Project Raven: Administrator Permissions

Story by Serathin on SoFurry

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#8 of Project Raven

The end, and the facility, are finally within sight for the group...


Project Raven - Administrator Permissions

"Mmmm, he's back." Hale heard as he saw the two shapes, now clearly definable as a black dragon and raven, with a chess board between them as it appeared the dragon was contemplating his next move.

"Indeed." The raven replied, looking over at him with his purple eyes. "You must be getting rather close; the link between us is strengthening. I do hope that you will be able to solve our conundrum quite soon; we're running out of things to do while we're in this stalemate. Speaking of stalemates... have you thought of your move yet good sir?"

"I still can't believe you managed to pull off the Nimzo-Indian defense..." the dragon grumbled as he moved his bishop over several spaces on the board.

"Knight to D7, check." The Raven announced as the white knight moved on its own accord, taking one of the black pawns. "I thought of it after you used the English-Opening in our last game and crushed my Benko Gambit in seven moves."

Hale blinked a few times as the two bantered about chess in front of him, not following the dialogue at all before the two turned and looked at him once more. "What are you still doing here?" The dragon almost growled. "Hurry up and get to the central computer core room!"

The arctic wolf gulped and nodded, the whole scene fading as the raven announced his checkmate and the dragon suggested that they switch to a game of Stratego...

When Hale opened his eyes again he was in the helicopter, Bryan holding onto him before he could fall to the ground. As he regained his faculties he noticed that Slyph had moved up to the cockpit, the facility they were flying to slowly growing bigger as they flew towards it. Loki was in the same corner he had been since they had gotten off the Rockpoint Hotel, his head buried between his legs. His heart went out to the Tasmanian Tiger, they had all lost friends today to the rubber plague that had swept the island below them. Their only hope now was that they could find something to reverse it at the lab, provided they could even make it to the central control room.

"You alright there Hale?" Bryan said. "You look like you were a million miles away."

"Sorry..." Hale apologized. "I was with them again, the two AI's that are causing this whole mess. They were so clear, as though I was actually standing near them as they played chess."

"Huh, psychopathic, monster-creating AI's playing chess." Bryan replied. "Next you'll tell me they had classical music playing and were sipping tea while wearing monocles and top hats."

The joke brought a smile to Hale's face, though it was rather weary. "You know I could see that raven in top hat, maybe I'll suggest that to them the next time I see them."

"Hopefully the last time you'll see them as well." Bryan commented as he looked out the window. "We're almost there... heh, I see our bungalow, it's strange to think that we were sitting there complaining about the weather less than a day ago. It really puts things in perspective though... don't you think?"

Hale didn't speak and merely nodded in reply, though his thoughts turned to dwell on what the husky just said. He looked over at Loki, who had just asked him to go steady and then lost what he presumed to be his two best friends in a raid that he had suggested. Part of him wished he knew what the Tasmanian Tiger was feeling, granted he had lost Archer but he still had two of his friends with him. Then there was Bryan, who had sat next to him and comforted him even though he was the one who had to endure the terror of going through the infested hotel. He bit his lip as he contemplated seizing the same boldness that Loki had and asking Bryan about his true feelings towards him once they were alone, hoping against all hope that the other canine would take him in his strong arms and profess his love for him before kissing him deeply on the lips...

A sudden bang snapped his attention back to the present, hearing both Bryan and Slyph let out surprised gasps and shouts as they looked down on the island. Hale soon joined them, seeing the side of the aquatic center explode out into the ocean next to it, a number of thick black tentacles and various rubber sea creatures flooding out of the hole into the surrounding waters. "Huh." Dr. Marcovi said as he looked out with them. "I'm surprised the containment measures for that facility held as long as they did."

"Should we be worried at all here?" Skize asked as they approached the huge creature.

