FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Well, here we are." Jack closed the rusty, corrugated metal gate and stared at the equally rusty warehouse a dozen yards away. "Until someone finds it and shoots a bunch of holes through the walls, at least."

"You've got such a knack for finding that ray of sunshine." Corona chuckled and swatted his ass with her tail as she walked past him, heading for the door in the front of the warehouse.

Jack grinned, shrugged, and locked the gate before following her. Machiko had recently acquired this place to use as a safe house, and had offered it to him and the girls while she sorted out the paperwork and pulled the necessary strings to prevent the cops--or any of the other enemies they'd made recently--from going after them again.

Taura caught up with them, trudging along, keeping her eyes aimed at the ground a few feet ahead of her and her hands in the pockets of her trenchcoat.

"I wonder what condition this place is in." Corona tugged on the door and it opened with a faint creak. "Machiko said they didn't have a chance to check it out yet."

"As long as there are no rotting corpses or any shit like that, I think we can make do." Jack stepped into the dim, musty interior, and his cybernetic eyes amplified what little light was available. He glanced around, found a set of switches and levers on the wall just inside the door, and flipped them on. Lights in the high ceiling came on and he switched his eyes out of light-amp mode. He wiped his hand on his pantleg, rubbing off the dust that had been caked on the switches, and took a slow look around.

The concrete floor was empty except for a few crates stacked in the far corner of the cavernous building. Whatever their contents were, it was no doubt long forgotten. Rows of small windows lined the top of each wall, letting in a little sunlight, but not quite enough to reach the floor, at least not at the moment. A set of metal stairs on the right led to an opening in the ceiling, which was probably the loft Machiko had told them about.

Home, sweet home. He shrugged. "At least there's enough room to park the car in here."

Corona pointed behind him. "And a door big enough for it to fit through."

He turned and found what was likely a cargo door meant for loading or unloading freight trucks. He headed for the smaller door through which they'd entered.

"Cool. If you'll open that up, I'll move the car in."

"Sure, babe."

He jogged back outside, climbed into his monster hearse, and started the engine. The huge double doors parted slowly and, once they were open wide enough, Corona peeked out from behind the one on the right.

"Okay!"

He eased the car through the gap and parked it near the stairs. At least now we won't have to worry about anyone spotting the car with a satellite or UAV. Gotta get a car that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, though.

The shaft of sunlight stretching across the floor grew narrower as Corrie closed the doors, until it vanished completely. Jack dropped to the floor and dust puffed up from where his boots hit.

"Gonna have some cleaning up to do," he muttered.

"We'll get around to it." Corona put her arm around his shoulders and coiled her tail around his waist. "After everything we've just been through, it shouldn't hurt anything if we take a day or two to just relax."

"Sounds like a plan." He grinned, stood on tiptoe, and kissed her.

She wrapped her wings around him, slid her hands down his back to his ass, and squeezed gently.

Taura grimaced and clomped up the stairs. "I'll check out the loft."

Jack and Corrie watched her climb through the opening and listened as her hooves thumped across the ceiling. Corona sighed.

"Jack..."

Oh, not this again. "Honey, we've already been over this."

"And I'll keep it up until you see reason." She grinned, but couldn't hide a hint of exasperation under it. "She needs you."

"It's just too weird. It'll take a while for me to get my brain around it." He grasped the handrail and shook his head before climbing the stairs. "Let's have a look around."

"Yeah. With Taura in her current condition, I don't want to leave her alone." Corona hurried after him.

Jack reached the loft, stepped aside to get out of Corona's way, and took a look around. Large windows lined the walls, letting in plenty of sunlight but also putting the three of them in the sights of any camera or sniper rifle that anyone cared to point in their general direction. Still, there were no rooftops high enough to be a problem anywhere around, and if he and the girls didn't get too close to the windows, they wouldn't be seen from the street.

But UAVs and hovercams could spot them easily enough.

Jack nodded at the windows and said, "We'll have to see if Machiko can send us blinds that'll fit these windows."

"In the meantime," Taura said from the far end of the loft, "I'll set my omnitool to automatically hack any drone or floater camera that gets within range."

"Good idea." Jack smiled and turned to the left. Beside the staircase was a walled-off structure jutting into the room. He opened the door, found the light switch, and flipped it, revealing a bathroom with a shower stall, toilet, and small wash basin with a mirror above it. Everything was covered with a thin layer of dust.

To the right of the bathroom, a king-size mattress was propped against the wall. Corona walked over to it and tugged on it. It toppled over, flopped onto the floor, and sent clouds of dust spewing up and out like a shockwave from an asteroid impact.

"Oh, shit. I didn't..." Corona scrunched her face up, reared back, and fired off a sneeze that made her stagger. "Wow. Goddamn."

Jack coughed, rushed over to one of the windows, and slid it open. "Maybe Machiko can send over a couple vacuum cleaners, too. And some other cleaning supplies."

"Yeah, and maybe a fogger or something to get rid of dust mites and spiders and other creepy-crawlies." Corona shuddered. "I'm trying not to think about what might be in that mattress."

"Ugh. Now I won't be able to stop thinking about that." Jack resumed his exploration of their new, temporary home. Two couches sat along the right-hand wall, one roughly in the center and the other near the corner, both covered with dust.

Along the rear wall was a stainless steel sink, dishwasher, cupboards, an oven, a fridge, and a long counter with a familiar microwave and coffee brewing station; Machiko must've had one of her agents bring them from his and the girls' bullet-riddled apartment. Taura walked over to the sink, turned the handle on the left, and smiled when water poured from the tap. The water was brown, but she left it running until it turned clear. She carefully brushed her finger against the stream and pulled it back.

"We've got hot water. If the shower works, we'll be in pretty good shape." She turned it off and glanced around. "We'll need it just to wash off all the dust we'll be picking up."

"Yeah, no kidding." Corona's muzzle twisted and her eyes closed again. "Oh, no." She released another thunderous sneeze. "Ah,shit!"

Jack laughed and opened another window.

Taura grinned and opened the three windows above the sink and counter. A gentle breeze drifted from them to the windows behind Jack and carried most of the dust outside.

"Ah, thanks." Corona took a deep breath and smiled. "Much better."

Taura smiled, nodded, and turned to the left. "Oh, look, we've got a washer and dryer."

Jack turned and found them in the corner to the left of the counter. The washer's lid was raised.

Taura glanced into it, closed the lid, and turned it on. There was a soft hiss as water flowed into it.

"Oh, good, it works. I'll run it through a cycle to clean the dust out before we put any clothes into it."

"Oh, that reminds me, we forgot to get our bags out of the car." Corona flicked a glance at Taura, grinned at Jack, and headed for the stairs. "I'll go get 'em."

_Oh, sure, leave me alone with the estrus-crazed minotaur. Thanks, honey._Jack sighed and tried to find something to keep Taura distracted. Luckily, she'd already found something--a long workbench on the left wall, with her computer repair kit resting on it, and a pair of eight-foot conference tables, one folded and leaning against the wall, the other unfolded and ready for action. Her computer from the apartment sat on the latter, along with two new tablets. A stool sat in front of the bench and two folding metal chairs leaned against the table.

"Nice." Taura pointed at the folded table. "We've got a place to eat our meals. Just need another chair."

"We can add that to the shopping list."

She nodded. "I hope we don't come across as a pain in the ass because of that, but we won't be able to lay low if we're out in public, shopping."

"Yeah. And we don't have any money to buy any of this stuff, anyway. Maybe Machiko can get what we need from a thrift store and we can do a freelance job or two on the side to pay her back."

"Good idea. Maybe I can land a coding or hacking gig while we're waiting to find out whether or not we'll have a future."

Corona jogged up the stairs with three big duffel bags slung over her shoulders. She handed two of them to Jack and Taura.

"Well, now all we need is a closet or a couple of dressers."

Taura glanced to the left, cocked her head, and pointed. "How about that?"

Jack looked in that direction and found a small structure attached to the wall near the corner. It looked like a closet. He and the girls walked over to it and Taura opened the door.

"Oh. It's a broom closet." Taura shrugged and reached in to find a light switch. When she flipped it, a set of LEDs in the ceiling revealed a pair of old vacuum cleaners, three push brooms, and a mop and wheeled bucket. "Well, at least we can start cleaning this place up."

Corona nodded and turned slowly, taking everything in. "A little cleaning, some window blinds or maybe some nice curtains, a comfy chair or two...." She giggled and clapped her hands. "I think I could start to like it here."

#

A soft beep snapped Taura's wandering mind back to the here and now. She twitched, snarled at her inability to stay focused, and looked around at the various windows in the holographic display projected by her 'tool. A flashing line of text drew her eyes to the lower-left window and she had to hold in another growl.

Found another one. Damn it. She'd written up a program to hunt down copies of the videos Pervy Patty had uploaded to numerous porn sites, and it had spent days scouring the Net and finding them. And every time she started to think it had found them all, another new one popped up.

The memory of what that nutjob had done to her, Jack, and Corona made her shudder. Breaking into their apartment when no one was home, hiding cameras in every room, and recording videos of things that should remain in the bedroom--that was enough of a violation, but to then send copies all over the Net...

Jack and Corrie didn't stomp him hard enough. They should've beaten fifty shades of shit out of him.

