FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Marvelous." Ramirez sighed and slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Just got another text from Hoshi. Jack and the girls have run into trouble. Looks like we'll have to wait a while longer."

"How bad is it?" Hiro turned around slowly, sweeping his wide eyes over their surroundings.

"She said they're trying to lead the bad guys away from us, so we don't have to worry about being attacked just yet." Ramirez pulled her huge hand cannon from her hip holster and puffed on her cigar while making sure the safety was off. "I want to do something to help instead of just standing here, but we'll need to be here whenever they're able to get within transmission range."

"Hmm." Hiro arched a brow ridge and stared off in the direction they'd expected Jack's car to pass by.

Ramirez realized what he was thinking and shook her head. "Oh, no, kid. They've got a whole team backing them up; they don't need any help from a week-old civilian. You're staying right here."

"That's what I was designed for."

"Sure, but you've never been in combat, not counting what happened earlier today--and that was mostly us running away."

Montoya walked over and clapped him gently on the shoulder. "If we run into any problems here, we might need your help. You know how our luck works--if you run off to help the others, we'll end up surrounded by gun-toting zombies, sure as hell."

Hiro sighed. "Okay, I guess you're right."

Montoya patted his shoulder and turned to grin at Ramirez. "Look on the bright side--at least this give you two time to talk about your relationship."

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Ramirez sighed again and clenched her teeth on her cigar.

"Maybe you can decide what to wear on your first date."

Prick._Still, Ramirez couldn't help imagining a date with Hiro. She forced the image from her mind before it could spin off into what might happen _after the date. She grumbled and slumped against her car. What the hell is_wrong _with me?

Hiro stood beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. Her heartbeat sped up and she tried to take a few slow, deep breaths. She slipped her arm around his waist before she could stop herself.

Montoya grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

Ramirez gave him the finger and contemplated her phone's screen. "Hmm. Y'know, we're gonna be here all night, the way things have been going."

"Could be." Montoya glanced at her, looked away, and turned back with an arched eyebrow. "I know that look. What are you up to?"

"Just thinking Hiro might be right, in a way. Maybe we should see if we can get closer to Jack's car, or park somewhere ahead of it and wait for it to pass by. Then Taura can transfer the file and be done with it."

He shrugged. "That could work, alright. Hell of a risk, though."

"Definitely." She turned to Hiro and he shook his head.

"If you're planning on getting into the fight, don't ask me to sit it out."

"I'm not talking about getting into the fight. I'm just thinking about taking a slightly more active role in the mission." She chuckled, puffed on her cigar, and turned around to open her car door. "Alright, come on. Let's see if we can speed things up a bit." She settled behind the wheel and waited for the guys to get in. She tapped a quick text into her phone, asking Hoshi to give her Jack's location.

Once both guys were buckled in, she started the engine, glanced at the GPS info Hoshi had sent to her phone, and headed for the street.

"Okay, Hiro, just remember one thing--if anyone starts shooting at us, we're outta there. Shit like this is our job, but endangering a civilian_isn't_. Clear?"

"Got it." He nodded and faced forward.

I hope he actually means it. She sighed and made a left turn. "Okay. Let's get this done."

#

Jack swerved around the explosion and the half-dozen cars and trucks scattering as their drivers tried to escape the same blast. A chunk of pavement the size of his head scraped across the hood of his car before slamming into the side of a van.

"I don't like this," Corona growled. "Too many innocent bystanders are gonna be hurt."

"I can't believe they're actually firing those cannons into traffic on the fucking highway." Jack whipped the wheel to the right and nearly scraped a bus as he shot past it.

[I'm working on getting civilian traffic cleared off the road,]_Machiko sent through her comm implant. _[Heads-up. You've got two guys in armor coming out of each gunship's rear hatch.]

"I didn't think any more people could fit into those things." Corona scooted to the blown-out rear window, stared up at the approaching gunships, and pointed her enormous rifle at the nearest one. "I'd prefer not to shoot them down while they're above all these cars."

[They should be equipped with limited AI systems that automatically guide the ship to a safe landing spot if anything happens to the pilot.]

"_Should_be?"

[Well, since we've never seen this model before....]

Another gunship fired its rotary cannons and chewed up the street directly behind Jack's car.

"Don't have much choice," Jack snapped. "They could start hitting other cars any moment. Or us."

