Shrika: the Hunt Begins
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Warning, Warning!!!
The following story contains rather graphic violence, some really nasty medical experiments, and other things which are definetely not nice. if you are not interested in reading about such things, stop right here! The Author is not responsible in any way for mental, psychological,or other trauma caused by reading this story. On the other hand, if you want to read about a bounty hunter gryphoness, read on!!
The following story is the result of an idea from a nice fur, who said I should try writing a story which does not include any sexual situations; this is the result. I hope you enjoy:) It isn't as complex as some of my other stories, but I kinda like it.
Shrika, Calafin, Naketa, CTI, and all related characters and materials are (c) their respective owners. the Neoworld universe is (c) John Calafin, the Author, Me. All rights reserved, unless you make me break them out;)
Now read on, and I hope you enjoy:)
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Shrike sighed and rolled over in her bed, trying to get comfortable; it had been a very long day, and all she wanted out of the warm mattress and blankets was a good nights sleep. The Hotel she laid in was designed for tourists to this part of France, so the bed was soft, a huge mirror abutted the wall, And the scent of sweet baked goods and fresh cooking from below filled the roomwith a pleasant scent, even at night. Slowly, she let her mind drift, along the paths of her mission, her concerns, her state of mind, her eyes slowly closing, and then snapping awake as she heard a soft sound, tinny but distinctive; someone in the room across the alleyway from hers on the second floor of the hotel had just pulled back the hammer on some type of firearm, her ear cross-checking and finding the sound a bit heavy, slick; definetely something high caliber, possibly bolt action, a rifle.
Instinct took over as she rolled over, the muscular form of the gryphoness landing just as a slug exploded her pillow, spraying feathered shrapnel all over the bed and filling the air with it's debri, the only sound a soft, high pitched *phhfftt* "Definetely high Caliber, and silenced" she thought to herself as she reached under the bed, searching, searching.. there! Her paw grasped her needler from under the bed along with a spare clip, adjusting the rate of fire with one hand as she stayed concealed, hearing a muffled curse from the room across from hers. A male voice, probably canine, and the sound of a bolt being recocked. Quickly glancing over the edge of the bed, the moonlight revealed her, though the shadow concealed her. She stood almost 8 feet tall, her body a mixture of brownish fur on her lower torso, legs, and arms, her upper body a more dusky brown and covered in well preened feathers, leading to a raptors yellow beak and a pair of deep green eyes, staring intently for a moment before going back under cover.
"Definetely an amateur" was her immediate thought, as she quickly popped her arms over the edge of the bed, sighting along where the cursing and the bullet's path intersected, and fired a quick burst, a trio of sharpened alloy flechettes erupting from the pistol, a soft *phew phew phew* their only warning from the compressed air giving them flight. A strangled curse caught her ears a moment later as she smiled, waiting for the curare bulbs inside of the tiny arrows to do their work, staying ducked behind the bed, waiting for the sound of her would be asassin's body hitting the floor.
That mistake, an amateur mistake, almost cost her her life. She heard only a single, deep throated word "Fool!" and split-second later the sound of something metallic landing next to her drew her eye; it was cylindrical, with a mechanism on top missing a handle and ring, and it was also recognizable to any soldier who was still alive. Mentally, she began counting as she jumped over her bed "One" as she literally didn't hit the bed, the force of her leap carrying her over it like her wings would have, at one point. "Two" as a spray of bullets started next to her, silenced, molten bolts of pain tracking closer to her as she reached the window. "Three" as she jumped from the window, the room behind her blossoming in a fount of fire and metal, immolating everything in it, her clothes, her other gear, the furniture, the inendiary grenade insuring absolutely nothing would survive, secondary explosions from her spare ammo adding to the conflagration.
Landing on the ground in a cat's crouch, wings around herself protectively, she sprinted against the side of the building, directly under her attackers balcony, using the cover from him to quickly change magazines with the one spare she had in hand, smiling grimly as she waited a moment, listening to see if he was running. Having not heard a door slam, she decided to check on him; Jumping up, she kicked at the wall of the building, hard, sending her flying towards the other wall next to where her room burned, Her bare feet letting her cats claws dig in for grip, kicking that wall in turn as she did a good imitation of a pinball, her final jump letting her sumersault and land on the balcony, and then softly curse as she took in the room.
Her eyes glowed green a moment, the only sign of her 'enhancements', the darkvision scope they'd built into her eyes letting her see everything clearly in an off greenish white. The second asassin was gone, and the first one, a young wolf male, was dead, his throat slit by his partner to insure his silence, the smell of his death only seconds old. The mausberg sniping rifle he'd been using was lying beside him, a bullet loaded in the chamber. Leaning down, she used her claw to insure no fingerprints as she carefully dug through the corpse's clothes; no wallet, no ID, nothing but some money, her picture, and a pocket bible, probably some kind of lucky charm which hadn't worked this time. Taking the bible and money, she sighed and then glanced down at herself, cursing again; She'd gone to bed naked, and hadn't grabbed any clothes, the inferno her room had become insuring she had both no clothes or money to buy more for the time being, save the pittance her would be asassin had.
