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Vertigo: Out of the Woods by F.J. Emerson (www.furaffinity.net/user/emerson) 3/25/12

Disclaimer: The following story contains explicit sexual content and fetishes that make sailors cry. Read at your own risk. Unless you're under the legal age to read this crap where you live, in which case don't read it at all. You have been warned.

Welcome to Vertigo City

Vertigo City is a world unto itself. A hedonistic hub of pleasure and indulgence, entry is granted to only a few dozen hopeful souls each year and citizenship is acquired upon your first night spent with a stranger. Shimmering, immaculate skyscrapers clad in clean white and glittering mirrored windows reach high into the night sky. Clear glass skywalks connect building to building, letting the starry-eyed residents move from one pulsing dance floor to the next, leaving the throbbing neon lights of clubs and brothels for short pale moonlight walks. There is no drug, device, commodity or fulfillment that cannot be found here, but there are many of these that can be found nowhere else. The only thing separating fantasy from reality is your own desire to make the fantasy real.

Such a society of decadence and anarchy requires a delicate touch to sustain. The residents themselves - who often refer to themselves as "hearts" of the city - maintain what passes as Vertigo's economy: Art and invention, trade and consumerism. A song might well indeed pay for a night of pleasure. A finely-crafted dress might buy access to the trendiest nightclub. A complex device designed to pleasure may be ridden for a signed contract of servitude.

Finer points of order - such as selecting who gets into the city each year, and maintaining the architecture of the glimmering skyline - falls to the Administrators. Anonymous and invisible, this collective toils behind the scenes to maintain the small degree of order that greases the wheels of the city while doing so with a near-supernatural silence so as to create the illusion that no true order exists.

The highest form of law, of order that exists in Vertigo is handed by the Protectors. There are only two sentences for those who are convicted of threatening the free-will hedonism of the city: Death, and Slavery. The city embraces you once you come to live there, and it never lets go, not even when you cannot be a contributing part of it. If you work against it but do no harm, Slavery is your sentence. You become a commodity of flesh, owned by individuals or clubs until you have paid your penance in service. If you work to harm the city, or harm it's "hearts", you face Death. There is no return to the outside world, to whatever exists beyond Vertigo.

It is organized anarchy.

Tonight, a Protector must hunt for a lost "heart", and discover if it is simply a case of a poor soul overcome by their own vice...or something more sinister.

Vertigo: Episode 1.3 Out of the Woods

Step out of the woods and into the light down among the heretics the losers and the saints you are here amongst your own*

The night stars and the pale moon cast a low, delicate white glow over the thriving city of Vertigo. This evening was like the evening that came before and would likely be the same as the evenings to follow. Males, females, and everyone in between wandered the suspended skywalks of the city or danced in the crowded clubs. Some stayed at home to enjoy themselves in select company and others found quieter lounges to socialize in. Drugs, alcohol, and sex were traded freely and openly.

Randall, a handsome-but-unkempt dalmatian, staggered down one of the hallways of one of the many tall skyscrapers that housed the city's establishments. He had just exhausted his supply of soma, a common and popular drug that left the user in a state of pleasured inebriation and high arousal. The drug was so commonly available that many establishments would burn the fine powder and let it filter through their ventilation systems, to woo in anyone looking for a quick hit. That was precisely what Randall was looking for as he wandered the halls with a thick erection in his pants and a wide, dazed smile on his face.

While the skywalks connected the buildings of Vertigo, the buildings themselves were all quite different. Some maintained a traditional hallway-and-room layout, leftover from untold eons before, when the buildings were legitimate offices and before the surface of the world had been lost and forgotten. Other buildings, like this one, had done extensive renovations. Hallways had been widened and made to look like streets, complete with sidewalks and streetlights. Offices had been enlarged into full clubs, storefronts, or parlors of iniquity. When space would not allow a growing establishment to spread out, many simply expanded upwards.

Randall stopped and gathered all his wavering concentration to try and determine where he was. There were no maps of the area in sight, but straight ahead and at the end of the street he was on was a large set of cast iron gates, open wide and leading into a lush garden. There was one sign over the gates that read, in large glowing letters, Gatherer's Gardens. The dalmatian grinned to himself for no reason and approached.

As he got close, a smiling lady giraffe suddenly stepped around the corner of the gates and bid him welcome. "Hello there," she said, professionally and cheerily. "Welcome to the Gardens. I'll be happy to show you around, sir, if you're interested in the Garden's sights."

Randall laughed and nodded, staggering a bit towards the girl. "Are you part've the sights?" He slurred, reaching out to grab at her body. The giraffe coolly batted his paws away and kept her professional smile fixed on him.

"No sir," she said, with the calm voice of someone who was quite used to such advances. "I'm just a tour guide. The Garden's specialize in tentacle, vine, and other forms of capture play and multi-orifice violation. Would you care to see? Our prices are very reasonable and all trades are considered equally!"

Randall grunted a bit. He had no interest in any of that, not unless the girl was involved. "Y'got soma in there? On the house?"

The girl shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we do not. It doesn't sit well with some of the plants."

With a defeated grunt, Randall turned and staggered off again. The girl watched the dalmatian turn a corner and head off down a street that skirted the perimeter of the Garden's spaces. She shook her head and sighed, heading back into the Garden. "Good. Sobriety should be required to get in here, I swear..."

* * *

Randall hadn't got far from the entrance to the Garden when he caught the familiar, exotic scent of soma in the air. He looked around for the source excitedly, only to feel his heart sink when he spotted it. Delilah's was a harem-themed play area that he knew well; they actually had two locations, here in the play areas and one in the club sector. Unfortunately, both were exclusive clubs that required reservations to enter. He wouldn't be getting in tonight, but here in this little deserted side street, the dalmatian knew he could quietly hide and breathe in that little bit of soma that was drifting across the way. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

He sat down and hid himself behind a stack of metal crates that someone had left on the sidewalk. Here he had some cover from prying eyes, and yet still could smell the soma. He leaned back and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of air into his lungs.

With his eyes closed, he couldn't see the ventilation grill in the ceiling above him. Nor could he see the air flow slots bending as thin, wriggling vines began to push through and creep down the wall towards his prone form. Slowly they made their way down, growling along the surface like creeper vines working up a fence. Inch by inch they slithered and snaked towards the presence they had detected below, just outside the reach of their sanctuary. As the dalmatian sat and inhaled the thin haze of soma that drifted out of the nearby club, he felt himself going slightly numb and relaxed. The real thing would have been so much faster...

The first vine to grab at Randall proved to be the most essential. It whipped around his throat quickly and firmly, wrapping around twice before a rough tug brought the surprised, gagging canine to his feet. The tug of the vine cost him a few moments of breath, halting his ability to cry out or call for assistance, but those few moments were all the vine's siblings needed to curl around his ankles and wrists and his thighs. At the same time, a thicker vine plunged between his lips mid-gasp, already secreting a thin, slippery sap. The moment the sap touched his tongue it seemed to rush into Randall's brain, bringing with it a degree of relaxation and calm that - somewhere in the back of his brain - he knew was not appropriate considering the circumstances.

