Project Raven: Knowledge Disavowed

Story by Serathin on SoFurry

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#10 of Project Raven

Here it is, the final (planned) chapter of Project Raven. Thought it was a good wrap-up, hope you do too!

As always, comments appreciated.


Project Raven: Knowledge Disavowed

In the heart of the computer control room on the island that was formerly the Markis Island Resort, a conflict raged that would decide the fates of thousands of people. As the two AI's continued to struggle for who would take control of the facility and all the rubberized drones that were created by it, one alone had the true power to finally bring a conclusion to the nightmare.

The arctic wolf named Hale had less than a day ago been merely one of four friends who came to the resort for some fun in the sun. Since then he had been dodging rubber-covered monsters, some of them those very same friends, and been running for his life as the latex plague swept the island. Many people had sacrificed themselves for him to get to this point, including his best friend and long-time crush Bryan. Everything had culminated to him standing there in front of the two creatures that had effectively ruined his life and the life of everyone on that island.

Hale continued to concentrate as Bryan had told him to do, the voices of the others fading away as he tried to reach out and assess what the others on the island wanted him to do. The decision was far too great for it to be made alone he realized, and as he accessed the huge database that stored the personalities of the victims he asked them what they thought. The result was overwhelming, more than two thirds of the people wanted him to stand up and take back the island for them, refusing to bow a knee to either one of the AI's. Their voices were filled with rage at their plight, and as he listed to them he could feel his own anger beginning to well up inside of him. He knew that they were right, even if it meant the possibility of him losing control of everything he had to take a chance for all those who were affected. As he turned back his attention to the two AI's he found them still arguing their case on who should be picked, and Hale felt a low growl escape from his throat as he stepped forward.

"Enough!" Hale shouted, his eyes glowing brightly as he started to feel the power that the two AI's had talked about. "I can hear the cries of the people of this island, the ones whose lives you've changed so flippantly for your own gains. They want you out... and I'm going to be the one to evict you."

"You? Get rid of us?" The dragon scoffed, both him and the raven looking at each other with smirks on their faces before turning back to him. "I don't think so little wolf. You may think you can boss us around, but you don't have nearly enough power to kick one of us out, much less both. It's only with one of us that this stalemate finally cease."

"Not to mention you simply would not be able to handle the sheer magnitude of responsibility it would entail." The Raven continued. "You would have to control everything that the old, fully-trained SYNC core had to handle as well as all the new additions from this. I daresay you would probably go mad trying to decipher it all alone."

Hale took a step back, his confidence beginning to waver slightly as the two viral AI's approached him, only to bump into Bryan's chest as he wrapped his arms around him. "He won't be alone." The husky rebuked. "Not by a longshot."

"The GUARDIAN?" The dragon asked, both of them in slight shock of seeing him there.

"That's right." Bryan replied. "Guess you didn't know everything there was about this system after all."

"We picked you to become the GUARDIAN core because we knew that you would be the best person to protect SYNC once he had made his choice." The raven explained. "You are his protector, nothing more."

"Then you shouldn't have picked someone who's studying to be a computer engineer." Bryan replied once more, a small grin growing on his face. "This system may be more technologically advanced then I'm used to, but it's still a computer, and all computers have the same basic weaknesses and faults. This backdoor that I came through to Hale had already been created by the first cores that were hooked up here and extrapolating that I managed to create another with the help of a datalink that a certain naga had been kind enough to use during his conversion..."

Hale's electronic ears perked up as he picked up on what the husky was talking about, his hands wrapping around Bryan's before the glow in his eyes once more flared up as he looked at the two stunned individuals. "I believe we have some people who wish to speak with you two." Hale said as his own smile mirrored Bryan's.

The air around them began to shimmer as Hale used his power to call forth people from the connection that Bryan had strung together. The first to come through was Dr. Marcovi, the rubber naga slithering forth from the ether and crossing his arms. "It was thanks to his data link that all this was possible in the first place." Bryan explained with a smirk.