Glancing around, and with a guilty look on her face, she gave a mental command and looked down, a small compartment opening in her leg, revealing a space for her needler and the two clips she had remaining, as well as the bible. Placing them in it, she closed it, cursing herself for having to use it; she despised having that little reminder of what she'd become forced on her, but she had no choice. Walking to the door to the room, she worked up a few tears, made sure her feathers looked properly unkempt but that her bosom looked good, they were a bit big for her build, but then, they'd been designed to look good, both young and firm but also qute motherly. Having checked, and finding her long tail even looked a tiny bit burned, but not enough to even bother her, she opened the door, seeing several scared faces looking back at her, eyes going wide at the seemingly injured, naked amazon gryphoness who'd just walked into the hotel 2nd floor, and headed downstairs.
She forced herself not to smile as the Matre'd, A rather heavyset Black bear, dropped his jaw and his pen at her appearance, looking properly distressed as she explained she'd been sleeping, heard a noise, and been blown out of her room by the fire, landing on his balcony across the narrow european alleyway. He nodded his head, her ears picking up distant sirens approaching quickly as she sat down, mentally noting his eyes half glancing at her naked bosom. "Good" she thought to herself, he wouldn't ask too many questions. Lifting her head, she asked, feigning a cough, if she could please have a drink. The first sip of a very nice Pinot Noir wine was just going down her throat as the police pulled up, and she turned to the door, crossing one leg as she waited for the officers to come in "Just another one of those nights" she sadly thought to herself as the policeman came in, and she again began her act.
Sitting at the local police precinct, clad in only a warm blanket they'd given her, she listened with one ear-tuft to the conversations going on, her mind preoccupied with other things. She hadn't asked for this life, Hadn't wanted this life, but it was a choice she'd made and lived with every day. Thinking back, she still remembered when she had been a Shi, back to the war. She'd been EOD, handling minefields, body booby traps, and other such nastiness war on the scale of the Human/Fur war tended to leave behind. Of course, the humans had been gotten imaginative; No one had ever thought they'd plant a claymore inside one of their own dead, but they had, and she'd paid the price. She lost her arms and legs, most of the front of her body, her maleness... She'd been a bloody torso and head, with massive internal injuries, when the medics had arrived. Somehow she'd not bled out, died from shock, or had serious head trauma beyond losing her eyes and eardrums.
They'd given her a choice; they could let her die, could let her heal and live as a torso for what remained of her natural existence, or rebuild her, using some of the technology the humans had made, to make her live again, but with certain costs. She'd never liked implants, but to live, to walk again, she had to have more of them put in her than any sentient had ever had done and survived. The choice was easy. Most beings didn't know about what she was, and she preferred it that way. Now, she hunted the remaining human leaders and their followers, human and fur, trying to bring them to the international court so they could be given a trial and 'justice'. Living as she was, feeling like half a living being, she sometimes wondered exactly what kind of justice could match the crimes they had commited. At least she had backup; The CTI corporation, the business founded by the uppity dolphin morph who'd ended the war, paid her for every one of those devils she brought in, and paid her well, as well as providing her equipment and occassional backup, despite her being termed a 'freelancer' by the company and not letting on they did anything but pay her. She wondered if the young dolphin had anyting to do with that arrangement; his 'wife', a herm orca, had helped in her rebuilding, and she still remembered hir face and voice checking on her daily in the ICU.
Hearing a few choice words from the surrounding police station, she pulled herself from her revery and glanced up, making herself smile as the police chief, a well built panther, walked up to her and kneeled, giving her an answering smile. "Madame', I am so sorry about what has occurred; we have checked, and it seems to have been an attack by a nationalist group, or possibly terrorisits; we have had to hand the case over to the government for investigation. " Nodding slowly, she mimed being worried they would be caught, then accepting the chief's apologies, and asking where she might get some clothes. She also made certain to ask him not to reveal her picture to the press, so her family would not worry. Nodding, he called a leiutenant over, and a few moments later she had some ill-fitting clothes to wear, a bright pink, long dress that hid her legs fairly well but made her breasts stick out like a pair of mountains, a sigh coming from her "Is this the best available? I look like a woman from the red-light district". Shaking his head in apolegy, the officer apolegized and said it was the 'biggest' dress they had, anything smaller would rip apart from her height.
Nodding again with a sigh, she asked if she might be allowed to leave. After giving them one of several false cellphone numbers she had, actually, one from an old boyfriend, she was allowed to go, immediately looking for both a phone and a dress shop. Stepping outside, she realized she had lost track of time; it was early morning, the sun just starting to shine his light on the streets, people on bikes and in small cars driving down the roads as pedestrians walked into shops for breakfast. Focusing her eyes ahead, she tried to ignore the stares her dress and appearance were causing; After all, even in france, one did not frequently see a 8 foot tall gryphoness in an ill-fitting pink dress, and this was a more suburban part of france as well, she may be the first gryphoness they'd ever seen. Finally spotting a store dedicated to tall or large furs, she ducked inside, giving a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her and she glanced around.
The store was typical for this part of France, meaning not too large, but thankfully with a high ceiling, and she immediately glanced around, making sure there were no ambushers waiting for her. Paranoia in her line of work was not a problem, it was an asset, and she smiled as she saw the place passed muster; if there was an attacker waiting for her, they either could hide inside a dress, or turn invisible. Satisfied, she began browsing, a giraffe femme gladly helping her as she found something suitable, a nice shirt and a pair of flexible shorts, letting her access some of the parts of herself she sometimes had to, despite hating doing it.
