FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A slight rumble shook a stone wall in the dead of the servants' quarters, subtle enough not to wake the inhabitants but oddly high enough in frequency that it would have seemed out of place. Then a portal opened flat against the same wall, allowing the away party to step through with a hurried pace. The reason for this quickened movement soon revealed itself, the whole party's clothing, fur, and hair tousled around and coated in stone dust.

<See? This is why we said you should have calibrated the sensors and scanned again.> Chelle signed for the twins as her sister dusted the pair clean. <We can't open portals into solid material without... issues. Let's try to avoid blind porting in the future, mom.>

Ilaria pulled off an dust-coated nanite helmet visor she'd created and scanned the dormant state of the room, opting to answer with her own paws to stave away noise. <At least the second try worked out. Exploding rock walls are one thing, but that could have just as easily been the ship's hull. We'll... try our best to avoid ~that~ scenario.>

Iolvin crossed through the portal and followed his sister's lead, bridging a wireless Link between the two of them. «Stay on your toes, Lulu. That was loud as hell on our side and there's no telling what happened over here. Looks calm enough though.»

«We might have lucked out on that one, Yoyo.» Ari signaled for silence with a finger to where her lips were on her helmet and then assisted the others through the portal as quickly and quietly as possible. «Take Zoë and Dee to the entrances and hold them down. I'll figure out if the person we're freeing is here.»

«Already on it, Ari» Adrian led Zoë carefully to the far door, multi-tool in paw. «I'll seal this side up in case we need the extra time. Your girls can use a portal to get past.»

«All yours.» Ari nodded and let her brother-inLaw work his magic. Once Yoyo departed to check the other primary exit Ari turned to Carbon and whispered into her radio, wary that her helmet only muffled her voice to the outside world. "Dee's sealing your path for defense. See if Ana's family is here so you can get moving."

"Sure. Rose?"

"Yeah, I—" The Yangurra sank her head between her shoulders when she spotted one of the humans shift in his sleep. "—I think we have a full house here. Only a few beds free." Rose turned to Ana and lowered her voice a bit further, thinking the locals might wake from Arabic easier than English. "<Do you see your family? Your mother or brother?>"

"<I do not see Iah or Bast...>" Ana found two nearly nude women cuddled close in one cot and ran over, touching one to gently rouse her. "<Bast, my mother... Awaken, quickly! We must find Iah and escape!>"

"<What?>" Bast pounced to her limbs at the disturbance, her bedmate sleepily shelving the movement as a normal family transaction. "<Ana, go back to sleep with the harem before a guard finds you. Our god will not be pleased.>"

"<That's not a problem anymore, mother. Look. I have brought many more of their kind, from another world. They wish to help us.>"

"<Truly?>"

Rose strode over and assured the human with a hand on her shoulder. "<Yes, truly. We aim to free you in return for your daughter's help.>" The plant girl scanned the room for another human with a similar shade of brown skin or off-black hair but found none that looked remotely similar. "<Where is your son? He is part of our deal.>"

"<Ana, you have the courage to deal with the gods? So bold, like your father I suppose.>" Bast stood and found a cloak to wear. "<Iah is not here. When Neri fell ill earlier, he volunteered to take his friend's shift so there would be no beating. Unlike Ana, he thinks too much with his heart.>"

"<That's a quality worth saving where we come from. Lead the way as quietly as possible. We aim to go unnoticed.>"

Ana protested the extra baggage. "<I know the way. Keep my mother safe.>"

"<You've got it. Bast, stay with these people; they'll guard you. Just remember that they can't speak your language.>" Rose nudged her head toward the others. "We're ready to go. Ari, you've got this under wraps?"

"Like a mummy in a tomb." Ari snickered with her twin brother, the joke not striking the right chords in the others. "We'll keep them safe. Hurry up and watch your steps on this stone flooring."

"Will do."

Carbon triggered her cloaking and motioned for the twins to take the lead. "You heard you mom. Nice and quie—" Carbon seemed to freeze in place, a look of pure disappointment flushing over her face soon thereafter. "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Themis shifted his fur and skin to become barely visible, afraid to go further due to a distinct lack of clothing. "Sorry, Miss Fibre. We just wanted to help Ana and our mate."

"We only wanted to be here in case things went bad." Pheobe refused to make himself visible, soon enticing his twin back to the same state. "Let us help move these people to the ship and then you'll never know we were here."

Carbon crossed her arms in frustration, her supremely large visual bracket not helping in the least to spot the boys. "We aren't taking all of them, just the three."

"What!? This is a crime against humanity, literally!"

"We have plenty of room on our cousins' ship!"

"Boys, we don't have—"

Ari cut off Carbon before she could lay down a final verdict. "They're right. If we're saving anyone, we should save them all. This isn't a good life."

"We were going to lead them back from outside, right? It won't matter how big a group we are if the guards are inside." Yoyo reached out two paws blindly in beckoning. "We'll get them all out of here, guys. We'll need your help to do that. Alright?"