She brought up the clip and grimaced. It was the one of her masturbating in her room in their former apartment. She sent the delete command and waited for the program to slither into the server where it was stored.

The words, Target eliminated, popped up in green text. Taura smiled and shifted her attention back to the half-dozen tasks she'd been failing to keep up with. She raked her fingers through her hair, picked a coding job she'd almost finished, and forced herself to keep at it until she'd completed it. She set up a virtual environment, executed the program, and pushed the window off to the right, letting it run while she picked another task to work on. If no errors occurred, she would be able to send it in and collect a small payment.

If no errors occur, I'll be amazed. She sighed, pulled another window closer, and enlarged it.

Another beep came from the vid-search window. Taura groaned.

The vacuum cleaner started up again and she almost jumped off the stool. The three of them had spent a few hours dusting stuff off and vacuuming the floors until the mattress was all that was left. Jack and Corrie had told Taura to take it easy while they finished up the last of the cleaning, then they'd needed to empty the vacuum cleaner before finishing up with the mattress.

Taura took a few deep breaths and glanced over her shoulder. Corona held the mattress in place while Jack ran the vacuum over it. Taura turned back to the flashing red text and pulled the file up.

This one was a video of Jack and Corona having sex.

Taura reached for the delete button, but hesitated. Her gaze roamed over Jack's body as Corona rode him, gently at first, but with increasing passion. Taura barely noticed her friend, her eyes zeroing in on Jack as his palms moved from Corona's hips to her shoulders and down to her huge biceps, then over to her chest. The sound of the vacuum cleaner drowned out their soft gasps and moans and occasional cries.

What would that feel like? Taura's heart pounded as she tried to imagine Jack's hands caressing her, his lips pressing gently against hers, his bare skin sliding back and forth against her chest, his cock thrusting into her....

Her breathing turned ragged and she moved her hand slowly down between her legs.

The noise of the vacuum cleaner cut out abruptly. Taura gasped and snapped her hand out toward the volume slider. In the video, Jack's face contorted and he clamped his hands onto Corona's hips, holding her against him while her wings and tail twitched and her fists clenched, twisting the sheet until one corner popped off the mattress. Taura's finger shoved the volume control all the way down, cutting off Jack's first climactic groan.

She swore she could feel both of their stares drilling into her back.

"Still finding these everywhere," she mumbled as she hit the delete button. "If we're lucky, this was the last one."

An awkward silence stretched out for several seconds.

"I hope so," Corona said. "The thought of total strangers fapping to videos of us makes my scales crawl."

Taura nodded. The deletion notification appeared and she pushed the window into the background and sighed.

I'll never know. She shook her head and she shuffled through several other windows in an attempt to look like she was actually doing something.

"Hey, Taura," Corona said, "we also cleaned the shower out; if you'd like to use it, go right ahead." She walked over to Taura, leaned over and winked. "It's got a detachable shower head with a pulse-massage setting."

The breath caught in Taura's throat. "Um...maybe later. I--I've got some things to finish, here."

Corona nodded, patted Taura's shoulder, and smiled.

Jack ran a hand through his hair and brushed his palm on his shirt. "Well, I got all sweaty, so I guess I'll test the shower." He grinned at Corona and wiggled his eyebrows. "Care to join me?"

Goddamn it. Taura fought down the urge to grumble and kept her eyes pointed at the text and graphics directly in front of her.

Corona grinned and began stripping on the way to the bathroom.

Taura continued staring glumly into the holofield until she heard the shower start. She stood, stretched, rubbed the base of her tail and turned around, trying to appear casual while checking to see if either of them were still in the room. When she found herself alone, she sighed and returned to the stool.

Damn._She took a few long breaths. _Corona's okay with the idea of me being with Jack. Why isn't he?_She shook her head. _And why the hell does my sanity have to depend on having sex? If I ever meet the bioengineer who stuck me with this estrus cycle, I'll kick his ass.

She poked at the holofield and muttered a stream of curses. Not just that. It has to be one specific person I have sex with. Why the hell...?

She shook her head and rubbed her hands over her face. It's because I love him. She stood and began pacing. Shit.

An idea began to come together and she returned to her seat.

Maybe there's a way I can get him interested in me. Maybe if I...maybe if I start wearing less clothing, like Corona._She stood again, just long enough to take off her coat and shirt, leaving only a dark red sports bra on. She glanced at her pants and sighed. _Need to buy some shorts. Or better yet, a bikini. Something that won't leave much to the imagination.

She tossed the coat and shirt onto the workbench and stared at her holo-display, wondering if there was anything else she could try. She began running searches on ways to catch a man's eye, then narrowed it down to human men. The searches led nowhere until she stumbled onto a manual titled, How to Show Affection to your Lover. She skimmed through it, grinned, and downloaded a copy to one of the tablets. She read through the first few paragraphs again and looked around.

_Ah-hah._She walked over to the coffee brewer and placed the tablet beside it. Given how much Jack loved coffee, it wouldn't be long before he found the tablet and the manual.

Well, at least now I'm actually doing something about it instead of just whining. She returned to the stool, feeling a bit lighter, and returned to work on her remaining tasks.

Who knows, maybe there's hope after all.

#

"This is weird," Corona said softly.

"Oh,this is weird?" Jack laughed. "As opposed to, well, almost everything else that happens to us on a daily basis?"

She grinned, put her arm around his shoulders, and waved a hand at the sea of lights, neon, and holographic signs in the distance. "No, just us standing here without being shot at or racing to get somewhere or feeling like we could either die at any moment or find ourselves locked in a prison for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah. Well, the night is young." Jack grinned.

Corona snorted and gave his ass a slap before settling her arm around his shoulders again.

He laughed, slipped his arm around her waist, and cuddled her. "I know what you mean. It'll take some getting used to, but I think we can handle it."

A hot, gentle breeze ruffled her hair and she closed her eyes, smiled, and gave herself a moment to enjoy the sensation of the wind gliding across her bare skin. She hadn't bothered to put any clothes on after the shower, figuring their location was remote enough and the nearest buildings distant enough to make them difficult for casual observers to see. Anyone who could see them would be a bigger problem than a random passerby being offended by a little nudity.

"Yeah, I think we can muddle through." She reached over with her left hand and slid her palm slowly over Jack's bare chest. He'd put on a pair of briefs after toweling off, but had left the rest of his body open to inspection.

He smiled and rubbed her back, starting between her wings and moving slowly down to the base of her tail, then back upward. She shivered and giggled. He continued massaging her back and rested his free hand on the rail. A few minutes ago, they'd discovered a door they hadn't noticed before, which opened onto a balcony that overlooked the gravel-covered lot around the warehouse, a large quarry, and the rest of Neon City.

After sunset, it was easy to see how the city had gotten its name. It reminded Corona of photos of Las Vegas she'd seen, only cranked up to eleven.

And with a wider variety of ways to be killed horribly.

That thought made her sigh. "You think the agency will be able to keep us out of prison?"

"It seems to be a done deal." Jack shrugged. "There'll be a few people who will try everything they can think of to overturn it, and others who'll simply ignore it--like those cops we ran into on the way out of Machiko's office. But at least now we'll have the authority to deal with 'em if they try anything."

"Yeah. I hope we don't have to. It's easy to see how that would escalate out of control."

"Exactly. Guess we'll just have to hope most of 'em have brains enough not to take another shot at us." The wind flicked a lock of his long hair into his face and he brushed it back. "I'm more worried about what kinds of jobs we'll end up having to do for this agency. I'm not eager to be thrown into situations every day where I could lose you. Especially if it happens right in front of me."

"Oh, Jack." She embraced him and wrapped her wings around him. "I worry about the same thing all the time, about you and Taura. But at least this way, we'll have a chance. If we hadn't agreed to this, we'd have no chance at all."

"Yeah, that's true." He sighed and rested his head on her chest.

"We just have to face whatever's coming and do our best to get through it intact. Maybe someday we'll find a way out of this mess and get back to doing the freelance gigs we started out doing."

"I hope so." He smiled. "Maybe someday we'll land a few high-paying jobs and retire early. Or, at least, live off the money for a nice, long while before having to get back into the job. Buy ourselves a house somewhere far away from all this." He waved a hand at the city. "Someplace private, warm and sunny and slow-paced, where we can just take it easy for a few months."

"I'd like that. As long as Taura can join us."

Jack winced. "Back to that again."

"I'm just sayin'." She held a hand up. "The three of us are a team. It wouldn't be fair to ditch Taura after we've worked together for so long and she's put her life on the line for us so many times."

"Okay, good point. Very good point. I'm fine with us being a team and me being her friend. I'm just not comfortable with where _you_want my relationship with her to go."

"I know we've been over this already, but I can't wrap my brain around your excuses for not going there."

"My excuses?" He stepped back and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, your reasons. I just don't understand it." Corrie shrugged. "I'm okay with it, she's okay with it. She loves you. There's no logical reason why you can't love her."

Jack sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a long, exasperated sigh. Corona held her hands up and shook her head.

"Okay, I'll let it go, for now. Just think about it, okay? That's all I'm asking."

"Okay, sure." He nodded, but she wondered if it was just to get past the current topic. She decided that she'd pushed it as far as she could without flat-out pissing him off.