Walking into a private changing room, she reached into the compartment on her leg, drawing out a credit chit she used to pay for the dresses; it could be traced, but all her cash had been burned along with her equipment, and she didn't want to use her assasins cash, it could be useful as a trace. Glancing over the edge of the door to insure privacy, she changed and replaced the card in the hidden compartment, having made certain it had survived the night intact, then changed to the bluejean shorts and soft brown shirt she'd purchased, smiling as she came out, and accepting an unexpected kiss on the cheek from the giraffe; A wink a moment later told her what she needed to know, and she smiled, thanking her, but saying she had to go, the female nodding sadly and wishing her well. A moment later, the clothes were paid for, and she headed to the door, giving the Giraffe a last long smile.
Stepping out, she resumed her search for a phone, her mind wandering a moment; the giraffe had wanted to bed her, no question, but physical pleasure was one of those things she did not let occur when she was on mission. The loss of her maleness had almost turned her into a neuter, but she had learned to be comfortable as a bi female rather than a herm, and didn't mind company when she wasn't focused on a hunt. "Maybe after this, I can go back and visit her" was her thought as she finally found a phone, her senses having been perked and alert the entire time for anything unusual; She'd found out long ago how to think and stay alert at the same time.
Glancing one final time, she stepped into a properly hidden public phone, then tapped the side of her head three times in quick succession before dialing the number. The number she dialed would be scrambled, and if not for the head implant would sound like a mixture of fish burping and heavy metal music. Confirming herself, she explained the circumstances, and arranged for some equipment to be sent to a local drop point, also updating on her status. Three taps on her head and a click later, she set the phone back down and headed out, still keeping an eye out; she was a hunter, but she was being hunted, and she knew it. The growl of her stomache reminded her that, despite being more than half metal, she still needed food, but that would have to wait until after her drop.
She had to admit to herself, one thing she liked about France was that you could walk almost anywhere, or bike, if you liked. It took her only an hour to walk to a Local safehouse, keeping herself alert for any troubles. It seemed her assassin was lying low for a while, which was good; it meant he was practiced, but not fanatical in hating her, simply being proffessional. And proffessional's could be reasoned with. Pausing at the outside of the CTI-Tech outlet, she checked one last time, then stepped into the back freight entrance, opening a hatch in the floor and descending a set of well lit steps leading into a large concrete bunker where their spare merchandise was kept. A pair of armed guards greeted her, and a quick passcode and DNA test let her pass, entering a secure chamber where a muscular common dolphinina shirt and jeans sat at a desk, eyeing her, then grinning.
"Shrika? Sounds like you had quite a night last night" Letting her guard down just a moment, she laughed "You could say that... good thing I had your credit card, or I would have been wandering the streets of france naked." The common smirked "and that would be bad how?". Sitting in the chair across from him, she couldn't stop herself from smiling; She didn't know his name, but the common across from her had been a big help to her on more occassions then she cared to count, and was one of the few beings she ever let herself relax around. Standing, he opened a wooden box, glanced inside, and then chittered to her "Jeez, you lost everything but the kitchen sink."
Nodding, she watched as he pulled out a number of items from the box, each one replacing something she'd lost. First, a fresh set of 6 clips for her needler, which were quickly checked and then placed back in the secret compartment inside her leg, each set holding a different payload. The next items were a quartet of micro-grenades, two smoke and a pair of HE's, the size of ping png balls, all placed in a second compartment on her other leg, sighing as she disliked letting herself see her inner mechanics, but then she'd bought shorts to be able to access them. Beside the grenades went two Small but potent Gel explosive canisters. Next was a small bundle of Neo-Euros, and a small wallet containing the usual false ID, concealed weapons, and other permits she'd need for day to day activities. Last came the gimmicks; She felt like a guinea pig sometimes, trying out some new Gizmo the CTI labs had come up with, but they frequently came in handy.
Holding out her hand, she accepted a watch, eyeing it and then glancing up at him with one eye curiously. "it's a perfectly normal watch, but... if you tune it to "alarm" mode and hit the 'set' button three times fast, it'll act as a EM scrambler... cellphones, radios, you name it, all it'll get is background static. It draws on power through your arm, but it'll run by itself like that for about half an hour. Range of about, eh, call it 500 or so feet." Nodding, she put it on, wincing a moment as she felt some kind of probe slide out into her arm and make a connection, the watch lighting up and starting as she sighed, glancing at her arm; now matter how often she tried to, there was no denying what she was.
Accepting a bracelet, she eyed it, noticing several LED's mounted along one side. Putting it on, she made sure thet they faced towards her hand, and pressed a recessed button on it. The resulting mixture of white and infrared light was enough to almost blind the common had he not covered his eyes, and her eyes engaged their glare filters as she gasped and then turned it back off "Lemme guess, blinder weapon?" "yeh.. and you almost got me, so ask next time?" grinning at him "why, so you can keep staring at my tits?" she got a soft chuckle from him "okay, you got me on that one" and then purred, eyeing her new jewelry "not bad at all". The final gimmick was a small ring with a large stone on the top of it; Glancing up at him and noting a small chain hanging from it with a tiny plug on the end, she erfed and plugged the wire in, looking up at him in question. Grinning like a cheshire cat, he tapped the stone three times, and one of her eyes suddenly saw the room from the rings perspective, including the hint of pink on his belly the shirt normally hid, and three taps again brought her vision back to normal. "Fiber optic?" was her reply as she eyed him, taking note of the pink belly and filing it away in her mind as he nodded "Let you see around corners." Nodding, she began her debriefing.
