FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Lulu?" Iolvin checked a random room as he walked away from the captain's quarters of the incomplete ship. "Hey sis, you around to talk? You can't hide in here forever."

Robyn poked her head out of a bulkhead, groggily rubbing her eyes. "Oi, she's in here."

Yoyo rounded the doorway and found himself in one of the coziest rooms he'd ever seen, let alone on the otherwise sterile ship. "Oh, hiding in here? I can see why." He noticed the identifier on the door controls read 'Lounge' and smirked. "Didn't know there were recreational areas onboard."

"Unfurnished ones. Carbon felt raw about the other day though so..." Robyn ditched that line of thought, not wanting to think about what happened to her wife. "So why didn't you just use your mind trick? You'd find her sooner, yeah?"

"And risk upsetting her at the same time?" Yoyo laid eyes on his twin sister finally, the poor girl sulking in an armchair by the far corner, sans a leg and anything one could truly call clothing. "We always have a sort of emotional link going, so I didn't want her to think I could read too deeply or anything. That feeling did lead me here though. How's she holding up?"

"She's... seen brighter times, love."

Yoyo raised his voice a bit and projected towards his sister. "There anything I can do to help?"

Ilaria barely registered the question, shaking her head slowly. "I just... need some time..."

"Is there anything you need from Ellie? I know we heal faster now but--"

"Just leave me alone."

Yoyo was literally taken back a step by that, his twin usually not so cold to him and especially not when she needed emotional support. "Robyn, she's not on any painkillers or anything... Right?"

Robby shook her head and found a nearby couch for herself and her babies to rest. "Oh course not! Not a one. She's simply ignoring me too..."

"For a whole two days? Lulu! She's your ~wife~!" Yoyo sat down next to Robyn and sighed, only then noticing the squirrel was almost unnaturally sleepy. "Hey, you alright? The kids doing well?"

"I'm fine, though I gather the pups are wanting something ~special~." Robyn looked over to her wife and slowly sighed. "It doesn't feel right to ask that of her now, though. Besides, I don't think they need the extra lovin'..."

Yoyo snorted a few times as he calmed down, his mild anger not helping the squirrel in any case. "Well I'm no doctor, but you look pretty bad. At the very least, those kids take a lot more outta you when you're not having sex with Lulu." The otter paused a moment to confirm his solution with himself, then started unbuckling his pants. "We've got the same DNA, right? I'll help you out until Lulu feels up to the task."

Robyn looked down and quickly slid to the far end of the couch. "Yoyo, I don't think..." She looked over to Ari, who returned the glance with an unchanged dull expression, and then looked back to find Iolvin's flaccid cock staring back at her. As if driven by an unnatural force, Robyn's paw flew out to start rubbing the otter's member to life. "Maybe if it's just a quick one. Don't want Ari getting upset though, so don't push it. This is just... maintenance, yeah?"

"You know I like you and all, but this here's for the kids. They're--no, you're--family, and in our family we do anything to help each other..." Yoyo replaced the squirrel's paw with his own, allowing her to undress at her leisure. "Within boundaries, of course. I know you like your fun too but you're married, remember? We'll wait until my sis can give a proper answer before I go sexin' you up after this."

The squirrel drooped her head a bit as she looked over to her wife again. "Well... let's get to shagging already if we're gonna do it. How should we...?"

Iolvin took the lead and lifted Robyn, laying her back down long-wise across the entire couch. "Just let me do all the work, Robby. You've got enough to worry about already."

Robyn hiked up her skirt to give Yoyo better access, then slid her top over her breasts. "Ooh... Can you believe how huge these girls are getting?"

Yoyo lined himself up with Robyn's damp snatch and carefully worked his length inside her, ignoring the slight hindrance of her pulled-aside panties. "Well you ~are~ pregnant after all." The otter ground his weight down a few times, but soon cranked up the pace without a hint of foreplay. "I might not last too long like this. Anything special you'd like to help get yourself off?"

"Ah... Not taking your time, love?" Robyn took the note to heart and sent a paw down to roll over her sensitive button, her other staying up high to tweak her nipple piercing. "Why don't you take it slow? I'm fine just gettin' myself off, but..."

Yoyo slowed his pace a bit as he looked over to the vapid expression on his sister's face. "I don't want to make anything more of this than necessary, not right now." He pressed his hips forward enough to tap against Robyn's cervix deep inside, then used that as a reference point to hammer as hard as he could. "I... Ah... I don't want to..."

Robyn got the hint, her pussy clamping down on Yoyo like a vise to encourage him along. "It's fine, love. Just do what needs doing and your sister won't mind."

"Gods..." Yoyo groaned as he sped up, then pulled on Robyn's panties when they started to annoy him. "Fucking..."

"Ooh... Just rip 'em, hon!"

Iolvin did as commanded, yanking on the squirrel's blue panties hard enough to lift her hips. They didn't quite give way, but they shredded enough to drape loosely. "Mu~uch better." The otter used the newly-raised angle of their juncture to pull up Robyn's legs, throwing them over her enlarged belly so he'd have more room to drive his manhood home. "I'm almost there..."

