FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Serathin grunted as he crawled his way up through the elevator shaft, trying not to get any dirt on the uniform that he wore as he hoisted himself around the car that was blocking his way. "Perhaps I should have put this on after I got onto the elevator car roof," the hybrid said to himself as he carefully squeezed his way between the wall and the machinery. "Of course I didn't expect that the suit came with fifty pounds of padding..."

The sabrewolf could feel the sweat start to form on the underside of the latex mask that he wore, trying to keep it adjusted so that it still fit his muzzle. Though it didn't do a great job of covering his teeth he did look a lot like a normal dragon after he had checked himself out in the reflection of the lower elevator door. Not only had there been a face mask and the altered uniform that took up most of his body, but also a tail sleeve and arm covers as well. While he doubt he would be able to pass a close inspection, anyone that was just giving him a passing glance wouldn't suspect a lithe sabrewolf under the muscular draconic body.

Once he was successfully on the top of the elevator car Serathin leaned down and listened in to make sure there was no one inside as he carefully took off the cover and eased his way in. Though Draggor was still likely on the cameras he didn't take any chances and made sure to keep out of sight, though that was quickly becoming easier said than done as he had to take into account all of his artificial bulk. After he had gotten in he realized that he had to open the door in order to get out, and that required him to use the identification card that he had fished out of the vent before finally ascending to the top. As he was about to slide the piece of plastic through the reader he was glad it was just a card, had it been anything bigger he would have had to pry open the grate once again to get at it.

Before he could do so; however, the doors suddenly opened, causing Serathin to jump slightly when he saw two guards standing there. "What, are we trying to race down there or something?" the tiger said as the buck next to him laughed. "C'mon, if we're going to be down there on vault babysitting duty for who knows how long then we may as well get some snacks."

Though Serathin wanted to make sure that they were down in the security hallway he couldn't say or do anything but nod. He had no idea what this security guard sounded like, and to blow his cover now would be disastrous. All he could do was follow them into the break room and keep himself busy with his head down so they didn't ask him any more questions. When he got there; however, he found that they were not alone as another team of three security guards were there, only they were completely kitted out with flak jackets, riot helmets, and guns.

"Well this is a surprise," the tiger said as the three looked at them coming in. "You guys looks like you're about ready to stop a bingo riot or something. Why are you guys down here?"

"We're here because Miko thinks someone is going to come and rob the vault or whatever," the stallion said as he took off his helmet. "Though something tells me that's not going to happen tonight."

"I don't think so, either," the tiger replied. "We've actually been told that we're supposed to go down there and guard the thing until Miko arrives." Serathin found himself swallowing hard as he raided the snack drawer with the buck while still trying to listen in. "Nbowa probably forgot to call off the dogs... the A-team is here now, so you guys can probably go."

"You guys? You're joking," the stallion replied as he stood up. "We're not the ones that got fooled into watching some ferret talk about insurance for like six hours. Or was there some other waste of time that you guys were interested in down there?"

As the two began to glare at one another Serathin knew he had to defuse the situation, but didn't know how he was going to do that without talking. Plus if he got too much attention put on him they would see he was not the dragon guard they were used to being with. Still, it appeared that the two were about to go to blows with one another, and if they had a fight here then it would also ruin everything.

Luckily fate intervened for him and the buck went over to stand between the two of them. "I think someone is cranky that they had to wait on-call for the entire day," the cervine said as he motioned for his tiger teammate to step aside. "Why don't you guys just head on out of here? It's clear that he's not going to call the calvary and they forgot to give the message. We can take it from here."

Though the two alpha males continued to posture at one another the stallion seemed relieved to be off-duty and left, the other two taking off their helmets and vests before doing the same. Once they had left Serathin breathed an internal sigh of relief. Not only had he not gotten involved but the defused situation had given the buck and tiger something else to focus on. It also provided the disguised sabrewolf with an opportunity as he went over and put on one of the helmets.

