FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Amber wakes up and stares at the ceiling for a while. Her alarm and the very nature of her work means she won't be allowed too much privacy for much longer. Pretty soon she would have at least one person check up on her to make sure she's up. It's not an enjoyable life she's living. She has a purpose in life, yes. She doesn't really want for money, yes. But there's a significant difference between being in a situation where you have everything you need and one where you actually are content with where you are. Amber raises her right hand to over her face and stares at the large ring adorning her pointer finger. This one little thing is the only thing keeping her from being a freak.

Amber wakes up and starts going through her morning routine. All the usual activities for one that is effectively being considered as part of the military. She technically isn't. She's part of an elite squad that is sent out to handle situations that would prove too risky to send ordinary people. After all, what all can a normal soldier do against someone that could simply control their minds? They are technically considered a civilian operation. But the entirety of their funding comes from the government; they are led by an active first star general; there are several other military personnel who are responsible for managing them, including debriefings, training and support. Unfortunately, as part of their desire to have everything nice and orderly it meant a very distinct lack of choice for what they could and could not wear. Since they could be called into action at a moment's notice they weren't allowed to wear whatever they wanted. Everything had to be practical. Everything had to be orderly. And everything she had had to not only allow for her other form without being destroyed but also have this giant orange stripe across the top. For this level of the Core felt that it was rather fitting to make everyone have a code name that was tied to a gem. And as they named her Amber she had to have that color on her wherever she ended up going. The name she was born to, Katherine Smith, was a name she almost never used. For the sake of privacy and national security they weren't allowed to really use their real names. Well the paychecks still went to her real name and any and all legal documents had her legal name. But in the day to day operations, no one called her by that. She was simply and only Amber.

First order of business after tidying up her appearance a bit is morning exercises, followed by breakfast, then some drills. Each day was carefully planned out by a group of experts such that she'll never be exhausted or in any shape that would be considered nonconducive to keeping her in a state where she can be called upon at a moment's notice and be at full strength. Even naps are scheduled for her. She doesn't really have freedom to do just about anything outside of what they label as free time. But even then that's restricted. She can't leave the base. If she wanted anything she has to put in a request for it and if they approve they'll send someone to buy it with her money. Just going to the mall is definitely not allowed.

And the rest of her squad mates aren't much better. Their group has an extreme sense of professionalism amongst all of them. Beyond what is necessary to function as a unit, she will barely end up hearing or saying a single word to much of any of them. And they are just as much restricted from going out, though for a slightly different reason. The only exception to all of this would be Amethyst, the youngest member of their team and still only a teenager. Amethyst still has a life outside of this encampment, but only because they can't really stop her. She gets out all the time to go party and whatnot and then gets reprimanded afterwards. But because we aren't officially a military organization and thus not restricted to military rules and the fact that she's fast enough to get back in time if there was a need there really is never anything they can do about her leaving.

During one of their breaks Amber's phone starts to buzz at her. Since she's not allowed to talk to anyone outside the complex and anyone inside the complex would just walk to her anyway, that can only mean it's time to go about another mission; to do what they do best. Amber takes a deep breath and starts to head over to the prep room. She sticks the earbud for her phone into her ear and listens to the mission briefing that has been prepared. Just another group of powered individuals who have gotten it into their heads that might makes right.

"Honestly," Amber muses to herself, "I would think that they would have learned by now that creating a massive enough disturbance would draw our attention. Of course, they are doing it a full one hundred miles away from us, which is about the limit of my abilities. Either way, one hundred miles is going to absolutely suck."

She arrives at the room where they are to begin prepping and with a sigh goes ahead and take off the ring and places it on the table, letting her true form reassert itself. She really doesn't like this form and finds it rather hideous. Thankfully the transition is completely painless. Amber does remember to take her shoes off before her growing feet utterly destroy them, a thing that has happened a few times. All the rest of her clothing is generally fine as they're designed to be able to handle the other anatomy. Her shirt is usually a bit loose on her in her human form and when she goes all fluffy it's a bit more form fitting but still not what she'd consider tight. She's not wearing much on her head where she has the biggest changes what with her nose and mouth forming an incredibly long muzzle and her ears growing to ridiculously large. So that is usually not that much an issue. The one thing that was embarrassing at first is when her tail begins to grow in. A three-foot-long appendage sticking out of her ass and almost invariably ends up pushing her pants down. It's happened often enough by now and the others have seen it enough that it isn't as big a deal, but it is definitely one small matter of annoyance. Once it's grown enough that she is able to Amber un-snaps the clasp on the back of her pants, pulls them up and then snaps the clasp back shut over her tail. If anything her benefactors have at least given her a healthy supply of clothing designed for the potentially tailed in mind.

