Dust and Echoes - Part III

Story by OttersGonnaOtt on SoFurry

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#41 of Entropy Series

The Gauntlet begins! The gang finds out just how dysfunctional a rogue military branch can be, while Yoyo spends some time getting to know his superior officer.

Fire can't keep me down! Back to rise from the ashes like a phoenix is another chapter of the Entropy series. This one's a long stretch, which as typical somehow came about because I didn't like two smaller chapters and the way they split the overall story arc. Considering I don't have my mechanical keyboard yet(out of stock due to manufacturing issues!) and arthritis can be a drag, it's actually a pretty large feat for me to hit ten thousand words in only a week and a half of passive writing. Throw in having to rebuild furniture (with itty bitty allen wrenches) and you've got a damn miracle for me. x3

As always, this story contains adult content and explicit sexual imagery. If you aren't allowed or don't wish to view such material, please stop reading immediately. To all the rest, enjoy! Comments and critiques are welcome and encouraged.


"Oui?"

Ilaria ducked down a bit so the camera on Carbon's front door could clearly see her face. "The Major called us up. Said now was fine to have a talk."

"Greetings Madame. Ah, and vous frients az weel. Monsieur Carbon eez waiting." Fleur opened the door and guided Ilaria, Prisma, and Sprite to the sofa, where Carbon indeed was waiting in an armchair. "Monsieur, youlr guests 'ave arrived."

"Oh, thank you Fleur. You can go back to whatever the two of you were doing." Carbon glanced into one of the spare bedrooms as Ashe played with India wearing just a set of towels wrapping her body and hair. "Please, have a seat, Specialist. You too, uh... Prism?"

"Prisma." Ari did as requested, watching Fleur start for the back room only to hesitate and move into the kitchen instead. "So, you have guests? Or are they Fleur's?"

"Actually, they're here at my request. Ashe and her dog, actually. Had a bit of a mix up and she needed a shower." Carbon watched as Evelyn stood in front of Prisma and leaned her head in close for an inspection. "Eve, stop that."

"Hmm?" Ari looked over and furled her brow in confusion when Prisma started playfully imitating the phantom. "Stop? What now?"

"Can you see her too, sister Sprite?" Prisma inquisitively reached out and poked through Eve's face, confirming a suspicion. "Ooh, no physical charge in the air. Prisma thought she might be a hologram. What's that mean, Sprite?"

Carbon sighed as he repeated his intent. "Eve, I mean it. Leave her alone for now." Once the flower girl complied he turned his attention back to Ari. "Eve is the reason I wanted to talk to your android."

"Sprite isn't mine. She's her own self." Ari sat back and threw her fake leg over the other, a bit of feedback developing as part of the adaptation process causing her toes to flinch. "So Eve, huh? So what is that, an imaginary friend or something?"

"Why does everyone say that? Never fails." Carbon stood up and went over to Prisma, taking a moment to inspect both the android and Sprite who was riding on her back. "Evelyn is a part of me, a being that shares my body. A symbiotic intelligence as she calls it. Normally only I can see and interact with her, because she modifies my mind and body such that she appears real."

"And Prisma can see her? How's that even work?"

"Not sure. Normally only other people like myself can see her, and even then..." Carbon turned and placed one of his paw on Ilaria's shoulder, then shook his head after a few seconds of confused silence. "Well, that answers that. Those that can see her need to physically contact me."

"Well I see nothing. Still doesn't explain--"

Evelyn turned and showed a block of text to her host, which in turn caused Carbon to take a step back. "Don't tell me that's from ~her~?"

"Actually... It's from the smaller one--Sprite." Eve scratched the petals on her head and tried to make sense of the message. "Apparently she does have a form of high-level communication after all, even if her vocabulary sucks."

Carbon gawked at the phantasm and then read the message out loud. "These ones behave like us. They form one focal thought from their many. Is this hypothesis correct, sisters?" He turned to Ilaria and shrugged his shoulders. "Any clue what that means?"

"Well, that's strange..." Ari pulled off her nanite-formed glasses and spun them around so Carbon could read a message Sprite had sent her. "That's the same thing I've got. That means Sprite can talk to you wirelessly too, I guess."

"Wirelessly?" The Major took a deep breath and then directed his next question to his symbiont. "Eve, you know how I can use my, uh... you know with some things? What are the chances--?"

Evelyn grumbled and pointed a single finger in the air. "Yeah, I see where you're going. Let me just see..." The glowing trim on Carbon's pelt suddenly flushed a very pure cyan as Eve repositioned her finger like some sort of antenna. Then, very faintly, music started fading into Carbon's hearing. "Didn't know we could do that... Always thought it was just ambient noise. Well, no need to buy an FM radio now, I guess."

"Well fuck me. We can pick up EM range patterns too?" Carbon waved a paw and Eve ceased the radio playback. "Well that sort of explains it."

Ari sat forward again, interest glimmering in her eyes. "Explains what?"

"Well, if you use radio frequencies to send data to and from this, uh... Sprite..." Carbon walked over to a laptop on the kitchen's bar top and simply laid his paw on the keyboard. His glowing trim transitioned to a pure indigo color and then the laptop started browsing the Internet as if possessed. "...and if I can manipulate something in a similar manner by touch... I guess that means we can interface with each other in a rudimentary way."

Ilaria stood up to inspect what the Major was doing in more detail, but was instead confronted by a well-dressed elk holding a silver tray full of tea and cookies. "Would vous care folr zome tea, Madame?"

"Oh... Actually, something a little harder would be nice ~if~ I could even still get drunk." The confused girl gawked, unable to comprehend the direction of that answer. "Sorry, Fleur. Tea's just fine. Thank you."

Carbon nodded when the girl looked his way, allowing her to set up the tea on the coffee table. "So you can't drink? How so?"

"Well, I was sober through the whole wedding. You saw how much I had to drink, too."

"Oh, so you process the alcohol faster than normal. Interesting. That means those_fii_ in your blood must be helping that..." Ilaria was about to question the odd word he just used when Carbon reached out and placed his paw on the spinal control node in her neck. "If they work like I think they should, that means..."

Suddenly Ari yelped as Evelyn blinked into her vision, a reaction that actually caused Fleur to spill some tea as she poured it. "What the hell is that!?"

"Uh... Hi?"

"It can ~speak~!? Oh gods!"

Carbon took his paw away and gave Ari a light slap on the cheek. "Calm down, Specialist. That's Eve."

"But... What the ~hell~ was she? Was that some sort of ~plant~? And why was she_naked_?" Ilaria turned back and searched for the girl, but couldn't find a trace of her. "Where'd she go?"

"You could see her when I touched that device of yours." Carbon tapped behind his neck so Ilaria could get a hint. "I can interface with most electronics by touch. Turns out those fii--oh, uh... 'nanites'?--in your blood are just like my own blood, and that's basically where Evelyn lives."

