FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

With a cry of pain and a loud clatter Kaden was thrown against the large metal dumpsters tucked away at the back of the dirty, dark alleyway in one of the poorer districts of Garlington City. The young, thin raccoon -in his late teens by the looks of it, clad into a pair of black jeans and a dark-blue plain hoodie- was too terrified to stand up, staring with terror in his eyes at the three armed thugs that had nabbed him from the street and thrown him here.

Two more thugs entered the alley, exchanging high-fives and greetings with the three others. Kaden noted the two newcomers were the ones who had been tailing him for the past two blocks or so... Probably they had marked him as a target for one reason or another.

All five ruffians sported a black bandanna on their person somewhere -a sure-as-hell gang insignia, Kaden realized- and were armed with an assortment of knives, bats, pipes and two of them even had pistols!

"You wandered into a baaad part of town, boy..." A burly Pitbull said in a nasal tone whilst tapping a length of pipe against his palm, looming menacingly over Kaden.

"W-What do you want with me?" Kaden blurted out without thinking. His quivering question elicited a rather uproarious round of laughter and chuckling from the thugs.

"We gon' rob you, then we gon' beat you, homie." Another ganger, a weedy jackal, said through clenched teeth whilst digging the muzzle of his revolver rather painfully into Kaiden's cheek, forcing the raccoon to turn his head away from them.

"Hey, Deedee, get the camera ready. This gon' be gooood~" the Pitbull said, looking over his shoulder at a hare, who in turn replied with a grin before digging out a video camera from the front pouch of his hoodie.

"And don't bother yelling for help... This is Black Bullets' territory and even the fuzz knows to steer clear of our business." A marbled polecat piped in whilst twirling a butterfly knife in his paw, his grin showing his front two teeth had been broken sometime in the past.

Kaden leaned as far back against the dumpster as he could, trying his best to meld with the battered, filthy metal surface, to become as invisible as possible. Pointless, yes, but he wasn't quite thinking straight at that moment, his eyes darting from one thug to another as they slowly approached him.

The young raccoon had just been on an evening stroll, not really paying attention where he was going even though he probably should have.

"C-C'mon, guys. I'm really sorry! I didn't know this was your turf. I... I was just having a--" Kaden tried, but was silenced once more by uproarious laughter.

"Hear that guys? He's sorry. Well then, that changes absolutely_everything_." The Pitbull said, spreading his arms and turning to look at his companions. The dog had an absolutely sickeningly sweet fake smile on his face as he turned around "I'm going to start beating you now, kid... I won't stop until it stops being funny and lemme tell ya, I'm real easily amused."

Just as the dog hefted up his weapon for a strike, a soft, calm voice called from somewhere in the shadows "I wouldn't do that if I were you, mister."

Seemingly out of nowhere stepped out a red fox, dressed up from head to toe in black: shoes, suit pants, a leather trench coat with silver buttons and a fedora that had a canine skull-shaped silver buckle on it instead of a bowtie. His head was pressed down to hide most of his face and he was casually leaning with both paws on a black-shafted gentleman's walking stick topped with -as seemed to be a theme for him- a leering silver canine skull with ruby eyes. The newcomer's entire posture seemed to radiate certain foppishness.

There was a small flash of fire -no larger than a match or a lighter- that, for a brief moment, illuminated the fox's handsome features, the flame leaving behind the glowing ember tip of a lit cigarette held casually in the corner of his muzzle. The fox had not moved his paws from the cane to light it...

The fox took a deep inhale and blew the smoke out through his nose, lifting his gaze up at the same time to regard the thugs with yellow eyes and a stern gaze both of which were a rather stark, harsh contrast to his otherwise so relaxed posture.

"Who the fuck does this prissy little princess think he is?" The Pitbull was the first one to regain his composure after the sudden appearance of the fox. His words seemed to snap his buddies out of daze as well, the lot of them hefting their weapons towards the well-dressed vulpine. "You have any idea who you're messing with, dipshit?"

"John Marisand, Robert Monderell, Damian Donahue, Jarvis Earle and you would be Kyler Tanner. Five members of the Black Bullets gang who are about to be very, very sorry if they refuse to leave the young man here alone." The fox replied with a little grin on one side of his face and without skipping a beat, giving the gangers a pause yet again.

"How do you..?" The Pitbull, Kyler, asked, shaking then his head and baring his fangs in a snarl "Never-fucking-mind. Your shitty little party trick with the cig and that name-stuff don't scare me none. You're dead, asshole! C'mon Jar, let's waste this fucker!"

With that said the Pitbull lunged at the fox accompanied by Jarvis the marbled polecat. The fox's grin broadened a touch and his eyes narrowed dangerously. He tossed his cane up and grabbed it neatly by the lower end, swinging it back and then forth like a mace in a sideways sweep towards the Pitbull's head.

As he swung the cane, the skull on the tip of it ignited with a crackling, purple-black corona of energy; not quite fire and not quite electricity but something akin to both. The Pitbull tried to block the strike with his arm, an expression of utter dismay spreading onto his face as his arm was easily pushed out of the way by the surprising force of the strike.