"Let's just enjoy the peace and quiet while we have the chance." She smiled, leaned down to nuzzle him, and turned her gaze on the city. Sunset had transitioned into night, and for a few moments the only sounds were the gentle whoosh of the breeze ruffling her hair and the distant traffic.

She glanced at Jack and wiggled her brow ridges. "So, we've tested the shower pretty thoroughly. Wanna try out the mattress now that it's clean?"

He grinned, took her hands, and stepped back inside. "I've been thinking about putting it through its paces for a while."

She giggled, picked him up and draped him over her shoulder.

"Whoa!" he threw his hands out, then braced them on her back to steady himself.

She laughed, pulled his briefs off with one hand and flung them over her shoulder. She lowered him gently to the mattress, pinned him down, and flicked her tongue out, tickling his neck with the two tips. He burst out laughing, raised his hands to her small breasts, and squeezed gently.

"Hmm, the mattress is pretty comfy," he said with a soft chuckle.

"Yes." She kissed him and moved her body into position. "Let's see how well it holds up."

#

Jack became aware of several things one by one as he drifted gradually awake. Something moderately heavy was laying across his chest. Something much lighter was spread out over him. And he really, _really_needed to take a leak.

He yawned and opened his eyes, found Corrie's left arm on his chest and her wing draped over most of his body, and smiled. He glanced at her and saw that she was still asleep. Hoping his movements wouldn't wake her, he moved her arm off his chest, slid carefully out from under her wing, and stood. He yawned again and stretched, then spent a moment smiling at her, his eyes taking in every inch of her gorgeous body. She'd sprawled face down on the mattress, her head resting on her right arm, her left leg bent slightly at the knee and her right straight but off at a slight angle, and her tail curved into an "S" shape.

Jack grinned, then he realized that he'd awakened with a boner and it wouldn't subside if he kept staring at his babe.

He turned away reluctantly and took a step, then he spotted Taura curled up on the nearer couch, laying on her side with a pillow between her head and her right arm, and her legs pulled up enough to fit her seven-foot-tall body on the couch. She wasn't wearing anything at all.

Probably Corrie's idea. Jack caught himself staring at her and shook his head. She's actually really cute. And...and kind of sexy.

He tore his eyes away from her and walked softly over to the kitchen counter. Can't keep staring at them. I'll never be able to take a piss if this hard-on doesn't go away.

He yawned again and blinked several times. Looked around at the counter. His gaze landed on the coffee brewer and he grinned. He walked over to the other couch, where he'd dropped his duffel bag yesterday afternoon, and unzipped the pocket on one end. He dug out the small, plastic jar of coffee, filters, and scoop. He gazed out the window as he rinsed out the carafe and filled it, taking in the brilliant sunshine and the gravel road outside the fifteen foot-high, corrugated metal fence and gate.

He finished prepping the coffee and hit the start button. It was only then that he noticed the tablet beside the brewer.

_Still at half-mast. Might as well do something productive while I wait._He woke the tablet and was already reaching for the screen when he saw a web page instead of a set of icons.

How to Show Affection to your Lover._He raised an eyebrow and began skimming it. _Bring her flowers every day. Open doors for her. Pull her chair out for her before she sits. Use cute pet names. What the fuck is this shit?

He turned and looked across the loft at Corona, then glanced at Taura and back. Oh, I see. Another oh-so-subtle hint. He closed the file, logged into his email, and shook his head. He would never use any of the ideas in the article in a serious manner, but maybe he could have a little fun with this.

Haha, Corrie, the joke's gonna be on you.

He grinned and ran down the list of new messages, hoping to find one from their new boss, but found only a few low-priority emails from Otto and Shakira, several message boards he'd subscribed to, and spam.

Eh, I'll look through these later._He logged out and placed the tablet back on the counter. He glanced down, shrugged, and headed for the bathroom. _Okay, I can work with that.

Once he finished, he headed back to his bag.

"Morning, Jack," Corona said, sitting up, stretching, and flexing her magnificent muscles.

"Morning, Cupcake." He grinned and tried not to laugh at the slightly perplexed look that flickered across her face. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, it was the coffee." She inhaled deeply. "Smells wonderful. A lot like coconut."

"It's, uh..." He hurried over to the counter and glanced at the label on the jar before digging a fresh pair of briefs out of his duffel bag. "Coconut Cream Pie."

"Ah. An entirely different kind of creampie from the one you gave me last night."

He blushed and the underpants slipped out of his fingers. He managed to catch them before they hit the floor. "Uh, yeah."

A soft grumble from the couch drew his attention and he found Taura sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Morning, Taura!" Corona grinned and waved.

"Morning." Taura yawned, stretched, and glanced around.

"Jack's over there." Corona pointed.

"Ah." Taura brushed her hair away from her face, turned to Jack, and froze.

Oh, hell, I'm still naked. He found himself staring back at her. We're all naked. Uh-oh.

Corona giggled and hopped out of bed. "Well, I should take a quick shower before breakfast. You two keep yourselves entertained while I'm away."

"Uh--"

She darted into the bathroom and closed the door. Jack stared at the door and then looked back to Taura.

She stared at him for several seconds, then tried to give him a saucy smile. It was shaky, nowhere near confident, but still kind of endearing.

Then she turned to face him straight-on, draped her right arm over the back of the couch, and let her right leg hang over the arm, giving him a view that left absolutely nothing to his imagination.

For a few seconds, he couldn't turn away. I...wow. Yeah, she's hot._He finally shook himself out of it and put his underwear on._Shouldn't go there. Should not go there. He put on his cargo pants and a black T-shirt, then picked up the tablet again.

Now suddenly seemed like a good time to read his new emails.

#

A knock at the door made Taura twitch and whirl around. She held her hand to her chest and took a few deep breaths. Jack glanced out the window and grinned.

"Rocky and Ralphie are here. Good thing they let us know they were coming so we could unlock the gate."

Corona hurried down the stairs. Her voice echoed across the nearly empty warehouse. "Hey, guys."

"Hi," Rocky said.

Taura buttoned her tight denim shorts and put on her sports bra.

Corona climbed the stairs back into the loft, carrying two handfuls of plastic bags. Ralphie and Rocky followed her, carrying more bags.

"Wow, what's all this?" Jack grabbed the extra table and Taura hurried over to help him unfold the legs and set it up.

"Just a few groceries to hold you over for the next few days." Ralphie grinned as he and his wife placed the bags on the table.

"Aww, thank you!" Corona gave each of them a quick hug.

"Happy to help." Rocky glanced around. "First chance we get, we should pick up some stuff for this place. Couple more chairs, maybe a desk or two, some curtains. Spiff the place up a little."

"That'd be awesome." Corona squeed as she began inspecting the bags' contents. "Oh! Crab puffs!"

"We stopped by Jack's favorite Chinese takeout." Ralphie swept a hand over three of the bags, which had the restaurant's logo on the side. "Figured you could use a good breakfast."

"Thank you!"

"Any news on our 'situation'?" Jack said as he began unloading the grocery bags and putting the stuff away.

"Not yet, but Machiko's working on it. She'll contact you as soon as she's got things worked out."

"For now," Rocky added, "just lay low until the mess is sorted out. Consider it a mini-vacation."

"Sounds good to me." Corona pointed at the food. "Wanna join us for breakfast?"

"Thanks, but we have to get back to the office. We're still on clean-up detail."

"Ah. Sorry about that. I guess we kinda made a mess of things."

"Don't be sorry." Ralphie grinned. "I'll take stuff like this over being shot at any day of the week."

"We'll let you know how things are going." Rocky waved before descending the stairs.

Taura looked out the window and watched her and Ralphie walk out to the gate. Ralphie passed on through and got into their van. Rocky locked the gate and vaulted over the fence.

Taura turned back to the table as Jack carried the two folding chairs over to the couch and returned to the table. He grabbed one end, Corona took the other, and they scooted the table over in front of the couch.

Corona picked up one of the crab puffs and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes opened wider, her muzzle flopped open, and she gasped.

"_Haaaaaaaa!_Hot hot hot hot hot hot! Water water water water!"

Jack bolted to the fridge, yanked the door open, and grabbed a bottle of water. Corona held her hand out and he tossed it to her.

"Guhhhhhh!" She twisted the cap off and chugged three-quarters of the bottle. She sucked down a few breaths and shook her head. "Fuck. Guess I should wait for this stuff to cool down a little."

"I guess so." Jack chuckled, shook his head, and brought the rest of the case of water bottles from the fridge to the table. Then he pulled one of the chairs back, smiled at Corona, and waved his hand at the chair.

Taura froze. What?

Corona flicked him a puzzled look, glanced at the chair, and raised a brow ridge. "Actually, I think I'm too heavy for that. I'll just use the couch." She sat and tucked her feet under her.

"Okay." Jack sat on the chair and scooted closer to the table.

Taura stared at him for several more seconds. But...but...that was...oh, no.

"I'll, uh, I'll take the couch, too," she mumbled. She plopped down beside Corona, and forced herself to hold in a long sigh.

Shit.

#

"Y'know who I think makes an adorable couple?" Corona pointed her plastic spoon at the holofield Taura had projected above the end of the table, enlarged to the size of a large TV. In the main window, Otto's and Shakira's newest video podcast had just begun playing. "Those two."