Ari frowned in deep thought as she considered how everything worked into this equation. "So you've got a freaky plant girl in you that prances around with her bits hanging out. Explains the--" As Ari's eyes settled on the Major's groin she quirked her head and actually ducked down to get a better look. "Hey, what happened to that erection of yours? Didn't you say you needed a woman to take care of it?"

"Well, sort of... I mean, that's..."

"Sis? Is that you shouting?" Ashe found her way to the door of the bedroom, her towel barely clinging to her as she wobbled in something akin to a drunken stupor. "Ooh, did you want to play with Carbon too? He's... really fun."

Ilaria took one look at her adopted sister and raw fury ignited in her eyes. "MAJOR!" She snapped her hazardous gaze into the hybrid's own eyes, lasers of wrath burning into his skull. "You like to get innocent little girls drunk and fuck them!? You fucking psycho!"

"No! I mean, yes... but not like that!" Carbon suddenly found himself having to recover his vision as he stared at the front door, his gas mask clattering across the floor. "Ouch! Damn, no need to hit me! Let me explain first!"

Ari practically snorted fire as she held herself back, instead choosing to stand between Ashe and the Major. "She's fucked up! You can't explain that!"

"We... We did have sex, but it was consensual. I've got really powerful pheromones and..." Carbon saw he was losing the battle now that he struggled to breathe, so he got to the point. "She started fooling around, and once she got in contact with my... ~sexual fluids~, it was unstoppable. Some furs just go nuts over the stuff."

"What, now your jizz is a drug or something? You cum rainbows too?"

Carbon groaned as he reached down for his mask. "It can be a powerful aphrodisiac, yes. Depends on the person and how compatible they are with me."

Suddenly Eve and Prisma came to the rescue. "Auntie, Eve is showing Prisma how it works. Mister Optik is telling the truth."

Ilaria turned around and gave both Prisma and Ashe a more level examination. "Ashe... Don't get the wrong idea, but..." She reached a paw below the wolf's towel and immediately noticed a drenched, dripping patch amongst the mild dampness of her fur. "Oh. Well, you're just... feeling really good then, are you?"

"Mmm... Yep! It's like I'm in a ~dream~."

Fleur stepped in and stole the girl away, bringing her back into the bedroom. "Come, mademoiselle. Eet iz about time we recoveled votre clozing from ze wash."

Ilaria spun about and this time calmly addressed the Major. "Okay. You two had a thing because of some shit on your end. I can deal with that as long as you tell Elliot. She has a right to know someone's slept with her girlfriend. And don't come running to me when she tries to kill you for it. Vengeance might just run in that family."

"Done. I'll tell her tomorrow when I hit up medical for supplies."

"Good. And now you know Ashe is susceptible to... well, ~you~." Ilaria once again got up in Carbon's face, staring him down as the fire in her eyes was stoked. "I don't ever want you fucking my sister again. You will make ~absolutely~ every effort to turn her away if she ever gets like this again. She has enough crap to deal with already."

For once in Carbon's life, he was scared speechless. "I... Uh... It won't..."

Ilaria settled for a few nods of the hybrid's head before grabbing Prisma by the arm and dragging her into the bedroom with the others. "Perfect, because I'd really hate to feed you your own balls."

"Move it, maggots! I don't have all day!"

Ilaria took the Major's words to heart and picked up her pace, sprinting to another of about a dozen obstacles. The next was a large wall with no gripping surfaces, which didn't pose much of a challenge to a tall fur like Ari. "Just follow my lead, Pillow." After running up and hoisting herself over, she pinched her thighs atop the wall and offered a paw to Robyn.

The short squirrel kicked up the wall and barely caught her wife's wrist. "Urg! Damn!" She scrambled over the wall with the help and then immediately landed on the ground behind it, followed by Ari. "Thanks, love. That's... five to go?"

Ari hissed as her knee started locking up from the extra stress, but powered through to the next obstacle--thankfully monkey bars--without letting the dull pain register in her forethought. "At least you're keeping up." She looked back and spotted her twin brother and Adrian using the same teamwork, though with the less athletically-toned of them slowing them down. "Come on. If we stop to rest you know the pain will start kicking in."

"Yeah, but..." Robyn looked over to her wife's leg and purposefully slowed down. "Your new leg doesn't look right. We don't need you breaking another one."

Ilaria huffed as she came to a stop to inspect the device. "Ugh. Well there goes the skin job. Sprite informed me there would be adjustment time."

Robyn cringed as Ari ripped open the faux skin that covered her prosthetic, which exposed its glowing artificial muscles. "Can you keep goin' or is it a blunder?"

"There's just too much expansion as the system adapts to my needs. We need to go a little stretchier on the skin next time is all." Ari continued jogging to the next obstacle, looking back to cheer Robyn on as well. "It just ~looks~ nasty. We can still do this. Come on."

"No, Specialist." The Major walked over and pointed to the rest of the course. "I've seen enough. You two work well enough together and you're better at this sort of thing than most. Now I want to see if she can finish alone. The rest isn't really about size, anyway."

"Damn. I didn't want her overexerting herself."

"No complaining, Rivet. Besides, I have another test for you specifically." Carbon pointed to a landing platform suspended a few floors higher over the water. "See that dropship? Corporal!" Carbon waved the drake over and then gave the two girls new orders. "First one to the orbiter wins. There's leave time at stake, ladies."

"Yes, sir!"

Ari looked over to the complex stairwells and catwalks leading up to the craft, smirked, and then knowingly winked to Robyn. "Throw in some spending money and you've got a deal. Robyn needs some new clothes."

"...Sure. This should make it interesting." Carbon grinned as he finally seemed to get Ilaria in a competitive mindset for once. "Ready? Then ~go~!"

Ari slipped on her new leg a bit at the suddenly announced start. When she finally began dashing forward, she noticed Lilith had bolted far ahead at a godlike rate. A little freerunning seemed like overkill before the Corporal's true talent for breaking land-speed records came to light. Ilaria sprinted toward the nearest stairwell, grunting in disapproval as the drake had already started up the first flight. Lilly apparently climbed stairs about as fast as she crossed flat ground, spurring Ari to a more flamboyant choice of actions.

Ilaria threw out an arm and allowed her nanites to spill out of her back, her paw gripping the beginnings of an anchor spike connected to a cord of amber. She hurled the anchor over the railing of a looming gantry, then commanded the nanites to constrict and shorten the line. The sudden lift helped ease Ari's ascent as she ran up a column, allowing her to vault up a floor and a half in mere seconds. She peeked into the nearest stairwell opening and met eyes with Lilith as she rounded the same landing. Ari wasn't moving quickly enough to win this race. She needed more 'oomph'.