"Hey, it looks good on you," the tiger guard replied with a chuckle as he took a different helmet and put one on, then sat in the chair and spoke with a mocking tone. "Oh, look at me, I think I'm all big and bad because they let me use a gun and not a taser like you plebs." The feline got up and did a few more impersonations before tossing the helmet to the buck. "Here, last one for you."

"I think you forget that I have to wear special helmets," the buck said as he tapped his antlers before putting the helmet down and looking at the dragon. "I'm kind of surprised that I didn't have to pull you from him as well, you hate him even more and love to try to make him look smaller than you."

Before the other guard could even finish his sentences the sabrewolf knew he was in trouble, both guards likely expecting a response. Even with the helmet on as soon as he heard his voice it wouldn't be good, which meant he needed something else to muffle it. Just as the buck finished what he was saying Serathin grabbed the first thing on the table that was edible and stuffed it entirely into his muzzle. The result was the two staring at him as he spoke with a mouthful of food to muffle his voice.

The other two guards looked at one another before they chuckled. "Man, you must be really carb-loading this week," the tiger said as he Serathin continued to chew, the sabrewolf shrugging. "Well take the whole basket of muffins with you if you want, though I might want one, myself. Let's just hope that Miko doesn't have us standing down there and waiting for as long as the others seemed to be."

Meanwhile Bad Habit Rabbit and Diz sat in the car, waiting for the signal as they watched the casino that they were robbing. "So does it ever get weird for you?" Bad Habit asked as he looked over at his passenger, who was adjusting the prosthetic sabertooth in the mirror. "Just transforming yourself into someone else and trying to pretend to be like them? I can only imagine how strange it must be when you look into a mirror and see yourself."

"It's not so bad," Diz replied, sitting back in the seat once he was sure that his Serathin disguise was complete. "Most of the time I'm just doing random or generic characters of my own, so it's like they're just different parts of me that I adapt for the roles that are needed. When it comes to disguises like this... well, let's just say it might start feeling weird if I was in the same room as the sabrewolf this look belongs to."

"Hey guys," Draggor said over the phone, both of them looking at the car speaker that the demonic voice came from. "So it looks like you guys are going to be up now, remember that you not only have to lose the casino goons, but also get to the designated spot before the police catch up with you. Think you can handle it?"

Bad Habit just smirked and popped the car into reverse, letting the tires smoke before going backwards from the alley that they were in. Diz found himself clutching the dash as the lapine kicked it back and barreled their way down the street. Their drive deliberately took them closer to the casino briefly before the would head back out, but before they turned down the street they saw a familiar face flag them down. The rabbit slowed down long enough for Zen to get inside, the fox hopping into the car before it once more zoomed off.

"Hey, this isn't a taxi," Zen joked before sliding from one side of the backseat to the other as they took a sharp turn. "Hey, we're not trying to crash into the casino, are we?"

"Just showing off," Bad Habit replied. "Hey Draggor, did we attract any attention?"

"I would say so," Draggor said. "They just called down that you are trying to escape, looks like they say that our decoy Serathin is in the car, too. Rest is up to you."

As Bad Habit drifted through one of the intersections they saw a black SUV suddenly pull out of the casino's underground lot so quickly it looked like they had spun out. Instead they regained their traction and quickly gained speed on them. In order to cement the notion that they had the thief inside the car Diz stuck his head out briefly before sticking it back in, nearly getting clipped by a car mirror as he did. As their high-speed pursuit continued they began to hear the sound of police sirens in the distance but were quickly converging on their territory.

"You think that they're going to keep following with the cops?" Zen asked as he looked back at the car still following them.

"Only one way to find out!" Bad Habit shouted as he turned into the street where the noise was coming from. They quickly found themselves driving straight towards the police car with its lights on, Bad Habit gunning the engine and getting more speed. As Zen and Diz looked back they saw that the range rover pulled back and turned onto the first street that was open for them. With the casino tail gone their sole focus was the police car they had just engaged, though it wasn't long as the tires of their car squealed and they suddenly found themselves barreling down a different street.