"I just want to say that I'm still really sorry for what happened." Loki said as he appeared next, a look of sadness on his dark blue rubber covered face. "Allow us to make it up to you by helping you take control and thoroughly ream these things asses."

"You would certainly know something about that dear." A huge panther said with a grin, the circuitry laced into his blue latex skin glowing as he gave the Tasmanian Tiger a playful swat on the butt and looked at Hale. "Thanks to your connections I was able to meet with your friend here and we've gotten along quite famously. I look forward to continued encounters once we're done here."

As the two held hands Hale saw Yauchi and Arnold coming out of the mists as well, giving their friend a nod as they saddled up to him and put their arms around his neck. "We got your back too dude."

More and more people started to come out into the room, surrounding the two AI's as the raven hopped up on the dragon's shoulders. "Hale, you must be reasonable about this." The dragon said with a nervous chuckle. "You're not going to be able to handle the urges, the feelings... you're playing way out of your league."

"Maybe, maybe not." Hale said, his electric blue eyes glowing brighter than ever. As the rest of the rubber coated creatures continued to tighten their circle around them their own eyes started to glow as well behind their visors. "But I think that's a risk we're all willing to take..."

*****************************************************

Slyph awoke suddenly to the sound of explosions, the speedo clad leopard quickly darting up to try and perceive whatever threat had suddenly come upon them. He had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, his body finally giving in to its need for sleep. When he had realized that he wasn't actually under attack he looked around to see what was really happening. What he found was three creatures sitting on a couch staring up at one of the huge display screens, one of his favorite multiplayers being played by them as he slowly stood back on his feet.

"Bout time you finally woke up." Hale said, the robotic wolf pausing the game and turning around. He still had the same silver metal plates of the Sync core on him; though it was far more form-fitting as his white latex fur gleamed underneath. "I managed to modify this kick-ass video screen; the characters are bigger than we are!"

Slyph nodded slowly, trying to process the surreal scene in front of him. He saw Bryan on the edge of the couch with his arms still around Hale's waist. Next to them was Archer, the red and silver rubber fox stretching his sculpted muscles as he got up and stretched. The leopard's jaw dropped slightly as he saw his friend idly stroking his huge member as he went over to a computer module that had been loaded down with snacks. Dr. Marcovi was over there as well, though he seemed to be serving the snacks rather than partaking of them.

"How did the couch get in here?" He asked before shaking his head. "Nevermind about that... I see that Archer seems to be back to normal at least, does that mean that everyone is back to normal? Did you actually do it?"

"Well... sort of." Hale said as he bit his lip, gesturing towards one of the huge video screens that switched over to a map of the entire planet. "The AI's were dissolved and me and Bryan managed to get most of their personalities back. Unfortunately it seems that we couldn't completely get rid of all the corruption in the programming..."

"What does that mean?" Slyph asked as he looked up at the map, seeing that the red dots of Markis Island spread out into the water and about to make landfall.

"There's a compulsion to spread." Hale admitted. "At first it was weak, but the longer I've gone without doing it the more I need to. It became almost painful until I sent the others out. That's the second thing, even though I've given everyone their freedoms they still seem to want to follow my orders. None of them had any problems with this either... I think that the corruption had also leaked to them as well."

Slyph gulped slightly as he looked up at that map again, realizing that those dots would soon spread in number once they made landfall. "So... what do we do now?"

"Payback." Hale said as he sat back down, Bryan's arms once more going around his neck and grabbing his controller. "The people at Sibergon Labs may have had the superior technology, but once we bring together the collective minds of the entire planet we're going to find a way to get that trans-dimensional portal working and then bring them to justice."

There was a conviction in Hale's voice that caused a shudder down his spine. "I'm glad we have a plan... but what does that mean for me?" He asked. "I mean, from the sound of it you're going to have to convert me sometime..."