"Yeah. It's a shame she'd end up in prison for statutory rape if she ever stopped saying no." Jack chuckled and scooped up another spoonful of pork fried rice.

"I think there's a part of her that wants it to happen, or she wouldn't spend so much time with him."

"Maybe. Must drive the poor kid nuts, though."

"He can't have her in that way because of a technicality." Taura sighed, but didn't take her eyes off the video. "I know exactly how that feels."

Corona glanced at Jack. He looked like he was suppressing a grumble, and merely shoveled the spoonful of rice into his mouth. Corona shook her head slowly, but kept watching, unable to think of anything to say to comfort Taura or sway Jack's opinion.

On the screen, Otto and Shakira sat with their usual equipment on a pair of desks which they'd scooted together. Laptops, microphones, a few other gadgets. Sunshine filtered through the curtains of an off-screen window and fell across both of them. Otto wore cargo shorts and a plain black tank-top, and Shakira had her typical, loose-fitting T-shirt and shorts.

Otto stared at her breasts from the corners of his eyes until she turned her head toward him, then suddenly he appeared intensely interested in whatever was on his laptop's screen. Shakira arched an eyebrow, as if suspecting him of behaving lecherously without having seen him look away.

Jack laughed, dipped a piece of mar far chicken into his sweet-and-sour sauce, and took a bite.

Otto reached off-screen and picked up a pair of habanero peppers. He handed one to Shakira and grinned. "We're trying something a little different today. Shakira found a series of videos in an archive called Spicy News. We both thought they were pretty funny, and figured we'd blatantly rip them off just for the hell of it."

"You might say we wanted to...spice things up a little."

Otto groaned. "Really?"

"Yeah, I shouldn't have gone straight for the obvious joke, but come on, you had to see it coming."

"I was distracted by your tits." He wiggled his eyebrows and Shakira rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, the videos were funny, but some were funnier than others. I mean, how hot can these things really be? Some people in the videos handled them pretty well, and others fell apart almost immediately. But we've got bowls of ice cream standing by in the freezer, just in case."

"Never had one of these before?" Otto held his pepper up and contemplated it for a moment.

"No. I never developed a taste for spicy stuff. Gives me heartburn."

"Me, neither. So this should be one of those 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' things." He glanced at her. "On three?"

She nodded. "One. Two. Three." She pulled the stem off, popped the habanero into her mouth, and started chewing.

Otto did the same. After a few seconds, he grimaced slightly. "I really don't care for the flavor," he mumbled around a mouthful of pepper. For the moment, that seemed to be the only effect it had on him.

Shakira, however, had already begun to feel stronger effects. Beads of sweat appeared on her ebony skin, and she sucked in a few deep breaths through her mouth and said, "Oh, fuck."

"You okay?"

"For the moment." She waved her right hand. "Let's get started."

"Okay, here are some of the current events in Neon City." He poked at his laptop screen and loaded the first article. "First up, there's been an interesting development in the sex-doll industry."

"Oh, of course that's the first place you go." Shakira slumped forward, braced her elbow on the desk, propped her forehead on her palm, and fanned her face with her other hand.

He shrugged. "CyberSys Unlimited, manufacturers of the latest in fully-articulated, programmable sexual-companion androids and gynoids, has worked out deals with several celebrities and intellectual-property holders to produce sexbots based on the likenesses of specific people or fictional characters. So, coming soon to a bedroom near you--"

"Let me guess. Porn stars, right?" Shakira's face had by now twisted into a constant grimace. She squeezed her eyes shut, shook her head, and thumped her fist on the desk.

"Mostly, yeah." Otto took a breath and fidgeted as the habanero finally appeared to kick in. "I don't recognize any of their names, though."

"_You_don't recognize the names of porn stars?"

Taura chuckled, then seemed to notice the carton of egg rolls in her hand for the first time. She plucked one out, leaned over to the carton of sauce on the table, and dipped it.

"I don't pay attention to the ones I don't find attractive." Otto shrugged again. "These all look like they're eighteen or nineteen; too young and too skinny for my taste. I like 'em mature and a little thicker."

"Haven't you ever been attracted to someone your own age?" Shakira mopped her brow and wiped her hand on her shorts. "Gah, shit!"

"Not really, no. It's probably related to the reason I get along better with adults in general than I do with other thirteen-year-olds."

"Huh." Shakira sniffed, panted, and coughed. "Oh, goddamn it. Well...you said there were also fictional...uh, fictional characters being made into sexbots?"

"Eh, none I really recognize. Most of 'em look like they're based on anime chicks."

"Any you'd go for?"

"None of these. In a hypothetical situation where more of these were licensed from a bunch of other franchises, there are a few I'd pick. Shaak Ti, definitely. Tali'Zorah, as well. And River Song." He grinned and wiped sweat from his forehead. "Madame Vastra, absolutely. Just to name a few right off the top of my head."

"Isn't Tali a little young for you? She's only, what, in her early twenties?" Shakira chuckled, but it turned into a coughing fit.

"Tali's...borderline. I prefer 'em to be over thirty, at least. Tali's just so cute, though. Everything she does is adorable." He mopped more sweat from his forehead, then used his other hand to wipe off his cheeks. The habanero appeared to finally be taking a toll. "Oh! You know which ones from those games I'd go for without hesitation? Samara and Matriarch Aethyta. Preferably both at once."

"I figured they'd be too thin for you." Shakira leaned back in her chair, squeezed her eyes shut, and twisted her face into a rapid-fire series of winces and grimaces. "Oh, goddamn it! Oh, shit!"

"Wow." Corona shook her head. "Note to self--never, ever eat one of those things."

"Those aren't even the worst ones," Jack said. "Habanero is somewhere around three hundred thousand Scoville units. Ghost peppers are somewhere in the vicinity of a million."

Corona shuddered. "No, thank you!"

"And then there's capscaicin."

"That, I've heard of. Because it's used in pepper spray. Sixteen million Scovilles, if I remember correctly." She waved her hands and shook her head. "Do not want."

"You_sure_ you're not ready for the ice cream yet?" Otto said.

"Gonna try to play through the pain." Shakira sucked in a few more deep breaths, took her glasses off, and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Okay. Anyway, yeah, Samara and Aethyta are thinner than I prefer, but I figure that's just a limitation of the game's animation when it was made. Or, maybe, the animators just didn't bother building models with different physicalities, and used the same generic model for all female characters. But I don't let something like that deter me. Both Aethyta and Samara are gorgeous and awesome in every way. And that_voice_ Aethyta has!" Otto grinned. "I can't even count the number of times I've masturbated to those two."

Shakira burst out laughing and immediately started coughing again. Otto patted her back and waited for her to regain control of herself before speaking again.

"So, how about you? Any fictional characters you'd take to bed?"

"Oh, I'd totally do Garrus Vakarian." More tears streamed down her cheeks and she hurried to dry them with the front of her shirt, exposing a bit of bare skin in the process.

Otto's eyes instantly darted to her midriff until she let her shirt fall back into place.

Corona exchanged an amused glance with Jack.

"I bet Otto cranked out another batch as soon as they finished recording this," Jack said, and Corona laughed.

"Really?" Otto raised both eyebrows.

"Well, I was only a few years older than you when I played the first game for the first time. In that one, I didn't find Garrus that interesting. But as soon as he showed up in the second one, within about ten seconds I ended up wishing he could push me against a wall and fuck me until I couldn't even stand up anymore."

Otto burst into laughter and ended up coughing a few seconds later.

Shakira panted and tugged on her collar. "Fuck! Why would anyone eat those things willingly?"

"No kidding. And why did we?" Otto opened his mouth wide, stuck his tongue out, and fanned it with both hands. "Oh, that doesn't help." He looked back to Shakira. "Any others?"

"Uh...Grunt. He's adorable. I'd totally have my way with Grunt."

"But he's just a kid."

Shakira froze for a moment. "Uh...well...um...physically, he's an adult. M...more or less."

"Okay." Otto grinned. "How about Javik?"

"Who?" She flicked an irritated glance at him.

"In the third--"

"There was no third game. It doesn't exist. Never existed. That piece of shit never happened. Fuck that game!"

Otto laughed and wiped more sweat off his face. "Had enough yet?"

Shakira lifted her shirt and wiped her eyes again, and then nodded. "I'm done! Get the ice cream!"

He hurried off-screen and returned with two bowls of vanilla ice cream.

"Oh, give it to me!" Shakira lunged at one of the bowls. He handed it over with a grin.

"Oh, I'd like to give it to you, alright."

She ignored him and shoved a spoonful into her mouth. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Just couldn't handle it, eh?" Otto took a bite of his own and grinned.

"Oh,shit. I can't believe you were barely affected at all. I feel like a swarm of wasps has been hate-fucking my throat."

Corrie giggled and reached for another crab puff. Her talons scratched the bottom of the carton and she glanced down. "Aww, I'm out of puffs."

"Have some of mine, Sweetums." Jack held one up.

Uh...Sweetums? What the hell? She shrugged it off and opened her muzzle. Jack tossed it to her, and she snapped it out of the air and began chewing. "Thanks!"

"Anytime, Sweetie-pie."

Sweetie...huh. What's gotten into him? She shrugged again and nodded at the image of their friends. "So, any book, movie or video game characters you'd have sex with if it were possible?"

