FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Rent Alternative

By XP Author

The old elevator's doors opened with a slight rattle. The man stepping out made a mental note to put in a work order for someone to come and take a look at them later. The older panda turned and walked down the hallway, intimately familiar with the layout of the building. He should, as he owned it. Steven passed several doors until he got to the one he was looking for, number 413. He took a breath, preparing himself for what was probably going to be a confrontation. He raised his hand to knock hard on the door, then waited.

He heard movement inside. The little peephole darkened as someone looked through it from the other side. He just stared at it with a stern expression. The person on the other side mumbled something, probably a curse of some sort. A moment later, the bolts on the doors clacked as they unlocked. When the door opened, a woman stood on the other side. "Mr. Forsett!" The possum put on a very forced smile, but it did nothing to mask how worried she was. She was younger than him, in her late 20's, but it was obvious she had not lived a very nice life. Her brown eyes were tired, the dark markings of her fur doing nothing to hide the bags under them. She slightly too thin from how little she ate, making her clothes hang limp on her thin frame. A jagged chunk was missing from the outer edge her right ear.

He crossed his arms, making sure to keep his stern look. "Hello, Ms. O'Ryan. May I come in? We have to talk."

Her forced smile faded as her shoulders drooped. "Y-yeah... okay." She stepped out of the way, letting him step inside. She closed the door behind him. The apartment itself was a small thing, barely a few rooms. The main room and kitchen were all one, with a small bedroom and single bathroom. The dirty window had a great view of the building next door and not much else. The decorations were lacking as well. Nothing in the way of shelves, the single sofa was covered in a dirty sheet, and the television looked like it was almost old enough to drive. There was also several sets of clothes strewn about, hanging over the sofa or just piled up on the floor. At least there weren't any empty food containers or bugs. "S-sorry about the mess..."

He nodded, turning back to her. "I'm not here to talk about that, but I think you know why I am here."

The possum's shoulders somehow drooped even more as she let out a heavy sigh. "I know. It's about my rent." She looked at the floor instead of at him. "I'm really sorry. I-I know I'm behind by a little bit-"

"Three months." He interrupted. "That's more than just a little bit, Haley. And this isn't the first time."

She winced. "I-I know... b-but I haven't been able to find another job yet." She looked up. "B-but I am looking! It's just really hard to find something right now!"

Steven shook his head, but did let his expression soften a little. "Look, I know how hard it's been for you, but I'm not a charity. I've let this slide for the last few months, but I can't just let you keep missing your rent. It's not fair to the other tenants. If you don't get me something by the end of the month, I'm going to have no choice but to sign an eviction notice."

The younger woman flinched. "N-no! Please! I-I'm trying to find another job!" Her panic was obvious and genuine. "I-I'll find some way to pay you! I swear! I just need some more time! Please, don't throw me out on the streets!"

He nodded. "Yeah. Well, that's why I came to talk to you in person." He turned away from her and looked around the apartment, more for dramatic effect than looking at anything in particular. "I came to talk about possibly finding an... alternative way for you to pay..."

The woman let out a heavy sigh behind him. "O-oh... alright..."

He smiled. "Now, I know you're probably not going to be very happy about it, but beggars can't be choosers, as they say. Besides, I already know it's something you're quite familiar with doing." He turned back around. "So I need you... to..." His voice trailed off as he saw the woman just as she pulled her t-shirt off, leaving her small breasts and flat belly exposed to him. "What are you doing?"

Haley blinked at him. "I-I'm... undressing...? F-for... your alternative... payment?"

The two just stared at each other for a moment in equal, awkward confusion. "Um... that's not what I meant."

"Y-you're not... oh!" She blushed and brought her hands up, covering her chest with her shirt. "I-I'm sorry! I just assumed you meant..." She looked away. "S-sorry!"

He could not help but chuckle. "No, I don't mean to have sex with you for rent." He took a few steps back to lean against the back of the sofa. "You are both the wrong gender and... age... for my tastes, anyway."

"Age?"

