FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Nathan Grey, Sara Smoke, Mike Zoe, Eren Boro, Flora Black, John White and all other characters in this chapter is copyrighted by Natani Grey. If you wish to use any characters please contact me asking so. Thank You.

Chapter 2

Who am I?

Fifteen Years Later

A lone human sat in a small café sipping at his coffee while listening to the jazz that was playing. Today was a special day for Nathan S. Black it was his eighteenth birthday, today was the day that he could be free from his parent. Flora was proud that her son had turned out like this but today was also a day that Nathan had waited for as long as he could remember, today his mother would tell him where his father went.

When he was ten Nathan asked how come he never saw his father, the question struck Flora hard. Flora had dreaded the day Nathan would ask that, in an attempt to spare the boy of grief she told him she would tell him everything when he turned nineteen.

'No more waiting, mom said you were a great person but she never went into details...now it's time to learn the truth.' A voice called him back from his trance.

"Excuse me?" Nathan turned to see a male tiger Xerlian facing him. "Are you okay sir?" He asked again, with a heavy sigh Nathan got up and walked towards the tiger. "Mike for the final time you don't have to call me sir, we've friends long enough for that right?" the tiger name Mike with a smile he nodded his head and offered another cup of coffee.

"No thank you, anyway when do you plan come over to my place and relax?" Mike's face fell and Nathan instantly regretted asking that question.

"You know better than anyone that Xerlians are not allowed in your neighborhood." Nathan patted Mike on his back feeling sorry for the tiger.

Mike Zoe had always been a close friend with Nathan. When his was eight a group of humans cornered him and began to bully him. Laws say that he couldn't hit another human no matter what. That's when Nathan came in, Nathan was by no means strong but somehow he ended the fight and won even though he was bruised and bloodied like Mike. Nathan sneaked Mike back to his place and his mother cleaned him up and seen him home.

"Meet me at the local park at six, I have an idea." Mike sighed in defeat knowing that nothing he says now was going to change his friends mind. Mike and Nathan said their good byes as Nathan left. Once outside he pulled out his phone, punching in some numbers the tone began to ring.

"Hello," a female voice rang from the other side.

"Sara, I need something from you." Nathan stated plainly. A sigh could be heard and a pause of silence.

"How come I knew you would be calling today? Don't tell me, find a way to get Mike and Eren to your place again?" Sara Smoke was a human that had a knack for getting into trouble with Nathan. They meet each other during the elementary school years and became close friends. Nathan was never really social so when Sara approached him he turned her away or just ignored her. After time Nathan accepted her as a real friend and let hell loose in their school.

"You know me well, yes I need you to set something for him to get to my place." Nathan was sure that Sara had everything already in place but he had to make sure.

"Everything is set, the west gate will be cleared when needed, though that makes two now." If Sara were there she would be grinning. Nathan or Nate as his friends called him had already owed Sara for saving his skin from when he got caught with stolen tech but now he owes two.

"When are you going to ask for a favor?" Nathan asked jokingly, he knew that Sara like torturing him about what he owed.

"When I feel like it. Anyways see you at the party is Eren going to be there?" Nathan had almost forgotten about him and for a moment felt guilty.

"I was going to call him after you. Anyways I will tell Mike to meet at the West gate at six. See you soon." A click was heard and Nathan began dialing another number, again it rang for a moment until,

"Eh bro what's up?" a deep male voice came up.

"Nothing much how's business on your end Eren?" Eren Boro was a fox Xerlian and to say that matched him was an understatement. Eren was the underground dealer of the city from drugs to techs he's got them but he has trouble hiding his trail.