"Mmm... Cum for me, Yoyo!" Robyn pinched her nipple and jerked her back in response, the sensation hitting her harder than expected. Then with a similar maneuver on her clit she was instantaneously over her limit, her velvet passage spasming and milking Yoyo for all he was worth. "Bloody...! Cumming!"

"Ah, fuck!" Yoyo tried to keep up his pace but the extra tightness around his cock made his next few thrusts his last. He buried himself as deep as he could safely go, fighting the urge to press past the pregnant fur's practically-gaping cervix. "I'm...!"

Iolvin jerked and shivered, his balls pulling taut just before his whole length pulsed molten magenta cream. Robyn's legs instinctively pulled down, eventually sliding along Yoyo's sides to hold his ass firmly in place. The otter's only response was to squeak and churr into the top of Robyn's head as he filled the smaller fur with everything he had. After a solid minute of bliss, Yoyo loosened his tense grip on Robyn and slid himself free of her heated confines.

"Oh damn, sugar..." Robyn tried to give Iolvin a kiss, but the otter refused it by standing next to the couch. "Ah, don't be like that."

"That's not it." Yoyo looked back to his twin, frowning when he saw she was silently dripping tears. "Maybe we should've found a bed after all..."

Robyn sat herself up, her whole rump soon coated in a close to a quart of glowing otter jizz with more leaking out to to join the rest. "Well it was exactly what I needed in any case." She rubbed her tummy, the children inside showing their appreciation the only way they knew how by glowing a warm yellow. "Well that's over with... So Ottah? You alright, my love?"

When Ilaria simply turned away from the others to cry alone, Yoyo trudged over and grabbed her on the shoulder. "Lulu, enough of that. I know you just went through a lot, but we love you and--"

"_ No! _" Even without her leg attached Ari managed to scramble off her chair and scoot to the other corner of the room, sheer terror strewn across her face. "Stay back! Get the fuck away from me!"

Yoyo stepped over slowly, but froze dead in place when he felt the absolute dread his sister was experiencing. "Lulu, I just want to help..."

"No! Dear gods, don't rape me!"

"Rape you? Lulu, who do you...?" Iolvin followed his twin's gaze down to his unclothed groin and then scurried back to quickly jump into his pants. "Oh fuck, sis... I didn't realize you were still..."

"I told you, she's still acting abnormally..."

After quickly fastening his belt Yoyo rushed over to his petrified sister and forced a firm hug, not minding in the least as her claws dug deeply enough into his back and sides to draw blood. "Shh... Shh... It's me, Lulu..."

"Get off me, you fucking--!"

Yoyo pressed his snout against his twin's and slowly nuzzled hers, a thing they'd do as kids to cheer the other's spirits. "I'm here for you, big sis. I'll always be here for you, remember?"

Ari jerked stiff for a moment as she realized what was happening, then unknowingly dug her claws deeper into her twin brother as she tried to embrace him tighter. "Yoyo..."

"Lulu..."

Robyn cautiously crept over, sitting on the floor once she was sure things had calmed down. "It's alright, Ottah. You're surrounded by the furs that love you the most."

Yoyo slowly realized Ari was still holding a death grip on his back, hissing as he shifted to allow Ari's head to rest on his shoulder but not outright complaining. "That's right--ow--sis". You're safe with us."

Robyn carefully peeled back her wife's claws and gave her paws a few tender kisses. "Can't say the same about you, Yoyo. Good on ya' for the... ~assist~."

"Anything for my sister. She can tear me to shreds if it makes her feel any better."

Carbon pulled open the guard cage for a freight elevator and guided its passengers into the level's main hallway. "You really ready for this?"

Ilaria walked ahead, then paused on second thought so Carbon could take the lead. "I'm not looking forward to it, but... I have to see the bastard's face before we send him away."

"That's brave of you, Ari. I'm not sure I could do the same if I were in your shoes."

Cid stepped out last, then closed the safety gate. "Well I'll look away if you get the urge to pay him back."

"You know that's not how we do things here, Cid." Carbon took a turn and headed for the brig. "I know you're both pissed with Vorak, but he'll eventually get what's coming to him. Thank the goddess we've got him locked up, or we'd have to throw the book out the window."

"Well fuck. That's fine and dandy if he was a stranger but..." Cid groaned as she admitted her next words. "He wouldn't be here to fuck things up if I didn't let you have him."

"And then he'd just have raped one of your own employees." The floral otter craned her neck a bit as she peered down the hall. "Uh... Just be glad it ended the way it did, rather than someone getting killed."

"Not exactly my idea of a decent ending, Carbon. Maybe I'd have noticed sooner and--"

"Hold that thought. What's wrong here, Eve?"

The flower nymph fluttered ahead of Carbon and looked about. "Aren't there supposed to be guards out here?"

"Exactly." Carbon picked up her pace and stopped at the final hatch to the jail cells. "Shit."

Cid ran up behind the hybrid and peered through the porthole window on the hatch. "Fuck. There's nobody moving about in there. Where'd my men go!?"

