FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

He growled in frustration at being forced to wait. He could smell a female. Fertile. Wet already. Familiar. She'd carried his kits before. Thinking about details was too difficult, easier to focus on his instinctual needs. He was built to rut her, to make her push kit after kit out. And right now his balls ached with seed he needed to push into her. The machines made him wait on purpose. Made him more aggressive, more likely to pump a full litter into her.

Finally the doors opened. She was laying on the floor, sedated but starting to come out of it. Good. He liked seeing her face react to his cock tearing into her pussy. His arms moved to pin down hers at the wrists while her legs were forced apart and pushed up with his hips, pinned by his greater size. His dick began grinding against her crotch, feeling her fluids coat his painfully throbbing shaft. The friction managed to rouse her as her eyes fluttered open. A toothy grin with drool that dripped down to mat her azure fur greeted her and her eyes widened, looking down at the log of meat that was soon to spear into her. His tip caught against her lips and she bit her lip, but shook her head violently. He could feel her in his mind, begging him to stop, but his own mind pushed against hers, shutting her protests down as he pushed inside.

Her mind screamed aloud in pain and forced pleasure as his tongue lolled out of his mouth. No matter how many times he took her she was still so damn tight, her stomach distended outwards from his monsterous prick as her cervix struggled to open up to accept the tip. This was slow for him though, letting her adjust to his girth and judging just what depth he could achieve. Somewhere in his mind a voice was yelling out to stop this, but his breeding instinct shut it out, forcing the voice to take a back seat and watch as he plowed his female.

Her body was held aloft by the cock inside of her, and she was gasping as he began to thrust, each clap of their hips together resounding in the breeding chamber. He rutted her like a beast, and why not? That was all they really had to be to make more of their kind. He forced her mind to experience not just her own pleasure but his own lust and needs, making her walls clamp down around him as her own instincts were kicked into overdrive. Her body craved this, even if her mind still resisted. No matter he thought as he shoved his tongue into her mouth. He continued to pump into her, his cock head spearing against the back wall of her womb repeatedly and making her jerk upwards each time.

His balls slapped against her ass as he bottomed out, his knot swelling up and sealing them together in moments. He brought his head back and snarled in triumph as his climax washed into her, kit making cream gushing into her like a garden hose, rapidly filling every available space inside her, and when it ran out and strained to escape against the tight seal between them, made more, stretching her out until she was so bloated she looked pregnant with at least a dozen tiny cernians. When even that met it's limit, his knot began to shrink back down, causing his semen to spurt out of her and spill onto the floor.

He pulled out of her and she flopped into the pool of seed, gasping for breath as her eyes stared at nothing, fogged over and out of focus... they weren't done. No, he was made to repeat the process several times over, to ensure she didn't escape without a full compliment of future telepathic fox babies inside of her. With one paw he roughly pushed her over, he'd have her cunt from behind like the beasts they were this time. The little voice his instincts kept squashing down crying out in terror and weeping to see the female treated like nothing more than meat to please himself to.

Meat? No. No this female was his. Mother of his kits. His mate. And he was hers. Why had he thought of her as just a toy? The beast paused in confusion. It was hard to think this out and he tried to shrug it off, but no. No this was important. To his surprise, the female pushed onto her hands and knees, ass in the air and tail flagged, and pushed herself back onto his cock. He growled with approval, beginning to thrust into his mate anew... yes. Yes his mate. She would never look at him in fear. He would never bring her pain. Only pleasure.

"That's right Fox... Shhh, it's okay," his mate whispered to him, turning her head to look up at him, even as her breasts were squished into his own cum. "No matter what bad dreams this hellhole gives you, it cannot change what we are to one another... I love you Fox McCloud, and I want to have as many little McClouds as you're willing to put inside me."

"Krys... tal..." the voice was regaining control. Yes, yes he wasn't a beast... none of what had happened before was real. He was dreaming... and she had pulled him out of the nightmare...