He ran a hand through his short, greying hair. "And even if you did have any little boys running around, I wouldn't ask that of you or them."

She just blinked, but decided not to ask any more about it as she pulled her shirt back on. "So... what exactly did you mean?"

Steven crossed his arms again. "I need you to take care of a problem for me."

"What... kind of problem?" She asked hesitantly.

"There's been a gang that has been acting up around the area lately. The Southside Vectors. You heard of 'em?"

She nodded slowly. "Y-yes. I... know of them..." She tilted her head. "What about them?"

He took a breath. "They've been asking for 'protection' money. Typical gang stuff. But I'd have to up rent to cover it, and I don't want to do that." He gave her a pointed look. "I want you to convince their leader, a mutt named Neon, to stop."

She gave him a suspicious look. "And just how do you expect me to handle that? I'm not-"

"I'm sure you have some ways to deal with gangs, Haley." He tilted his head. "Or should I say Halo?"

She flinched, her eyes going wide. "How did- I-I mean, I don't... know what..." Her voice faltered as she sputtered. "I'm... not..."

He shook his head. "You don't think I looked into my tenants before letting them move in?" He got his stern expression again. "I know you used to run with the Iron Angels back in the day. I also know you were doing time in prison for assault. You put someone twice your size in the hospital for... what was it? 3 weeks?"

She sighed heavily once again. "Did your research also tell you that the gang was taken out by a rival one while I was doing time?" He nodded. "And that I've been trying to clean up my life ever since?" He nodded again. "Then you know I'm not that person anymore! And you want me to just throw away everything I've been working at for the last 10 years of my life!?"

He shrugged slightly. "I'm just asking you to convince him to back off. How you do it is up to you. I just figured being a former gang banger you'd know how to do that."

She felt some anger rising. "You can't just walk up to a gang and tell them 'hey, it would be real swell if you would stop bothering my landlord.'" It was her turn to cross her arms. "That's a good way to get yourself laughed at and stabbed."

Steven shrugged again. "Then figure out a way. Find evidence and turn it over to the cops. Or use it as leverage over them. Beat the shit out of the leader or one of his punks. Turn a rival gang against them. I don't really care how you do it, I just want them off my back."

Haley frowned. "And you'll forgive my rent?"

He nodded. "Yup." He pushed off of the sofa. "In fact... not only will I consider it payment for the last three months, but for the whole next year, too." He held out his hand. "So what do you say? Do we have a deal?"

She looked at his hand, the gears in her head clearly turning. "I... might need some time to think about it..."

He kept his hand out. "I can give you until the end of the month, when your next rent would be due. If you don't do this, or pay me, then I will be signing the eviction notice."

She stood there for a moment longer, but let out another heavy sigh. "Fine." She reached out to shake his hand. "I'll... either pay you or find some way to deal with the Vectors."

He smiled, shaking her hand back. "Good!" He slapped her back as he passed by on his way to the door. "Best of luck, kiddo. I'm sure you'll do fine!" With that, he walked out, the door shutting behind him and leaving her alone with her thoughts. How the hell was she supposed to convince a whole gang to stop bugging him...?

* * *

Finding where the Southside Vectors called home wasn't hard. They weren't exactly a subtle kind of gang, not that many were. But they seemed to almost take pride in how loud everything about them was. The members dressed like rejects from some 80's punk movement. All leather jackets, spiky studs and spikier hair, mostly in vibrant colors. Even their logo was that old stylized 'S' that she was pretty sure everyone drew on everything as a kid, just set on an equally spiky 'V' and colored highlighter green.

Even their hangout was like some odd kind of throwback. They had taken over an old, abandoned arcade that likely shut down when she was still learning to walk. She was surprised the building was in as good a condition it was, let alone still had power running to it. Most of the old arcade machines inside looked like they had stopped working a long time ago, but several were still going. The floor was covered in a garish blue carpet that had faded over the years, with stains that would likely never come out and obviously worn where people walked on the most. Some loud, basey techno music thumped away inside at volumes that made her ears hurt even outside.

