked out the window: the gray clouds were rolling over the deep blue sky, soon going to rain. Although, the Donbot himself had been aware that it was going to heard the sound of clicking heels against the floor and turned to see his wife, Fanny. Who in her hands was a tray with a bottle of hard bitter liquor.
"Awww, don't be so depressed Donny." Fanny said, putting down the tray. "You'll find some more associates to do your little gangster deals." She pulled off the cork and poured the alcohol into two untouched small glasses. One for her and one for her husband. She spotted the damaged cell phone in the trash bin and clicked her tongue.
Fanny grasped the filled glasses and sat right next to Donbot, putting one of the glasses in front of him while she went ahead and drank her's. Donbot still didn't touch the drink. When Fanny was already done with her drink, she stood up with the empty cup in her hand and walked to the door; not even bothering to get the bottle of liquor out of the room.
She grabbed the doorknob to the door and opened it, before she set foot in the other room. She turned to the chair that Donbot stil sat in front of the window. She sighed heavily.
"You know Donny," Fanny said, "once in a while, you gotta face the truth and deal with it!" The last three words were harsh and strict as she shut the door firmly. Donbot glanced up in his fainted reflection of the window and saw his ray gun: properly propped up above his cushioned chair as he slitted his eyes with anger while gripping his cane.
"You know what sweetheart…" Donbot said, gripping the cane even though Fanny wasn't in the room anymore. "I will deal with it."
As the rain poured heavily down Francis' driveway, his car parked right next to Joey's 1972 Cadillac; which was covered in a blue tarp that kept the water out. Francis got out in his driver's side as four more other doors opened and shutted quickly. Outside, six figures came out of the bronze Subaru; Francis, Robot Devil, Joey, Roberto, Leela, and Amy. All six people ran to the door trying their best not to get soaked in the rain. Francis struggled to get his house keys out of his pocket and opened the door.
Once they all got inside, they were all standing in the short hallway; gasping for air and then turning the heavy breathing into giggling and laughter. Leela was the first one to take off her coat.
"Ha ha!" Leela laughed shortly, "Wow! Thanks for taking us to the movies Francis. It was nice until it started raining outside and we rushed inside the car back to your house."
Francis, who was in a dark grayish-red hoodie, laughed a bit at his compliment. It was his treat to his friends because it was his three week anniversary since he was dating the Robot Devil and he thought about taking them to the movies to see a newly released horror movie.
They then heard the sound of dog nails clicking against the hardwood floor along with the sound of Nibbler's whimpering. Mr. Pickles, Mrs. Pickles, Russell, and Nibbler ran to their owners in the short hallway wearing canine clothing of bright green clothes with a pink trim; all four of them. They ran to their owners and gave them kisses and joyful barks. In their owners response, they were given belly rubs and scratches behind the ears.
"So Francis," Amy said, sitting on the couch with Nibbler in her arms. "How are me and Leela gonna get home with all this rain? We don't have a car and we just travel by the tubes." Francis sat next to Amy and turned on the TV.
"Let's see what the news says," He clicked on the channel.
"Good evening New New York!" Linda van Schoonhoven said cheerfully, holding a couple of papers in her hands as usual. "Our top story tonight is our weather tonight and it looks like it's gonna be stormy with lightning and thunder throughout this week, Morbo?"
"This weather will make puny humans slip and fall into their deaths as my kind takes over this planet and use their bones as a sidewalk!" Morbo shouted, Linda laughed.
"Ha ha! Well, it sure will be if you stay inside and have yourself a nice hot cup of chocolate. And now back to Hypnotoad." Francis shutted off the TV.
"Well, I guess you can't go home until it clears." He went into the kitchen and grabbed out six coffee mugs. "Anybody want some coffee? Maybe some hot chocolate?" Leela raised her hand.
"I'll have some chocolate. 'Haven't had that in awhile." Francis opened the pantry and grabbed out a purple container right next to the red container of coffee and putted some of the light brown cocoa powder into the coffee filter.
"Better be making some for everybody I guess," Francis commented.