[I'll see what I can do from that cargo van up ahead.]_Through the windshield, Jack caught a glimpse of Machiko soaring overhead. She touched down gently on a large van a few hundred feet ahead, dropped to one knee, and whipped out her sniper rifle.[There's one right above you. Stand by.]_

One of the other gunships ripped more huge chunks out of the street and Jack swerved to the right.

Corona lined up a shot and fired. Her gun's recoil jolted the car forward and Jack tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

The round punched through the underside of the cockpit and exited through the topside, above and behind the pilot. The ship angled toward the pavement and the two armored figures hanging off the rear let go and dropped onto the trailer of a freight truck. The gunship veered off, gained altitude, and flew away at a more sedate speed.

[Ah, I was right about the AI.] Machiko pulled her trigger. A gunship spiraled into view a few yards ahead before its AI took over and veered off. An armored body tumbled from the rear compartment and plowed into the pavement ahead and to the left.

Jack snarled, swerved toward the body, shifted down, and punched it.

The man pushed himself onto his hands and knees, and looked up in time to catch Jack's front bumper in the face. His body flopped under the front-left tire. Jack grinned as his car rocked twice in rapid succession. Good. You got both tires, you asshole!

Something thumped into the car's roof. Jack twitched and reached for his gun as Machiko's voice came through the comlink.

[You've got two goons riding your car.]

Thump.

[Three. Stand by.] Machiko lined up another shot and took it. [Two.]

Suddenly, the van under her swerved and she slumped to the left. She braced her feet under her and somehow kept her balance.

[Great. The driver's trying to shake me off.]

"You take care of the gunships. I've got the two guys." Taura climbed through the rear window and pulled herself up onto the roof.

"Taura!" Jack and Corona screamed at the same time. Corona shook her head.

"Whoa." She whipped her head around to look at Jack. "Keep it steady!"

He nodded, clenched his fingers around the steering wheel to stop their sudden shaking, and tried to keep his breathing even.

"Shit."

#

What the hell am I doing? Taura pushed herself upright and faced the two armored men on the roof of Jack's speeding car. Seriously, what the fucking hell am I_doing?_

Both of them spared a split-second to glance at each other. Through their visors, Taura caught a glimpse of their eyes rolling before they aimed their rifles at her. She threw herself forward, slammed her left arm down on one rifle and drove her right hoof into the other. The first lost his grip on his gun and whipped a pistol out. The other teetered over the edge, but recovered before gravity could take hold.

The pistol fired and the bullet bounced off Taura's armor. She cried out and flinched before realizing the bullet hadn't punched through. Her hesitation was enough for the two men to pull themselves together and go on the offensive at the same time, aiming both pistol and rifle at her and pulling the triggers.

She ducked and whipped her right leg out, swept the pistol guy's feet out from under him, and rolled forward into the other guy's legs. He hopped over her, but she grabbed his left ankle and yanked. He pitched forward onto the roof with a shrill yelp. At the same time, the pistol guy almost rolled off the driver's side, but managed to grasp the edge of the shattered windshield and hold himself to the side.

"Swerving left," Jack snapped into the comlink, and Taura scrambled over to grab onto the top edge of the blown-out windshield.

"Go!" She gripped the metal and held her breath as the car swung into the fast lane and then crossed into the center.

A freight truck in the oncoming lane scraped the side of the car, snapped off the mirror, and the pistol dude hit the grille like a bug splattering on a windshield. Taura glanced to the left and caught a spray of blood spritzing the air and a severed arm spinning off to the side.

She turned to face her remaining opponent as he picked himself up. He crouched and made a grab for his rifle, and she tackled him and kicked the gun off the roof. He braced his foot against her chest and shoved, sending her tumbling to the edge of the passenger side. She managed to cling to the roof, but it left her heart pounding. She took a second to steady her breathing and then spoke into her comlink.

"Jack, if I fall off, just keep going. I'll do whatever I can from wherever I land."

"We're not gonna leave you here," Corona snapped.

"I'll be fine. Just get the job done." Taura lunged at the man as he whipped a knife out.

He thrust it forward and the tip scraped along the surface of her chest plate.

_Hah, didn't expect to be facing someone in armor, did you?_She deflected another jab and pinned his wrist under her left arm, pinning it to her side. She drove her other fist into his gut and the impact knocked him backward. She kept his right arm pinned, rammed her fist into his visor, and followed up with three more punches to his midsection.

"Taura," Jack shouted, "you're the one person we can't leave behind!"

