A/N: Yes, cliffhangers. You've gotta love those. Unfortunately, my cliffhangers and chapters are wildly tangled so that I never really pick up where I've left off. Which means you all have no idea why Fry opened his eyes, or where, or anything. But I do – mwahahaha!
~
Scene 1
Back at the Planet Express Headquarters, Leela washed out her coffee mug. She was free to help Amy repair the ship, which had been costly to build. The Professor, it turns out, had a stash of money he had hidden and forgotten in case the original ship had been destroyed, and so he made a new one. Bender was probably helping her in Leela's place. He'd upgraded his programming after Fry died, in order to work mindlessly. He seemed to be a sober wreck for days after the crash.
"Poor bot," Leela said quietly to herself.
She left the mug by the sink and walked into the hangar, where Amy was fixing on one of the engine thrusters. Bender held it while she melded it one better.
"How's it coming, Amy?" Leela asked.
"Just fine. I'm glad Bender finally got that program change. If he'd gone another week the way he had, I swear I'd change his software myself." Amy turned off the torch and looked down from the hover-platform she stood on. "Hey Leela, want to come with me and Kif to the Hip Joint tonight? You may get lucky there..."
Leela looked at the ground. "I couldn't do that to Fry."
"Spleesh, Leela, he's dead! You have to move on eventually. Even Bender's moved on."
"You're right, but I still want to just... go home tonight. Nibbler will be waiting."
"Suit yourself." Amy went back to melding.
Leela turned around and headed for the door. She wanted to go home, it was probably better for her to. She'd been sleeping badly as of late and needed a nap. The videophone rang in the conference room and she was obliged to get it.
"Hello?" she asked. The enormous monitor was totally dark, but a few shapes could be seen, including the silhouette of person in front of the other phone.
"Leela." The voice that spoke had both a raspy and a robotic sound to it. Not familiar enough to place her finger on it, so she squinted at the speaker.
"How do you know my name? Have we met before?"
"Your name was simple enough to find out. I just want you to know that we will be meeting shortly. There is no escape, mutant."
"How did... who told... what's going on?"
Leela thought she saw the man's teeth flash briefly as he grinned. "Tonight."
The screen went blank, leaving Leela unnerved. Someone outside her work knew her secret, but she didn't know who. If the person really did know her identity, then there probably wasn't any harm in finding him out.
~
Fry's thoughts were very dim. All he could see was a pale green haze. In front of him floated wires, which were connected to him by suctions all over. He tried to move, but couldn't. A series of bubbles issued from his mouth as he struggled, but the wires held taut and the breathing tubes nearly yanked from his nostrils. He ceased panicking. Maybe someone would come and tell him what was going on.
~
Leela sat in bed reading a book. She hadn't really been paying attention to the story. Rather, she was imagining what this shady character that knew about her was going to do, and how he would find her.
She heard a sound in the other room, like glass breaking. Scared, she sat upright. There was a muffled bit of squealing and jabbering from Nibbler, but it was silenced. Confused, she started to get out of bed, dropping the book. Dressed in only a bra and underwear, she was unprepared. She stared at the door while edging to her wardrobe, where she left her gun.
Out of nowhere, the door seemed to fly off its hinges and crash open. Something moved quickly to hit the lights, sending the whole apartment room into darkness. Leela gasped as a cold, metal arm held her hands behind her back, and tried to kick. Her foot connected with metal plating underneath clothing. It was useless to try and fight her attacker.
She felt a piece of cloth being pushed at her nose and mouth, and unwittingly inhaled. Everything became blurry and Leela felt herself slipping into some sort of fevered nightmare.