FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"What about this exit right here?"

Evelyn paced around in the exterior camera feed of Ex's interface, casually pointing at the satellite map view as if it were tangible. "Nope, that's a bust too. If that was occupied we'd see movement through that window to the side."

"Damn. This is taking too long." Carbon groaned and opened the cockpit with a slap to the metal framing. "I need a breather. If you think of something, let me know."

Eve remained in the same position as Carbon transitioned from seeing her through the 'screen' to using his own eyes. "I'll be right here, as always. Take it easy in this cold, Carbon."

"I will." Carbon pulled down his mask from atop his head and took a few deep breaths, the frigid air filling his lungs and causing a shiver. "Fuck, it's even ~colder~ this far north."

"Little alien?" Carbon turned to the source of the voice and found Sofija crouching in the snow. "<Oh, I forgot you knew Ukrainian for a moment. Silly me.>"

"<Oh, yeah... No problem.>" Carbon shifted and moved to help Sofi back onto her hindpaws, only then realizing her pants were around her ankles. "<Oh! I'm sorry!>"

Sofi stood anyway and pulled her pants back up, buckling her belt as she closed the gap unashamed. "<It's fine, little alien. Nothing you haven't seen before. Besides, I was just cleaning up.>"

"<Cleaning up?>" Carbon noticed Sofi brushing clumps of snow from her thick fur, particularly from the base of her tail. "<Wait, what are you even doing awake at this hour?>"

"<I told you, cleaning myself up. I wasn't feeling quite ~sated~, so John and I..." Sofi turned her face away once she realized she couldn't quite say those last few words. "<Hold on a minute. What are ~you~ doing at two in the morning?>"

"<I only sleep one or two hours a day.>" Carbon inspected the husky's tail more closely and noticed some of Johnny's seed coated in dry snow. "<Oh, that's smart. I'd never think to dry off with fresh snow.>"

"<John... gave me enough reason to try that theory myself.>"

"<So the two of you are still... being intimate?>" The hybrid rubbed his arms and moved a bit away to give his new friend a modicum of personal space. "<How's that going, exactly? I mean, what's your... ~plan~, I guess?>"

Sofija looked down and idly placed a paw on her taut belly. "<I don't know. I've never done this before.>"

"<Never had sex when you were in heat or...?>"

"<I've done that, but...>" Sofi must have realized she was likely pregnant, as her paw practically flew from her tummy and she stiffened straight. "<I'm just happy I'll have John's child and not_his_. I... I think I really like John.>"

"<Hold on a second. 'His' child? Who else's could it be?>"

Sofija shifted back and forth on her hindpaws nervously and mumbled a weak response. "<Our commander... Sokarev... He raped me during my last few light heats. Thank the gods he didn't get to me when my seasonal one really started going... But that one time just before might have...>"

Carbon walked over to the taller fur and did his best comforting her with a hug. "<Shh... That's horrible, Sofi. I know he's a bad guy, but that's... just horrible.>"

"<And I can't do anything about it, either. With our secretive structuring, I only report to him.>" Sofi hunched down and pulled into the hug a bit more before breaking it. "<I just wish there was another way. My family is poor so I must work for the Motherland like this to live.>"

Evelyn suddenly stepped in by hovering between the two. "You know... I don't know if it will take with us being AWOL, but I'm sure the American government would love to obtain a new Soviet defector. If you don't mind a little leap of faith, maybe we should offer her amnesty in the States?"

"You know, that's not perfect but it'll work great." Carbon turned back to the distraught husky and offered a sympathetic smile. "<How would you like to come back to America with us after this is all over?>"

Sofi's jaw practically landed in the snow. "<I can... I can do that?>" A slight smile improved her demeanor and she perked up for some rapid-fire questions. "<But aren't we still enemies? Will I be able to live a normal life? And... and what about John?>" She really paused to smile and think about that last bit. "<Will John and I be able to raise our child together?>"

"<I'm sure you and Johnny will be able to stick together, yes. The rest is tricky though.>" Carbon shook his head as he cleared the sticky details from his mind. "<I'll make it all work out, and if I can't I'll at least make sure you're comfortable. Anything's better than your current situation.>"

Sofija hurled herself forward, tears welling up in her eyes, as she smothered the hybrid with her ample chest. "<Thank you! Oh, gods bless you, little alien!>"

"<There's one condition to this though:>" Carbon pried his muzzle free and looked up into the happy husky's eyes. "<I can be sensitive about my height sometimes and I was born on the same planet as you. Please stop calling me 'little alien' all the time.>"

Sofi blinked as her brain idled for a moment to parse the request, then bust out laughing. "<Of course, dainty otter!>"

"<~Not~ better.>"

Sofi grinned, picked Carbon up by his shoulders, and planted a kiss square on his lips. "<I'm just playing, comrade. You deserve only the best for this, Carbon.>"

"Everyone know your orders? I don't want a single alert."

