Melody of the Future

by Tatsurou

CM: Let it Go

With Zero reunited with Timbre, the group made their way back to the elevator to explore beneath the facility. The hallways were mostly patrolled by the same Mechanaloids they encountered outside, and there was an occasional peephole into the silo Octavia had mentioned, giving tantalizingly brief views of the equipment surrounding the missile and the missile itself. Had they been figuring out what the facility was for from those few peeps, they might have had difficulty...but knowing what they were looking at made things much clearer.

Eventually, they were able to make their way to the silo gate, only to find their path blocked by Botos. "What are you doing here?" Octavia demanded as soon as they saw him.

"Yeah," Massimo added, "I thought Ferham was going to be guarding this place."

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Botos taunted crudely. "You certainly got here quickly." He leered towards Cinnamon and Marino. "I'd have thought you two would have kept Axl longer at least...from what I saw back in the dessert, anyway."

Marino and Cinnamon's expressions turned disgusted and creeped out. "Ugh..." Marino groaned.

"He was...watching us?" Cinnamon whimpered, moving to behind Axl.

"Not just watching!" Botos crowed happily. "Recording-"

"Headshot, Axl," Octavia ordered. "We'll harvest the Cadre Key to unlock the warhead from his corpse."

Botos backed up in surprise as Axl leveled his weapon. "You...you already know about-YIPE!" He ducked as fast as he could as the shot rang out. "Y-you're trying to kill me!"

"I thought that was obvious," Axl observed calmly as he shot a target Botos had a harder time moving, making X, Zero, and Massimo visibly wince.

Botos stared at Axl with watering eyes. "T...That's a horrible thing to do to a man..."

"I don't see any men in my crosshairs," Axl stated bluntly. "Just a disgusting pig perving on my girls. Now hold still, or the next shot will hurt even worse-"

Botos immediately fled through the base of the silo to the other side of the facility.

"Get back here!" Axl snapped out angrily as the group took off in pursuit.

---

As they pursued Botos through the rest of the base, he did his best to keep ahead of them. Every time he came to an intersection, he conjured a duplicate of himself and attempted a shell game to hide which way he was really going...which lasted about as long as it took for him to realize Axl was fast enough to shoot all of them. The major delay was the upgraded Preons that patrolled the higher levels of that side of the base, which took longer to carve through even with Massimo using the most durable of them as bludgeons.

Eventually, their pursuit was thwarted at a four-way intersection when Botos ducked through a door that locked behind him, leaving only one unlocked door for the group to pass through. Growling in frustration, Axl turned to lead the group through that door, finding themselves on a balcony overlooking the missile. As they gazed out, a familiar laugh greeted them.

"Looks like you finally made it," Ferham purred as she floated down to land lightly on the balcony. "I was beginning to get worried."

"We were waylaid by Botos," Massimo apologized, unable to take his eyes off her. "He delayed us a bit."

"Botos?" Ferham demanded, scowling. "What was he doing here? This is my post, and..." Her voice trailed off as she pursed her lips.

"And there aren't supposed to be two Cadre members here, because it only takes two keys to unlock the warhead?" Axl filled in.

"You lot are too clever for your own good," Ferham stated irritably. "And on top of that, I have orders to ensure no one moves the warhead from here."

"You could contact Epsilon about the changed situation," Octavia pointed out. "Alternatively, you could just withdraw. It can only be moved with two Cadre keys, after all."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Ferham countered. "The missile has to be guarded by a Cadre at all times, and I don't trust Botos as far as I can throw him-"

"Which isn't very far," everyone chorused together before sharing a laugh.

"So it looks like I'm going to have to fight you," Ferham concluded tragically, the excitement in her eyes putting the lie to her tone. She lightly hopped off the railing, floating back into the open air to give her an advantage.

Octavia chuckled as the group readied themselves for combat, X and Axl moving up to flank her as ranged attackers. "I think the battle is-"

"Do you really want to risk such powerful busters when the missile - and the armed warhead - is right behind me?" Ferham taunted playfully. "After all, while detonation in the silo won't be as effective as detonation in the sky, it will still spread...and as an FM Reploid, I'll be able to handle the surge of SFM energy far better than most of you. In fact, I think only X, Zero, and Axl will be unaffected...though I would hesitate to guess what would happen to the others at this close a range..."

Octavia's face paled. "Well...you've certainly planned-"

"Look out!" Massimo called out worriedly, suddenly throwing his polearm.

Ferham spun in surprise as the weapon sailed over her shoulder. "What the-AH!" Something small and sharp plunged into her flight booster, causing one of the engines to burst and leaving her careening down the silo towards the ground floor. Massimo's polearm continued its flight, nearly taking off the head of the shadowy figure who'd thrown the smaller weapon.

