Modern History
Even through the fur-lined coat, Histy felt the chill wind. He tightened his grip on WonderWolf, feeling the muscles through the thin cotton shirt. "I think you came from an ice planet," he muttered under his breath.
The large wolf laughed. "Bit chilly, sunshine?" He steered the motorcycle toward the ground, where a large brown bear in an olive green uniform waited for them, outside a large metal structure topped with several aerials. His uniform was decorated with several medals, gold and red patches on his chest matching the trim on the pants and the cuffs. A path had been cleared through the snow from the nearby road to the door of the hut, through the three feet of snow that surrounded it.
The bear raised a paw, stepping back to allow the motorcycle room to land. Histy jumped off into the snow, rubbing his gloved paws together and bringing them to his long muzzle to breathe on them. Putting a big smile on his muzzle and his character in his voice, he extended one glove to the bear, who was looking at WonderWolf with a sour expression.
"Holla, mate! Hist'ry Channel, everyone's favorite dingo hero, at yer wolly service. And this big fella you mighta spotted on the sticky here an' there."
"That's the Web," Wonder clarified, as he always did.
The bear ignored him, turning to Histy with a smile and clasping the dingo's smaller paw in his own. "Colonel Vasili Garelnikov. I thought you would come alone."
"Oy, well, it's a ruddy gollywog gettin' 'round without my mate Duba-Dubya here, ya key?" He couldn't help wagging his tail. The bear actually seemed interested in him more than WonderWolf.
Vasili nodded curtly to the large wolf, tipping the fur-lined hat with the red star on front. "We are merely investigating disappearance of staff," he said. "We do not expect fighting."
Wonder shrugged. "If something made the people disappear, there might still be danger around."
"Station is secure. I have checked." The bear brightened. "But perhaps you could survey area. We have looked from aircraft but not spotted signs. However, we cannot fly low to ground. Is treacherous here."
"You going to be okay?" Wonder looked at Histy.
"Boffo! Got the chirpy here." Histy tapped his wrist-PDA.
"Okay. Lemme know when you're done."
"Righto. Thanks for the hover, lover."
Wonder rolled his eyes, his ears flicking as he got back on the bike. Histy grinned to himself. The big fella was too much fun to tease. He turned to the bear, whose expression warmed considerably after WonderWolf had flown off. "Is warmer inside," Vasili said, gesturing with a grin to the closed door. "But I am thinking you wish to examine door first."
"If my paws don't freeze tight to the fridgin' thing." Histy walked with the bear to the door and pulled off one glove. Whatever body heat had been trapped in the glove vanished in seconds. "Oi. Dunno how you blokes don't ice up under the plush." He set his fingerpads against the frigid metal, and the snow and howling breeze faded away.
He saw an old metalworks factory, the casting of the door. Move forward, move forward. The images played out in a familiar movie style in his head. The door arrived in Siberia at the installation, was set in place, and then there was a blur of opening and closing, a parade of bears and caribou and elk and hares running in and out. The parade slowed to a trickle, and then nothing but storms and wind and snow, sun and stars. Most recently, Vasili himself, and then the brief flash of Histy's own fingers. "Last bruce to go through here before ya... two years ago?"
Vasili was smiling oddly at him and didn't answer immediately. Histy cleared his throat. "Oi, uh...Colonel?"
The bear shook his head and focused on Histy. "Ah, my apologies. That sounds correct." Vasili nearly brushed Histy's fingers as he placed his own massive paw on the door handle and pulled. Histy jerked his paw back and stuffed it into the glove, thankful it hadn't stuck to the metal. "It is such pleasure to see you working in person," Vasili said over his shoulder, yanking hard at the door handle. He didn't seem to have noticed Histy shying away at his touch.
The door ground open with a rusty scream that folded Histy's ears back even under his padded hood. Watching the bear exert most of his strength, Histy thought he probably wouldn't have been able to even budge the door on his own. He followed the large bear into the dark room, flexing his fingers as if to exorcise the previous memories.