With the maneuvers that Bad Habit had been practicing before the heist he was coasting from street to street, keeping the police on his toes for a while. At one point he almost got bumped from behind by a passing car but he raced down the straightaway and poured on the speed, the others in the car gripping whatever they could as they slalomed between buildings and traffic. With most of the action still centered around the casino from the concert they found it easier to get from place to place and still find pockets of cars to lose the others in. Eventually they found themselves on one of the main roads leading out of the highway, Bad Habit driving on the sidewalk more than once to avoid cars.

"You sure I have to do this?" the lapine lamented as they went towards the metal concrete pole. "Can't we just have you get out or something?"

"You gotta do it, man," Diz replied as he tightened his seatbelt.

"It just feels so..." Bad Habit replied as he grabbed onto the modified e-brake. "...unnatural."

The other two shouted to do it and Zen finally put on the reinforced seatbelt, himself, as Bad Habit pulled up the break, the mechanisms attached to it shredding two of his tires and causing him to go into a spin. The others yelled as he streaked right for their target, the metal pole glistening in the beam of their headlights before he turned again and smashed the car's back quarter panel into it. With the modified harnesses the three are held firmly in their seats and once the car stopped moving even with its sudden stop the three slowly opened the door and unstrapped themselves. Even with all the safety precautions the three had a hard time getting out of the wreck as they were suddenly illuminated by flashing red and blue lights.

"On your knees, scumbag!" Zen heard as he looked up to see a flashlight and a gun pointed right at his face. "Looks like you're going all the way downtown, this is what you get for trying to run from Johnny law!"

"Oh shut up," the fox replied, trying to hide his smirk he put his hands behind his head.

"Hey, got to make it convincing," Xander said as he flicked off the light, allowing Zen to see the blue dragon donning a police officer's uniform. "You know that we're on candid camera."

"Wait, we have to actually talk?" Nizzbit replied, also dressed as a cop as he put Diz into handcuffs. "I thought that the camera couldn't record sound."

"I'm just kidding around, Nizzbit," Xander replied as he handcuffed Zen, then went over to do the same to Bad Habit. "Remember not to look up at the camera though, we're grizzled beat cops who are just about to bring a few hardened criminals to justice."

The two playing police officer took the three out of the range of the camera, then immediately removed the cuffs. As Nizzbit turned off the red and blue party lights they had going Diz ducked around one of the other light posts, coming back out in his avian character as those had been watching him just looked on in awe. "You have to tell me how you do that someday," Xander said before looking back at the wrecked car. "So what do we do with that?"

"I got it taken care of," Zen said as he pulled what looked like a lighter out of his pocket, only when he pressed down on the flint everyone jumped as the car exploded into flames. "Quick and easy."

"Was... that bomb there the entire time?" Bad Habit asked.

"Of course," Zen replied. "I installed it the day before. Finally I get the chance to blow something up!"

"I was sitting in that car all day!" the lapine said as he held his ears. "Where did you put it?"

Zen narrowed his eyes slightly and put the detonator away. "Let's just say that it was in a protected place," the fox replied, putting up a finger to prevent further protests. "I do believe that it all ended well, so instead of dwelling on the bomb in the gas tank, shall we go and get to the actual getaway car?"

As the others nodded and began to walk back to the nearby alley, Xander and Nizzbit taking off the uniforms to reveal regular clothes underneath, Bad Habit continued to stand there with his mouth agape. "It was in the gas tank?!" he shouted before running after them. "Are you serious!?"

Meanwhile Draggor took the video he made of the crash and set it on a timer to upload, then finally began to shut everything down. He had done everything he could to make it work, which meant there was just one thing left to do. With everything packed away and his network disconnected he took the USB drive and put it into his pocket. All he could do now... was go into the casino and get captured.