Carbon unlatched the locks and kicked the hatch open like it was cardboard. "What the hell?" The hybrid looked about the dark room, her enlarged visual bracket allowing her to spot every exact detail. "They're not here. Not just Vorak, but Centra too."

Cid barged in right behind and ran over to the cells for a look of her own. "But we reinforced the bars!"

"Not all of them." Carbon walked over and touched the intact outer bars, her tendrils then reaching out further inside to tap on the busted bars separating each cell. "We didn't think he'd be able to break out from the sides, not without alerting someone in time..."

"Fuck! Fucking fuck!" Cid stomped the ground a few times, then pulled out her sidearm. "Now this really is my fault. We'll take him down before he leaves this tower."

Carbon shook her head and pointed into a dark corner Cid likely couldn't see due to the lack of power in the area. "They broke out through the rear wall. That leads into..."

"One second..." Evelyn drew the schematics for the entire tower over her host's vision, effectively allowing her to see through walls. "Think they went left or right?"

"Vorak knows these underwater parts of the tower." Carbon spotted a maintenance hatch used when each floor module was being locked onto the next during construction. "The divers' shaft. That's a straight shot ladder up to the surface."

"Up to where?"

"I'm not sure. I've never really payed attention to it before." Carbon looked up at the schematics and tried to make sense of the complex layout. "We should go find Mister Winchester. He'll know."

Ari walked just through the hatch and held onto the door. "Is that... a square tube with a welding panel on it for emergencies?"

"Yeah, the very same."

"There was one on the landing pad, near the scaffold elevator to Robyn's ship."

Cid rushed out the room and slapped her paw on her radio. "Guys, we've got the prisoners heading for the flight pad. What's your status on the pursuit?"

A confused voice fizzled back through some bad interference. "Persuit? Everyone's been sending normal response codes for today's check-ins."

"One of the prisoners used to work for us, remember!?" Cid took a moment to calm herself down, remembering it wasn't her team she was angry at here. "Lilly, I know you're listening. Your brother's trying to flee with that alien. You're the only one I know that's a match for him."

"I'm heading for the flight pad now--" The line went silent save for a squeal of static, then a loud rushing noise overtook most of the signal. "One of the shuttles is taking off!"

"_ Fuck! _"

Carbon snatched the radio and barked out a specific question. "Just a shuttle, or the orbiter?"

"The Type C, I think. The orbiter's out of fuel."

The hybrid pumped her fist in success. "Good, then get her refueling. If he can't break atmo we'll have a speed advantage. This just might work out."

"It shouldn't have happened in the first place." Cid took back her radio angrily and trudged back to the elevator. "Guys, the guard team must be incapacitated somewhere down here. Bravo, you're on search and rescue duty. They might need some serious medical attention if that bastard took them down."

"Yes sir."

Carbon caught up to her friend and stopped her with two paws to her shoulders. "You need to calm down, Cid. He's flustered and desperate without a choice. We don't have that disadvantage unless we choose to. If we keep our cool we'll come out on top."

Cid stood still, a heavy sigh loosening her stance. "I know. Don't worry, Carbon... I'll make every ounce of effort count in bringing that asshole back in--without killing him of course."

"I'm glad to hear that. I don't want you to lose a part of yourself in all of this."

"I didn't say it wasn't personal." Cid started back towards the elevator, not wanting to waste a moment. "After all, 'alive' has a very ~loose~ definition sometimes."

"Got 'em yet?"

Carbon's paw glided over from one console to another as she answered Lilith's question. "Sort of. Their beacon blipped a few times just before their heat signature died off. Vorak might know some tricks, but he was sloppy."

"Well we're about to pass another orbit, so some coordinates--" Lilly flicked a holographic number wheel and corrected the orbiter's path, only for the numbers to change under Carbon's influence a moment later. "Oh, you found it?"

"Yeah, there in... What's that plot to?"

Eve poked Carbon's shoulder from behind and then nudged her chin to the twins. "They're near Wildebrooke. It'll take a while to compute their estimated landing zones, so maybe we could let Lulu spend some time at home? It might help her mental state."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. But why'd Vorak go back to Wildebrooke?"

"Wildebrooke?" Lilly checked the coordinates and executed a safe de-orbit burn. "Huh... that's where we're from, as far as we've figured out."

"Well that's some info we might need in a bit." Carbon stood from her chair and faced the others for an announcement, her vines anchoring her in place due to the lack of gravity. "Take us down near the lake, by the Rivet house if possible."

"What's up, boss?" Ademeus sat up straight, mysteriously occupying one side of the vehicle alone. "We find those guys?"

"Yeah. We're stopping at the twins' house until we hone their exact location." The hybrid turned to Ari in particular and stooped down so her glassy stare would include her. "Maybe you and Robyn should sit this one out. I'm sure your parents will be thrilled to see you."

Iolvin rubbed his sister's back and answered for her. "That'll be great. She needs to be around people that love her, and I wouldn't feel right heading off and leaving her alone."

