FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Arci finished tying the laces at the top of his boots, tucking the loops of purple in behind the tongue so they'd be out of the way. He stood up and bounced a bit on his soles, making sure the fit was good. He looked in the full-length mirror in his studio apartment. Sure, a roommate would make things cheaper but he was new in town.

And it's not like it's easy to find someone you wouldn't mind knowing your secret identity.

The skunk carefully ran his fingers through his hair, making sure it draped just right to one side of his head, then tugged on the pair of fingerless gloves, checking the fit. The purple vinyl fell snug to his palms, and the pyramid studs on his knuckles shone with a nice finish. He ran his fingers across his chest, feeling the snug grey spandex suit. He wished he could get one of those techy high defense suits he heard most heroes wore, but there was no way he could afford that.

He exhaled slowly. Two more things before he went out. He took off his prescription glasses and set them down. From next to them, he picked up a large monolens set of goggles. He'd specially had these made. They took up most of his savings that the rest of the super suit hadn't taken. He slipped them over the top of his head, stretching the band over his muzzle to let the goggles hang around his neck, before he redid the stretch to bring them to their proper place, now with his hair out of the way and draped over the band. He grinned. Not only did they have his prescription in the polished glass, clearing up his view of the world, but the soft padding of the edge along his brow neatly obscured the distinctive blaze marking between the skunk's eyebrows.

Last, he grasped his jacket; black faux leather, pyramid studs along the shoulders, and a big white A in a partially completed circle on the back panel. Arci slid the jacket on top of his 'super' suit and got it snug around his shoulders, letting it drape to around his pelvis. The bulk of the jacket obscured the curve of his body, but he wasn't looking for dates out there. He was trying to help people.

Arci took a few moments to ensure that his range of motion wasn't impeded, like he had a couple times a day since he got the jacket in the first place. He punched one fist into the opposite palm when he was done. "Alright. New city. New baddies. Yosh."

He made sure the door into his apartment was locked, then opened the window on the side of the side of the building that didn't lead to the fire escape. Looking out, the next building over only had one more story before the roof. He'd be lying if that wasn't one of the reasons he took this particular apartment.

The skunk carefully crouched on the windowsill, boots planted and hands holding the frame. He slowly eased the tip of his tail between his legs so that the long, fluffy appendage was braced as well against the wooden sill. Ten meters per second, ten degrees off vertical, forward. It was like his tail was a tightly wound spring, and he released.

Arci sailed out of the window and up over the edge of the adjacent roof, gravity pulling the young hero in an arc until his boots neared the asphalt roofing. It was close to impossible to detect, but right before he landed all forward momentum ceased and he landed as easily as if he'd just hopped in place.

Striding confidently to the half-wall at the edge of the building, the skunk took a deep breath, surveying the nearby rooftops. He heard a scream on the night air. Arci ran backwards about ten feet, before taking the run-up to vault, planting his gloved hands on the top of the half wall as he used his speed to push himself into the air, spinning, crossing his arms as his tail looped around his legs to help control his flight path. With practiced ease, he abruptly stopped spinning in midair, tail unfurling behind him as he dropped to the next roof, landing lightly as he ran to the other side of that roof, following the direction of the scream. He jumped about 5 feet away from the edge of this roof, and brought his tail forwards between his legs. The end braced against the roofing and bent with his approaching body like a leaf spring.

Twenty meters per second, thirty degrees forward off vertical, clockwise one-eighty RPM. He launched from his tail, spinning along his center of mass, his long tail forming a corkscrew in his wake, arms pressed to his body with his right arm against his left hip and his left arm along his back to the base of his tail. He carefully kept track of his motion by locking his vision to a single point and only turning his head away when his neck wouldn't go any further, returning to it with a snap-turn. Midway through his spin, he saw something at the corner of his vision. He quickly re-spotted to make sure.

There was a musteline woman knocked onto the ground in the alley below, and a canid man in a toque and a black turtleneck running away, holding a purse that didn't match his ensemble, but certainly matched hers. Abruptly, his rotation ended with him facing the direction of the mugger's path, and then he started to drop. As he fell he made some quick calculations in his head, and released the movement he needed. Suddenly he was no longer falling straight down, but launched forward, his arc curving down on a collision course. He brought his legs up, bent so that his knees were leading his trajectory.

Nary a foot from impact, his speed vanished, tail billowing behind him in the air, and he dropped his whole weight onto the thug's shoulders, bringing his thighs together to hold the male's head as the sudden increase of weight caused him to trip. Deftly with one hand he grasped the purse away from the mugger as he rode him to the ground at the head of the alley. The super skunk released his head once they were settled and he was sure the criminal's jaw wouldn't strike cement. No need to harm more than necessary after all. He drove his boots down to the ground on either side of his mark, standing upright, before pressing his tail down on the dog's back and springboarding backwards, making two and a half rotations to land on his feet facing the victim. He strode over to her and set down her purse. "Here you go, ma'am."