"Well, to be fair these bodies do surpass our old biological ones." Hale replied. "Especially now that we're all not mindless, sex-crazed beasts... although to be honest, it took quite a bit of willpower not to convert you while you slept, especially when Archer came in and started to throw bets with Bryan and Dr. Marcovi on how fast you would turn."

"It was merely a scientific curiosity." The naga replied with a smirk and a wink.

"Well then, I suppose it wouldn't pay to put it off any longer." Slyph sighed as he held out his arms. "Go ahead and do what you need to do with me." He closed his eyes and waited for the rubber to cover his form, though as he stood there and nothing happened he started to feel a bit foolish.

"We weren't just waiting for you to wake up you know." Hale said, Slyph opening his eyes to find that everyone was grinning at him. "We arranged for someone that we think you would want to help with your transition."

Slyph looked at them in confusion, and then noticed that everyone was no longer looking at him, but rather behind him. He slowly turned around and his heart skipped a beat as he realized who it was behind him. "Lark..." he said happily, wrapping his arms around the rubber-covered leopard and hugging him tight. He was squeezed equally tight in return, feeling his strong chest press against him.

"Hey there, sorry about lying to you earlier." Lark replied as he rubbed the nearly naked leopard's back.

"It's alright Lark, I understand what you were trying to do." Slyph said as they disengaged from one another. "So..."

Lark just hushed him and grabbed him by the hand, and as they leftArcher looked nervously over at Hale as they continued to play games. "Are you sure you want to keep him in the dark about what's happened until after his conversion?" He asked. "He might have an opinion when he finds out."

"No, let him be." Hale replied, his eyes glowing brightly. "We can't change our decision and there's nothing we can do about it now." Everyone that had gathered there looked up at the map screen, the red dots that had indicated rubberized creatures spreading out from the island to the coast of the mainland. "I will inform everyone I could spare about the situation."

Bryan could sense his lover's discomfort and began to rub his shoulders. "There was nothing you could do about it." The husky said, nuzzling into his neck. "You restored as many personalities as you could, if you did any more the servers would become overtaxed and if they went then no one would be able to come back. Plus like you said, we can continue to work on it."

"I should have went with one of them." Hale replied, his entire body shaking as he turned and buried his head against the husky's massive latex chest. "We could have stopped the spread or at least gave everyone back their own minds... now everyone is going to endure the same horror we did. The worst part is deep down I want it to happen... need it to happen. If I don't keep converting others..."

"Shhh... shhh..." Bryan replied, lifting the smaller wolf up and nodding to the others to continue before moving with him to another part of the room. "Whatever happens, know that we all still care for you, especially me."

"Thank you Bryan." Hale said, the two of them kissing before the wolf curled up once more. "I'm going to go into automated mode for a while, they're about to make landfall and I don't think I want to be awake when it happens. Could you... could you hold me while I do? It makes me feel... safe..."

"Of course love." Bryan cooed as he watched the wolf's latex and metal body begin to slump in his arms. "I'll always be here to protect you..."

**************************************

"So... that was interesting." Cyprus said as the monitors flickered to black, willfully cutting the transmission lines from the Markis Island facility. "It appears that our test is now complete."

"And we've gained a new enemy in process." Selenis added, looking over a datapad. "I'm having central receiving lock down those dimensional coordinates and quarantine the entire sector. The kill code that was installed in the Markis Island dimension door should have rendered it completely inoperational, but I'd rather not leave it to chance. Did this test satisfy your needs, Mr. Chrono?"

"Indeed, this was most informative." Chrono replied, putting his arms around the two silver creatures. "I think we have everything we need."

"Well, I think I have a bottle of champagne stashed around-" Cyprus started to say before an urgent notification on the viewscreen, indicating an incoming call of a most important nature. "Sorry, I have to take this if you don't mind, we'll resume celebrations afterward."

The silver dragon punched up the number, both of them surprised to see the Raven on the screen. "Greetings gentlemen." The Raven said as he smiled and looked into the camera. "I see that you have not heeded my warnings and continued your little experiment. Did I not warn you that there would be consequences to your actions?"