Gary crawled over from a nearby bush and tapped the Major from behind. "Ready as ever, sir."

Carbon gave his squad mate a satisfied nod and looked to the natives. "<Observation only, right? Sofija, if anything does happen I'm counting on that rifle of yours.>"

"<No need to worry, comrade. I'll take care of things from here.>"

With another nod to the husky he left her to set up her rifle and crawled backward until he was out of the enemy's potential line of sight. "Okay, we've got overwatch from the locals on top of this and the west hill. If anything goes wrong, don't shoot first. I told Sofija to use that silenced rifle of hers if you wave your helmet. Your helmet comes off, your captor's head comes off. Everyone ready?"

Everyone tapped their helmets as a sign they indeed were ready to start the operation. Carbon smirked at the enthusiasm still left in his and Mycroft's men, then turned and shambled around the low side of the hill. Getting to the target building oddly seemed to be the easiest part of the whole mission, with lots of trees and buildings available for cover. Apparently civilians were living in one part of the fledgling town, but there shouldn't be any contact with them if the men traveled along the edge of the power plant's water supply.

After a solid half hour of slow, tedious sulking through icy grass and frozen mud, the squad reached the apex of the lake. "Hold." Carbon's whispered order was immediately followed, giving the hybrid a moment to check ahead with his re-borrowed rifle scope. "Okay... Looks about like I thought. No entrances unguarded, but the water intakes aren't grated over and the turbines aren't installed quite yet. We're good to go."

"You sure about that, mate?" Adrian crawled over and held up the broken parts of his camera, using them as a horribly crude, blurry telescope. "Crap... I can't see well enough. I just don't want anyone getting ground up into mince, yeah?"

"Nah, I'm seeing light barely leaking from there. That means there's an opening." Carbon started moving again. dropping his scope in favor of his also-borrowed shotgun. "Stay on your toes, boys. We're going in. Bravo Team, I think you can cover our exit from between the two intake pipes without being spotted. I'll leave that choice up to you."

"Between..." Mike raised up a set of binoculars and confirmed the spot. "Oh, right on. We'll see about that when we touch boots to it, mate."

Satisfied with the direction things were going, Carbon picked up the pace. The group only had to stop and hide once when a rogue patrol rounded the back of the plant to drink some early-morning vodka. Once the slackers cleared out of the way, everyone started finding solid positions where they could watch the back of the building. A few clicks of the radio signaled to Sofi that everyone was in position, and three return clicks confirmed that she still had a good line of sight on the obscure, shadowed side of the power plant they were invading.

"Mike?"

"Aye, mate." Mycroft pointed to two of his men and then some thick brush on the far corner of the building. "Few blind spots, but this should hold up well. We'll keep the door open for ya', lad."

"You're a beaut, mate." Adrian gave his friend a hard slap and then ducked into the intake pipe, immediately regretting doing so as in his haste he landed right into knee-deep water. "Ah, bugger..."

"It's too dark. Let me go first." Carbon more diligently found the shallower side of the entryway where his boots offered enough water protection, then peered down the long pipe. "All clear. I'd say... fifty feet until that light source."

The other men followed suit until six in total were crammed into the darkness. Gary moved up front and secured the opening that allowed the light though then whispered, "Looks clear. Maybe... maybe one."

Carbon slipped into the gap and poked his whole head out, not wanting to rely on audible surveillance alone. "Yeah, looks quiet in here. Keep it clean just to be safe though."

"You got it, sir." Gary stayed where he was and folded his paws into a step for the others. "In and out quick, boys. C'mon and get up."

Carbon went first, his height making the helping paw almost a requirement. "Thanks. I'll scout while you get the rest."

"Yes, sir."

The hybrid slunk to a nearby wall and readied his shotgun. He rounded the corner of a doorway and pointed the weapon around, then dropped it and walked the perimeter. Eventually he found another door and pressed up against it, barely able to make out a single figure through the thin wood of the door. Then that figure turned his way and tried the handle, sending Carbon reeling back towards the pipeline.

"Shit! How'd he see us, Eve?"