She looked at him, confused, before letting out a shaky "Thank you." Her eyes widened shortly after and she started to reach to point behind Arci. He heard approaching footsteps echoing off the walls of the alley.

One-twenty RPM. The skunk spun, extending a leg. The heel of his boot connected with the wrist of the thug, knocking the stiletto out of his grasp and stunning him, before the minkess could finish her cry of warning. As his rotation abruptly stopped, he brought his tail around and wrapped it tightly around the canine's neck and chest. "See, I was going to take it easy on you. Guy out here on the streets might have a really good reason to turn to theft. Times are tough, and austerity is the word of the day. But going for a stab in the back? It's just... gauche is what it is." He saw the thug was starting to have trouble breathing. The tail loosened just a bit, but not enough to free him. "Ma'am, you can be on your way. I'll make sure he doesn't follow you."

The mink stood, brushing herself off and taking her purse. "T-thank you, uh..." She faltered. "I don't know who you are."

"I mean, that's kind of the point of Masks, isn't it?" He quipped.

"N-no, I mean... we have a lot of heroes in this city, but I've never seen you on the news or anything."

The skunk chuckled. "Oh, I'm just new in town is all. And no, that's not my name. That'd be a weird name to go with. You'd have to keep moving around to keep it true. Or have memory powers. Weird."

"Says the one with the fluffy boa constrictor coming off his ass..." The dog grumbled, squirming in place.

"Oh, so you're a snarky pup." The hero pushed his tail against the wall, causing the thug to the thud there. "Well, I'm an Arci, ace." The mephit squeezed a bit tighter, and the dog's fight went out of him. He waved jovially to the mink woman. "You get home safe, now, okay?"

It was another fifteen minutes before he left the dog, unfurling his tail from the thug and launching up into the air before the dropped knife could be retrieved. Arci alighted on the half-wall of the roof, and started running along the top of that, before doing a back-hand spring along it onto his tail, winding up. Eighty meters per second, forty-five degrees forward. The skunk positively soared, over a full breadth street and up over the rooftops on the other side. Looking down, he realized on his current trajectory he'd overshoot the roof he'd aimed for entirely. Abruptly his motion halted, and he dropped straight down. Resume.

Just as abruptly, he was soaring through the air again on the same arc as before, just significantly lower from the distance he'd dropped. His boots planted onto the roofing with as much force as the lightest little hop and he dashed to the other end of the roof. Leaping, he spotted two figures at the end of the alleyway.

Two identically dressed rabbits. Their suits were odd, black and red affairs, and they were wearing helmets that covered the top half of their faces. Spinning in midair, Arci used his legs to bounce off one wall, then the other, working his way down to ground level while directing his speed to get to the end of the alleyway. By the time he got there the two rabbits had gone, but a quick peek out of the alley showed him all he needed to know. There were dozens of other rabbits dressed exactly the same way, and they appeared to be loading boxes into a truck at the loading dock of a nearby warehouse.

Now, it was possible this warehouse sent deliveries at this time of night, but that would take perhaps a few workers and a driver. And all these bunnies... their suits screamed mook. He punched his opposite palm and cracked his knuckles. "Supervillainy, and on my first night, too..."

Arci took a step back into the alley and started to jump against the walls again, this time working his way up to the roof. The mephit, once back on top of the building, ran along in the direction of the truck, towards the greatest mass of minions he could see. Sixty meters per second, thirty degrees forward off vertical, fifteen degrees off forward. The skunk soared off the rooftop in a graceful arc, his knees rocking forward like he had with the mugger, right at the center of the group. As with before, moments before impact, he stopped. "Hey boys!" He shouted out gleefully as his knees struck with his whole weight on the minion. Unlike with the thug though, when he tightened his thighs, it was for a better grip.

The young hero grinned. Sixty RPM, horizontal axis. He was suddenly doing a backflip, and the action sent the bunny flying back into a group of mooks. Arci landed on his hands and feet, before standing up into a spinning kick, striking down another faceless underling. His tail swept around in his wake, forcing bunnies to keep their distance as he went about in their midst, spinning and kicking, punching and throwing, losing himself to the kinetic rapture.

The supervisor of this operation, a ram, glowered. He un-holstered a beam weapon from his hip and started to twist the dial on it.

"No. This one's mine." A baritone voice resonated from the nearby darkness. Stepping forward into the light, a wolf appeared. He was dressed in a longcoat with a hood casually draped down his back. Underneath that was an imposing array of body armor in blacks and reds. His sleeves were pulled back to show his matching bracers, and he wore almost business-appropriate trousers, adding to the odd mix of business and heightened combat. At his throat was a circular medallion, and finally, his angular glasses, just in front of his striking red eyes.

The ram shuddered, and holstered the gun. "Yes, Dominion."

Almost casually, the wolf strode to the safety rail and slipped over it, dropping to the ground below, and started to walk purposefully towards the fray.

