FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"You're winding us up, right?" Serathin asked as the ferret looked at the stunned individuals in the room. "You're honestly saying that we're robbing Miko Maus, the owner of one of the largest casinos and the convention center? You know, the casino with the hotel that we're currently in right at this moment?"

"Guys, I know it sounds crazy," Alkali replied as he motioned for the increasingly agitated crew to settle down. "Probably because it is, but I know that the SEC has charged Miko with the personal storage and protection of the information that we need to steal. That means that it's going to be in his personal vault, not the one for the casino itself."

"Oh no, you just have to go through the casino vault to get to it," Zen chimed in as he swirled around his drink in his hand. "Basically a vault within a vault."

"Vaultception," Serathin said.

"Not to mention that we only have five people here," Xander spoke up. "I would think that you'd have to recruit an army in order to get into it."

Before Alkali could continue to explain Draggor spoke up, stepping forward. "We're currently in the process of getting more people," he informed them. "But for the moment this is our core team, and we choose all of you because we believe with your combined skills we can actually pull this off. Now if you'll just let Alkali explain what we're up against and the plan that he has, perhaps that can put a few questions to rest, okay?"

The others looked at one another but nodded and let the ferret take the lead once more on the plan. Using the projection television in the room Alkali laid out exactly what they were going to have to get through in order to steal the information that would make them all rich. The first thing was the simplest, they would have to get past the security control center that was situated between the cashier station and the entrance to all the restricted areas of the casino, including the vault area. After that there was the electronic security system that was connected to an elevator that the security control center had explicit control over, followed by a closely-monitored tunnel that led into the casino's vault. That was where things got really tricky, Alkali mentioned as he brought up an electronic blueprint, since the door to the personal vault was not only inside the casino vault, but also only able to be opened by Miko Maus himself.

"Unfortunately we don't have a lot of information on what kind of security countermeasures there are past that point," Alkali admitted as he brought up a slide with a stick figure of a ferret surrounded by question marks. "We're going to have to play it by ear once we get there."

"Sounds like my kind of plan," Zen said with a smirk.

"Well there is a reason you're here, Zen," Draggor said. "See, if the SEC knows that the information has been stolen then it's going to raise up all kinds of red flags on what we need to do to capitalize on it, which means they can't know that it's been touched. So basically... it can't look like the target."

Draggor was about to go on when a laugh interrupted him, Serathin clapping his hands as he fell back against the chair. "That's too funny!" he shouted. "We're covering up a robbery with another robbery! You want us to sack the casino vault and make his personal one look untouched."

"Basically," Draggor replied before continuing on. "I know it's another added layer of difficulty onto an already impossible feat, but if this is going to work it has to be done this way."

The crew continued to discuss the plan for a few more hours, hashing out everyone's role in it before they finally decided to take a break in order to get another round of food since the pizzas they had ran dry. In order to minimize the amount of exposure to those that hadn't already been logged as guests of the hotel they told Serathin, Zen, and Xander that they would go and get any food that they wanted. Once they had their orders squared away Draggor and Alkali were about to leave the room when Xander spoke up and said that he would rather accompany the ferret to get their meals, and though the two didn't like the idea the dragon didn't relent on his suggestion and the demonspawn decided to stay back and let the two get it. Alkali and Xander slowly walked together out of the hotel room and took the elevator back down into the casino proper where the sounds of the machines and other noises would help muffle their conversation to prying ears.

"You're insane, you know that, right?" Xander said once they were out of earshot of anyone near them.

"Maybe..." Alkali replied, drawing out the word. "But this is also our best shot to get what we want, which is insanely rich. Draggor and I have been working on the logistics of this for a very long time and-... hey, there he is!"

The two immediately stopped talking as they watched a mouse in a shiny three-piece suit walk through the hallway accompanied by two very burly looking security guards. Even if they hadn't known who he was before they could have guessed that they were watching the owner of the hotel and casino walking in, people kneeling down to shake his hand and greet him as he passed by. Miko was one of the more well-respected of the casino owner community, pledging himself to be a philanthropist while still making millions in his investments around the city. They knew; however, as well as anyone else who got the idea to make a quick buck off of him, that anyone who attempted to cross him were as swiftly punished as those who helped him were rewarded. Though he wasn't the primary target of their heist they knew what they were about to do would draw his wrath upon them, a storm that no one wanted to weather as they quickly moved through a different bank of slot machines in order to avoid any potential eye contact with them.