Three Years Earlier

_ "Here you go gentlemen, a fifty pound of cannabis, top quality!" a proud fox Xerlian stood before two humans baring a wide grin._

_ "Good take this to the truck Eli," one of the humans instructed._

_ "So...where's my money?" Eren asked as his paws clasped together greedily. A chuckle could be heard as the guy how ordered Eli away reached behind him._

_ In an instant Eren pulled out his gun and had it cocked, aimed at the human in front of him._

_ "Tsk-tsk-tsk, that's why I hate doing business with you humans, so greedy that you fail to realize that it will be your down fall." The human slowly raised his hands before a slight chuckle escape his lips._

_ "What's so funny? You've lost and once your friend realize that I gave you nothing but old salad he has to come back for the real thing." Eren felt as though he was the best until a cocking noise caught his ear._

_ "Let me repeat what you said. 'This is why I hate doing business with Xerlians they are stupid enough to underestimate us humans.'" Eren turned to see the human name Eli holding a shotgun to his head._

_ "You were right boss, its nothing but old veg, you're sure this is the guy though Sam?" the boss name Sam scolded Eli for his doubts. They while they were busy arguing Eren made a dash for it._

_ "Hey! After him! Don't let him get away!" Eli ran after Eren followed by Sam. A minute pass by though it felt like hours but then Eren slipped on some mud and fell. Soon both human were beating down on the fox._

_ "How distaste full, I come here to find a great dealer but instead find a cowering pup." Eren's vision was blurred but he made out a human figure approaching them._

_ "Who the hell are you?" Sam Demanded_

_ "Nobody, just someone looking for someone." The figure finally came into the streetlight enough to make out that he was a student._

_ "Student's should be home studying not out the streets this late." Eli approached the student with shotgun in hand._

_ "How about you go home before mommy cries over your dead body." Eli threated, the student turned his head and stared at Eren._

_ "Hey there, your Eren Boro right? I was wondering if you have something that I could buy, it's called the XR3 engine, and I'll pay any price for it." The student walked pass Eli towards the crouched fox on the ground._

_ "Hehehe...get me out of this and I will give it to you for free, deal?" Eren grinned at the human but half of him suspected he was all talk._

_ "Sweet, I'm Nathan, Nathan Black." With that Nathan stood up and turned to the other humans._

_ "Please leave this guy here alone?" Nathan asked, Eli and Sam gave a questioning look then pointed their guns at him._

_ "How about you leave!" Sam demanded with a sigh Nathan turned and was about to leave when he pulled out his homework and threw it at them. For a moment Sam and Eli couldn't see anything when a fist made contact to Eli's face._

_ "What the f-"Sam was swept under his feet knocking him back. Nathan took the shotgun from the unconscious Eli and aimed it at Sam._

_ "Ssshhhh, don't want to wake the neighbors." Nathan butted Sam and he soon joined Eli unconscious on the ground_

_ "Dammit, my clothes are now dirty. Oh well," Nathan stood up and tried to dust off the dirt before heading back to Sam who was screaming in pain._

_ "I have top grades and can stay out as long as I like." Nathan spat on the screaming human and helped Eren to his feet._

_ "So about that XR3 engine...free?" Eren was speechless, was he some kind of psychopath. He just knocked out two humans and all he worries about is the engine._

_ With a chuckle Eren felt like he could trust this guy, besides he owes him his life. "Yes free. Come on I have a washer back at my place to clean up." Nathan smiled and followed the fox back to his place._

Present

_ _"You know, some good deals some sour but your current network has stopped the police from tracking me down." Nate smile hearing his friend had made use of his programs.

"Nate, isn't it your birthday today?" Eren already knew about June 23rd but was asking anyways.

"Yeah today I turn eighteen, you down to go to my party?" Nathan asked as he got a cigarette from a small box in his breast pocket.

"So you want me to bring some beer or liquor?" Eren always had on hand top shelf liquor but Nathan was not really the drinking type, even Eren was a lightweight, but it was always fun to have everyone join in the celebrations.

"If you want, the place is going to be my home my mother is making the foods and drinks." Nathan felt proud of his mother, she had always cared for him and was never too harsh when he did wrong, she was also very understanding and allowed others even the Xerlians to come over and hang out.

"Anyways, I need some more parts, it's for Mike." Nathan explained to Eren. Both Nathan and Eren know about Mike's mad inventing spree, though not all his inventions work, some even blow up causing fire to the surroundings.

"You got to tell that guy that one of these days he will get arrested because he blow something important up." Nathan gave a slight laugh and put out his smoke.