Both of the boys turned purely opaque as they grabbed their father's paws and rolled in for a group hug. "Yeah."

"Well you better start the minute we leave if you're gonna get them clear in time. I'm not expecting to be in this pyramid more than I need to be." Carbon moved for the exit, passing through a portal to the other side of the sealed door once the girls opened it. "Come on, guys. In and out."

Sydney stepped through the portal and readied her borrowed pistol. "Last place I want to be is a bloody pitch-black alien pyramid. Fast is good, otter."

"We can't move the ætir." Two stepped through the threshold and helped her similar self. "It might take longer than you think to get your veile whatever she needs. Consider that, at least."

Rose made it through and then held out her paw in turn to aid the twins. "She's right. Let's move quickly to buy us a larger window."

"I really hope it isn't something that involved. If something can't happen in a few seconds of a Link, it's usually a bad sign." Carbon tapped Cid on the back to signal they were moving, her helmet probably making the conversation a bit muffled. "Come on, meerpuss. Let's get our other wife back. You guys coming? Stop screwing around."

Rose watched as the girls signed a bit of affection with their mother, then finally found one of them taking her paw. "We're moving. I'll take point. I have a radio; give Ana one so I can get directions."

"Sure thing." Cid tossed one of her many redundancies to the human and let Carbon set her up. "Alright... Femme fatale squad, move out."

"We should all use these for Cid's sake. Talking over that helmet's going to be an issue otherwise." Carbon grinned as he finished wiring the human. "I just wish she didn't need it. It's a crime to cover up that beautiful face of hers."

The whole party didn't need to see through the helmet's faceplate to know Sydney was blushing, her body language and attempts to hide her face giving her emotions away. "I'm not putting out until Eve can enjoy it, otter."

"Oof. Hard love." Rose turned on her very basic optical camouflage of her suit and used her vines to pull herself into the support rafters for the pyramid roof. "<I know we need to head this way. Correct my path as we go, Ana.>"

"<Ah... Oh, this relic works by itself? So convenient...>" Ana snapped back to attention when Rose paused for the rest of the group to catch up. "<Oh, you need to head a bit more to the right. The garden is in the center of the entire temple.>"

"<Oh, so right under the point of the pyramid? That's... Ah, got it.>" Rose changed course, dropping to the ground due to the rafters getting too high. "Right under the point, guys. Looks like that's a corner of the main manor."

"Oh, I see what you're saying." Sydney darted from shadow to shadow, using the experienced fruit ninja's path as her own. "That doesn't leave much room in there for a garden. That's a pretty narrow wing of the building."

"The scans didn't go deep enough to confirm it, but I think this isn't technically a pyramid. It looked like it could be a full octahedron." Carbon shook her head as she remembered to dumb it down a little for her mate. "I think there's basically a flipped pyramid below us too. A huge basement if you wanna call it that."

"I always hated geometry class. I can do basements though. Cool."

"Oh, one sec. We have our first patrol, pacing the top of the building." Rose cursed her low-tech suit as she waited, then sprinted forward and pulled herself against the building with her vines when the three guards looked away. "Your suits should do fine at this range. Ana needs some help though, Two."

"Warn her for me?"

"Naturally." Rose sat with her back to the wall and her arms forward, digging her tendrils into the ground as anchors. "<Ana, you won't like this but we need you to stay calm. You saw what I just did, pulling myself over?>"

"<Y-Yes?>"

"<Two is going to do the same for you. You need to stay absolutely quiet when she pulls you over. Do you understand?>" The human nodded back to Rose, already getting in a stealth mindset. "<Good. I'll catch you, so don't worry.> Two, she's all yours."

"Oh, I get it. That's ~much~ safer than what I was going to do." Two let a couple of her vines wrap around Ana's shoulders, then she crossed the divide. Once mostly across she extended her third vine and coupled it with one of Rose's, using the anchored Yangurra to bungee the rest of the way. "Heads up, Rose."

Rose shot her focus from her semi-evil twin to the human hurling directly toward her. "Bit fast, isn't—!"

Ana landed in Rose's arms as promised, though the both of them coughed up air at the intensity of the impact. "<Ouch...>"

"<Are you alright?>"

"<I'll be fine.>"

"<Good. Stay low against the wall.>" Rose waved to the others, forgetting she was still using her basic camouflage. "We're clear. Walk on over, guys."

"Already did." Carbon tapped on Rose's shoulder, oddly breaking the cloaking effect for about a second for both of them. "Oh. Definitely don't do that again."

"Damn... That's the best light field camo I've ever seen."

"Or ~not~ seen." Carbon lowered the intensity of her suit's cloaking and blindly waved to the twins. "Ari's girls improved the design. It's close to perfect now if you aren't moving fast."

"Enough chit-chat. Think about Eve." Sydney lessened her own cloaking a tad to lead the way, testing the lock on a large door. "Looks like we're in."