Not wanting to risk any familiarity with those inside the casino, both dragon and ferret walked towards a nearby restaurant that would be able to take care of the orders that they had taken. As they stepped inside Alkali's phone rang and when he saw who it was motioned for Xander to meet him inside before he stepped off the path onto the establishment's patio to answer it. He heard the voice of Nizzbit telling him excitedly that while he was getting a place for them to practice what they were about to do, and he may have found some more people that were willing to help and to meet him at the location provided as soon as possible. Once the call was done Alkali went into the restaurant and told the dragon there the details before giving him the money to pay and then rushing out to catch a taxi to his destination.

*********************************************

The place that Nizzbit had sent him to was a collection of warehouses that were outside of the city, the area rather remote as he stepped out of the cab and looked around. The tiger was nowhere to be found waiting for him, but what he saw just as well as he heard was the roaring of an engine as it blew by the warehouses in the expanse of asphalt that was the combined parking lots. The ferret had an idea of what their recruiter had found them as he made his way over towards the makeshift racetrack, watching as the very fast and equally-expensive looking car drifted around a corner and made its way back towards him once again. As the car was coming in once more towards the bay doors of the warehouses Alkali also saw Nizzbit sitting there in the shade of one of the buildings.

"About time you got here!" Nizzbit shouted over the noise of the engines as he waved him over. "I have a few people here willing to help your crazy butt!"

When Nizzbit said that Alkali realized that he wasn't alone under the shade, the closer he got he could see several huddled up next to the door as they looked like they were working on something. Once he was under the shade, himself, the ferret saw that there were actually five of them, and the reason that they were so hard to distinguish from one another is that they all looked somewhat alike as one of them hopped up when they heard Alkali say hello. "You must be the one that Nizzbit was talking about," the husky-racoon hybrid said as he shook the ferret's hand. "I'm Exile Huscoon, and the others huddled around are Ian, Xavier, Erik, and Luke."

The other huscoons lifted up their heads and waved at Alkali and once he returned it the others quickly ducked their heads back down to whatever they were doing in their huddle. "They're willing to let us use their workspace here for a nominal fee as well as help us out in anything else you might need five nearly identical brothers for," Nizzbit explained before he asked Exile for some privacy and pulled Alkali further away from the group of hybrids. "I only filled them in a little on what the plan was, so if you want to bring them in any further it's up to you. Otherwise I paid them extra for privacy and anonymity... and I see our second potential helper is about to arrive, so I can introduce you to them as well."

At that time the racing car that had done a few more laps while Alkali was being introduced to the huscoons finally rolled to a stop a few feet in front of them, the engine giving one last loud rev before shutting down completely. The two waited as the figure in the racing suit got out of the car and took of his helmet, revealing the rabbit underneath as he looked over the car at them. "So this is the one that you said I should meet," the driver exclaimed as he walked around the car and shook Alkali's hand. "You can call me Bad Habit Rabbit, fastest behind the wheel in the country."

"Now this is someone that I can use," Alkali said. "How much has Nizzbit told you about the plan?"

"Enough to know that you're going to need someone that can tear through the city without scuffing the paint job," Bad Habit said with a small smirk. "He also told me that with my participation I can get a few of these babies here instead of driving ones owned by those who can afford to hire me. As you can probably guess this wouldn't be the first time driving on the other side of the law, or against them, and since I'm not behind bars right now and still driving other people's merchandise I think my resume speaks for itself."

"You had me at your participation," Alkali replied before turning back to the warehouse. "The space is good too, a little far away from our base of operations at the hotel but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Let's see if we can get the huscoons to help us move in our stuff, we have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it."