She got a pretty good view of the inside. There was not only a convenient skylight that looked right down into the main gaming room, but an equally convenient ladder around the back of the building that she used to climb up. Haley had yet to fully decide just what approach she was going to use on this whole 'scare off the gang' thing. If she got lucky, she might be able to get some evidence of them with hard drugs to turn over to the cops.

Spotting the leader wasn't exactly hard. Not only was this Neon the oldest person in there, despite being about her age, but he lived up to his moniker. He was some mixed breed mutt of a dog, his fur mainly black, the white splotches having been died an annoyingly vibrant green. His hair was styled into a mass of small, icy blue spikes atop his angular head. He also had what looked like a dozen piercings in each ear. He walked with a swagger she recognized from her time in a gang, the 'I own this place' kind of stride gang leaders often liked to use. She used her phone to snap a picture of him as he walked by under her perch.

She waited for a while on the roof, just watching and taking pictures every so often whenever she got a good angle of one of the members. They were almost entirely teenagers, between around 14 to 17, maybe a few young 20-somethings. Almost entirely guys, too. Of the three dozen people walking around, she only counted two girls. Both of them were foxes that looked quite similar, probably sisters. The elder couldn't be older than 16, and they both dressed... honestly like hookers. It was amazing that their parts weren't hanging out. She was reminded of her own time in a gang, and how often her tits were flopping about among the gang. How often the guys would grope her... and she'd let them. Usually while stoned off her tits.

Speaking of being stoned, it seems like the idea to get evidence of hard drugs would be the way she could go. One of the gang members came in, all smiles and wagging tail, flashing a fairly sizable bag. She recognized cocaine when she saw it, and the puppy was definitely brandishing enough for quite the party. She snapped a picture of that, as well as the lines being cut for everyone on one of the old, non-functional arcade machines. The girls were naturally the first to take their hits.

After getting a dozen more pictures, she was pretty sure she had enough evidence that she could present it to the cops. Whether they did anything was another matter, but it was probably the cleanest solution to this if they did. She was just stashing her phone into the pocket of her jacket when she heard voices nearby. They were coming from the roof access stairs that lead into the building. The same access she would have to get past to get to the ladder down the back of the building.

Letting out a curse under her breath, she made a dash for the AC unit, sliding around and crouching behind it just as the doorway opened. "How long before T and J are dancing naked, you think?"

"Pff. Surprised they ain't already." The two young men laughed. She heard the click of a lighter, and a moment later, the unmistakable scent of weed struck her nose. She could honestly use a it from that to calm her nerves about now. As the two continued to banter, she felt her heart pounding in her chest like it was trying to escape. She wished they would just finish and get back inside so she could get the hell out of here. But they seemed to be taking their time, talking about nothing in particular.

Naturally, crouching behind the AC unit was not exactly comfortable, and her leg was starting to cramp. She shifted slightly, only to bump the thing behind her with her ass. "The hell was that?" Fuck. She froze, putting a hand over her mouth to try and cover her breathing and keep herself from hyperventilating.

"The hell was what? I didn't hear nothin." The teen scoffed. "You're wasted. Just jumping at shadows."

"Nah, man. I heard something."

"Sure. Whatever. Go find out then. But it's probably just some wild raccoon or pigeon or something." She cursed under her breath again, hoping that they would be too stoned to do more than just look around.

Unfortunately, she was not so lucky. She grit her teeth as she heard the man walking closer. As soon as he rounded the corner, she saw he was a short cat with brown fur, probably about 15 years old. "What the fu-" He didn't get more out of his mouth before her elbow connected with his nose, shattering it. He fell backwards, crying out in pain and clutching at his face.

"The fuck!?" She only had a moment while the other guy, a skinny canine of some sort, was still in shock. Darting out of cover, she launched herself across the roof at a sprint at him. "Oh sh-" His reaction time dulled, he was only half-way to reaching for what she could only assume was a gun by the time she was on him. She wrapped her arm around his and slid under him. She shifted her weight and heaved, yanking his arm to pull the man up and over her shoulder. The next thing the guy knew, he was being slammed to the ground on his back. A booted foot smashed into the side of his head before he could figure anything else out.