"Hmm. Well, Vastra, definitely."

"Ah, got a bit of a lizard-woman fetish, have you?" She winked.

"Maybe." He grinned and picked up another crab puff. She nodded and he tossed it to her. She caught it in her mouth and began chewing.

"Any others?"

"Hmm. I could probably go for Tali, too. Though there's something about Admiral Shala'Raan that I find quite compelling. Might be her voice. But I'd most likely try it with Aethyta. How about you?"

"Actually, I recently found an old show called Leverage, so I'd have to say, Eliot Spencer. Mainly because he kinda reminds me of you."

"Aw, that's sweet of you to say, Pumpkin." Jack beamed.

Pumpkin? Seriously? She merely grinned back at him and then turned to Taura. "And you?"

"Hmm? Oh! Right. Um, I can't think of any, actually."

"Ah. Real people, then?"

Taura looked at the floor, then back up to the holofield. In a very soft voice, she said, "Only one."

Corona looked at her for a moment, then glanced at Jack. He drew in a quick breath, let it out slowly, and kept his eyes locked onto the display. Corona shook her head.

Oh. Well, damn.

#

"Hey, how about we find out what's in these crates?"

Taura glanced over her shoulder at Corona and the half-dozen crates in one corner of the warehouse. Taura shrugged and said, "They don't belong to us, so it's probably not a good idea." She resumed her sweeping of the floor, pushing the dust and dirt toward a single huge pile beside the vacuum cleaner. They had started cleaning up the warehouse just to have something to do, but a little of that went a long way.

At least we're almost finished. Just got to vacuum up the pile and we're done.

Corona pointed at one of the shipping labels. "The date on this is nearly forty years ago. I don't think anybody's gonna miss it. Oh, hell." She turned around and sneezed again. "Augh. Fuck me."

Jack grinned. "After we're done here." He plugged the vacuum in and waited for Taura to push the last of the dirt into the pile. He pulled the hose free, flipped the switch, and sucked the pile up. He shook his head after he turned it off. "Hell of an echo in here."

Taura leaned the broom against the wall and walked over to Corona, her hooves clopping almost deafeningly in the huge, empty space.

Jack coiled up the vacuum's cord and hung it on the handle. He jogged over to Corona, put his arm around her, and kissed the side of her muzzle. "Okay, Babydoll, let's take a look."

Corona shot him another bewildered look, shook it off, and began prying on the top of one of the crates.

Babydoll? Oh, give me a break. Taura gnashed her teeth.

Corona's muscles bulged and rippled as she pulled the top off the crate. It came loose with the grinding-creaking of large nails rending from the places they'd occupied for several decades. She raised it off and swung it aside.

"Here, Cutesy-Pie, lemme help you with that." Jack took the lid and leaned it against the wall.

You've got to be kidding me. Taura caught herself clenching her fists and forced herself to relax.

"Let's see what we've got, here." Corona peeked into the crate, resting her arms on the edges. She reached in, lifted a layer of packing foam off and tossed it aside, and then just stared into the crate. "Wow. That's a lot of giant dildos."

"What? You're kidding." Jack stepped forward and looked into the crate. "Oh. Okay, then."

Taura peeked into the crate and frowned. It was packed with four-foot-long, purple dildos, alright, each one wrapped in clear plastic. With baseball bat handles sticking out of the balls-end. She shook her head. "What the hell?"

Corona picked one up and the business end flopped around. "Seriously?"

Jack burst out laughing as he picked one up. "It's...like...a dildo bat."

"Ah, okay." Corona tore the plastic off and giggled as the end bounced and flopped. "We'll have to give a couple to Otto and Shakira."

Jack laughed again.

Corona reached over and prodded Taura with the dildo. Taura arched a brow.

"I'd rather have a human one." She moved on to another crate and glanced at the shipping label. "This one's almost as old."

"More dildos?" Corona giggled again and pried the lid off.

"I'll get that for you, Honeycakes." Jack took the lid and put it down against the wall.

"Honeycakes?" Corona raised one brow ridge and narrowed her other eye. "Have you suddenly developed fucking brain damage? What's going on with you?"

"Oh, nothing." Jack grinned and looked into the crate. "Well, somehow, I detect a theme emerging."

"A bunch of rubber vaginas?" Taura shook her head as Jack picked one up and read the label printed on the plastic bubble wrap surrounding it.

"Masturbation sleeves. This one's supposedly based on a porn star."

"Oh, wow." Corona snickered. "Imagine having to lay still while someone makes a mold of your pussy."

Taura grimaced and shuddered.

Jack chuckled and tossed it back into the crate.

Corona picked another one up and glanced at the label. "Huh. The Minotauress." She looked up at Taura.

"Jesus Christ." Taura turned around and clopped toward the stairs. "Let me know if you find anything I'd actually be interested in. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can find something to purge the last few minutes from my memory."

#

"So, do we dare open any more crates?" Jack muttered as he watched Taura disappear into the loft.

"I dunno. The next one will probably have a bunch of silicone assholes." Corona leaned on the crate and stared at him for moment. "Jack, seriously, what's with the cute names, all of a sudden?"

"Oh, you know, just...showing affection to my lover." He grinned.

"You've never had a problem showing me affection before, but suddenly you've really been going overboard with it." She reached out and held the back of her hand against his forehead. "I don't _think_you're running a fever, but since my body temperature is lower than a human's, I can't be sure about that."

"No fever. I'm fine, Lovebug."

She narrowed her eyes again, then shrugged. "So, any guesses as to the contents of the next crate?"

"The way things have been going, it's either more dildos or masturbators, or maybe full-on sex dolls." Jack shrugged and walked over to another crate. "Or, just to screw with us, maybe the next one is packed with C-4."

"Oh, boy." Corona took a deep breath and began prying on the lid. "Once more into the breach."

The crate opened with the usual creaking sound, and Corona held the lid out to Jack.

"Sure thing, Snookums." He carried it over to the wall.

"Fucking_what_?" She stared at him and blinked. "What the hell is a Snookums?"

Huh. She acts like she really doesn't know what's going on. She should win an Academy Award for this. He shrugged. "It's just, uh...well..." He trailed off and frowned. Actually, what the hell is_a Snookums, anyway?_

Corona shook her head and looked into the crate. "Ah. Lube. Lots and lots of lube. Like, an unholy hell of a lot of lube."

"Really?" Jack returned to the crate and peeked in. "Whoa." He and Corrie looked at each other.

"Give it to Otto," both of them said at the same time, and burst into laughter.

"It's been in here for decades, though." Jack stepped back from the crate and stuck his hands into his pockets. "It's probably all solidified by now."

"Eww." Corona chuckled and pried the lid off the next crate. She handed it to Jack and looked at the contents. "Well, here's a change of pace."

Jack peered into it and raised an eyebrow. "Looks like motherboards. Probably outdated by thirty or forty years."

Corona glanced at the shipping label. "Yep."

"Completely useless, but Taura or Shakira or Otto might like to play around with them just for the hell of it."

She nodded, took her phone out, and tapped a quick text message to Taura. She slipped the phone back into her pocket and opened the fifth crate. "And here we have a bunch of small plastic cases."

Jack picked one up and turned it over, examining the front and back. "Porn on Blu-ray disc. Wow, there's a blast from the past."

"Oh, yeah, back when 1080p was considered high definition." Corona picked up one of the cases and giggled. "Life in the Fat Lane, Volume Thirty-Seven?"

"Ah, we can give that one to Otto. It seems to be his kink."

"One of 'em, yeah." Corona dug through some of the other discs. "This looks pretty random. Creampie videos, S&M videos, sex in public, bodybuilder porn, several other oddly specific types."

"I bet these were on their way to a store that specialized in what we might call 'niche markets.'" Jack picked up another case and chuckled at the cover. "Here's another of Otto's kinks--young dudes banging older women." He shrugged and tossed it back into the crate.

"Well, we've got one left." Corona opened the last crate and peered inside. "Uh...is this what I think it is?"

Jack took a look and his mouth fell open. "Looks like bags of cocaine. How the hell did that get mixed in with all this other stuff?"

"This warehouse could've been involved in a smuggling operation all those years ago. In fact, if it were shut down by the police or whoever, that might explain why all this stuff has just been sitting here"

"If it were the cops or feds, this stuff would've been confiscated. Or maybe it was confiscated and this was where they stored it." Jack scanned each shipping label with his eyes and transferred the info to his phone. "I've suddenly got all kinds of sinister scenarios running around in my head. We can tell Machiko about this and somebody from the agency can take care of it, or maybe she knows someone else who handles stuff like this."

"Either way, we're definitely not touching this crate again." Corona picked up the lid and put it back on, then turned and headed for the stairs. "Well, today suddenly took a dark turn."

Jack chuckled and followed her as she rushed up the stairs.

"Taura, you won't believe what we just found." Corona climbed into the loft, looked around, and grinned. "Ah, there you are."

"Hmm? What did you find?"

Jack opened his phone's contact list, scrolled to Machiko's entry, and reached out to tap it.

A snarling hiss drew Corona's attention and she snapped her eyes to the left. "What the hell was that?"

Jack stopped with his finger half an inch from the screen. He took one look at Corrie's alarmed expression and charged up the stairs.