"Nah, beast like that is probably of the simplest intelligence." Dr. Marcovi stated as he went up to the cockpit. "I doubt that it will make any trouble for us." As they continued their course they saw that one of the huge squid's eyes open and look straight at them. "Well, maybe it has some intelligence to it..." the naga backpedaled slightly, backing up as the tentacles started to get more active in their direction. "You may want to take evasive action-"

Hale was suddenly thrown to the opposite side of the chopper as an unseen tentacle smashed into it, causing the vehicle to go into a tailspin as everyone held on for dear life. The dragon managed to keep it steady long enough for the arctic wolf to grab onto something, his entire body lifting into the air as a second tentacle sent them careening towards the ocean. The only thing he could do was hold on and wait as he was banged around for what seemed like an eternity until they stopped with a sudden bang and splash of water, which began to rush into the cabin as the battered party picked themselves up.

"Is everyone alright?" Dr. Marcovi said as he held onto his side, rivulets of blood running through his fingers. Hale coughed several times, though thankfully it seemed he managed to get out with a couple of scrapes and a few bruises. Bryan and Slyph, who had been strapped in the entire time, quickly got up and began to tend to the others, Bryan going towards the naga to help him with his wound while Slyph tried to help the semi-conscious dragon stand up. Loki was in the worst shape, his movements staggered as he held his arm, which twisted off into an odd angle as he whimpered.

"There's a medic station in the lab." Dr. Marcovi said with a grimace as he and Bryan bandaged him up as best he could. "We can fix up Loki's arm and my wound in no time at all. Slyph, how's the pilot looking?"

"Not so hot, I'm afraid." Skize said with a strained laugh. "Crashed into the shallows, means we won't drown but I'm wedged in between the control panel and the door. Gonna take the jaws of life to get me out of this one."

"I think if we can get a piece of the helicopter we can wedge him free..." Slyph mused as everyone took a look at the damaged console. As they did they heard a sudden bang on the outer door, the wrecked body of the chopper moving slightly as something began to tear through the metal frame.

"Time's up." Skize said, reaching over as best he could do a side compartment and pulling out a pistol. "If you crazy bastards get your plan to work then I'll buy you all a drink, until then best I can do is draw their attention while you get up to the lab."

"Good man." Dr. Marcovi replied as he patted him on the shoulder, and then looked to the rest of the group. "Alright then, let's wrench open this door and get the hell out of here."

The naga activated another panel, the door falling off the rest of the helicopter like it was made of tissue paper and sinking into the waist-deep water. Skize took a deep breath as he watched them leave, leaving him alone as the creature continued to press against the other side of the helicopter. He trained his gun on the door, firing off a shot to keep its attraction on the helicopter and give the others time to escape. The rattling ceased for a few seconds, and for a brief moment the only sounds he heard were that of the water lapping against the helicopter and his own strained breathing as he waited.

Suddenly the door on his other side unexpectedly was ripped away, a massively muscled tiger-striped shark letting out a roar as he tossed the crumpled door aside. In a mere second the dragon was in the aquatic creature's scaly grip, pulling him out to see as they wrapped around his legs, arms, and chest. Before he could let out a shout of alarm the shark shoved his head into his mouth, where his tongue and several more tentacles began to push into his mouth, his nostrils, and his earholes. With his vision limited to the shark's throat he couldn't see as several more began to gather around him, their cocks bobbing in the water as they frenzied around the untransformed male's pleasure-warped body...

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

"I'm never going swimming again!" Slyph said as he slogged onto the shoreline, the last of the group as they quickly sprinted up the hill towards the facility. They could see the water churn with more of the rubber-suited males, a blue rubber-scaled sea dragon now among them as they all swam towards the land. By the time they had reached the vault-like security door of the complex they had already started up the hill after them, rising from the sea like a monstrous army as they charged towards them. All of them waited anxiously as the naga produced one of the cards from his pocket, sliding it through the key reader as quickly as he could. The door opened with a loud hissing noise, feeling the pressurized air flow out of the doorway as they all piled inside as quickly as they could. As soon as all their body parts were on the inside Dr. Marcovi hit the door panel on the opposite side, the door sliding shut behind them with a loud clang.

"Can they get through?" Hale asked as he could hear the faint scratching on the other side of the door.

"Not unless they have short-range hellfire missiles on them." Dr. Marcovi said as he braced himself against the wall, clutching his side. His blood had seeped through the quick bandage job that he and Bryan had done, his breathing becoming slightly more ragged as he looked down the hallway. "We should be safe until we reach the infirmary, containment protocols would have corralled the converted individuals into quarantine zones so that Sibergon Labs could easily retake the facility."