After filling six mugs of chocolate, they were all sitting at the dining room table blowing their chocolate and wearing their cotton sweaters and plaid flannels. While in the entertainment room, Mr. and Mrs. Pickle was sleeping in their big dog bed that was now shared with Nibbler and Russell; who were on their backs and sleeping peacefully with their eyes closed.
"...So then me and Kif had to go back to the entrance of the mall and found his gloves in the men's bathroom! He had to wash them at least five times!" Amy joked, Leela and the rest of the gang had laughed while in between sipping their hot chocolate. Leela put her mug down.
"So...now that all of us are now staying here, where are we gonna sleep, Francis?" Francis, who still had the mug to his mouthplate, put it down on the table.
"I have a guest bedroom and a couple of cots under the stairs," he said, returning to his hot chocolate. Joey was confused by what he meant on the cots.
"I don't see any cots under the stairs," Joey said, still confused. Francis got up and went to the stairs and kneeled, a hook that held a ridged key was taken by Francis. There, a key hole was there and the key was placed in the key hole. Francis then turned it to the right and a line appeared in the shape of a small door. The key was still in place when Francis pulled out a door and pulled out two, green, folded-up cots. Joey was amazed.
"Woah! I didn't know you had a door under those stairs, Francis!" Joey exclaimed, Francis then pulled out two silk blankets that were zipped up in a plastic container bag along with two pillows.
"Thanks Joe, I actually didn't know about this until I moved in the house and settled in for three months and found a key to the door. I've been using it as a cot storage since.'' Francis looked at the clock above the dining room table and back to the sleeping man's best friends. It read that it was almost eleven p.m.
"It's kinda getting late, maybe we should head to our bedrooms," Francis suggested, Amy yawned in the process.
"Francis is right, it is late and we should get to dreamland." Amy agreed. Joey and Roberto grabbed their cots and pillows and headed up the stairs while Amy and Leela went to the bathroom to brush their teeth with toothbrushes that Francis opened for them. Afterwards, the light went off and everyone closed their bedroom doors.
Outside in the dark rainy night, a stout dark figure was across the driveway of Francis' house. The figure was in the tall meadow grass that was now drenched with cold water from the angered clouds that loomed over. The figure watched closely with slit eyes as the light to Francis' bedroom light shutted off, that's when the figure made its move. Slowly yet fast, the figure walked into the stray road and went into the driveway.
The lightning struck with a loud boom revealing the quiet house with a quick stroke of hot white light. The figure got to the doorstep and tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. He must've locked it. The figure thought, still jiggling the doorknob to see if it might be stuck, no luck. He did, that damned bastard. The figure carried a coat with him that contained a ray gun that the figure decided to kill Francis and Joey with.
Suddenly, the figure heard what sounded like a pup barking. He turned and saw Russell with both paws on the glass: barking at him that was trying to tell him to get out. The figure turned to Russell with pure anger.
"Fuckin' mutt," he scowled as he muttered to himself, "Someone should put him down for not shutting up."
Russell continued to bark at the figure and Russell tried to even growl at him. The figure had no choice but to leave the house so the Labrador Retriever didn't wake anybody up to see why he was barking at. He turned and fled across the field of what was once dry brown grass. Grass began to cling onto the figure's feet and coat as he continued to flee the house. A farm; which was ten miles away and too far to see it, was standing in the grass as it was sitting in the rain.
The farm had a red barn with an abandoned hen house along with rusted steel pipes that held a dirty green tarp. The roof of the barn had a row of shingles missing along with missing planks of the red walls outside the wooden building. The figure reached the abandoned farm and bended over to catch a gulp of air for a few seconds before he put his hands on the red door and pushed it. Making the door have a loud creak.
The door was rather heavy, like it was made out of steel and metal that was welded together in order to make the door. But he pushed it until it was only wide enough to have him in. Slowly, he turned to his side and made his way to the door until he was inside.
Inside the barn, the air was musty and dank. There were bits of straw strewing all over the place due to the wind that blew. A ladder was propped up against the loft of the barn, up in the loft was just a bunch of old straw that leaked through a large hole that was causing the floor to be a pigsty. Under the loft was a hover car that belonged to the Donbot. The figure got inside the driving seat.
