FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The inside of the club was filled with animalized humans of every type, though there were a majority of canines. I guessed that figured. I had never actually been inside the club before and it was a lot nicer looking inside than I had expected. Instead of the gothic motif that I had envisioned, the interior of the club was practically drenched in color. Red velvet seat cushions on every seat, blue fabric on the front of the bar, a deep green bar top, and a white marble floor were only some of the extravagant décor elements. The dance floor was an old fashioned wooden one, but it could barely be seen through all of the creatures dancing on it. The columns of the place were made to look like tree trunks and fake leaves adorned the upper walls and ceiling. I could see a balcony nestled in the "branches" made to look like a birds nest. That was probably the best way to get to wherever Ronnie and Rocky were. I pushed my way through the crowd to the bar first, though. The fat gorilla behind the bar eyed me suspiciously.

"Don't see many of your kind in here, cop," he said as he wiped a glass clean. "What can I get for you, copper?"

I smiled at him.

"I'm looking for Mr. ‘The Wolf' Domingo." I replied. "He's supposed to be seeing one of my friends right now and I need to have a chat with them both."

"That may be a problem, mate. Unless you've got business with The Wolf, he ain't gonna see you. Not unless he really likes you or you cause some shit in his establishment."

"I don't really want to start a fight," I said. "Could you put in a good word for me perhaps?"

The gorilla shook his head as he looked up at me from the glass, but his eyes widened shortly after meeting my gaze.

"Er, that might not be necessary, mate."

"What do you mea-?"

I was interrupted by a large hand landing on my shoulder. I turned to look at the owner of the hand and found myself staring up at a large crocodile. He was wearing the black suit that must have been the bouncer uniform for the club. I knew that genetic alteration for animalizing a human made some resulting body types large, but this guy was enormous. The croc stood at least four feet taller than my five foot eleven height and he was easily twice as thick. He must have done other genetic mods in order to get that big, though it probably meant that he couldn't move very fast.

"The Wolf's muscle I presume?" I asked.

"The Wolf wants to see you." The croc said in a deep, baritone voice.

I sighed.

"But I just got here. And I was having a nice conversation with... er..." I looked towards the bartender for help, but he shook his head quickly and looked down at a new wet glass that he was furiously wiping dry.

"Let me rephrase," the croc mumbled. "The Wolf demands that you come with me to see him."

He was very soft spoken for someone who looked like he could break you in two with three fingers. I nodded to him and waved at the bartender as the reptile practically dragged me away.

The croc kept his hand on my shoulder, guiding me across the dance floor. The music was much louder in this part of the club and it felt like my ear drums were going to vibrate right out of my head. All of the dancers gave the big croc a wide berth. I wasn't surprised. I would have hated to run into a guy like him in an empty alley at night. We ascended a spiral, metal staircase at the far end of the club from the entrance, the croc's vice grip still clutching my shoulder. When we arrived at the balcony I noticed that there were mostly avian animalized humans up there as well as a few squirrels and bats. It figured that even humans turned into animals would try to mimic their natural counterparts. Tables like the ones below were scattered around the balcony and there were low lit fake candles on each. The floor of the balcony was made of branches of wood to mimic a canopy of trees. It seemed The Wolf really took his love of nature thing seriously, but everything made to look natural in the room fell into the uncanny valley. The wood wasn't alive enough, the leaves looked too plastic, and the metal that really supported everything could be plainly seen through the façade. It was a mockery of nature. An attempt to mimic it so people wouldn't have to actually go out and experience it for themselves. It made me sick. The croc steered me toward a non-descript metal door in the back of the balcony. There was a small sign on the door that said, "Employees Only." He pushed me through it and followed, locking the door behind him. I knew there was something wrong the minute I heard the door lock click. A bear in a similar black suit to the one the croc was wearing was leaning against the brightly lit hallway wall. He looked at me as I straightened myself from the rough shove and then he looked towards the croc. The bear was just as big as the crocodile behind me, the seams of his suit stretching to contain his bulk. I gulped.

"Who's the gumshoe, Ace?" The bear asked.

"Some cop who wandered in here." Ace replied.

The bear snorted.

"Why'd you bring him back here instead of throwing him out the front door?"

"Cause the boss wants to see him or some shit. Why don't you go get The Wolf while I watch him instead of playing twenty questions, Garth?"

The ursine grumbled in annoyance and stood up from his spot on the wall.

"Don't know why you can't just take him to the lounge."

"Because the boss told me to keep him here until he showed up."

Garth waved dismissively as he started walking down the hallway.