"Anyway tonight at six, meet me and Mike at the west gates" Nathan had to make sure that Eren wouldn't forget.

"Yeah." With that they said their good byes and both hung up, Nathan headed back into the café to tell Mike to meet up with him at the west gates, once everything was done he began wandering about the city enjoying the snow fall and how simple life was.

The day went on rather uneventful though there were some small rumors about government forces roaming the area but Nathan paid little mind to it, 'What does the government need from me, though they might be after Eren and his business, better warn him later to stay low.' It was now time to start heading back, and get ready for the party.

Nathan head to the west gate and meet up with Sara, she was carrying her laptop as always and next to here where two tall, hooded figures.

'Dammit Sara that doesn't look suspicious at all!' Nathan rushed over to them quickly to get those two in before anyone sees but oddly enough there were no cars or anyone in general around. Finally reaching the three it took time for Nathan to catch his breath, he was never one for sports or exercise.

"Dammit Sara, won't you think two hooded figures standing by a gate looks weird?" Nate demanded but Sara only shrugged it off before plugging her laptop to the gates computer.

"Fortunately for you I can just make it so that the gate accepts Xerlian passes as well as human passes." The gate operates by allowing only one being in at a time, you would wave your security pass over the scanner and that's it. Every building or home has one it was now common technology but it separated the humans from the Xerlians.

"Done and in record time too!" Sara unplugged her laptop and placed it back in her bag while everyone else waved their pass and went in the gate.

"Hey Nate..." Eren asked quietly while nervously glancing around.

"I know there is no activity here, the place feels empty almost." Nathan glanced over Mike who nodded his head in confirmation. Mike took the lead, when you're in a predator or prey situation, its best to rely on instinct of a good predator.

Sara was the only one who had no idea what was going on though she could tell something bad was going to happen. When everyone arrived at Nathans apartment they instantly noticed that the door was kicked door, _'Why didn't the alarm go off and how come no one is calling the police'_all these question whirled in Nathan's brain but the one that stood out the most was where was his mother?

As they entered the building the place was destroyed, there were some slash marks made by knifes and even bullet holes in the walls Nathan stood there in utter shock, so Eren decided to lead for now.

"Mike go with Sara to the data bank, we have security cameras so it should show us what happened. Nathan your with- Nathan?" Eren turned around to see Nate kneeling on the ground examining something.

"Nate, what's wrong." Nate slowly turned around with petrified eyes as he held a piece of shirt that had bloodstains on it.

"Mother was wearing this shirt early in the morning." Nathan barely chocked out. Eren knew that Nathan was a smart, smarter than anyone he knew but was also a very emotional person. Placing his paw on his best friends shoulder he tried calm him down.

"Don't worry it's just a piece of rag, she is still alive and fine." Eren stared intently into Nate's eyes.

"Eren, Nate come here," Mike shouted from down the hallway. Both Eren and Nate sprinted towards where their friends where only to find them watching the security feeds.

"Nate, I'm so sorry." Nathan didn't know what was going on until Sara played back the entire video.

Earlier when Nate saw the Government Forces at the apartments (inside one of the vehicles)

_ _ "Alright we do this clean and fast, grab the target and bring her with us, she is not to be harmed in anyway. General needs her alive, understood?" a group of soldiers saluted.

_ The government and local police forces has cleared the apartment complex so no witness when the trucked arrived every soldier got into position awaiting signal._

_ Flora was cooking up some of the party trays when screeches of tires caught her attention. Flora gently placed the blow of batter down and chanced a look out the window, gasping at the amount of soldiers surrounding the building she knew they had been found._

_ Flora instantly ran to her room and pulled out the metal case that had been sealed for the past 15 years, running back to her son's room she pushed the bed aside and began ripping the bottom bed frame and hide the case before putting the bed back._

_ Flora figures that if there is some bloodstains on the bed Nathan might investigate some more, there were no security cameras in personal room for privacy so it was her only hope of him finding the case._