"Then it's settled." Carbon sat down again and checked her controls. "We'll be landing in a few minutes, so make sure you're buckled down tight."

"Will do, Carb--" Just then, Ari decided to get up and kick her way over to the other side of the ship. "Hey, sis... We need to lock ourselves down. What're you doing?"

Robyn filled the gap from the other side and held Yoyo down. "Let her go, mate. If she's moving on her own, it's probably for a good reason."

As Ari hit the other side, she grabbed a few control bars and re-aligned herself. "But over there? Where's she going, near the big guy? And what's his deal over there, anyway?"

Carmine checked his safety harness and then twisted to comment. "Everyone just... leaves him alone. Would you want to be in this small space after triggering one of his personality shifts?"

"Good point." Yoyo watched as his sister pulled herself into a seat, then started to panic when she slid along until she was next to Adem. "Lulu, watch where you're... laying?"

"Hey, what're you..." Adem tensed up as Ari rolled over and laid her head in his lap. "I'm not sure you should... uh..."

Ilaria held on tight and snuggled against the liger. "Thank you."

"You're... welcome?" Adem easily gave up on fighting the otter, his guilt over their past encounters driving him to rub his large paw over her head. "You deserve to use me however you deem fit, kid. Go right ahead."

The orbiter slowly filled with gravity as it descended, though angled harshly towards the front end. At one point Adrian nearly flew out his seat, his harness not fully latched around him. Iolvin managed to hold the little guy in place long enough for the belly of the craft to line back up with the horizon, soon to be followed by a bit of hard rocking as they maneuvered into a more precise landing vector.

"Bit too lead-pawed there, fellas. Sorry." Lilith corrected and eased the jets gingerly until the vessel's path was tamed, then set her down softly. "Got it. Carbon, you've got to give me props for this one."

"Um... Yeah, you've earned that one. Good job. ~Amazing~ job." Carbon hopped out her seat and went straight for the side hatch, slamming the opening button. "Alright, ladies and gents. We're here for the time being, so make the most of it. There's a bathroom just right of the door if you need it."

"That's my cue." Adem helped Ari upright and made sure she was balanced before getting up to leave. "I'll be right back if you want me, kid."

"Nah, she's going too." Yoyo pulled his twin to her hindpaws and checked she had full use of her artificial leg before leaving the ship. "Mom is going to go nuts. Just... try to act yourself, please? If she thinks something's wrong, you just know she'll get to the root of it."

"Mum's the word, eh?" Robyn carefully stepped out and joined the two. "Well Cat just might not care what with all us lot here."

Ari hopped out the landing craft and took a few steps before she noticed something, stopping her brother and wife. "Wow... She wasn't kidding. That's impressive."

Lilly playfully gave both twins a slap on the back as she admired her own handiwork. "Parked right in the driveway like a damn car. Can't do better than that."

Carbon followed suit and slapped Lilly on the ass, for lack of reach more than anything else. "If you knew my last helicopter pilot you'd be begging his approval on that claim. But for a giant orbiter... that's great piloting alright."

"You resurrect Cheat here or what?" Vasily smiled widely as he walked over with his arms wide, ready to hug his kids. "Kids! You should've called first instead of giving your poor mother a heart attack like that."

"Sorry, dad." Yoyo threw an arm around his father for a short hug, then helped Ari over for one of her own. "Were you two busy with something?"

"Nah, just cleaning up." Vasily gave his daughter an additional kiss on the forehead before focusing his attention on the comparatively tiny squirrel to her side. "Oh wow, Robyn. You're... hasn't it only been a few months? That little brat doesn't look too little."

Robyn settled for a pawshake rather than worry about the logistics of a hug or kiss in her state. "Well... We found out we're actually having twins. A boy and a girl, at that. What're the chances, yeah?"

"Holy crap... Those good swimmers run in the family, eh?" The older canine gave Robyn a pat on her head and moved on to Carbon for a firm shake. "Thanks for keeping an eye on my future grandchildren, Carbon. Oh... Are you...?"

Carbon returned the shake firmly enough to hurt the fur's larger paw in return for implying it was odd to be female. "A lady never reveals her secrets. So where's the beautiful wife of yours? We've got some time to waste while Eve works out some details."

"Oh. When you nearly broke my home apart with a lander I sort of lost hope for this being just a social call, but still..." Vasily spotted the others and gave a wave to Adrian as he came out the vehicle. "So what's the op? Anything serious?"

"As much as I know you'd like to try and help, you're retired from that gig, old friend." Carbon headed for the house and brought the aging husky with her. "I'll fill in the details in your study if you'd like. I'd rather Cat not hear some of it."

"Sure. You know where it is."

The twins both shook their heads at the open friendliness of the two, with Ari breaking the symmetry to pop a suggestion. "Want to go hunt down mom?"

"She's probably hiding in the kitchen, peeking out the window..." Yoyo pointed to the window in question and the drapes suddenly shot closed. "Yep. Let's go show her the twins."

"The twins ~of~ twins," Robyn playfully appended. "Cat's gonna light her fur ablaze at this one. Can't wait to see her expression."