Another round from Machiko's sniper rifle snapped overhead and drilled another gunship pilot.

Taura's opponent kicked at her, but she caught his foot and tugged him off-balance. She released his arm, whipped her hoof up, and shattered his visor. He lost his balance and flailed his arms. Taura gave him a quick shove and sent him tumbling off the roof. Heart pounding, she climbed back through the blown-out window and plopped onto the floor with a long sigh.

"You okay?" Jack and Corona said at the same time.

"Give me a moment. I feel like my heart's about to shatter my ribs."

"I doubt you're more scared than we were." Corona held Taura's hand for a second before getting back to business. She returned to her place at the rear window and lined up another shot on one of the gunships.

[Good news and bad news,] Machiko reported. [Our objective is moving closer to us; once they're in range, Taura, send the file.]

"Glad to hear that." Taura scooted over beside Corrie to take a look at their pursuers. Only two gunships and three SUVs were left. "What's the bad news?"

[We've got another wave of gunships approaching.]

Corona growled. "How many?"

[You don't want to know.]

Taura and Corona spared a moment to turn and gape at each other. Jack snarled and pounded his fist on the steering wheel.

"Aw, fuck me."

#

Otto returned to Shakira's room, walking softly in case she'd fallen asleep again. The TV on the wall was still on, showing several feeds from the cameras back home. Shakira glanced over at the doorway as he entered, and smiled.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself. How're you feeling?"

"A lot better than I probably should."

"Glad to hear that." He walked over to her bedside, slipped his hand into hers, and his pulse fluttered when she didn't object or pull away. He took a few slow breaths to calm himself and nodded at the TV. Just to have something to fill the awkward silence, he said, "Can't get enough of that, eh?"

"Oh, hell. I hate reality shows. Mostly because almost all of them are_stupid_. But also because they're addictive." She shook her head. "And I feel kinda creepy, watching Kim and Dale just going about their business."

"It'd be creepy if they didn't know about it, but since they already know tons of people are watching them...." Otto shrugged.

"Valid point, I guess. We all knew what we were signing up for." She shifted her weight slightly. "How was lunch? Or dinner, or whatever?"

"Not bad. I just grabbed a sandwich from one of the vending machines." He stared at the screen for a few seconds. "What have our housemates been up to lately?"

Shakira chuckled. "Well, Dale's drunk again."

"I'm fuckin' shocked. Shocked, I tell you."

She grinned. "See how he's doubled over in his chair? Couple minutes before you came back, he tried to grope Kim."

"You're kidding!" Otto glanced at her, turned back to the TV, and shook his head. "As dumb as he is, I figured he'd have more brainpower than that."

"Well, I'm sure he knows he was bad now." Shakira grinned. "Kim kneed him in the daddybag. I'm hoping he's learned his lesson."

"If he's not too drunk to remember it. I wouldn't be surprised if he wakes up tomorrow and can't figure out why his sack is swelled up to the size of a cantaloupe."

Shakira laughed, then winced and raised her left hand to her cheek. "Ow."

"Sorry. You okay?"

"I'll survive." She grinned. "Sure, it hurts, but a good laugh is worth it."

On the screen, Dale moaned something that sounded like, "Burrrrrrrrrrr..."

"Don't you puke on the carpet," Kim snapped. She pointed at the closet door. "Get your alcoholic fucking ass to the toilet!"

Dale sort of rolled off the chair, crawled over to the closet, and fumbled with the knob. He managed to turn it far enough and pull the door open. He dragged himself over to the toilet that had been installed at the end of the narrow closet before any of the current occupants had moved in.

Otto and Shakira sighed and shook their heads in nearly perfect unison as Dale powerchucked.

"It's a shame the audience can't vote him off the show," Otto muttered.

"From what I've heard, they seem to love him."

"Jesus Christ!" Otto sighed again. "He probably reminds them of someone they know." He affected a thick hillbilly accent and said, "'Earl? Is that you? Whee, doggie, I haven't seen you since my wister caught you fuckin' one of our chickens!'"

Shakira burst out laughing again. "Hahahaha! Ow! Hahahaha! Ow!"

On the screen, Dale pointed at the toilet and groaned, "Look, I had tater tots for lunch! Boaaaak!"

"Classy guy." Otto chuckled as Kim rolled her eyes.