Rose stood and helped Ana to her feet. "Sounds a little too easy."

Cid muttered a curse under her breath. "You know, there are just a few things you don't say while on a mission..."

"There's no superstition allowed here, kitten." Carbon eased the door open first, poking her head into the dark interior. "Looks like they're all asleep after all. Good stuff."

Two nodded yet pulled out a blade just in case. "Great. Let's get what we came for and get out before that changes."

"Yeah, agreed." Rose slipped into the large room behind her sister and readied a throwing dagger. "We still need to stay quiet. Fibre, do your thing and we'll guard you."

"Yeah, if I can find the damned thing—Oh..." Carbon let her eyes just rest upon a shrine in the middle of a lush alien garden, the center pedestal containing the ætir like a glorious holy relic. "Of course that guy would dress it up like this."

Rose commented, "I almost want to break it when we're done."

"Can't." Two added her own insight. "I've heard the core is a crystal made from the start of the universe. It's impossible to break."

"Yet those two made one on their own... with the help of a fusion reactor though, I guess." Carbon signaled for the twins to either resume their cloaking or stop touching everything in the room. "Right. I don't know how long this will take, so keep those two out of mischief."

"Got it, sis."

Sydney followed her mate to the shrine, pistol at the ready. "All I need to know is if we'll have to outrun a giant stone ball when you touch it."

"And I thought ~I~ was old." Carbon approached the pedestal carefully, checking various angles for traps just in case. "Yangurraa tend to be straightforward with security. Armed guards and death lasers usually work pretty well."

"So that's a no on the screaming and running?" The meerkat holstered her weapon and equipped her grappling gun. "Damn, and I even brought my trusty whip."

"Never change, Sydney." With a smirk the hybrid reached for the ætir, pausing just before contact. "Here goes. I'll... be right back."

Cid sighed as her mate's facial expression went blank from the high-intensity Link. "You could have at least chosen a better face before doing that, love."

"Oh, I ~so~ agree." Dallas announced himself from a darkened balcony surrounding the lower floor, a full squad of his guards at points around him. "That's one of the many reasons I like my privacy when creating."

"Shit."

"Such a flavorful language! Even my veile had problems learning its intricacies." Dallas held up a pistol of some sort in a show of force. "Please, let's test how well he did. If I enjoy our conversation I may keep a few of you alive to continue it."

Sydney stood up straight and drooped her gun arm downward. "How did you know?"

"That ship of yours is made of flimsy metal. It was quite easy to amplify your voices and eavesdrop a little." Dallas began pacing, his victory assured in his mind. "I just so happened to overhear a wonderful story of heroism. The strangers rescue the slaves and save the day. It's a shame I still don't know what you want with my ætir though—so tell me."

"While another of our teams helps all of your slaves slip out the back? What makes you think we don't have even more soldiers waiting to kill you right now?"

"Oh, that part is indeed genius. Even I would not have thought to use the cold in such a way. I sometimes envy humans and their warm blood." Dallas settled his eyes on Ana, taking the bait with Cid's distraction. "That's why I... Oh, what's the word you use here? I fucked one? No..." The bastard tapped his pistol under his chin, obviously not having much experience with weapons that could melt faces. "Ah, I mated one. More specifically, I mated her mother."

Completely defiant by this point, Ana stepped forward and broke her confusion. "<What are you telling me? I don't understand you.>"

"My, I like my daughter's attitude. She reminds me of my younger self, alright." Dallas leaned over the railing a bit and calmly delivered a bombshell. "<Ana, I am your father.>"

"<Wh-What...?>"

"<You heard me, girl. You are my daughter and my second child. It is for this reason that I will forgive your treachery this once, for I have wronged you just as badly.>" Dallas pulled up his pistol and aimed his first shot at Carbon. "<Unfortunately the killing must start somewhere. You may want to close your... y-your... y-y-y...>"

Dallas struggled to hold his arm straight, then ratcheted his outstretched pistol to face one of his men. "<Sir!?>"

The spasming leader discharged searing plasma directly into his subordinate's skull, terror plastering his face as he saw the results. "<No! H-Hel-Help y-you... fools... Ou... Ousche!...>"

The men now guarded themselves from their master's line of sight as they performed a practiced sweep of the room below. "<Got it. Five by seventeen, right.>" With unfaltering coordination the various weapons trained on a corner of the room. <Belia, your shot.>

"<Die, vermin!>"

A single pulse fizzled through the air and impacted something invisible, knocking Chelle out of cloaking and onto the floor. Mik grabbed her sister to drag her to safety, eliminating her own cloaking in the process. The two huddled beneath a stone display stand as the guards pelted one side with searing death. Using the exchange of fire wisely, Sydney grabbed Ana and shoved her into Vi's arms behind a similar cabinet.

"Keep her safe. I'll get Carbon."