A few hours later night had fallen and the warehouse that had been previously empty was now filled with equipment and scaffolding. While some of it had been from the huscoons, who had used the space in order to set up entertainment and advertising displays for the various casinos on the strip, most of it was brought in from the trucks that Nizzbit had procured in order to make sure they were ready. The five brothers were more than happy to lend a hand with the construction of several of the more complex structures, including a five-story tower that resembled an elevator shaft and a sound stage. The rest of the crew that they had currently gathered were either helping out the hybrids or already testing various pieces of equipment, Serathin standing on top of the makeshift elevator shaft pulling on a rig system while Zen crawled underneath the stage.

Alkali, Draggor, and Xander were all huddled around the table that they had set up, one with an electronic screen in the middle of it that had all their digitized plans on it. Next to them Bad Habit was with Nizzbit on a scale model replica of the casino and the surrounding streets that they had created months before. "There are... a lot of moving parts to this plan," the demon admitted as he looked over a shipping manifest that was in front of him. "Any one of them doesn't work and some of us, if not all of us, go straight to jail... or a shallow grave if Miko is not feeling particularly charitable at that time."

"We're also going to need a lot of leg work to set us up for the main event," Xander added. "Infiltrate security... getting into position throughout the casino... there's a lot of exposure to get where we need to, and we don't have a lot of people to do it."

"There is going to be some doubling up on tasks here," Alkali admitted as he sat back down in one of the chairs around the table. "Those that play in the shadows for the main event are going to have to be the ones that go out and pull the strings for the rest of us, so mostly Serathin and Zen. We also have the huscoons, too, I guess, but still not sure whether or not to bring them in."

Even though Alkali tried to maintain his composure around the others the ferret could feel the knot in his stomach tightening slightly, even with the glass of liquor he was attempting to use to loosen it. He watched Zen in the corner continuing to set up the various devices that he was pretty sure weren't legal in most countries while Serathin stood on top of a three-story scaffolding they had set up for that purpose. What worried him most; however, was the blue dragon that stood in front of the mirror rehearsing his part in this whole thing. While he was confident that he was skilled enough to do what needed to be done there was no guarantee that the plan would not be foiled in some way. The mere thought of any of the crew here being hauled off to a police car in chains caused him to take another drink, though he imagined at least one wouldn't go down without a fight...

It was at that point Zen came forward with one of the blueprints that Draggor had procured off the internet, motioning for the two of them to come over to the planning table with him. "So I hate to already be the rain on our little parade here, but I have come across a problem that needs addressing," Zen stated as he pointed at the perimeter of the building that they were looking at stealing from. "Now as I'm sure you're aware there are sensors along the foundation of the building to prevent anyone from trying to break in through the basement, right?"

"Well you were the one that told us that before," Draggor replied. "I thought you figured out a way to bypass that."

"I thought I did," Zen explained as he pointed to a nearby sewer system. "The plan was to go in through the sewers and blow out one of the overflow walls, then tunnel in through there. The problem is this..." The fox pulled out his tablet and laid it out on the table, the screen showing an entirely different layout of the area in question. "All the utility lines are ran through the sewers and in nearby utility tunnels. Even if I can get through the reservoir walls without busting a steam pipe or something, I can't get deep enough to get through all of the casino's garbage."

"That is definitely a problem," Alkali mused as he looked at both sets of blueprints. The entire underground utility system did look like a maze, one that they hadn't counted on being as complex as it was until Zen pointed it out. "Do you think we can just not do the tunnel part?"

"Sure," Draggor said with a shrug. "If you don't mind Serathin going to jail."

"Wait, what?" Serathin shouted from the top of the makeshift tower. "Who's going to jail?"

"Nothing!" Alkali replied before motioning for the other two to huddle up once again. "So we need the tunnel, but we can't go in through the sewers. Any suggestions here?"

"What about this place?" Draggor pointed out in an area that had little intersecting utility lines. "Seems alright to me."

"But there's no sewer connection there that I can dig in from," Zen retorted. "We would have to go to an alley or something and there's not enough nearby cover to start construction, and maybe destruction, without being completely exposed."

Alkali looked at the area the demon was referring to as well as the utility map, then asked Zen if he could pull up a street view of the area they were looking at. The fox quickly went online and showed the ferret the area that was being talked about and for a while Alkali clicked on a few different directions that they could go. Finally he stopped at one intersection in particular and then put down the tablet, showing the others what he was found while telling them his idea.