Once her transformation is complete she opens the door and steps into the room. The rooms are kept quite dim, bright enough to see but not distract. There's a single monitor in the room that's been positioned in a specific location and Amber begins to walk towards it. She needs more prep time than the others so she generally has to get there before everyone else, especially on these longer trips. She walks up to the screen and pays even more attention to a thin little strip that they've put onto the screen. With that she takes a deep breath and opens her third eye and begins to use her ability. Jet is the first of the others to arrive. As is the usual case with them he sees her and nods slightly in her direction though she doesn't respond in kind, nor does he expect her to. Instead he picks a spot fairly close to where she is and then begins to as quietly as possible hyperventilate himself. Ruby and Sapphire are the next to come, having met along the way and were discussing things. But as soon as the door opens they let the conversation instantly die down and they join Jet in the room and trying to hyperventilate. Emerald and Amethyst are the last to arrive. Amethyst being usually the last one to arrive since she always has to go about making sure her phone is keyed to start playing the right song when it's time to move and is lazy since she knows she's the fastest of them all

All of the team know just how much concentration it takes for Amber to try to find their exit point and as such all of them know not to try and do anything to disrupt that concentration. Being sent on a mission this far using Amber's ability means that every second counts and that lives are depending on them getting there promptly. To interrupt or distract her could cost lives. Specifically, what Amber is currently doing is to use one ability to find the other. Amber is a part of this group for two very useful abilities. First, she can not only teleport but teleport a small group with her. It's not instant, but at a rate of about one mile per second. Down side is that breathing is not exactly something someone can do while they're in transit. Thus, why everyone is currently busy trying to get as much carbon dioxide out of their lungs as possible. The second ability she has is to be able to see into the future. Not a very long span of time, going more than a minute or two into the future starts causing issues. But it is definitely something extremely useful, to see what all is going to happen in the future. The biggest issue for her teleportation is that she needs to know where she's going. If she didn't then it is entirely possible they may end up coming out in a wall. So she's using her ability to see into the future and guessing at locations for teleport until she can find herself on the screen in front of her.

Eventually she is able to find a blip on the television screen of them coming out somewhere in view of the screen's camera and then it's a fairly simple matter of refining it onto one of the nearby buildings. And once she has a good fix on the location Amber makes a single nod, not letting her concentration falter the slightest bit or else she'd have to find it again. Amber takes a few quick deep breaths herself and then raises up a hand and starts counting down, everyone taking a very deep breath before the counting is ended and Amethyst begins to have the Doctor Who song begin playing into her earbuds as the portal opens up around them and begins the transportation. To call the experience claustrophobic would not be entirely true. There is no visual sign of anything. It's closer to everything that Amber grabbed for the teleport is just existing in a kind of void that is protected by the bubble she creates. Unfortunately not everything behaves as normal in this sort of pocket dimension. Internally, everyone is fine and electronics function completely normally, meaning Amethyst gets to full enjoy the song. However, the sound doesn't travel more than a few inches outside the ear buds, meaning no one else can even hear it. And the reason is that air doesn't really move much at all in this pocket dimension. Thus one cannot take a breath or move in any way because the air surrounding them will not move to allow them to do so. And thus the need to hold ones breath before taking the journey.

And with nearly two minutes of being unable to do anything, it can be rather trying on the nerves. But this group has trained to be able to handle the strain it can put on all of them. Thankfully as soon as the portal is opened and they begin moving from one place to another Amber doesn't need to maintain focus on the act anymore, it'll just spit them out when they arrive. Instead she gets to struggle against the impulse to breathe that she cannot act upon and to try and get herself prepped to doing their job. After what feels like forever and the creeping sensation that they'll never come out and instead suffocate to death the world opens up around them again. And every single one of them then spends a moment or two just catching their breath again and recovering from the ordeal. Going back will be through either a helicopter or some vans. They only really use Amber's ability for long range transit when time is of the essence. While most of the others begin to stretch out and look at the scene around them, trying to find where the threat is coming from Amber teleports herself to an even higher location and sets about activating the ability that the group mainly uses her for.