FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Adrian impatiently tucked a stray lock of hair behind his ear. Somehow, it always seemed to escape the tie that held the rest of his hair in a simple ponytail. At the sound of the door, his paw snapped up the pistol on the console, leveling it at the noise. He set it back down as his eyes registered who had opened the door, turning to once again impatiently stare at the screen before him.

"Calm down, Kitty. How we doing?"

"Call me that again, Kevin. I dare you."

The cheetah raised his eyebrows. "Something wrong?"

"Five minutes, my ass. I think this thing's only half done. That avian bastard--"

"Came highly recommended. It'll work."

"How much time do we have?"

"Ten minutes. Our distraction did its work, and now they're stuck in traffic."

"Eyes on?"

The cheetah nodded. "We'll get this, boy-o. Don't worry so much."

Adrian growled softly. He didn't care for Kevin's endearments at the best of times, never mind that they were in the middle of an operation. Resisting the urge to fire a warning shot over the cheetah's head, he kept his eyes on the screen, tracking the progress of the hacking program given to them by their "highly recommended" avian contact. With apparent insider information, he had promised them faster access than a conventional bypass. Speed was crucial to the success of the operation, so the tiger had reluctantly used the chip rather than hacking the system himself. Now, Adrian was doubting the word of their contact.

"Looks fine to me."

The voice came from right over Adrian's shoulder. He started visibly, glaring at Kevin. The cheetah's ability to move without a sound was incredibly useful during their operations, but damned if it weren't annoying when he used it to sneak up on Adrian.

"Don't push me, Lindstrong."

Kevin backed off. Adrian only used his surname when he was extremely pissed.

Adrian and Kevin stood in silence, frustrated and companionable, respectively. Finally, the computer beeped. "About fucking time," muttered the tiger. Bringing a paw up to his earpiece, he articulated more audibly, "Sharp here. We're in."

Both the tiger and cheetah heard the response. "Right on time, Sharp. Open her up, take what you want, and take out the trash before you go."

"Aye." Glad of the chance to finally do something, Adrian accessed the security system, unlocking every door in the building. Subconsciously, he recognized that the program finished running at four minutes, fifty-eight seconds. Suppressing his annoyance that the avian had been right, he scrolled through the various protocols present in the system, taking note of what they were and various ways to get around them. He also grabbed every file that looked interesting or useful from their database and downloaded it to his own chip. There was no way he'd trust the files to a chip provided by someone else, especially someone he didn't even know. After cleaning out their network, he sent a virus through the system, destroying the data and any indication as to how they took over the system. The virus was his own creation, and Adrian was rather proud of it. By the time it was through, they'd be lucky to have a single one or zero still in place.

As he retrieved both his and the avian's chips, he felt a slap on the back. "See?" the cheetah grinned. "Told you it would work out."

"Why don't you take that grin and shove it right up your ass."

Kevin's only response was to give Adrian another slap on the back. "See you on the other side, bud."

Adrian watched Kevin slip out, quieter than the soft whisper of the door sliding open. Shaking his head, he grabbed his pistol, sliding it back into the holster on his left hip. He made his own exit, not through the door Kevin had just left through, but rather out the way he had come: the window. Grabbing the line he had left dangling, he pulled himself up to the roof, paw over paw. Having gained the roof, he gathered the rope up, placing the coil in a pouch on his belt. The tiger took a moment to scan the roof. Seeing he was still alone, he went to the north side, observing the street. Everything was still good. Guess Kevin was right. The distraction worked well.

"All right, team, we have what we came for. Head for your exfil points."

Giving the north one last look, Adrian headed to the west wall. Eschewing all normal ways down to ground level, he swung over the edge and clung to the drainpipe. He made his way down as quickly as was prudent, unfazed by the height or the possibility of slipping. When his feet made contact with the ground, he quickly made his way to the west wall. It wasn't too hard of a climb for the tiger, and he was quickly on the other side. Moments later, he was in a ground car, shedding his specialist gear and storing it in a backpack. In no time at all, he was driving away, part of normal traffic flow. Another job well done.