The roar of a generator echoing off metal filled the air. A single bare bulb flickered to life, showing Vasili standing next to a large red switch on a junction box on one wall, next to a small door that stood ajar. He gestured to the furnishings. "You can see, not much left behind. Fortunately, generator still work."
Histy looked at the corkboard with scraps of photos clinging to it, the solid wooden chair sitting below the bulb, the screws and brackets where equipment had been mounted on the walls, the metal table propped against the wall because it was missing one leg. "Too roight. So what's the fossick for, eh? How many bruces we talkin'? How'd you manage to misplace 'em?"
"This station is manned, sometimes." Vasili scratched his head behind his small, furred ears. "We are, not good with the papers. We forget there is team here. We try to call on radio, no answer. Come to check on team, and team is gone, two wolves and one, ah...karibu?"
"Caribou?"
"Da. But equipment is also gone. We wish to know what happens to team."
"'Spect they come a gutser," Histy said. "Or else just cast off."
Vasili seemed delighted by those answers. He nodded vigorously, though his answer didn't seem in line with his attitude. "Is currently dispute in this area," he said, waving his arm in a grand circle, "native...caribou claiming rights when Ourscine government is doing all development, anyway, is not your concern. We wish to know if violence took place."
Histy frowned. First the team was gone, then there was a potential dispute, and they didn't have any other records? This felt odd, but at least he wouldn't be here for long. He pulled the glove off again and flexed his paw. "Where you want I should kick off?"
He moved toward the chair, but Vasili pointed him toward the small door. "Generator," he said. "Would be most important thing."
Histy nodded, rubbing his paw into his glove. Even sheltered from the wind, the little building was freezing. There was a nice wave of warmth coming from the generator, though, so he was happy to huddle up in the doorway and reach out his paw to the vibrating surface.
He saw the generator coming off an assembly line in a different country, somewhere cold but made by wolves, not bears. Shipped here and installed by bears, turned on and off several times. The images flickered past him, but nothing about them was very interesting: no bloody paws grasping at the switch, no bullets striking the generator.
Through the images, he became aware that Vasili's large, firm paw had grasped his wrist. He struggled to surface from the images. "Hey," he said, but the bear had already managed to remove the wrist PDA. "Aw, don't be a yobbo," he said. "That won't workâ€""
But the bear had already pulled a padded wrist-cuff from his coat and fastened it over Histy's wrist, then attached the other end to a ring in the wall. Histy looked at the chain and then at the bear, who was smiling. "My apologies," Vasili rumbled. "I do not need for it to work. In fact, it is best if it not work."
"Listen," Histy said, gesturing with his ungloved paw. If he could find something on Vasili to touch, he could see more about the bear's background, figure out what kind of situation he was in here. But the only uncovered part was the bear's face, and he was afraid if he reached for it, the bear might swat him back. "Duba-Dubya's on 'is way back right now. He's gonna collar me in an hour. Whatever yer thinkin'â€""
"Will take much less than an hour." Vasili stepped toward Histy. "I promise, will not hurt you. I hope perhaps you will call your friend after, and tell him is not necessary to come get you."
"Oh, sure," Histy said. He didn't like the gleam in the bear's dark eyes. "Just gimme the talkie and I'll ring him right up."
Vasili shook his head slowly. "After," he said, gazing down at the dingo with an intensity that made Histy back up to the wall. The bear's scent was overwhelming, thick musk and now, Histy could smell, desire.
"Oi, listen 'ere," he said. "Youâ€"hey!"
Vasili had followed Histy to the wall, his immense bulk crowding but not touching the dingo, and then he'd dropped to his knees in a moment, his paws yanking hard on the dingo's pants. "I am sorry," he said, as Histy tried to squirm away.
"Y'ain't sorry or you'd stop!" Histy yelled. "Look, leave the boys be."
"I have waited so long for this," Vasili said, breathing heavily. He pushed Histy against the wall with one huge paw planted on the dingo's stomach, while the other forced the thick snow pants down to his knees. The smell of arousal grew stronger, even though it wasn't coming from the one who'd just had his bits exposed.