Dee finally caught up with the others after helping Ashe out the lander. "Yeah, I wish I remembered my phone now. That's worth saving."

Yoyo paused at the side door to the house and tapped on a kevlar pouch velcroed to his belt and a neck strap. "Oh, she'll be immortalized in eighty-five megapixels. Don't worry."

Dee grinned sheepishly as he opened the door for the others. "Misses Rivet? Did we see you in that window just now?"

"Oh! Um..." Catherine slipped out from the kitchen and snuck in a smile. "Sorry for spying. I just thought a transformer exploded or ~another war started~ or something, so..."

Her son ran inside for a quick hug, following up with a smooch on Cat's cheek. "Nice to see you again, mom. You been well?"

"Well enough with just your father around." Robyn was next, getting in an awkward hug. "Oh... you're jumping the gun a bit, aren't you Robyn? That's more of a baby bump than I'd expect for so early."

Robby looked back to her wife for confirmation on spilling the news, only receiving a shrug of the shoulders in return. "Well... That might be true if it were just the one child..."

"Just the...?" Cat's eyes bugged out and she instinctively clamped down for another enthusiastic embrace. "You're having ~twins~!?"

Ari hobbled over and gave her mother a hug as well. "Sure are. Looks to be like Yoyo and me, too."

"A brother and sister, too? That's adorable." The ecstatic otter reeled her daughter in for a massively powerful hug, nearly causing her to fall from the height difference. "You did good with the grandchildren, baby girl. Now I can't wait."

"Well... about that too..." Ari backed away a bit and pointed to the glowing device in her chest. "These suckers sort of passed on some extra traits to the pups, so apparently they'll be due here in another week or two."

Cat lunged forward and nuzzled her daughter. "That's amazing news!" The nuzzling soon turned into something more romantic, then eventually a soft kiss. "I'm glad you've got your father's genes in you now. If it were all my end those whelps wouldn't--"

Ilaria tried to force herself away, but Cat's playful kissing only strengthened. "Mom..."

Iolvin spotted the signs of his twin's discomfort and warned, "Mom, maybe you shouldn't..."

"Oh, it's alright. A mother can't get a kiss from her daughter nowadays?"

Then Cat tried to steal another kiss, making Ari knee herself free and backpedal into the opposite wall. "Mom, no! Just... don't do that!"

"Ouch! Watch it, sweetie. That..." Cat quickly realized something was wrong and backed away herself just to be safe. "What's the matter, honey? It was just a... kiss..."

Ilaria bolted for her room, tears welling in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it!"

Cat stared as her daughter found her room and slammed the door. "Did something happen in the bedroom between you two? Wait, no... That expression..." She perked up as a memory from her past surfaced unexpectedly. "Was she... taken by someone?"

"Mom..." Yoyo came in close again for another hug to comfort his mother. "Lulu was raped the other day. She's still a bit in shock, so maybe leave her alone?"

"Like hell I will. You never had someone force himself on you before." Cathy broke free and stomped right for the stairwell. "I'm having a talk with her. Don't bother us, alright?"

"S-Sure..."

Robyn shook her head and ambled over to one of the barstools near the serving area. "I never knew Cat was... you know before."

"I only heard a rumor, really. Something about a jealous guy after dad just met her."

"After ~both of us~ slept with her, actually." Carbon walked out of the study with Vasily in tow. "When we found her tribe, they ~offered~ a few women to us in good will. Turns out Vasily here had a love-atFirstSight thing going with Cat, and I initially declined."

"But you still gave it to her good in the end, ya' old girl." Vasily chuckled as he went to fetch some fresh coffee from the pot. "But yeah, someone else desired her and she'd... sort of bonded with me already. In her tribe it's not rape, not by name anyway. Actually, the guy's still a good friend."

"So you just fucked mom and that was it? I thought there was courting and all that..."

"Nah, just an amazing night at first." The old dog held up his paw so his wedding ring was visible. "Then I proposed to her three weeks later, before we pulled off the island. I came back and rescued her from that place a few months later."

"Hey, I happen to like our tribe." Yoyo sat next to Robyn with a frown. "Don't make it sound like it's a prison, dad."

Carbon laughed at that remark. "No, we literally rescued them. Their water supplies were being contaminated with radiation so we moved them to another island."

"Oh..." Yoyo slapped his forehead at some mental links that were being established. "~Oh~! Now a lot of your jokes make more sense."

"Yeah, we met while we were on active duty. I was just starting out as a Private back then." Vasily looked to Carbon ponderously. "What were you then? Didn't they bump you up to something just for re-joining the military? A Colonel or Brigadier Ge--?"

" Ahem. A lady never tells, remember?"

The old husky chuckled as he remembered Carbon's silly rule of staying enigmatic. "Ri~ight... You like to keep your past locked up."

"I have to keep in mind how long I'll be around." The hybrid shrugged her shoulders. "People come and go for me, sadly. You never know who's son or--"

Eve interrupted, "Carbon? One sec?"

The hybrid turned away and answered the phantom girl more privately. "Sure, shoot. We find him?"