Unable to dodge, the fox's blow landed true to the side of Kyler's face with the sharp snap of releasing energy, the dog's head getting obliterated by that singular, almost casual blow. The Pitbull's headless corpse took two more steps forward past the fox before collapsing in a heap, blood squirting from the stump of his neck.

Like quicksilver the fox sprang into motion before anyone had time to react, sprinting towards the remaining four gangers. He dodged a wild, hasty defensive slash from the polecat's knife before thrusting his free paw forward and grabbing his broken-toothed foe by the face. A white-hot light -brighter than a blazing furnace- erupted from his palm and the marbled polecat screamed in pain and terror for a gruesome, but thankfully short, moment.

Everyone stared in stunned horror as the fox threw Jarvis' lifeless corpse forward. A hand-sized portion of the polecat's face had been scorched off, revealing slightly singed bone underneath, a wispy trail of white smoke spilling from the side of Jarvis' muzzle.

The jackal, Robert opened fire, screaming wildly as he emptied his magazine towards the fox. The stranger just swept his arm in an arc in front of him as if swatting away flies, a corona of searing-white fire erupting from his body and turning the bullets into little puffs of steam.

Still running, the fox squeezed his paw into a fist, the fiery corona around him flowing like liquid into it. With a snarl the black-clad vulpine thrust his hand forward and opened his fist, hurling a roiling beam of fiery energy at Robert, who didn't even have time to scream before being engulfed by the white-hot flames.

The worst part was that through the flames, silhouetted like a shadow, the others could see Robert's body being reduced to a mere skeleton in an instant, the bones collapsing into a pile and turning into ash in the two heartbeats it took for the fire to go out.

"Fuck this!" The rat holding the other gun yelled and turned to run, followed a second later by the hare who had dropped his camera long ago.

The fox slid into a halt and pointed his cane at the rat's back, a bolt of that same dark energy that had obliterated the Pitbull's head firing from the ornamental silver skull. The bolt struck the rat square between the shoulder blades, piercing through his body and then arcing to the right as if with a will of its own, slamming to the side of the hare's head and pulverizing it into nothing.

With a cruel, satisfied laugh the fox turned around, gave his walking stick a couple of twirls and then slammed it through the video camera, obliterating the device beyond all repair, and on the ground, leaning dandily on it with one paw whilst adjusting his hat a little bit with the other.

"So tell me now... Who are you?" The fox asked in a casual tone.

Kaden's mind was reeling with terror. What the hell had just happened? How had it happened? Was the stranger just toying with him before killing him too? "K-K-Kaden..." The raccoon finally managed to squeak out in a thin, timid voice.

"An absolute delight to have made your acquaintance, Kaden." The fox replied with a charming smile, a little bow and a tip of the hat. "I would suggest that you gather yourself up from the ground and head home as fast as possible. Would be a real shame if all this was for naught."

Having said that the fox just turned around and started to walk away, nimbly twirling his walking stick as he went. One by one the corpses he passed by lit spontaneously on fire, reduced to nothing more than ash in just a few short seconds.

It was all too much for Kaden. The last thing he saw before fainting was a lush, swishing fox tail vanishing around a corner...

"2-0-8 - dispatch. Shots fired near Frostgate Avenue. 2-0-8 requesting permission to investigate and intervene, over."

"Dispatch - 2-0-8. Negative, Frostgate Avenue is off-limits gang territory. Unless the disturbance spreads out from there, you are not to intervene, over."

"...2-0-8 - dispatch. Acknowledged, over."

The chatter from police radio made the airborne figure sneer. The gang wars and the new out-of-town Police Chief's rash decisions and relative inexperience had severely depleted the resources of the GCPD. It was all the Garlington City's remaining finest could do to keep the gang violence out of the more well-to-do parts of the city.

"_Raven, did you hear that? Frostgate Avenue, we should investigate."_The voice of Judicator, his companion, crackled through the communication systems built into his helmet.

Only last week the two of them had agreed that something had to be done about the situation in Garlington City... and they had the will and the means to become the heroes the city so desperately seemed to need.

Thus far the two of them had been publicly condemned by both the Mayor and the Police Chief after their first act of vigilantism had stopped a bank robbery in an unfortunately bloody fashion. Luckily no innocent bystanders had gotten hurt, only the robbers had suffered casualties; two dead and the other two in a coma from which they probably wouldn't wake up. An unfortunate and painful lesson for the two budding heroes...

"Agreed... Adjusting course, see you there in a moment." Raven -or Platinum Raven as his full moniker was- replied, twisting then about in the air before adjusting the thrusters built into the wings and boots of his platinum-sheen raven-like power armor.

"_Watch yourselves out there guys. That's Black Bullet territory you're heading into and they are known to be trigger happy. And try not to get anyone killed, guys. We REALLY don't need any more bad PR."_Jonah, their assistant/technician/financier back at the hideout reminded them.

"Ever the worrywart..." Raven thought to himself, unable to keep a smile away from his muzzle. The GPS system of his suit had already plotted out the most direct flight route to his destination and was displaying it on his Heads-Up Display. One last subtle adjustment of his mechanical wings and Platinum Raven zoomed off towards his destination.

It wasn't long before, with the sound of whining jets, Raven landed onto the alley, immediately spotting Judicator as he was crouching over a body. The life sign sensors of Raven's suit told him the raccoon was alive, though apparently unconscious.