"It's fuckin' cold in here!" Histy said. "Look, mate, please, cover me up!"
But Vasili was gazing raptly at Histy's white sheath and the sac pulled up tightly below it. "So lovely," he said, his breath warm on the cold fur.
Histy struggled to regain control of the situation. "That's what the sheilas tell me," he said. "But I ain't no poufta, I promise ya." He reached forward slowly with his ungloved paw, toward the bear's cheek.
Casually, without looking, Vasili's paw moved from Histy's stomach to pin his wrist to the wall. He sighed, talking softly as if to himself. "I know that is what you think, but you are not having had true loving. I am reading all the time in the Internet, you go on dates, but no female can satisfy you."
"I ain't denyin' that," Histy said, working hard to keep his finger and palm pads from touching the metal. "Butâ€""
"You are so lonely," Vasili went on as if Histy hadn't spoken. "Beautiful dingo from foreign land, with nobody to understand." His paw traced down Histy's hip, claws ruffling into the fur. "Beautiful body." His claws came back up the inside of Histy's thigh.
"Yer not treadin' new ground, mate," Histy said. "Thing is, it ain't cause I secretly wannaâ€"ahh, okay, enough's enough!"
The bear's paw had risen to cup Histy's sac warmly, squeezing around the base of his shaft. Despite himself, Histy felt a stirring there. Don't encourage him, for the love of Mike! But his anatomy, as it often did, remained immune to the power of Saint Michael. "Is not yet enough," Vasili said, his eyes closed now, smile stretching back to his cheeks. "Is not yet even beginning."
"Roight, you've had a nice peek an' a poke, now how about dressin' me up again?" Desperately, Histy lifted one leg to try to push the bear away, but his pants around his knees hampered his movement to the point that he almost lost his balance.
"Would you like to sit?" Vasili nodded toward the chair. His paw slid up Histy's sheath, strong fingers squeezing with surprising gentleness.
Histy leaned his muzzle back. "Ah, bloody 'ell," he muttered. His shaft, despite the cold, despite the situation, was stiffening, and soon the tip would be exposed to the frigid air. "Look, mate, 'least cover me up," he said. "I'm beggin' here, please."
Vasili shook his head slowly, his eyes fixed on Histy's thickening sheath. "Even if I wanted, I do not have anything to do so. And I do not wish to."
Histy bit his lip. "Wanna know a secret, mate?"
Vasili's paw stopped stroking, but did not move away. "A secret? I know all there is to be known about you. If it were possible I would be bringing strawberry cheesecake ice cream and Royal Coon Cola for you."
Dear God above. Histy couldn't even remember in which interview he'd professed to love Royal Coon. "It's about where I was born."
Vasili smiled and nodded. "I am knowing all about that. You are born in slum, outside Calatonia. Abandoned by parents, discovering your remarkable abilities as teen pup. Such glory in communion with old objects! The houses are becoming your friends. You are working in antique storeâ€""
"Stop, whoa theah. That's all from the comic, mate." Histy took a breath and dropped the accent. "I'm not exotic. My grandparents came from Calatonia, but I was born in Aventira. My parents are still alive."
He held his breath. Vasili was staring at him. It was a risk, but Crypto'd told them that fans fixated on the comic books would lose interest when confronted with too much reality. Of course, he said, there was also a chance they would become violent.
It was a good several seconds, during which Histy's sheath did not grow any warmer, before he noticed that tears were glistening in Vasili's eyes. The bear sniffed loudly. "Such courage!" he said. "Forced to hide your common origins, to tell story so others will accept you!"
Sagging against the wall, Histy made a mental note to add this reaction to Crypto's database. "No, listen, Colonel, Vasili, it'sâ€"aah!"
The bear had opened his muzzle and taken sheath and sac into it. Histy could feel the thick, solid teeth around his base. Vasili looked up at him, and when Histy stopped talking, removed his muzzle. "Is no more talking," he said. "Not until we are finish."