Describing her encounter with the assassins took up the rest of the hour she had allotted for talking with him, but before she left, he smiled and handed her a number of papers, and a map "near as we can tell, this is his Chateu' , hon... He's got visibility 5 miles in all directions, a little village underneath, and enough armed guards the local police force doesn't want to mess with him. The castle is being 'refurbished' and the guards are explained as keeping thieves away" Glancing at the map, she paused, reading a name, and then glancing at him "you're kidding, right? This is his house?" Shaking his head, the common chittered softly "Yeh, I know, talk about pretentious.. And it gets worse..." Eyeing him, she trilled "Worse as in...? " Sighing, he glanced at her "The Minister of Defense has taken a *personal* interest in the restoration of the chateu, and we believe he may be the one secreting your target inside; Gods know what on earth he could be having that madman create, if he's let him be up to his old tricks. "
Nodding slowly, she eyed the blueprints for the restored Castle of the Marque De' Sade, chittering softly to herself as well; A place's name dictated it's character, and you didn't get much more Famous for causing pain than the Marque De' Sade. Handing him back the map, she chittered "Okay, got it memorized" and then trilled "Sounds like the kind of place a girl could get all warm in" "Yeh, if you're into that kind of thing.. Give me a nice girl, a hot-tub, and massage lotion"
Standing, she winked at him "You charmer.." and then turned, giving him an off-hand salute "I know the usual, I was never here.. now go find a girl and visit a hot-spring" and left, the guards letting her pass as he watched her go "that's the sad part" he thought to himself as she left "the one girl I want, and she's off to try and avoid getting killed". Leaving via the same secret door she came in on, she carefully snuck out of the loading dock, glancing with her darksight to try and make out any hidden amsbushers. Being winter, she hadn't realized she'd spent much more than her alloted hour, it was getting towards dusk. Seeing none, she slowly walked to a small, family run hotel, which also happened to be owned by people who worked part-time for CTI and were used to high-security clients, booked herself a room and paid with cash, teh began looking for a place to eat.
Her stomach would betray her normal stealthiness if she didn't eat something, after all, and her body needed fuel just as her limbs needed energy. Finding a rather nice Bistro, she stepped inside after checking for any concealed attackers within or without. The owner, an eagle with brown coloration, was happy to serve her, and she suspected, would have done much more if his wife wasn't serving customers in the foyer. Having acquired a rather healthy serving of veal alfredo, some saute'd vegetables with dipping sauces, and a good bottle of wine, she returned to the hotel, taking time to enjoy one of the few pleasures she could really enjoy, a good, tasty meal. Her stomach handled, and, having been able to relax a good deal from such sumptuous food, she meditated.
Resting, she kept having strange dreams; a dark place, lit by electric torches, being strapped to the walls, the face of her target, laughing, his face changed via cosmetic surgery so unless you could trace all the transactions, only his DNA gave him away as being who he was. The visions were full of darkness, malice, and pain, and when she finally awoke with a gasp, scarcely rested, she was also on a knife's edge, forcing herself to calm down as the last image of his laughing face wavered and vanished in her minds eye. Pausing a moment, she Pondered if he could have a mage on his side; Magic was very, very new, but that didn't stop various beings from trying to use it towards their own ends.
Getting up and stretching, she clothed herself, making sure to groom her feathers and keep her appearance slick and trim; the last thing she needed was to look scruffy and even more out of place then she already was. Pondering, she was able to figure out a possible way into the castle, though finding her target within a building the size of a medievel castle was not going to be an easy task for anyone. And being the only gryphon in several dozen square kilometers, she couldn't count on him being foolish and not suspecting she was who she was. Slowly dressing herself, she smiled at herself in the mirror; She'd had at least two beings visibly aroused at her, and while she refused to let it go to her head, She couldn't help but enjoy the fact, if only for a moment, that she was still attractive. Having sated her ego, she finished dressing herself, going downstairs and making some inuquiries with the owners, finding it was mid-day, which worked with her plans perfectly.
Heading back to the CTI Depot, she explained her plans to the common, deciding not to let her knowledge of his feelings be known; it would be more fun to tease him later, and she was on mission. Chuckling, he agreed with her plan, made some phone calls, and a short while later, she was driving to the Chateu, dressed in the uniform of a French Health Inspector, complete with ID's, detection equipment, and papers dictating her inspecting the restoration to insure no contamination from either the construction/restoration or from the ancient soil was posing a health hazard. Pausing a moment to insure her shirt properly hugged her form, she wanted the guards to remember her bosom, not her face, she stopped at the gate leading to the village, a sign to it's left proudly proclaiming the village's former master, below an image of a male human, the marqui, apparently, solemnly holding a large whip.
Tempted to cluck her tongue at the taste of the sign, she looked up, and had to admit, the Chateu did indeed look like someting from a horror film; Spotlights illuminated the exterior, the interior lit by Various lamps as the last fading rays of the sun bathed it in orange and red, like a huge pool of blood hung in the air surrounding it, the dark stone Castle looking at the same time foreboding and almost sad, as though reluctant to admit the things which had occurred within it's walls. With a bit less eagerness, she drove up the winding road in the middle of town, following all the roadsigns and keeping under the speed limit, not wanting to draw attention to herself, as she reached a guarded gate and profferred her papers to a muscular otterwith an american flag bandanna, letting him have enough time to read them before huffing, looking properly indginant "If you please, this is my last job, and I have a husband waiting for me back at home"
The otter seemed to accept her story, Assuming, like most westerners did, that french inspectors were snooty; though she knew they were no different then others, playing up the stereotype, sadly, frequently let her get in places where being polite would raise eyebrows. Handing her back her papers, he gave her directions, letting her in the gate and then shutting it behind her as she drove up, finding the Chateu, if anything, more intimidating up close rather then less. It felt as though the castle was leaning over atop her, trying to crush her beneath it's weight. Parking the car where she was told to, she pulled out her equipment, all of it quite real, though with a few extra's, and walked dutifully up to the large wooden doors surmounting the front of the castle, Knocking on them three times "French Health Services, I am here to Inspect the Premises!"