"Alright, alright, I'm going to get him. Jesus."

Ace folded his arms over his chest as he looked down at me.

"Don't try anything stupid, cop." He said.

"Me? I wouldn't dream of it." I replied.

We waited.

It wasn't long before Garth returned with a wolf. I assumed it was Ronnie Domingo. The wolf was shorter than me and dwarfed by his huge body guards. He wore a white suit and button down shirt that was open to his navel. Glittering rings rested on his fingers and a chain necklace with a golden wolf's head on it hung around his neck. He was wearing a pair of very expensive looking sunglasses on top of his head just in front of his perked up ears. I could see his tail swinging behind him; he must have been in a good mood. I inwardly laughed at my own joke. Domingo stood in front of me and looked me up and down as if trying to decipher a code he couldn't crack.

"So, you must be Nate Wesson," Domingo said. "Rocky told me about you."

I wondered exactly how much Rocky had blabbed.

"And you must be Ronnie Domingo." I mimicked. "Chief Burke told me about you."

He winced as I said his real name.

"I'm The Wolf now, cop. Don't you forget it."

"Oh forgive me, Mr. Wolf. Where's Rocky?"

"You know, Wesson, a guy like you might have been more welcome in this place if you weren't a cop. It's a shame really that you had to side with the law."

"I don't know, Ronnie, your employees were pretty civil to me earlier. Maybe you don't know them as well as you should."

I said his real name to piss him off, but he laughed instead.

"Do you honestly think that one of my employees would pander to a cop without my permission? Don't think for a second that I haven't been watching you since you showed up on my doorstep."

"Cut the shit, Wolf. Tell me where Rocky is."

"Ease up, tough guy," Domingo told me, "Rocky's on his way. You know, Wesson, the only reason I'm treating you so nice is because you're one of us."

"What do you mean?" I asked, insulted.

"You're not one of the uniformed lugs that Burk orders around and who do whatever he tells them. You skirt a fine line between justice and my underworld. You and I could have been one and the same."

I scoffed.

"Your underworld? I'm sorry, but I thought that your father paid for most of this crap, Wolf. How are your accounts doing now that daddy dearest isn't pouring money into this district? Word is he didn't like your little genetics experiment that you performed on yourself."

Ronnie's ears laid back on his head and he snarled at me. It was a strange sound to hear.

"What I do with my own money and my own body is nobody's business but my own. I built up this district from a single whorehouse and novelty store. I disserve some credit."

"Oh I think you and I are far more different than you believe, Wolf. Voluntary genetic modification is where I cross the line."

"So you say, but look at you! You could practically be my brother the way you tromp around the city dealing out your own personal brand of justice. I would love to have your freedom. So close to the edge and so close to falling off..."

I looked at him, confused. I had no idea what he was talking about. His eyes were dilated, though. He must have been shooting up or something before he came out of his lounge.

"Right, I'll take your word for it. Lay off the smack for a little while." I replied.

Rocky appeared shortly afterward, coming from the same direction that The Wolf had. Rocky was a ferret. He wore blue jeans and a ratty, black sweatshirt that had a faded, nearly invisible band logo on the back. Rocky was born animalized. A product of the genetic manipulation process both of his parents received. Rocky's mother had died in childbirth and his father was stationed overseas in the military. I had served with him for a while in the past. Rocky was sort of like a son to me. Sort of.

"Nate?" The ferret asked.

"Hey Rocky! I hear you have a lot to tell me. Let's get out of this dump, hm?"

The Wolf glared at me.

"Careful where you step if you ever show your face around here again, cop." He said.

"Uh oh! Ronnie Domingo the self-glorified drug peddler is threatening me! Maybe you should concentrate on moving up in the world, Wolf. You know, I bet you're just afraid of your father. That's why you're stuck here in this cesspool of a district."

Ronnie just sputtered at me with eyes wide and his ears flopping around comically on his head. I must have really pissed him off. Rocky and I left the bright hallway; leaving the speechless drug lord with his two body guards and managed to make it back to the entrance of the club. I saw the bartender trying to get my attention so I walked over to him.

"Hey, mate!" He said.

"What do you want?" I said without enthusiasm.

He looked down at the rag in his hands apologetically, but quickly looked back up with an expression of practiced surprise. "Hey look out!"

I turned too late to stop Garth's fist as it slammed into my temple; dropping me to the floor. I hated it when goons fought dirty. He certainly knew where to land a blow to make it crippling. Rocky yelped in alarm as Ace lifted him off of the ground next to me.

"Let go of me!" He screeched over the pounding music.