"I think so, yes. But that's not the most interesting part about the data I've gone over." Evelyn paced about, throwing up mental images of places from Carbon's past. "At first I couldn't pinpoint the meaning of the potential coordinates. Then I remembered these geographic markers and compared them against similar ones we've witnessed before..."

"Yeah, that's nice and all..."

"Let me finish, Carbon." She overlaid a few images over each other and shook her head in disbelief. "These hills and valleys? They turned into the downtown and lake we see today. And remember how our old base used to be in a shallow valley before?"

"Yeah, it..." Carbon gawked at the idea running through her head. "You mean that was here?"

"We knew Wildebrooke was rebuilt, but it never looked the same after the war..." The fairy brought up a direct memory for Carbon to experience, then stood far in the distance on a slight hill. "This becomes the Rivets' home over here. Your base was covered up when they evened out this lake, and I think it's below the levy that's holding all the water in place."

"And Vorak went to my old military base. But how'd he even know about it?"

"Beats me. Maybe his new friend did."

Carbon held her paw to her chin for a moment as she formulated a plan, then turned to include the others. "Alright. We're taking a small walk here after we check our gear. Apparently Vorak's on the other side of the lake. Is Ari doing well enough to leave her?"

Robyn spoke up first. "I'd rather her not be alone, honestly. I'll be here, but..."

"I'll post Ademeus and Carmine here to keep an eye on you. With Lilly there with us we should be able to handle our two escapees, but if they come back I can't risk the girls or their pups."

Yoyo stood up and pulled Matilda from her holster on his leg. "I'm ready to go avenge my sister, Fibre. Just point the direction."

Vasily stepped forward and slid the safety lever into the safe position. "As long as you don't get your team killed first. I thought I could trust you with that wonder of a weapon, son."

"Oh, he's got the hang of her. He's just an undisciplined klutz from time to time, a lot like someone else I know..." Carbon headed for the door to check with Lilith outside, but paused to toss her own handgun over to Vasily. "Guess you'll need something in case it goes bad."

The husky chuckled and tossed the weapon right back. "You know I'm not content with just one gun, right? How big's that fella you're hunting?"

"Big."

Vasily grinned. "Oh, I've got something I've been wanting to try out..."

Yoyo followed after Carbon while shaking his head. "You can take the grunt out of the military, but not the military from the grunt, eh?"

"So where's the front door, Eve?"

Carbon paced around a the grassy levy watching her companion frantically flutter about. "I'm inspecting it... Just give me a few seconds. Everything's positionally relative when you're using sight lines for waypoints."

Iolvin walked near the water's edge and skipped a few rocks over the calm surface. "Can't find the entrance still?"

Lilith shook her head as she gave up the search herself. "The Major's rarely wrong about this sort of thing. That thing in her head is pretty accurate."

"She's not a thing, Lilly." Carbon smiled as she tapped her ear knowingly. "So, why would they hide the entrance? Or better yet, why bury the base to start?"

"Fresh water. After the few nukes launched in the Reclamation War's last days, fresh water was harder and harder to come by. The decision was made to dam up the brook and collect what they could." Eve grinned and pointed at her feet in some tall brush. "But the hardened structures were left intact apparently as underground bunkers. Yours was already underground though; can you even have recursive bunkers?"

Carbon walked over and confirmed the find. "Got it, guys. Weapons ready and follow me."

Yoyo pulled out his heirloom pistol and made sure the safety was intact this time. "Ready when you are."

The hybrid had no trouble lifting the heavy cast-steel hatch out of the way, offering passage while she held it open. "Damn. It'd take someone like Vorak to get in here, alright.

"Oh, but you make that look too easy." Lilly hopped onto the now-exposed ladder and slid down to the bottom. She clicked on a shoulder light as well as one on her gun and aimed two ways. "Clear. Silent too. That's not Vorak's style..."

Yoyo slid down partway before catching his hindpaw on a rung and resorting to a normal ladder decent. "I don't care if it's normal for him. My sister getting raped isn't normal."

Carbon simply hopped down the hole and landed at the bottom once Yoyo was clear, using her vines to slow her fall. "You'd do best to clear your head of that. Emotions can get in the way sometimes."

"And can make you an unstoppable killing machine too," reminded Lilly as she started moving down the a long hallway.

"Well let's just try not to get killed by your brother, Lilly. That's all I'm hoping for here."

Lilly stopped by another hatch and held up her rifle. "Get the door for a lady?"

"Oh, I'm always a gentleman." Yoyo unhooked the latch and pulled the heavy door open, following after Lilith as she cleared the interior. "Looks good."

"That's a clear as well, Carbon."

The hybrid stepped into the room and reached for the lights on instinct rather than by sight. "I remember this place. Eve, where are we?"

"We're..." The symbiont took a moment to check some references, then highlighted some doorways as she talked. "That's the armory, there's the staging room, and this here's your old lab."

"I thought so." Carbon led the way into her mother's old laboratory and stopped at a security door that was forced open. "Of all places, he had to pick this one."