Hearing several foot-steps, she glanced and noticed a large metal plate in the front of one of the doors, and a moment later it opened, revealing the eyes of what looked like a badger. "We are closed for the evening Madame', the workers have all gone home. Please return in the morning" Shaking her head, she stood up a bit, making sure he got a very good view of her breasts as she chittered "this is my last stop for the evening, and Tommorrow is my day off! Kindly let me in, I will be as quick as I can."
Grumbling, the badger looked down, and she heard several very large, old sounding locks undo themselves, and the door, easily half again as tall as her, opened to reveal the badger staring up at her, arms crossed "Make it fast, your inspectors were here only two weeks ago, and I have no interest in the repairs being delayed!" Nodding, she pulled out her equipment, then glanced at it, making sure everything was in working order as she glanced around the room; most of the walls were intact, some showing restoration, with large banners on the completed walls for the tourist groups that got in, showing the Chivalry of the Marque De Sade', among other things, her equipment giving a soft, affirmitive *beep* as she nodded "Shall we start in the basement then? Most likely place for trouble."
Throwing his arms up in mock surrender, the badger nodded and walked her through the kitchen and down the great hall, the banners making her feel as though she had been transported back several centuries, an intruder in a place the modern world was never intended to enter. Stopping, he pointed down a spiral staircase "Down there... don't hit your head on the roof, our Giraffe foreman is still recovering from doing that." Nodding, she crouched, carefully walking down the stairs, pondering why the Badger hadn't gone with her; it was exactly what she wanted, which meant there was probably something highly unpleasent at her destination. After traveling down what felt like two or three stories worth of stairs, she finally reached the bottom, and found she could stand, the room in front of her lit by a few pale lamps, holding mostly construction supplies, the areas which were unlit as dark as a fresh grave, dry straw on the floor soaking up the condensation from the earth.
Hearing a soft ping, she glanced down at her equipment, unable to resist a grin appearing on her beak. The tools she had tested for things allright, but not mold or fungi; by using a small piece of her targets DNA linked into a device normally used for detecting diseases, she'd been able to make an ad-hoc sniffer whch beeped more the closer she got to her target, based on the presence of his DNA from his breath, dust, and other such things. Sweeping the detecter, it beeped a bit more aimed at the far wall, and she began following it, the beeps alerting her like an electronic bloodhound. Reaching down, she silenced it, so as to not give herself away, following a flashing light atop it as it slowly pulsed faster and faster.
Looking up, she eyed what the bloodhound had brought her to; a flat wall of the same stone as the rest of the castle. Glancing behind her, she made certain no-one hid in the shadows, her eyes glowing green a moment as the existing light was amplified, showing her everything as though under a noon sun. Having made certain a surprise didn't wait in the shadows, she began inspecting the wall, feeling for any detail, recessed button, something to trigger what any good medievel castle had; a secret door.
Having not found the button, she glanced around the room again, then at the floor. She almost smacked herself as she saw an area had been disturbed just in front of the wall, and carefully brushing away the hay and finding a metal hatch of some type, and a button beside it. Putting the sniffer back into it's pouch on her back, she reached under her pants and pulled her needler out, checking to make sure it was allright, and tapped the button next to the hatch, not knowing what to expect.
She could hear a soft grinding, and few moments later the hatch opened, revealing an elevator rising up, just large enough to fit three furs, or two rather heavyset ones, the entire thing enclosed in metal mesh, and looking sturdy enough to handle some rather heavy cargo. Letting it finish rising, she slowly walked over, inspecting it for traps or other surpises. Her onyl discovery was a retinal scanner, which had already been bypassed, a lump forming in her throat as she stepped into it, slid her needler into her pocket, and pushed the button for the floor below, which was labeled "reinforcement" in permenant marker next to it. Feeling like she was descending into the maw of a shark, she let the elevator slowly descend, every sense on edge.
Though it felt as though it took forever, she knew the ride only went down through ten feet of earth, only the light from the control panel providing illumination. As the elevator finished it's descent, she readied herself, not knowing if it was alarmed, and if so, what would be waiting for her. Crouched, her body was tense as a wire as her ride completed, revealing a small foyer, walled and covered in metal plate save a large, airlock style door on the far wall, a set of nozzles on either side and above, warning signs around them showing them to dispense disenfectant, her eyes confirming the entire room was also bathed in Ultraviolet light, drains in the floor indicating the fluids involved were not meant to dissolve or poison everyone, since they'd be gone before permanent damage could be done.
Holding her breath, she stepped carefully into the room, and found that without stepping on the pressure plate, the airlock wouldn't open. The mission had gone beyond her normal parameters at this point, but she was not going to fail, not when he could be performing his experiments again. Stripping herself of her clothes, she put her needler in her leg, leaving the uniform and sniffer in the elevator, and stepped on the plate. A hot mist sprayed over her, reeking of alcohol and cleansing chemicals, the smell just beginning to burn her nostril nares before hidden vents opened and a massive blast of air hit her from all directions, forcing it both onto her skin through her feathers and fur, and then down onto the drains below her. It took just 15 seconds, but those 15 seconds felt like she was in a tornado in a janitors bucket. Finally, the wind receeded, and a small green light went on above the airlock. Looking back, she saw that the elevator doors had sealed, a silent curse in her mind as she remembered Standard procedure for any cleanroom was to do such.