"Ferham!" Massimo roared out, lifting his hand to recall his polearm before rushing to the edge of the balcony.

"Don't be an idiot!" Zero snapped out. "Even if you are tough enough to survive that fall and remain active - which is in doubt - you can't aim from this height! You might land on her!"

"R-right," Massimo stammered worriedly. "Still, we need to get down there, quick!"

Turning, the group rushed back towards the silo floor.

Comments

[lord_steak]

Massimo's polearm continued it's flight

Should be "its flight" (it's == it is; its == possessive form of "it"). All-too-common a mistake in the here-and-now. None of the possessive forms of personal pronouns have an apostrophe (mine/yours/thine/his/hers/its/ours/yours/theirs).

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Dick shot.

[the other sans]

For the record, we all don't like Botos.

Seems the enemies are getting tougher to hammer down.

Good thing Zero stopped Massimo from jumping the gun there.

[shinigamisparda]

Ah. So there is a shadowy assassin after all.

[KiaraGate]

No one likes Botos.

[Dark Feather]

Botos immediately fled through the base of the silo to the other side of the facility.

"Get back here!" Axl snapped out angrily as the group took off in pursuit.

Well we all know how this rutine go's:

[Devildogg20]

8103786 why yes, yes we do.

[Devildogg20]

8103730 Damn. I didn't even realize until i went back after seeing your comment. I APPROVE

[Kitsunemagus]

8103786
8103841

Glad to read that I wasn't the only one that had the "Cue Yakety Sax for this scenario" go through their head.

[Dark Feather]

8103929 How can you read that line and not get "Cue Yakety" on it.

[Fire Flyer]

*Glances at last chapter title, then current title* Ohhh... I see what you did there.

[Kitsunemagus]

8103939

Some don't remember Yakety Sax for the craziness that is the Benny Hill show, and similar 'chase' scenes played for laughs

[Sigmacipher]

The major delay was the upgraded Preons that patrolled the higher levels of that side of the base, which took longer to carve through even with Massimo using the most durable of them as bludgeons.

I laughed my ass off at this line in particular.

[Willfire]

8103730
No, Justice Shot

[Kenshinryuu]

The Botos chase.... after a minute I was screaming at the TV, "Stand still so I can kill you!" which is very unlike me and my parents made me stop playing and take a break outside. And it was this part of the game that solidified my liking of Ferham. Well, I think Massimo needs to rip Botos's arm off and start beating him to death with it while Axl takes care of disabling his flight engine so he can't get away.

Also, is it wrong to want to see Massimo carry Ferham out of the facility to recover at the Resistance base and get to spend more time together with her????

8103786 Yeah, plus Botos doesn't deserve an epic song like some bosses.

[Dark Feather]

8104124 I soo just heard the Unreal announcer in my head.

8103949
8104184 The golry days of slapstick meybe over, but their legasy will endour.

[Nealend86]

You just love toying with us on whether or not Spider is sticking to canon.

[Dirty Bit]

A pity Botos evaded the group. Oh well, he'll get his in due time...

[Kitsunemagus]

8104338

Too true, too true ... maybe when I have the time after securing a new job I can start work on a fanfiction idea I had for FIMFiction. One that I had to back-burner for some time due to school, moving, job-hunting, etc.

[Void Runner]

Aaand Finally caught up to this one. Adding to my tracking list.

[KVFFour]

8109217 Internet boredom and caffeine do not mix well.

[Black Ash]

8109560
Really? I've the combination to be quite enlightening. Admittedly not always in a good way, but...well. The more you know.

[F14m3rz]

Eventually, they were able to make their way to the silo gate, only to find their path blocked by Botos. "What are you doing here?" Octavia demanded as soon as they saw him.

"Yeah," Massimo added, "I thought Ferham was going to be guarding this place."

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Botos taunted crudely. "You certainly got here quickly." He leered towards Cinnamon and Marino. "I'd have thought you two would have kept Axl longer at least...from what I saw back in the dessert, anyway."

See, this is when you cringe at a guy, not just because he happens to be ugly.

"I don't see any men in my crosshairs," Axl stated bluntly. "Just a disgusting pig perving on my girls.

{Botos: You would own women cheap enough to sleep with you after knowing you for only a couple days.

}
He might be a creep, but he's got solid burns.

Ferham's had her wings clipped, I guess. Let's see if they can catch her and catch the culprit who did so.

[Bookwurm666]

"Get back here!" Axl snapped out angrily as the group took off in pursuit.

Ah, the game of WHACK A PERVERT

[zacman2000]

and so the true enemy takes his first move... or is it his third...