A faint, rhythmic creaking sound came from the speakers under the screen and Kim snapped her head around to stare at a spot on the floor. It was the kind of sound footsteps would make as someone walked across a floor. But Kim was seated and Eddie the camera guy--who was visible in one of the on-screen feeds--had been standing still.

"What the hell was that?" Kim turned her head slowly as the creaking seemed to cross from one end of the living room to the other. The sound stopped when it reached the wall.

"Did you hear that, too?" Kim arched an eyebrow at Eddie.

"Yeah." Eddie's face had paled slightly. He kept staring at the wall, as if waiting for something else to happen, but the room remained silent.

Kim shivered and tucked her feet under herself.

Otto and Shakira turned to face each other.

"Ever hear anything like that before?" Otto muttered.

"Nope." She frowned. "Though...I've had a couple nightmares recently. I don't really remember anything about them, but I jolted awake in the middle of the night a few times. Could've been triggered by sounds I heard while sleeping."

"Could be." Otto grinned and tried to make a joke out of it. "Well, the house's previous owner did pop off right there in her bedroom, so--"

"Oh, don't even go there!" She snorted and whapped his shoulder, but shivered at the same time. "That's not gonna give me more nightmares, not at all!"

#

[The next wave is almost on top of them.]

"I see 'em." Boiler altered her course, caught an updraft, and soared above the ten gunships angling in toward the car carrying her parents. "That's some serious hardware and manpower for a corporation the size of ARD."

[Private military contractors. Not the best, from what I've seen, but they make up for it in numbers and enthusiasm.]

"Lovely. Well, I'll see what I can do." Boiler changed the angle of her wings again, banked, and began a shallow dive to pick up more speed. If she'd guessed their velocity correctly, she would intersect with the lead ship at a point near her dad's car. Uncomfortably close, but at least they were approaching a long stretch of road with nothing around it. That opened up all sorts of ways to take the gunships out without harming any bystanders.

[I'll pick them off as quickly as I can. I'm having to hop from one car to another. The drivers get a little squirrelly when someone wearing armor and carrying a sniper rifle lands on their cars. Who could've guessed?]

"Careful where you point that thing. I'm gonna be right in the middle of 'em in a few seconds." Boiler recalculated the ships' speed and plunged into a steeper dive to keep up.

[Copy that. I'll stay clear of the gunships you're working on.]

"And here I go." She twisted at the last instant, letting her left shoulder absorb most of the impact as she plowed into the top of the lead gunship hard enough to deflect it downward for a few seconds before its pilot recovered. It veered off to the left and whipped back, the alloy surface coming up to slam into her again, sending her tumbling across it. She caught the edge of the communications array above and behind the cockpit, swung herself around and slid down the canopy.

The pilot and two others in the cockpit flinched at her sudden appearance. She grinned, baring her inch-long fangs.

"Hi!" While still gripping the array with her left hand, she spread her wings to block their view and pulled out her hand cannon with her right. Fortunately, she'd thought to load it with armor-piercing rounds before heading off to intercept the gunships. She fired a half-dozen rounds through the canopy and directly into the console. Monitors and lights on the panels flickered out and the gunship began to drop altitude.

Boiler holstered her gun, pushed herself back onto the roof, and leaped from the gunship. In the corner of her eye, it veered off to the right and plunged toward the pavement. It hit the empty street at an angle and scraped forward a few hundred feet before grinding to a stop.

Boiler struck the top of the nearest gunship, rolled across it and nearly fell off the tail end. She caught a handhold and clung to it, took a moment to get her bearings, and reached under her vest for her other gun--the big one, the one she'd used to blow an SUV apart with a single shot earlier today.

Anything worth doing is worth over_doing, as a wise man once said._ Boiler flicked the gun to its highest setting and glanced around, noting the positions of the other eight gunships. She picked a target and pulled the trigger. Her cannon belched an arm-length muzzle flash and the ship's rear half disintegrated. Shrapnel ripped through the air and punched into several nearby aircraft as the front half plunged out of the sky. A particularly large chunk of debris lodged in another ship's ducted rotor and tore the blades off.

_That's what you get for trying to kill my parents, fuckstain._Boiler grinned as the crippled gunship spiraled down into a huge, empty gravel lot. She shifted her aim to a new target and blew its left rotor off.

Her own gunship spun and jerked, its pilot trying to shake her off. She tightened her grip on the handhold.

In the corner of her eye, the remaining gunships rotated toward her.

Uh...oh, shit.