Each of the vines stayed pressed hard against the wall, using the shadows to provide them cover. The crates the dalmatian had chosen to take refuge behind acted as further protection from the trickle of patrons exiting and entering Delilah's, hiding the fact that Randall was squirming and groaning around the vine in his muzzle even as the other vines were pulling his back against the wall and his legs out along the ground, while working to tear and tug at his clothing. The strange, sentient vines proved far stronger than they looked and the dalmatian's clothes stood little chance against the leafed invaders. Pants tore and the fabric of his shirt gave away at the insistence of the vines. His sheath and balls flopped out and were immediately seized by a single vine wrapping around the base of his sheath and behind his nuts in one quick loop. The first squeeze made him buck his hips in agony, and the second made the poor canine groan and arch his back.

This arching of his nearly-bare body was the opportunity the writhing vines wanted. With a swiftness that was in stark contrast to their early slow, deliberate movement the vines lashed around his thighs and cupped his buttocks, spreading them wide. As the canine whimpered, the vines began to lift him up off his butt and carry him upwards, towards the grate that they had emerged from. As Randall was lifted up, the grate cover was pried off and slowly, quietly lowered down to the ground. Randall looked upwards through a haze of pleasure that was starting to overtake him and make his hips roll. Just then, he heard the sounds of a small crowd coming out of Delilah's, heading past the alley he was caught in. Escape! Just as he was about to yell out, to make some noise around the plant in his mouth, he felt something thick, slick, and hard plunge up under his tail, spearing him deep and immediately putting pressure against his prostate. His yell for help became a moan of surprised pleasure, a sound that in Vertigo may have well been as common as the whipping of wind against the glass of the skywalks.

The crowd passed by without even looking. The vines began to pull Randall's body straight, with his paws over his head and his toes pointing down. The vine under his tail rubbed his prostate while his dick was stroked by the vines wrapped around it. The sap that the vine in his mouth had been exuding mixed with his natural arousal, and just before the poor dalmatian was pulled into the darkness of the ventilation ducts above, he came; his fat cock surged and fired a thick arc of cum into the air, splattering it on the wall, and ground, and near the ventilation duct itself.

Then, he was gone.

The vines retreated with their prize, pulling the grate back up with them to yank it back into place. After a few thuds echoed through the ducts, the alley became still and quiet, save for the thump of bass from Delilah's.

* * *

The minute column of the clock flickered and changed, advancing by a single digit as it had been doing for the last twenty minutes. Diana sighed and looked away from the clock and back to the datapad on her lap where it seemed to mock her with it's count of documents sitting in queue and waiting for her review. It was the first of the month, a day she had come to hate, for it was the day she had to put the final seal on all of the cases she had worked during that period. In a city where anything was available and no-one had responsibility to anyone but themselves, it was a significant sacrifice to sit and perform an actual job. In fact, Diana has spent the last twenty minutes slacking off entirely, imagining herself at a club after her shift.

One of the many, many delights of Vertigo was that the artificial dome under which the city resided was built to simulate everlasting night. It was always a clear, cool, starry night in Vertigo. Some clubs and play spaces simulated daytime, but the city itself was always bathed in moonlight. This, in turn, made 'nightlife' available anytime, all the time. That nightlife was where the tiger-striped orange rabbit wanted to be, not in a chair, behind a desk, reading dry data reports.

As she stared listlessly at her data pad, one of her fellow Protectors approached and took a seat at the desk behind her. "You look like your line of work excites you," said the tall, snow-furred wolfess. Diana looked up at her and smiled. The wolfess - known as Alice Alright in most circles - was a respected member of the Protectors and a infamous face around town. Her fur was pure white all over, save for her throat; there, she had dyed her fur with the four suits of a card deck in a circle around her neck, like a necklace. Club, spade, heart, and diamond in red and black alternated all the way around in a eye-catching design. Alice had built a reputation in the force for being quite clever and equally fearless in pursuit of criminals, with a similar reputation in the city's nightlife for her performances live on stage and in front of a camera. For the last few years Alice had tried to talk Diana into joining her in one of her films, but the rabbit had declined...for the time being.

"I spend all month doing anything I want, but I can't muster up the willpower for one day of responsibility," Diana said with defeat in her voice. "Maybe I should be less productive in the field so I have fewer documents to review on the first."

"That's one plan," Alice snickered. "Well, buck up, sweetie. Your boss is over yonder, and it looks like he's either bringing more work, or a way out."

Diana looked up and spotted her superior, Sawyer, approaching with a datapad in his paw. She grimaced and crossed her fingers under her desk, hoping the pad didn't contain more filing for her to do. The coyote nodded to Alice and then took a seat on the other side of Diana's desk.

"Hey kiddo. Have you got a minute to spare?" He asked.

Diana perked up. She tossed her datapad to the side and leaned forward on her desk. "I have several minutes. Why, got something good?"

"Maybe," Sawyer said, smiling at Alice as the wolfess tried to hide her own grin. "Something caught my eye this morning when I was going through the daily dispatches. Seems we have another missing person report on the books."

In Vertigo it was rare to get missing person reports. Few of the denizens reported friends missing, for it was not uncommon for an individual to disappear into a den of iniquity for days at a time. By the time anyone did sober up enough to worry about a friend and report it, the friend had likely either reappeared somewhere else in the city, or had already been logged as dead from an OD or other pitfall of their hedonistic lifestyle. Missing person reports without a match in the morgue were not common.

"Isn't that the second one this week?" Diana asked, remembering hearing of another case filed just a day or two earlier.

"Third this week. Fifth over the last two. That's a epidemic by Vertigo's standards," Sawyer said. "And they're legit. No bodies match the missing individuals, and no one seems to have seen heads or tails of these folks in the last week."

"That's a bit out of the ordinary. What do you think?"

"I think that you need to hurry up and finish your data assignment there, because when you're done I want you to look into this. I did a bit of preliminary digging and it turns out that all five individuals had either been seen last or said they were going to Gatherer's Gardens, over in the themed block."

"I know the Gardens," Alice interjected. "I've done a few films there. Nice staff."

"I've only been there once, on an earlier case," Diana said. "Well, this seems important. I'd better get on it right awa..."

"Nope, after your data assignment," Sawyer said with a grin. "No dessert until you finish your vegetables, young lady. Get to work. Alice, see to it that the bunny here doesn't try to sneak off early, will you?"

The coyote winked and left his data report on Diana's desk, next to her own. Diana groaned and picked her pad up and started to diligently peck at the screen.