The door finally opened after it was unlocked with a key. Then the lone body in the area emerged, not violently as expected but more curious than anything. "<Hello? Nobody's supposed to be out here...>"

Carbon froze, but was forced to fake an answer in Ukrainian when the figure somehow locked onto his position in the dark. "<I'm sorry! I was just... playing hide and seek with my friends, and...>"

"<No you weren't. Kids don't have guns.>" The person walked out underneath a dim light and stared right at Carbon. "An American? I didn't expect that."

Carbon stood and held the shotgun up to the man, just now realizing by the mask and green skin that it was a Yangurran talking back. "So you saw through the door too. I forget these advantages of mine work both ways around here."

"A Yangurran brother as well? Are you part of the resistance?" The plant-kin walked closer, ignoring the weapon, and reached out a lone tendril. "Why don't we properly introduce ourselves?"

Evelyn suddenly appeared to inspect the vine that rather peacefully held itself up an arm's length from her host. "Shit... The Link..."

"Woah... I've never heard you curse before."

"Well there's a good reason here. I've... never tried that before. The queii all over you allow two of our kind to link our hosts." Eve poked the tendril a few times as she built up some courage. "I'm willing to try if you are, but just know that normally our hosts are trained over years as kids for this. It can take a lot out of us."

Carbon juggled his weapon, trying to keep things brief since the Yangurran was just staring at him. "I don't know... You don't look too keen for it. Do we really need to?"

"It's sort of expected of--"

"Um... Are you...?" The Yangurran pulled back his tendril and replaced it with himself, getting a closer look at Carbon. "You've got fur..."

Carbon snapped the shotgun's muzzle into the alien's gut, yet he wasn't deterred from his inspection in the least. "Get back. I won't say it twice."

"And you even have two hues to your blood... Amazing..." The alien tried to reach forward, but his arms were batted away and the shotgun pressed into his neck. "But I didn't even... Fibre, that's no way to treat your father."

"It's you..." Carbon's death grip on the weapon loosened and he lowered it to point at the floor between them. "You're really my father?"

"I can't believe it either." Carbon's dad sulked backward a step, not wanting to provoke his son in such an uneasy state. "I thought you... well, that you died just after birth. And that you were a girl, actually."

"My symbiont changed my sex early on for some reason, probably for whatever it was that made you go away."

"Oh, he... or she, still?..." The older man waited for a nod to be polite to the spectral girl, obviously knowing she could hear him. "I didn't anticipate she would have that much control over you. Fantastic."

"What do you mean 'anticipate'? What's any of this mean?"

"In time, Fibre. I'd Link with you to speed things up but I'm not sure you'd handle that too well. I assume you're sneaking in and not killing everyone?"

Carbon nodded again and picked his gun up to point at the ceiling to be safe. "We found a hole in their perimeter. And please... I go by 'Carbon' now, f-father..."

"It's awkward for me to call you 'son' too after thinking you didn't exist, Carbon. I'm glad to finally meet you." Carbon's father stepped in closer again and carefully lined up a hug, making sure they didn't touch in a way that might accidentally set of a Link between them. "I'm Chleek of the house Ors, your house. I never thought I'd bear that name again, but it's good to say it again."

Evelyn stepped in and gave a hint on the title. "The head of a noble house takes the name 'Chleek' for their own, replacing their former name as a sign of devotion to the family. He probably used his old name once he thought his family lineage had died."

"Oh... That's sort of sad, Eve..."

Chleek smiled as he ended the hug, looking around and trying to match Carbon's eyesight to a position in the room. "She's called Eve, eh? I'll have to meet her sometime. She sounds nice."

"Evelyn, actually. And she can... be a bit ~out there~ sometimes too." Carbon gave his father a quick pat on the shoulder before readying his shotgun again. "So what's yours called? I bet he's just as wild as Eve, what with the genetics involved."

"He's... Actually, I never really gave him a name. Most of our kind just call their symbiont by their own name. They're normally more like tools than actual.. people..." Chleek stiffened as the others crept into the room, weapons drawn and readied to fire. "Friends of yours?"

Carbon waved a paw and calmed the others. "It's alright, guys. He's my father, and he's alone. There's no need to worry since he's apparently cooperating."

"Oh, well then..." Adrian stepped forward and offered a paw. "I have to say, your son's a hell of a fur. I'd like your word to continue dating him, sir."

"Oh?" Chleek looked to the husky, then to his son, as he shook that paw. "You've found someone? I'm happy for you, son. Maybe the house will continue after all."

"Glad he approves, Adri. Now everyone, start securing the area while we get down to business."