Judicator stood up slowly and turned to face his companion. Unlike Raven, he wasn't wearing a hi-tech suit of power armor, only a form-fitting red and black bodysuit, a white-lensed mask covering the buff cougar's eyes.

Calmly the feline gestured towards the unconscious raccoon, his eyes fixed on the azure-blue lenses of his friend's suit "I found him like this. There's casings on the ground, but I haven't been able to find any bullet holes, or guns for that matter. Or corpses... Was hoping your fancy gadgets could shed some light onto this matter. I'll take another look from the rooftops, see what I can figure out from there."

Raven nodded, watching then how Judicator took to the air, hovering slightly above the rooftops and scanning the surroundings with his eyes.

With his brow furrowed Raven got to work, the systems of his suit analyzing anything and everything on the street.

His suit was doing most of the work automatically -and with Jonah analyzing the finds in real time- so Raven's mind was left free to wander; mostly focusing on his friend Judicator (or Alex Shelby as normal folk knew him).

Unlike Raven, Judicator didn't need fancy gadgets to be superhero material. He had just... been born special. Unnaturally strong, tough, fast and able to fly, Alex was like a page right out of a comic book. Heck, reading comics and watching superhero shows on TV was all Alex seemed to do in his spare time!

Jonah's voice snapped Raven back into reality "Uhhh... Guys? These findings make no sense. There's traces of metals used in bullets in the very air of the alley, along with particles that... That seem to be ash from a person. Hell, several persons, actually. Getting any kind of ID out of the particles is going to take a while... But I should be able to do it. Probably..."

"So what do you want us to do?" Raven asked, casting then his eyes up to see Judicator hovering not far above him.

"I think... If we want any answers, we need to get them out of that raccoon laying KO'd against the dumpster. Mind flying him back to home base, guys?"

"I'll get right on it." Judicator replied to his own communicator, giving then Raven a smile and a shrug "Figured he's been leaning against cold metal much enough for one day."

Raven simply nodded and Judicator landed, picking the unconscious raccoon gingerly onto his arms before soaring back to the sky, Raven zooming right after his companion.

"You left him alive... I do so_wonder why?"_ The cool, gentlemanly voice inside Ivan's head said to him, starting the conversation the fox had been waiting for ever since he'd walked out of that filthy alleyway.

"I figured five souls in one day would've been sufficient for you, Contractor..." Ivan mumbled under his breath as he padded down the streets of downtown Garlington; a stark contrast to the gang territories with its clean streets and neat, orderly little parks.

"But he is so young and easily the most innocent of the bunch. Think how many months his remaining natural lifespan would've added to yours!"

Ivan snorted. Demons and their craving for innocent souls... From what he'd heard, they used souls as currency in The Nine Hells; the younger and more innocent, the higher the value. "Ever think I did it precisely to tick you off, Nulhie?"

The Contractor hissed like an angry cat as Ivan called him with the nickname that was a short, twisted form of the Demon's True Name."That did occur to me, yes, but for the eternal life of mine I can't figure out why you'd do such a thing. After all the centuries we've spent together and after all the power and gifts I've heaped upon you..." The Contractor's voice sounded genuinely mournful as he lamented the cruelty of his chosen champion/protege.

"Spare me, Contractor... I'm not in the mood for this tired old song and dance we do every single time I decide not to scorch someone's soul out of their body." True enough they had been through the conversation so many times it was like a routine to Ivan now.

"I'm simply worried that a living witness would put my chosen champion to jeopardy. I have invested a lot of time and resources into you, after all, and I've... grown rather fond of you over the years, I must say." The Contractor's honeyed words made the fox just roll his eyes. If it wasn't for the results he provided and the fact he knew the Contractor's True Name, the Demon would've ditched him like a broken toy a long, long time ago; part of their nature, Ivan figured. It had its downsides, but Ivan was actually happy he had made the deal with the Contractor... Even if the price had been high.

Sometime in the 15th century a Slavic nobleman nowadays known as Ivan Drosnajer had been studying the occult in hopes of finding a way to transcend his mortality. Fate -or some other, more sinister influence- made it so that the nobleman came into possession of an ancient tome detailing the act of summoning creatures from a dark realm; The Nine Hells themselves.

After offering his entire family and household servants as a blood sacrifice, the nobleman enacted a ritual of summoning and... Succeeded. He struck a bargain with the Demon he had summoned: the nobleman would be made into a powerful Warlock able to wield eldritch magics and the primordial power of Hellfire itself... but in return he'd have to offer up souls for the Demon he has summoned.

Thanks to the tome detailing the summoned Fiend's True Name, the nobleman had managed to sweeten the deal a little bit more: his aging would be halted for one week for every full year of natural life his victims would've had remaining. Ever since then the nobleman -Ivan- had been steadily feeding souls to the Contractor, receiving more and more training in the eldritch arts in return.

The Great Wars, especially, had been fortuitous times for Ivan. Many a ghost story of a vengeful spirit haunting the trenches and causing entire companies of soldiers to vanish into thin air on both sides had been born of Ivan's actions. The origin of the souls hadn't mattered to him back then and he wasn't terribly picky these days either. Still, he preferred to hunt for criminals and other scum if at all possible; his very own, personal brand of vigilante justice, he fancied.