"I'll check the girls." Rose slid behind some cover with a better angle on the two, but found herself trembling when she noticed the twins only shared three forepaws now. "Mik, is—? No..." Rose forced herself to calm down as her own clone pressed beside her. "Stay still. We'll get you out of there."

"What happened to her hand?" Two peeked around Rose to check and nearly received a bolt of fire to the face. "Oh, shit. We... We need to save them."

"Yeah, but how? They have the better position and I'm a bit light on ranged options."

"They kept me alive, so I'm returning the favor with or without your help." Two pulled out a throwing dagger, popped out of her cover for a moment for a headcount, then almost blindly hurled her implement into a guard's chest from back behind the cabinet. "That's one down. Easier to kill them without helmets."

"There's still more of them than I have knives, Two. We need a different—"

Mikhaila growled in anger as she pulled out her rail launcher and popped open the breach. She unloaded whatever was inside and replaced it with four much meatier rounds and their complementary capacitor charges. With resolved built upon pure rage, Mikhaila fearlessly stood with her rail launcher at the ready. Then with a pull of the trigger the underside of the balcony exploded into flames. A quick cycling of the lever allowed another blast to fire, this time aiming too high and breaking apart the ceiling. As more guards from the roof unwittingly joined the party, Mik stood over her defenseless sister and shot forth the remainder of her death cannon.

There was a problem with this plan. Buildings tend to rely on pieces like walls for support, but now these pieces were falling free. The immediate goal of avenging a fallen sister completed itself spectacularly when the stone balcony collapsed upon itself. Momentum carried the fall further however, pulling the whole room downward as a craggy void ruptured from below. Within seconds the room messily entombed itself an indiscernible distance into the understructure, the remaining inhabitants incapacitated by injury or death.

— — — — —

"Niishal? Brother?" The Yangurra snapped awake expecting to find his sister, but unfortunately his dreams tricked him into smiling for his slimy first guardsman. "Oh, it's just you."

Enthol smirked at the rude remark. "At least the outright insults have ceased. Perhaps we're learning to work together finally, Chleek?"

Chleek groaned as he sat up in his desk, having fallen asleep in the middle of creating something at his ætir. "Contrary to what you want to believe, I'm only helping you for the good of our people. I you cease to benefit that plan and I have the means to execute, you would do best to watch your back."

"Come now. You know you have no power over me."

"I never said I would be the one attacking."

"I think we can both agree there." Enthol picked up the canister being built and dumbly examined it. "What is this? Is it part of our goal?"

"Not directly. It's a piece of the puzzle, something to... save us in the event things go wrong." As Enthol tried to slosh the liquid inside Chleek snatched the can back into his possession. "It's delicate though. Do not touch it, unless you'd rather have no backup plans. You'll want a fall-back with what I'm attempting."

"And exactly what are you attempting? We've visited nearly all of the capital outpost planets. This moon is the last one that fits your criteria."

"Getting impatient? Good. You can squirm a bit." Chleek connected a queo to his personal terminal and examined the ship's sensor data. "This is the last one. The local house is currently using their ætir."

"So why do you need to access all of these again? I've built up a damned navy I cannot use because we're running errands."

"I need signatures and information from each of the great ætiir before I can finish my device." Chleek stood and headed straight for the door. "Let's get this over with. We can't create a gate to Xorxes without this."

"Gate to Xor...?" Enthol quickly caught up to his enslaved leader and pulled him by the shoulder. "You don't seriously mean to summon Xor here. That would be unprecedented and... playing a god."

"Afraid you'll be unable to rule with a god present?" Chleek broke the stunned Yangurra free of his shoulder and continued confidently to the bridge. "Well you can rest assured, Enthol. You'll be able to rule this galaxy all by yourself. The rest of us are going to Xorxes heavenly realm, where freedom is encouraged."

"This is blasphemy, even for a follower of the chaos god."

"But I pledge to no one god. I praise them all." Chleek stopped near the petrified wooden door and gave his captor a serious glare. "I will earn my freedom, and in doing so leave you in the possession of immeasurable power. You can either take this deal or kill me now. I've made my peace with my sister already."

Enthol groaned and begrudgingly opened the locked bridge door. "Damnit. Do what you must. Just remember your place in all of this, heretic."

— — — — —

"Carbon! Wake up, you damned idiot!"

"Hrm?" Sydney awoke first, the high-pitched hiss of leaking air snapping her into attention but a large piece of rubble preventing her from moving her lower body. "Crap. What the hell happened? And where did we—" Cid stopped her line of inquiry upon noticing a beloved and overdue face. "Eve, you're back."

"Good to see you too, Sydney. I'm not back to my full strength though, so we need Carbon to get you free." Evelyn tried again to lift the rubble but soon had to give up. "Those damned girls... Maybe they could help."

"I'm not sure where they are—or where I am for that matter." Cid checked her suit and couldn't find a rupture to seal. "More importantly, I think I'm going to suffocate or whatever..."