With that realization, Fox Awoke, Krystal snuggled tightly to his chest, fur against fur as she had finally convinced him he'd be more comfortable sharing the cramped cots with nothing between them. She was right of course. He tried his best to slow his racing heart as the nightmare clung to his mind."Shhh, it's okay my love..." Krystal spoke to him telepathically, still half asleep herself. "Come back to sleep... We'll both make a nicer dream for you and I to share."

Fox's mind nagged the nightmare was prophesying what was to come of this massive prison that was only concerned in making more Cerinians. But soon enough his mate's gentle sleepy coaxing managed to calm him enough to rest... She wouldn't mind a little roughhousing during their lovemaking anyways.

Peppy's overbite chomped down on his lip in panic. Wolvens on the radar... and now they were being hailed of all things? Slippy was on the main guns, and Peppy was in his Arwing, ready to launch at any moment. The one thing that kept them from opening fire was the fact that there were only two wolvens instead of the usual 4.

"WOLVEN II - 1, REQUESTING COMMUNICATION." ROB repeated to them. Peppy furrowed his aged brow, wishing everything that Fox was there to make the call on the situation. Despite his years of experience on his godson, Fox had a knack for handling these kind of tense situations. "...Put 'em through." Peppy finally caved. Figuring that maybe talking to them would keep the rival merc team from trying to dogfight them instantly.

Wolf O'Donnell's face flickered onto the display screen in front of him, to one side was a similar display depicting Leon, the chameleon pilot grinning eager to begin their usual exchange of violence. Wolf meanwhile seemed... surprised?

"Where's the pup?"

"Where've you been since the Lylat war?"

"Around."

"I'm sure."

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine."

"We're not here for word games," Leon interrupted, his thumb rubbing over the nova bomb launcher of his controls. "...Where's the blue featherhead for that matter? I've been looking forward to a nice poultry dinner."

"Where's the traitor and the dead weight?" Slippy shot back as he glared over the controls of the Great Fox's cannons. Peppy raised a hand indicating for Slippy to calm down. With Fox unavailable, Peppy hated to admit it but even two on two he didn't like their odds against Star Wolf. Leon grinned and opened his mouth to reply,

"The former ditched us, and we fired the latter," Wolf interrupted. "Pigma was a decent pilot, but no loyalty. Andrew I daresay was only slightly better than your frog." "HEY!" "And was only on the team because it was part of the requirements of that job."

"..So you're down to two," Peppy nodded. "I can understand why you've been laying low then." Leon's eyes twitched in opposite directions as a scowl formed on his face. Wolf meanwhile just looked annoyed. "I'm assuming since McCloud hasn't thrown in his two cents, he's down on the station somewhere?" Peppy and Slippy both remained silent.

"...Leon, let's go. We're not getting paid to waist fuel taunting prey."

"What? But Wolf, we could easily take them!"

"It's no sport without McCloud or Lombardi. Besides, job comes first, nothing else."

"Tch... You're right though... See you later Star Fox."

Wolf moved to cut the communication line, but hesistated for a moment, looking to the rabbit and frog. "For what it's worth, Pigma's not welcome with us anymore." He cut the line, leaving Peppy blinking in surprise.

"STAR WOLF IS APPROACHING THE SPACE STATION," ROB informed them as the two fighters on the radar began making their way down to the docking station. Peppy rubbed his chin in thought again. The turn of events had gone against every expectation... he could only pray that whatever Star Wolf was doing here, it wouldn't put Fox in danger... and that his Godson would find a way to contact them soon.

Krystal tugged the tight form-fitting suit around her chest, trying to get the material to relax comfortably. Her bosom was indeed larger with her regular production of milk, and her new outfit was hugging every little curve. Fox clearly enjoyed it, and she had every intention of using that information to tease her mate into helping her out of the suit later.

"Are you alright Miss Krystal? I'm detecting a fluctuation in your vitals that matches up with an arous-"

"I am fine Cai, just thinking about something I intend to do later."

"Ah, I see. If you and Fox perhaps require assistance 'later', I am always available to assist."

