FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Location: New Vega, Northern District, Airport.

Time: 16:55pm.

Year: 2180, March 8th.

It barely took me half an hour to get up the small trench that housed The Cradle, and climb over a small area of fencing to get to the airport. I entered quietly into the small building, which was actually just one large room filled with balconies and walkways. The building was actually shaped like a cube, but the side facing The Cradle was slanting forwards and was turned into just one huge window, mainly used for scenery; not that there was much to look at. The cloudy weather had just turned to a small drizzle of rain, and I barely made it inside without getting wet.

"Comms check." Elise whispered over my headset; "Can you hear me loud and clear?"

"Yeah; perfectly." I muttered back. "What about you?"

"It's all clear on this end." Elise said with a hint of excitement to her voice. "Just take a stroll around the airport; after that, head for the nearest restroom and wait for those Foxes to follow you in."

"Got it." I sighed, stopping at a wall and leaning against it, looking around the almost abandoned airport. The only people who were there looked like a few businessmen and travelers.

"I've started heading out." Elise continued; "I should be there in around half an hour, but I'll still be hanging around the outskirts incase the Foxes try and make a run for it; Elorara, out."

I heard a small click on the other end of the headset, telling me that Elise had hung up so she wouldn't give me away. I got up from the wall and continued on my way, through one of the many corridors that tunneled through the building. It must've looked smaller on the outside, because I felt like the corridors had gone on longer than they should have. After a few flights of steps and a couple dozen corridors, I stopped at a balcony that overlooked the large opening in the airport. I could see everything from there, right down to the bottom floor. All of the walls were a very light shade of grey, and the floors were tiled with blue and white. It had a certain sense of elegance...

Something caught my eye, though. I looked directly onwards, and at one of the many balconies on this level. I saw someone's tail brush around a corner, though I didn't actually see the person; what really worried me was that the tail was blood-red, and the person looked like he ran off rather fast. It must have been one of the Foxes; and he must have noticed me. I knew by instinct that the second must still be watching me, so I proceeded across the balcony, and down another corridor leading to one of the many restrooms around the airport.

Luckily, I had entered an empty restroom, which was lined with lots of small white tiles up to the walls; it was also rather large, so I had plenty of space to fight in. I pulled my left sleeve up, revealing my small handgun tucked away in my hand, and stepped into one of the small cubicles tucked away in the corner of the room; waiting for the two assailants to arrive. My hands were starting to tremble, but I quickly calmed myself down and let out a quiet but deep sigh.

It didn't take long for someone to open the door again. I heard the faint squeak of the heavy door, and stepped out of the cubicle, slowly. I wouldn't have known what to do if the person wasn't one of the Red Foxes; luckily for me, I had guessed right. It was definitely one of the two Foxes; I could tell by the small handgun he was carrying in his right hand. I instantly held up my pistol, but didn't fire; I needed a good shot at him since I only had eight rounds.

I strode forwards quickly and pushed the Fox's right hand, and gun, away from my body using my right hand, using my left hand to lodge my pistol into his chest. Unfortunately, the Fox had forced my gun aside with his remaining hand, and rotated his right hand so that his gun was still pointing at me. I knew that neither of us would back down from where we stood. We'd have to struggle to get our guns free.

The Fox had unleashed one shot, which had just barely grazed my left shoulder and tore through the materials of my clothes. I instantly let go of his right hand and forced my left palm into the hand that was still holding my other hand. It looked as if I had broken his left wrist, but his right hand was still a threat, so I instantly aimed my gun at his and almost pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the Fox had batted my gun out of my hand with his remaining hand, and pulled the trigger again. This time, it completely missed and lodged itself in the brick wall behind me.

I shot forwards and forced the palm of my right hand up at his jaw, and used my left hand to force his head into the small mirror planted on the wall. The mirror instantly cracked as the Fox's head had made impact and left a rather large blood stain behind; but not before the Fox had struck me on the side of the head with his gun. There was no blood coming from my wound, but my vision was pretty messed up; I almost didn't see the Fox begin to make a run for the door, just narrowly escaping. I cursed loudly and turned my headset back on.

"Elise!" I shouted over the headset; "One of the Foxes got away! I'm going after him, but he may try to escape the airport! I'm relying on you to back me up!"

There was no reply, but I continued on anyway, forcing the door open and trying to spot where the Fox had ran away. I couldn't see anything, so I proceeded to the balcony, where I would get a clear look at the entrance. Luckily, no one seemed to notice that I was injured, and my gun was hidden so I didn't attract any unwanted attention. I struggled to keep balance, and tried to walk casually, leaning against the walls slightly.