The figure took off his coat, it was the Donbot.
"Damned dog," Donbot muttered about Russell once more. "Should've shot that mutt and sold his meat to the black market." He shook his head once more and turned his key in the ignition and let the car drive away.
Francis woke up with a groan as he sat up and put a clamp on his head to try why he was having a throbbing headache. He wasn't in his usual bed with his boyfriend, he wasn't inside the house, he was outside the house. Francis looked around to see his new environment: he was in a meadow of brown grass that was shadowed over a large old oak tree whose trunk was warped and twisted and branches that were thin and ancient that still produced leaves. Francis sat up and walked towards the tree and saw what he was on; he was on a hill that ended with a dirt slant that was too deep and steep to even get him off.
"Where the hell am I anyway?" Francis said to himself as he felt another throb to the head once again. He looked down at himself for no reason and saw. He was wearing a white thin shirt with six buttons with a cream color to them, the sleeves were rolled up and buttoned up. He wore black silk pants that were trimmed with each end a metallic red-orange.
He groaned once more as he leaned up against the oak tree and slipped down to the ground till his rear hit the gnarly roots that stuck out. He began to rub his temples. Closing his eyes as he continued to rub the sides of his head. He heard the sound of metal footsteps walking on dry tall grass until it lapsed its tracks. A familiar voice made him open his cybernetic eyes.
"Francis…?" He opened his eyes, it was the Robot Devil kneeling on the oak's roots. He seemed to be wearing thin clothes also. Beelzebot appeared with a light pink shirt containing Suminagashi Japanese ink art on it. He wore thin light brown pants that seem to flow within the wind itself.
"Francis…?" Robot Devil said once again, "are you okay?" Francis sighed, keeping his clamps on his temples.
"Where the hell are we? What is this that we are wearing?"
"You don't remember?" Robot Devil asked, He had both hands on his knees.
"No, I don't!" Francis almost yelled at him, the last word was spitted at. But Beelzebot remained calm at Francis' yelling.
"I brought you here so you and I can have some alone time together. We are in the shallow meadows that are at least some twenty miles from your house. You picked this spot cause we could see the horizon." Francis had a scowl on his face.
"Then what is this...this clothing?"
"I got at the thrift store, it suited your personality…" He also added; "...and mine."
Francis shook his head a little to what Robot Devil was saying, he couldn't remember anything still. It felt like someone had taken something blunt and heavy and knocked him out. But that wasn't the case.
"Okay...I'll believe you on that part, but what about me not remembering any of this and my pounding headache?" Robot Devil took a moment, his tail moving slower than the wind.
"Well, I was getting to that part, We sat down on the ground and you complained of not feeling good so…" He trailed off, looking guilty. "I gave you some medicine, it was supposed to be aspirin. But then, You looked groggy and then you passed out. Your head accidentally banged your head on a flat rock. I panicked cause aspirin wasn't supposed to make you sleep."
Francis raised his eyebrow. He then felt the cold breeze hit his chest and shivered a bit. He knew that his shirt was a thin fabric, but it can't be thin enough to make him shiver. He looked down at himself once more. His shirt was all wrinkled like someone was shaking him awake and saw that four buttons that were loose and unbuttoned from the holes that clasped them. He looked up.
"...I looked at the bottle of medicine I gave you was melatonin, it was to help improve sleep. I didn't mean to make you sleep. I thought it was aspirin but I was wrong." Robot Devil looked down on his knees, then up to Francis. "But...when you were sleeping, I moved your body to somewhere not on the rock and I dragged you here. I laid you on this hill, it was somewhere we can be alone…"
Robot Devil began to walk on his hands and knees to Francis like a car trying to catch its prey. Francis began to back up, his back hitting the truck of the oak tree.
"I then had this urge...the way you're sleeping made me," Robot Devil put his hands on Francis' shoulders, tightly gripping them. "Made me want to take off your shirt…" He pressed his lips against Francis'. Francis tensed up as his eyes wided a bit before he fell for Beelzebot's love spell. He closed his cyber eyes and let his clamps around the Devil's waist, deepening the kiss.