Suddenly a wonderful--and equally crazy--idea came to Ilaria. She secured herself on the side of the stairwell and then wrenched her nanite bungee cord free. Another quick chuck of the anchor slammed it into the concrete side of the structure slightly higher and to the side of the otter, and some quick thinking morphed the tip into a clenching grapple that held itself in place. All Ari had to do now was let go, the tether allowing her to freely run down the side of the wall like the end of a pendulum. Unlike a normal pendulum however, she could add her own arms and legs to add power to he mix. Soon Ilaria was cresting past her starting height, and as she did so she constricted the line again to shorten her radius. The pendulum maneuver transformed into that of a slingshot and Ilaria went rocketing to the top of the landing pad.

With a hard tug and a roll, Ari harshly flopped onto the upper deck just as Lilith's head poked up from the last set of stairs. The otter was quick to right herself however, getting back to her hindpaws and sprinting the remaining few hundred feet just ahead of Lilly's own pace. She tripped again as her lungs started resisting her actions, causing Ari to somersault to a less-thanGraceful finish beneath the dropship's starboard wing. Still, she had managed a win all the same.

Ilaria pounded the concrete deck as she wheezed from overexertion. "I... I did... it..."

"Damn. Almost have to call foul on that crap of yours." Lilly slowed to a halt looking as if her entire run wasn't any effort at all. "You've got moves though, girl."

"You... should have won..." Ari got back to her hindpaws and dusted herself off while she caught her breath. "I'll admit I had to--haah!--had to bend the rules there."

Lilly offered a paw that was happily met with Ari's own. "At least you have the guts to admit that to your superior. Still--"

"Nice stuff, ladies!" Carbon rounded the edge of the building in a similar path as Ari, though with the climbing assistance of his pet robot. "So, who gets the pot? I pegged you as the outright winner, Corporal."

Ilaria nudged past Lilith and barely started, "Sir, the corporal here is--"

"--Gracefully humbled." Lilly stood next to Ari and nudged her shoulder with her opponent's. "Didn't think we'd ~ever~ find a candidate that could out-pace me. She definitely eared that leave pass."

"Really now? Damn, I choose 'em good." The Major hopped off of Ex and tapped the side door of the ship so it would open. "Well I'll make sure both you and your wife get some time when we get back. Good effort, ladies."

As the Major walked into the ship Lilith followed without hesitation. "What's the mission, sir? Just some practice again?"

"That time of the month, Corporal." Carbon hovered his glowing paw over another console just inside and the rear hatch of the craft slowly lowered. "Figured we'd kill two birds with one stone. Deliveries and the Gauntlet."

"Oh. I take it I'm running copilot again?"

Ilaria watched as the hulking robot lugged a large crate into the rear on its own before raising a question. "Wait, that wasn't the Gauntlet just now?"

The Major poked his masked head out and made a 'come hither' motion with his finger. "Nope. That was the warm up round. Besides, the Gauntlet is different for everyone. I like surprises. Oh, and Corporal?"

Lilith finished tapping a few switches at the cockpit bay and then returned to stand at attention. "Sir."

"Your attire isn't appropriate." Carbon reached out and snagged the Corporal's ID badge, fiddling with it before presenting it back to her face. "You need to update your uniform's rank patches, Lieutenant."

"Lieu..." Lilly squinted at her badge and then gawked back to Carbon. "Lieutenant? Bit of a jump this time, isn't it? So what? Vorak's a Captain now or something?"

"Never could just say 'thank you', huh? There's not that many of us this lot, so we're skipping the intermediate ranks." The Major quirked his jaw as he considered his next words, only speaking them as he faced away while heading to the cockpit. "But Vorak hasn't earned his stripes this time. In fact, I'd have thrown him off the team if not for you."

"But sir... You know I can't outrank him!"

"Lieutenant, hold it together." Carbon sighed as he sat in his seat and started diagnostics on the ship. "For now I want you in charge of everyone. I'll save you the reason, but it has to be this way until your brother proves he's grown up."

Lilith found the nearest passenger's seat and slumped into it. "I'm not sure I can deal with that, sir. You know about our bond..."

"Then do your best to shape him up. Sooner he regains his senses, the sooner he'll outrank you again."

Ilaria ducked down and entered the craft, taking the seat next to Lilly. "I'm close to my brother too, you know. If you need to talk or something..."

"No... I'll work it out." The Lieutenant once again jutted shoulders with her squad mate, then slowly stood to head for the cockpit. "Thanks though. Good to know I have someone on my side this batch."

"Think nothing of it. What's this about 'batches' though?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Just a hint..." Lilith lowered her voice as she approached her seat. "Stay on your guard. The Major's ~secrets~ tend to be a bit dangerous."

"Good to see you two getting along. Waiting on you though, Miss Ichor." Carbon leaned out of his seat and checked in with Ilaria. "And where the hell are your glowing buddies, Specialist? Out of the three of you I didn't expect them to be the ones with stair problems."

"Not funny, sir."

"I thought it was." Iolvin ducked into the cabin, but still managed to bump his head on the top of the entry hatch. "Ouch. Don't even say it, sis."

"You alright, sweetie?"

Yoyo spun around and offered a helping paw to Adrian. "Nah, just a bump. No missing limbs or anything."

"Oh, that's ~cold~." Dee stepped into the ship and then found Ari, only to nudge his snout her way. "Apologize to her, you dummy."

"Sorry, Lulu."

"I'm used to that crap from you. Forget about it and find a seat, idiot."

Yoyo shook his head with a slight snicker and guided Dee to the seats near his sister. "Sure. So what's this all about, anyway? Godzilla didn't feel like telling us."

Carbon once again looked back with a huge grin spread across his muzzle. "Buckle up, ladies and gents. Time for the ride of your life."

At those words Lilith slumped over her control panel in defeat. "You're flying ~manually again~? Gods, where're the barf bags..."

"Sir? Isn't that a bit far away this time"?

"No, Lieutenant. Just where I want her..." Carbon 'eep'ed and jerked up quickly on the flight stick as he guided the ship down in seemingly reckless order. "...Uh, or ~close~ to where I want her."

Adrian actually popped a few inches out of his seat as a loud, metallic crack filled everyone's ears. "Holy shit! I'm done! Get me out of this thing!"

The twins looked at Dee and then to each other, simultaneously resounding, "The hell ~was~ that?"

"Just debris. This baby's got a hell of a vacuum trail behind her in atmo."

"Well excuse me if I don't feel ~reassured~ by that. Ilaria stood up, making sure to grab a securing bar on the ceiling for support. "Major, is this some sort of 'hot landing' training or something?"

Lilith flipped a pair of switches and spun around, the tension in her face quite readable. "Nah... He just likes to think he can fly, gods help us. Might want to brace yourselves."

"Aaaaaaaand..." Carbon quickly but fluidly pulled the joystick as he backed off the throttle, a hard shudder and thud telling everyone they'd set down. "...another perfect flight."

"Gods..." Iolvin stood and immediately stooped down in front of Dee. "You alright, babe?"