She braced her feet on the side panel and sprang into open air less than a second before the other ships opened fire. The pilot's arms flailed and blood splattered the inside of the canopy. Boiler lined up one more shot as she plummeted, spreading her wings and pulling the trigger at the same time. The blast practically vaporized the cockpit and the other gunships accelerated away to avoid the cloud of shrapnel rocketing away from what was left of the craft.

_Not high enough to gain any altitude. Shit!_Boiler shoved her gun back into its holster and gritted her teeth as the ground rushed up toward her.

#

_No!_Corona gasped as Boiler dropped out of the sky, unable to glide to a safe landing but slowing enough to avoid a fatal impact. Boiler hit the street, rolled across and into a ditch, and then bounced out the other side. She slid a few more feet across a gravel lot before coming to a stop. She pushed herself up slowly and growled. "Ow! Goddamn it!"

Corona let out a relieved sigh and tried to refocus on the remaining five gunships.

One of them jerked sideways and blood from the pilot's exploded head sprayed the guy sitting beside him. Corona glanced out the windshield and caught a glimpse of Machiko somehow maintaining her balance on top of another swerving van. Machiko flicked a switch on her sniper rifle as the van's driver continued trying to shake her off. She squeezed the trigger and blasted a full-auto burst into another of the enemy aircraft. It dived off to the right before its AI took over and eased it off into the distance.

"Sons of bitches," Boiler snarled over the comlink. She staggered into the street and pulled out her enormous pistol.

One of the four remaining ships angled toward her and accelerated.

"Fucking sack of shit!" She fired and the blast shredded the cockpit. It and everything else in the compartment erupted out the ship's rear. She snapped her cannon over to point at one of the last two gunships. "Mother_fucker_!" She fired an extended burst and swept the gun back and forth, turning the entire aircraft into a cloud of flaming debris.

The deep bass thump of Machiko's sniper rifle punched through the air and one of the last two gunships veered off. Corona caught a glimpse of a hole in the canopy, right in front of the pilot.

She took a breath and drilled the last ship's left rotor. It spun out of control and crashed.

Jack sighed and eased the car to a stop. "That's all of 'em--for the moment, at least."

[Okay,]_Machiko said, _[it'll be a few more minutes before they can get more reinforcements into position, if they even have any left. Lola's coming to pick up the package. She won't stop, so transmit while she's driving by.]

"On it." Taura holstered her gun and tugged on the corners of her holographic display to enlarge it. Her hands almost turned into a blur as she tapped buttons and icons.

"Boiler," Corona said, "need a lift?"

"Thanks." Boiler limped over and squeezed into the rear compartment.

"Ready to send." Taura held her big finger over a flashing button in her holofield.

"Good." Jack sighed and accelerated down the street toward a pair of headlights in the distance. "Let's finish up and get the hell out of here."

#

"Holy_shit_," Ramirez muttered around her cigar as she took in the flaming wreckage and charred body parts strewn all over the empty street and the gravel lots on either side.

"Goddamn war zone," Montoya said in a similar tone. "Glad we missed it."

"No kidding." Ramirez spoke into her phone as she slowly approached a pair of headlights coming toward her. "You guys okay?"

"We're all in one piece," Jack replied. "Get ready for the file transfer."

Her phone beeped and she glanced at its screen. She touched the accept button and smiled slightly. "Receiving."

[Good,]_Machiko said. _[Once you've got the files, head back to my office. I'll meet you there.]

"See you there."

[Jack, Corona, Taura, proceed to the location I've just texted you. Hoshi will be waiting there. You can stash your car and Hoshi will give you a lift back home to reduce the chances of you being followed. It'll take us a few days to go over the files and get them into the right hands. In the meantime, I'll see if I can find you a mundane assignment to start on tomorrow, so you'll have time to recover from all this.]

"Looking forward to it," Taura said, punctuating it with a long sigh. "Transfer complete."

"And on that note," Jack said, "we're getting the hell out of here. See you guys tomorrow."

Ramirez glanced into the rearview mirror as Jack accelerated on down the street. "Take it easy, guys."

Montoya leaned back in his seat and released a slow breath. "Let's get out of here before any more reinforcements show up."

Ramirez nodded and increased her speed. She glanced at the phone, slipped it into her pocket, and puffed on her cigar. So far, so good.

"See?" Hiro said softly. "I knew we could help."

She grinned and reached over to pat the back of his hand. "Alright. Let's go take down some bad guys."