Putting his focus back on the voice in his head, Ivan finally replied to the Demon "You know full well nobody will believe his story of a spell-slinging fox. Skepticism towards the supernatural is the true miracle gift of modern society."

"I suppose you have a point there... Back in the early days you mortals tended to be so much more amusing, burning each other at the stake at the drop of a hat." The Contractor said sounding wistful. Ivan just snorted at the Fiend's sentimentality.

Growing bored of the Contractor's attempts at small talk, Ivan focused his attention elsewhere. Had someone taken a good look at him it would've appeared as if the fox's eyes were glazed and unfocused, but that couldn't have been farther from the truth.

He was actually peering deeper than mere normal people could, looking at the auras representing people's souls visually and interpreting their colors and markings. Most people had some shade of white or light gray aura, indicating an average, mostly good person. The darker the aura, however, and the more jagged its shape, the more atrocities that person had committed. It was those that Ivan was most interested in. If nothing else they were good targets for padding up his own lifespan...

It didn't take long from there for Ivan to reach his humble abode: a neat, modest, moderately priced two bedroom apartment in the middle-class part of the city. To all his neighbors "quiet Mr. Drosnajer" was just an aspiring romance novel author living off the dividends of stocks bought with an inheritance from a reasonably distant relative.

Half of it was true, actually. He was indeed making a living off of dividends, but the money for it had come from the wealth of a family he'd slaughtered in cold blood... His family. He also had some diabolic aid from the Contractor to keep his stock portfolio nice and reasonably fat but without drawing undue and unwanted attention to himself.

It had been quite the fascinating thing for the fox to witness the progress of civilization and technology throughout the long centuries. Only by adapting and adopting the new innovations of the mortals had he been able to remain hidden among the prey he hunted.

Though the vast majority of people knew practically nothing of the things that lurked in the shadows among them, there were some who, unfortunately, did. Ordinem Etiam Diu Vigil or Order of the Long Vigil for example was a church-sponsored, secret militant group whose sole duty was to hunt witches, Demons and other such dark creatures.

Ivan cast a glance at the two broken daggers mounted in a display case at his wall, a faint smile curling onto his lips. He'd had some encounters with the Long Vigil in the past, but their blind fanaticism had never been able to best his eldritch powers.

Although, just once some twenty years ago, they had shown up with a considerable number of men and even some actual Divine power to throw against him, forcing Ivan to assume his war form -which transformed him into a sort of a half-Fiend, half-fox- to avoid defeat.

"A real shame you get practically nothing out of those encounters, Ivan..." The Contractor's voice rained on Ivan's parade once again.

The fox dragged in a deep breath through his nose and then let out a similarly deep sigh through the mouth, trying his best to stay calm and composed. "Must you remind me every time..?"

The Contractor stayed -wisely- quiet. Still, the Fiend's words rang painfully true. Members of the Long Vigil tended to be pure of heart and soul, fighting for a cause they believed in with all their hearts. Even Hellfire wasn't strong enough to deny the zealots the paradise they'd been promised, causing Ivan to risk everything in return for nothing but his continued existence whenever he fought those loony, fanatical bastards.

Ivan left his hat and jacket at the coat rack mounted on the wall right beside the door, placing his shoes neatly on the low, wooden shoe rack underneath. Like said his apartment was fairly modest with a living room, two bedrooms, bathroom and a kitchen all in a compact package with enough furniture to make it cozy without going over the top.

Even if someone were to snoop around, nothing in the apartment would point out to Ivan being anything more than a simple man living a simple life; if with a slightly unusual taste in dark clothing.

He did have a small stash of books on the occult on his bookshelf and by arranging them in to a specific order and speaking the right incantation one could make his most prized tome appear: the ritual book which had condemned Ivan's household and started him down the path of a Hellfire-wielding Warlock. It was a book he hadn't opened in decades now...

The fox turned on the TV on a random channel (getting some kind of a soap opera; a genre he hated with a passion), leaving it on low volume as a bit of background noise whilst walking over to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. If memory served he still had some of the delicious roast chicken and rice from yesterday!

In the kitchen he was greeted by a dishwasher slightly ajar, filled with washed dishes that he hadn't yet bothered to store away and the sink... Was still full of dirty pots and pans. Much as Ivan loved to cook -something he'd been forced to pick up fairly early on in his soul-stealing career- he didn't much care about the cleaning up afterwards. Cleaning up in general was such a bother, a repetitive, menial, brainless task he'd already had to do more times during the centuries than he cared to think of.

Sure he had entertained the thought of hiring a maid or some such to do all that for him, but the sheer thought of having a stranger waltzing about his private sanctum just rubbed him the wrong way.

"This would all be so much easier if he'd agree to teach me to conjure up those invisible shadow servants..." Ivan thought to himself as he waited for his chicken-and-rice dinner to reheat in the microwave.

The fox carried the steaming plate and some utensils to the living room and set them down on the table in front of the couch, going then back to the kitchen for a glass of his favorite orange juice. Upon returning to the living room, deep in thought, he nearly dropped the glass as he saw the figure casually seated in the recliner next to the couch, one leg over the other and fingers interlaced on the lap.