Having no choice, she retrieved her needler, intact, from within her leg, grimacing at having to face again what she had become, and stepped naked into the small foyer beyond the airlock door, eyes casting about for anything suspicious. The room beyond was Spartan, holding only a couple chairs, a painting of birds in flight, and a small side table, facing a glass window. She could instantly see the window was dark and unoccupied, something which again raised her suspicions; This was being far too easy. There should have been an alarm in the elevator, an army of guards waiting for her when she stepped out of the cleanroom, they should have put knock-out gas in the disinfector; a hundred things which she would have done, but which they had not. The hallway smelled of cleaning, of disenfectant, metal, and little else, like a hospital.
Seeing a door next to the window, she approached it, wincing as it opened automatically with a soft hiss, ducking to one side to avoid any incoming opponents; but none materialized. Glancing, she slowly walked through the door, looking to her left, then to her right, proceeding through another door and looking straight ahead as it opened, then gasping, her arms coming up instinctively as they saw the form of a wolf, braced against a wall; Then her eyes went wide, as the wolf was not braced against the wall, he was hanging from it, like a banner, eyes long dead and glossed over staring at her, tongue lolling from his mouth, his arms, legs, and torso cut open and covered in clear plastic to reveal the inner workings like a piece of art, the entire corpse behind a panel of clear acrylic. The plastic covered any scent of decay, freezing him in place like a butterfly on display in a case.
Forcing down some of her dinner, she eyed the wolf sadly "Well, at least I know my target is the real thing." Mentally she skimmed through his file: Dr. Richard Pike, a.k.a. "the furry mangelia" or "Mangler", Performed tests on furs similar to those performed during WWII on prisoners by Nazi doctors to ascertain survival in extreme states, known Sadist, considers his work "art", Wanted for Crimes against sentients, including attempted Genocide, Torture, wanton Brutality, Slavery: Apprehend, Alive or Dead." Standing erect again, she wanted to spit on the floor; There was no way this was being done without government assistance, and anyone who would allow a beast like Pike to start again deserved no mercy.
Walking soundlessly on her footpads, she catwalked to the wolf, saying a silent prayer for his soul, and glanced around, seeing a hallway gallery of Similarly splayed furs, a good 8 or 10, all mounted on the walls in various positions, faces frozen in screams of pain or quiet looks of surrender, A series of surgical tables beneath them all ready to be used, their cleanliness belying their purposes, her eyes focusing on the door at the end of the macabre art gallery, fighting down the inner fear which screamed to run, that they would somehow come alive and assault her, the art subjects watching through dead eyes silently as she walked to the door, listening for voices, and let it open, alert for anyone coming.
As the door opened, she heard a trio of voices talking, one in french, the other two in American english, as she pressed herself against a wall, listening with one ear-tuft as the other stayed alert for anyone, or anything, incoming. The french voice kept saying something about wanting "results" while the American voice, sounding quite haughty, replied that it was better not to rush things, lest the 'weapons' become unstable. Feeling her gut tighten, she slowly approached, then ducked back as she saw in the next room a number of scientists, mostly fur, with a couple humans, all working on machinery and also performing surgery of some type on unconscious furs, all under the watchful gaze of several well armed french special forces furs.
Glancing up, she realized the voices were coming through an air-vent, the three figures visible through a small door in the back of the lab room. One, a heavyset mutt dog, was clad in a general uniform, and she recognized as the Minister of Defense, which would make him the french voice, Sitting across from him, behind a desk, was a muscular male human, which she recognized as her target, the plastic surgery that was done to him having changed his face but not his voice. Standing next to the target was a being she'd never seen before, possibly a bodyguard. A midnight black fox, standing almost as tall as her, Muscles rippling under his shirt, arms crossed as he stared at the defense minister, only speaking, and in a very soft voice, when asked to by her target.
Glancing in the room in front of them, she realized with growing horrer that the doctors were installing bionics like hers in the unconscious furs, ranging from some type of body armor fused to their ribcages, to some type of myomer going in their muscles, even to one wolf who's eyes had been replaced with some type of optical system; They were making super soldiers. Listening with renewed interest to the three coming through the airvent, she listened as the Minister argued they needed to be ready for deplyment, and also asking if the mindwipe procedure had worked. Her grip tightened as Pike told him not to worry, he preferred to use already trained personnel, but they had no personalities left and would be highly suggestible, and that no-one would miss them anyway as they were homeless to begin with. The Minister started to speak again, but the doctor made a shushing motion, telling him they would be ready within a month, they would need time to heal.
This would explain the lack of personnel and guards; you couldn't have too many of them without someone letting out a secret like this, and one word was one too many. The lack of guards and greeting people was to insure no-one saw the defense minister here, or saw the labs. Using the ring, she eyed the entire work-room, finding three doorways plus the meeting room where her target hid. Listening with one ear to the conversation, she made out mention of moving to a larger facility soon, and that the defense minister would be leaving in a few minutes. It was time For her to move, whether she wanted to or not.
