Robocalypse Now

Ch 4: Return

Wednesday

An hour and a half later, Fry and the mercenaries moved slowly through the now calm throng of robots, making their way towards the Planet Express ship. Gone was the angry, organized swarming of earlier, now the bots just milled about in confusion.

They reached the now lowered ramp of the ship and climbed the steps, carrying their dead and injured. Fry come in right behind Tom, who was supporting a badly injured Jade. She had been shot through the kneecap and shoulder and could not walk on her own.

They made their way to the bridge and Fry slumped in the couch, letting his laser rifle clatter to the floor. He looked exhausted, he felt dead inside. All he wanted to do was sleep.

Tom gently lowered Jade onto the couch next to Fry. She gasped in pain but managed to settle into a semi-comfortable position.

The giant Omnicronian, Plrr, entered the bridge, two body bags slung over his shoulders which he dropped to the deck. One of them made and audible "OOF!"

"Spleesh, what the hell happened in there?" Amy asked as the crew took in the gruesome scene.

"Long story short," Tom said, breathing hard and clearly exhausted, "We breached Mom's office and found," he reached down and unzipped the body bag that was wriggling around, "This piece of shit holding Mom at gunpoint."

"You have NO proof!" said Zapp Brannigan, sitting up from the body bag, his face and arms very badly bruised.

The crew gasped in surprise.

Tom silenced him with a vicious kick to the general's ribs. "Mom tried to tell us something but he shot her-"

"ALLEGEDLY shot her."

The general doubled over with another kick to the ribs, "All my men wear holo-recorders asshole…" Tom growled, getting right in the Zapp's face; the general turned ghost white.

"I would bet my life that he's behind this whole almost-apocolypse." Tom said.

Fry still felt nothing, he had taken all his rage and anger out on the general when they had discovered him; his knuckles were raw enough to prove it.

"We turned off the signal from Mom's console, took out the trash," he gestured at the body bags on the ground, "and here we are…"

There were a few moments of silence as the crew absorbed the information.

"I'll, uh, I'll get us back to the Nimbus." Hermes said moving towards the captain's chair.

Tom nodded, "Jade's hurt pretty bad, and the rest of my men could use some medical attention too." He moved back towards the couch and crouched in front of Jade. He looked at her worriedly, putting a hand on her cheek which she covered with her own.

Fry felt like he should be feeling something; jealousy, maybe anger that he would never get to do that with the woman he loved again. But he felt nothing.

"Go," she said to the mercenary, "I know what you want to do. I'll be fine." He nodded, his mouth in a grim line and stood up. She caught his hand as he started to walk away, and looked at him with anger in her eyes. "Don't go easy."

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it." He planted a kiss on her forehead. "YOU," he said stalking over to where Brannigan sat, shaking on the deck, "We're going below deck to find out exactly what your role in all of this was."

"You can't treat me like this!" the admiral cried.

"You murdered one person at minimum, and I suspect you had a role in murdering several million more. I'm going to treat you however the hell I want." The mercenary grabbed Zapp by the collar of his uniform and dragged him off the bridge.

Fry blinked slowly. He was completely exhausted, both physically and mentally.

"Fry mon," Hermes said coming up and putting a hand on the delivery boy's shoulder, "Are you…ok?"

Fry's only response was to get up and trudge off the bridge and down the corridor, ignoring the worried and sad looks his friends were giving him. He entered Leela's cabin, dropping his laser rifle to the floor and shrugged out of his armor. He slumped in her desk chair, gazing blankly at her body, still lying on the bed. He wished he could feel something; it was as if his brain had turned off. After a time, he drifted off into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

Early Morning Thursday

Fry was woken by a gentle tapping on his shoulder. He stirred and stretched and in the process saw Leela's still form on the bed; reality came crashing in.

'Oh,' he thought, 'there's those emotions that were missing yesterday.' Tearing his eyes away from the bed, he look to see who had woken him.

Tom's face softened, seeing the misery on Fry's face. "We've left the Nimbus and are heading back to earth." He said, "We left Brannigan with Kroker and DOOP security. They said he'll be dealt with properly."

"Did he do it?" Fry asked, feeling the hate rising in his chest again.

Tom nodded, "As far as I was able to get out of him, he did it to try and woo uh…" he tilted his head at the Cyclops' body, "Her, he was trying to woo her. Some bullshit about stopping a robot invasion single handed. But his plan backfired somehow and got out of his control."

Fry nodded, his rage subsiding into grim acceptance.

"I'm truly sorry," the mercenary said, looking sadly at the purple haired Woman's body, "I didn't know her well, but from what others have told me, she was an incredible person."

Fry gave a small smile, "She was." He replied simply, some happy memories going through his head. Tom left as tears began to drip down Fry's face.

A little while later, they touched down in the ruined hanger of Planet Express. Fry carried Leela's body through the rubble and laid her in a table in the professor's lab. He came back out just as Tom and what was left of his band of mercenaries were heading out for their own building to see if there was anything left to salvage. Fry slumped in a chair at the conference table as the rest of the crew milled about.

The professor spent a few minutes tinkering with Bender, eventually brining the robot back online.

The robot sprang to his feet, "The signal's gone!" he shouted happily, "Awwww yeah! I'm back baby!" he pulled two six pack of beer from his chest compartment and began passing them out to the crew. "Come on meatbags, it's time for a celebration!" he noticed the glum faces of his friends, "Why are you all looking at me like that? And where's Big Boots? She's missing out on a rare opportunity for free beer from me, Bender… What's with you guys?"

Fry could see the sudden realization dawn on Bender's face, "Oh your god, I'm so sorry."

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Bender raised his beer, "To Leela, the best damn pilot this crappy little company ever had."

"To Leela." The crew said.

"To Leela." Fry echoed, taking a sip of his beer.

So I was originally planning on abandoning this story in favor of writing for RWBY but someone gave me some very kind words over on AO3 so I decided to finish this story. I'm probably halfway done with this story if I stick to the plan i had.

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