"I'll be fine. Just need some fresh air is all."

"Nope. Can't let you do that." The Major hopped out of his seat and walked over to a rear bay door, his paw's touch being enough to make it start opening. "Don't want you contaminating my Lieutenant. About twice lethal the rad dose out there, I'd say." With a quick nod to the invisible person at his side, he confirmed, "Two and a half. Hmm, I should remember this spot."

"Wait... You landed us in a pocket of radiation?" Ari looked out a porthole at the barren wasteland outside. "Why on Earth would anyone do that? What is this place?"

"Well, we're in the former Czech Republic right now. Prague, I believe it was called." Carbon ducked under the hatch before it finished actuating and slapped Ex in the leg, waking the robot. "Now ~why~, I can't say yet. Surprise, remember? But I do need you to stay on the other side of this door. Seriously, The air will kill Miss Ichor without an environmental sui--!!"

"Ah!" Suddenly Ashe scrambled away from Ex's other leg, the shaken wolf girl apparently having used it as a brace for the last hour or so of rough flying. "What was ~that~?"

"Sis? Fuck... What're you doing here?"

Carbon sighed and went to help the girl out of the cargo bay. "I said you could use the ship, but make sure to announce yourself next time. I don't want you needlessly getting shot at or something."

"Who?... Oh, Mister Carbon." Ashe rearranged the hybrid's grip on her and followed his lead. "S-Sorry. I'll be sure to do that. Just... Can someone find my cigarette? It'll be near my laptop."

Dee found the laptop closed and in a corner. "Glad my sis bought a nice metal one. It's a bit scratched but looks intact."

Yoyo knelt down nearby and picked up the cigarette's charger pack. "Got it. It's in the box thing, right?"

"Yeah, that's correct." Ashe broke free of Carbon's lead and threw down a brand new white cane of hers so it would build itself. "I'll be okay now. Thanks. Indy? India, come here."

Carbon huffed out another sigh of frustration as the dog scurried out from beneath Ex and ran between his legs. "Well make sure you didn't leave anything, Ashe. Once I close this door I can't open it until I return."

"Oh, I'm fine--"

"What's that mean, 'until you return'?" Ari defiantly stepped forward into the seal of the hatch. "Did you just take us all the way out here to ~sit on our asses~?"

"No. In fact, you've got orders." Carbon eased Ilaria back a few paces and then stood as he was previously. "I'm going to make this delivery. You four--or five, I guess--are going to keep an eye on the ship. We parked her in a heavy pocket because our enemy more or less knows not to enter them. But in case they do, alert me on my radio and take off. We'll arrange a rendezvous in that event."

"Pretty standard op, actually." Lilly walked over to the hatch controls and readied the rear bay for sealing. "What's the expiration plan, sir?"

"Five hours, then you send out the rookies." Carbon then unbuttoned his shirt, removed it, and tossed it to the ground. Underneath, rather than an undershirt or bare fur, there was some kind of form fitting bodysuit. "No weapons yet, though. Assume a search and rescue, not a hostage situation. That clear?"

"Perfectly, sir. We do have an issue though." The Lieutenant pointed to a locker built into a nearby wall panel. "There's only two suits. We should have prepped better for this op, sir."

"No need, Ichor." The Major paused to remove his pants, revealing that the bodysuit was short-sleeved all around, like a surfing wet suit. "They can handle the radiation same as me. Well, similar enough, anyway. They've got a few days at this level before there'll be any issues."

"Ah, that's... interesting." The drake gave her glowing crewmen a more inspective glance before hitting the button to close the bay door. "Very good, sir. We'll hold the fort."

Carbon gave his mammoth robot another pet on the knee and it sprang to life. "What I like to hear. Good stuff, Lieutenant." Ex stood hunching down to fit in the cargo bay, yet Carbon still managed to hop on its back for a ride. "Eve, pick a dense pattern today. And throw some sprinkles on top too, delta wave ones. Might give us better luck this time."

The Major's suit flickered for a few seconds, then settled into a perplexing design. Apparently the suit was made of a sort of adaptive display material and he'd commanded his internal companion to activate a camouflage image. However, the pattern wasn't quite static. While holding still it didn't change, but as Carbon moved through three-dimensional space the pattern seemed to stay frozen behind. The effect was similar to someone moving through an array of projectors, only the projections were of some sort of dynamic, voluminous noise pattern. What's more, the pattern changed colors to match the median color of surfaces in proximity. It didn't hide Carbon particularly well at all; the suit did entirely mask the hybrid's silhouette without any effort however.

"Well I guess it's a test of patience or something now, guys." Ilaria took a deep breath and then went to sit near Ashe. "Pretty cool tech they've got, though. Nothing like that ever passed through the lab."

"A few crude camera suits did. Remember that hell of a project?"

Ari chuckled and nodded to Adrian. "If I ever have to solder another wire that thin again..."

"Oh, there's no wires." Lilith tapped another key to open the rear door for Carbon and then turned back to the others. "I've asked for one myself and he said it was unique. Never lets us take a look at it either. I can tell you there's nothing but some strange material though, and only he can use it. We've all got a betting pool as to why, actually."

Iolvin reached for Ashe's paw and carefully placed her cigarette box in it before oogling the porthole into the rear bay. "Well the real question is how that thing makes him look so sexy. I mean, damn. You see the curves on that guy?"

"Yoyo! Seriously?" Ari took a look for herself, conceding internally that the Major ~did~ have quite a feminine figure similar to Adrian's. "Hey, you've got Dee right there. Look at what's under your snout first, lil' bro."

Dee went right up to the porthole and barely managed to peek through on his tippy toes. "What? The guy's a total hottie. My man's got good taste."

"Well it was kind of him to buy that for you anyway."

Ashe gripped her white cane in its collapsed state and nudged up against Adrian from an adjacent seat. "Yeah, just have to get used to it is all."

Iolvin gave India a scritch on the chin and then moved lower to rub her side. "We should find a way to thank the Major for that. Indy here's better off without her harness and that cane sure helps."

"Hmm..." Ilaria stared out the back porthole at the slowly setting sun, then fiddled with the controls and managed to close the rear doors. "That's it; I'm calling it. Five hours and change, guys."

"Seriously?" Yoyo stood up and joined his twin near the hatch. "Time's up? You mean we have to go out there?"

"Afraid so, kiddo." Lilith huffed out a sigh and stood from her chair in the front. "I was hoping he was just a bit late, but fifteen minutes is a lifetime to the Major. It's official."

"Oh... So what do we do?" Dee righted Ashe and then joined the twins as well. "We just split up and search?"

Lilly grabbed some bulky, old radios and tossed them to Yoyo. "These O.G. talk boxes get better reception in this place. I don't care what you three do, just have either the Major or a bead on his whereabouts in an hour. I want quarterly updates too, just to make sure you're alright. Got it?"

