FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The doors leading into the Biodyne gene clinic slid closed smoothly behind Raxesh as he strode out into the chill night air. The cool breeze heightened his awareness of the new scales covering his face and hands. He took a deep breath and grinned to himself, an expression that probably looked a bit sinister with the beginnings of a muzzle where his mouth and nose had been mere hours ago.

Rax had saved for months but could still only afford Progressive Genetic Modifications that would alter his body slowly over the course of weeks and months. These still included brief Acceleration treatments to kick start the process, but he’d still have to come back every few weeks for more treatments.

Even so, these smaller changes felt incredible and gave him an intense feeling of anticipation. He wasn’t a dragon yet, but he would be in a matter of months. Not only that, but he would slowly shed his human form bit by bit, and he looked forward to each new day of the process.

In the meantime, he’d return to his friends in VR while his head still physically fit into his headset. He smirked a bit at the thought. He could still interact with his friends in VR using just his computer, though it wouldn’t be quite the same. It was a worthwhile trade off though, and he’d already planned a meetup with some of them in the real world too.

After hearing about his plans to modify himself, they’d wanted to see the results for themselves. He’d gone to a similar meetup for one of his other friends, Xathlor, not too long ago. When Rax had seen the results of genetic modification first hand, he knew he had to go through with it himself. Xathlor wasn’t in VR spaces much these days, but he’d said he’d come visit Rax to see his mods with everyone else. Rax knew he’d…

“Hey, FREAK.”

He was jolted from his thoughts by the shouted words behind him. The man must have seen his short tail from behind.

Rax turned slowly, surveying his surroundings as he did so. It was nearly midnight. He was a block away from the train station still. There was nobody around aside from the burly man a ways down the sidewalk behind him, and a shorter woman standing just behind him.

Rax turned and hurried his steps, hoping to reach the train before it shut down for the night. He didn’t have long. Bile rose in his throat, and fear reared up inside him, quickening his heartbeat.

“Yeah I’m talking to you, fuckin LOOK at me when I talk to you!” Heavy steps thudded on the sidewalk behind him. Rax started to run, but the steps behind him sped up. A heavy hand fell on his shoulder, jerking him backward and slamming him into a large glass shop window. The glass held, fortunately, but the crystalline splintering noises it produced as the man pressed him into it told Rax he didn’t have much time to act.

“Ugh get a load of this thing babe. Looks like this sick fuck wants to turn into a lizard!” The man bellowed a laugh. The woman came up behind him and lit a cigarette, studying Rax with a disinterested gaze before looking around the empty streets.

“Uh huh. Real fuckin weirdo, got it… We gonna get home or what? I’m wiped…” She blew a puff of smoke into the night air, and her irises lit up in soft flickers, her attention already somewhere else completely.

“Just a sec babe…” His hand tightened on Rax’s shoulder, and his gaze swung back to him. His breath reeked of alcohol as he spoke. “Gotta be real expensive to go buyin all those mods like that eh? I’d know, they’re damn useful…” The man flexed his free arm, and the bulk showing through his thick leather jacket made his genetically enhanced strength obvious. The hand on Rax’s shoulder tightened further to the point of pain now, the man’s fingers digging painfully into his flesh.

Rax gasped with pain, his heart pounded harder. His fear rose further, but something else came with it. Anger. Not just anger, but fury. Red hot rage that this animal would dare to touch him. “Get. The fuck. Off me.” Rax breathed between gasps of pain.

The man’s eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but his shock was quickly replaced by a wicked grin. He fixed Rax with a frenetic stare. “Oh I’m gonna enjoy this you sick fuck…” He raised his free hand in a fist, ready to pound Rax’s head through the glass.

Rage boiled in Rax’s veins, red hot fire coursing through his limbs, his head, clouding all thought. He hated this man, this thing that thought it had a right to harm him. He bared his fangs in a contemptuous snarl and grabbed onto the arm holding him, clawed his hands and pulled with all of his strength_._

His claws shredded through leather, cloth, and flesh to score the bone beneath. The man screamed in pain and horror as Rax’s claws tore through his arm. When Rax’s claws reached the man’s wrist, Rax eased up the pressure and grabbed the man’s hand, then threw his entire weight to the side through the shop window. He didn’t let go in time though, and both of them crashed through the glass into a coffee shop, careening into a table with chairs stacked atop it.