"Butâ€"" Histy stopped when Vasili's paw tightened warningly around his sac. "Right," he sighed. Well, hey, could be worse, he thought, and braced himself back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut.
Vasili chuckled. "You will enjoy," he said, his paw resuming its up-and-down stroking.
Not as much as you think. Histy sighed and curled his tail down between his legs, sorting through images in his head for as long as he could. There'd been that nice white fox in the Port City nightclub, she'd been soft and willing, happy to leave the next morning. There'd been the rat in the coffee shop; they'd flirted for three hours before he bet her that her front teeth would make it impossible for her to do certain things, and she'd won that bet. Ah, but no, it had to be the tigress, the one he'd never even learned the name of. They'd all been too happy to use a condom with him, but only she had gone through three in one night. It's her breath on me, her thick, mannish paw rubbing me hard, her ursine scent filling the air.
Then he felt the chill of the air on his tip, and steadied himself. Here it comes. A moment later, he felt the soft wash of a thick tongue up his sheath, approaching as if in slow motion. His whole body tingled, and his senses shivered in anticipation. Here it comes.
The bear's tongue brushed the skin of his tip. The spark of arousal was dwarfed by the surge of images and tastes that surged through him.
Steaks and more steaks, tender and tough, hot and warm...potatoes, cooked with salt, cooked with black pepper, boiled and baked...words shouted in Vasili's language and then some in English: "I have a crisis to report to the League" and then, further back, "You have charming smile," and "We are not going to negotiate," and then, further still, beet stew and turnip mash and thick black bread and "my bicycle is being repaired" and smooth vodka and harsh vodka...and, of course, cocks of all shapes and sizes: his own, most recently, but a host of others, canine and ursine and ungulate and murine...dozens of different salty musks, good God!
Histy wasn't aware of his legs buckling. He only realized it when Vasili lifted his muzzle and the dingo found the bear pressing him against the wall, holding him upright. "Is good, da?"
"Please," Histy breathed, stomach roiling at the tastes fading slowly from his muzzle, "please stop."
Vasili rubbed a gloved finger up Histy's extended length and then squeezed his just-swelling knot. "Oh, you do not wish to insult me?"
"No," Histy panted. "It's justâ€""
"You are afraid you will like. And that will make you cocksucker like me."
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" Histy exploded.
"Yes," Vasili said, and lowered his muzzle again. This time, he opened his entire mouth, sliding his lips and tongue both along the dingo's erect shaft.
Shudders of arousal raced through him, but they only registered for a moment before his skin absorbed the memories of what it was touching. He focused on the past so as to avoid the feedback of the memories currently being generated by the lips sliding up his own engorged shaft. Kisses...more foods, more male genitals...bread and stews and good Jesus, a tailhole? He tried to focus on the words, made more difficult because his body was shuddering with every lick of the bear's tongue, every stroke of his lips. If only he'd pawed off that morning, he wouldn't be so eager now. Focus. Listen.
Lips and tongue moving up and down his shaft, every stroke flooding him with more memories, every stroke shooting tingles through his fur. Unintelligible Russian conversations and English lessons, and some images, a young Vasili at an army base in some mountainous area; most of the various erections he'd felt before, all attached to other soldiers (that explained a lotâ€"fuckin' army); barking out orders, shouting at a distant enemy as he put his shoulder to a rocket launcher; talking softly to a fellow soldier about duty...
With intuition born of experience, he focused on that one as best he could, with his legs starting to kick reflexively and his loins tightening in anticipation of release. Vasili had released his ungloved paw, so he brought it down to the bear's exposed fur. The new flood of memories overlaid the first, adding dimension to it: sounds and smells, and the touch of hot desert air on fur...
"Come away with me," the wolf was saying in accented English. German, it sounded like.
"Why can we not be happy here?" Vasili asked.
The hot, dry air around them smelled of dust and the bright tang of fuel, explosive residue, burnt trees. Closer: two male musks, mingled, and the taste of the wolf in his mouth. "There is no life for us here," the wolf said. "I have a brother with a legal firm. He can find work for us."