"The Wolf doesn't like being insulted to his face." Garth told me. "You're lucky he didn't tell us to kill you."

I lay, groggily on the floor, the blow making the room spin around me. The flashing strobes and the thudding bass made the pain much worse. The large bear lifted me up without making any sounds of effort and slung me over his shoulder. I couldn't fight him, especially not in the state I was in. Garth carried me across the writhing dance floor, through a door, and down a flight of stairs. Their clanking footsteps on the metal steps rang in my head like I was stuck in a cathedral bell tower during a Christmas celebration. I could hear Rocky's protesting as Garth opened another door on the other side of the building. I could barely make out a metal wall of an alley quickly approaching before I crashed, full force into it and Rocky landed next to me on the cold metal of the ground. The door slammed closed behind us, making the metal ring in my ears. I lay on the ground, my head spinning for several minutes. I don't know exactly how much time passed before I felt well enough to try and stand. Rocky helped me get to my feet.

"Thank god, Nate. I thought they had really hurt you."

"Heh. They'd have to try harder than that." I replied.

I could hear other people moving through the alley around us. The groggy feeling in my head suddenly transformed into what felt like getting a brick to the temple. Hell that might as well have been what happened. I cringed and held my head from the pain. We staggered from the alley; Rocky trying to hold me up as my head throbbed. The neon lights were wreaking havoc on my brain like a herd of rhinos in a glass factory. We walked through the crowded streets for what felt like hours before we crossed over to the outside of the red light district. There was a holo-sign for a pharmacy nearby and Rocky steered us towards it quickly. The doors slid open for us and we made our way up to the counter. The bright, white lights in the store were even more painful than the neon colors. The human employee behind the counter opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.

"Clearol, now." I spat, tossing my credit card onto the counter.

"Looks like someone had a rough night." He said as he swiped my card.

I just glared at him from under the brim of my hat; picking up the card and clenching my teeth against the pain. A robotic arm dropped the bottle of medicine in the employee's hand and he gave it to me. We left the store without saying anything else. Back out in the cool and dark night air, I took three of the pills in the bottle. I thanked whoever the inventor of the wonder drug was. Clearol did just what the name suggested. The pain in my head vanished in minutes and I took a deep breath, sitting down on the metal walkway next to Rocky.

"So, Rocky," I said. "What exactly did you tell The Wolf about me?"

Rocky gulped audibly.

"I only told him that you had me dig up some information about Finch, that's all."

"That's all?"

Rocky nodded emphatically.

"Well I came to tell you that the Finch case is closed," I said.

"What? But I have more info on Finch that I just found out!"

"Rocky, I shouldn't even be asking you to find any information for me. You could get hurt. Why are you hanging out with a creep like Ronnie Domingo anyway?"

"I'm not a little kid anymore, Nate. I'm nineteen. Besides, The Wolf's not a creep. He's actually a pretty cool guy once you get to know him."

"A cool guy surrounded by goons that can clean your clock without breaking a sweat and who does loads of drugs. Not to mention a cool guy who is the suspected leader of one of the biggest drug rings in the city."

Rocky fell silent.

"You don't know him like I do. He tells me things when we hang out together; things he doesn't tell anyone else not even Ace or Garth."

I nodded and waved my hand dismissively.

"Look, Rocky, I can't tell you who to hang out with, but Ronnie Domingo is dangerous. I don't want you to wind up six feet under."

"You're not my father, Nate."

I nodded as I watched the people pass us by on their way home from the clubs. It must have been close to two am.

"I know. But I'm the best you've got right now. So take my advice to heart, ok?"

"I'll try, Nate."

I sighed and stood up from the ground.

"I should be getting home anyway. I need to continue working on a new case tomorrow."

"A new case?" Rocky asked as his ears perked up. "Can I help?"

I chuckled.

"I don't think I'll need much help on this one. I'm already starting to piece it together. But if I do need your urchin expertise, I'll call you like usual."

Rocky gave me a comical salute.

"Ten four, chief," he said as we began making our way to the Metronome Square Transport Station.

We had come out of the red light district on the opposite side from the Church Street Station and Metro was the closest one that would get us home. I checked my watch. It too was an antique that I couldn't bear to part with and I made sure it was running in top precision. It was two thirty in the morning. I had been in the red light district for four hours. I grimaced as we entered the station. It was no surprise that I was so tired. My feet dragged as Rocky and I slid into one of the empty transport cars and sat down heavily. I would need to get some awake pills in the morning if I was going to be presentable at the office. The transport car sped off into the night. I looked out of the window behind us at the colorful sight of Meridian city under cover of darkness. The city lit up at night. It was a collage of every color imaginable and, at transport car speeds, the colors melded together like technicolor soup. It would have been quite disconcerting to someone flying high. I imagined it was what it would look like if the world melted. The car started to slow to a crawl before Rosco Street Station and Rocky jumped out of his seat.