A muffled moan was heard from Beelzebot as Francis' clamps tighten around him. His hands went over to the white shirt and proceeded to finish what he had started. There were three buttons remaining on the shirt, still untouched. He proceeded once again and did the three buttons, slowly taking them under the slitted holes that clasped them. Once they were free, his shirt was open and exposed Francis' metal torso and chest compartment. Robot Devil placed both his hands on the bronze robot's chest and caressed them until the white shirt was over Francis' bulky clamps and rested over the oak's roots.
For Francis' turn, he pulled away from Beelzebot and made his way to his neck. Making small kisses and smelling his scent. Making Beelzebot shudder in pleasure as Francis went deeper in his red metal neck, the shudder went into a groan. Robot Devil lifted up his light pink Suminagashi shirt over his head and laid it next to Francis' white one.
Francis then put his clamps in the waistline of his pants and took them off and helped Robot Devil with his pants also, putting them right next to the shirts; both were bare and natural. Francis lifted the Robot Devil to his lap and gave him soft kisses on the neck and chest all the way down to his stomach area. This made both manbots go to the dry ground that was now being crushed by their weight as Francis pressed Beelzebot onto the grass.
Robot Devil cried out Francis' name as he was proceeding to go in between the Devil's legs but stopped at his waist before he let out a low groan to him in response.
"Francis…?" The Robot Devil gasped for air, Francis got up to his eye level: making a lustful stare at him.
"Yeah baby?"
"Francis...you know I love you, right?"
"Of course baby, is something on your mind?"
The Robot Devil hesitated, but he was still able to make out the words.
"Francis...I just want to let you know that...well...when I die, will you still love me even after death?" Francis looked at him, his stare still unbreakable.
"Of course I will, anything for you my love. I'm in awe of you. I want you, and the thought of anyone else having you is like a knife twisting in my dark soul."
A dark, cloaked figure was rising above the two, holding a rusted bloodied knife. Beelzebot's eyes widened.
"Francis look out!" Robot Devil shouted, Francis turned around and saw the dark figure loomed over them, with a knife above its head as the figure brought it down to them.
Francis woke up panting and sat up quickly in fear. Shaking from the gruesome wet dream that was turned into a horrific nightmare. His bed sheets were soaked in his cold sweat along with his pajamas being moist too. He buried his face into his clamps.
"What...the...fuck!?" He shouted vulgarly, his clamps trembling. "H-How…?" He looked up from his clamps and saw that the sky was still in a dark gloomy state that shot lightning a few times. He pulled away the covers and looked at the time on his digital clock. The time was near eight o' clock am. He then heard the sound of a frying pan sizzling. He got up and walked down stairs to see Leela in the kitchen in a pink bathrobe, cooking eggs.
"There you are sleepy," Leela said, with a hand on her hip. "Breakfast is almost ready. Go and have yourself a seat before the others wake up." Without questioning, he got himself a seat at the dining room as Leela put down a fresh cup of dark roast coffee right in front of him. Making the robot almost jump in his see, which Leela noticed and scoffed at.
"Well, sorry! I didn't notice you were spooked so easily!" She put a hand on his shoulder, which with a concerned look, she felt a moist spot on him. "Francis...why is your PJ moist with sweat?" Francis didn't answer and only stuttered.
"I-I...well...I…" She sat next to him and crossed her arms that rested on the table.
"Francis? Is something wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Leela asked. Francis trembled timidly.
"Look Leela, if I tell you this. Can you not tell the others?" Leela nodded in approval.
"Leela...I had this dream...a wet dream. At first. But then, this dark figure was looming over me and babe and…" Francis choked the last part of his sentence. "He had t-this rusted knife and he brought it down to us…'' Leela gasped, her hands over her mouth.
"Francis! I'm sorry you had that terrible nightmare! And by the looks of it, it must've been real to you!"
"It was…" He nodded, clasping the mug in his hands. "Everything in that dream looked so real. I feared that someone was going to get me!" Leela sighed heavily and rested her head on her hands.