With a gasp, Haley realized she had still been holding her breath the whole time. She turned to the ladder and started forward. Pain lanced through her left shoulder, like someone had shoved a burning poker through her back. She tried to ignore it, but when the same pain erupted in her right leg and sent her tumbling forward, she couldn't ignore it. Thankfully, she was not close enough to the edge to worry about careening off of it, and she managed to turn her face to avoid smashing her nose into the ground. It was only after she was already on the ground and screaming that she realized she had even heard the pair of gunshots.

The cat from before came over, gun in hand and blood still drooling from his broken nose. "Fuck'n bitch!" He raised his gun to aim at her face as she looked up at him.

Her eyes went wide as she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. "N-no! Please! D-don't shoot!" She winced as she tried to put a hand up, the wound in her shoulder still feeling like it was on fire.

"Yeah!? Why should't I?" His words had a slight slur from the damage to his nose.

"Ah... fuck..." the other man shook his head as he started to come to his senses again.

"So much for jus' a fuck'n raccoon, huh T'rash?" He meant to say 'Thrash.'

Thrash grunted as he stood up. "Yeah, yeah." He looked down at the possum. "Feisty little trash rat, ain't she?"

The cat grunted. "Yeah. Imma blow this cunt's fuck'n head off!"

Haley whimpered, tears running from her eyes now. "Please... don't!"

The cat got closer, stuffing the still hot muzzle of the gun against her cheek. "Yeah! Not so tough with a gun in your face, are ya!?"

"The fuck is going on up there!?" Someone else called from the stairway.

Thrash called back. "We got ourselves a cute thing up on the roof..." He looked down at her. "The fuck were you doing up here, anyway?" He shrugged and moved on before she could think of any response. "Doesn't matter." He looked back at the stairs. "Get your ass up here and help us carry her in. I'm sure Neon will wanna talk to our little girly here."

The cat chuckled. "Ya hear that, ya spunky cunt? You're going to meet the boss!" He turned his head and blew out a hefty gob of blood from his nose. "You'll be wishing I put a bullet in your head soon."

* * *

Haley grunted as she was dropped onto the floor in what had probably once been the manager's office for the arcade. She fell to the ground as soon as the pair of hands let her arms go, only slightly managing to catch herself with her good hand. Though she left her wounded leg out as well. "Here ya go, boss. This is the little bitch from the roof."

Thrash tossed her phone onto the desk in the room. "She wasn't carrying a piece, but I found this on her."

Neon was sitting behind an old, beat-up metal desk in green, his feet propped up on the surface. "I hope you didn't just drag her through the place and leave her blood all over the carpet." His voice was deep and even, but with a hard edge that commanded authority.

"Uh..." Thrash looked at the other two people that had helped drag her in. "Right, we'll get on cleaning that up!" He swatted the cat's arm as the trio hurriedly exited the office. "I told you to carry her, not just drag her!"

Neon just grunted as the gang members left, the door shutting behind them. Thankfully, it somehow also managed to somewhat muffle the thumping music, as well. "Well." He glanced over the desk at the woman panting on the floor. "I'd ask you to stand, but you don't seem able at the moment."

She grit her teeth. "Yeah... bullet in the calf will do that to you..." She surprised herself with how much fire she was able to put in her voice.

The canine smirked. "Still lively, eh? Good." He swung his feet off the desk and stood in one fluid motion. "That will make this a little easier." He moved around the desk, only to hop up and sit on the surface of it instead. "For starters, why don't you tell me your name?"

She was going to refuse at first, but instead said, "Halo."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Halo, huh? What gang are you with?"

"Iron Angels."

That got a chuckle from him. "Really? The same Iron Angels that all got wasted a decade ago? Try again. Or are you trying to say some fool's trying to bring them back?"