*

Adrian stepped out of the bathroom, not even bothering with a towel to cover himself after his shower. "You know, Kev, if you keep coming to visit me on the job, we're going to get kicked out of this outfit. You have to focus."

Kevin was lounging on the sofa in their shared apartment. Apparently he had decided clothing was superfluous while Adrian was in the shower as he too was as naked as the day he was born. "Everything was fine. I was assigned to making sure the building was clear, and it was. Save for some kitty playing on a computer on the sixth floor."

Adrian's growl did nothing to dampen Kevin's demeanor. In fact, it never did, but that never stopped the tiger. His annoyance at Kevin's various nicknames for him wasn't feigned. "I still doubt that Piers was amused to find you slacking off."

"Why would he have to know? I'm a Ghost, remember?"

Adrian shook his head. He didn't appreciate Kevin's flippancy about the job. He knew the cheetah was incredibly competent but thought Kevin could use a dose of seriousness while on the job.

Kevin apparently noticed Adrian's mood. "Come on, A, everything went fine, we got paid well, and you look delicious."

"Kev--"

"Has totally been looking forward to this since he heard the water running. Can't you tell?"

Adrian sighed, not really upset. It'd been a while for him too. He gave up fighting with his friend and put off thoughts of his empty stomach. Even when walking Adrian into his bedroom, Kevin made no sound. Adrian grinned slightly. He knew Kevin wouldn't be so silent in a minute.

*

"I don't like the sound of this."

Adrian came out of his bedroom groggily. His tired eyes made out the blurry image of Kevin on the phone. He rubbed his arm across his eyes, trying to wipe away some of his lethargy.

"I don't know about this. Something seems off."

Adrian peered through the black strands forming a curtain between his eyes and the living room. Tiredly, he pushed his hair back out of his vision. It seemed way too early in the morning for a phone call.

"Well, I don't think he's--oh, wait, he's up. Fine, you can see what he thinks."

Kevin had apparently just noticed Adrian in the room. Tossing the phone to the tiger, Kevin mouthed, "Piers."

Confused, and still more than a little tired, Adrian lifted the phone to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Sharp, it's Leo. I'm calling about a job I want you and Ghost on."

Adrian tiredly ran a paw through his hair. In his opinion, it was too early in the morning to be thinking of a job. "What sort of job?"

"Retrieval. We could use your particular expertise. I know Ghost said he wasn't really feeling this, but, to be honest, we just need you. I understand you guys are usually a pair, though, and Ghost would save me having to find another man for the job."

"What's the score?"

"This sort of follows from our last job. I know you're good with computers, and I think you could use some of the information you picked up last month. The job would be at grid 36 by 42, relative."

Adrian took a while to remember exactly where that was. His brain was still functioning at only half capacity. When it came to him, he could think of one reason Kevin wouldn't like the job. "Risk?"

"I've got some solid information. Shouldn't be too bad, though of course your pay would be higher than last time. I understand some of the stigmas of working in that region."

Adrian interpreted some of the code Piers was giving him. In-formation meant he had a contact on the inside. And he was confident enough with the source to call it solid. Adrian wasn't getting the uneasy feeling Kevin obviously had. Sure, it would be tough, but they were seasoned pros. They'd handled stuff like this before.

"What sort of information are we talking?"

"You know I can't go into detail on the phone. Need a secure line, you understand."

Adrian's eyes widened. He had a contact with their security? No wonder he wanted to do a job there, despite working the same company just last month.

"You think this is the sort of job I'd be open to?"

"Preferable, I think, but not necessarily. Heights would be involved."

"Details?"

"I can drop them off. The usual time would work, I assume?"

"It would." Adrian looked up at Kevin. He was confused to see that the cheetah was shaking his head. "Can I call you back after talking to my partner?"

"Sure, if you feel the need. Remember, though, the offer's open to you even if Ghost would prefer not to. Of course, we'd love to have him too, but..."

"I understand. I'll get back to you. The usual way."

"Talk to you soon, I hope, Sharp."