Yoyo looked around, his pistol pointing just below his sight line. "Familiar to you? This place looks like a box of rusty bolts to me."

"I grew up here. For all I know, I was born here." Carbon pushed the useless door open and stepped inside, hitting yet another switch to illuminate the whole module. "Wow... The containment cell is still like I remember it."

"You grew up on a base? That's how dad grew up, right?" Yoyo peered inside the cell through the one-way mirror. "That's not too unusual. And here I thought you'd have something quirky to tell us, like you were some sort of experiment in that tank or something."

"Um..."

"Wait..."

Carbon looked up to Iolvin for a moment but broke away to hide her embarrassment. "That cell was my room for a little under thirty years."

"You're shitting me." Yoyo looked inside again and realized there indeed were a few home furnishings like a bookshelf and a desk. "You really were some kind of experiment?"

"Well, no. I just grew up here." Carbon opened the first airlock door and chuckled as the pumps actually kicked out some stale air. "My mother was a scientist in the human-animal adaptation after the planet became unsuitable for most human life. When she had me they just... classified her work and told her to focus on studying ~me~. Actually, she had to fight to be the one looking after me. They wanted an impartial analysis."

"You mean that Doctor Optik? The one that invented cross-species gene splicing? Wow." Yoyo headed over to the airlock as well, this time a lot more interested in his surroundings. "Well at least your mom got to look after you properly."

"Well... They wanted an impartial analysis..." Carbon sighed as she walked further inside and cleared the second door, the other two curiously following behind to check the cell. "I won't say she treated me badly, but it was hard to tell she was my mother most of the time."

"That's unfortunate. I'm sorry I brought it up now." Yoyo slipped into the inner chamber and went right for the bookshelf. "I thought so... 'Sourcebook on the Space Sciences'? And a first edition, too..."

"I had a lot of spare time, plus Eve sort of drove me nuts when she didn't have something to process."

"Oh, I can get that part." The otter opened the pristinely preserved book and checked the publish date, his eyes bulging for a moment as he discovered exactly how old the volume actually was. "You're... wow. I don't think my dad was born back then."

"He wasn't. I helped deliver him a pawful of years after that was published."

Lilly peeked over to the book and gave the whole room a quick inspection, apparently just as interested in answering questions about her leader. "So you found out just how deep the rabbit hole goes, eh? It's impressive, right?"

"Yeah, actually. I'd like to chart this actual history some day--for purely anthropological study, of course."

Carbon took the book and flipped to the explanation of mass relational to light. "This is completely right, but extremely wrong at the same time. The guy that wrote that relearned about the properties of light from a Yangurran. He had the right idea in the scope the universe, but practical bending of the rules of light by aliens changed his mind. You'd have developed your own near-light travel if not for that."

Yoyo tried to make heads or tails of the start of the chapter and his brain almost had to reboot. "So what should I draw from that?"

"Trust your instincts, not what someone else gives you. You'd be better served by doing your own research than by rummaging around here." Carbon took the book again and placed it back on the shelf, but froze when she turned back to see the hatch close itself. "Vorak!"

"Where!?"

The hybrid peered out the one-way window, her differing sight allowing a blurry image to pass through. "He's out in the lab. Lilly--"

"The door's locked!"

Carbon looked over to the inner hatch and frowned at the 'locked' status tag. "Open the door and we'll just talk, Vorak."

An old speaker squealed to life just above the mirrored glass. "Or we could leave you in that little death trap of a bedroom while we go jack up your shit."

"Vorak!..." Carbon scowled at the drake, but forced herself to stay calm. "Look, there's only so much air in here with the supplier system offline. Your sister won't last another few hours like this. You can't--"

"You're right, I can't. Fucking scientists made sure I couldn't before I was born, didn't they." Vorak pointed to his side and Centra came into view, the Yangurran messing with the controls nearby until the air started moving again. "That's why I got it running again. And guess what? That's real air in there now. How long you got left on that tank of yours, pal?"

"Fucker."

Vorak looked to the side for a moment and then grimaced back. "Okay, change of plans. My new friend here can't completely filter out the shit you breathe. You'll all be dead, just might take a bit longer."

Lilith lunged over and slammed the glass. "I'm your fucking sister! What the fuck!?"

"Sorry, sis. Orders are orders."

The pair backed away and out the lab, making Carbon kick the unbreakable glass. "You're dead! Now you're fucking dead!"

Lilith threw her arm out to clear the area and then aimed her rifle to the glass. "I can't let him get away again!"

"No!"

Lilly fired her weapon, the first two rounds lodging into the composite glass. The third of the salvo ricocheted away however, zipping past Yoyo's leg and into the bed. "Oh shit! Sorry!"

"It didn't hit." Iolvin looked to the unbreakable mirror and then to the metal hatch, deciding the metal might break easier. "Give me some room. I'm gonna try something."

"Sure, do it. It won't work, though." Carbon backed away and sat on the bed. "I know every square inch of this place and I never managed to break out."

"Just give me some slack here." Yoyo formed a barrier of solid air around his shoulder and tackled the door with all his strength, the shield shattering from the impact but bending the hatch's hinge slightly. "Ha! See that?"