She shook her head, forcing herself to sit up a little, though her shoulder ached to do it. "Nope. Same Angels." She clutched at her wounded shoulder as she looked up at him. "But yeah, they're mostly dead. Only a few survived, but we all went our separate ways. And that's the best you're gonna get out of me. I'm not telling you my real name so you can send goons to harass me or tear my place up." She scoffed. "Not that you could make it much worse."

Neon nodded slowly. "Ah, so you're an ex-gang bitch, eh?" He smiled. "Fair enough." He pushed off of the desk and crouched down, reaching out to grab her chin. She tried to flinch her head away, but he had a good grip on her jaw. "Then tell me this, Halo. What the hell was an ex-gang member doing on the roof of my hangout?"

She finally managed to wrench her face out of his grip, only to glare at him. "Oh, you know. I thought it was a nice spot to get some air, look at the stars."

He suddenly latched his hand around the wound in her leg, making her cry out in pain as he squeezed. "This is not the time for you to be funny! If you haven't noticed, you're leaking all over my carpet. So tell me what I want to know, or you'll be leaking a lot worse!"

She grit her teeth hard, her leg twitching in his grip. "Fine! I was... taking pictures!"

He squeezed harder, making her cry out again. "I said-"

"It's the truth!" She pointed at the desk where her phone sat. "There. Just... look at my phone. Unlock is 4891!"

He grunted and let her leg go, wiping her blood off of his palm with a part of her pant leg that wasn't already soaked in the stuff. "Fine. Let's have a look." He picked the phone up and entered the unlock. It immediately opened to the camera, and a quick glance through the gallery made his eyebrow quirk. "Well. You're a regular little investigative journalist, aren't you?"

She shook her head. "No... I wish, might actually pay, but they don't hire ex-cons."

"So what, then. Planning on using it as some kind of blackmail?"

She shook her head again, grunting a little as her leg wouldn't stop spasming now. "No, that would just put me right here anyway. I was just gonna turn it over to the cops and let them figure out if they wanted to get off their asses long enough to do what people pay them to do." She chuckled slightly. "Though maybe going to the news isn't the worst idea. Might actually get the cops to do something if they get embarrassed, right?"

Neon couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, that's about right." He closed the phone, only to snap the thing in half a moment later, which made her wince as she knew how much even an old model like that had cost her. "But can't have you doing any of that." He tossed the pieces over his shoulder. "So, if you're not with some news rag, then why are you here getting evidence? Did someone send you?"

She again thought to deny him that information. Throwing her landlord under the bus would probably result in her having to find a new place to live anyway. Then again, it was not like she had much choice, and the whole plan she had just went to shit. Plus, the old panda had basically admitted to being a pedophile. She let out a breath and just said it. "It's... It was Steven Forsett."

The canine tilted his head. "Forsett, huh? The landlord?" She nodded, which made him smirk. "Well then." He crouched down. "Guess that didn't go to plan, huh?"

She shook her head. "Yeah, I guess not..." She took a moment before asking. "So... what are you going to do with me?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Depends." He crouched down in front of her once again. "You might just tell the old fucker if I let you go. Or you could run for the hills."

"I'm not telling him shit. I got shot because of him!"

Neon smirked. "True..." He suddenly grabbed her shoulder, making her cry out in pain.

The next thing she knew, she was shoved to the ground, her face against the carpet. "H-hey! I told you what you wanted!"

A hand grabbed the back of her head, shoving it down. "You did. But, see, I've also got this sweet piece of ass in my office." He gripped the waist of her pants and tugged them down enough to expose said ass. "And I'd be a fool to pass up using it."

The possum yelped as he continued to rip her pants down. "S-stop!" Her thick, furless tail thrashed about in the air as he fully exposed her backside. She tried to kick and flail, but the movement only made the wounds in her shoulder and leg ache all the more. It did not take him very long to pull her pants completely off, her panties coming with them and tossed to the side. It left not only her pussy exposed, but the still oozing bullet wound in her calf. "I gave you what you wanted! Let me go!"

He laughed at her. "You haven't given me everything I wanted." He smacked her ass, his other hand still pinning her head to the floor. "I want a piece of this, first. If you're fun enough, you might just walk away from this. Might even patch up those holes my boys made in you."