"Did...Did the figure look familiar to you in any way? It could be a sign that someone could come out to get you." A scowl was on Francis, Leela leaned in her chair.
"Sorry! Just a thought." Just then, Amy came downstairs and stretched herself. She also did a yawn in response.
"'Morning you guys," She sniffed the air. "Ooh! Are we having eggs this morning?" Leela gasped and stood up and ran to the kitchen and shutted off the stove.
"I must've forgotten about the eggs just a second ago." Leela grabbed a spatula and scooped some eggs into a plate along with some bacon and gave the filled plate to Amy.
Francis continued his cup of coffee until he felt a kiss on his cheek and saw the Robot Devil giving him a kiss.
"You got up earlier than I did," Robot Devil said, stirring his coffee with a spoon before sitting down next to Francis. "Although, you were figging in your sleep Francis…" Francis jumped back a little. How did he know? Francis thought, he slowly returned to his coffee.
After some hours in the house, the rain was still pouring outside along with some lightning and thunder. For the rest of the dark day, everyone was watching the news while being served either coffee or hot chocolate. During all of this, there was a slight conversation going on about last night.
"I heard Russell barking last night," Roberto said, sipping his coffee. "I got downstairs and saw Russell barking outside, but when I looked out front. There was nothing." Leela put her chocolate down.
"Maybe he just heard the wind and thought someone was knocking at the door, you know how Labrador Retrievers are." Leela suggested, she then returned to her mug. Russell, on the other hand, was in the dog bed on his back, sleeping peacefully without being disturbed. Roberto shook his head.
"But this is different, when I looked outside through the window. I saw a figure," Francis choked on his coffee and coughed, making Amy pat on his back for air.
"You saw what now?" Francis questioned, not sure whether or not he heard it.
"Yeah, I saw this figure disappearing into that tall brown grass that is across your house. You know? The one with that abandoned farm?" Roberto repeated, Francis was now looking back in his dream to where the figure was about to kill him and Robot Devil with a rusted bloodied knife; the figure was stout and small. Like his ex-boss…
"Wait, what did the figure look like Roberto?" Francis asked, edging to know what the figure looked like.
"The figure was short and stout, maybe a little fat?" How can Francis not know this before? The figure was in the shape of his boss, or Donbot was his boss before. The thunder clapped in the sky was more, the Labrador Retriever puppy yelped from his sleep and made his way into Joey's lap, cowering in fear. Joey tried to calm the pup by petting his soft fur. Francis realized that his own dogs were nowhere in his sight.
"Hey, where's Mr. and Mrs. Pickles?" He heard two dogs tags clanked and jaggle into their way in the living room, the two height difference Border Collies entered in the living room and made their way onto the couch. Nibbler came in next, it wasn't until then with all four four-legged animals on the couch, all cowering in terror and fear of the lightning and thunder.
Francis looked at the time on the clock as the thunder rumbled in the distance outside, it was almost six. But he didn't feel like cooking after what Roberto said about the figure in the grass last night along with the same figure in his dream. It made his stomach turn.
"Are any of you guys want anything? Cause I don't feel like cooking tonight, maybe you guys want to go out to eat?" Francis asked, his stomach subsided in his lungs.
"I was thinking about going to that one new Filipino-Hawaiian barbecue place in central New York, I heard it's pretty good there and they're dog friendly." The four-legged friends suddenly jumped around the couch and started to bark happily. Their tails began to wag wildly. Leela laughed.
"Okay, I guess we're going there!" Leela said.
The car drove slowly in the stray open road of New New York as the dogs and Nibbler were whimpering slightly in the back of the car as they wore their color matching outfits as Francis' windshield wipers slightly squeaked as they wiped. The rain made the car almost drown out the music that was playing on the stereo even though they can still hear it. Francis made a turn to the left and parked into the almost empty lot.
He got out as the five others got out with their raincoats on as the dogs struggled on the leashes from the rain in the parking lot.
"There it is Francis," Leela said, pointing to a small building. "It's right there!"