"Well glad to hear they had a way to protect their investments, never mind the people within or those on the island." Slyph said as he stripped back down to his speedo and tossed the wet clothing aside. As they walked down the hallway the lights came on automatically, giving the facility an eerie feel as they walked down towards the infirmary. Dr. Marcovi was true to his word, they encountered none of the rubber creatures in the hallways while they walked. Soon the sterile air of the facility's medical facility greeted them, though it looked nothing like the hospital rooms that they had ever been too.

"The technology here is far more advanced than this world has currently." Dr. Marcovi smirked, guiding Loki towards one of the machines that looked like a blood pressure monitor before moving to a chair that was surrounded by several mechanical arms. "Slyph, take Loki's arm and put it in the cuff, it will automatically set and stimulate the healing to mend the bone. Meanwhile I'm going to have this machine use laser stitching to patch up this gash in my side."

As Hale sat and waited for the two to heal he felt himself drifting off, a very familiar sensation washing over him until he suddenly heard the sound of a soda popping, looking to his side to see Bryan with two sodas. "At least the vending machines around here work." He said with a small smile as he handed one of them to Hale, his favorite brand. "Thought you could use one, you alright? Anything... going on in that head of yours?"

"I think... I think it was about to bring me back in." Hale replied as he rubbed his head. "Whatever link I formed with them is getting stronger..."

"Well we're almost at the home stretch now." Bryan reassured as he put an arm around him. "Soon we're going to put this behind us and go on a real vacation that doesn't involve rubber zombie creatures."

Hale suddenly found a knot forming in his stomach as he looked up at the strong husky. "Do you think... maybe we could take our next vacation with just the two of us?"

"Without Archer and Slyph?" Bryan mused. "I suppose we could, they probably wouldn't mind. Why do you want to do that?"

"It's just..." the Arctic wolf could feel his anxiety spike as he tried to get the words he wanted out. "Bryan, I really like you... in more than a friendly manner. I've been meaning to say this for so long, but I would really want to go out with you sometime and see where it goes." He could see the shock on his friend's face and immediately began to backpedal, feeling himself blush in embarrassment. "I'm sorry if I put you in a weird situation, I don't even know why I brought it up. I'm fine with being friends if you want."

Bryan remained silent for a second, then grabbed his friend's hand and squeezed it slightly as a small smile crept across his face. "Hale... I'd be lying if I didn't say that over the years I haven't been... curious about such a thing. I mean, I still like girls, but sometimes when I look at you I get those same feelings and too tell the truth it's been very confusing for me. If you're willing to take it slow then as soon as we get out of this we'll go on a date, see how it goes."

Hale tried to keep back his exhalations of joy as he nodded, even though he could feel the nervousness in the other male's hand he knew that the husky was genuine in his want to try. While they wouldn't be jumping in the sack right away he was fine with that, the fact that Bryan just admitted that he had feelings for him was more than enough at the moment. He felt reenergized, as though he could march right into the control room himself and fix everything so he could have his first romantic night with him. The only thing that marred his jubilation was that he would have to let down Loki, who sat in the strange machine with a glassy-eyed look from the anesthetic, which was a shame because it was him that spurred him on to ask him.

After half an hour the naga got up, feeling the bare patch of scales where the wound had been cauterized before putting his lab coat back on. "Alright, then if we're all ready to go let us dive deeper into the bowels of the facility. The faster we can get Hale to the central core room the faster this nightmare will be over."

The group prepared themselves to leave, Loki testing his mended arm a few times. Once more they left the safety of the infirmary and made their trek down the darkened hallway, the smell of rubber growing stronger as they moved inwards. More than once they heard a loud banging noise that caused them all to jump slightly as their nerves were on edge. If it wasn't for Dr. Marcovi they would have easily gotten lost in the labyrinth of tunnels, Hale mused, but with the naga leading the way they quickly made progress towards their destination.

"Is this it?" Loki asked as Dr. Marcovi used a different keycard to open another very well-secured door, which opened with a low hiss as the seals broke and allowed them inside. The room was huge, the door opening onto an upper walkway that circled around the wall of the circular structure. Right below it was a pane of glass that stretched across the entire room, and below that they could see a number of rubber creatures mulling around a large, stainless steel box that sat in the middle of the room connected to wires.