"Fancy trick, finding our private number." Selenis replied, a hint of anger in his voice. "But your squawk is worse than your bite I think. Our dimensional gate screening process is quite rigorous and we have very specific protocols for strange or unknown signals. Which means unless you plan to spam our inbox there's nothing you can do. You have no way to reach us, Mr. Bird."

"My dear tiger..." Raven said as he once more looked directly into the camera. "What makes you think I haven't already done so?"

There was a moment of silence between the two scientists as they looked at each other, then back at the silver raptor that still had its hands around their shoulders... except that it was no longer a silver raptor. The head had mutated into the head of a large bird, and as it opened its beak the bottom part of the jaw split apart. As they continued to watch the split continued to slide down its rubbery body until it was all the way down to its groin. Both Cyprus and Selenis tried to dart away, but the arms held them in place long enough for the false raptor's chest to explode out in a mass of tentacles that quickly wrapped around their bodies and began to pull them into the central cavity. When conventional escape they tried to liquidshift to escape its grasp, but their concentration was broken as two of the larger tentacles unceremoniously stuffed themselves into their maws and tailholes. Their bodies mashed together as they were dragged into the trap, the rubber of the raven/raptor's body quickly stretching and sealing around them.

"As I said, Gentlemen..." the Raven said before the screen flickered to black, then to the map of their network. As areas of the Sibergon Labs network were accessed the large raven began to morph, the two creatures turning into liquid to try and escape but merely allowing the rubber suit to easily mold them. If they could have seen themselves they would have balked, the silver statue turning hard as rock in a twisted version of their own logo with very avian features added to it. The tentacles continued to stimulate them even with no orifices to stimulate, swishing them around in their combined state in order to keep them pleasured and hamper their attempts to escape as the screen flashed that a phone call was attempting to be connected...

*******************************

Meanwhile, in another dimension Chrono stood over the switchboard with a clipboard in hand, monitoring his daily logs for Master Renzyl while he was away. It was fairly routine, there were no immediate plans of domination or corruption which meant that all of the various minions, servants, and slaves were out on what would basically amount to as a 'holiday'. Just as he was about to leave the console he suddenly saw that a call was coming in. "Sibergon labs..." he said, putting the call on hold before going down the hall to where Renzyl was.

"Excuse me Master." Chrono said as he peeked his head in, hearing the latex dragon moan loudly. "There's a call for you from Sibergon Labs..."

The black latex dragon sighed, then groaned again as two nagas that had their bodies coiled around him continued to slither and squeeze his form. "Busy." He said, prompting the two idle snakemen to continue what they were doing. One of them had their maw around his large draconic length as his muscles ripped down Renzyl's body while the other licked and nuzzled his back and neck while its cock was buried deep under his black latex tail. "Will call... them... later..."

"Master... they said it was urgent." Chrono replied worriedly, clicking his claws together as Renzyl's glowing red eyes glared at him.

"Very well." Renzyl said angrily as he motioned for the two nagas to untangle themselves from his body, then informed them to stay there until he came back. "Always when I'm getting a massage. You know how popular these two are Chrono? I had to be on a waiting list in order to get time with them, me, the one who GAVE them those forms in the first place."

"Deepest apologies master." Chrono said as he looked back at the two masseurs, who gave him a lewd wink as they began to oil up each other's scales once more. "If it was anyone else I would have taken a message, but they just gave us all that data and the sample from our latest inquiry and it was such a panicked request that I thought it would be best if you handled it."

"It's alright Chrono." Renzyl replied as he put a black, silken robe on and walked down to the communications room with him. "If this does turn out to be a waste of my time it's them I'm going to blame, and I will make sure that they receive the repercussions of it. Alright, let's see what they want then."