"I mean... it could work," Draggor responded as he reached over and zoomed in on the screen. "But I don't think that we want to have a breaking and entering charge on anyone's record before this even begins."

"Ah, now you will see the brilliance that is the second part of my carefully crafted plan," Alkali said before he turned away from the others and pulled out his cell phone, leaning in even more as he waited for the call to be picked up. "Hey... Nizzbit? I really, really hope that you can help me on this..."

************************************************

Meanwhile at the top of the Golden Cheese Casino an office looked out into that same desert, only with a far better view of the surrounding area. As a high-backed leather chair slowly rocked back and forth the door opened and a lion walked into the room with a handful of reports. "This is everything on the security details for the final night of the SEE conference and the concert. So far it looks like everything is going smoothly."

"Yes... that's what the captain of the Titanic thought before her starboard side was torn open by an iceberg, too," the voice of the one occupying the chair said. "I want you to make sure that everyone is ready and then double check all the security measures once they're done. The Securities and Exchange Commission put a lot of faith in this casino, a faith I don't want want to lose because we overlooked something."

"Yes sir," the lion replied with a small salute. "I'll make sure to send the overtime slips to you in the morning, Mr. Maus. Anything else I can do for you?"

"There is one thing, Nbowa..." the mouse said as he turned his chair around, looking at his feline head of security. "I know that you're not out on the floor, but can you please put on some pants?"

The lion looked down at the red shorts he was wearing before looking back at Miko. "Why do I have to do that?" he asked. "It gets hot in the security office and it cements my dominance as the king of the security office."

"They already know you're the king of the security office, make an exception for the next week or so," Miko replied, swiveling back around and looking out into the desert. "I have a gut feeling that there's something going on... something that I can't quite put my finger on." The mouse said as he squinted into the distance. "Someone out there is scheming against me, plotting something against this casino and everything that I hold in it..."

The lion just stood there for a second, blinking in slight disbelief before slowly backing away through the open office door. "Alright then..." Nbowa said as he slinked back through the threshold. "I'll just... put on those pants then..."

As the door slowly closed Miko took his drink and swirled it, his gaze never leaving the sandy rifts. "Where are you hiding..." he said as he took a sip.

************************************************

A few hours later Alkali and Xander were sitting in a strip club, trying not to make eye contact with anyone as they waited for the one that was supposed to meet and collect them from it. Though it wasn't the first time they were in such a place it was very... exposed, and the last thing either of them wanted was to be recognized or remembered before the big day. Thankfully most eyes were on the entertainment being provided on the stage, leaving them in the shadows while they sipped on the overpriced drinks they had bought in order to further blend into the scene. After about twenty minutes they saw a badger in a nice suit walk over to them, a silver-handled cane in one hand as he went up and shook their hands.

"A little tiger told me that you might be needing some help," the badger stated, both ferret and dragon nodding in agreement. "Well you've come to the right place, follow me and I can get you squared away."

"We appreciate the meeting on such short notice, Boozy," Alkali said as they walked around the bar area towards the back marked Employees Only. "From what Nizzbit said-"

"I would hush if I was you," Boozy quickly stated, putting a finger to his lips before gesturing towards the strippers on stage. "The stage has ears you know, and since you want to keep this on the downlow I suggest you wait until we get into the relative privacy of my office."

The three walked in relative silence until they were away from the main area of the strip club and in the back, walking into a rather nice office where the thrumming beat of the music could no longer be heard. Once they were alone once more Boozy continued to tell the other two to remain silent as he went over to a record player, putting on music just loud enough so that it filled the ambient background. With the silence gone the badger grew more relaxed, heading over to the small wet bar in the corner and making himself a drink. After offering the other two a beverage, which both graciously accepted, he sat in the leather chair on the other side of the desk and leaned back.

"So what can an old badger like me do for the two of you," Boozy asked as he lit a cigar.

"Well we were told that you can help us procure a piece of property in a... less than legal fashion," Alkali said after sipping his drink. "There's a building for sale that we need to have for a week, but we also can't have any of our names on the lease and after a week we need to leave the area in a hurry. Think you can help with that?"