"Business? What's your mission here?" Chleek took a look at all the insignias on the men and then back to his son. "And are you their leader? I'm happy to hear you're ambitious, at least."

"Well I might lead them but we're technically disobeying orders, so don't approve just yet." Carbon looked around and then peeked into the main room further inside via the door Chleek opened. "Interesting. I'm guessing that's ~not~ a nuclear reactor in there. What's the reason you're being held here?"

"Right to the point. You remind me of your mother, alright." Chleek sighed into his mask, causing it to fog up a bit. "They're using me to build weapons, which is bad enough. The real point though... Well to put it simply, they think I'm creating an artificial lifeform and I've been... purposefully slacking."

"So they lock you up in case you're so against it you'd try to escape. That's making more sense now."

"Artificial life?" Evelyn started pacing the room nervously, something she typically never allowed Carbon to observe. "Why does that ring a bell all of a sudden?"

"I dunno. He said that Link thing would explain it." Carbon nudged his head to the door and led his father back into the main room, realizing it was a laboratory once he got a good look. "There's some strange stuff in here. Yangurran tech?"

"Technically most of the stuff the Terrans use these days comes indirectly from Yangurra. There's one machine that definitely isn't built here though." Chleek walked over to a crystalline machine about the same height as himself and simply touched a tendril to it to make it light up. "I'm the only one that can use this fi foundry, and I suspect that's the only thing that kept me alive all these years."

"A foundry? Wow..." Evelyn's eyes lit up as she examined the device. "Almost all Yangurran technology... This is where it all comes together. With one of these, you can create nearly anything from the smallest of building blocks. The fii it creates and programs can build at the molecular scale."

"Really? Yeah, that's powerful." Carbon touched the machine with his paw and Eve perked up, connecting with the device and adding her own cyan color to its ambient glow. "Woah. I guess I can use it too?"

Chleek reached out and pulled Carbon's paw away just to be safe. "If you screw up it can explode in your face, so better not..."

"Oh, I guess it ~does~ make weapons after all." Carbon backpedaled a bit and gave the whole lab a quick inspection. "So this is the secret they're keeping, I guess. If that's the case, let's get you out of here and call it a day."

"Son... I can't leave. They're planning something in this building's reactor core and I'd never live with myself it it was a new type of weapon." Chleek took his hands off the foundry and then picked up a small glass replica of the two of them, giving the gift to Carbon with a tender clasp over his paws. "Besides, I can't leave this machine here lightly. There are only so many out there at once, and we'd be lost without them."

Carbon groaned as he looked to the foundry and then to the figurine in his paw. "I ~commandeered~ one of your weapons, an exoskeleton of some kind. Maybe we can use it to move the foundry while we make a distraction elsewhere..."

"You found one of those beasts!? Damn... How did you even take control of it?"

"I rushed it and found out my touch gave me control. It worked out pretty well for everyone except the pilot, unfortunately." The hybrid pocketed the figurine with a smirk and then checked what his men were doing, finding mostly calm and silence. "So, while we're distracting them we can check that reactor too. I'm sure Ex can screw up their plans once inside."

"'Ex'? Oh, the exoskeleton as you called it." Chleek nodded and looked around, settling his gaze on Adrian near the door. "We'll have to try it in the early morning, tomorrow. They change shifts then and one of the guards unlocks the bay doors to bring my supplies for the day. If you're already inside we should be able to overpower him and his partner."

"Then it's settled. We'll barge on in here and make some noise, then exit the same way with the foundry in tow."

Chleek stopped staring at Adrian once their eyes met. "Just promise you'll leave your lover behind. He doesn't look too seasoned and... well, I want you to be happy, son."

"I'll... Uh, I'll see what I can do. Thanks, father."

"So... any particular reason you chose a man? Is it because you were born a woman? I'm not judging, just..."

Eve fluttered into view and rolled her eyes. "He's hoping for children. And yes, you can bear a child if you're female, for the record."

Carbon followed suit in rolling his eyes at his old man. "I just really like him. I... I love him. Gender has nothing to do with it. And yes, you might have grandchildren one day."

"Goddess..." Chleek sighed a deep breath of relief upon hearing those words, which only made Evelyn chuckle for being correct. "I won't push you, but the idea does sound nice. Maybe once we're out of here we'll really become like a proper family."

"I hope so, father." Carbon took his own moment to look back at Adrian, who only smiled back to his love contently. "I really, ~really~ hope so."