Chrono and Renzyl stood in front of the viewscreen as the connection was made, both of them slightly surprised on what they found waiting for them on the other side of the call. "Raven, what a pleasant surprise." The demon dragon said as they saw the grinning silver form of an anthro raven mixed with feline and draconic features sitting there, its skin bulging ever so slightly as though something were trying to escape. "Silver looks good on you."

"You think so?" The Raven replied as he looked down on himself, though Renzyl knew that what they saw was merely a suit that the Raven controlled. "Perhaps you are right... I had just used the coloration in order to trick the two fools that are captured inside, but now that you mention it there might be a certain appeal there. In either case, do you happen to know why I am calling you today from this location?"

"I haven't the faintest." Renzyl replied, he and Chrono exchanging a look before focusing back on the silver raven.

"Well, there was a theft at my factory, and I happened to trace the stolen contents back here to this lab." The Raven explained. "I found the two that were responsible and detained them, but not before their testing of this product caused an entire island, and I'm guessing soon to be planet, to become contaminated with such... unusual creatures."

"You don't say?"

"I do say."

"Oh my." Renzyl sat down in the chair, Chrono sitting off-screen and letting his master take the lead. "Well that certainly is terrible, I'm glad that you were able to capture the vagabonds before they did some serious damage."

"Yes, quite." The raven man stood up, his beak filling the viewscreen as he looked directly into the camera. "It was the strangest thing though, underneath this 'Project Raven' there was your dimensional coordinates for where they sent the stolen goods, and they seemed to have met Chrono before since that was the form that my suit wore before my little trap was sprung."

"Oh dear, this certainly warrants some inquiry into the matter then." Renzyl replied in a concerned tone. "I will make sure to do a full investigation into whose trying to use my visage in order to gain elicit goods and services in my name. Don't worry my friend; I will make sure this odious imposter is found."

"Indeed." The Raven said as he sat back down, his chest swelling slightly from the liquid creatures before it settled back into its original position. "Well I'm going to have to call you later, the two are getting quite antsy and if I remain malleable to talk to you then they may get free before I have a chance to try and collect them."

"Very well, we must try to get in a game of chess when you are not otherwise occupied." Renzyl replied as they said their goodbyes, the viewscreen immediately going black as the call disconnected.

"Do you think he still suspects?" Chrono asked.

"Don't be absurd." Renzyl said with a small chuckle. "I have to assume that he is completely aware of our little deception, its why I like him so much. Make sure that everyone is apprised on the situation, and once those two Sibergon boys manage to escape I want to make sure that they know their services will no longer be needed. A shame really, they are one of the few trans-dimensional laboratories out there. Speaking of, do we still have a tracker on one of those two liquidshifters?"

"Of course m'lord." Chrono responded. "Why?"

The corner of Renzyl's mouth turned up in a grin, looking at Chrono right in his reflective eyes. "Because I may have a mission for you..."

*********************************************

"Are you alright, my love?" The young tigress said as she hugged on the muscular arm on her tiger boyfriend as they walked down the beach. A storm had just passed and the two had gone out for a moonlit stroll on the beach at the male tiger's insistence. "You've been awfully quiet."

"Yes dear, there's just... something on my mind." The tiger man replied, a nervous look on his face as he looked over at the pier. "Oh my, look at that, the Markis Island ferry is coming in. Awfully late for them, but I suppose with all this rain they'll take whatever chance they can get."

"You're shivering..." the tigress said, looking up into the tiger's eyes and seeing the torrent of emotion on his face. "Honey, what's wrong?"

"Well, I'm just nervous you see." The tiger replied, blushing slightly as he put his hands into his pockets. "You see I've been waiting all vacation for a night like this. The moon is shining, the sea is calm, and I'm experiencing it all with the most beautiful tigress in the world." He heard her purr at his words until they turned into a gasp as she saw him go down on one knee and pull a small box from his pants. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes! Of course!" She exclaimed, squealing with delight as he got up and they embraced tightly. They kissed for nearly a minute as the tigress jumped up and down in his arms, until a loud shout caused them both to look up at the pier. By that time the ferry had docked, and what looked like a crowd of strangely dressed people had gotten off. A lizardman was hanging off of the railing, waving his arms to them frantically.