"This is the room that held GUARDIAN, a primary defensive mechanism for the SYNC control core." Dr. Marcovi explained as they made their way on the steel mesh floor of the catwalk. "Security forces removed it along with SYNC in order to prevent their corruption when the virus was uploaded into the computer system, thinking that it would stop the rogue AI, which half-worked. Had they been able to remove the back-up servers as well this might have never happened, but by the time they got to them it the virus had caused this whole thing had locked them into place and set loose those infected. In any case, the SYNC control room is only a few more rooms ahead."

Once they had gotten all the way around to the other door Dr. Marcovi started to open it, only to be knocked back as the entire chunk of metal was ripped off of its hinges. The naga fell several feet onto the glass ceiling with a loud crack, the safety glass spiderwebbing under him as a huge purple and blue rubber panther lumbered onto the catwalk, the metal groaned under his weight as he turned towards them. This one was slightly more unusual than the others as they could see glowing blue circuitry embedded into the rubber that encased him, no doubt from being one of the first of the converted.

"Run!" Bryan said said as he fired their only remaining weapon at it, which seemed to only stun it for a few seconds as they all double backed. As they ran the other way down the catwalks they could see Dr. Marcovi slowly coming too, the glass under him continuing to fracture as he slowly started to move. The rubber creatures underneath him started to go crazy, their tentacles and arms reaching up to try and grab at the naga suspended above them.

"Dr. Marcovi has the last key..." Hale gasped as Bryan fired again at the pursuing creature, stopping it in its tracks and giving them slightly more distance between them. "We need to get Dr. Marcovi!"

"Here, you and Slyph draw off the creature and keep heading towards the control room." Bryan said as he shoved the rifle into Hale's hands. "Go down the hallway and shoot him as you do, we'll keep circling around and hopefully we can grab Dr. Marcovi while you keep it distracted."

"I'm not fond of this plan..." Sylph grumbled, though as they neared the destroyed entryway he ducked inside. Bryan and Loki quickly ran passed the door and continued down the catwalk, and finally Hale stepped into the next hallway right after shooting the rubberized panther and shouting at it to follow him. As he continued to step back he saw that their feint had worked, though now it was him and Slyph trapped with a huge, muscular rubber panther whose tentacles began to push out of his chest and abs.

"To the left!" Hale shouted as he continued to shoot at the creature, though with each successive blast his reaction times became quicker and quicker to each blast. Their chase was relatively short-lived, before long they found themselves in a thoroughly destroyed laboratory. When they found there was no way out they tried to double back, only to find that the panther was already upon them.

"Well, it was a great plan while it lasted." Slyph said as they tried to keep one of the lab tables between them and the monster, only to have it throw it aside like a children's toy and continued to approach them, backing them into the corner. "Looks like it's my turn... my conversion should give you enough time to run back, hopefully Bryan and Loki has the key by then."

Before Hale could say anything he pushed the wolf aside and sprinted forward, the panther easily catching him in his grasp and holding him up. He balked as the leopard looked at the creature stone-faced, the leopard gritting his teeth as he braced himself for the inevitable turning. The panther's mouth opened, nearly a foot and a half of rubbery tongue extending out as all its tentacles reared back to convert its latest prey. "STOP!" Hale screamed, bringing up the rifle to fire, only to hear it click loudly.

Sylph tensed up as he waited to sacrifice himself like Lark had for him, his eyes closed as he felt the grip on him tighten slightly. After hearing Hale scream everything was silent for a few seconds, and when he felt nothing trying to go inside of him he slowly opened one eye. The panther's tongue was mere inches from his face, still dripping its rubbery purple slime. It was the same situation for the tentacles, some almost touching his fur as the creature stood eerily still. "Um... ok..." the leopard said, both him and Hale in shock by the situation.

After nearly a minute of both of them standing there waiting for something to happen, the rubber creature continued to hold Slyph in place, though the tentacles continued to stay in their attack position. "Out of all of today's events today, this is definitely one of the most... I don't even know how to describe this." Sylph said as he tried to wiggle out of the monster's grip, only to have it tighten around his body. "Please do something..."