"Probably a rat," Taura said. "I don't see--"

"Jack, wait!" Corona held up her left hand. "Something's in here!"

Jack dropped his phone into a pocket and whipped out his two Glocks. "What's in here?"

Corona waved him off and tiptoed over to her duffel bag. She reached in, felt around, pulled out one of her throwing knives. She gave the far end of the loft a thorough visual sweep as Jack crept slowly up the stairs until his head and shoulders were above the floor.

Taura, standing over by the table, pointed at something--and a fur-covered_thing_ blurred straight toward Jack.

_Fuck!_He snapped his guns around to aim at it, but by then it was already too late.

Corona threw the knife and it struck its target mere inches from Jack's face. He lunged backward and slammed into the edge of the loft entrance. The creature tumbled across the floor and thrashed its legs around, still trying to get back on its feet even with Corona's knife sticking out of its neck.

Now that he could get a good look at it, he could make out a few details. It looked like a rat, but was the size of a large dog and had teeth far longer than any rodent had a right to sport. He stared slack-jawed at it as he reached the top of the stairs.

"What the hell is--"

"Stay back!" Corrie waved her hand frantically and Jack backed away from it, moving toward her and keeping his guns aimed at the creature. "It's venomous!"

"What the fuck is it?"

"Hold on." Corona found her sword in the bag, flicked her wrist and extended the blade. She approached the rat-thing cautiously, moved herself into position, and snapped her sword down, lopping its head clean off. Then she sighed and rushed over to Jack. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"A little freaked-out." She glanced at Taura, who nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. She nodded back, propped her sword against the wall, and said, "Don't touch that until I clean it off."

Jack holstered his guns. "Okay, what was that thing?"

"It reminds me of things the bioengineering labs were churning out before they started making sentient ones like me and Corona," Taura said. "I've seen files on some of the more...unsettling ones."

"I've actually seen those things in action." Corona took her phone out and snapped a photo of the creature. Her hands began to shake. "They were too aggressive, like so many of the early experiments. They were discontinued, but it looks like at least one escaped from the labs."

"Oh, that's just wonderful." Jack shook his head.

"Either that, or someone set up an underground lab somewhere around here. We'll tell Machiko about this. She'll probably want to look into it before any more of those things attack anyone, or maybe she'll let us poke around a little."

"Hey, you okay?" Jack grasped her trembling hands gently.

"I'm just pissed at myself. You're a civilian and you were ready for a fight--but I was created to fight, and like an idiot, I left all my weapons in my bag."

"Don't worry about it. Everything turned out okay." He put his arms around her and rubbed her back. "Come on, let's fill Machiko in on all this stuff, and see where it goes from there."

#

"There." Taura grabbed the corners of the hard-light window and pushed inward, shrinking it down to the size of her hand, and pushed it aside. "I've set my omnitool to scan continuously for any life form within its range, and alert us if anything like that monstrosity so much as heads in our general direction."

"Thanks." Corona leaned over her shoulder and gave her a quick hug. "Now, if only Machiko would let us go looking for the nest, or whatever the hell those things use."

"Yeah, I'd like to do it just to have something to do--something to focus my attention on." Taura almost glanced at Jack, but kept her eyes aimed straight ahead.

"So would I," Jack said. "But the boss wants us to stay out of sight for a while longer. She said she's got one of her best people working on it, though."

"Whoever it is," Corona muttered, "I hope he or she is immune to the venom those things produce."

"She said it's someone named Hoshi. Said she's the perfect person for the job." Jack shrugged. "She's also looking into the info we sent her on the stuff we found downstairs."

"Well, then. Guess we're back to having nothing to do." Taura sighed and raked her fingers through her hair.

"Back to having a few days off to relax, you mean." Corona gave Taura's shoulders another pat.

"I'll try." Taura reached up to pat her friend's hand. "As long as nothing else gets in here...."

"I checked every inch of the ground floor," Jack said. "All the doors are locked and there aren't any other holes in the walls except the windows, and they're all closed and locked."

"That's good to know. I wonder how it got in, though."

"Probably slipped in while we were first checking the place out. Or maybe when Rocky and Ralphie came in." Jack shrugged and nodded at the couch. "Come on, let's see if we can take our minds off all this stuff. Maybe there's a movie we can watch, or a game all three of us can play."

"Oh, a game sounds good." Corona grinned and hurried over to the couch.

Taura shrugged, picked up her 'tool, and crossed the room. She watched Jack sit beside Corona, saw that there wouldn't be quite enough room for all three of them, and veered off to drag the other couch over to theirs. She opened a new window, enlarged it to the size of a TV once again, and sat.

"Which do you prefer, console or computer?"

"Computer," Jack said.

Taura tapped an icon in her holofield and a holographic keyboard and mouse appeared over her lap. She gave it a push and it hovered over to Jack. He touched the mouse, grinned, and shook his head.

"It feels like I'm actually holding something solid. How does that thing_do_ that?"

"No idea. One of these days I should see if it's got an owner's manual." She looked at Corona.

"Console."

Taura pushed another icon and a set of hard-light controllers appeared. "Pick the one you like."

Corona pointed at one of them, and Taura nudged it over to her. She tapped another icon, loading her own personal presets. The rest of the controllers vanished and in their place appeared a custom-designed one made to fit her two extra-large fingers and thumb.

"Now, which game?" She entered another command and a list of games scrolled through the main display.

Jack grinned and pointed. "Oh, wow, Saints Row: The Third. I haven't played that since I was a kid."

"I've heard about that one." Corona rubbed her hands together. "Sounds like fun."

Taura nodded. "Okay, that's the one, then. I'm getting the latest edition--remade from the ground up with the latest graphics and a lot more options than the original had."

"Perfect." Jack grinned and placed his hands on the keyboard and mouse.

Taura touched another set of controls and the main screen divided into thee sections and centered themselves in front of each of them. She launched the game and said, "So, are we playing the storyline, doing random missions, or just screwing around?"

"Hmm." Corona giggled. "How about we just screw around for a while and see what kinds of mayhem we can cause."

Jack grinned. "Sounds good to me." He accessed the character creator, skimmed through some of the options, and then brought up the catalog of characters other players had created and uploaded.

Taura let her mind wander aimlessly while she played around with the character creator, selecting the gender, physique, hair, eyes, clothing, and other options.

Corona skimmed through the character catalog and laughed. "This one's called Horny Little Devil. I am so downloading it!" She giggled.

Taura glanced over to Corrie's screen and saw a black-haired female with red skin, red eyes, and horns wearing boots and a dark red trenchcoat.

"Nice." Jack grinned and returned to his perusal of the catalog.

Taura looked back to her screen and her mouth dropped open. She'd finished her character--and it was an almost exact duplicate of Jack, right down to the black duster, long hair, and solid obsidian eyes.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me. She sighed and shrugged. It would take too long to start over.

"Ah, this one looks familiar." Jack selected a plus-size, dark-skinned female wearing only boots, the bottom portion of a thong bikini, pasties, and glasses. "That's too funny. I bet Otto uploaded this one."

Corona glanced at the image and snickered. "Wow, that's Shakira. I wonder if Otto had to masturbate before he finished this, or if he managed to wait until he uploaded it."

Jack laughed and glanced at Taura's screen. "So, you ready to..." He stared at her character and blinked several times.

Taura tried to meet his gaze, but couldn't. She shrugged.

Jack glanced at his own character and shrugged back. "Okay, then. Let's raise some hell."

#

"Hey, this looks familiar!" Corona had just finished cycling through her selection of weapons and discovered a purple dildo bat. "The_Penetrator_!"

Jack glanced at her character and snickered. "That's awesome! Makes me wonder if the ones we found are cheap knock-offs that were being imported."

"Could be." She knocked a Luchadore off his feet with the dildo bat and burst out laughing. "The end flops around like your character's titties when she runs."

"Jiggle physics at its finest." Jack charged into a half-dozen Luchadores and hit the Awesome Button, launching his character into the nearest one and initiating a Beatdown. She knocked him to the pavement, pinned him down, and rocketed punch after punch into his face until he died.

Taura spotted four others charging her character, switched to her .45 Shepherd, and roasted them off by drilling a single shot into a nearby gas pump. The explosion sent them flying and cooked off the other three pumps. She grinned.

"I'm not normally a violent person, but for some reason this is _really_satisfying."

"Sure is." Jack sprinted toward another enemy, knocked him down by jumping onto his back, and then rode him like a skateboard as he slid across the ground.

Corona laughed again as she took out several more with her Penetrator, then turned and found a truck driving up with a Brute riding in the bed.

"Oh, shit!" She tossed a grenade, but the Brute dismounted and charged her before it exploded. She threw a Fart in a Jar to stun him, switched to her Annihilator RPG while he and all the Luchadores around him vomited green fluid, and turned him into a flaming carcass. "Whew!"

Suddenly, her girl tumbled across the ground and her health level dropped below half. Corona's muzzle flopped open. 'What the hell?"

"Another Brute hit you from behind." Jack grinned and sprinted toward her. "Don't worry, Honey Bunny, I'll save you!"

Here we go again. Corona flicked a glance at him, but tried to keep her focus on her screen.