It was a dark gray male wolf with a shoulder-length black hair tied into a neat ponytail, immaculately dressed into a fine and expensive-looking black business suit with a dark red collared shirt, no tie and shiny shoes capping off the image of a stylish businessman.

Recovering from the surprise, and recognizing who it was, Ivan frowned and placed his glass of juice on to the table and took a seat himself, trying his best to ignore the wolf.

A couple of seconds of awkward silence later the wolf cleared his throat and leaned closer to the fox.

"You know, it's quite rude to ignore your quest, Ivan."

"I have to live with you in my head pretty much around the clock, Contractor. Just because you decided to actually _manifest_doesn't mean I'm any more inclined to acknowledge your presence." Ivan replied between fork loads of food, turning then to give the wolf a quizzical look "Okay, I'm going to bite since you so rarely show yourself these days. What's the occasion?"

The Contractor tapped his lips with his index fingers, the rest of them still interlaced, looking pensive for a moment before speaking up finally "I know you've been wanting to learn Shadow magic for the longest time now, my dear protegee, and I think you're finally ready for it."

"I can hardly contain my joy... Especially since I know there's something more to this. I know teaching Shadow magic wasn't part of our original contract and that is the ONLY reason you haven't taught it to me thus far, holding it as a bargaining chip for a suitable moment." Ivan placed his fork down and frowned, almost angrily, at the manifested Demon sitting on his armchair "So tell me... What's the catch?"

The Contractor's face split into a toothy smile that displayed a row of fangs far sharper than a regular wolf's "The deal is this: I will teach you some basic Shadow magic, but in return you have to take an apprentice. Alternatively I will teach you a whole lot more of it if and only if you agree to take an apprentice... Of my choice. Whom you may not kill just because... No, you just may not kill them, period."

Ivan raised his brows in surprise. An apprentice? That could mean a lot of things... What exactly was the Contractor's game here? In the end his lust for power and hunger for knowledge won. "Alright... I agree to your alternative offer. You select an apprentice for me and I'll agree not to kill them myself."

Ivan held a small pause and then added with a dry chuckle "Knowing you, you probably already have a drafted contract ready for me to sign, I take it?"

The Contractor grinned toothily again and snapped his fingers, conjuring up a scroll of parchment out of thin air and handing it over for Ivan to read "But of course I did. I didn't get my name for nothing, after all. Now, as per usual, only blood will do for a signature. Nothing more, nothing less."

The fox nodded and jabbed his fork into the palm of his left paw, placing the bloody fork down before grabbing the contract and reading through it thoroughly, making sure it was exactly the way the Contractor and he had agreed.

Finding everything to be in order, Ivan dabbed his right thumb into the blood on his palm and pressed a sanguine print on the contract's signature line. The smear of blood absorbed and vanished into the parchment, Ivan's signature appearing -written in that same crimson liquid- onto the dotted line mere seconds later.

The Contractor chuckled menacingly as he snatched the contract from Ivan and tossed it in the air where it neatly rolled itself and then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"No need for the overtly evil showmanship, Contractor. That crap lost its ominousness a long, long time ago..."

"You are such a stick in the mud today, Ivan." The Contractor said in a disapproving manner, the wolf shaking his head sadly before perking right back up again, rubbing his palms together as he stood up "Right! I'm going to go fetch your new apprentice. They will be showing up soon enough. And then... Then I will take you to school, mister!"

The Warlock merely sighed and then gestured at his cooled plate of food with his bloodstained left paw, though the small puncture wounds on it had already closed, leaving behind only a mild, irritating sting "Great. Superb. Can hardly wait and all of that... Can I now please finish my cold dinner, or did you want to pester me with something else?"

"Oh... I'm quite done here, dear Ivan. Take care!" And with that said the Demon wolf vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Ivan with just his TV and a cold meal to keep him company. But an apprentice? Of all the things the Demon could saddle him with...

The afternoon of the following day Raven -still in full gear, though with his wings folded- sat in a reinforced steel chair at the corner of a medical room. The raccoon they had picked up lay still unconscious, clad into a comfy set of navy-blue pajamas whilst his clothes were being washed, in one of the two hospital beds.

The rest of the room was state-of-the-art and well stocked with all manner of medical equipment from monitors and medicines to crash carts (they had two due to Jonah's insistence in case one failed and since he was the one paying...) and surgical tools.

Raven sighed and, after a moment of consideration, reached for the hidden locking mechanisms of his helmet and undid them, a low hiss wafting from the neck of the suit as the environmental seal became undone.

With a grunt he pulled the snug helmet off his head, revealing the slightly disheveled but handsome face of a badger. He had dark brown hair, reaching just barely to his neck, tied to a ponytail and a well-kept, short chin strip beard.

It felt good to breathe in air that didn't smell like recycled Rob Carson and the badger huffed in a deep breath. He cast his vibrant-teal eyes at the unconscious raccoon and chewed on his lower lip; a bad habit of his whenever he was thinking something really intensely, something both Jonah and Alex had tried, in vain, to make him stop.

A sudden beep from the device monitoring the raccoon's brain waves told Rob that the young lad was starting to come to. Hastily the badger pulled on his helmet and thus donned the guise of Platinum Raven once more.