"Rocky, what did you find out about Finch, anyway?" I asked.

The ferret beamed at me with pride.

"He put a ton of money into a company called Services and Exports Limited. The company is run by Jack Kurbin apparently and they move all kinds of merchandise through there. It's kind of like a re-distribution company I think."

"Huh." I said.

"Something the matter?"

The doors of the car slid open.

"No, nothing's the matter. It's just unexpected, that's all." I smiled.

"Ok. See you later, Nate. Don't forget to call if you need help with that new case."

"I won't forget, Rocky. Take care, buddy."

He waved at me as he stepped out of the car and I returned the gesture. I really needed to get that kid back in school. I still had a while before I reached my stop at Concord Avenue. It gave me some time to think. It had been ten years since I left the military. I got out on medical leave and just never went back. I liked being an investigator a lot better than serving anyway. Rocky's father and I had both been stationed in Korea as members of The Knights. The Knights were and still are an evolution of the Navy's Seals that existed in the early twenty first century. We were America's elite fighting force made up of genetically enhanced soldiers. Our job was to supposedly bring peace to the rest of the world. I saw a lot of things on my tour of duty, but hardly any of them were peaceful. The Knights were prized for their unquestioning loyalty to the United States, but after the violence, killing, and complete disregard for human life I had seen in my first tour, I couldn't do it any longer. It was about that time that some complications from the genetic modifications began flaring up so I took the opportunity to get out while I could. Rocky's father was still stationed somewhere overseas. I had lost contact with him several months ago, but couldn't bring myself to tell the kid. The military doctors had been successful in reversing most of the genetic alterations they had given me for duty in The Knights. I was a member of the very small percentage of people whose body resisted many of the usual gene fiddling procedures, which made it fairly easy to reverse many of them. But I was still left with something that I could never get rid of fully. I looked at my reflection in the window and a tired looking Rottweiler looked back at me.

At least my body didn't have any problem accepting a full animalization. My cold nose twitched. Maybe that's what Ronnie Domingo had meant when he had said he and I were similar. Just because we were both animalized didn't mean it was by choice. Animalization wasn't a requirement to be in The Knights. The military just picked soldiers at random for the varied genetic procedures. Hell, for all I knew, I was meant to be a dog, just like Ronnie claimed to have been a wolf trapped in a human's body. Yeah right. I scratched my furry neck and sighed; sitting forward to adjust my stubby tail behind me. They really should have designed these seats with animalized humans in mind, but no one with any sort of authority cared enough.

The transport car slowed once more and I stepped out of it onto Concord Avenue. My apartment building was a few blocks away from the station and I made it there without incident. The outside door slid open for me as I approached and a robotic doorman asked for my ID. I held up my palm to a rectangular scanner and it glowed green briefly before the inside door slid open as well. I took off my coat and hat, carrying them with me up the stairs. My apartment was only on the third floor after all. The building's interior was slightly older than most with sheetrock and plaster walls. The stairwell was painted beige. I guessed it was supposed to be "homey." The third floor was painted white and the gray carpeting made it seem even more bland than the stairwell. I unlocked my door and stepped inside, hanging my coat and hat on the nearby rack. I stretched as I slipped my suspenders off of my shoulders and loosened my tie. I flicked the switch on the wall and the news hologram began playing in the middle of the living room. Half listening to the reporters, I checked my mail. There was nothing but a few crappy Christmas catalogues and one bill. My floppy ears perked up slightly as I heard the news mention the mayoral race.

"...Franklin Taylor is still showing a lead in the polls tonight despite the promises of the Sweeney camp to ‘step up their game' as voting day draws near."

It looked as though Taylor would sail through on a sound victory unless Germaine or the media dug up some bad dirt about him. A clip of Taylor giving a speech played. He was animalized; a red fox, and was talking about equality as usual. He was wearing a very spiffy looking suit and he did seem very professional. As far as I knew, he was the only animalized human in politics. I didn't know anything about his campaign.