"That'd be 'asphyxiate' actually. You had hours of air and at the new rate there's still about half an hour left. Don't freak out and you'll be alright." Eve found the twins and Ana around a large column and rushed over to check them. "If... If one of you wasn't missing a paw, I'd beat the crap out of you two for that stunt. What the hell were—?"

Carbon suddenly stepped into view, grabbed Mikhaila's rifle, and slammed the stock into her gut. "What the fuck did your uncle tell you!? Do not fire explosives!"

"Carbon!" Eve grabbed the rifle and tossed it to the side, disarming the hybrid with surprising ease. "Calm down, hon. We're still alright. She's just upset about her sister."

"Upset about...?" Carbon finally noticed the shattered paw Michelle was clutching, as well as the fearful expressions the twins hid from their assailant. "I'm sorry, girls. I didn't know. I was too absorbed in that ætir."

Number Two pounced from nearby, tackling Carbon to the ground. "Get away from my masters!"

"Grah! Fuck!" Carbon collapsed without struggle, the otter's right arm unnaturally folding into itself. "I said I'm sorry! Damn!"

"Honey!?" Eve immediately inspected her mate's arm, making sure not to move it in the slightest. "Thank the mother. Your arm is dislocated, but it'll heal."

Cid futilely attempted to sit upright to see. "Her arm is broken?"

"No, just popped apart in a few places. The ligaments and tendons are shredded pretty badly too though. I can help heal it given some time." Eve stood and helped her mate stand. "We might have an issue though. We only have one of these girls to help free you now and they aren't as strong as a true Yangurra."

Two grumpily huffed, "And what do you think I am?"

"You don't have your full queoo for leverage. That's... especially true now, actually."

Two checked her stubby tendrils, finding one of the trio had ripped free in the collapse. "Damnit. Not again."

"I think I can help." Rose shoved a tent of stone slabs off of her and got her bearings. "One of mine is busted too now, but I should be able to move something for you. Where is she?"

"Over here." Sydney waved a paw, finally finding the leak as a puff of air distorted the light around her helmet socket. "Oh... I'll just plug that for now..."

Rose planted her vines into the rubble and rolled the debris off of Sydney with ease. "Wow. Are you going to be alright like that?"

"Yeah, I think so. My air's bleeding pretty fast but I've got some time apparently." The meerkat slowly stood herself upright, groaning at her sore thighs. "Time enough to figure out how we'll get out of this, maybe."

"And enough to say 'Welcome back' the right way." Carbon fought to bring Eve into a loving hold, then sealed their lips for a deep kiss. "Goddess, I missed you."

"I... I missed you too, my love."

"As much as I'd like to join in on that, sadly I'm wearing a helmet and I sort of like to breathe." Cid settled for a hug, then immediately got her head back into the situation. "I have plastique. We could use a more controlled blast to clear a path."

"As much as you enjoy them, kitten... no more explosions, please. Sorry." Carbon scanned the area for solutions and further life signs. "I'm seeing movement over that way. It might be Viola, but get a weapon ready in case."

"It's me. Ouch," moaned the broken table Carbon highlighted.

"Interesting response." The hybrid shifted from lifeguard mode to escape artist, her gaze shifting upward. "Wait, what am I thinking? Couldn't we just open a portal out of here?"

<No.> Mik hugged her sister to keep her safe and warm, staring back cautiously as she signed around her hold. <We can't open portals if we don't know where we are. We have to use relative space.>

"And you don't have a point of origin or a reference. Shit. Roger that." Carbon scanned further and paused upon spotting the broken ætir on the floor. "If that thing worked, I could use its fii to clear an opening."

"I see where you're going. Open up enough line of sight and the girls can at least open a rift out of this pit." Sydney pulled out her grappling gun and carefully fired into a shelf of debris above. "I'll try opening it my way while you get that thing fixed."

"You'll use too much air that way, Cid."

Ana took a moment to marvel at the metal cable protruding from the device. "<Are we going to climb up that?>"

"<No, Ana. We'll use another way that's easier.>" Rose kicked some debris to the side and smirked as she found one of the supports for the ætir. "<We can help by finding the rest of these. Can you help with that, or are you too hurt?>"

"<I will help.>" Ana hopped over a broken stone cabinet and landed on something soft, prompting her to scream as she looked down. "<Great Ones! H-He's dead!>"

"<Who's dead? The enemy?>" Rose followed the human, clearing the area to reveal two lifeless male slaves. "<Oh, dear... Please don't tell me one is your brother.>"

"<No, but if Yema is here then... we are in the gem factory where Iah usually works.>"

"Guys, keep an eye open for humans. We fell into a workshop of some kind and... there are casualties." Rose found another body sticking out from beneath another collapse and started clearing the debris, only to find the arm she held responded with a faint twitch. "<Ana, help me!>"

"<Of course!>" The human shoved with all her strength as Rose lifted the slabs above the male. Upon clearing the man's face Ana furiously hurled a large boulder to the side and pulled him free with everything she had. "<Iah! Iah, speak to me!>"

"<S-Sis... Sister...>"

"<He lost his mask. Find it! Quick!>" Rose sifted through the dusty remains of rubble a few seconds before she realized the dead men had perfectly useful breathing gear. "Carbon, get to work! We found Ana's brother but he isn't doing well!"