"Good girl," Alice said with a sly smile. "I'll come with you to the Gardens when you're ready. I'll show you a few sights. It's a fun place."

* * *

Vertigo's themed block wasn't a regular haunt for Diana. Her delights tended to be simple and traditional, despite her enjoyment of some of the more...unique predicaments she had found herself in throughout her career. The block catered to the more specific fetishes and wants of the population. If Donnie had owned a play area for his inventions, this would be the place to locate it. Devious devices, bondage, cross-dressing, pony play; these were all things that could be found in the themed block of Vertigo.

Gatherer's Garden was a large play area near the upper levels of the building it was located in. Diana stood outside the entrance along side Alice, going over a few last facts in their case before they entered. A large, wide hall led up to the entrance to the Gardens, which consisted of two large cast-iron gates set into a red-brick wall. Vines and overgrowth had grown out of the gate and started to creep up the outside of the brick wall. Diana followed some of the vines until they stopped, just where the brick blended into the facade of the building. There it had been neatly and expertly groomed back. The hall was also lined with large floor-to-ceiling windows, like most of Vertigo. From here Diana could look out across the bottomless abyss of the city to another building across the chasm. She could just make out the blinking, pulsing lights of a club she knew to be Mistress Carmen's. For a moment she thought back to her ever-lingering case of the dead girl and mysterious hyena, but only for a moment did she dwell on it for at that moment Alice tapped her and nodded towards the gate.

The wolfess led the way, tugging the gate open. It swung wide to allow passage, though not without a great deal of creaking complaint on it's own part. Alice and Diana entered the Gardens, following a dirt path through a vast sea of trees, shrubs, and other foliage that spread out in all directions to form a beautiful faux jungle.

Along the path there were signs indicating that straying from the path at this location or that would lead to various plights for interested victims. Alice smiled as she read them.

"If you like the feeling of vines binding you and stuffing you, you won't find a better place to indulge in it," Alice said with a laugh. "If you listen close you can usually hear someone caught and moaning off in the distance.

Diana listened, and could hear just that. "That's probably one of our missing persons. Or the explanation we'll find."

"Mmm, I'm not so sure. All of the plants here are genetically engineered with certain limits. I'm pretty sure all of them are designed to let prey go after an hour at most. Nothing will hold on for days. Safety concerns, obviously."

Diana nodded and followed further. "So what's your plan? Just look and see if we find a Venus flytrap with a limp body in it?"

"First I figured we'd check with the management," Alice said. "Make sure they didn't put anything new in here over the last few weeks."

Consulting the management proved to be an easier task than expected. The manager on duty was quite helpful and quite proud of the plant life in the Garden. He assured Diana and Alice that nothing would hold a victim for more than an hour and that all plants were checked nightly to make sure no one had had a mishap during play.

There was, he added, one new addition to the Garden. He instructed them to go deeper into the jungle, where he said a scientist was renting space to conduct research into a new plant for them.

Diana and Alice moved in the direction the manager indicated. It was quite far back in the Garden, but the path was clear and it was not hard to find. There they found a small lab area set up amongst the more harmless undergrowth of the area, with a few tables and some basic monitoring and biology equipment. Standing there amid the equipment was a dragoness, scurrying back and forth with look of concentration on her face, and behind her was the most eye-catching thing they'd seen since entering: A enormous glass case containing the biggest, squirmiest plant-pod they'd ever laid eyes on.

"That's big," Diana said aloud, which in turn finally broke the dragoness out of her trance. The dragon was quite slender, with unique iridescent hue to her scales. Her tail was long, with what appeared to be spikes filed down to nubs at the end, and her wings were quite wide and magnificent when she let them open. She wore a lab coat and a long skirt, but Diana perceived that her coat was unbuttoned enough to show her cleavage, and the distinct points of nipples under her coat suggested that she wasn't wearing much else.

"Can I help you ladies?" She said, looking perturbed that she had been interrupted. "This is private area for the time being. You can take it up with management if you want but I've got full right to be back here so go find somewhere else to play!"

Alice smirked and stepped forward, holding up a data pad to the dragoness. "Alice Alright and Diana Bordeaux, Protectors. We're investigating some disappearances in the area. Mind if we just pick your brain a little, Miss...?"

The dragoness looked at the data pad, and then at Alice. "Oh! I know you! I love your films, especially 'A Little Touch of Alice in the Night'. Great, great stuff. But please, have a seat anywhere. If you can ask while I work, you're welcome to do so."

Alice and Diana looked around, and then at each other as there were not actually any chairs around. Diana sat in the grass while Alice stayed on her feet.

"Care to tell us about yourself and your work here?" Diana asked.

"Absolutely. I'm Professor Setta Flamowitz, and I'm working here on behalf of the Garden management to finish up the work being done by a former colleague of mine, Professor Striker. He moved on to another project, so I'm finishing up this little baby here. I'll admit that at first it was just another assignment, but I've really found myself getting attached to it. This is the sort of thing that you could really make a name off of!"

"Since you brought it up, what sort of 'thing' is that?" asked Alice as she stared over the dragoness' shoulder at the writhing plant sealed away behind the glass walls.

"That," Setta said, proudly, "Is Dionaea muscipula dragona, as I've decided to call it. It's a complex plant that is the result of picking out all the best qualities of the best plants in Vertigo, and genetically splicing them together for a hardy organism that can literally fuck you for days and days while providing you with nourishment throughout the whole thing!

"I've even altered some of the cellular structure to see that the plant blooms the most unique little flowers...for aesthetics, you see," the dragon added, pointing at the strange little red-and-white blooms on some of the plants vines. Small purple speckles dotted the flowers as well, making them very eye-catching.

Diana and Alice looked at one another, and then at Setta. "Well, that's interesting," Diana said. "Because we've got several reports of missing individuals that seem to originate here. That is, the Gardens were the last place any of them were seen. The managers said all of their plants are empty, so what about yours?"

Setta looked at Diana and then laughed. "Oh, not my baby. Sorry, but you won't find your answers here. Come look."

Setta led the rabbit and wolfess to the glass and then pulled a laser pointer from one of her coat pockets. She turned it on and placed the red dot of the laser on one of the dragona's huge, thick branches. "See these offshoots? These are where the plant grows the pods to keep it's playmates. Basically it catches prey, plays with it, and while it's keeping them occupied it grows a pod to keep them in. If it had caught anything, they would be hanging in a pod right now! Plus I've got a fail safe built in there. Every six hours the cage is gassed. The gas won't harm the plant, but it causes it to shed it's pods, thus freeing the catch or catches of the day."

"And you're sure of this?" Diana asked, carefully examining the plant through the glass.

"Absolutely," Setta said, and grinned. "It was necessary considering that I'm the only one testing it and I can't have it holding on to me for weeks at a time."