"We just got engaged!" The tigress shouted happily, waving her hand at him before the two tigers looked back at each other, both of them missing the tentacle that wrapped around the lizardman's waist and pulled him back into the dock building.

The two of them chuckled to each other as they turned away from the docks and started to walk away. "Let us continue our celebrations back at the room, shall we?" The tiger said as he held onto her hand. As they began to walk back the tigress let out a small giggle, feeling something caress her backside. "Mmmm, hold your hands until we get back to the room love."

"Hmmm?" The tiger said, lost in his thoughts of happiness before the tigress brought him back. "What was that sweetie?"

"You're quite frisky tonight, aren't you?" The tigress giggled as she felt what she thought was her fiancee's finger press past her skirt hem and wiggle against her rump. "Should probably keep your hands off until we reach the hotel room... your hands..." her sensual look turned into one of confusion as she saw his hand swaying next to him, the other one wrapped securely around her waist. With both of his hands accounted for she suddenly realized that the touch was coming from a second, unwanted source and she quickly whipped around to accost the person behind her...

...except she turned around to see a nearly eight foot tall monstrous dragon covered in what looked like a black and purple rubber suit. She screamed as she saw the creature's mouth open, its 'tongue' splitting into two thick tentacles before they darted down to her, feeling the one that had invaded her clothes begin to push its way against the crack of her ass. "No, get away from her!" She suddenly heard, a hard shove pushing her into the water as her fiancée grabbed the tentacles and forced them away from her.

"Run!" The tiger shouted before the dragon gripped his wrists and plunged his tongue tentacles into his mouth. The tigress gasped in horror as the creature's erect cock, which was nearly two feet long, wiggling of its own accord as more tentacles erupted from the dragon's body and tore away at his clothes before wrapping around his body. Right in front of her the huge, rippled length pushed into his exposed tailhole and disappeared into his body.

"No!!" The tigress screamed, getting up from the water's edge she was pushed into. "Get off of him you bastard!" Before she even had a chance to try and run back up to him she felt something wrap around her ankle, whipping her feet out from under her and causing her to splash back into the water. She turned on her back and tried to wiggle away, only to feel a second rubber tentacle wrap around her leg and pull her further into the water.

As she continued to thrash in the water she felt something brush against her, her eyes widening as she saw a large number of latex creatures begin to emerge from the water. It was like a scene from the horror movie, an army of monster rising up from the depths. From the corner of her eye she could also see a horde of rubber creatures flood out from the dock and onto the pier where a number of late night partiers started to scream as panic and chaos erupted.

The tigress looked around, trying to comprehend the situation around her when her own assailant finally arose, the tiger shark looking at her with a feral grin as the tentacles around her legs tightened. As the creature continued to stand she saw that the appendages attached to her were from its mouth, which renewed her struggles as the rubbery maw got closer and closer to her body. Unfortunately she was no match for the shark's strength and soon found her feet inside the latex monster's mouth, her body being pushed down into his stretchy throat.

"Someone! Anyone!" She cried out, desperate for anyone to come to her rescue as she was lifted up from the water, the shark tipping his throat back to allow the tigress to slide easier into his gaping throat. As she was swallowed up to her waist she was suddenly turned around, her lips pressed against something thick and rubbery. She felt something slide into her mouth, the strange taste of rubber flooding her throat before the tentacle itself began to push its way in.

When she was able to finally pull away from the monster she found it to be a rubberized version of her fiancée, his eyes hidden behind a sapphire tinted visor as she was pushed down into the tiger shark's gullet as liquid rubber began to cover her mouth. The last thing that she could hear before she was surrounded in latex darkness was the sounds of sirens heading towards the beachfront as more tentacles in the shark's mouth plugged her ears and nose...