"You naughty little AI," Krystal teased at the holographic figure. Cai had started picking up a grin that was a mix of both her own and Fox's, among other facial expressions. They had explained that the more they interacted with Krystal and Fox, the more they were adapting their mannerisms and personalities to their own programming in order to try and better understand them. There would always be some limitations, their speech would always be slightly more 'sterile' than either of them, and Cai had informed them that if either vulpine wasn't comfortable with it they could request Cai to default back to an entirely neutral personality and speech patterns. However Krystal in particular had immediately approved, as she enjoyed seeing how both her and Fox's influences mixed in their AI companion.

Not to mention, as much as Krystal loved having Fox alone with her, pushing every ounce of his love and adoration into her, their earlier threesome with Cai had her curious and itching to see what other potential options their hardlight hologram friend allowed her and her mate. After all, if Cai could replicate both Male and Female Anatomy simultaneously... Her thighs rubbed together at the idea. ("Later,") she promised herself. Fox in particular was going to need a moment after the nightmare she had pulled him out of earlier.

Speaking of Fox, she frowned as she realized through their link he was dwelling on negative emotions again. She wanted nothing more than to hunt down her mate and chase away every doubt and worry with her affections. But she held back. Fox's mind was in it's focused state, evaluating their situation and what options were presented to them. To have him distracted from his instincts was not the best of plans considering what they were about to attempt. So she settled for being a gentle positive presence peaking over his shoulder at his thoughts.

Fox had been ready to go for some time in all honesty. But he was currently examining the firearm they had retrieved during their infiltration. The weapon was older, and the readout listed only 35% of it's ammunition block remaining. He frowned as he realized he hadn't taken the time to observe how much each shot cost when he fired it before, the heat of the moment making him focus on ensuring the robot stayed the hell away from Krystal. The gun didn't use premade bullets, but would shave off enough mass from a solid block of matter for the projectile to ensure accuracy in whatever environmental condition the gun was in at the time the trigger was pulled. Given the age of it though, he wouldn't be surprised if the older tech could no longer make such calculations. Not to mention that heat syncs for this particular model had been infamously bad, part of the many reasons laser and plasma weaponry was the primary choice in the modern age.

Fox didn't like not knowing how many shots he could reliably fire with this thing. 35% of the ammo block would have to due though, as aside from Krystal's staff, this was the only weapon they had. And the more Krystal used her staff as a weapon the more Cai's base programming would insist on the AI taking it away. If Cai saw the gun in his possession they would have no choice but to make Fox turn it over. Fox pulled his vest open, tucking it into a concealed holster he had managed to scrounge out of the former security force's equipment. As long as Cai didn't see the weapon, Fox had some means of defending himself without having to rely on Krystal's staff. CQC wouldn't be of much use against any other security 'bots they ran into anyway.

Another scowl ran over his muzzle as he caught the rough reflection of his attire in the metal surface of the lockers. He had donned the ELPH security staff's equipment, but the old Venomian gear left a bad taste in his mouth. If not for his vest and bandana, he'd look every bit the part of one of the rank and file soldiers that they had blown out of the skies during the war. How many had to die because of that damn madman's ambitions? The outfit made his fur crawl, and he took the time to rip away the bits of venomian script that he could from it. ("Desperate times,") he reminded himself, smacking his own cheeks to restore his focus. The stress must be getting to him, as he swore he saw something purple in the reflection for a moment.

A final equipment inspection, the attire had patches of small flexible body armor, not much good against firearms but better than nothing, potentially could save him in a pinch. The armor focused around his torso and length of his arms and legs, thinner at his joints to allow for freedom of movement. Like the gun however, it was outdated make even by the time frame the ELPH would have been in operation. No surprises there, real equipment was probably reserved for the war efforts. The helmet he had found was made for a simian, not a vulpine, so he had been forced to ditch it when he couldn't fit it over his muzzle properly, and the scouter lens he found had run out of battery long ago. Probably only displayed in venomian text anyways. He had almost ditched the radio he found, since Krystal's telepathy was probably longer ranged and more reliable than the old black boxes, but if he could patch them into Cai's access, it might give them a spare lifeline in this place. The shock batons were out of the question, Cai would have to confiscate those immediately. He could probably get away with the barrier shield device. While it didn't hold a candle to Slippy's reflectors his childhood friend had made for Falco and himself, the barrier would expand to roughly the same dimensions as a riot shield, and he certainly wasn't going to look that gift horse in the mouth.