_ She ran back to the kitchen and pulled out a knife before making a cut on her hand smearing the blood on his bed. That was she heard the front door being broken down._

_ She hid in the doorway readying her nerves for the next move. She paid close attention to the nearest footsteps. When she guess it was close enough she lunged from her hiding spot and was able to stab one soldier but the sound of him hitting the ground alerted the others and the rest came rushing in to help their fallen comrade and to restrain the target._

_ Kicking and screaming Flora tried her best to free herself in the process she was able to free one of her arms and grabbed a soldier firearm firing off the bullets as it randomly hit walls, furniture and one soldier._

_ "Sedatives quickly!" ordered one of the officers before anything else Flora felt a pin prick and her world faded._

Present Time

_ _ Nathan watched in horror as the remaining forces dragged his mother and the two fallen soldiers out the door. Nathan's friends stood behind him as the video ended, silence engulfed the room and for a moment no one wanted to say anything.

"Nathan, what's going on?" Mike finally broke the silence between them. Nate stared back at his friends with empty eyes failing to say a single word.

"He doesn't know he's been out this entire time. Secondly these are not normal police gear they are government military, top grade quality." Eren began to play back the images of the attack.

"Enough Eren there is no point play those videos but to hurt Nathan even more." Sara was about to turn off the monitor but something caught Nate's eye.

"Wait!" Nate pushed through Sara and Eren as he played back a specific part of the video; his mother was carrying something into his room.

"There, she went into my room carrying a box or something but she came out without it, plus they looked like they knew she was here and captured her." Nate pointed out, as the others watched closely to Nate's mother carrying what appears to be a metal case to Nathan's room and comes charging out with knife in hand attacking one of the soldiers.

"Well let's go see what that was then, maybe it will give us something to work with." Mike suggested as he finally turned off the video. Everyone was now on high alert, there was no telling if there were still forces in the area. They didn't have any weapons on them so they had to make use of a broken chair leg and bats.

"There," Nate pointed out to his room, even though his friends knew where his room was they felt foreign in this situation. As everyone turned into the room they saw a good amount of blood on the mattress. Shock and panic once again begin to consume Nate but this time he pushed it down.

'No, now's not the time to freak out, find mother and make sure she's safe. That's your goal' Nate began to look through his belongings to try and find what his mother was carrying in the video.

"Help me here, we need to find that box." Everyone gave a look before sorting through Nate's belongs.

"Bro you need to clean you room out more often." Eren tried to raise the mood and it seemed to work as Nate and Sara laughed a bit to his little joke.

"Hey what's this?" Mike pulled out a magazine and began to flip through it just as Nate realizes what he was looking at.

"Hey give that back man!" Nate jumped at Mike who just side step resulting in Nate falling on the bed.

Eren and Sara gathered around Mike to see what he was looking at. Eren was red as tomatoes, Sara was trying to ignore it and Mike was grinning at Nathan.

"Never knew you were into female Xerlian felines." Mike said suggestively. Nate was now both embarrassed and angry.

"We're here to find whatever my mother was holding in her last minutes not to gaze at naked females!" Nate shot up but as he did an odd noise came from his bed, the sound of metal scraping against metal.

Everyone noticed this and Mike pocketed the magazine as he and everyone else watched Nate pushed his bed off its frame. Nestled inside the frame was a metal brief case. Everyone was staring at it for a while as though it would come to life and reveal what was going on to but they knew better.

Nathan slowly picked up the case noting the burnt marks and how worn it was. He could even make out the recent handprints from his mother. Mike was just about to ask what was it when footsteps were heard coming in the front door. Quickly Nathan pushed the case to Sara and went to his closet. Opening it as silently as possible he grabbed a set of swords.

"Do you even know how to use those?" Mike asks quietly as Nathan handed each one of them a sword.

_"Not really, I've taken some classes but these are more for decorations than anything, but the blades are sharp."_Nathan drew out the blade and glanced at his reflection while Eren and Mike did the same.

"We don't even know how many are out there!" Mike was panicking as the footsteps intensified. Eren ran his paw over his blade and placed the sheath down.