Yoyo passed around the two radios and then caught another for himself. "He said no violence, right? Just scouting or whatever?"

"Right-O. I'd keep to the shadows just in case though."

When the rear doors were finally sealed, Ari cycled the air in the rear bay so the others wouldn't be contaminated. "I'll try to get on that... plateau or whatever that's just outside. You guys can split around it and meet me on the other end. Sound like a plan?"

The connecting hatch slowly opened and Dee had to take a step back so as to not get hit by the mechanism. "Uh... Yeah, sure."

Lilly slowly made her way over and then displaced the three into the rear bay so she could man the controls herself. "Just so you know, that's a building and not a plateau. Try not to collapse the roof and fall inside." She tapped a few holographic buttons and the airlock mode cycled in reverse this time, the inner door shutting once more. "Oh, and watch for snakes. There's a nasty poisonous one out there, but those don't like loud noises much. And keep an eye on those watches, guys."

"Got it." Ari brought up her glasses and was surprised that for once she didn't have Sprite's augmented information on display. "Yeah, we should keep to that schedule. Don't have our fluttering Geiger counter with us this time."

Lilly paused for a moment to think and then commanded the rear doors to open once the cycle completed. "You've needed one of those before?"

"Yeah. Comes in handy at a nuclear power station."

Yoyo slapped Ari on the back of the shoulder and laughed. "Still can't believe you actually went ~into~ the reactor. If you thought you were sterile ~before~..."

"Woah. Really?" The Lieutenant took a step back and almost gawked at the three. "So that night of the explosion... Damn, you're crazier than I took you for. You guys just might work out on the team after all."

Ari stepped out into the open and squinted through her fingers as she tried to block the low sun. When her eyes finished adjusting she reached for her radio and clicked the activation switch. "Never been to a wasteland before. Hey, you hear this?"

"Roger, Specialist. Now begin your mission already." Hints of anxiety still filtered through the low sound quality of the walkie talkies, and Lilith seemed to be aware of it herself. "Don't worry. I've got my pistol just in case. The blind chick's safe with me."

Yoyo squeezed his radio and headed off around the left of the destroyed building. "I'm off. Time's wasting, guys."

Ari nodded and clipped her radio to her belt. "I think I see a good path up. Just need to check my leg first."

Dee sighed and walked casually to the right of the structure, swinging his radio from the tip of its antenna. "I'll meet you guys soon. Watch yourself, Ari. No Robyn here to spot your falls and all. And be careful yourself, hon."

"I will. Take care, babe." Yoyo waved to his love and then took off in a jog, having chosen the longer side of the building on purpose. He tried to mentally check in with his sister, but a strange static only hurt his head instead and forced him to use his radio. "Hey, heads up. That mind chatting of ours is a bust. Nothing but a migraine."

"Aww... You're right..." Dee's mic didn't cut off, and Yoyo could hear him actually yip in pain as he tried extra hard to establish a link. "Well that sucks. What good is that if we can't use it in times like these?"

"Just icing on the cake, babe." Yoyo slowed as he came to a break in the side of the building and decided to check out the inside. "We never wanted this to happen in the first place, remember. Just be glad you're still breathing."

Ari's voice chimed in for a moment, the otter having locked her chat switch open as she grunted during her climb. "Well technically I ~did~ ask for it."

Yoyo peeked inside to find nothing but a collapsed office room, then realized that he was leaning through a window that was not originally at ground level when the building was built. Once Ilaria's radio clicked off he brought his up as he found the label of an elevator in the back. "Careful, sis. I just strolled into the ninth floor. I think this building might have already collapsed once before."

"Really? That's pretty cool, actually." There once again were a few gasps and grunts before Ari could manipulate her radio again. "Yeah, the roof's an uneven mess. Gonna have to take it slow."

"Oh! I just saw movement!" Dee's radio went silent and so did Iolvin himself in anticipation of the results. "Oh... Just thought I saw something, maybe. You can have mirages in these kinds of deserts too, right?"

Yoyo heard a slight rustle behind him and decided it was too unsafe to stay inside the gap in the building. "Maybe it's the radiation or something. Just keep up the good work, babe." About halfway out the office Yoyo thought he saw movement in the corner of his vision, but closer inspection of a shadow revealed nothing. "Just happened to me too. This place is creepy in the not-soCool way. You know?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to stick to what light's left down here but it's not easy."

"Plenty of light up here. No movement though."

Yoyo shook his head in and turned back towards the exit, raising the radio to his muzzle again. "Well Darth Otter was headed west so you might need to reach the far end of the building to--OH SHIT!"

In the cracked glass lining the exterior wall Iolvin was surprised to find not only himself in the reflection, but that of another person. What's more, there was a huge sword in her hands and she was preparing an attack! Yoyo spun around just in time to shove his radio into the line of attack, the blade wedging and catching into it long enough to deflect the strike. The woman recoiled, giving the otter a moment to prep for the next attack as well as allowing a view of the attacker. She must have been a local survivor of some kind, her clothing consisting of various recycled garments that were patched together to make a crude set of armor. She also wore a cloak and mask, which made it hard for Yoyo to gauge her next actions.

"Woah! I'm not here to--"

The woman shouted out in a high pitch that might normally have made Yoyo chuckle. "You can't fool me! I'll defend my village to the last!"

The young girl, as Iolvin now presumed, managed to jab with her weapon quicker than he thought she would, but the otter leaped backward just barely in time for it to miss. "I don't even know who you are!"

"The one who ends your life!" She drew back, then suddenly slashed high and from the left. "Die!"

Iolvin fell back onto his rump, having already set himself off balance. All he could manage to prevent his demise was risk losing an arm, his right raising up to block a fatal hit. The steel never met fur or flesh however, resounding with a worbled clang off what appeared to be a sheet of glass hovering just off of Yoyo's arm. The girl grunted and tried again, this time with a low blow from the right. And again, Yoyo imagined having some kind of armor to his left and a wall of glass appeared. This time however the stronger attack shattered the armor plate and forced it to dissolve away like it was made of thin air. Then it hit Yoyo clearly; he had somehow compressed the actual air around him into a super-dense solid just long enough to serve his purposes.

"What sorcery is this?!" The girl readied an almighty overhead swing, one which Yoyo had more than enough time to study. "Just die already!"

Knowing his new trick wouldn't hold up against such an attack head on, Yoyo instead formed a slab of dense air at a sharp angle to redirect the energy sideways. It worked far too well, the girl's sword ricocheting to the side and into a support beam. As she removed the weapon to continue her onslaught however, the ceiling started to give way. Just as instinctively as before, Yoyo told his nanites to form a barrier. This time though, he created a larger brace and held the ceiling above the girl with all his concentration.

"Run!" Iolvin groaned as his refractive barrier started to crack and crumble. "I said RUN!"