He whipped out his TEK Z-10 submachine gun and hosed the Brute down, setting him on fire with a hail of incendiary rounds. At the same time, Corona picked herself up and immediately bumped into the Brute and began running in circles, screaming.

"Oh, shit, you set me on fire!" She burst out laughing. "Come on, get away from that bastard!"

Her character collapsed.

"_Ack!_Somebody revive me!"

"I'm coming!" Laughing, Jack beat down two more enemies who got in his way, raced over to her, and held down the revive button.

Taura gasped. "Argh--rocket--uh, guy with rocket!"

"Specialist," Jack said as Corona's Horny Little Devil got back to her feet.

"Yeah, Specialist!" Taura's Jack-lookalike whipped out a grenade launcher and blasted a truckload of Luchadores out of the digital gene pool. Bodies catapulted from the truck and what was left of it twirled over her head and crashed into a police car.

Her wanted level for the gangs kicked up to its maximum, and at the same time she received a star on her police wanted level.

"Uh-oh. Now the cops are after us, too."

"Oh, shit!" Jack blurted. He sent his character into cover behind a trash bin. "Gimme a few seconds to regain my health."

"I'm thinkin' we're a little overwhelmed." A small army of Luchadores descended on their position, followed by the police. Corona took out her phone and skimmed through the menu. "I'm having a vehicle delivered." She selected the Saints VTOL and ran to the nearest intersection so the Homie piloting it would have enough room to land.

"Good idea." Jack selected the Saints Crusader and laughed. "Purple tank, because it's fabulous!"

Corona beat another Luchadore to death with her dildo-bat and kept an eye on the sky, waiting for the VTOL to appear. An engine roared behind her and she spun around to find another green Luchadore truck skidding to a stop with a Brute riding in the back. She threw a Molotov--which, thanks to being fully upgraded, exploded on impact and blew the truck_and_ the Brute straight to hell.

The_fabulous_ purple VTOL soared over the nearby rooftops, hovered, and then descended. She sprinted toward it as soon as it touched down--and a random car shot through the intersection and slammed into her, sending her tumbling through the air.

She snarled as she picked herself up, then she opened fire on the car, blasting out the rear window and popping the left-rear tire, and finally punching a round through the driver's head.

"Ha! See what happens, cocksucker?" She giggled as the Homie dropped to the pavement and immediately engaged the nearby cops and another wave of Luchadores. Corona climbed into the jet and lifted off.

On Jack's screen, the tank trundled up and Jack leaped onto the barrel as soon as the Homie got out of the driver's seat. Jack's character pulled herself up and ran along the barrel, dropped and slid into the seat.

"Taura, wanna take the laser?"

"On it." Grinning, she sent her character up the back of the tank to settle behind the microwave laser turret--and immediately wiped out a cluster of Luchadore trucks and police cars.

All three of their wanted levels cranked up another notch, and Jack laughed. "So, what's the plan now? Head for one of the Cribs so we can get all these guys off our backs?"

Corona giggled again. "Okay, but first, how about we see if we can get_all_ the gangs after us?"

"Hahaha! Oh, that's ambitious!" Jack made a kissy face at her. "Sounds like a plan, Honey-Bunches."

"And while we're pissing off every bad guy in Steelport, how about we talk about this sudden cute-pet-name kick you're on." A SWAT team joined the party, firing at the Luchadores as well as her and Jack and Taura. She blew them off the road with a salvo of missiles and fried the survivors with the VTOL's laser. "What's with the sudden increase, anyway?"

"What do you mean?" Jack said it in a half joking, half mocking tone that made it pretty clear that he knew exactly what she was talking about.

At the same time, Taura's brows dipped slightly and her lips pressed together.

Okay, what the hell is that_all about?_ Corona spotted a group of Deckers milling around and blew them up. Another carload of Deckers skidded around the corner and opened fire on her. She roasted them with her laser and looked at Jack again.

"I'm serious. What's going on? Did you fall on your head, or something? Developing a brain tumor?"

He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow, did a double-take, and his expression turned confused. "What...come on, you know what this is about."

"I really don't." She sighed and blew away several more Deckers. "And I swear, if you don't cut the crap, Taura will share the bed tonight and you'll be sleeping on the couch."

Taura gaped at her. "Oh, wait, it's not--"

"You seriously don't--oops, hold on." Jack fired his main cannon into an oncoming Deckers Specialist car, blowing it into the air and sending it spinning over the tank. "You seriously don't know what this is about?"

"All I know is, you've been acting weird all day. So, what's the deal?"

"Jack, she really doesn't know." Taura fried a pair of Morning Star mooks. "She didn't leave that article for you to find. I did."

"What?" He spun his head toward her.

"What article?" Corona narrowed her eyes at Jack. "What the fuck are you two talking about?"

Taura rubbed her hands over her face. "I found a manual that had a bunch of suggestions for showing affection to someone you love, strengthening your bond, and all that stuff. I copied it to one of the tablets and left it beside the coffee maker, where I knew Jack would find it." She stared glumly at her screen and fired a few half-assed beams at a pair of Morning Star cars speeding up behind the tank.

"But I thought..." Jack stared at her and turned to stare at Corona a few seconds later. "You've been harping so much on the situation with Taura, I thought you left that there as another way of nagging me to--"

"Nagging?" Corona took a breath, then pointed at his screen. "You're about to drive into the river."

He snapped his eyes back to his screen and steered away from the cliff.

"If I'm 'nagging' you, it's because I care about my friend's sanity. You_know_ what'll happen if you two don't...."

He stared at his screen rather than meet her gaze. His mouth opened and closed several times, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

"And you turned this into a joke." Corona sighed, shifted her VTOL into flight mode, and rocketed off across the sky. She set a GPS waypoint on the nearest Crib with a helipad and followed the path in the mini-map in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Jack winced and headed for the nearest Saints-owned property, which happened to be a Rim Jobs.

Corona reached her destination, landed, ran through the door, and saved her game. She released a long sigh, pushed the controller toward her screen, and stood.

"I need some air." She headed for the balcony.

"Corona, wait," Taura said softly. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not." Corona stepped through the doors and closed them behind her.

Faintly, muffled, Taura said, "I'm sorry, Jack."

"No, don't be." He sighed. "I'm an asshole. I'm the one who's sorry."

#

"No, you don't."

Taura paused in the middle of leaning over to place her pillow on the arm of the couch. She looked over at Corona, who had just stretched out on the mattress. Jack, standing beside the bed, finished pulling his shirt off and stared at Corona.

"What?" Taura faced her and waited.

"It's not fair to make you sleep on the couch every night."

Jack continued staring for a few more seconds, then he sighed and walked over to Taura. "Go ahead. I'll take the couch tonight."

"You don't have to." Corona scooted over to the edge of the mattress. "Come on, the bed's big enough for all of us."

_What?_Taura glanced back and forth between her and Jack.

Jack shook his head. "Honey..."

"What, just because we had a disagreement today, you think we have to stay mad at each other?"

"It's not--well, I just figured you'd...well..."

"We can let it go unless you want to keep it going." Corona wrapped her wings around her shoulders and turned on her side to avoid falling asleep on her tail. She patted the center of the bed and raised a brow ridge.

Jack ran a hand through his hair, sighed, shrugged, and took his pants off. He tossed his pants onto the couch and crawled into bed.

Taura's heart pounded and she took several deep breaths. "But...Corona...what if I can't control myself?"

Corona shrugged. "I reserve the right to watch the whole thing because I think it'd be fucking hot."

Jack's mouth opened in shock, making him look a bit like a suffocating fish.

"If you're sure," Taura said softly, almost whispering.

"Completely sure." Corona flicked a sidelong glance at Jack.

"Well...okay." Taura undressed, dropped her clothes on the couch, and lowered herself carefully onto the mattress. She fidgeted until she'd gotten her tail into a comfortable position. She took a breath, preparing to say goodnight--but then her hand brushed up against Jack's. Before she could stop herself, she slid her palm on top of his and closed her fingers around his hand. She had to take a few more deep breaths to calm herself.

"It's okay, Taura." Corona reached across Jack to pat her shoulder. "If you can't hold yourself back, I won't hold it against either of you. And Jack will just let it happen. Right, Jack?"

"Don't do that," Taura said. "Please. Don't force him into this." She looked at Jack. "I'll keep trying to find medication for my condition, or some other treatment for it. Until then, I'll keep myself under control as much as I can. Just..." She gave Jack's hand a gentle squeeze and slid her other palm over his chest.

A worried look crossed his face.

"Just let me have this one small comfort." She rested her head on his shoulder and let her arm remain on his chest.

"Uh...sure." Jack patted her hand.

Taura smiled and closed her eyes.

Corona draped her arm over his chest and placed her hand on Taura's. "Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight, honey. Goodnight, Taura."

"Goodnight, my friends." Somehow, she managed to keep her next thought to herself.

I love you, Jack.

#

Jack woke to the aroma of coffee and the sensation of something soft around his morning wood.

What the hell? Several seconds passed before he managed to open his eyes. At the same time, he slid his left hand over and found Corona's third of the bed unoccupied.

Oh, no. Is that...? He glanced to the left and couldn't see Corrie, but then he heard her claws clicking on the floor near the sink.

Taura's head still rested on his shoulder. He looked at her and found that she had rolled toward him a bit more and was now sleeping on her left arm. He glanced down and found her right hand loosely around his shaft.