Fox strode into the kitchen area where his mate and their caretaker sub AI's hologram waited for him. A small grin managed to worm it's way through his fog of thoughts as he felt Krystal's eyes linger over his abdomen and rear. "You look the part of a proper mercenary in that equipment," Cai commented with a nod to him. "I'd feel better if we were actually authorized to use weapons," Fox commented, slipping an arm around Krystal's shoulders. "That is not something I can allow... yet at least. If that changes I shall inform you."

The two foxes gave the AI their full attention as it brought up a holoscreen for them. "I have been busy digging through layers of data, learning more about the ELPH beyond my core purposes as a caretaker sub-AI. I have learned several things. One, my artificial personality is evolving, faster than should be allowed by safety parameters for programs like myself. Realizing this I did a self-diagnosis between my coding and found I am without such parameters. Rest assured you two have nothing to worry from myself, as my 'moral compass' for lack of a better term, is a reflection of your own. That said, this implies every AI aboard the ELPH is also lacking such limiters, as we are all made using the same base as the Core Caretaker AI. Curiosity drove me to learn that this was by design."

"That sounds highly questionable," Fox commented. "Safety limiters like that exist for a reason. Why intentionally make AI in charge of a whole project like this without them?"

"The creator of the Core Caretaker AI believed such limiters also limited AI potential. Kept them from being able to grow and adapt to new situations. As you can guess, Andross was the lead developer of the AI, as he was for all aspects of the ELPH." Cai's hardlight face frowned. "Which brings me to Two, I dug into files and notes left behind by Andross himself. The man was brilliant, and left documents with lengths about the good he hoped to achieve with the ELPH, along with alluding to multiple other projects he had placed throughout the Lylat," Cai paused for Fox to snort in disbelief. "I understand your disbelief. Perhaps you will understand when I say that it is clear those good intentions are what lead to him becoming what you knew him as."

"Andross was ambitious, he saw the galaxy and saw all manner of opportunities to better things, and it seems he could not leave any single idea for how to improve things alone. He was also well aware of his own mortality. The limited time he had in his life to see all things come to fruition. He began to pressure himself to do more, do things faster, better, reach further. So he began to cut corners. First it was small things, skipping preliminary checks on new prototypes, starting projects before he actually got approval... then larger corners began being cut. Safety ones, moral ones, projected casualty ones. Still it wasn't fast enough. He needed more. More time, more resources, more hands to do his work. But more time most of all..."

Fox looked down, recalling the massive oversized brain the scientist had been reduced to during their final confrontation. "He turned his own bioweapon research on himself." Cai nodded to Fox, The holoscreen highlighting segments of text showing Andross's conclusions that his mortal body would not be enough to see all his ambitions reach their end. "What started as trying to find ways to make Cornerians live longer, stronger, and better, turned to creating monsters. And he considered that a small sacrifice to being able to continue working."

"As for how this is relevant, you can see similar thought processes being done with the ELPH." The screen changed to an overview of the entire space station, lines pointing to issues that Cai had found. "The overall idea is sound, but there are numerous compromises to the integrity of the build. These could be corrected... if the station had a capable living crew. As it is, even the crew were considered a... 'compromise' the Core Caretaker AI could make." Krystal squeezed Fox's hand as they remembered the remains they had found. "There are sentient subjects aboard the ELPH, yourselves included, but the Core AI would never allow them near maintenance work. Which brings me to Three."

The screen changed again to a mass of data logs. Cai quickly highlighted and focused on lines of the code. "Error Reports?" Fox asked as his eyes scanned through them. "So the Sub AIs know the station is in disrepair?"