The girl froze for a moment as she eyed the magical feat, her will to attack replaced by fear. "Damn." She looked down at Yoyo and then dove for him, using her momentum to help roll the two of them further out of danger.

The brace gave way just as they cleared the point of impact, or mostly anyway. "Ghahg!!" Having ended up laying on top the stranger, the side of Yoyo's back took the impact of a chunk of concrete that clipped over them. "Haaah... My ribs..."

"Mister?!" The stranger quickly cleared the rubble off of them and carefully rolled out from under the otter. "Jesus Christ... Why'd you do that for me?..."

Yoyo groaned and wheezed as he clutched his side, his vision fading fast. "Not here... to hurt you..."

"Damn... And now I can't leave him in the cold..."

"You... safe?" Yoyo looked up just as the girl threw down her hood and mask. "A human?..."

"Shh. Save your strength." The young human looked about and then started running to the exit of the office. "I'll be back with help. Don't move."

Yoyo tried to fight the most painful chuckle of his life. "Sure, kid." As she cleared the exit Yoyo focused on the broken radio and the cracked cries for clarification barely coming through it. Then as the pain finally became too much for his conscious self to bear Iolvin wheezed, "Sorry... sis..."

"Nnngh..."

"Hmm?" Iolvin slowly opened his eyes, finding the human girl's peering right back down at him. "You're awake. Good."

Yoyo tried to sit up but immediately spasmed backward and shut his eyes in pain. "Fuck. That ~did~ happen, didn't it?"

"I think you broke your back. I'm sorry if I made it worse, but only one of the guys wanted to help me carry you back."

Yoyo blinked his eyes open again, then decided simply to roll his head to the side this time. "Nah, it isn't--Uh... why are you ~naked~?"

The girl quirked her head to the side a moment and then looked at her unclothed body, sans the pair of lacy red panties gracing her hips. "Oh, right. You outsiders all wear clothes. We don't have that luxury, so..." She reached for the edge of a blanket that was covering Yoyo and pulled it up to cover herself. "Is that better, uh, m-mi'lord?"

The otter loosened up and let his gaze drift back upwards to the dirty ceiling of the unidentifiable, small room. "Lord what now?"

"Exactly ~my~ question." Carbon slowly strolled into the room with a concerned frown across his face. "I didn't think any of you would make it back after the entrance collapsed. Care to explain, Zoë?"

This Zoë girl popped to her feet and gave the Major an energetic hug. "Fibre! You ~never~ come by enough!"

"Sorry, hon. I'm serious though. What happened?"

"I, uh... I totally forgot you were coming. Damn, and you slipped past me this time." Zoe backed away and grumbled before giving her side of things. "We were on an extra patrol and I came across this... weasel guy. I thought he was you at first and I tried to sneak up as a joke, but then I ended up fighting him. He... We had to end the fight and I got help to bring him back here. The collapse was only just after we got home."

"You were fighting and then you got help for him? Hell, I'm curious why you were even out that far in the first place. The guys always keep you near town." Carbon huffed out a breath and looked to his side, at Evelyn apparently. "What are you not telling me? We're friends, right? You can just tell me."

"I..." The human fidgeted with her hands and ducked her head into her shoulders. "I lost. I gave up my footing for an attack and I was angry I couldn't hit him through his magic. And then... he, uh... sort of saved my life."

"He_~what~_?" The Major snapped his eyes to Yoyo and somehow sent waves of anger in his direction. "Damnit, Private!"

"S-Sorry?"

"Aaah!" Carbon reached out for Zoë's shoulders and guided her back to a sitting stance. "Of all the people here, you're the ~last~ I'd expect to owe a_life debt_. You had so much promise. Hon..."

Yoyo slowly angled himself onto his elbows and addressed the two more directly. "What's that mean? I'm not supposed to save a girl from getting crushed to death?"

"No... Sorry, you're just being a hero like your father. It's nice and all, but..." Carbon sighed and gave Zoë a tight hug. "There's a standing rule here in this village. If someone risks their life to save yours, you owe a life debt to that person. That means you either get accepted as their servant, or..."

"But no outsiders ~ever~ choose that. They just want to leave!"

"Zoë, he won't do that. He's a better person than that."

Now completely confused, Iolvin laid back and furled his brow. "You still make it sound like I'm the bad guy here."

The Major gave his friend a kiss on the cheek and then took a slow, deep breath to right his mind. "Look, there's two options here. Number one, you accept her as basically your slave until either of you dies. Or two, you don't and she has to regain her honor by searching for Utopia. That means she walks out into that radioactive wasteland and never comes back. You get me here?"

"Fuck..." Yoyo closed his eyes and slowly opened them to stare at the girl. "Bad scenario all around. You know I can't let her walk into a slow death like that. But who the hell came up with a rule like ~that~?"

"Bad ancestors. Or good ones, maybe." Carbon shrugged to his invisible friend and then explained, "Our best guess is someone came up with it to weed out the weak. Resources are scarce out here, after all. Not that I approve of it or anything..."

"Well consider yourself my servant or whatever... Zoë, right? So now what?"

"The part I'm hating you for." Carbon pulled the blanket down from the girl's body and let Yoyo get a good look. "If it's a guy and girl, you have to take her virginity to seal the deal."

"What?!"

"Women here... stay virgins until they're taken by a suitor. You now own that right. It's not negotiable; upon entering that form of commitment, sex seals the deal." Carbon ran his paw over Zoë's extremely long, braided hair and sighed again. "Guess you can cut your hair now too. Oh, if Mister Rivet here agrees that is."

Yoyo watched the girl droop her head in shame and slowly bat Carbon's paw away. "So literally everything about her life is up to me then?"

"And she's also your ~responsibility~ too. You have to look after her." Carbon pulled up Zoë's chin and brushed his thumb over her cheek. "And I'd be willing to help set her up on base, but I'd want to borrow her to help with my hair every now and then. She's good at braiding."

A glimmer of hope sparked in Zoë's eyes. "Really?"

Iolvin chuckled and eventually started coughing in pain. "You got it. Can... Ah!... Can we work on the sex later, though? I'm sort of busted up. Plus I'm not exactly enthusiastic about screwing an under-aged kid."

"Nope. Has to happen now, before sundown after the incident, or you forfeit ownership." Carbon sat back and tried to get a better angle to see what was wrong with his Private. "She's just turned fifteen, too. That's the age of adulthood at this tribe. And I know your own tribe was the same way, so stop complaining."

"My sis and I never really stuck to our mom's rules after high school." Yoyo tried to sit up again and choked on the defeat packaged with that action. "Besides, I'm serious about not being able to screw. Might not even be able to get it up like this."

The Major squinted and mumbled something to Evelyn. "Nah, just looks like two cracked ribs. I've seen people fuck through that. Oh... he ~does~ have some bruised cartilage... slight rip in the lining too..." He realized he was making no sense and quickly perked up apologetically. "Sorry. My vision includes things that work like X rays. Gamma particles, actually. Eve normally filters it out for me."