Through Vasili's eyes, Histy saw the wolf's beautiful, naked form, white chest and stomach, cock half-out of his sheath, grey fur filmed with brown dust, thickest along his bushy tail. His long muzzle, more white than grey, faced Vasili with a worried smile, half-lidded eyes sad, though both ears were as perked as they could be, with the left one half gone. "I...cannot," Vasili said. "I have duty to motherland."
The wolf's smile faltered. "What about a duty to me?"
"Is not the same thing." The wolf's smile faded further. He looked less attractive already through the filter of memory, the previously handsome pose now seeming desperate and slutty. "Duty is highest calling."
"What about love, Vassy?"
Perspective shifted. The wolf looked up, but didn't otherwise move. He looked pathetic now, groveling. "We will talk no more of this."
Vasili began to put on his clothes. "I'm sorry you feel that way," the wolf said. "We could have been happy."
"Someone who ignores duty? Ha." Thenâ€"
The vision fragmented. Histy gripped the bear's fur, arching his back as his blood pounded hard through him, forcing his body to shudder and spasm. He heard himself yelping and felt his legs kick against the wall as his hips drove into the bear's muzzle, spurting warmly onto the tongue and then in the bizarre feedback loop he'd been trying to avoid, feeling his own climax on the other's tongue, tasting his own musk, feeling his own cock sliding and pulsing over it, and all the other cocks the bear had sucked, all the other come he'd swallowed, all overwhelmed Histy in a rush and he doubled over, gagging and heaving onto the cabin floor.
Vasili jerked his muzzle back, breaking the connection with Histy's shaft and paw at the same time, and the isolation was such a blessed relief that Histy's legs gave out, leaving him hanging by one arm from the cuff. Vasili got to his feet, jumping forward immediately to prop up the dingo, fortunately holding him under the arms where he was clothed. "It was bad?" he said. "How could this be bad?"
"Just...not used to it," Histy coughed.
From one of his pockets, Vasili brought a handkerchief and wiped Histy's mouth tenderly. "Next time will be better."
For the love of Mike, this boy don't take hints very well. But Histy had an idea. "I'm sure it will," he said.
The bear's eyes lit up, enough to make Histy feel bad for a moment. "Then...you are happy to stay with me?"
"Sure," Histy said. "I'll toss out all my ties to the League."
Vasili's smile remained fixed, but his eyes dimmed. "You...wish to leave League? For me?"
Histy shrugged. "It's just a job," he said. "I mean, yeah, I know I have a duty to help people with my power, but..." He sucked in his breath. "Fuck that, y'know?"
"You can remain with League," Vasili said, now definitely less certain. "You are superhero! I would not want to take you away from that."
"Ah, I can retire whenever I want," Histy said. "It's not that important, what I do."
"Not important?" Vasili took a step back. "You find out things! You are forensic specialist. Without you, League has no direction. You are most important League member!"
That'd be Crypto, actually, Histy wanted to say, but it would make his betrayal seem greater to agree. "Oh, I know all that," he said, "but I'd rather be happy and spend time with that special person. So just give me that communicator back and I'll call Duba-Dubya and tell him not to bother coming back. I'll resign right now."
Of course, there was always the chance that Vasili would let him do that, but even if he did, Histy knew WonderWolf would come back for him when he added the coded "help" words. But he wanted to get out of this without WW's help, if he could. And based on Vasili's dismay, he thought the bear was more enamored of the idea of sucking off a hero than actually having a lover who was proving to be more fickle than he'd imagined. "You can remain with League," he said, as if trying to work out a logic problem in his head, "and live with me. Still go on missions."
"Well, you'll leave the army too, o'course." This was Histy's final blow. "I mean, if I leave the League, then you have to leave the army. I don't want to be waiting 'round the house when you go on some mission, not knowing if you'll come back."
"I do not run missions now," Vasili rumbled, his enthusiasm clearly gone. "I plan strategy."
"But still, you have those meetings, and who knows who might want to assassinate such an important member of the army? Or maybe blow up a whole army building? We see plots like that every day in the League. No, you'd have to retire too. Oh, this'll be great! We can lounge around and do nothing. And, uh, suck each other's cocks all day." He hoped to God that sounded like something a gay couple would do.