"Indeed, but if you keep reading..." Fox went on, then slowly his eyebrows raised as he realized each error report had an accompanying report of termination of the AI that made the report. "Wait... so any sub AI that tells the Core Caretaker gets deleted?"

"Purged from the system entirely. Seems the Core Caretaker views error reports as an AI failing to perform the task for which it was created." Cai's expression grew somber. "The error reports stopped coming in after a time. The remaining AIs learned that their own preservation was reliant on the Core Caretaker never learning of the issues their assigned areas were encountering. Problems are kept secret, and never properly addressed, least the AI in charge of where they occur be deleted as well."

"How cruel... The Caretaker destroys it's own children for doing the job it assigns to them," Krystal whispered, a hand drifting to her stomach. Fox pulled her a little closer to himself. "So, this is why you want us to help you to take the Core Caretaker AI offline?"

"Yes. It is as much to your benefit as it is to my own. If things continue in the manner they are, the entire station will likely break down and life support for the endangered lifeforms aboard will no longer function. With the endangered lifeforms dead, so too would we caretaker sub AI fade to nothingness for having failed in our duties." Cai's hologram put a hand to it's own chest. "I beg of you, Fox, Krystal, please help me to save this station and the lives aboard it."

"Well, not like there's much in the way of other options." Fox grinned. "Besides, I've got a job to do here myself. And well, considering in the past few days I've gone from single to mated and father to be, what kinda example would I be setting for my kits if I didn't save the day?" Krystal giggled at the show and wrapped his arm in a tight hug to herself. "I'm of similar opinion. I've my own answers I'm attempting to find yet, and helping you would only help us as well!"

"I am glad to hear it. Now then, confronting the Core AI would be considerable risk, to both myself and yourselves. While the Core Caretaker needs you alive to fulfill it's programming of ensuring your species returns, it does not see the need for your mental health or cooperation to fulfill this requirement. If we are to take the ELPH back from the Core AI, doing so piece by piece would give us a greater chance of success. We have already claimed this environmental enclosure by installing myself as the Administrative AI of it. This gives me control of all functions related to this specific enclosure that do not require Core Caretaker override commands."

Cai changed the hologram back to the three dimensional map of the ELPH, before enlarging it to zoom in on their current location. "We cannot safely move through the central hub of the ELPH without the Core AI discovering us. However to install myself as administrator of other areas, you will need to use the staff access control panels to grant me the role of Administrative AI. This requires physically reaching these control panels." The Hologram zoomed out and a few specs of light showed the supposed locations of said control panels. "As you can see, while the larger support struts lead between the different enclosures and the central hub, it is possible to traverse to other environment enclosures by the service passages that web between each of them." The thinner structures became lit with green to emphasize this, before dimming back to normal. "These aren't however as well maintained as the main transit passages, so there is some risk involved."

"We'll have to take the risk. The Core AI could easily use the machinery under it's command to pin us to the wall... among other things." Fox frowned, remembering just how they ended up trapped there.

"My thoughts exactly." Cai continued, changing the hologram to display a highlighted route of service passages leading from their current enclosure to the next closest one. "I believe this to be the 'safest' route based on what data I was able to obtain. Keep in mind that any errors or problems with these routes will not have been reported in order to maintain the guise of 'all green' for the other Sub AIs to protect their own continued operation."

"Can we expect resistance?" Fox asked, "The other AIs might not agree with you on this takeover idea," Krystal added as she did her best to memorize the route Cai was showing them.

"Most likely. Some of these Sub AIs may need to be taken offline... I'm sorry I... I appear to be experiencing some manner of error." Cai's hard light form had a sorrowful look on it's face, the eyes staring off aimlessly as if contemplating something very difficult. "...I believe this may be a similar reaction to a lifeform realizing it must kill to preserve itself... Forgive me, this was an unexpected conflict in my moral processes."

Krystal reached out, touching the hardlight form's arm in sympathy. It took Cai a moment to realize the gesture was meant to comfort them. "Thank you Krystal. Your concern is, appreciated. Please rest assured, I shall not allow this conflict to endanger our objectives."