"In other news about the Taylor camp, the candidate's aids have confirmed rumors that he will not marry saying, ‘Franklin Taylor believes that starting a family at this point in his life may create even more obstacles that would be especially difficult for him to overcome because of their personal nature.' Taylor is thirty-nine years old. Back to you Rich-"

I switched off the hologram and went to the living room window. Meridian city didn't look any different from the view in the transport car except that it was stationary. That was the trouble with this city, everything looked the same. I didn't understand what was so bad about a guy not having a wife if he didn't want one. Some voters, through some warped stretch of the imagination may think of it as "un-American" I supposed. Voters like that were few and far between in 2247, however. I went into my tiny kitchen and opened the Readyfridge, pulling out a Takeshi Noodle Bowl. It was the latest fad in instant food from Japan. Putting it down on my table, I pulled the tab on the top of the bowl and watched as the steam rose from the vents in the bottom. Twenty seconds later I was eating the cooked noodles out of the bowl. It tasted too salty as usual, but at least it was food. My apartment was thinly populated since most of my furniture was at the police station in my office. Having finished the bowl of food, I dropped the disposable container into the Readyash incinerator next to the Readyfridge.

I stripped off my clothes as I walked into my bedroom, throwing them onto a nearby chair. I looked at myself in the full length mirror as if deciding if I wanted to keep something. Short black fur covered most of my body. It was only broken by the tan colored fur on my forearms, lower jaw, feet, and the large tan spot that covered the center of my chest down to my upper thighs. I had a few scars from my days as a soldier. The most prominent of which ran from my shoulder to the center of my left pectoral muscle. I was in decent shape, though I probably could have stood to lose a few pounds. I told myself I would get around to that eventually, but I didn't believe me.

People seemed to forget that most animalized humans had been just that: human before being transformed by genetic alteration. Religious nuts had a field day when the first animalized humans became declassified. But since that day in 2165 religious groups had become more accepting of their more feral looking "brothers and sisters." It was unprecedented. For every other issue in history in which something that "goes against God," the religious had been the most against them for the longest. Perhaps it had been a sign of the times. I didn't care. If they left me alone, then whatever else they did had nothing to do with me. Sighing, I scratched my chest idly, turning away from the mirror.

I was about to climb into my bed when there was a knock on my apartment door. What the hell? Who was at my door at three am? I grumbled to myself, grabbing a towel from the closet in my bedroom. In retrospect, I should have put on something else, but I was too lazy to put my pants back on. I wandered over to the door as the person on the other side knocked again. I really wished my door had a peephole. When I opened it, Regina stood outside with her fist raised to knock again. She probably was as shocked as I was, judging from her expression.

"Hi..." I said. I didn't know what else to say.

"Um... I'm really sorry for coming here so late. I didn't know where else to go." Her rabbit ears drooped as she looked at the floor.

"How did you know where I live?" I asked.

"Well there aren't many animalized Nathaniel Wesson's in the city."

I nodded and looked at her more closely this time. She was still dressed in the same suit that I had seen her in earlier, but the Taylor button was missing from her lapel now. She really was quite attractive.

"Come on in, I guess." I said. I was probably going to regret it.

She stood on my doorstep for a few seconds in hesitation. Her pink nose twitched as she crossed the threshold. I locked the door and then gestured for her to take a seat on the small couch in my tiny living room.

"What brings you here anyway?" I asked.

"Lately, some strange men have been following me home from the office." She fidgeted in her seat.

"Do you know why they would do that?"

"No... I mean, maybe. I do handle the donations for Taylor's campaign so maybe they were planning to mug me or something."

"But you don't carry that money with you, right?" I folded my arms over my chest as I leaned against the door frame of the kitchen. Her eyes wandered over my body and I pretended not to notice.

"No, of course not, but they wouldn't know that."

I nodded.

"It's a bit late to be walking home from the office."

"I always work late when it gets this close to voting day. Look, are you just going to stand there, grilling me or can I just get to sleep?"

Smirking, I went into the bedroom to get a blanket for her. When I returned, she had removed her suit jacket and her white blouse. I felt something twitch in my groin at the sight of her breasts. They were covered in white fur, like the rest of her, and both were perfectly round. I gritted my teeth against the feeling in my gut as my thoughts strayed to images of her in illicit positions. Pitching a tent in my towel right now would have been unbelievably awkward. I threw the blanket at her and she smiled at me, making the feeling worse. I wasn't sure if she was trying to get a rise out of me or not.

"If you need anything else, I'll be in the bedroom." I said stiffly.

"Thanks so much." She replied.

She was acting innocent. Or maybe she really was innocent. Some girls could be naive when it came to the control they had over men. I grumbled under my breath as I closed the door to the bedroom behind me, sliding between the cool sheets. I hoped that Regina would be gone by morning.