"I'm also at a loss Slyph." Hale replied as his fear drained away , though his nervousness remained as he slowly approached the two. "By all intents and purposes you should have all your holes stuffed with rubber by now. I don't know why he stopped, but it wasn't anything I did. I can't just tell him to drop you and expect-"

To both of their astonishment the rubber panther promptly dropped the leopard, his tentacles retracting into his body as the creature went into a neutral stance. Once Sylph scampered back towards Hale he got up, and then brushed himself off as both their eyes remained locked on the seemingly docile creature. When nothing happened Sylph took a nearby pencil and tossed it at the panther, who stood completely still as it bounced off his rubbery flesh.

"Do you think he's actually listening to you?" Slyph whispered as they continued to watch the panther. "Make him do something else."

Hale shook his head, trying to wrap his head around the surreal scene in front of him. He tried to give the creature a few commands, but all it did was stand there silently. When they were finished they slowly began to leave, only to find the panther had begun to follow them. "How odd..." the arctic wolf muttered, continuing to keep an eye on him as they moved back to the main chamber to help the rest of the group.

Meanwhile Bryan and Loki raced around towards Dr. Marcovi once they were sure that the others had led the panther off into the hallway. "It's ok, we got you." Bryan tried to reassure the naga as they reached towards him, though their hands were nowhere close to each other as the sound of glass cracking continued to echo throughout the room. As the naga continued to arch up to reach their grasp the weight he shifted onto his hand and caused the surrounding glass to nearly shatter because of it.

"Dr. Marcovi, stop moving." Bryan cautioned. "We're going to go find a rope or something so you can pull yourself out."

"The glass is not going to hold for that long." Dr. Marcovi replied as he looked down at his quickly deteriorating platform, then reached into his pocket and pulled the last keycard from his pocket and tossed it to Loki. "Just in case this whole rescue goes bad, I don't want to take the last hope of salvation with me."

Bryan quickly hopped over the railing, grabbing onto it with one hand while reaching down towards the naga with the other. "Not letting you go that easily." He leaned down as far as he could, hearing the security glass continue to crack like ice as Dr. Marcovi tried to slowly crawl forward. Even with the extra reach the two couldn't meet in the middle, their fingertips grazing each other as they stretched to their limits.

"Loki, help me out here." Bryan said as he leaned back, gesturing for the Tasmanian tiger to come forward. He grabbed his hand and started to lean forward again using Loki for extra leverage. With the newfound length he could grab onto the naga's palm, feeling his weight shift as he secured the grip. "Alright, pull us back then."

There was a pause, the two of them hanging there as the husky looked back to tell him once more to pull them back. When he saw Loki's face it was a mixture of pain and anger, an emotion that he had seen before when Dr. Marcovi told him of his friends. "He took my friends away Bryan." He said, Bryan's eyes widening as he saw the rage took over his features. "This is all his fault... and you, you didn't even know about Hale until after I've made my move, and then you want to take that away from me too?!"

"Loki... please..." Bryan pleaded, feeling the other male's grip intentionally loosening, desperately looking some way to save himself from the situation. "I'm sorry about your friends, and about advancing on Hale, but don't make this mistake. Don't make him lose his friends like you have, don't make him suffer like that."

For a second it looked like his words sunk in, seeing the doubt in Loki's eyes as his arms started to shake from holding up Dr. Marcovi while hanging there. But as he moved to strengthen his grip once more his fingers slipped, Bryan shouting as their hold on each other broke. Loki tried to dart forward and grab him, but by then the husky was already falling backwards. Dr. Marcovi hit the glass first, which buckled under his weight and sagged in the supports. When the husky fell back as well his weight was too much, the two of them falling through towards the floor below. Loki looked over the edge but by the time he did a steel security shield had already slid over the entrance to block any further intrusion into the chamber.

Loki gripped the bar of the catwalk tightly, his breath coming in short gasps as he realized what he had done. There was no way he could get down there to help anymore, he reasoned in his racing thoughts, he would have to make up something to Hale but he was pretty sure he could get him to believe something. When he turned back towards the door however, he stumbled back against the railing as he saw Hale, Sylph, and the monster that had been chasing them standing in the doorway.