"I think that a demonstration would ease my mind on the matter." Alice's voice turned both Setta's and Diana's head, each staring at the wolfess. Alice smiled matter-of-factly at them both. "Well, it would."

"I'm really in no state to be showing off," Setta started to say, but Alice was already starting to untuck her tanktop.

"Oh no, no need for you to inconvenience yourself," Alice said. "I'll do the testing. My partner here can observe, and take notes. For the investigation, of course."

Diana smiled. "Of course."

"This is highly unusual, but...well, Alice Versus the Jungle was another of my favorite films, so I'm not going to turn down a live performance!"

Alice smiled and pulled her top up her body until it caught under her breasts. A sharp tug freed it and set her chest to bouncing, and that bouncing turned to swinging as she bent over to push her jeans down over her hips and legs. Diana watched for a few moments before she began to look around and set her investigative instincts to work, searching for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Setta however had her gazed fixated on Alice's disrobing. It wasn't every day that a pornstar walked into her make-shift lab and started to strip.

Once the wolfess was naked, Setta motioned her over to the glass case that housed the dragona. With a few fast-fingered taps at a digital display that was mounted to her wrist, Setta caused the glass case to lift slowly, until there was enough room for Alice to duck under and inside. The wolfess did just that, stepping cautiously into the confined quarters with the plant. A few more keystrokes on Setta's wrist display lowered the glass, and then Alice was locked inside.

Diana, meanwhile, had wandered off. Setta turned about just in time to spy Diana's return, carrying with her a fire axe. Nervousness and apprehension immediately played across the dragoness' face. "What's that for?"

"Just insurance," Diana said, placing the axe off to the side. "Just in case your fail safes...fail."

"They won't," Setta said, turning her nose up a bit. "Just you watch. You'll want a turn when Alice is finished!"

The dragoness turned back to the glass and the captives inside it and started to peck at her display. "First, let's wake up the plant. I use a special mist for that which has a bit of a pheromone extract in it, but I doubt Miss Alice will mind that."

Diana could detect a slight hissssssssss coming from somewhere, and then a glistening mist could be seen sparkling inside the glass chamber. The plants leaves and petals began to shimmer with the moisture and Alice, grinning from ear to ear, found a particular thick and sturdy root curling out of the ground in an arc to sit astride. She smiled at Diana and Setta through the glass and did her best impression of a rodeo girl riding the root, rubbing her damp pussy along the length of it.

Alice's ride was stopped short as a thick vine appeared out of the mess of foliage around her and curled once around her waist. The glass muffled whatever Alice had to say about the matter, but even the glass couldn't stop Alice's shout of surprise from reaching Diana's lapine ears when the vine hoisted her up into the air like a bag of rice.

"There's a very, very complex sequence of genetic coding in the plant to help it determine the physical limits of it's catches," Setta said as she watched the plant flick out further appendages to wrap around Alice's wrists and ankles, tugging her bare body spread-eagle in the air. "That's how it knows to not, say, stuff a stallion-sized vine into a mouse-sized...um, mouse."

"Perfectly good use of science," Diana said in a distracted voice as she approached the glass, watching with a smile as Alice was put on display. The plant had pulled her taut and was already stuffing a stallion-sized vine up into the wolfess' hot pussy, something that would prove to be no challenge to the experienced Alice. The plant, apparently, had never seen Alice VS The World 2: All Cummers Conquered.

Diana felt her nipples starting to stiffen and her thickly-furred sex growing damp the longer she watched the plant behind the glass ravaging her friend. Alice's pussy was firmly pumped while her ass was slapped against by wet vines, which curled over her bare buttocks and spread them in preparation for further penetration by a wriggling mass of dozens of tiny tendrils. Diana could only imagine how such foreign invaders could possibly feel inside her pussy or her ass, or anywhere else for that matter. Alice clearly had some experience with it thanks to her personal fetishes and her work on film, but Diana had never experimented with anything so unique. Now, as she stood watching the plant flip Alice over and upside down so it could plunge a thick vine straight down into her helpless pussy, Diana wondered if she shouldn't book a return trip to the Garden's after her case was wrapped up.

"So, if your plant here is safe and harmless then what about the other plants in here? Is it true that they don't hold their victims for more than a few hours?" Diana had to muster up all her willpower to look away from Alice's naked, moaning form to pose the question to Setta, and when she did she found Setta sitting on a chair with her legs spread and a paw tucked under her skirt. She was breathing heavy, watching Alice intently. Diana's voice pulled her back to reality and she huffed, looking mildly embarrassed but more disappointed that her impromptu pornographic performance was being interrupted, even if only for the briefest of moments.

"It's true as far as I know," she said, squeezing her thighs together. "Honestly, Miss Bordeaux, haven't you considered that your missing individuals are just passed out in alleys or back room brothels somewhere? They probably showed up the very next day and no one bothered to report them as re-appeared."

A sudden groan of pure delight drew both the rabbit and the dragon's attention back to the glass. Inside, the plant had brought Alice to a soul-shattering orgasm that had the white wolfess limp, panting and grinning from ear to ear in the suspended grip of the leafy lover. Diana took a deep breath and then pointed at the glass.

"Can we stop this now? I'm enjoying the show but we do need to get back to work."

"If we must," Setta said with a sigh. She slipped out of her chair and tap-tap-tapped at the display on her wrist. Immediately the chamber began to fill with a gas that was just barely visible to the naked eye. "This is the sedative I mentioned earlier. It'll put the plant into a dormant state and allow us to extract Miss Alright without incident."

The gas floated through the air inside the chamber but the plant kept fucking Alice. It turned her about again, dangling her from her wrists as it plunged into her cunt, bouncing the girl in the air. Her face was a mask of delight as she was fucked so firmly. Setta, however, seemed none to pleased.

"Funny," she muttered, pecking at her display again. "I guess it really likes her. Never seen it hold out against that much gas. Well, just a anomaly."

More gas began to flood the chamber, until it was quite visible floating in the air. Slowly the plant began to cease it's movements and then Alice's weight forced it to lower her to the ground slowly. It took another minute, but the extra gas brought the plant into a still, lifeless state. Setta raised the enclosure, and with Diana's help was able to drag Alice out of the glass cage. The glass was lowered again, and the gas was slowly vented out.

"Let me back in there," Alice huffed when she managed to get back even the smallest amount of her breath. "Nobody outdoes Alice Alright."

Diana laughed and put a paw on the wolfess' shoulder to keep her in her seat. "No one outdid you. You were fucked by a salad. Don't go around admitting to that."

"I take offense to the fruit of my work being called a salad!" Setta exclaimed.

The three females spoke a little longer, but it was abundantly clear at that point that Setta knew nothing of the disappearances and that her plant -however unorthodox it was - was likely not responsible either. So Alice dressed and they thanked Setta for her assistance, and then Alice and Diana headed for the Garden exit.