"I think I might just have a solution for you," Boozy replied while he leaned back, gesturing to the walls that surrounded them. "Let me ask you this, what do you think of this little club that own here? Nice, right?"

"Um... I guess it's one of the nicer places that we've visited." Xander answered as he looked around.

"And do you know why I have committed myself to creating such a fine establishment?" Boozy asked once more.

"Because..." Xander stalled slightly as he looked to Alkali, who just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "...you really like strippers?"

"No, it's so that strippers really like me," Boozy explained as he took a manila folder he had been holding and slapped it down on the desk. "So when it comes to things like false property acquisitions and other less-than-legal items of paperwork I can use their information to do such things. Do you honestly think an entity like the IRS or local municipality is going to look into something when they find out that the Candy Williams that bought it works as a stripper? It's like having a cloak of invisibility, they either don't want to look into it for the embarrassment or they just think it's some bimbo that doesn't know how to invest their money. Then in exchange for their gracious lending of their identity to me they get a cut of the profits... we will be seeing a cut of the profits, right?"

"Of course," Alkali spoke up as he and the dragon looked at the folder.

"Alright then," Boozy said as he took the folder back and began to leaf through it. "Would you prefer heaving bosoms or galloping abs?"

"Uh, what?" Xander said, staring in disbelief.

"Some people have a preference on what I put on the paperwork," Boozy explained. "Basically you want a male or female stripper. Heck, I even filed a ownership writ on a foreclosed property on the name Richard Parkinson."

"Wow..." Alkali replied once he got the joke. "...but we're not going to actually buy the property, are we?"

"Course not," Boozy replied with a wave of his hand. "I'll just have the paperwork float through the administration for a week or so and then when it gets rejected the building goes back into receivership. Just make sure that you're out of there before they decide to come in and change the locks on you."

"Why?" Xander asked. "What happens if we're still there when that happens?"

"All I can say is that you better find a good lawyer," Boozy stated. "Now are we doing this or not? I got the missus to get home to..."

About twenty minutes later Zen met up with Xander at the building in question that they, or rather the stripper Boozy used on the paperwork, had just leased while Alkali peeled away from the group to check on things at the casino. The building used to be an old corner butcher shop, but from the dirt on the windows and the cobwebs in the doorway it appeared no one had checked on the building in some time. Since they wouldn't be getting a set of keys to the place they popped the door lock and walked inside, stifling a cough from the stale air that blew by them. Once they were inside Xander took the building permit that had been printed up for them and stuck it against the door window in case anyone got curious on the noise they were about to make.

The two carefully made their way over the debris that littered the floor and made their way to the back, both breathing sighs of relief when they saw a set of stairs leading down. They hadn't checked the floor plan before going through with the deal and had they not had a way into a basement they would have been digging through the floor. Though they were happy about the access, the fact that the basement was used as the storage cooler and primary meat processing area unnerved them. Huge areas of the concrete floor were stained with what they hoped was animal blood as Zen crossed over to the cooler area and opened it up.

"Well at least they were nice enough to take the meat out," the fox commented as he walked inside the metal box. "Could you imagine the stench that we would have to deal with? Carcasses rotting on hooks with flies and other-"

"Anyway..." Xander quickly interrupted as he hopped around the blood stains to get to the broken refrigerator himself. "You think this is going to work for you?"

Zen walked around for a few more seconds and slid his hand against the smooth metal, knocking against it a few times with his knuckles as a smirk crossed his muzzle. "I should be able to work something out of this," he stated. "I'll get my gear set up here and get to work, if there's still some coolant left I might even be able to work a little faster."

"Great," Xander said. "How long do you think it'll take to get where you need to be?"

"Oh, we're going to be cutting this very close," Zen informed him. "In fact if we could get some of the huscoon squad down here to help me that would be great. I know the ferret wasn't keen on hiring on any more help, but they could get all my tools for me and make supply runs."

"I'll talk to Alkali about it," Xander replied as he watched the fox continue to examine one of the walls. "Something tells me they're not going to be the last people that we need to bring on for this."