"H-hale." Loki said to the arctic wolf, though his eyes were locked on the rubber panther that seemed to stare at him through his silver visor. "Bryan leaned down to try and help Dr. Marcovi... I tried to help pull the both of them up, but my hand slipped and they fell through the glass. Then this security thing closed..."

"We heard you Loki." Sylph replied angrily, his arms crossed. "You better thank whatever you pray to that it did close, or I'd throw you down there with them."

Loki let out a small gasp before fumbling around his pockets; his hands trembled as he pulled out the last security card. "We still have the card; we can save all of them. All we have to do is go to the central core and you can do your thing... is, um, the rubber guy on our side now?"

It took a few seconds before Hale could even respond, marching up to the Tasmanian Tiger, who flinched as he grabbed the card away from him. "Don't... just..." the arctic wolf's lower lip quivered as he tried to bring up the words to truly admonish him were too painful to bear. Instead he turned to leave, only to find that the rubber panther had walked up to where he was right behind him. There was no emotion on its face as it sidestepped the wolf, instead grabbing Loki by the collar and hoisting him into the air.

"No, stop! Wait!" Hale shouted, both him and Slyph shocked as the rubber creature's chest tentacles formed once more, this time quickly ripping through Loki's clothing. The Tasmanian Tiger squirmed and screamed out as he could feel the rubbery appendages slide across the scale-suit and wrap around his arms and legs, though he was quickly silenced as the panther's tongue elongated and jammed itself into his mouth. As soon as the warm rubber hit his mouth it began to tingle in pleasure, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as it continued to push its way in. Loki's resistance quickly faltered under the panther's frontal assault, the tentacles ripping out the crotch of the scale-suit that had protected him and began to slither underneath it.

At the same time Hale nearly fell to his knees, clasping onto his head as he felt the neural link establish itself to Loki. It wasn't like the others; he could feel the changes happening to the male, almost as though his own throat was being filled with tentacle tongue as Loki was flipped around so the panther could have better access to his now exposed ass. As the tongue pressed against the Tasmanian tiger's cheek the rubber began to spread, turning to a deep crimson as it began to spread, enveloping his facial features.

Loki slumped back against the creature as his entire being became saturated with nothing but pure bliss, his chest swelling out as rubber was pumped into his body. He could feel the panther's huge, prehensile cock press between his tight cheeks, but under the haze of lust and the rubber seeping into his mind he found himself actually bucking back to try and get it into him faster. The tentacles around his legs helped spread them open as he felt it begin to push past the ring of muscle, which quickly went numb as rubber flowed out of his crack and around his butt. His own cock began to swell considerably as inch after inch of the rubber-coated length slid into him, the creature's tail coming up between their legs to wrap around and stroke the mutating member.

As the Tasmanian Tiger's body continued to swell with artificial muscle Slyph had wrapped his arms under Hale's armpits and begun to drag him back to the door, trying to ignore the tent in the wolf's scale-suit. Aside from the occasional twitch it appeared to him that Loki had completely succumbed, especially as the Tasmanian Tiger's tongue began to slide out of his mouth until nearly a foot of deep red length had wrapped around the panther's. The two rubber monsters were now the same height as Loki's feet hit the ground once more, the tentacles retracting as the panther continued to ram his impressive tool into the newest convert's tailhole. Slyph watched as Loki's new muscles bulged as he grabbed the railing for support, twisting it in his grasp as the panther pushed deeper and deeper into his stretched, rubbery hole.

"Hale, wake up." Slyph whispered as loudly as he dared as he lightly slapped Hale in the face. "We have to get going before they get done, you might have lost whatever control you had on him."

Hale suddenly came too, blinking his eyes for a second before looking back at the two creatures. "I saw it happen..." he said breathlessly as he was helped to his feet, the two starting to move down the hallway. "It responded to my subconscious thought... even though I didn't consciously want anything to happen to him deep down I wanted him to suffer the same fate that Bryan had. You know what this means?"

Slyph shook his head, watching as a determined look set on the wolf's face as he responded to his own question. "It means this might actually work..."