"That's... cool and weird all in one. Doesn't help me breathe with the pain though."

"I... I can help with that. I just don't really want to." Carbon sighed as he unzipped the back of his stealth suit. "I'd say not to look, but you'd still know I'm hiding something. Just promise to keep hush-hush about it?"

"Hey, I've got nothing against you. Well, besides forcing me out of school anyway." Iolvin tilted his head to his commander out of curiosity and nodded. "I promise your secret's safe. If you glow like we do, it might even be informative."

"Oh. Okay then. That's a healthy attitude." Carbon worked his way out of the top of the suit, but oddly made sure to keep his chest covered. However the definite strangest part revealed itself a moment later as a large green tentacle rose from behind Carbon's back. "I hate these sometimes. Hard to hide them, but I have to since more than enough people call me a monster over them."

"Them?" Yoyo's question answered itself as two more vines barely peeked over Carbon's shoulders. "Oh. Well I think they're pretty cool, whatever they are. So how do those help?"

"Natural defense mechanisms." Carbon brought the bulbous tip of one to his paw and forced it to bloom like a flower bud, only made out of flesh. The edges of the petals as well as a few speckled dots within shone with the same hue as the hybrid's glowing bits, but the most noticeable element was a single stinger or needle that extended from the center and dripped with some kind of viscous, bioluminescent liquid. "My kind can inject neurotoxin with these thorns. Numbs you up just like morphine if you dilute it and watch the dose."

"Oh. I think I'll pass on--"

"Nope. Consider it an order." Carbon gave the injuries a second glance and then snapped a single tendril forward. "See? Painless. And now I don't have to worry about you making things worse by flinching."

"Ah!... Well it stings at first, so you know." Yoyo rubbed his side where he was pricked, but had to admit that the stuff worked quickly. "I think I'm good now, physically anyway. Still not looking forward to doing this though."

"Well you get to choose. Show a child a good time or condemn her to death."

"I..." Yoyo sighed and went limp as can be. "So how do we do this? Anything special like my tribe?"

"Not that I recall." The Major reeled his tendrils behind him and then scooted over to Zoé's side. "Just make sure you finish inside her."

"Hey, that's harder than it sounds from my position..." Iolvin propped himself up again, this time thankfully without the icy knife stabs that previously accompanied the motion. "So, never done this before? Might be best for both of us if I let you ride on top. Makes it easier."

Zoë ducked her head down again in an apologetic manner. "You... You have to ~take~ my maidenhood, mi'lord. We need a witness as well..."

"She's right, actually. Guess I'm better than your parents, eh Zoë?"

"Well crap." Iolvin brought his paws to his waist and unbuckled his belt. "Well I can't make any guarantees. Might not even be able to get it up like that. Give me a minute to strip and I'll give it a go."

Carbon scooted back away and allowed Zoë to assist in the clothing removal. "Mi'lord, you'll just hurt yourself like that. Let me help you."

Iolvin resisted at first, but the insistent human quickly won out. Instead the otter pulled his paws up and melted like putty into the crappy mattress. Normally he'd have shied his eyes to the side when the youngster Zoë's scrap of blanket fell to the ground, but something felt different. Maybe it was the 'morphine' kicking into gear, but even before the girl wrestled down his pants and boxer briefs it was quite apparent Yoyo was at least proximally attracted to her.

His legs working just fine, Yoyo kicked his bottoms down and off his legs and revealed his towering manhood. "S-Sorry... I guess I'm, uh..."

Zoë lurched away from her new owner's crotch and rested confused or concerned eyes upon his. "You shouldn't ever apologize to ~me~, mi'lord. Everything you are is everything I am now."

"That'll... take some getting used to. I'm not really wired that way."

"Your father changed when he met your mother." Carbon smiled and reached behind his mask, unhooking an air line and then yanking the entire thing free of his head. "You remind me of him a lot. I think you'll be fine. Just relax."

Now that he finally had a clear view of the Major's face, Iolvin took a moment to study him. It was immediately interesting that he could even remove the mask at all, which caused Yoyo to ponder if he legitimately required the device or if it was a fashion prop. The hose leading to an air generator of some sort seemed to debunk that idea though. Additionally the act of the hybrid sticking himself with a syringe with a wince cemented the notion that there was a purpose to the mask.

As the Major's eyes reopened Yoyo noticed the indigo glow of his irides, as well as the oddity that were his dark, nearly black sclerae. "Nice eyes, sir."

"More important things to worry about, Private." Carbon capped off his used injection and then moved closer again, still making sure to cover his chest for some reason. "Zoë, lie down on your back. I'll help him get into position for you."

Yoyo tried to lift himself upright, but broken ribs still fail to support one properly even with pain meds. "Gah... Sure about that? Don't you need that mask?"

"Not with those shots. Besides, we're gonna be here longer than I have air so I need to conserve it for an emergency." The Major lifted Yoyo from beneath his shoulders with surprising strength for his size, then carefully flipped the otter to kneel over his virgin prize. "You look a bit big there, Private. Take it easy with my friend, now. Go slow, okay?"

"S-Sure..." Yoyo held himself up on all fours over the girl and hesitated, admiring her features before he violated her. "You're pretty small, Zoë. That run in the family, or...?"

"You act like you've never seen a human before." Carbon reached down to slide Zoë's panties aside and ungracefully lined Iolvin's tip up with his friend's bald, juicy slit. "Quit stalling. Sundown, remember?"

"Hey." Iolvin shot a hard glare at his superior before forcing himself to calm down. "I like to know someone before I screw 'em to hell and back. Excuse me for being a damn gentleman."

"No, I'm serious. Only eighteen minutes and change, Private." Carbon met the glare with one of his own, until Evelyn started nagging in his head. "She's half Czech and half Chinese, if you're wondering. Must get that amazing rack from her father's side."

"You always were jealous of my boobs..."

"Say what?" Yoyo gave the two a quick look and quirked his head at the way their eyes met. "You guys have...?"

"Just once, out of curiosity while I was explaining how a fur's heat works." Carbon slid his free paw up to knead one of Zoë's large, probably D-cup breasts with a chuckle. "Yeah, so don't worry about scaring her. She knows how good things can get."

"Well you told her it'll pinch. Right?" Iolvin waited for a slow nod from the both of them before wedging himself just inside the girl. He paused as he felt a bit of resistance so he could let Zoë get accustomed to the sensation, and in a sense so he himself could adjust to the extreme tightness as well. "Hot damn... Some people say they didn't feel a thing their first time. Fingers crossed?"

Zoë actually took that as a command and crossed both sets of fingers for the otter. "What's mine is yours, mi'lord."