"You got it, sis!" Carbon pulled the broken ætir apart looking for a place to interface with it, oddly finding a black stone much like Evelyn's new body on the inside. "Eve... I don't know what this means, but help me."

"I do. You'll want to let me touch that while you Link through me." The walking singularity reached for the odd core and offered her other hand to her mate. "Trust me?"

"Without question." The hybrid took her love's hand with a paw and shut her eyes to focus on the Link. «I can feel it. It feels like... more of you.»

«Now it is a part of me, at least until i use some of it.» Eve looked up toward Sydney's hook and a cloud of black plumed in its direction. «I'll dissolve away a hole so we can escape. Help Sydney pull, would you?»

«You asked me to trust you. Why?»

«Because in doing this, I'll need to use a bit more of me than I just collected. I'll be fine, but your ring might feel a bit lighter.» A small hole ruptured in the ceiling, but the fallen pieces of the above room just fell into place over it. «Now go. Help pull that free so we can get out of here. I... lied to her. She has about two minutes of air, but I didn't want her to use it all panicking.»

«Our little secret. We'll borrow air from one of the corpses if need be. All three of us will make it back. I promise.» Carbon broke the Link and grabbed Sydney's line. "Let's pull that down, hon. Eve's making a small sacrifice for us, so don't let it go to waste."

"Well I can't let my wife do all the heavy lifting alone. Grab this. Ready?" Cid waited for Carbon to plant her tendrils in god anchor spots and signal her status with a nod. "Alright, pull!"

Carbon gave that thin, surprisingly strong line a substantial pull, hard enough to throw Sydney off balance. The collapsed section fell away only to be replaced again with more debris, but this time Evelyn handled the rubble as it came by disintegrating pieces before they settled. "Damn, Eve. I didn't realize that's what you were doing."

The ex-phantasm groaned as she redistributed her remaining body mass into a shorter form, her newly acquired core and a bit extra missing due to her efforts. "Neither did I. I learned I could do that from those memories I picked up today."

"We'll talk about that later. Let's get back to the ship before—" Carbon halted her words and diverted to the twins. "We don't want them to figure out we're still alive. Girls, can you open a portal now?"

Mikhaila conferred with her sister through their nearly perpetual state of Link and appeared uneasy with the response. <We might have one good one left in us. Chelle is having problems concentrating with her paw.> The otter helped her sister close the distance to the gap in the roof to ease the mental load required for stabilizing the portal. <We really do need to hurry. I don't want to risk her passing out and getting us into more trouble.>

"That's the plan. Get the fuck back to orbit and off to Xor."

<Hurry up when we open this. We might not be able to hold it for long.> Mik formed her side of the rift on the far end, then eased her sister into the closer side via Link. <Go, now.>

"Oh, wait. I can't go through those like this right now." Eve reformed her self into two rings around her mates' fingers, the small trinkets still somehow emanating a voice. "Carry me a bit, my loves?"

"Sure thing, hon. Let's go, guys!" Carbon led the others through the portal, holding her laser shotgun at the ready in case there was anything living in their way. "Hurry up... Okay, that's everyone? Girls, it's safe."

Mikhaila crossed through first, though in doing so she lost her grip on her sister. The broken Link in turn forced the whole burden of her portal on Michelle and severed the rift connecting them. <No! Chelle!>

The handicapped otter awkwardly signed individual letters with her one good paw. <I'm fine. Get everyone to safety and return for me. I'll be safe down here.>

<We have Sydney's grapple. We can pull you out if—> A torus of plasma singed Mik's fur and further scorched a former wall nearby. <Stay safe!>

"<So you have a silent language? And æther doorways? Quite impressive, you sneaky whores.>" Dallas slumped over a boulder with his pistol wavering toward the group and blood spilling from somewhere on his person. "<I promised to kill you lot however, and a promise is a promise. Shame we won't be able to examine that magic of yours.>"

"Mik, don't do anything rash." Carbon stood between the two, but the enraged sister shoved her aside and darted for the false god. "No! He's not worth it!"

Mikhaila dove prone behind a fallen pillar and faced the group. <I... I need to buy time for Chelle.>

"Then we won't waste it." Carbon turned around, grabbed Cid's paw, and helped her fire her grapple into the floor below. "Guys, get her out of there. I'll help Mik."