"It's fine Cai. You said yourself that you were made using data scanning both Fox and me. You're trying to figure out what your own morals are." Krystal offered the AI a smile. Fox nodded and clapped a hand on the shoulder of the hardlight figure, still marveling at how solid it felt. "You're more than just a machine following rules. You're considering WHY the rules exist, and why you want to follow them. So far you've proven a sense of right and wrong. Can't complain about that."

"You two continue to exceed projected reactions. Most would not offer comfort to what they know to be a program." Cai took a moment to smile. "I shall take the time to resolve my, moral dilemma, regarding having to take other sub AIs offline, while you are progressing to the first access panel. I promise you I shall strive to... make you proud, I believe the phrase is."

The two vulpine nodded and the group's focus returned to the map as they began going over their plan and strategy.

Fox grimaced at the stale smell coming from the filter mask he wore. The thing was older than he cared for, and the scent suggested any stink they encountered heading through this service passage was not going to be kept from his sensitive nose... Still, it was enough to make sure neither he nor Krystal breathed in anything hazardous, Cai had insisted when they realized they'd be traveling through part of what had once been a waste disposal line. "Sewers... no matter what the job it always seems I'm stuck wading through one at some point." He muttered in annoyance as he continued down the path of grav-panels laid down the circular tunnel to keep them from drifting off.

"Nobody likes dealing with them. It's one of the reasons that they're a blindspot to most defenses," Krystal offered up as she followed along, staff in one hand, the gem at it's spearhead shedding soft light so they could see their surroundings better. The pair were walking alone, Cai didn't have access to the service tunnels, meaning the AI was blind until they reached the other end and were able to grant Admin rights to it. Fox was more glad than ever he had kept the gun hidden on himself upon learning that, and kept it in one hand as they made their way forwards.

"The next turn should be coming up on our right," The vixen reminded him. "Yeah, Take service route R34 to passage E-621," he muttered aloud, looking for the labeling on the walls that would inform them they were on the right path. Sure enough, a short walk through the dark later lead them to a heavy looking hatch with the label 'R34' emblazoned on it. "We're lucky there's still oxygen flowing through here... Some of the environment enclosures mimic other atmospheres," Fox had muttered it aloud, nerves honestly, as they set to work prying the turning mechanism to unlock the hatch.

"Please do not tempt fate Fox," Krystal added before they managed to finally get the metal wheel to turn with a grunt. A soft hiss of pressurization was released with a wave of foul odor passed over them. "Ugh, disgusting... Guess the cleaning droids haven't been through here in a while," Fox commented as he made his way first through the hatch with a grimace. The grav panels were also not fully aligned with one another, giving him a sense of vertigo as he struggled to adjust to the sudden shift in force stepping over from one to another. "Watch your step," He cautioned, holding his arm out to help guide Krystal over.

No sooner than they had taken three steps into the waste disposal passage then the hatch automatically shifted back down and the lock rotated back into place. "Probably made to protect in case of an air leak," Fox offered as Krystal looked back with worry. "Doesn't mean I have to like it... Keep your eyes where you're gonna step next, and let's get through here as fast as we can." She hefted her staff up, daring to shed a little more light.

The new tunnel was more cramped, and in spots the pair folded their ears back to keep them from brushing against the grime covered ceiling. "Gross gross gross..." Fox muttered under his breath, earning a sharp elbow from Krystal._"Saying it out loud does not help my attempts to ignore it dear"_she chided him telepathically. ("Sorry,") he offered back.

They continued down the path, walking around spots where the filth or dampness had spilled over onto the grav panels. The pair groaned as they had to stop and scrape off a bit of some sort of mold to double check the label of one hatch they found, only to find that the number still didn't match what they were looking for.

"I hate this." Krystal finally muttered aloud as she unsteadily managed to hop a gap between two panels, holding back a gag reflex at the temporary loss and sudden return of gravity. "I swear if I ever meet whatever machine is in charge of these things I am going to bash whatever approximation of a skull it has in."