"See ya, Leo."

Adrian ended the call, collapsing into the armchair in the living room. He let his head loll over the back of the chair. Kevin chuckled at the sight of the normally alert tiger taking such a lazy pose. "Tired much?"

"It's way too early in the morning for this shit."

"Phone wake you?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry you didn't get your beauty sleep, princess."

Adrian was rather miffed that Kevin caught the phone before it smacked against his chest.

"You aren't thinking of taking the job, are you?"

Even in his tired state, Adrian noticed the shift in Kevin's voice. No longer playful, he seemed now nervous, almost afraid. It was unlike the cheetah to be so hesitant about a job. Normally the feline was much more gung ho.

"Why not? He's got insider information, and it should pay well."

"He told me that it would be at least double the pay of the last one."

Adrian's eyes widened. "That's a good amount of money."

"Yeah."

Adrian noticed the way Kevin trailed off. "So what's the problem?"

Kevin threw himself on the couch. "I don't know. Something just seems off about it. The way he was talking about it. And that's a dangerous place."

"We've cracked tougher nuts."

"I know." Kevin sounded unsure of his assessment.

Adrian hesitated before voicing his next thought. "You know, if you don't like it, I could go alone. The pay--"

"Fuck no!" Adrian, tough as he was, flinched at the vehemence in Kevin's voice. "You think I would let you go alone when I have a feeling about it? If you want to do this, I'll be dogging you every step of the way."

"Uh, cheetah's are felines, not--"

"Shove it, wiseguy."

Adrian lost his grin. "You really don't like this?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just being irrational." Kevin looked up at Adrian. "You want to do it?"

"Well, the pay would be really nice."

Kevin looked torn. "I'll let you decide. If you want to, I'm in."

Adrian rested his chin on his paw. He didn't see what Kevin's problem with the job was. And the pay would keep them going for a while, free to pick what jobs they wanted. Besides, after Konmer, what couldn't they handle?

"Let's do it."

*

Adrian was reviewing the contents of the dead drop when Kevin walked into their apartment. "So," he asked without looking up, "how'd the date go?"

"Not well." Kevin flopped down onto the couch next to Adrian. "She's not awful, but she's a needy bitch."

"I thought you said she was fun before."

"Yeah, but that was before I knew how clingy she was. You know me, A, I don't do needy. Not only is our work not good for it, I just don't have the patience for it."

Adrian brushed aside thoughts of a past flame who had called him too needy. "Sorry it didn't work out."

"Meh. I'm in no rush. Hey," the cheetah looked over with interest, "didn't you have a date last week? You never said how it went."

"Wasn't much of a date. We had some fun, but we both knew it wasn't something that would last."

"Why not?"

Adrian shrugged, finally turning away from the intelligence scattered across the table. He had given up on work while the cheetah was being so inquisitive.

"I don't know. Just one of those things. Fun person to be around, but I don't think our personalities would match too well in the long term."

"What's this?" Kevin picked up a datapad.

"The dead drop."

"Ah." Adrian noticed Kevin's ears drooped.

"You sure you're all right about this?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine." Kevin's ears perked up again, but Adrian could tell it was an effort. "I can see why he wants you." He was looking at the datapad with more interest. "This is right up your alley."

Adrian hoped that Kevin's misgivings would be relieved by the data they had. He had gone over most of it and had come up with no reason that this job should be any worse than any of the others they had done in the past.

They spent the rest of the evening going over the contents of the dead drop, and Adrian started some preparatory work on the hacks he would need for the job. Despite being engrossed in his work, he noticed that Kevin's mood did not improve over the course of the evening. Some of the cheetah's worry was starting to rub off on Adrian, but he didn't let it get to him. He focused on his work until the early hours, as was his custom. Kevin had already been in bed for a couple hours by the time he retired to his bedroom, which wasn't anything unusual. However, Adrian noticed the cheetah still didn't look happy about the job. He dismissed idle thoughts from his mind. Nothing felt wrong to him. Besides, they were both very good at their jobs. They could handle a few surprises, he was sure.