FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hell can await us, in the most unassuming of places.

Chapter Twenty Two : In search of a purpose.

The streets of SynCity can be separated into three distinct levels. The UpperCity, which consists of the tops of towers connected by dozens of floating walkways. The LowerCity, where people live and work, while dreaming of someday seeing the stars or even the light of day. And then there is the UnderCity, a place where even angels lose their way.

Each individual sector of SynCity is in essence, a city within a city, within yet another city still. To pull back the layers of crime, corruption, and avarice that threads its way through them, serves only to reveal more of the same. For SynCity is, on the surface, a perfect world; made so by the people who have created it. But lying just beneath that surface, if one dares to look beyond that carefully constructed mask; lies a festering hive of scum and villainy, and a hotbed of criminal activities of such sheer variety, that those unfortunate enough to call the UnderCity their home, are the uncountable thousands who are more than willing to sell their souls; if only to live for one more day.

And it is into that, illustrious company that I now find myself so unwillingly thrust; that, having fallen from the so-called heights of paradise, I no longer have anything left to lose. And only everything to gain.

Drifting down a road illuminated by dozens of street lights that would only serve to lead him deeper into the darkness of the UnderCity, Kato had taken to narrating the highlights of his own life.

It was soothing in its own strange way. To be able to dictate the flow of events. To have things play out, so that for once the world around him actually made sense.

It wasn't to last.

Because the closer he came to his destination, the more reality sought to intrude upon his self-indulgent fantasies. And Kato had already found himself stranded in a world where he had barely begun to learn the rules.

With his training complete, two choices had presented themselves to him. Continue to hide inside the simulator, and wait until his time finally ran out. Or take matters into his own hands, and test himself in the real world.

Opting for the latter path, Kato had set off to search for information in the one place that no one would ever expect a straitlaced chimera like him to go.

Dark, dingy, disgusting, even that did little to describe the all too oppressive atmosphere that clung to everything like a fine mist, as slowly but steadily, the cultured parkways and avenues lit by bright city lights had given way to the solemn grays of concrete and steel.

What little color there was to brighten the dismal depths of the UnderCity came from the dozens of flickering holo-signs in desperate need of repairs. And even those that were still working properly did little to dispel the darkness that seemed to have taken up permanent residence.

So this is this is the UnderCity. Thought Kato as he parked his bike at the entrance to an alley. Funny, it almost feels as if its welcoming me home.

A no man's land were the law was paid not to go, the older sections of SynCity attracted a certain kind of people. They were the kind of people who didn't care anymore, the kind of people who didn't want to be seen anymore, and the kind of people who only wanted to disappear.

Drawing his leather jacket tighter around himself, Kato spared a moment to familiarize himself with his surroundings. Looking at everything and nothing, seeing potential escape routes and avenues of attack. It was almost second nature to him now. Where only a short while ago he'd had to make at least a conscious effort to memorize the landscape. Now, it came to him as easily as breathing. Focus . . . you're in a world where skyscrapers brush against an artificial sky, where buildings are built so that they can start out underground and pass on through to the other side, and yet, everywhere I look there are elevators that go nowhere.

No help there, most of the service elevators had security protocols that prevented them from being opened on the ground level, and without knowing any of the override codes he wouldn't even be able to access a command terminal, let alone summon one.

But isn't that the way it always goes? Thought Kato. The rich move up and out, while the poor squabble over whatever space they can afford. The rest are driven underground. And in order to survive, they begin carving out worlds for themselves in the endless warrens of service tunnels and access points that exist beneath SynCity.

Kato's ears twitched as he heard a noise. Turning to look, it seemed that his arrival had not gone unnoticed.

A woman and her two companions were slowly making their way towards him. Dressed in whatever happened to pass for fashion in the UnderCity, Kato almost laughed when he recognized them for what they really were.

Splicers. Nothing more than chimera wannabes, they were humans who had undergone experimental gene therapy in order to give themselves more exotic looks. Cat's eyes, tiger stripes, it had started out as a simple fad, but a generation of adolescent outcasts looking for an easy way to rebel had turned it into something more.

Putting aside the way they looked, Kato called out. “Are you lot supposed to be the local welcoming committee. Cause if so, then let me be the first to say, I love what you've done with the place.”

“It must think its funny.” Said the one on the left. “I don't like the one's that think they're funny.” Dancing backwards, he barely dodged a blow to the back of the head from one of his companions. Kato hadn't seen which one had done it but he was grateful nonetheless.

“Did we come here to welcome him? I don't seem to recall.” Stepping forwards, the girl with red and gold feather's in her hair spoke for the other two splicers. “I guess it depends on . . . who's asking?”

“Call me someone who's looking to find something.” Said Kato, as ignoring the looks of jealousy he received from the other two, he began to draw her in close. “Cause I certainly don't know where it is.”

“Well then, friend,” Studying him from out of the corner of a single crimson eye as she began running her fingers suggestively along the frame of the bike, Phoenix said. “This is a sweet looking piece of hardware you're riding around on. Where'd you go to get a thing like this built anyway? It doesn't exactly come across as your average custom model now does it?”

Deciding that that was the way the game would be played, Kato leaned back and skipped straight to business. “That's because its not actually a custom model. Its a first generation prototype hover-bike built by Yamato Industries. The only one of its kind in all the world. For the moment anyway.” Kato touched a feather and whispered conspiratorially. “I stole the design schematics off the net and built it myself. The hover-conversion didn't take all that long. The real challenge was in finding someone willing to cut a deal with a chimera for black market parts.”