At last I came out on the highest balcony in the building, and stared down at the entrance, looking out for either of the two Red Foxes. Luckily, I just saw the same Red Fox below me, making a final run for the exit. I almost lost it and tried to shoot him from the balcony, until I found a thin pipe next to the balcony that was leading straight down. I sighed, but went ahead and jumped off of the balcony, grabbing onto the pipe and descending quickly down to the bottom level to meet with the Fox, who just turned around to see me. He quickly shot to the side and grabbed a nearby Female Wolf, and pointed his gun up to her head.

"Don't move." The Fox directed at the Wolf; but I knew he meant me as well. "If you take one more step forwards, this bitch dies."

Another Red Fox stepped out of a corridor and met up with the other. This was really taking the piss out of the situation; I was looking right at the two Foxes that I was supposed to kill, but I couldn't do anything about it; not without the citizens coming to harm. If that happened, I'd be held responsible as well, and I'd be attracting the attention of the Enforcers. It was enough that I was in this situation to begin with. Luckily, I was able to play this off as me being a vigilante, which wouldn't attract much attention; people always acted as vigilantes, so it was the perfect disguise.

"Don't shoot her." I called over, taking a few steps back. "Go ahead and run; just don't shoot."

I wasn't actually that submissive; the plan was to trap them between Elise and me; and just like I expected, they pushed the terrified Wolf forwards and shot off out the doors. I trailed behind them, only drawing my gun once I was outside and in the rain, which had turned from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour. I pulled my hood all the way over and twisted around, running along one of the sides of the building. Unfortunately, the Foxes had already got a large head-start, and they were faster too. The only thing that helped was that the next side was the longest, so I was bound to have a shot, no matter how inaccurate it was.

I immediately turned around the corner and drew my pistol, firing all of my rounds at the two Foxes. I saw one of them fall forwards, telling me that I had hit one of them; but the other Fox looked like he was already under fire.

Past the rain, I saw a hail of sparks, gunfire and smoke on the other corner of the building. The Fox had been thrown back by the force, and hit the ground in a bloody heap. I noticed that his body looked almost completely mangled and torn up. Blood started to pour out and get washed away in the rain, and I saw a familiar face walk forwards and reach down to the body. It was Elise, and she was holding that giant gun that she showed me earlier. It looked way too large for her to carry, but she was still handling it in one hand!

"Elise!" I shouted over the rain, running towards her. "Are they both dead?"

Elise looked as though she was shaking. I would be too if I was handling such a large gun. I saw her tear off two short strands of string from the mangled Fox's body. They must have been the keys that they possessed. I bent down and tore the other two off of the other Fox's body and placed them in the inside pockets of my clothes, standing up and facing Elise.

"Now you have your own keys." Elise said, turning around and looking down at the outskirts of the airport. I looked on with her, and barely noticed The Cradle, still hidden in the trench.

"Please don't tell me we're going through all that mud." I begged, indicating all the wet mud that surrounded the ship. It looked like it was so wet you could sink in it. Luckily, Elise took a few steps to the side and pulled out a large sheet of metal that looked as if it had been warped into a sledge instead.

"Have you ever been sledging before?" She asked, placing the sheet flat on the ground and sitting down on it.

"I've slid down some buildings." I admitted, stepping on with her and sitting down behind her; "They shouldn't be too different, right?"

Elise just stayed silent, but held onto what looked like a couple of leather straps. I immediately grabbed onto her waist as she jumped up and down on the sledge to make it move forwards. The makeshift sledge started to tilt and drop down, causing us to descend down the muddy hill with incredible speed. I just closed my eyes and held onto Elise tightly, trying to keep calm and not fall off. Luckily for me, it only took less than a minute for us to slowly stop moving, and when I opened my eyes, we were back at The Cradle, looking directly at the ladder that led up to the stern.

"How did you do that?" I muttered under my breath, staring up in amazement. "That should have been impossible."

I pushed the impossible thought out of my head and quickly climbed up the ladder quickly, while Elise stepped off the sheet and picked it up, hanging it on the side of The Cradle. I was amazed at how she was able to lift something that heavy, as well as the gun she was carrying. After hanging it up, Elise almost jumped over to the ladder, and climbed up to the top, taking off her boots before stepping inside. I copied her, and pulled my hood off.

"Only five more left." I panted, leaning against one of the cold metal walls. "So where are we bound for now?"

I didn't even know what I was asking. I must have been too exhausted to think about the question properly. Elise just looked at me expectantly for a while, leaning against the wall opposite me. It took me quite a while to focus again, by which time I started to look back at Elise with concern, which eventually changed to grief. I groaned inside, and eventually out loud.

"Do we have to?" I moaned, rubbing my face with my hands. I saw Elise nod quickly, putting on an adventurous smile.

I sighed and looked directly at her, smiling back: "I hate you so much, Elise."