"Jonah, Alex, our guest is waking up." Rob notified his two companions through the comms-system in his helmet before standing up and backing against the wall furthest away from the bed. Perhaps, with some personal space, the young man wouldn't freak out quite so bad.

With a gasp Kaden opened his eyes and sat up, looking clearly puzzled as he rubbed the fogginess away from his eyes. He scanned the room with his eyes and, upon seeing Raven who raised one hand in a gesture of greeting, let out a scream and tried to scramble away, succeeding only in falling out of the bed and painfully onto his shoulder.

"You are in no danger, Kaden." Raven said in as calm and soothing manner as he could, but the fact his helmet's speakers automatically warped his voice into a more mechanical one took a lot of that effect away. "We found you unconscious on the street and brought you here."

"H-Ho-How do you know my name? Who are you? Where am I? WHY am I here? What are you going to do to me? Oh God... Please don't say you're going to kill me! I'll... I'll do anything if you just... Just don't kill me please!" The words flew with the speed and volume of a stormy river out of the raccoon who had backed himself into a corner and was gingerly nursing his aching shoulder.

Raven sighed and knelt down "Let's tackle those one at a time, shall we? The most important one first: no, we are not going to kill you or torture you or do any other such bodily harm to you. We know your name, because we checked you for ID and found one in your wallet, which in turn is right on that bedside table on the other side of the bed."

"As for who I am..." Raven paused and stood up to his full height, placing his armored paws onto his hips and striking as heroic a pose as he could "I am Platinum Raven, one half of the team fighting to bring some order and justice into this city!"

Raven couldn't tell if the perplexed look on the raccoon's face was one caused by awe or confusion, but it did grant him a chance to continue with the rest of the boy's questions, but he dropped the heroic pose before doing so "You are in our hidden base's medical room. You were out for over twenty four hours and had some minor bruises which we treated. Finally... The alley from where we picked you up was clearly the scene of some kind of mystery and we hoped you could shed some light into the matter. Any more questions?"

"Am... Am I a prisoner?" Kaden asked meekly after a long moment of thinking.

Raven chuckled and shook his head "No. We have no reason to suspect you are a criminal. Just let us know that you want to leave and we'll arrange it, but we would really, really appreciate it if you could answer some of our questions."

"I... Okay, I suppose."

There was a brief pause during which Kaden's brow furrowed deeply as if taking note of Raven properly for the first time.

"Hey... I know you! You were in the news not long ago!" The young raccoon finally said, his eyes opening wide in recognition.

"Oh? Ah yes... The unfortunate incident at the Helmutt & Co. Bank. Not exactly the--"

Kaden cut Raven off "You guys kicked ASS in there. About damn time someone bloodied the criminal scums' noses a little."

"Two people got killed, Kaden... I wouldn't exactly celebrate it." Raven raised one paw in a silencing gesture as Kaden opened his mouth to argue "Let me finish, please. It was never our intention to kill anyone unless it was absolutely unavoidable. Those two deaths could've been avoided had we planned our entrance better."

"Well, yeah, but they were crooks and were threatening to kill hostages. They got what they deserved!"

Raven sighed "I suppose it is easy to say that. It's a whole 'nother thing to actually be there, pull the trigger and see someone die. Now I'd rather not discuss this whole matter any more. Not now at least."

Guilt and shame. Those were the two reasons why Rob was so uncomfortable talking about the bank incident. He'd meant to use stun rounds, but in the heat of the moment he'd accidentally activated the wrong weapon system and used lethal force. At least the headshots had been a mercifully quick way for the two clown-masked robbers to go. As for the other two... Alex had tried to hold back but, in the heat of the moment as well, had put too much force behind his punches and caused near-lethal head traumas to his targets.

"Now if that is all, I believe it would be your turn to answer some of our questions. First things first, though. Are you hungry? I'd imagine so."

Kaden was about to answer, but the loud growl from his stomach answered for him and the raccoon grabbed his stomach, looking clearly embarrassed with a clear blush on his face and ear tips.

"I'll take that as a yes." Raven chuckled "Right this way. I'll take you to the dining area. It's nothing fancy, but it'll do I'm sure."

Raven gestured for Kaden to follow and, after a brief hesitation the raccoon followed. The heavy-duty metal door slid automatically open as Raven approached it, lights in the hallway beyond lighting up on their own as well.

Their base wasn't exactly huge, but spacious enough to serve all the needs of the budding superhero team. They had the medical room, a large training/testing room for all their exercise needs, a dining room and kitchen, a recreational room housing most of Alex's comics and superhero flicks, living quarters for six couples with all appropriate facilities, a workshop for their gadgets and of course Jonah's command center from which he could lead their operations. All built into the mountain not far from Garlington City and located conveniently near the estate of Jonah's family.

A tunnel with a railway led conveniently from the base back to the Xanatov family estates, allowing them easy travel to and fro. The base had originally been built as a nuclear shelter by Phinneas Xanatov, Jonah's grandfather, back when the fear of nuclear war had been at its peak. After the biggest threat had vanished the base had just been abandoned and forgotten. Until Jonah found out about it soon after taking over the family business after his father had passed away.