It didn't take long for the demon to get apprehended, the second he walked into the doors he looked up at one of the cameras and about four minutes later a person in a security outfit came up to him. "Mr. Maus would like to speak with you privately," the grizzly bear said as he looked down at him. "I have orders to bring you up either comfortably or uncomfortably, I leave choice of which up to you."

"You know, I was just here to meet a friend and get a drink so I think I'll-" the rest of the words that the demon was going to say were forced out along with his air as the guard knelt down and clamped his arms around his midsection before squeezing. "Hnnng... quite the... bear hug... you got there..." Draggor gasped as he was picked up and carried off the casino floor and towards the offices. "You're so strong."

"I do competitive pilates," the bear replied, which Draggor wasn't sure if that was sarcastic or not as he was carried all the way up into the office of Miko Maus. Once they were inside the guard dropped the demon down onto one of the chairs, then took up position just outside the door. As Draggor waited he looked around the posh interior, but as he started to stand up he turned and saw the bear's head turning back to him with a scowl on his face that caused him to sit down again.

"You know, I was wondering how Alkali managed to get all those trades in electronically without anyone knowing," Miko said as he walked into the office, the demon watching the mouse as he walked in and sat on the other side of his desk. "Turns out he didn't have to, not when you have as skilled a programmer as you as his friend. Now the whole picture is starting to become more clear to me with every passing second... of course if I hear the whole story from you now, then perhaps we can make some sort of deal."

"Deal with the devil," Draggor said, the mouse giving him a deadpan look before the demon gave him a sheepish grin. "Yes, I do understand the irony of me saying that."

"Indeed," Miko replied. "Nevertheless, your friend is about to go down hard once the SEC finds that data on the black box, along with that toothy companion of his. Question is do you want to go down with them, or do you want to try and make a swim for the surface?"

"Didn't realize that casino owners have such sway in the Securities world," Draggor snarked.

Miko chuckled and poured himself a drink before offering one to Draggor, who declined. "After the rather successful conference that I hosted for them I think that they're more than amicable to me," the mouse explained. "Me bringing in someone they had been trying to get for various crimes because he tried to break into my casino is going to look very good in their eyes. If you want, you can probably look just as good if you make sure that they can get that conviction."

"You mean put the ferret under the bus," Draggor smirked. "Shove it up your ass, I'll take my chances with the SEC."

"Just thought that I would offer," Miko replied as he got up. "I've already called the SEC and they're sending over two agents in order to investigate the claim, once they see my destroyed vault and that the black box is gone you better start praying that they catch your friends who escaped." The mouse finished his drink and then went to the bear that was outside the door. "Make sure that you get Draggor down to the cheater's den, use whatever other guards you need to do so."

Draggor's eyes widened as the bar nodded and came back into the room, a smirk on his blunt muzzle as he opened his arms. "No... I'll go willingly... not the hugs!" The demon shrank back in his chair as the hulking creature loomed over him. "Not the hugs!!"

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

Serathin sighed and waited at the security hallway, taking pieces of muffin and tossing them into his mouth as he tried to keep his distance from the other two. It appeared that the dragon guard he was pretending to be preferred to be the strong and silent type, which worked for him. Since their phones didn't work they had taken to talking about what they were going to do again for the weekend, and though they asked him once and he did the same stuffing the mouth trick to give them a non-answer. The sabrewolf wasn't sure how many more times he would be able to do that, though, before they got suspicious or he got full, but it turned out they didn't have to wait that long as the elevator suddenly began to show signs of movement.

"Oh crap, he's coming down!" the tiger shouted as he and the buck immediately starting stuffing their pockets with wrappers and bottles that they had brought down with them. "Quick, make it look like you've been standing at attention for a really long time!"