<Thank you.> Mik poked her head over her cover and noticed another guard at an obscure angle. <One on the far left. I'd shoot him, but my rifle—>

"No explosions, Mik. I'll suppress him." Carbon slid into the girl's cover and let loose a hail of searing light from her shotgun. "Move up! I'll cover you!"

"I'll help." Rose slammed her shoulder into the pillar and pulled out a set of throwing daggers. "Make me an opening, sis."

"You got it." The hybrid fired her second shot and slumped behind her shared cover to reload her over-under barrels. "What are you doing? Mik, run this time."

<But without Chelle...>

A pulse of plasma flew overhead, leading to a cry of pain. "Ana!" Moments later Viola flew over the fallen pillar as Siamun fell into a rage. "«I'll kill you!»"

Carbon threw herself over the cover and kept the soldier off of the girl, but by now two more had arrived to aid their master. "Vi, wait!"

"We cannot wait! This bastard plant must bleed!"

Mik finally forced herself into action, rounding the end of the pillar and forming a blade out of hard light. She quickly caught up to Siamun as yet another set of guards arrived, her blade and the wild dog's puncturing deep into Yangurraar flesh. The response they received was a bombardment of searing fire against their own makeshift cover barriers, Siamun behind a standing pillar while Mik simply formed one out of opaque hard light.

Mik braced her cover as it took a few hits, cracking and chipping but holding for the moment. <I need more suppression, Carbon!>

"We need more firepower! Our weapons are too slow!"

Cid kicked her borrowed pistol to her mate. "Take this then!"

"Love you, honey!" Carbon took the pistol, primed it, and let loose on the singular sniper in the corner. "Way better for this."

"Only two rounds left, sis." Rose chucked a dagger high and blind, then chuckled when the arced throw hit her target from behind cover. "We still need more. They've got more coming if these floor tremors are right."

Mik sighed in relief as she spotted her sister in Sydney's care, then perked up at a new idea. <We need to use their firepower against them. Sis, trust me. Step out and open a portal around you.>

<I can't... My mind is too weak to move us...>

<I said to trust me! Open one for just a moment as large as you can, right as you're about to get hit.> Mik's shield shattered its upper half in a bright show of rainbow light, forcing the otter to crouch low to stay safe. <Please!>

<Yeah. I'll do it.>

Carbon caught onto the plan as she emptied both of her weapons. "Cid, Chelle's going to walk out for a sec. Reel her back in when she's done so she isn't hit."

"What? That's fucking crazy." The girl walked out into the open anyway, forcing Sydney to stay withing pouncing distance. "But she's doing it anyway. Okay then."

Michelle waved her good arm around to draw attention to herself, and within moments the confused enemy ceased firing. They settled their weapons on the otter, then within the span of a second they shot for the easy kill. Just as the first impact was about to land, a portal ripped open ahead of the girl. Then, ball of plasma at a time, individual portals opened up around each of the enemies. One by one they effectively shot their own friends or selves, the searing hot death indiscriminately raining upon whomever happened to be Mikhaila's next pick. The room slowly went quiet sans for the screams of soldiers as they self-inflicted deadly burns upon themselves.

Sydney leaped out when the last of the soldiers fell, not taking the chance that Chelle would hold her portal for the remainder of the plasma still in flight. "Hurg! Damn, girl. That was beautiful."

"The sort of thing that brings tears to your eyes?" Carbon slowly stood as she readied her freshly-loaded shotgun to the various moaning bodies. "I'd spot check, but we need to get out of here before more come."

<Not yet.> Mik raised her sister and helped her over the mess of bodies. They came before the group's glorious leader and Mik Linked with her twin to produce mind-altering pheromones and subdue the bastard. «Chelle, he's all yours.»

«Thanks, Mik. He...» Chelle threw out a tendril and added Dallas to their Link to make her point clear. «You took my paw. Now I'm taking yours.»

Chelle tried to pull out her monofilament blade, her sister aiding her due to her good paw being torn apart like tissue paper. «Let me help you with that. Here.»

The weapon in her spare paw and drooling thread, the ousche formed a faint hard light barrier around the filament and lashed it forward to her opponent's wrist. «Now we're even.»

It took a moment for the ultra-fine cut to finally split, the Yangurra screaming as his hand fell to the floor while his body failed to defend itself. «You monsters! You do not deserve your gifts!»

«That's where you're wrong. We aren't gifted. You're just depraved.» Mik took her sister's weapon and cringed, building up a bit of courage before lopping Dallas' other hand to meet the other. «Now we're even.»

«Even for what!? Goddess!»

«For forcing me to do this.» Mikhaila took a deep breath, refreshed the blade's light barrier, brought it to her own wrist, and quickly sliced. «Gods! Fuck!»

«Sis!» Michelle held her sister's stumped appendage, which without plasma to cauterize it the wound now bled profusely. «Why would you do that!?»

«Because... we're twins. we have to stay twins.»

Carbon hurried over and clamped her paw around the wound, calling for their escort to lend her outfit. "Ana! Ana, I need your dress! That silk wrap!"