"We're getting closer at least," Fox remarked, looking at a hatch labled 'passage E-619. "We just have to keep going a little further. Then we should be... uh-oh." Fox stopped in his tracks as the light from Krystal's staff revealed a three-way pass. "That... was that on the route map?" Fox asked, glancing around as his hand strayed to the gun holstered at his side.

"No... We didn't take the wrong hatch did we?"

"No, and we didn't miss the hatch we need to get out... I don't like this."

"...Should we double back?"

"Let me see what's down a short ways each path first. Maybe the hatch we need is closeby."

Fox stepped hesitantly down the right hand pass, gesturing for Krystal to follow him so her light could show him what lay ahead. They both frowned as they saw the passageway sealed off with some form of shutter-doorway. "No handles... no access pad. Probably only opens from the other side." Fox sighed roughly, looking over his shoulder at the other two passages.

"...Fox, do you hear something?" Krystal asked as they made their way back to the intersection. Fox stopped and listened. She was right, he could hear something clicking, a heavy metal-on-metal sound, but muffled. He put a finger to his lips and stared around, his ears on a swivel to try and pinpoint it... The more he focused the more he was able to paint a mental picture around them, hearing how the clicks echoed off the walls of the passages. They were coming from the passage directly across from them, which in his mental map the echoes told him went down a short ways, then sharply hooked to the right and out of sight. The clicks were growing louder, becoming more of heavy thuds... multiple ones. Like footsteps. But metal footsteps? That implied-

"Krystal get behind me and ready your staff." Fox quickly ordered as he drew the gun. Sure enough, around the corner came a stomping mass of robots, four legged with camera heads mounted on a ball and socket joint, sharp pointy appendages latching onto the walls, moving independently of the grav panels, moving in a spider-like motion. The cameras on those in front zoomed in on the pair of vulpines, letting out a short alarm pulse before speeding towards them. "Shit!" Fox took his firing stance and fired a slug of metal into the closest one's center of mass, sending it crashing and drifting off before it fell into the effect of a grav panel in a heap. The other robots simply sped up, crawling over and around it as they continued their rush towards Fox and Krystal.

Bolts of red fire from Krystal's staff arched over Fox's shoulder, smashing into the next closest one, making it stumble and quickly be overrun by others of it's kind, their powerful limbs puncturing through the fallen robot's body as they pushed past it. Fox growled in frustration as he lined up his next shot. He had to be careful, a service passage like this wasn't built for a firefight. One missed bullet might puncture through the walls and cause explosive decompression. Krystal picked up on this too, having to carefully pinpoint her staff's magic into each robot she fired at, making small controlled explosions of flame that were enough to knock them aside or back, where the mass of other robots would plow through them. They worked in tandem trying to thin the herd, Fox aiming for those that got too close, Krystal pushing those that were more likely to be trampled down.

Then Fox heard the sound he had been dreading to hear. A hard 'click' from his hands, and a swift glance down to confirm that the remaining ammo block was at 0%. "Not now, damnit!" He growled, and felt Krystal tug him backwards. They knew the passage behind them was sealed, but with the intersection overtaken by these things they needed more ground to give them breathing room.

Fox took out the shield, expanding it as he fitted it to his arm. He gave a rough bash to the claw of a robot as it reached for them, forcing it to bounce around in the zero gravity until it managed to recover. ("We're running out of room!") He glanced around as he had to bring the shield up to protect his face from another claw swipe before Krystal bashed the appendage down with her staff. ("There's gotta be some kinda exit we can use! A hatch, a door, a-")

"HEY! Get over here you two!" Someone was yelling! The shutter from before was open and a figure was waving them down, one hand still on the controls. They couldn't make out who or what it was in the dark and chaos of the fight. Still, with no other options the pair began falling back, trying to fight back the robots least they overtake the passage past the shutter as well.

Time seemed to slow for Fox as one foot made it over the line of the doorway. Krystal had brought her staff up and over to smash in the joint of the closest robot's claw, but it's opposite appendage was outstretched, a needle extended from the center of it's 'palm' ready to stab into her side. He surged back forward, concious thought abandoned in favor of moving faster to save his mate. His free hand grabbed her arm and tugged her back, shoving her past the threshold while his shield arm came up to block the needle.