Just thinking about it all made Rob frown inside his armor. A car bomb had taken the life of Nestor Xanatov eight years prior and he had been survived by his wife Alyce and his son Jonah. Alyce, however, had taken her husband's passing heavily and just... Gave up; on life, on everything. Eventually, three years ago after turning eighteen, Jonah had had to commit his mother to a mental care institution and fully take over XanaTech Inc. Fortuitous, considering that had allowed them to build the Platinum Raven suit and all the other things they needed.

"Ah, here we are."

The dining room wasn't much, but it served them well. Just a steel table and matching chairs with an open doorway leading to the kitchen, a plasma TV mounted onto the wall and a whole mess of plates, cups and dining utensils littering the table.

"My apologies about the mess. We don't usually have visitors so..." Raven said apologetically as he started to stack up the dirty table wares. After clearing some space he gestured for Kaden to take a seat, pulling a chair for himself on the opposite side of the table.

Silently Rob was thankful of the fact the chairs had been made of reinforced steel so they wouldn't break so easily if Alex handled them whilst not paying enough attention; like whenever he had his nose buried into a comic book.

Rob sent a quick message to Jonah that they were in the dining room and that their guest needed some food. After that he placed his paws on the table, fingers interlaced, and leaned closer to Kaden.

"We might as well start whilst we wait if that is all right with you?"

Kaden just nodded, so Raven went on "Could you please describe to me, in your own words and at your own pace, what happened yesterday at that back alley?"

The raccoon was silent for a long while, fidgeting with his paws and keeping his eyes firmly cast at the messy surface of the table.

Raven was about to repeat his question but Kaden started to speak hesitantly and so Raven stayed quiet, though he did turn on the recording device integrated into his helmet.

Kaden explained it all. How he had been heading home, how he had been running late and thus took a detour. How he had accidentally ended up in the wrong part of the city and then subsequently harassed by five thugs.

"Those thugs... Can you describe them to me? What happened to them?"

Kaden just shook his head "That's where it all gets kind of hazy... I think one of them was a dog of some sort. I recall being saved by someone as well, someone well-dressed, but for the life of me I can't remember who. He was no one I know, that's for sure."

"I see..."

"I've got this, like, fuzzy image in my head of fire and screaming but... I can't recall the details. Like, y'know, when you wake up and try to remember a dream and sometimes it just runs from you." Kaden sighed deep and rubbed his temples gingerly before adding "I wish it was all a bad dream, but... I've got this itch in my ass this is all way, way too real."

"That's an unusual expression. I at least assume it is an expression."

"Sorry... It doesn't translate well. My folks are immigrants, though I was born n' raised here."

"I see, I see. Well if you remember anything else, do let us know. Again, there's no rush." Raven replied and then put on his best smile... Before remembering he was wearing his helmet and so the teen couldn't possibly see it.

One mental facepalm later he clicked on his communicator "Any update on the food?"

"Uhhh... I found some cup noodles. Oh, wait, no, these ones expired over six months ago. Ummm... Well there's the st-- never mind, I think Alex finished it off this morning. Seriously... What kind of a person eats stew for breakfast?" Jonah rambled on from the pantry.

"The kind who can fly and bench press a sixty five-ton loaded cement truck; at the same time, probably?"

There was a chuckle on the line "Well that's something we haven't had a chance to test quite yet. Maybe one... Score! Frozen pizza, you succulent treat and savior of the day! I knew diving to the bottom of the chest freezer would pay off. Food inbound. ETA: fifteen."

"Your leg didn't give you any trouble, I hope?" Rob replied, clear concern in his voice.

"_Hey now, you handsome dummy, just because I caught some nasty shrapnel in my knee when I was younger and haven't been able to run a lap on the track since, it doesn't mean I'm completely helpless. Besides, the new brace is working wonders, so you quit your fussing, mister!"_Jonah laughed and Rob could just picture the otter wagging a finger at him, smiling almost fatherly whenever he or Alex were being "total doofs" as Jonah often put it.

Raven rolled his eyes and acknowledged Jonah's message, focusing then his attention on the raccoon who was studying the cover of one of the comics laying on the table "I've just been informed that food will be ready in about fifteen minutes. I hope you have nothing against frozen pizza."

Kaden shrugged "I'm nineteen years old living in a household with parents who work almost all the time to keep bread on the table. Frozen pizzas and other junk food has been my primary diet for _years_now. A damn miracle I'm not any fatter than this."

Raven raised his eyebrows. The boy was practically a stick with arms and a tail attached! "Fat" wasn't the first adjective that sprang to mind when looking at the teen.

"And what do your parents do, then?"

The raccoon gave another nonchalant little shrug "Mom is a secretary in an insurance company and dad... He's a cop. Used to be a street officer but... He got injured during a botched raid about a year ago, a bullet to the pelvis, and he's been pushing pencils behind a desk ever since. Doesn't make him one tick happy I can tell you that."

Raven nodded his head yet again. He wasn't sure what he should say in such a situation. Indeed, what could he say?

"Hey Rob, have you seen my copy of the Extreme Judicatory Squad number fifteen? I thought I left it hee--ooh shit." The voice of Alex caught Raven by surprise, both he and Kaden turning to look towards the door leading to the living quarters.