She tried to protest, but he just ignored her, too busy admiring her. She was a bit skinnier than he tended to like, but he could not deny that she had a nice ass. Round and shapely. Her legs weren't too bad, either, even if they lacked some tone. Of course, his real focus was on the slit between those legs, pink lips standing out against her grey fur. "S-stop! Please! D-don't d-" Her words caught in her throat as she felt something hot, hard, and meaty slap between her cheeks. Her eyes went wider, tears already welling in them. "N-no... please..."

He chuckled as her tone shifted from angry to scared. "All bark, huh?" He reached down to grab the base of his 9 inches, lining the pointed tip up with her slit. "Like I said, satisfy me, and we'll see about you walking away. Keep screeching like that... well, you can keep doing it, but it won't help ya." He did nothing to warm her up before plunging himself into her folds. She let out a scream, only somewhat in pain, as he stuffed more than half of himself deep into her. "Fuck, you took that easy. Bet you had this thing get stuffed every night when you were running with the Angels, didn't you?" He laughed as he started to pump his hips.

She grit her teeth, trying her best not to sob as he started to rape her. The worst part... other than the obvious... was that he wasn't wrong. She did get used like this a lot back in the day. But back then, she was into it, or too stoned out of her mind to care. Once she cleaned herself up, she stopped sleeping around as well. So he was the first dick she had felt in a long time, and it was not a welcome one. She still couldn't help herself from whining as his pace picked up, his thrusts growing harder and deeper. The way it made her body shift under him made the bullet wound in her shoulder ache and throb, the one in her leg doing the same.

Neon kept a grip on her head to keep her pinned, but his other hand moved to her hip as he really started to thrust. The jewelry on his ears jangled with his movements, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Ah, even loose, you are still a nice cunt." His hips struck hers now, his cock throbbing as his tip rammed against the back of her tunnel. She had hoped he would be done with her quickly, but of course he had way more stamina than nearly every guy she had ever been with. For nearly half an hour, he kept humping into her, periodically pausing before starting up again, harder than before.

Finally, he started to pant and groan, and she felt the knot at his base starting to swell. She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing full well that he was going to stuff it into her, no matter how much she begged him not to. Sure enough, as his knot got to full length, he started to really shove himself forward. She still grit her teeth, whining loud as he forced her abused pussy to stretch to its limits. He let out a loud cry of pleasure as he forced the thing into her, stuffing himself fully inside and stretching her inner walls painfully in the process.

"Ah... fuck yeah!" He started to pump his hips in little, hard thrusts, no longer able to pull back for deep ones. His cock throbbed and pulsed, his tip poking at her cervix the whole while. "Gonna fill this nice cunt of yours to the brim!" He grunted and leaned over her. "But first... one last thing to take care of." He pressed something to the side of her head. "You."

Her eyes snapped open as she felt the gun pushed against her temple. "N-no! W-wait! Y-You said you'd let me go!" Tears streamed from her eyes, and she started to tremble with fear, her heart suddenly racing again.

He shrugged. "I know. I lied." Before she could beg any more, he pulled the trigger. The room was filled with the deafening sound as the gun went off. She felt a moment of blinding pain at the side of her head, then inside of it, worse than any other so far, then she felt nothing ever again. The bullet ripped through her brain, exiting the other side of her head in an explosion of blood and brain matter, taking half of her skull off in the process. Her body jerked, then started to tremble and convulse under him.

He dropped the gun and gripped at her shivering hips as she twitched around his cock. "Fuck yeah!" He threw his head back, tongue hanging out as he came deep inside of her, letting her quivering cunt milk his cock for all his balls could give. He loved feeling girls dying around his shaft like this, and this one was no different. He kept cumming, even as her body started to grow still under him, her hips kept up only by his grip on them and his shaft locked into her pussy.