"<Was the hunt successful?>"

Carbon climbed up the hill towards Sofija's post and met her halfway on the tough incline. "<More or less, yes. I met my father, and it turns out he's on our side after all.>"

"<Good. I'm glad it all worked out. So...>" Sofi checked Carbon's men and scrunched her eyes. "<Oh, you didn't bring him back? Why wouldn't you?>"

"<The real operation happens tomorrow. Turns out we need to get my robot inside there which means we're going to make some noise.>" Carbon finally sat down and caught his breath. "<The lab is right inside where we entered, but we need to break through deeper to check something else out. The timing ended up being off, so we're trying tomorrow.>"

"<Oh, well that's unfortunate. At least we know there was actually something devious happening in there, though.>"

Adrian sat down next to Carbon and bumped his shoulder. "I still can't get you speaking like that, mate. Mind translating?"

"We are done, pup." Sofi slid a bit further down the hill and headed back for camp. "I go see John. We talk more later, comrades."

"Oh, well take care then." Carbon laid back in the cold grass and dirt, looking up at the patchwork of colors that made up the sky. "Adri? Would you think less of me if I told you to stay here tomorrow?"

"What? You think I'd mind ~not~ getting shot at?" Adrian laid back next to his love, scooting himself down the hill a bit to make up for the height disparity between them. "If you think it's necessary, I won't argue. You're better at this war stuff than I am anyway."

"I just don't think things will go so smoothly tomorrow. We're raiding a well-defended military complex. Plus... my father sort of gave me a bad vibe, like something bad's going to happen." The hybrid looked down the hill and saw the last of his men round a few trees occluding their camp. "So you trust my judgment?"

"Not just trust..." Also watching for the lack of men, Adrian rolled over Carbon and stole away a kiss once they were alone. "I love you."

"<You fucking...!>" From further up the hill a very pissed-off wolf trudged and slid down the incline. "<It's about time I did something about you fucking homosexuals!>"

"Carbon? What's he saying?"

"I don't--" The Major snapped to his knees when he spotted the Sokarev was not only angry but now holding a silenced pistol. "<Hey, there's no need for that!>"

"<Your type don't get to speak.>" The wolf pulled up his revolver and fired two shots, the first one embedded in the dirt while the second slammed right into Carbon's knee. "<You stay where you belong. Now as for you...>"

Carbon fell to the ground and held his knee, unable to think straight until Evelyn killed most of the pain for him. "<Don't you dare!>"

"Carbon!?"

Adrian wasn't allowed to protest, the wolf yanking him over by the shirt and kicking him flat against the ground. "<We don't allow your kind to exist here, scum.>"

"Goddess! Adri!"

"Carbon!" The pistol suddenly spat a few loud blasts of air until it simply couldn't anymore, silencing Adrian for the rest of time.

"<You got the information we needed. Too bad you're useless to us now.>" The pistol rose to Carbon's chest and clicked, but the final round in the revolver had already been fired. Instead of the revolver as planned, Sokarev pulled out a large knife to finish the job and groaned, "<You aliens always have to make things harder...>"

"Adrian..." Carbon ignored his imminent demise in favor of locking his eyes to his love's, guiding him out of this world. "I love you..."

Suddenly a loud blast of air sounded, followed by the wolf keeling over with a copious volume of red drooling from his chest. In a few seconds footsteps pounded through the slush and muddy grass, revealing the second shooter to be Sofija when she knelt down in front of the injured hybrid. "<Carbon! Where are you hit!? Anywhere besides the leg!?"

Carbon silently ignored the attention, instead trying to look around the husky to get eyes on his dying love. "A... Adri..."

Evelyn stepped in, worried that her host might have given up the will to live. "Carbon, he's gone. He's gone and you're not. Now get a grip on things before you_both_ die."

"I don't..."

Eve shouted and stomped her feet a moment as she thought about the best plan of action. "You need medical attention before you bleed out." She took control of Carbon's body and tried to get him on his good hindpaw, but failed due to the severity of the wound in the other leg. "Fuck!"

"<Stop that! You need your doctor!>" Sofi spotted her leader still moving and gave his crumpled form another shot, this time through the face to be sure, then threw down her rifle. "<I'm... I'm picking you up. Please stay with me here.>"

Eve wrapped Carbon's arms around Sofi's neck, allowing her to focus on lifting the hybrid. "She's right, Carbon. You need to keep it together. Please... At least say something for me."

Carbon turned his head as he was taken away, focusing only on Adrian as he slowly shrank into the distance. "But we... just loved each other..."