"Huh. Well I'll be damned." Carbon stood up to inspect the damage, but jerked away again as Yoyo lined up for a second pass. "Just take it easy. If you rush you'll use more air. Don't get winded."

Iolvin hurled himself at the hatch again, this time busting the whole thing out so it loosely creaked from a single hinge point. "Good advice, but there's more than strength involved." Yoyo showed the shield of air, then forced it to decompress away from his body. "It's like a jackhammer on my shoulder."

"Yeah, but you still need to oppose the blast for it to work..." Carbon forced the now-stiff hinge to move and cleared the useless airlock hatch out of the way. "Now how is that going to work when the outer door is around a short corner? I don't mean to downplay the genius in that plan, but..."

"You're right. There's no room." Yoyo inspected the damage and then the meter or so of room he had to work. "Well I can still try, right? Maybe brace the wall and make the blast stronger?"

"No, you'll just crush your shoulder that way."

"Fuck."

"At least I got to see something new before I died. I didn't know you guys could do anything like that." Carbon checked her room for anything that might help with the control panel, but paused when she saw Yoyo crumple to the floor. "I know it sucks, but there's always a chance. And even if we--"

"No, it's not that." The otter sighed as he tried to contact his sister via their wireless link and failed. "We have a pact. We'll always be twins, never alone."

"I'm... sure this counts as extraordinary circumstances, Yoyo."

«No they don't.»

Yoyo perked up as his sister's voice filled his head. «Lulu! Where are you?»

«Looking right at your ~sorry~ ass.» A dull pair of thuds resounded off the mirrored glass. «They disabled the controls out here, but I can still hear you guys. Can you get the other door open?»

"Nah. No, it's locked tight."

"What?"

Yoyo rose to his hindpaws and gave the confused hybrid a pat on the shoulder. "Lulu followed us, the crazy idiot. She's out there and can hear us, but not much else."

«Oh, I can do ~something~ alright. I just need a way to hit this glass really hard.»

"Well we already tried that. Hell, I busted down a steel door."

«But you didn't have any liquid nitrogen on paw, did you?» Carbon ducked her eyes down from a sudden flash of light in her eyes, which became apparent to the others soon enough when the glass started to frost over. «Give me a minute to get it as cold as possible, then you can try whatever you did to that door.»

"Sure, we've got ~plenty~ of time." Yoyo backed up to the bookshelf and readied himself for another power-tackle. "Fibre, Lilly... I'm busting that down in a few seconds. Get ready."

The hardened fluff drake smiled as she backed away from the frosty barrier. "Finally, someone else calling me 'Lilly' for once. This is already going well."

«I don't ~feel~ it changing anymore, if that makes any sense. I think you're good to go, lil' bro.»

"Gotcha. Stand back, Lulu." Iolvin threw up his clear shield and hurled himself into the window with all his weight, which ended up being far too much in it's weakened state. "Oh, shit!"

Ari flew off her hindpaws as she caught her twin brother and they both slid across the ground. "Woah there, cowboy. I gotcha."

Yoyo found his sister's muzzle with his own even before he'd gotten his bearings, sincere love binding him with his twin. "You are one ~hell~ of a sight for sore eyes, sis."

"Gods, same here... Same here..."

Carbon climbed over the shattered mess and offered a paw, more for show than anything due to the height disparity between the Rivets and herself. "Now I'm glad you guys got infected by those fii."

"It's an infection?" Yoyo stood himself up, but Ari took that paw since her leg deserved all the help it could get. "Huh, seems healthy enough to me."

"Well, it's just a technical truth." Carbon took a slow, contemplative breath to determine her next words. "We need to gather everyone up and head back. This was a diversion. They're really going back to destroy our project, or even the whole tower perhaps."

"Why would they do that? That'd take a lot of effort just to kill some civilians."

"They've done it before." Carbon looked at the two twins knowingly, nearly breaking her standard issue poker face. "I don't want to go through that again."

Ari remembered the earliest time she'd known Carbon, when he carried the twins into their basement to escape some kind of blast. "Neither do I."

"Good." Carbon waited for Lilly to extract herself from the cell before she started jogging out the lab. "We have the orbiter; we can reach the Tower before they do."

"We'll round everyone up when we get back." Yoyo readied his weapon again and followed the Major back to the surface. "You and Lilly can get that orbiter thing up and running. Sound good?"

"Perfect." The hybrid lashed out her tendrils and pulled herself back to the surface where she could bask in the sunlight for a moment. "He destroys my home and now he thinks he can take us on our home turf? Sorry, Lilly, but you brother's got himself on my death list."

"Fuck." The fluff drake stopped in her tracks as she realized what that meant. "That's... not what I wanted."

Yoyo helped his sister up first then paused to ask, "And why's that a bad thing? I'd think Carbon would have a lot of enemies after all these years."

"Yeah, tons, but..." Lilith sulked as she took to the ladder next, her genetics making the idea of killing her brother infeasible. "In all my time with the Major, that huge list had always kept itself empty."