The Filipino-Hawaiian barbecue was a small red brick wall building with a window entrance door. The building's sign was a painted-on white sign that said in the building's identity: F&H Local Barbeque. A neon red and green sign read OPEN and below it said Dog-Friendly. Leela pushed the door open and was greeted by a pretty Filipino woman in her twenties.
"Hello! Welcome to F&H Local Barbeque! Booth for six?" The Filipino waitress asked.
"Yes," The waitress wrote something in her notepad and put it in her jeans pocket.
"Okay, follow me." Leela and the other followed the waitress into the back of the restaurant and sat next below the OPEN sign. It's light shined onto their skin. Six menus were laid in front of them.
"Would anyone like a drink before they order?"
"Water is fine," Francis answered, the waitress nodded in approvement and walked off to another booth full of people to take their order. Francis looked around in the restaurant. A window was showing which was a kitchen that had a middle aged Hawaiian man cooking with an apron and hairnet on to prevent his long braided hair from going into the food. Another cook was also in the kitchen, this one appeared to be an eighteen year old Japanese boy who seemed to be frying something, a symbol of Japanese writing was on his neck. Francis looked at the stretched table that ran in front of the kitchen window. Not too shabby. The waitress was back again with the same notepad in her hand along with a pen.
"Are we ready to order now?" Amy was first.
"I'll have the Korean hot wings with a side of kimchi." The waitress wrote down Amy's order.
''I'll get the katsu chicken with rice." Leela answered.
"Hawaii-style burger please," Joey said.
"Pad Thai rice noodles with extra soup." Roberto said.
"I'll get the luau shredded pork with the fried rice and Chinese salad." Beelzebot said.
"And for you?" The waitress asked Francis, who slightly jumped. Goddamn it! This is the third time today I jumped to a voice.
"I'll...I'll have the Kare Kare oxtail soup."
"Okay." The Filipino waitress took away their menus and went into the kitchen to tell the Hawaiian middle aged man and the Japanese boy their orders. Francis took a sip of ice cold water until he felt a nudge on his shoulder and turned to Leela's elbow, touching his shoulder.
"Psst! Francis! Wanna talk outside?" Leela whispered, Putting a hand to her mouth to cover her quiet voice. Francis putted down his water glass and sat up. Robot Devil looked at Francis.
"Francis, where are you going?" Robot Devil asked, Leela stepped in.
"Me and Francis are just going to go and get some fresh air," Leela grabbed Francis by the arm and dragged him out of the booth. "Won't be long!" She called out. They got outside into the cold stale air of the rain and thunder rumbled. Leela adjusted her green coat before talking to Francis.
"Francis," Leela began, "what's going on? You almost choked on your coffee when we were at your house and just got...paranoid." Francis looked at his feet then to Leela.
"Remember the dream slash nightmare I had?" Leela nodded.
"Of course! How can I forget?" Leela said, being concerned at first but was understanding.
"Well, remember when Roberto said that he saw a figure walking across that field of grass? He said that the figure was short and stout. He literally described my old boss, the Donbot!" Francis exclaimed, Leela's cyclops eye widened.
"What!? You mean…" Francis nodded. Leela was in shock. I have a feeling that Francis' nightmare is something serious. She looked at her phone that was in her coat pocket."Francis, you can leave now. I have to make a call," the lesbian cyclops said, her tone was serious.
"But-"
"I'm sorry, Francis, you must be hungry. Go inside, the food must be on the table." Leela cutted off Francis. Before he could protest, he went inside the local restaurant without asking. Leela pulled out her phone and dialed 9-1-1 and put the phone to her ear. A male voice answered after the third ring.
"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" The operator asked over the phone.
"Hi, my name is Leela Turanga, and I like to report a stalking and attempted murder."
"Okay ma'am, what is the stalking?" the operator asked.
"My friend just quitted his old job three weeks ago and I'm afraid his boss is trying to assassinate him." She heard the clicking of a computer keyboard clacking.
"Okay ma'am, can you give me a name?" Leela didn't wait and immediately answered.
"Don Smith." She heard the keyboard once more.
"Okay ma'am I got the address to the person. I'm sending the police over there."
"Thank you," Leela hung up and returned back to the restaurant.