Glancing up at the air-vent above her, she decided on a plan; not the best, but far from the worst, either. Biting down any complaints about her form, she needed it now, whether she liked it or not, she retrieved a smoke grenade from her leg, and reached up, glad she was taller then most furs as she used her claws and undid the airvent, slid the grenade in, set the fuse to 10 seconds, and then replaced the vent, heading back to the gallery and waiting as she counted down. 3 seconds before the smoke grenade would go off, she hit the fire alarm next to a statue made of a screaming Puma, trying to keep her nerves steady as a blaring alarm began sounding, a loud *Shttttttt...* sounding from the hallway a moment later as the smoke grenade disgorged itself into the airvents, A quick dash back to the hallway abutting the surgical labs revealing panicking doctors, confused guards, and a black haze and sulferous smell disgorging from the roof vents down onto the resulting mob. Running past the observation windows, she yanked open one of the doors that led into the hallway, and yelled into the room "Quickly, Evacuate, this way!" in french.
Like a herd of Cattle, the doctors ran toward her and through the door, heading both down the hallway towards the gallery and eventually the elevator, some others running down the other side of the hallway towards some secondary as yet unknown destination. Letting the panicking whiteshirts through, she reached around the doorway, waiting for a billow of smoke before grabbing one of the guards by the throat, crushing his airway as she yanked him through, a moments work with her paws snapping his neck to stop any struggling and letting her carry away a few meters away, doing her best ot ignore the smell of his death, quickly putting on his pants, though tearing them from her different waist size, also putting on his helmet and bullet resistent vest, then finally his belt with ammo, grabbing his M16A1 with a gloved hand as she ran back to the room, not knowing how many more seconds of smoke she would have before the filters would clear the air.
Pausing just out of visual range, she again yelled into the door, this time letting what had been her maleside dominate, hoping it would sound something like the former guard who's clothes she wearing, crying out that the fire was getting closer, to get the minister and doctor out, hoping that in the confusion she might just pull this off. Her answer came as a burst of automatic gunfire blew through the pane next to the door, a shot which would have killed her if she was stupid enough to be standing next to the door, a mingled waft of surgical disenfectact and sulferous smoke filling her nares. Gritting her beak, she decided that it was time to drop the charade, pointing the barrel of the guards rifle around the corner and letting off quick bursts in the general area she remembered three of the guards being, surprising herself as she heard two sharp yelps of pain, and only one grunt, not having expected to get two with such wild shots.
A moment later, a distinctive metal clicking bounced next to her a she Cursed "Not AGAIN!" and did a leaping roll into the labs as the concussion grenade went off behind her, shattering glass and spraying the unconscious furs under surgery with razor shrapnel, sending two of their heart monitors into deadline and adding to the general cacephony as she came up from her roll at the feet of a guard, instinct taking over as she drove a clawed hand between his legs, grabbing what she found and yanking, hard, then pulling him in front of herself as he screamed, letting his body absorb two bursts of gunfire from the remaining special forces troops, quickly grabbing another concussion grenade from the screaming Beagles belt and throwing it at her remaining attackers, the smoke concealing the canister long enough for it to land next to the boots
of one. The resulting explosion ended his and his partners attempts on her life and covered the dying canine above her with a mixture of metal, glass, and chemicals, putting him out of his misery as she threw him aside, giving the room a quick glance to see if any more of them were hiding in the shrpanel and confusion of the combat, trying to ignore the mingled scents of raw and cooked meat, chemicals, and smoke.
It had been perhaps 30 seconds since she'd thrown the alarm, and the air was finally clearing itself, all of the guards and most of the surgical captives now dead, their corpses revealed as the smoke and other aeriel deitrus was sucked away, the fire alarm still going as she glanced at the door to the anteroom containing her quarry. Before she could take another step closer, an explosion blew the door out, the bent metal hulk and shattered glass that remained of it spraying against the wall next to the door she'd entered, and she ducked under a upturned surgical table as through the smoke, the Black Fox appeared, holding what looked like an automatic cannon, the eyering letting her see his eyes seem to glow a moment as he surveyed the room, growling "Come out Bitch, I know you're in here!"
Mentally cursing, she considered her options as she eyed him silently, trying to find a weakness as he swiveled, looking like a character from a video game as he rotated on his feet like a turret "If I'd known you were going to cause this much trouble, I would have killed you at the hotel! Come out and get your just rewards..." She forced down any nervousness; this was her asassin then, who'd killed off his own trainee rather than risk him speaking. Not a good sign. Growling again, he aimed, firing a shell into the far end of the room, silencing all but two of the remaining surgical victims and launching a surgical table into the air, the metallic board clanging down next to her and resting atop the one giving her cover as she tried to make sense of him using that cannon, it had to weight at least 50 kilos, and he had no harness for it. Silently, she drew out her needler, switching it to lionfish venom, and waiting for an opening.
After eyeing the room again, he looked back into the room "She's gone, or in the hallway, come on" and he carefully guarded Doctor Pike as he came out and glanced, then shook his head "Such a waste! We'll need to accelerate things" and a moment later, the Defense Minister came out, giving a yelp as he surveyed the room "What is this!?! this was not in any of our plans, how will I explain the dead scientists?!?!" Turning to him, the fox growled "Silence, or you'll join them! France is not the only country seeking our services..." The Minister brought himself to his full height, then growled "We'll See, Ebon, We'll see..." and followed the two as they headed for the door.