Rose shook from the shock of watching the self-harm and hurried Ana along. "<Give Carbon your shawl. She needs to stop that bleeding.>"

"Guys..." Cid was huffing at the last of her air by now, really struggling to draw the last of her tank. "I think we need to hurry... because my tank is... leaking faster..."

Carbon took the cloth and applied pressure to Mik's wound, holding the stump tightly as they collectively hurried back for the ship. "Slow and steady breaths, hon. Move as fast as you can, even if you're getting lightheaded."

"I'm not going to... make it... am I?"

Carbon literally whipped her mate into gear with a queo to the ass. "You'll be fine if you focus. The air will get thinner, not run out all at once."

Two stayed by the meerkat's side just in case she needed assistance. "No time to waste. I've been right where you are now more than once and... it can get hard to see straight, to say the least."

Cid became the Yangurra's tail and followed closely. "Yeah, let's go."

"<Wait... What about my father?>" Ana looked longingly behind the group, her feelings stirred at the recent news. "<Are we going to leave him to die like this?>"

"<No, he'll live. We're quite resilient beings.>" Rose pushed the human along, the threat of more combatants still looming. "Guys, Ana's got a point. She doesn't like leaving that guy tortured and beaten. I'd add that he's a witness for the rest of the enemy though. He could spill the beans about us being hostile to other worlds."

Sydney pulled out a brick of plastique and tossed it in her paw. "Well I was looking for a reason... to shove this down... that idiot's throat and... the offer still stands. Not that I—" The meerkat jumped as she turned around in conversation, finding Dallas sulking with his pistol held by his vines. Her first reaction was pure instinct, to take the semi-solid death in her paw and hurl it with the force of a thousand suns into the ruler's face. "He's not dead yet! Cover!"

"<Father! Don't do this! You can still live if—!>"

Dallas raised his weapon to his daughter first. "<You'll pay! You'll all pay for this!>"

Cid didn't hesitate. With a practiced quick-draw motion she pulled out her taser grapple fired. "Don't you dare!"

The Yangurra seized as the electric current of the device flooded his nerves, bringing relief to the bulk of the group but drawing a gasping warning from Rose. " The bomb!"

Rose grabbed Ana and hurled their combined mass forward before anyone else understood the reason why. Then Dallas finally lost the ability to stay standing, the Yangurra crumpling to the floor. Those out of the loop were suddenly forced inside when the electrified grapple lodged in Dallas' chest hit the plastique charge on the ground. The impromptu detonator ignited the explosive, and in a flash and a shockwave Dallas was wiped off the map.

Being effectively immune to the blast, Evelyn was the first to stand upright to survey the damage. "Role call! Is anyone hurt!?"

"Me." Cid picked herself up and gingerly touched a laceration on her side. "At least my suit... was already ripped."

"For fuck's sake!" Two hissed and growled as she stood next to Sydney, the same piece of shrapnel from her cut having lodged in her back and severed her remaining tendrils. "Motherfucker!"

"Do not yank that out." Carbon got herself up and aided her quasi-sister. "Huge blood pathway through here. Everyone, ship. _ Now. _"

Rose stood and found only a few scratches miraculously, then helped the human she had shielded to her feet. "<Ana, go ahead. I'll grab your brother.>"

"<But...>" Ana immediately locked her sights on Sydney, trudged over in a sobbing fit, and angrily pounded her fist on the meerkat's arm. "<Why!? He could have been saved! There might have been good left in him!>"

"I don't... understand..." That wasn't exactly true. The girl's expression more than told the whole story. "I'm... I'm sorry. It was an accident... but..."

"Vi? Oh, there you are." Carbon threw Two's arm over her shoulder and picked up the pace. "Cid's losing it. Help her back. Drag her if you have to."

"You realize we're the same size..."

"Just do it!" The hybrid snapped her tail at the chaos with which she was dealing, realizing that such burdens were much tougher without Eve still in her head to handle the load. Then she remembered Eve was there and unaffected, which combined with a slap of the tail against a body led to a resolution. "Eve, find one of these masks that still works. Cid needs air and the humans breathe the same."

"Oh, right. Most of these are empty though." Eve scanned around the room as they hurried along, her expansive range of vision allowing her to visualize the general excitation of each canister's contents. "There. It'll be a loose fit, but it's better than nothing."

"I... I..." Sydney gasped poisonous atmosphere trying to find a response, but Eve took control quickly. She removed her mate's helmet and shoved a breathing mask over her face, pressing the edged into place as the design didn't accommodate the length of her muzzle. "Gods... Oh gods, yes..."

Eve used her great strength to practically lift the meerkat from the ground in assisting her. "Just breathe, Sydney. We'll get you back and everything will be fine."

Sydney groaned as they reached the open courtyard, escape within reach, as the human behind her wailed on her rear while pouring tears. "No. Some things... Some people won't be right at all."