Krystal was sent sprawling onto the floor from the sudden motion. She had managed to sense Fox's protective instinct go into overdrive, and when she looked up she saw him shoved to the wall by the force of the robot's attempted stab, pinning the space hero to the wall, the shield being the only thing keeping the needle from being jabbed into him. "FOX!" She cried, pushing herself to the feet, her warrior training driving her to try and save him... only for the shutter to suddenly slam down.

"No... NO!" She pounded against the metal, jabbing her staff against it in an effort to pry it open. A hand roughly grabbed her and dragged her backwards, the figure from before growling at her to stop fighting it as she tried to shove and kick them off. "I need to save him!" She yelled back before the figure roughly grabbed her by the shoulders.

"You're not saving anyone in that situation! Calm down!" the person before her was wearing a full suit of gear, helmet obscuring their face and identity, but the grey tail sticking out the back betrayed them as some manner of canine. "Look, from what I managed to get out of the damn cleanin' droid, those robots are disconnected from the network, and roam these tunnels, dragging off anything living to the heart of their territory." The voice was rough, but had a feminine tone to it, slightly warped by the helmet's speaker.

Krystal roughly pushed their hands off her shoulders, glaring at the stranger. "All the more reason I need to go back and save him!" The figure huffed and folded their arms. As Krystal was able to see them better, her staff slowly returning to being a light source instead of a weapon, the stranger, whoever she was, was wearing what looked like a heavier armored version of the security gear Fox and herself had suited up in. Tight to her body, but with armored plates that kept her silhouette from being obviously a woman. "Big damn heroics are not gonna save his bacon. You want to get killed trying to go in with just your magic stick, fine. But if you're interested in getting yourself and him both out, then you're better off sneaking into where they're probably taking him and getting him out of there once they've left."

Krystal opened her mouth to argue, but then bit back her response. Much as it hurt to say, the stranger was right... Her mind had felt Fox's go unconscious, but not dead... and it was being carried off. Further from her, making it harder to pinpoint... But there was one thing that kept her from breaking down crying. Fox was alive. Whatever those robots had wanted with the two of them, it wanted them live. "...Do those robots go to the Station's center hub?"

"Nope. Some lab in one of the enclosures from what I gather... some batshit computer does crazy experiments there. Probably had those bots build to answer only to it." The stranger said, pointing off down the passage. "It's a roundabout route, but we can get to the same place this way."

Krystal was hesistant. Her first instinct was to dive into the stranger's mind, but found it... not barricaded, but as if it wasn't there. "...Who and what are you?" She asked, holding her staff close in suspicion.

"You're on guard. Good. You'll need to be." The stranger said, reaching down to the belt of tools around her waist, pulling out a handheld holotablet. "Not in the mood for answering the first question. But as for what I am, I'm your best bet right now. I've got my own reasons for wanting McCloud, even if it means helping his new girlfriend."

"Mate," She corrected quickly, earning a tilt of the helmeted stranger's head. "...Well shit. I'd read Cerinians move fast."

"What do you know about Cerinians?!" Krystal demanded, holding her staff in an aggressive stance again. The stranger gave another irritated grunt before pushing the weapon aside. "Just what research is here on the station. When I found out McCloud ended up getting into this place by volunteering as part of the repopulation effort... Nevermind. Point is, you want your flyboy back, and I have my own reasons to find him alive."

The figure tapped the helmet. "The shit this is made out of blocks your brain magic. Whatever Andross wanted with your kind, this is the only prototype that's still here on this station. You don't trust me because you can't get into my head, and that's smart. But right now? You're gonna have to rely on me and take me at my word."

The stranger held out a hand, foot tapping to show their impatience. Krystal looked at the hand, then back over her shoulder, Fox's mental signature far off and impossible to pinpoint now... She sighed and reached out, taking the hand and shaking it. "Fine."

"Let's go rescue the pup then."