Now was going to be her only chance, and she hated risking it, but it was this or lose her quarry. Taking aim, she waited for the fox to have his gun in the doorway as he stepped through, then let loose with three needles, aimed precisely for his head, neck, and throat, the soft *pfft* of her needlers gas covered by the groaning of nearly dead guards, sparking equipment, and small fires, or so she thought. As the first needle left her gun, his head turned to look exactly where she lay hidden behind the two tables, ears perked, his jaw opening just enough to yelp "What?!" as the first needle sank into the surface of his neck skin, the second striking at his spine and sinking deep into the flesh, the third ricocheting off his vest and bouncing into the hall as he fell back, his nerves in spasm from the deadly neurotoxin working it's worst on his spinal column.
Watching him fall, her eyes went wide as she saw his; they were indeed glowing red, artifical, and she realized that he had been augmented as well, and she didn't know to what degree. Her panicked leap from between the tables barely beat his finger, as he forced it into a convulsive twitch, a 30mm shell landing alsmot exactly where she had been hiding, sending both surgical tables flying, her wings coming out and blocking most of the shrapnel, the combination of kevlar and alloy spars in them letting them absorb most of the small shrapnel as she rolled to the far side of the room and jumped through a shattered pane of glass, landing a few bare feet in front of her target, her needler aimed at his head as she stood "Doctor Pike, You are hereby placed under arrest, on orders of the international court for crimes against sentients. Come quietly, and you won't be harmed."
Placing a clawed foot on his back, she quickly changed clips, for once glad as his eyes grew large at the compartment in her leg, his gasp of recognition making her slightly warm inside at his words "I designed that system! You Damn furs stole my Cybernetics!" Lifting her foot, she grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up, and looking into his eyes "No, We improved them doctor.. If only you'd bothered to learn some respect, you would be working to save lives, not destroy them." Stepping over, she glanced down at the French Defense Minister as he pulled himself to his feet and stared at her wide-eyed "What are you doing!?! He is under my political Asylum!"
A look of raw disgust covered her face as she gazed at him "Yes, I see what kind of Asylum.. you can expect a letter from the Court shortly concerning your involvement.. Minister.." She rather enjoyed the yelp he gave as the Tranquilizer flechette buried itself into his groin, a soft chuckle in her mind as she knew he would never reveal a wound *there* to the general public, his eyes rolling in the back of his head as he collapsed like a sack of grain to the floor. A low growl from her was enough to force Pike to show her a way out not involving the Chateu, a secret railway running to a small hillside a good kilometer from the lab. The Cab smelled old, rotten, like it hadn't been maintained in some time. As they rode in the train cab, she saw hundred of labrooms sitting empty and under construction, all along the length of the trainline, and realized just how much she'd stopped. The possibility of hundreds of augmented furs acting as france's new army, with the good doctor as their creator, and the defense minister she'd left behind as their general, sent a shiver down her spine. it could have been another fur/human war.
As the cab came to the end of the line, she eyed him "You had plans, didn't you?" Shaking his head, he stared at her, then tilted his head, giving her a grin "Plans? I have plans beyond what you can imagine, little Hen.. this is a minor setback, nothing more. And I was not even the one in charge; Someday, My children, beings like you, will insure this world belongs to it's rightful owners again." Smiling at him, she trilled "You know... the bounty is for you alive or dead... I think I might just take the smaller ransom" The flechette which dug into his leg only made him sleep, but the look on his face, of facing death, was enough to assuage her nerves as she used the Telephone at the end of the line and contacted CTI, Asking for a discrete and quick exit. It took only 20 minutes for the Bus to arrive, as she sat, eyeing the doctors form, lying sleeping on the floor of the train cab. But it was far too long for her mind, mulling over what he'd said.
After having dropped off the good doctor pike in the care of sanctioned international agents to be spirited to the court for a public trial, she collected her bounty from the Common dolphin at the local CTI office, and smiled at him "Hon, put me to 'on-call' vs active, I need a little break..." Nodding, the dolphin made some notation in his palm computer, and trilled at her "Tough mission, eh? enjoy your break" Smiling she nodded "I will.. on one condition..." Glancing up at her, he tilted his head "Yes?" A soft chuckle came from her as she handed him a note "be at this hotel room in 6 hours... with a bottle of massage lotion" The smile he gave her reminded her that sometimes, you can make miracles come true, even if for someone else. Leaving the office, she pondered if he'd show up on time. And he did.
Epilogue:
In darkness, a pair of small, flickering, red lights suddenly glowed bright again, a loud groan coming from their owner as he stood upright, glancing with distaste at the needles sticking from his body like a pincushion. Pulling them out, he growled at their contents; Very clever. Had his spine not been reinforced, and most of the nerves replaced with fiber optics, he'd be dead now. Thankfully, they had only knocked him unconscious for a day or two. Glancing, he confirmed his suspicions; power to the facility was shut down, the minister, doctor, and that troublesome cyber-gryphon were gone. Checking himself, he could see his body was uninjured, and his interal systems were undamaged. Standing, he shook the dust and metal shaving and glass shards from himself, making a tinkling sound like raindrops as they fell on the ruins of the floor. Glancing around the room, he walked to a pair of tables, lights still glowed from the backup batteries. Smiling down at the two prone forms, he chuckled; the gryphon had underestimated him. Reaching a paw out, he gently stroked both foreheads "Don't worry children, Daddy's here..." and he pulled all the debri from them, pleased to find them both intact, IV's and systems good for another week yet. Pulling out some of the intended implants from the remains of the dead subjects and retrieving his surgical tools, he allowed himself a satisfied smile, finding everything intact. Kneeling, Dr. Richard Pike began to resume his work, whistling softly to himself "For all the worlds a stage, Horatio, and We all wear our masks."
To be continued... ?