Standing there, looking both apologetic and surprised, was Alex... Without his suit or mask on. In just his black band T-shirt and neon-green boxers. Alex didn't look quite so much like a bodybuilder when out of his Judicator costume, which was padded to look like it was really form-fitting when in reality Alex had more of a leaner swimmer's build. Curiously, no matter how much he worked out he didn't seem to gain any more muscle mass; much to the cougar's eternal chagrin. Then again he didn't seem to gain any weight either no matter how much or what he ate...

"I uhhh... Sorry Raven. Didn't realize our guest was up already."

Raven buried his head in his hands and sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time that day "Where's your communicator, Jud-- Oh screw it. Alex, where is your damn communicator?"

The cougar averted his brilliantly blue eyes and shifted uncomfortably on his feet "I was watching TV with my headphones on and the damn thing feels so uncomfortable underneath them, so I took it off and... I'm sorry man."

Kaden raised his paw timidly to get Raven's attention "Ummm... If this is the part where you tell me I've now seen too much... I'd rather skip that, if at all possible?"

"Oh for fuck's sake..." Rob mumbled and undid his helmet, pulling it off with a gasp and giving the raccoon a sly smirk. "It is true you have seen far too much as it is, mister Bradshaw. Tell me, Kaden, are you currently employed? Going to school? How about your marital status?"

Kaden swallowed hard and fidgeted with his hands, clearly unsure where this was all going "I'm... I'm not employed, no, but I do go to college. I just started and I was kind of hoping to major in Anthropology and Archaeology, maybe grab a minor in Astronomy or something. A-And I'm single, but my parents will start asking after me if I go missing!"

Rob looked at Alex, who was still shuffling his feet, and then gave the raccoon a smile as he stood up and leaned over the table "It is settled, then. You've got two options as far as I see it: we'll lock you up for just about the rest of your life, comfortably as a guest, mind you, to protect our identity or... We'll hire you. I can guarantee Jonah will pay you handsomely for both your trouble and your silence and, as you can see... This place is a damn mess. We could use someone like you around here."

"H-How can you trust me not to just take that offer and then tattle on you the first chance I get?" Kaden asked, his eyes wide as the moon in surprise.

"You will, of course, have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which is very much legally binding and will land your ring-tailed butt in very, very hot water if you break it." Rob leaned closer, his voice taking on a touch more menacing tone "And then there's the fact that you blabbing out our secrets would make Alex here unhappy... Alex, a demonstration if you will?"

That said the cougar smiled, nodded and picked up the nearest reinforced steel chair like it was made of paper. The room was filled with the sound of groaning metal as Alex crumpled the chair into a formless blob of metal, dropping it with a heavy thud onto the floor.

Kaden flinched visibly at the thud, turning then very slowly to look Rob in the eyes before speaking in a very thin voice "Point taken. I accept your offer."

The badger turned his head towards the kitchen and shouted "Hey! Jonah! I just hired our guest as a personal assistant for you here in the hideout!"

"Okay. Did you tell him about the NDA and all that?" Jonah replied without skipping a beat.

"I did. And... You were right to plan for this."

"Gotta prepare for everything. Say, is Alex wearing pants?"

"No..."

"Hah! Called it! I just knew there'd be a considerable lack of cougar pants." Jonah laughed, followed by a curse and the sound of something metallic crashing to the floor, which in turn was followed by even more cursing.

Alex blinked a couple of times, the cougar's jaw dropping open before he marched to the doorway leading to the kitchen and stuck his head in "You... You made a plan for me stumbling in on our guest whilst not wearing pants?"

The otter -slim of build, clad in black comfy pants, matching flip flops and a red T-shirt and with a messy mop of brown hair on his head- was holding a pizza slicer in one paw and a red oven mitt in the other, a sly grin adorning his muzzle "Well... I made a contingency plan in case you'd stumble in on him, yes. I was just guessing you'd do that without wearing any pants. Not that hard to predict since you barely ever use pants anyway."

"Well... They do feel really restrictive..."

"Oh don't be so bashful, big guy. You got it, you strut it. It's all good in my eyes and I know Rob doesn't mind either." Jonah said whilst slicing up the extra large pepperoni pizza into eight parts, gesturing at the cougar with the pizza slicer once more when he was done "Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again: if either of us minded, we would've told you a long damn time ago, so no need to worry you big silly doof."

"I'll take your word for it, Jonah."

"Good! Now, help a guy out here and take some plates with you. I'll bring the pizza!"

The rest of the day and most of the evening passed by with the four of them sitting in the dining room, getting to know each other a little better with the help of some beer and ironing out the details on Kaden's future contract. After a few stout ones even Kaden started to finally relax and showed his lewd sense of humor by sharing some of the jokes and "maxims" his parents and grandparents had taught him; most of which were definitely not suitable for polite company.

The raccoon youth's expression was also absolutely priceless when he found out the mastermind behind Platinum Raven and Judicator was none other than the owner of the XanaTech Inc.

Kaden promised to help them out any way he could; even if it meant sweeping the floors and generally cleaning up after the less-than-tidy lot. It sure beat being harassed by random thugs on the street and the number of zeroes promised for his payslip was definitely nothing to sneer at either!