They had just stepped through when Alice stopped in her tracks. "Shit," she muttered, checking her pockets. "I think I left my ID for the studio. I've got a show tonight."

"It's probably at Setta's area. C'mon, we'll go get it."

"Nah, I'll run back," Alice said, sighing. "Listen, I'll meet up with you tomorrow morning. I dunno' about you but I'm just going to canvas the clubs and bars around here tomorrow. I think this is a waste of our time."

"Probably," Diana said. It likely was; in Vertigo, missing individuals was essentially just someone who had yet to be found dead or passed out. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Have fun tonight, Alice."

The wolfess nodded and hurried back into the Gardens as Diana made off for the shuttle back to the Administration District. Setta's area was closer to the back of the Gardens, so Alice kept her pace brisk as she followed the path back. She hadn't made it in but a few dozen feet before she heard something move behind her.

"Who's there?" She said, turning and looking to where the sound had come from. Hearing no reply, the wolfess started to walk backwards slowly, keeping her eye on the location the noises seemed to have originated from.

Alice never saw the vine slithering along the ground towards her ankles until it was firmly wrapped around them. She let out a single scream as she was yanked high into the air, into the lush foliage that grew along the high ceiling of the Gatherer's Gardens. A fat vine stuffed into her muzzle silence that scream faster than she could even react. She struggled and fought, but more and more vines began to wrap around her, cocooning her in leaves and sappy, sticky plantlife. The last thing she saw before the vines covered her wide, fearful eyes was the sight of dozens of gagged, naked bodies hanging and hidden in the hanging foliage on the ceiling, all being fucked firmly.

* * *

A familiar, steady tone pulled Diana out of a deep and much-needed sleep. She rolled over in her bed and peeked through barely-open eyes at her alarm clock as she slapped a paw on it in a disoriented, clumsy attempt to silence the evil noise disturbing her. It took several fruitless slaps and a bit more coherence to seep into her brain before she realized the tone was not her alarm, but her mobile phone. It dawned on her that she'd left it on her kitchen counter, and so the rabbit stumbled out of bed and then down the spiral stairs that led from her bedroom loft down into her kitchen. She grabbed the phone and answered it. The clock read four-fifty-five in the morning.

"Hello?"

"Diana? Sawyer. Did Alice come back to the HQ with you last night?"

"Huh? Uh...no, I went alone. She had something to do."

"What?"

Diana had to think hard. Five hours of sleep was not the best fuel for her memory. "She had to go back to the Gardens to get her ID for a set she was due on after work. Why, what's going on?"

"She was supposed to film a scene for a movie last night. Her director came to us very concerned as she didn't show and didn't answer her phone. We couldn't get her either so we just entered her apartment."

Diana felt her heart drop into her stomach. "What did you find?"

"Nothing," Sawyer replied. "Her bed is made and it doesn't look like she's been here recently. Meet me at HQ in thirty minutes, Diana. I'm listing Alice as MIA."

Diana hung up and leaned against the kitchen counter. She was still hazy, not quite awake, but five minutes later she was dressed and out the door, and twenty minutes later she was on a shuttle to the Vertigo Department of Civil Protection.

* * *

The primary office for the Department of Civil Protection was not much different from any of it's satellite stations, particularly in one respect: It was not often very busy. Each location served primarily as a home base for field agents to file reports and for supervisors to hand out new assignments and close out resolved cases.

Locals rarely made visits. Most of Vertigo's denizens were apathetic to the Protectors at best. Some resented the presence of even this single form of authority in Vertigo's lawless walks and yet others outright despised it, going as far as whispering for revolution, but all had one thing in common: seeking help from the Protectors was a last resort, left for when things couldn't be handled quietly and amongst their own.

When Diana entered the reception lobby and found it packed and noisy she felt both relieved and all the more concerned. While the rabbit was glad that Sawyer was clearly taking Alice's disappearance seriously, the fact that he was taking it this seriously - with practically every agent in the district now here, being handed datapads with sectors to search - truly drove home the notion that a Protector had dropped off the grid.

Not just any Protector, either. A friend, and one that Diana might have been able to help, to save, if only she had stuck with the wolfess. She shook her head and pushed the thought from her mind as she pushed through the gathered agents and made her way to Sawyer.

"Hey, boss," Diana said, slipping up to the coyote's side. "Got a plan?"

Sawyer didn't look up right away but instead kept his eyes down on a datapad. When he did look up, Diana could see the exhaustion in his eyes. "The plan is to start at the Gardens and fan out. You're with me. We'll take a couple agents into the Gardens to do a sweep. The other agents have a map laid out to sweep through the immediate area, checking the bars, clubs, dives, wherever."

"Got it. If we find her passed out in a bar, I'm gonna' kill her."

"Nope, that'll be my job," he grumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"When was the last time you slept, boss?" Diana asked in a low voice, but the concern in it was clear.

"Don't remember, but I know I won't sleep until Alice is accounted for."

"Alright. So let's get on with this."

Sawyer agreed whole-heartedly with Diana's sentiment. After a final briefing with the gathered agents, the coyote set the force out into the city to begin their search. Diana and Sawyer arrived at Gatherer's Garden with two other agents in tow, and they found a disheveled but concerned looking giraffe femme waiting for them at the front gates.

"Evenin', folks. I hurried down here right away to make sure you'd have access to everything you need. But I have to say that I doubt you'll find anything. We've got plenty of safe..."

"Thank you," Sawyer interrupted. "We'll try to be as quick as possible."

"That would be appreciated. Having so many Protectors here has been raising some eyebrows lately."

"I don't doubt it." Sawyer motioned for the other two agents to head off towards the administrative area to question the staff before he turned his attention to Diana. "You said the two of you had been questioning a worker here?"

"A scientist doing R&D in the back, yeah. She was working on some enormous plant for the clientele. That's where Alice thought she'd lost her ID."

"Let's start there. Keep a lookout on the way for any signs of a struggle."

"Or of a lost wolf passed out in the grass," Diana muttered. She led Sawyer down the winding, twisting path, through tall grass that rose up to the tips of Diana's long ears, or Sawyer's shoulders. Trees towered over them, reaching high up to the glass ceiling to create a canopy overhead that blocked out the view of the night sky that perpetually covered Vertigo.

The pair entered into the clearing where the glass cage surrounded the giant plant. Setta's equipment was still there, still monitoring a thousand little details on the plants development but the dragoness herself was nowhere to be seen. Behind the glass they could see the plant shift it's vines occasionally, moving restlessly in it's container.

"This is it?"

"Yes. Alice thought she'd dropped her ID here and went back for it," Diana answered, scanning the ground for any trace of the ID, or that Alice had recently been there. The grass showed no signs of struggle.

"Excuse me," came a voice from behind. Diana and Sawyer both turned and watched as Setta stormed up to them, practically spilling out of a robe she had clearly hastily pulled on. "You have absolutely no right to be here. This is sensitive equipment and if you so much as..."