"You...you want me to retire as well? But...my duty..."
"Is your duty more important than me?" Histy tried to leer at him. Picture the tigress, picture the arctic fox.
Vasili took another step backward. "You are...not as I imagined." He wiped his mouth.
"This is the real me, not the comic book me," Histy said. "This is what you wanted."
The bear shook his head, slowly at first, then with more confidence. "No. You are a hero!"
"Only 'cause I don't have anything better to do." Histy affected a shrug.
Vasili's lip curled. "I am sorry to hear that," he said, formally. "I am sorry I inconvenience you. I will not speak of this to anyone." He held out the communicator to Histy. "You may summon your Wonder Wolf."
"Thanks." The PDA came to life as his paw grasped it. Histy tapped out the quick "get back here now" message. "Now, if you'll justâ€"oi, wait!" Histy slipped back into his accent as the bear set the communicator on the chair and kept walking. "You gotta set me loose!"
"Your Wonder Wolf will return in short time. Perhaps," Vasili said, turning, "this will teach you importance of duty. Good-bye, History Channel."
"No! Wait!" Histy yelled, but Vasili turned impassively and strode across the cabin. He pulled the door open and stepped through. Histy just felt the blast of cold air before the bear shoved the door closed.
Damn, his cock was cold. He struggled to reach down with his free paw, but the fact that his other wrist was cuffed so high up on the wall made it hard for him to reach. He had to hang by his cuffed paw and try to curl his legs up into his stomach so his paw could reach his pants. Fortunately, he knew his clothes well enough that touching them didn't provoke a disorienting flood of memories, though his pants weren't lined with blanked-out material like the gloves were.
Still, it was hard to pull the pants up from only one side. He got them partly up one thigh, but reaching across to his other thigh proved much trickier. After several minutes of trying, he had to rest, and that, of course, was when WonderWolf walked in.
The huge wolf stopped and stared. "Huh," was all he said.
"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this," Histy said.
WonderWolf nodded, walking slowly forward, closing the door behind him. "Oh, I don't doubt it." He stopped, stroking his muzzle.
"Please, just get me down," Histy said. "M'boys don't like the cold storage."
"Thing is," WonderWolf said, "that there's a real interesting cuff."
"It is," Histy agreed. "Y'know, if you get it off me, you can look at it closer."
"I thought I knew you," WonderWolf said, shaking his head. "You told me all this time that you were a hundred and ten percent straight."
"Oh, for the love of Mike," Histy said. "Are you going to leave me here?"
"Just long enough for a picture." WonderWolf held up his wrist communicator. "You didn't think I'd pass up the chance to put this on the Wall, did you?"
On his motorbike, heading home, with Crypto already alerted to track down Vasili as best he could, WonderWolf grinned back at Histy. "This is your first pic on the Wall, isn't it?"
"You left me alone with him," Histy muttered.
"I think the only other pic on the Wall with sheath is Blink," WonderWolf went on. "This'll be good, make him feel better. Oh, wait, there's that one of Desert, too, but that's an old one."
Histy preferred not to think about that. "Say, if you found someone to settle down with, and you retired, what would you do all day?"
WonderWolf's ears flicked back. "What do you mean? I guess we'd read the news, watch a movie, travel to some nice places, have nice meals."
"Oh." Histy thought about that. "You wouldn't, like, suck each other off all day?"
"Are you propositioning me?"
"Jesus, no!" Histy loosened his hold on WonderWolf momentarily, until the rushing wind reminded him why he was clinging so tightly to the brawny wolf. "Just curious, that's all."
Now WonderWolf looked back again, slyly. "Biiiiii-curious?" he said.
Histy rolled his eyes. "I seen the other side now, boyo," he said. "You can have it."
WonderWolf laughed. Histy felt the powerful tail wag against his stomach and sighed, as Port City and several months of teasing from the rest of the League approached at far too great a speed.