Nodding sagely as she referenced the internal database that was inside her head, Phoenix said. “You used durasteel alloy for the chassis, bio-energy fuel cells for the power source, and a V3X90 on-board computer system with remote access to the net as a guidance and control subsystem.” Checking with the other's to see if they knew anything different all of it came back as either illegal, expensive, or in the case of the bio-energy fuel cells, highly experimental. Which only serves to prove he's legit. Out loud she said to him. “Rumor has it that half of stuff doesn't exactly come cheap. So tell me, where does a chimera as pretty looking as you are manage to score access to that kind of cred?”

Kato could feel the fur on the back of his neck starting to rise in response to the dozens of eyes that he could feel watching him from the shadows of the alley. “Does it matter?” He said. “The bike's not up for sale anyway.”

“Oh it matters all right. You see, if I don't like your answer, then I might be forced to do something to you that you wouldn't like.”

The splicer whose face was hidden by a hood stepped up and said. “He looks like a pet, acts like a pet, talks like a pet, who owns you pet?

“Pet?” Tempted to rip half the splicer's face off for insinuating that he was nothing more then a fuck toy for the rich and famous, Kato settled instead for baring his fangs and said. “I'm no one's pet.”

“Oh really?” Said Phoenix as she tugged on his collar with a taloned hand. “That means that your potential resale value just went way up.”

“Forget about selling him already.” Said the other. “We should just get rid of him. Even if he is someone's pet . . . who's gonna know, or care?”

Looking at Kato as if it hadn't been a bad idea, Phoenix said. “Well friend, what do you say to that?”

“I say I'm looking for a man who likes to call himself 'The Doctor,' and I can pay. What more of an answer do you want?”

By the look that Phoenix tried to hide, Kato knew he had managed to pique her interest.

“The Doctor you say. And,” As if seeking to somehow unlock the secrets he kept hidden she began reaching for the back of his neck. “Exactly what kind of hardware do you have concealed in this head of yours anyway?”

“Hardware, inside my head?” For a moment Kato wondered if he looked as confused as he felt. “I don't have anything inside my head I'm clean.”

Pulling back from him as if he were carrying some kind of fatal disease, Phoenix looked as if she was about to be sick. “Not even wired for sound, and a no-jack like you wants to go Cyberside? You'd end up a dataghost before you even learned how to float!” Walking away in disgust, Phoenix spared him a glance over her shoulder and said. “Get lost friend. This is no place for someone like you.”

Following after her, Kato had come to far to be denied. “Wait. You want the bike, I want some information, information I was led to believe The Doctor could get for me. So what say we pretend to like each other for just a little while longer and . . . make a deal.”

A splicer with horns sticking out of his head stepped out of the shadows. “And what if we say that we don't want your bike.” Placing his hand on Kato's shoulder he said. “What if we say we want you.”

“Well then thats just too bad isn't it?” Breaking the man's hold, Kato hit him in the chest with an open handed strike that sent him flying. “Because I'm not on the market.”

“Holy shit!” Said Phoenix. He scarcely moved, and his fist had that much power behind it! “How did you—” By the time she was able to react it was too late to run anyway. Most of his arm was already around her neck.

Lifting her bodily into the air, Kato didn't much care if any of them attempted to tamper with his bike while he was preoccupied. Since without the key, any attempts to activate it would merely trigger the ejector mechanism. “They seem to listen when you speak, so in the interest of self preservation, why don't you tell them that if they move one step closer to me that I'll snap your neck like a twig.”

“Your certainly strong enough to do it too,” Said Phoenix without so much as a hint of hesitation. “But you know what? I still don't think you have what it takes.”

“To kill you,” Said Kato. “Or to survive going Cyberside?”

Daring him on she tilted her head back and chuckled. “Both.”

Releasing his hold on Phoenix, Kato pushed her into the crowd. “Then we'll just have to see about that, won't we?” Freeing himself of anything that would restrict his movements, Kato draped his jacket over the seat of his bike, and tucking the front of his muscle shirt into his pants, rolled his head on his shoulders as he loosened himself up.

“If you think for even a second that letting me go like that is going to win you any kind of points,” Rubbing her throat where the leather of his jacket had chafed against her skin, Phoenix said. “Then you've still got a lot to learn about the way things work down here.”

“Points?” Said Kato as he spread his hands and stepped towards her. “No. You see, the thing is, I've got a lot of pent up aggression at the moment, and I just thought that, maybe beating the information that I want out of you and your friends here would be a lot more fun than asking you again nicely.”

As the crowd of splicers started to close ranks around her, Phoenix shook her head and said. “And what you need to understand, pussycat, is that you don't make the rules down here. We do. So unless you don't want to see your dick winding up as the entree at some cock lover's dinner buffet, I'd suggest you start taking your situation seriously.”

“Hmm, I do so love a woman who knows how to talk dirty.” Ignoring all of the splicer's who had just drawn weapons, Kato kept his attention focused solely on Phoenix and said. “Tell you what, after I'm done playing with your little friends here, why don't you let me take you somewhere private, so I can show you just what a tiger's cock really tastes like.”

With her attention drawn to the front in his pants, her face growing as red as the feathers in her hair, Phoenix shouted the words. “Wrong answer!”

From somewhere amongst the crowd, Phoenix's hooded companion rushed towards him with a knife in hand. Swaying slightly as he let the knife brush past his face, Kato simply brought his knee up as hard as he could into the man's groin. The force lifting his attacker of the ground, Kato watched as the man fell to the ground clutching at his bloody crotch.

Stepping over his fallen opponent he looked around and said. “Alright, which one of you wants to be next?”