"We have every right to be here as we're on an official investigation regarding a missing Protector," Sawyer interrupted, stepping up to meet the dragoness. He pulled out his datapad, showing Setta Alice's picture.

Setta looked surprised. She turned her attention to Diana with a quizzical expression on her face. "Missing? You two left together. That was the last I saw of either of you."

"Well, apparently Alice was heading back here to see you," Sawyer said. "And we've no proof that she made it this far...or that she made it back, if she did."

"Are you suggesting I did something to her?"

"No, I'm not. Why do you think I am?"

Diana frowned as Sawyer and Setta began to argue. She was about to push between them and try to bring the tension down when something caught her eye. The rabbit had been looking at the plant in the glass cage, her gaze lingering on the red-and-white, purple-specked flowers that Setta claimed were unique to the plant when she suddenly realized that not three feet away from the glass, the exact same flower appeared to have bloomed from an entirely different tree.

"What is that?" She said aloud, pushing through the arguing dragon and coyote. She leaned in close to the flower as Sawyer and Setta joined her.

"Didn't you say you specifically designed these blooms for your plant, Setta?"

The dragoness stared at the flower in shock. "I...I did! No other plants should be blooming like that. It has to be...er...or maybe..."

Sawyer reached out to touch the flower. As his fingers brushed the bark of the tree, it crumbled, showing a completely different texture and color beneath. It matched the appearance of Setta's plant.

"Back up," he growled, turning to grab the axe that lay among the various tools in Setta's camp. The coyote hoisted it up and swung it hard into the tree, lopping into the bark to expose whatever was beneath. The blade pierced deep, slicing cleanly into the pulp beneath the bark.

The ground trembled and the plant behind the glass began to jerk and thrash wildly. Sawyer watched in amazement as the tree he'd chopped into suddenly exploded, revealing a monstrous vine that whipped out of the center of the tree, knocking all three of the gawkers onto their backs. Dirt and grass burst upwards as more vines began to erupt from the ground, from other trees around them. The glass surrounding the plant started to crack and fracture before finally shattering in a hail of glass.

Above them, more vines began to descend from the canopy where they had been hiding. These vines however had pods hanging from them, each appearing to contain something large.

"Wha...what did you do?" Setta exclaimed, scuttling backwards on her rear as she watched her plant shatter it's housing and appear from all over the Garden.

"I think your pet project grew a little bigger than you expected," Diana yelled out, scurrying to her feet. "Come on, we've gotta' get outta' here!"

"We found our MIAs," Sawyer shouted, pointing up at the pods. As they dropped lower, figures could be seen and, after a bit, faces. Diana recognized one or two from the reports she had been given earlier.

"This can't be! I...I never designed it with this sort of growth potential in mind!" Setta exclaimed, and then let out a surprised shout as something wrapped around her ankle, hoisting her up into the air to dangle upside down. As she flailed, her robe slipped off and fluttered to the ground, leaving the dragoness naked and mortified.

"We need to stop this thing before it tears the Garden apart," Sawyer yelled to Diana, who had grabbed the axe herself, rushing towards Setta.

"The gas! There's spare canisters of the gas I use to pacify it in the storage room, by the sprinkler control! If you can hook the canisters to the...HEY!" Setta was cut off as vines started to wrap around her wrists and remaining ankle, tugging her body tautly spread eagle. Her idea was clear, though.

Sawyer nodded at Diana. "Alright, I'll go find the gas and I'll get it pumping," he said. "You see if you can get her down. If not, get back to the gates and rally backup. Open the armory if you have to."

Diana's face was stern. "Yessir. Be careful!" The rabbit turned, axe in her paws, and was immediately greeted by a huge vine that slammed into her belly and knocked her into the air, sending the axe flying. It caught her in mid-flight, wrapping around her waist before tugging her into the mass of vines.

"Great plan," Sawyer grunted, and then turned and ran towards the Garden offices. He was in a full-run as he quickly swooped a paw down to grab Diana's dropped axe on the way.

The Gardens were quite large, and Setta's area was nearly at one corner while the offices were at the opposite corner. Sawyer quickly estimated that it was about a half-mile to get there, if he took as direct a path as he could. This would be difficult however as the path was anything but direct. Even when he could push through the thick foliage there was a far greater danger to avoid: The hidden appendages of Setta's plant, bursting from the ground or the hollowed trees they had taken residence in. Sawyer used the axe to chop through the vegetation that wasn't moving and he did his best to avoid the moving, squirming vines altogether.

* * *

Diana struggled in the grip of the vine wrapped around her waist. It was strong, much stronger than her and her lapine claws barely scratched the surface of the plants tough exterior. The vine squeezed her hard as she attacked it, forcing the rabbit to gasp and arch her back. Her legs kicked out as she was held in the air, trying to find any sort of surface or grip she could use to aid in her escape.

Setta was faring far worse as the plant had already disrobed her - literally - and yanked her spread-eagle. Making matters worse was that the dragoness, who clearly had the most knowledge about what they were facing, had been effectively gagged by a thick vine pushed between her lips and to the start of her throat. The vine was firmly pumping, fucking her muzzle until some sort of glistening sap could be seen oozing from her mouth and down her chin. The rest of her body was being treated in a similar fashion, as the vines had tugged her legs apart and up, and another thick appendage had pushed itself deep into her pussy, slowly writhing between her folds. Her ass cheeks were cupped by further vines and squeezed, and the dragoness was clearly losing the will to fight it moment by moment. Soon, she was grinding and bucking, moaning and gasping as the vines had their way with her.

This left Diana on her own, desperately trying to get herself free from the plant. Her mind was filled with scenarios of what this monstrosity could do if left unchecked in just a few mere hours; if Sawyer was caught or failed in his mission, it would easily be at least an hour before another team could be alerted, assembled, and brought to the Gardens. The plant seemed to have no such worries however, and with Setta captured and pacified it turned it's attentions to the more belligerent striped-rabbit in it's grasp. Diana saw a streak of green before her eyes and then found her wrists bound together, pulled up over her head. She let out a gasp as the vine around her middle let her go, leaving her to dangle from her wrists in the air. The rabbit gasped and sucked in hard breaths as she struggled and kicked at the vines approaching, but there were far too many to avoid. She gritted her teeth as they quickly grabbed her legs and started to snake up under her pants, under her shirt, rubbing and writhing against her body as they pushed against her clothing.

The first thing to start ripping was her shirt, which tore slowly as the vines pushed against it. Her pants were soon to follow, seems bursting and giving as powerful plant appendages tugged and pulled at the covering fabric. As Diana fought, slowly exhausting herself, the plants simply tore and yanked at her clothes until she was naked, with only a few tatters of her clothes left hanging from her body.