"Mike you play games a lot right?" Mike hesitantly nodded his head.

"Sword fighting games right?" again Mike nodded his head.

"Than pretend this is a game and if you die you lose. It's simple." Nathan stood up and joined Eren next to the doorway motioning for Mike to do the same. It was hard to describe but when comparing real life action to game actions it gave Mike a little trill.

"Check that room, we have to find the case and head back to HQ." one of the soldier commanded as two sets began to sound distant the third came closer to Nate's room. Eren put down his sword and grabbed a t-shirt laying on the floor gesturing to Nathan and Mike about what he's going to do, with a plan made they waited.

Just as the soldier came in the room he noticed Sara holding the case but just as he was going to call the others Eren jumped on him and tied the shirt around his mouth so he doesn't scream. Nathan went for the gun and Mike cut down on the guy's abdomen. As he continued to struggle he lost more and more blood, slowly he fading and was soon dead on the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

All three of them stared at the corpse and felt sick but a voice focused them back on their task.

"Did, you find anything?" a voice called out from the kitchen as the sound of the fridge being close was heard.

Everyone panicked for a moment until, "I don't know come check this out." Eren faked a voice and prayed he would buy it.

"Alright I'm coming, dam idiots can't tell if what they have what we're looking for." A sigh was released as Nate ran to his mother's room across the hall from his. Waiting for the soldier to come into view Nate ran forward running his blade through the guys back. Unfortunately the soldier was able to set off a couple rounds that resulted in the last soldier running towards them.

In a panic Eren grabbed the rifle of the dead corpse and shot it at the last enemy, even though he was dead Eren emptied the rest of the clip. It was odd; Eren had committed criminal deeds before but never killed anyone. He felt sick; turning to his friends they all wore the same expression. Sara slowly came out and stared at the corpses.

"We should get out of here. We don't know if there's more coming." All the males were in a current state of shock but agreed nonetheless. Nate went back into his room and pulled the rifle from one of the corpse along with any extra ammo he could find. Mike and Eren soon followed and grabbed whatever they could use to defend themselves.

"We shouldn't go to our places, people will see the blood and there could be witnesses." Sara said as she approached her friends and current protectors noting that they had some bloodstains on their cloths. There was silence until Eren started to walk away.

"Follow me I have a hiding spot underground not too far from her." Eren wave as the rest followed. They followed Eren to the park and were now at an entrance of one of the flood lines for the park.

"You can't be serious." Sara looked into the darkness of the pipe.

"Come on, there is not going to be a flood anytime soon and it's not like the sewers were it smells bad," there was a brief pause before he added, "It's slightly bad though." Everyone, minus Eren sighed in defeat and followed him into the dark pipe. Using their phones as flashlights they traveled further and further into the underground system making lefts or rights here and there.

"How do you remember the way?" Mike asked as he avoided an old cup, Mike was also glad about this and that was the pipe was clean besides old junk and leaf piles.

"I use to live down here when I first ran away, still kinda do." Eren said not turning back. Mike felt bad since he at least had a home to return to. After another while they arrived in a big clearing where pipe workers normally rest or navigate through.

"Here it is, home sweet home. The power comes from the building above ground. I've even managed to get some cable so we can watch the news and see if there's anything about Nate's place." Eren gestured his arm at his place. It wasn't anything too fancy, it had two lamps, a table with some chairs, an old fridge and a torn up couch with the TV in front.

Eren, Mike and Nate placed the guns leaning against the wall went towards the table to put the rest of the ammo. Sara had begun to inspect the case when Mike noticed what she was doing.

"Sara, that's Nate's you shouldn't be prying in his things." Sara looked up with a shameful face.

"She's not the only one, so Nate how long have you been interested in female felines?" Eren asked while raising his eyebrows. Mike laughed than realize that he was also looking through Nate's things back at the apartment.

"Sara, let me see that." Eren rushed over to Sara to examine the case with her.

"You're never going to drop that are you?" Nathan asked as he stared at the fox.

"Nope." Eren answered with a coy grin.