Once he felt his orgasm finally starting to ebb, he looked back down. Her eyes were still wide, tears streaming from them, but there was no life in them. Her mouth was left open in her last scream, blood drooling out against her tongue. Of course, that was what he could see, as the other side of her head was splattered onto the carpet. "Fucking bitch. Thought you could bargain with the Vectors?" He gripped her hips tight and pulled back. With a hard tug, he tore his knot out of her, ripping her a little in the process.

He walked to the door of his little office, not bothering to put anything on to cover his drooling shaft as he stepped out. "Alright. Need some of you lazy bums to come clean this mess out of my office." He got a few people calling back an affirmation, but mostly laughter. "Oh, and go ahead and use it if you want." He smirked. "What's left of it, anyway. Just clean up when you're done." This got more laughter.

* * *

Steven looked up with a start as the door to his little office suddenly burst open. "H-Hey! You can't just-" His words died as he saw the tall, wiry canine with spiky blue hair walk in. "Oh... Uh... Good afternoon, Neon."

The gang leader kicked the door shut behind him, then dropped into one of the uncomfortable chairs. "Yo, panda." He leaned back and put his feet up on the man's desk.

The landlord looked at the dirty boots, but decided not to say something. He looked instead to the man, swallowing hard. "Um... can I help you with something?"

Neon shrugged, pulling out a joint and lighting it, knowing full well how much that annoyed the older man. "Not really. Just thought I'd stop by and let you know that we got that little possum bitch you sent over."

The panda coughed as the smell of the smoke hit his nose, playing it up just a little bit. "Oh...?"

The canine nodded. "Yup. Her corpse is probably a home for maggots in the city landfill by now." He blew out a pointedly large puff of smoke. "Got some pretty good use out of her first, though."

"I-I... see..." He shifted a little. "So she was to your liking?"

He nodded. "Yup. I'd say that's a good way of putting it." He grinned to the older man. "Think you could keep providing desperate sluts like that to us?"

Steven nodded quickly. "Oh yes. Many of my buildings are full of people with no ties and no hope. I'm sure I could convince more of them to... help... with my 'gang problems.'" He cleared his throat. "As long as you keep up your end of the bargain."

The canine scoffed, stuffing his hand into his jacket and pulling out a bundle of cash. He tossed the thing onto the panda's desk. "Here ya go. 10 grand, like we promised." He tilted his head. "Well, actually, 15 grand. My boss threw in an incentive."

That caught him off guard. "Your... boss? I thought you were the leader of-"

Neon grinned wide, flashing his sharp teeth in a wicked grin. "Oh, I'm the head honcho of the Vectors, don't you ever fucking forget it. But that don't mean we don't know our place in how this whole thing works." He kicked his feet off the desk and sat up. "Let's just say I do business with someone more... connected... and they'd like to use your buildings as... safe places to relax and lay low while avoiding people that they don't want to find them. If you catch my meaning."

He nodded quickly. "Oh! Y-yes, that would be perfectly acceptable!" He quickly snatched the cash and stuffed it into a drawer. "What about the... other arrangement?"

The canine shook his head. "Don't worry, ya old pervert. We kept our end of the deal. You'll find the boy in the usual room. Nice and gift wrapped for you." He held up a hand. "And don't worry, my boys didn't rough 'em up this time." His wicked grin came back. "Can't say the same for the kid's mom, but I know she's of no interest to you."

Steven nodded, trying his best to keep a smile off of his face. "Y-yes, that is fine."

Neon pushed himself up to his feet once more. "Well. That just about covers our business then. Pleasure doing it with you as always. Look forward to the next girl you send our way." He paused half-way to the door. "See if you can't made it a cute fox or squirrel next time. Kinda in the mood for something with a big tail to play with."

The panda smiled to him. "I can do that. I think I have the perfect girl in mind. Sweet skunk who's been down on her luck for a few years. Owes me two months rent still. I think I'll see if she's amiable to helping."

"Skunk, eh? Sounds grand." He waved as he stepped out. "Until next time, gramps." With that, the door shut behind him, leaving Steven to think of how best to approach the young skunk. Though first, he had an even younger boy waiting for him upstairs.

* * *