Though she knew what was in store for her, Diana wasn't prepared for the ferocity that the plant took to her with. She felt a thick presence suddenly push up between her buttocks and under her tail, slick and oozing some sort of fluid, and before she could even respond she found it thrust firmly and deeply into her ass, plugging her up. The rabbit gasped in shock, which simply opened her maw nice and wide for another vine to plunge into her mouth, fucking it in much the same way that Setta's mouth was still getting pumped. As a third vine started to wrap around her bare tits and snake down her belly, towards her sex, Diana found herself hoping that Sawyer was faring better at his task than she...

* * *

"Fuck OFF," Sawyer growled, swinging his axe down hard into yet another vine that had managed to grab him. He was nearly to the offices, but it had been incredibly touch-and-go. He had nearly been completely trapped at one point, but one of the other Protectors that had come out had managed to save him, only be scooped up herself and dragged screaming into the canopy above. Several other times he'd been snagged, but a quick swing of the axe had freed him and sent the plant's seeker vines scrambling back to regroup.

His clothing was in tatters, but he was in one piece otherwise. Determined, the coyote stumbled up the stairs to the office door and promptly slammed into it. Locked! He growled and banged on the door as he peered through the glass. "Open the fuck up! Protector Sawyer request...no, DEMANDING FUCKING ACCESS!"

A terrified face peeked out from behind a desk in the room. It was the giraffe girl who had let him in, looking as ragged as he did. She shook her head meekly.

"Listen," Sawyer growled, slamming his axe against the window for her to see. "I need to get into the sprinkler control room and if I have to chop my goddamn way in there I will."

"T-the sprinkler room is around the side!" She yelled back, her voice shaking. "It's u-unlocked!"

Sawyer quickly descended the stairs again and went around the base of the building. Sure enough, the sprinkler room door was unlocked and he was able to easily enter. The coyote slammed the door shut behind himself and locked it, placing the axe down while he searched for Setta's gas supply. There was a small storage room off to the side and Sawyer found the tanks there, dragging the heavy steel canisters out to the main sprinkler risers. There were several points to attach supplementary tanks, each for a different section of the Gardens in the event that a certain batch of plants needed extra care. The coyote worked fast, hooking a tank up to each of the hoses, one for each area.

Outside, he could hear something scratching and rubbing against the door.

* * *

The vines wrapped tightly around Diana and Setta had repositioned the rabbit and the dragoness for the umpteenth time - maybe it was the third time, maybe it was the twentieth - and had found yet a new way to make use of their bodies. Both girls had their paws tugged roughly behind their backs before they were bent over in the grass, faces pressed to the ground and asses in the air. Adding further insult to the situation was that they had been placed like this next to one another, so both of their posteriors were presented for examination. Diana was grateful that Sawyer wasn't present to see, or she'd likely never hear the end of it.

With their asses up like that, their pussies were easy targets for two of the larger, slicker vines and it was not a fact wasted on the invaders. Setta moaned out hotly as the thick vine plunged in and out of her soaked sex, fucking her hard and leaving her little opportunity to respond with anything other than a shudder and a hard buck of her hips. Diana suffered the same fate, but while it was the firm pumping of her pussy that made Setta howl, it was the way the wet vines sloppily slapped and slid over her bare bottom that made the rabbit roll her eyes back and cry out with a pleasured voice.

After what seemed like hours, one of the vines that was hovering nearby started to swell, to bulge near the tip as if something were building there under significant pressure. The end of the vine split suddenly, allowing a torrent of thick green sap to spray out over Setta's face and back, and over her tail where it arched back over her body. The look of concern on her face was clear and Diana, through gasps and moans, managed to ask, "W-what was that?"

"O-one of...UNNH!...the p-plants I used to splice n-needed genetics in r-reproduces like t-that..."

"So...i-it's going to grow where it sprays that?"

"N-no...it's...it's...going to try to...do that in us..."

"WHERE THE FUCK IS SAWYER???"

* * *

Sawyer heard glass shatter behind him but he kept his focus true to his task, not turning to look. He was on the last tank, arms sore and the pads of his paw raw as he twisted the feed hose onto the flow valve of the tank. While he had made sure the others were tight, he knew he had no more time to waste. With the connection made as good as he could manage the coyote quickly grabbed the release handle on each tank and yanked it in succession, hearing the hiss of the gas being released into the sprinkler system.

Just as he paw touched the last handle he felt his world get yanked out from under him. He tumbled forward, grabbing the tank for balance as something wrapped around his ankle and started to yank. He could see the vines now, having broken through a high window. They slithered down the walls in a huge, pulsating mass, slowly making their way towards him. Some were coming dangerously close to the sprinkler pipes too; if they broke them, it would stop the flow of gas into the Gardens.

Sawyer grunted and reached out, grabbing that last handle just as another tug swept him off his feet. As he fell the coyote felt the handle give, releasing that final burst of gas into the system. The vines were getting closer still to the pipes though, threatening to make the activation of the pipes a moot point.

As the vines dragged him towards their mass, slithering up his legs, under his pants, over his body, the coyote struggled and fought, hoping the gas would affect this batch quickly. Hopefully before they broke the pipes, at least, if not before they got him into their clutches as well...

Something caught Sawyer's eye as he was carried towards the vines. Just out of reach was the axe he had brought in, knocked over when the plants burst through the window. He grabbed at it, straining and stretching himself out with all his might to try and grasp the handle. The coyote's claws scratched at the dirt and debris on the floor, so close to the axe yet just out of reach.

One of the flailing vines whipped past him, barely missing his head as it flopped heavily onto the floor. It started to make a frantic, slithering path towards the sprinkler lines, likely seeking out the moisture condensing there. As it worked towards the gas-filled lines, a stray movement of it's coils bumped the handle of the axe. It wasn't much, but it was just enough that Sawyer was able to stretch - with a cry of discomfort, as the vines yanked on his legs - and grab the weapon. His paws clenched around it with all his might, holding on with every ounce of strength he had as he sat up and swung the axe down into the vines with a blow that sliced clean through one of the thicker appendages grasping at him. The axe cleaved though and sparked as the blade clashed against the concrete floor below.

The vines reacted, but it did not seem to be out of any sort of pain. Instead, it seemed that they could sense that one of their brethren had lost it's grip on their prey for one reason or another, and so they compensated by slithering more in through the shattered windows. Sawyer was not idle though, and had already chopped through the next most powerful vine holding him. It took about fifteen seconds to free himself, in between batting away new vines trying to get a hold on him. As soon as he could spring to his feet he did, and quickly slammed the blade of the axe through the vine that was starting to coil around the sprinkler feeds. A few more swings cleared the pipes of any immediate danger, but still more vines were starting to approach.

Sawyer put his back to the pipes and faces the mass of foliage coming for him, brandishing his axe with a growl.