"Hey check this out, the case belongs to Dr. John White." Sara yelled to the two boys, they both walked over to Nate and Sara as they saw the engraving on the case.

"John White...wasn't he the mass murderer that died in a fire way back?" Mike asked as he sat down and got a closer look at the case. Eren turned on a headlamp that barely lit up the place but it was enough to examine the case.

"Yeah, he was the one that killed all the researchers in a facility. The reports don't have much since it was a government place but they said he went mad and blew the place up afterwards." Sara explain as she found what she thought was a way to open the case.

"IRIS SCANS REQUIRED." The case tone, which spooked everyone, Sara looked into the case once again as a small beam shot into her eyes to scan it a second later a rejection tone sounded.

"Let me try," Eren placed his eye at the scanner and he too was rejected. Then it was Mike's turn and he too was rejected.

"I can just run a bypass on the security!" Sara offered as she reached for her laptop. All the males surrounded her staring intently as Sara went to work. A moment later a scream was heard scaring everyone.

"My baby!" Sara was hugging her laptop, as there was nothing but smoke coming from it now.

"What kind of case is this, why would your mother have something from John White?" Mike asked but before anyone answered.

"It's evil that's what it is. It killed my poor baby, I still had music to transfer." Sara was now crying over her laptop.

"Here hold this." Eren took the case away from Sara and both Mike and Eren tried to comfort her. Nathan was left with the case as he stared into the eye scanner.

A dim light shined on his eye before a click was heard along with "ACCEPTED" everyone's attention turned to Nathan as he lowered the case to the table.

"What did you do?" Mike asked amazed that the case accepted Nate's eye. Nate just shrugged, as he was confused as the others. They began to go through the files. It was mostly about experiments on DNA for both Humans and Xerlians but they soon found an old tablet in the case.

Mike tried to turn it on while Nate and Eren sorted the files. A white screen popped up and it displayed a txt box. 'NATHAN S. GREY'

"Hey Nate? What's your middle initial?" Mike asked as he glances towards his friend.

"S. Why?" before anything else was said Mike handed the tablet to Nate and every stared in wonder at the txt box.

"You don't think..." Sara finally snapped out of her mourning for her laptop to join the group in figuring out the case. There was an eye scanner like the case and slowly Nate held the scanner to his eye. The txt box changed color to green and a video file popped up.

"Nathan, if you are seeing this file it means Flora believes you're ready. My name is John S. White, your father. You might have heard the news about my killing spree, I'm sorry to say that it's true but not for the reasons. The government has been performing experiments on Xerlian and human trying to find the source of magic. I had warned them that in doing so will not only result in a war and their downfall."

_ "I was assigned to be head researcher at facility 9 located in Liluem, I've done many horrid things to both kinds... but my final conclusion is that we both can survive. Humans are shellfish and greedy beings, when humans first arrived on this planet the Xerlian had found a way to coexist with their planet, a balanced chain. My beginning task at the facility was to find a way to coexist with the Xerlian but it changed, the government has been corrupted and they soon began to ask more into the matter of magic, weapons for mass murder."_

Nathan couldn't believe it, it was too much for him to absorb. He wanted to ask the tablet so many questions but knew that it couldn't answer any of them.

_ "Flora is not your actual mother, Flora is my lab assistant. We came up with the plan that could stop what was going on behind the curtain. I have compiled all the work I've accomplished over the years in the case you have now. Nathan, I know this is wrong of me especially when I didn't give you a choice but now that I have started things I may not be able to finish them. You need to get to Facility 9 at Liluem and find what remains of my research. Not only does humanity rest of you but the Xerlians fate as well. I'm so sorry to do this but you are my son, and I will always, always love you even when I'm not there."_

Nathan watched as his so-called father broke into tears and soon the video cut off and the tablet shut down. Nathan stared at the tablet as though he could will it to turn on again but he knew batter.

Eren, Mike and Sara watched their friend slowly sat down and placed the tablet back in the case.

"Nathan, you okay?' Sara asked as she gently placed her hand on his shoulder. Nathan jerked away and stood up with a look of utter death and shock.

"Who am I?"