Arci was about halfway through the mass of bunnies, wondering just how many there were, when out of the corner of his eye he spotted the approaching figure. Spotting with his head mid attack, he appraised the male. From that outfit, and the positively stalking approach, that had to be it.

His first supervillain to fight.

The skunk swung his tail around as his torso came into line with the wolf's path. Thirty meters per second, thirty degrees off horizontal, forward! He launched, the extension of his tail staggering a handful of mooks.

As Arci soared, grinning, he readied a fist above his head, starting to wind up. In his head he saw himself punching across the baddie's jaw, just like those (possibly staged) pictures that always got on the front page.

" Stop."The wolf's voice resonated outward from his position. All the minions that were giving chase to the hero halted.

Arci looked confused, and he halted in midair, dropping to his feet just out of reach of the wolf. He looked down at himself, then back at his tail. He looked back at the wolf, and resumed winding up his fist, shifting his weight to bound forward.

" Let's talk, my friend." The wolf smiled amicably, holding his arms out from his body partway.

Arci felt the fight drain out of him, dropping his fist. That hand rose again, elbow bent down, but pointing his index finger this time. "Well, first of all, I was committed to praxis while you're asking me to engage in theory. Second, I don't know you."

"Then allow me to introduce myself. I am Dominion." The wolf smirked, giving the slightest nod of his head with a shift of his weight, enough to bring to mind a bow without any such thing actually occurring.

"Arci. Look, with a name like Dominion it's pretty clear to me we're on opposite sides of the fence." The skunk stood fully upright by now, and thumbed over his shoulder with the formerly pointing hand. "The battalion of bunnies back there is a bit of a dead give-away too."

Dominion crossed his arms across his chest, shifting one foot into a bit wider of a stance. Added to the wolf's height advantage on the mephit, it was an effective power stance. His red eyes bore down on Arci, examining. Appraising him, even.

"Having so many guards around when you're just loading up a truck is a fairly good indication that someone's up to no good." The skunk continued, unabated, as aggressive in his speech as he had been in his punches and kicks. "And while I'm sure whatever conglomco you're stealing from won't miss whatever it is your boys are all loading up, that doesn't mean warehouse personnel and other working-class people aren't gonna take the brunt of the hit. Furthermore, I'm getting the feeling you're not hard up for cash. You got all these minions back here. They get minimum wage? Heathcare? Dental? They're probably gonna need it..."

The wolf grinned. "Well, I'm sure you'll find out at orientation." He gestured with one hand behind himself.

Arci spotted the ram on the catwalk pulling out a pistol-shaped weapon, and shifted his weight to bolt.

" Stay put." Dominion ordered far more obviously.

The skunk's weight shifted back to a balanced stance, and he looked at his legs, trying to will them to move, so he could run, so he could get the wolf between him and the gunman, for anything. He couldn't understand why he was staying still.

The ram leveled the weapon, and pulled the trigger.

A swirl of metallic material spun down from above, wrapping a silvery looking band around Arci's chest, binding his arms to his sides. A moment later the energy beam from the ram's ray gun struck it, and the reflective surface sent it flying elsewhere. The band wrapped around the skunk was connected to two bands of what looked like blue Kevlar leading up to the ceiling.

Arci looked up, and saw a hyena with a blue Mohawk holding the other end of those bands in his gloved hands. He didn't get a very good look, but the blue domino mask made it clear this was another Mask.

With an abrupt yank, the skunk was being reeled up through the skylight, a few more ray blasts missing him entirely. He oofed as the muscular hyena caught him, tucking him under one arm, still bound as he ran across the rooftop towards safety.

The skunk groaned weakly as they finally stopped, several blocks away. "Ugghh... it's way rougher a ride than it is in the driver's seat..." Arci felt nauseous and was glad to just kneel when he was set down.

The hyena unwrapped the band from the mephit's chest. "Kid, you don't know how lucky you are I pulled you out of there." As he spoke, the metallic band changed shape, flowing over his gloves and then hardening as bracers on his forearms.

"I could have taken him." Arci muttered petulantly.

"Yeah you'd have been in quite the fighting spirit after Aesc's ray took you down." The tall hero crouched down in front of the skunk. "Judging from the color of the blast that was meant to just be a stun, but still, that'd knock you flat."

"How long were you watching?" The skunk muttered, starting to feel embarrassed as the weight of the situation he'd been in started to settle down on his shoulders.

"Long enough to see him effortlessly redirect your fighting spirit into debate." The hyena chuckled, in the kind of friendly condescension that left Arci bristling.

"And who are you to say I wasn't just feeling out the situation?" The skunk snapped.

"Two things, kid." He spoke kindly, but sternly. Arci grumbled at the diminutive. "First, Dominion literally controls people with his voice, and you played right into that." The hero clapped a gloved hand onto the studded shoulder of the skunk. "Second. I'm Morpheus. Welcome to New Rhodia."