* * *

Diana watched in terror as one of the vines hovered in between her spread thighs, the swelling tip aimed at her bare, messy sex. She had witnessed several of the vines burst so far, each swelling to enormous proportions before it burst and let forth a torrent of slick sap. In fact, she wore the evidence of this all over her body. While that was humiliating to suffer through, having one burst inside her could be fatal. At the very least it would cause massive internal injuries and considering that the plants were less then likely to release her to seek medical attention it was a simple fact that should would die from these injuries unless rescued very quick.

Something wet started to caress her face and in the throes of the sticky assault she barely noticed it. Soon though it became more difficult to ignore as it did not stop, and seemed to be covering her whole body. It was a mist of some sort and quite cool, unlike the warm sap the vines seemed to contribute. Diana managed to look up and through the sticky bangs of her hair she could see that the mist was coming from the sprinkler heads far above.

The rabbit was elated. Sawyer had done it! At first the elation seemed to be premature, as the vines showed little care that the toxin was soaking into it. Had they mutated so far that even the toxin would not effect it? How huge could the plant get? Could all of Vertigo be in danger?

For almost a full minute the vines continued their assault on Diana and Setta, even getting as far as pressing the bulbous tip of the swollen vine against Diana's already over-used pussy. She gritted her teeth and made one more attempt to defend herself, kicking one of her strong lapine legs outwards.

The vine holding the leg tore like putty.

It took Diana a few seconds to register her success, but the moment she did she began to fight, summoning up the last of her strength. The rabbit tore her arms free without thinking and then fell backwards, suspended in mid-air by a vine around her other leg. This lasted for only a moment as her weight then pulled her ankle out of the grip of that last vine, leaving her to drop a good four feet to the ground. She landed hard on her shoulder and felt something crack, resulting in a hot pain running through her arm. The rabbit shook it off quickly though and rose to her feet, hurling herself at one of the vines holding the passive, moaning Setta. The vine turned to a thick sludge as she hit it, and soon Setta was dropped to the ground in a puddle of thick green goo.

Diana looked around and watched as the plant's many vines began to disintegrate and melt, falling away and landing in messy pools of green all over the gardens. The many pods overhead that contained the comatose forms of previous victims fell as well, though thankfully at a slower speed that appeared to spare the helpless captives any further harm.

Clutching her injured arm to her body Diana first made sure Setta was not seriously injured before she hobbled off, careful not to slip in the growing mess left by the melting vines. She checked each fallen pod until finally she found the one she sought.

Alice was laying in a fetal position in the slowly dissolving remains of a pod. The wolfess was breathing regularly and seemed to have a steady pulse, much to Diana's relief. Carefully the rabbit pulled Alice out of her prison and dragged her a few feet over to a patch of grass, laying the wolfess out. It was not easy without the use of one arm but she managed, and moments later Alice began to come to.

"D...Diana?" She asked upon seeing the rabbit, her voice weak and sounding quite cracked and dry. "Did I...lure you home again? I'm terrible..."

Diana smiled. The wolfess didn't have the slightest idea where she was. The rabbit leaned down to kiss her friend's cheek. "No. But I expect you to do just that once I've explained everything."

* * *

Sawyer watched the clean up of the Gardens through heavy eyelids. It had been nearly 48 hours since he had any sleep and as he sipped from a cup of coffee - he had long lost count of how many cups he'd had during those two days - he wondered if he would see his bed anytime soon.

The toxins had worked, though not quite as quickly as he would have hoped. The vines had cornered him in the sprinkler room and he had fought as fast as he could, until his arms could not find the strength to lift the axe again. He had been pinned to the wall by the vines, completely at their mercy when they began to loosen their grip and then fall apart before his very eyes. A few moments more and they would have broken the sprinkler pipes to get at him.

The mess that the plant's death throes had left was substantial. The toxins had affected several other breeds as well, and even those not affected were now drowned in the soupy green sludge left by Setta's plant. Medical personnel and Garden staff hurried around trying to tend to the victims and the other plantlife respectively, while two of Vertigo's general maintenance crews worked to try and repair the structural damage to the Garden and the ventilation systems in the surrounding area.

Sawyer spotted a pair of familiar long orange ears coming through the Garden and he smiled. Diana had cleaned herself up from her ravaging and dressed, but her right arm was tightly bandaged. She returned his smile and joined him.

"I told you to take off," he said sternly. "How's the arm?"

"I'll take off when you do," Diana replied. "The arm is fine. It was a slight fracture and they used a calcifier to repair it but there's still some bruising and soreness in my bicep."

Sawyer nodded. "Hell of a thing. If it didn't grab Alice there's no telling when anyone would have noticed what was going on with the plant. Could have ripped Vertigo apart."

"I guess we can't tease Alice any more about her inability to keep her pants on. Saved the world."

"I'll tease her all the same," Sawyer laughed. "How is she? And Professor Flamowitz?"

"Alice," Diana said, "Is fine, and actually waiting for me at her place. She's a bit dehydrated but otherwise okay. Setta on the other paw is both embarrassed that this all happened and devastated that all her work is ruined. She seems stubborn, though. I wouldn't be surprised if she's back to work tomorrow."

Sawyer frowned. "Tell her to give up gardening for a bit, would you? Maybe try knitting. That sounds safer."

* * *

Setta sat down on her couch with a long sigh, too exhausted to do any work but still too awake from the events of the last few hours to try to sleep. Her experiment had not just been a failure, but a disaster all around. While she had been confidant at the time that she was on the right track and taking all necessary precautions, hindsight now made several shortcomings in her research obvious. It was embarrassing on both a professional and personal level.

She saw that her tablet was laying on the coffee table before her. The dragoness picked it up and turned it on, and then entered her password to decrypt her research notes. She began to scan over them half-heartedly, quietly pondering whether she should scrap them entirely or try to find where she had made her errors.

Setta was just about to turn the tablet off when something caught her eye. Yes...splicing genes from THAT plant into THIS one may not have been a great idea. In fact...

A sudden wave of determination washed over the dragoness. She stood up and carried the tablet over to her desk, docking it into the work station. The display was magnified in a holographic view before her.

"Okay, go to segment thirty-two, partition five-fifty-three," she said aloud. "Remove DNA strand E619 and substitute E447."

The tablet began to do as she instructed and she smiled. If at first you don't succeed...

~PLAYLIST END~

*From the song "Grand Canyon" by Tracey Thorn, from her album "Out of the Woods".

Story is © 2012 F.J. Emerson. Please do no reproduce in part or whole without my written permission. Please do not use characters without my written permission. Please do not masturbate to them too much, either. You'll get hair on your knuckles.

Diana Bordeaux, Duke Sawyer, Alice Alright, and all other characters are IP F.J. "Doc" Emerson 2010, except the following:

Setta Flamowitz is IP of her player (www.furaffinity.net/user/settaflamowitz)