Rage still flooded Rax’s thoughts. The filthy wretch tried to grab onto him again, either to fight, to stand, or in simple blind confusion. It didn’t matter. He grabbed onto the man’s arm with one hand and raked him again, or at least tried. With only one hand, the thick leather of his jacket resisted his claws and only two claws scored small cuts in his arm. Rax clawed his other hand once more and viciously slashed his claws across the man’s face.

The man cried out in pain and scrabbled backward among the shards of glass, trying desperately to get away. Behind him, the woman screamed in stark terror as she realized how badly Rax had wounded the man.

The rage vanished in a shocking flash as he finally realized just what he’d done. The man’s right hand was a bloodied ruin, and his face not much better. Thankfully, Rax had missed his eyes and had not blinded him, but there was still blood everywhere. He seemed to be on the brink of passing out from blood loss.

The woman was huddled just behind the entrance to the shop and gibbering to herself. No, not gibbering. Making a call to the police. Her irises weren’t lit up though. She hadn’t started recording yet.

Rax turned and bolted back out of the shop through the window. If he was lucky, she would only have recordings of the aftermath and not his face.

He sprinted the to the train station a mere block away and shoved his way through the gates. It was then that his adrenaline finally wore off and his body gave out. He collapsed to his knees in front of the ticketing machines and vomited noisily on the floor.

What had he done back there? He’d been right to defend himself, but practically maiming that man was going too far. He could have run after the man let go of him. He could have gotten away, but he chose to stay. The sheer contempt and hatred he recalled feeling still shocked him. Not just that, but how quickly it had vanished. Rax had never been assaulted before though, maybe this was a normal reaction? He’d have to look into it later.

He caught his breath and stood slowly, his knees wobbling slightly. Looking at one of the monitors nearby, he saw that the trains were still running and relaxed a little. Nobody seemed to be following him from outside in the street either. He just had to get home, and everything would be fine…

It was then that he looked down at his hands and saw them still covered in blood. They started to tremble and he started breathing faster, his heart racing with panic again. As he stared at the slick wetness coating his hands he began to feel a distinct fear that someone would find him, someone would see. He was sure that someone must have been watching him right at this moment.

He looked around hurriedly, desperately trying to find the source of that feeling. Was it all just his imagination? His heart sank into his chest as he realized there would be cameras everywhere in a place like this, recording him doing all this.

He looked up at one of the corners of the ceiling and found a camera there. Smashed. He looked at another corner. The camera there dangled from threadbare wires. Another corner was missing an entire chunk of ceiling where the camera should be.

There were no cameras. They were all broken or missing. He’d read about how bad crime was in this area, but he didn’t realize it had gotten to this point. Even so, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still being watched, despite there being nobody around that he could see.

There was still the blood and vomit he’d left before him. If someone came across that it might connect him to crime he’d just committed. Perhaps that was the source of his anxieties? He didn’t have much time to think before the police started combing the area, or before the last train left.

Rax rushed into the nearby public restroom and washed the blood from his hands. He then wet a handful of paper towels and ran back out into the station proper to clean up the pooled bodily fluids. Nobody came across him as he wiped at the already filthy floor in a panicked rush. When he finished, he ran back into the restroom to cram the soiled paper towel into the toilet and flush away the last of the evidence.

Before he left, he braced himself against the wall of the stall and took a few deep breaths. If anyone saw him acting suspiciously he might end up getting reported to the cops anyway. People had a tendency to act that way towards modified individuals like him, so he’d heard at least.

His heart rate finally began to slow, and he straightened his hoodie before walking calmly back into the station. At least, he hoped he looked calm. When he finally made his way down to the platform, there were only two other people there at this late hour. Both had the telltale glow in their eyes of ocular implants projecting images into their eyes. Neither would have noticed anything that had happened just steps away up in the street. Perhaps they’d even heard the woman scream and simply not cared. Neither appeared particularly concerned with their surroundings at the moment, whatever the case.

Rax managed to still his worried thoughts after he got on the train and was finally speeding his way home. This… Was not how he’d imagined being modded would go. He’d have to prepare himself for more of this sort of thing though.

Mentally, he began to revise the list of mods he’d get for himself. Top of the list now were strength enhancements, height, reflexes, and senses. Not just that, but more draconic features that’d keep him safer. Thicker scales, larger claws, a bigger jaw and heavier teeth.

It wasn’t just a desire for safety that drove him. Something about the thought of modifying himself further just felt inherently right in a way he couldn’t quite explain. He was happy with what he’d done to himself today, but already wanted to go further. As he thought on the attack once more, he decided he would not let any Human stand in the way of him doing this.