Are you kidding me? As he continued waking up, he began wondering if Corrie had placed Taura's hand there while they slept.

Corona poured coffee into three mugs, turned around, cocked her head, and giggled. "Oh, hold on!" She darted over to her vest and pulled her phone from one of the inner pockets. She grinned and aimed its camera at him and Taura.

"No!" Jack grasped Taura's wrist and moved it off him, slid out from under her, rolled over, and pushed himself to his feet.

"Damn it." Corona sighed and shoved the phone back into her pocket.

"That's not funny," Jack grumbled.

"Bleah." Corrie shrugged and returned to the counter. She handed him one of the mugs and pointed at the tablet beside the coffee maker. "Got a couple messages from Machiko. Good news--Hoshi found a nest of those venomous rats and took care of it. We won't have to worry about that anymore."

"That's a relief." Jack sighed and took a sip.

"Yeah, Taura will be as glad to hear it as I was." Corona sipped her own coffee, glanced down, and grinned. "Looks like you're ready to go."

"Huh?"

She wrapped her talons gently around his erection.

He laughed, but backed away from her. "Come on, I'm waiting for it to subside so I can take my morning piss."

She giggled, swatted his ass, and turned to the fridge. "Anyway, Machiko said Hoshi found something while hunting for those rat thingies that might've led her to another investigation. She didn't say what it was, though."

Jack shrugged, yawned, and had another sip of his coffee.

"There was another message from the boss," Corona said as she took milk, eggs, and some veggies from the fridge and sausage and bacon from the freezer. "Said she's just about got our situation resolved, and we can head back to the office and start our evals and training this afternoon."

"Aw, hell, I was just getting used to the idea of having a few days off."

"Me, too. But at least she's not making us start before we're completely awake."

"Fair point." He yawned again, put his coffee on the table, and headed for the bathroom. "Guess I'll hit the shower."

"Okay. Breakfast should be ready by the time you're done, assuming I don't burn it like I usually do."

"Nah, you've been improving a lot, lately. You'll do fine." He smiled, blew her a kiss, and stepped into the bathroom. After he finished, he pulled a change of clothes from his duffel bag. Taura rolled onto her back as he passed the mattress, grimaced, and rubbed her shoulder.

"Ow." She rubbed the backs of her hands across her eyes, yawned, and sat up. Her eyes opened wider and she grimaced and hoisted herself up abruptly. "Ow! My tail doesn't bend that way."

"Oh, damn, are you okay?" Jack put his clothes on hastily to avoid over-stimulating her any more than she already was.

"Will be, in a few minutes." She rubbed her tail and winced.

Jack picked up one of the coffee cups and carried it to her.

"Oh, thank you." She smiled, sipped it, and then took a longer drink.

Corona carried two plates over to the table, returned for the third, sat on the couch and tucked her feet under her. "Here we go. Omelettes with maple sausage--pork, not beef--bacon, cheddar, tomatoes, green peppers, sweet onions, and olives, with toast. And I managed to _not_fuck it up, this time."

"It looks and smells wonderful." Jack kissed her before sitting beside her.

"Yes, just looking at it has made me hungry." Taura grinned, fired up the holofield, and loaded one of the bookmarked web pages. Otto and Shakira appeared, and Taura perched on the arm of the couch and began eating.

"This is gonna be a shorter video than normal," Shakira said. "We're still feeling the effects of those peppers we ate yesterday."

"I don't think it hit me as hard as it hit you, but still." Otto shook his head. "I keep feeling like it's trying to come back up."

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna be fucked up for a while. As bad as the habanero was going in, it's a thousand times worse coming out."

"Wow, really?" Otto's eyes widened. "Guess I might have that to look forward to, then."

"Like I said yesterday, it felt like a swarm of wasps was having a hate-filled orgy in my throat. Then it moved to my stomach. And on from there." Shakira held her belly and released a slow breath. "I feel like I shat molten lava this morning."

Otto snickered. "Never doing this again, right?"

"Oh,fuck no!" She laughed. "I sure learned my lesson."

"Same here. Guess we should've expected this after watching those videos."

"Well, I figured some of them were exaggerating. Not anymore."

"What's_really_ horrifying in those videos is, there were dipshits who ate two habaneros before reading the headlines."

"One's enough for me. Goddamn." She took another deep breath and let it rush out. "Well, what sorts of sick shit has been going on in the city since yesterday?"

Otto poked at his laptop's screen and grinned. "Well, checking the police blotter is always a good way to start off the day. Or, in this case, try to recover one's equilibrium after taking a morning dump that burns with the force of a thousand suns."

"Guh." Shakira reached off-screen, grabbed a bottle of Maalox, twisted the cap off and chugged.

Otto grinned and looked back to his laptop. "First off, we've got a guy who heard gunshots and called the police. They took a thorough look around, didn't find any bullet holes or spent shell casings outside, but then one of them noticed bullet holes in the wall between the kitchen and his bedroom. She found nothing until she checked inside the oven--and found a pistol on the middle rack, pointing at the back of the oven."

"Oh, you're kidding." Shakira facepalmed.

"Nope. The officer also found bullet holes in the back of the oven that matched those in the wall, and spent casings on the bottom of the oven. Quite understandably, this made her just a bit curious, so she questioned the guy who reported the gunshots. Turns out he stored the gun in the oven and eventually forgot it was there."

"Oh, no," Shakira muttered, shaking her head.

"Oh, yes. He decided to cook something for breakfast, and started the oven heating up while he prepared whatever he was having. The gun, naturally, heated up until the ammo cooked off. The cops were amazed no one was hurt, especially the gun's owner."

"People like him are the reason the Darwin Awards exist."

Corona shook her head and aimed a dumbstruck look at Jack. "Even after hearing about all your former customers, I still can't believe anyone can be that stupid."

"Oh, I can believe it. The stupidity I told you about barely scratched the surface."

"That's frightening." Corona chuckled and resumed eating.

Jack took another bite of his omelette and smiled. "This is delicious. You did a great job on it, babe."

"Aw, thanks!"

They continued eating and watching their friends go over the morning's headlines. Once finished, they put their plates on the table and waited for the video to finish. When it did, Taura stood and stretched.

"I suppose I should take a shower before we have to go back to work. See you in a few minutes."

Jack watched her walk into the bathroom, unable to pull his gaze from her body. Wowza. When the door closed, he shook his head quickly and tried to cut off the flow of thoughts that had suddenly started flowing through his mind. To focus on something else, he decided to take the plates over to the sink and wash them.

Corona stood, stretched, and opened the doors to the balcony. She stepped into the sunshine, spread her wings, and took in a slow, deep breath.

Jack joined her after he finished the dishes. He leaned on the rail and smiled as she stood, eyes closed and smiling, the sunlight making her scales glisten.

"I'm starting to like this place," she said softly, opening her eyes and taking a slow look around. "It's quiet, it's private, and there are no buildings blocking out the sky. Could use some grass and trees, but as it is, it's growing on me."

"Yeah, me too. Maybe we'll get to stay here for a while. Or if we have to move out soon, maybe we can find another place around here."

"I think I'd like that." She put her arm around his shoulders and curled her tail around his waist.

He smiled, slipped his arm around her, and gazed out across the gravelly landscape. He lost track of time as the minutes passed, until Taura stepped out onto the balcony, wearing only a towel wrapped around her middle section. As tall as she was, the towel almost didn't cover everything that needed to be covered.

Jack tried to keep his eyes pointed at their surroundings and not her nearly-exposed parts.

"There must be something fascinating out here." Taura chuckled.

"We figured we should spend some time taking everything in." Corona smiled at her. "Just enjoy a little sunshine and peace and quiet while we can. Who knows when we'll have another chance."

"Too true." Taura nodded.

Jack gradually lost himself in the scenery again. There was something about this area...a stillness in the air that he never knew existed anywhere in the city. It was actually more pleasant than some of the parks he'd visited, simply because there were no people in sight.

Even if we don't end up living here, we'll have to come back whenever we have a chance. Maybe have a picnic on the roof of an abandoned warehouse, or something.

His phone vibrated and he twitched.

Corona giggled.

He dug his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. "Just got a reminder from the boss. Guess it's time to go find out what kinds of lethal situations we're about to be thrown into."

"You always have such a sunny outlook." Corona grinned and squeezed his ass before stepping back into the loft. "Guess I should put some clothes on before we leave."

"Such a shame, but yeah, that might make it easier to get into the office without someone bitching to the cops." Jack laughed and stroked her tail before she was out of reach. He followed her inside and took his guns out of his duffel bag. He slipped the holsters on, checked the ammo in each gun, and made sure the safeties were on.

In the corner of his eye, Taura let her towel fall to the floor, brushed her still-damp hair away from her face, and turned toward him while taking clothes from her bag. He had to force himself not to stare.

Oh, boy. She's really cranking it up a few notches._He tried to keep his breathing steady as he put his duster on. _This is just too weird...but I don't know how much longer I can keep finding excuses to say no.

Corona finished putting on her shorts and armored vest, filled her pockets with over a dozen weapons, and let out a quick sigh.

"Well, at least now our lives will get back to normal."

Jack almost snorted as he headed for the stairs.

Normal. That's a good one.