All three of them immediately went over to the elevator once they had cleaned up, looking as ready as they could as car settled on their floor and the doors opened. As Miko and the others held a conversation Serathin tuned them out as his attention turned to the handcuffed demon. It didn't take long before Draggor looked at him, then motioned down slightly with his head while trying to still look natural. As the sabrewolf assessed the situation he realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as he originally intended, not only were there two agents, but a news crew had gotten in as well.

Serathin got an opening; however, as Miko became confused by the fact that the vault door still worked, and as the others gathered around to watch he came up behind Draggor. He slid his hands into the demon's pockets and easily found what he was looking for, securing the USB drive in his hand before quickly backing off. The sabrewolf gave himself a second to take a breath, but he knew that every second the agents got closer to the black box the more it was possible that he wouldn't complete his task in time. Worse yet he didn't know which agent had what he was looking for, or worse if they didn't have it on them at all and they just took the black box.

Since everyone was paying attention to the fact that the vault the mouse had said exploded was in fact intact it was easy for Serathin to go around while playing guard, especially as Miko continued to draw their attention. As the sabrewolf got closer to the two agents Samson said that their concern was the black box and not the vault, and as he did so he noticed that the bull pressed a palm against his pocket. It was the best indicator so far that was where the USB drive was, so he quickly moved over so that he was in front of the bull while the mouse shifted the cheese wheel logo to reveal the safe.

Serathin only had one chance and he hoped that his hunch was right, waiting for the bull to push him aside so that he could get to the safe when it was opened. As Agent Samson moved past him the sabrewolf stealthily dipped his fingers into the coat pocket that he saw the bull palm earlier. It was thankfully a shallow pocket and with two fingers he gripped the USB he found and pulled it out while at the same time letting go of the one in his palm. A half a second later he moved back and let the bull plug in Draggor's USB into the black box.

As everyone waited with baited breath on what the scanner was going to say the disguised dragon moved over to where Alkali and Draggor were. "Did you make the switch?" the demon asked, Serathin slowly nodding his head. "Alright, don't forget you've got to get the USB back, too, but something tells me Miko is about to make a very big scene."

Serathin nodded and waited, still keeping the other guards at bay while he waited and watched what would happen next. As everyone was surprised to see that there was no evidence of tampering the sabrewolf had his eyes glued to the bull to see where he'd put the USB drive after he unplugged it. He watched as the male took it and put it in the same jacket pocket, which at that point was when Miko started to attack the news crew thinking that one of them were the hybrid that actually was standing in a guard's uniform a few feet away from him.

When the other two guards went in to restrain their boss Serathin moved to protect the two agents, keeping one hand on Agent Samson's chest while the other went back into his pocket. With their eyes fixated on the raving mouse it was much easier to put the original USB drive back into the bull's pocket, and by the time the two agents told the news crew to leave Serathin showed Draggor and Alkali that he had gotten it. He then moved in to help restrain Miko, making sure that he didn't accidently get clawed in the face.

Once all the drama settled down and they were told to leave Serathin left with the other two guards. "Well that was certainly something," the tiger said after they had left the security elevator and were back in the breakroom. "Not every day you can see your boss have a total meltdown, and if we hurry the other team might still be at the bar and we can lord over them with what we saw. You two in?"

"Nah, I gotta see about printing up my resume," the buck replied with a sigh. "Something about this makes me think my job isn't as secure as it once was... How about you, going to the gym to work off that dozen muffins you ate?"

Serathin just nodded and waved, saying the word bathroom as incomprehensibly as he could before darting off down the hallway. Though the other dragon was likely still trying to process all the paperwork that was going on inside the casino, he didn't want to be around when he tried to rejoin with his group. Plus every inch of his body was drenched from wearing padding and latex the entire night, prompting to immediately find the closest exit door and go outside. As soon as he was out he took big gulpfuls of fresh air before he realized that he wasn't alone, seeing Alkali and Draggor laughing as they ran away from the building.

"Finally..." Serathin said as he continued to breathe heavily while twirling the USB stick in his palm, following the voices of the two to a secluded area. "Time to see what the hell happened out here..."