Iolvin muttered a slight prayer of forgiveness before committing himself to the cause. He let gravity do most of the work, only nudging his hips forward as he practically fell into the girl. However before he got too far, the paw near Yoyo's junk grasped firm again to stop his progress. He looked down and realized it was an act of kindness between friends, Carbon's grip preventing Yoyo from spearing too deeply and wounding Zoë.

"Sorry. Warned you to go slow, Private."

Yoyo looked down at the paw and then shot his eyes up to Zoë's tensed face when he noticed a hint of blood. "Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"I'll be fine. It wasn't too bad." The girl squirmed her hips a bit trying to find a more comfortable pose, but sadly never did. "You're a... a tight fit, mi'lord."

"Sorry. Large is sort of the family minimum."

"Sundown... Fourteen minutes, guys..."

"I won't last fourteen seconds the way she clamps down..."

Iolvin pulled back slowly, a shuddering tingle running up his spine and through his chest. Zoë might have had ~too tight~ a pussy for him. When he sank back inside, Carbon's paw once again stopping him, Yoyo checked his partner. From the pleasured and almost distant expression on her face, she must have been enjoying herself. Feeling a lot better about the situation now, Yoyo started a slow, steady rhythm in and out of Zoë's sweet snatch.

Rolling his eyes and huffing a breath, Carbon gave up on simply acting as a stopper. "For fuck's sake. You'll never get done in time like this."

Carbon started gliding his paw up and down Yoyo's length, focusing on the area of his base that didn't get to see any hot or wet. With the extra encouragement, soon Yoyo's knot started swelling up. The otter was already picking up the pace slowly, but then the Major's spare paw clamped down hard on that knot and drove him crazy. Pain be damned, Iolvin started hammering his hips into the poor girl under him until her eyes started tearing up.

"Gods, so close..." Yoyo slammed maybe a bit too far into Zoë, eliciting a whinny of pain. "Sorry... Just bear with me here..."

Iolvin bucked hard a few more times as Carbon now used both paws to squeeze on his knot. The extra stimulation sent him past the tipping point, Yoyo seizing and jerking above his human companion. He jabbed his cock as far as he could before Zoë yipped in pain. Then with a few low grunts Yoyo pulsed glob after heavy glob of otter cream into the girl's tight confines.

"Fuck..." Yoyo collapsed over Zoë, instinctively giving the girl a kiss on the top of her head. "Okay, so I just did that. Gods help me."

"Well you're both good to go now." Carbon shyly pulled his paws back, both covered in thick, magenta-tinted jizz. "Sorry about the, uh... you know. Just trying to help."

Iolvin rolled over, Zoë for some reason deciding to move with him so they stayed connected. "Don't worry about it. You know I'm used to it with Dee and all." As the Major shook his paws clean the front of his suit fell free by accident, revealing two small lumps on his chest. "Uh, sir? Are you...? Should I call you 'ma'am' or something?"

"Hmm? Fibre's usually like that." Zoë tilted her head upward and gave her new master a smile. "I like her best when she's a girl. She's pretty."

"Thanks for that, hon." Carbon sighed as the secret was out. "I'd rather if she was the only one to know, to be honest. I won't silence you though."

"No... If you want everyone to think you're a guy, I can go with that." Yoyo closed his eyes for a moment to appreciate his manhood still pumping out into the girl above him and leaking onto the mattress. "I kept my sister's secret until she was ready to come out as intersex, so I sure as hell can handle yours."

"Well, I sort of expect that of twins to be honest." The hybrid went to cover herself again, but gave up since there was no real point. "But still... Thanks. And if we're gonna be close, I guess you can call me Carbon when we're alone too."

"What about that other name? Fibre?"

"Supposedly I was born a girl until Eve quickly changed me. Long story." Finally free to stretch out, Carbon let her tendrils extend out to the corners of the room and then checked her nipples, which were actually little budding flowers made of glowing flesh. "Apparently I just look more like a normal fur as a guy. Anyway, Fibre was my name until my mom changed it to something more masculine. Middle name now, actually. Zoë thinks it's cute or something."

"That's... different. But I'm not one to judge with my own changes, I guess." Finally finished with the strangest orgasm of his life Yoyo reached down to free himself of Zoë's warm embrace, but was stopped by the girl's own hand. "You want to keep going or something? I'm sorry you didn't get off and all, but that venom or whatever is getting to me. I can try helping you out after some sleep though..."

"No... That's okay. I'll leave you to sleep then, mi'lord." Zoë did the honors of separating them both and then rolled to a kneeling stance by the side of the bed. "I just liked the feeling of you inside me is all, but your needs come first."

"I didn't mean it like that. If you wanted to stay like that I'd have let you."

Carbon pulled the rest of her suit off and hopped onto the mattress next to Yoyo. "Well I'll take her spot. It's cold as fuck right now and I'm no good with the cold."

"Yeah, she doesn't wake up for days sometimes if she gets chilly."

"Another long story." Carbon pulled the blanket over the two of them, but left a gap to her side. "Sure you don't want to join us? At least I have ~fur~. Gotta be at least down to the forties tonight."

"But... Lord, R... Ri... Um..."

"Iolvin Rivet. Friends call me Yoyo."

"Sorry, mi'lord..." Zoë looked away in mild shame at her mistake. "I'm sure Lord Rivet would prefer more room in my bed--err, ~his~ bed. I'll just sleep on the floor or something."

"What? This is ~your~ bed? I thought this was a guest room or something." Yoyo looked about the nearly barren, crumbling room that almost appeared to be an old office or something similar. "Huh. Foreign lands and all..." Yoyo lifted the blanket and pointed to the spot near Carbon. "Join us, Zoë. I can deal with a bit less room if it means you're in better shape come the morning."

"Th-Thank you, mi'lord. That's kind of you."

"It's another thing that runs in his family. He's a good fur down to the bone." Carbon shifted a bit and made room for his friend on the small mattress, then pulled the covers back over them all. "He'll treat you well if you let him. Just make sure to repay that kindness too. Alright?"

"Repay it?"

Carbon's paw went over Zoë's waist and then down the front of her crotch, then two of her digits slipped into her sopping mess of a pussy as she whispered curiously. "Yeah, ~repay~ him. Be nice to have another someone to look after him in battle and ~after~, if you get my drift."

The human only squirmed and blushed until Carbon pulled away for some real rest. "I'll... I'll do my best."

The Major looked back at the heavy-breathing otter behind her and realized he was dead asleep from the injection. "You'll like him. He reminds me too much of his father, and that's only a good thing. Plus I know you'll go nuts for his twin sister. Give it time and I think this'll be a really good experience for the two of you."

"I..." Zoë gasped as one of Carbon's webbed paws messily slathered warm cum on one of her tits. "I'll make the most of our time together."

"Good. Well sleep tight, hon. Loads to do in the morning, especially if they don't have that blockage cleared by then."

Zoë placed one of her hands on Carbon's paw and just held it against her heart. "Good night, Fibre."