FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"You're gonna do what, mate?"

Carbon knelt down over the corpse of the plant person they'd all been hunting and found a patch of exposed skin near his neck. "I'm making a cut and sticking in a queo. Eve says that's just how it has to work now, Adrian."

The husky crouched right next to the hybrid and held back his paws. "You're proper mad. That'll only serve to get you some sort of alien bug in your system."

Carbon shook off Adrian's grip and did as he stated, slicing a small cut into the skin of the Yangurran's neck. "When Johnny gets back he can check me out, but I have to do this. I have to know what was going on here." He turned his back so his fledgling queoo could reach their target. "Just trust me here. Okay?"

Adrian donned his head and stood upright again, taking a look around to make sure nobody noticed what they were doing. "I trust you, Carbon. I'm not in love with you for no reason. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"And you're confused because this doesn't make sense to you. It barely makes sense to me too." Carbon wedged one of his tendrils barely an inch into the bleeding socket he'd made, pausing as he suddenly felt lightheaded. "I... I trust Evelyn though, so..."

"Carbon?" The hybrid slumped onto his back, a wave of unparsed sensations overwhelming him. Soon all sense of sight and sound, maybe even time, faded away until Carbon couldn't make out more than piecework from Adrian's mouth. "...alright?... getting Johnny..."

Carbon groaned as pulsing waves of unknown sights, sounds, tastes, and all sorts of sensory data flushed over his own. "Eve? What's going on?" Can you even hear me with all this?"

"Damn... Yeah, I can hear you Carbon. Sorry, this is a lot to comb through." Even though her host's sight was warped with images he'd never seen with his own eyes, Evelyn still managed to appear in front of him, acting as an anchor for his mind. "It's a bit much even for me, I'm afraid. Sorry for the disturbing... stuff."

"What's all this even mean? I thought you were just reading his mind or something."

Eve's image ripped apart, fighting for a moment to rebuild itself. "It doesn't work that way. Normally the other guy's version of me feeds me what I'm requesting. It's too much work... ouch... too much for just one of us."

Suddenly the jumbled mess of memories faded away, leaving Carbon staring at the corpse next to him and his now-freed queoo as they wiggled about. "Wait, what happened?"

"I pulled the plug." Eve reappeared and sat down next to her host, appearing exhausted. "I didn't want to risk any permanent damage from that splicing. I just hope we grabbed something salvageable from that mess."

"So we copied something?" Carbon sat up and started wiping the green blood from his odd appendages. "Any names? Locations?"

"I'm still sorting everything so I can search through it. Memories are grounded in reference to one another, not listed alphabetically or anything. In fact, it might make you a bit confused at times until I'm done." Eve stood up and pointed to the hulking machine the dead Yangurran was piloting. "Why don't you give that thing a whirl while I do this? It should take over some of my functions for me and make it easier."

"You mean I can just pilot that without training?"

"No, but you can tell it what to do easily enough. Since you're the only one that can do that now you'll need to get used to it anyway."

"Oh, he's up." Adrian returned with Johnny in tow, placing both paws on Carbon's shoulders when he got into range. "You alright, little buddy? You went out for a while."

Carbon quirked an eyebrow and then shot Evelyn a concerned look, which was returned with just an innocent shrug. "How long this time?"

"About half an hour I'd wager." Adrian checked his new mate over, then started cleaning up some stray alien blood from his fur. "The way you dropped like a rock didn't help, but you started shaking at the end there and I had to abandon you for the doc. Sorry for leaving you alone, buddy."

Carbon shook his head and broke free of Adri's paws, soon finding he had to be nimble on his feet to avoid an inspection from Johnny as well. "I'm alright. Eve stopped what she was doing when it got risky." He walked a few yards and used the humanoid machine to keep his balance, apparently still feeling lightheaded from earlier. "She's going through what she found, but we need to keep searching for clues in case that doesn't pan out."

"Mike's guys sifted through everything already." Johnny walked over and forced two fingers on Carbon's neck to check his pulse. "If they didn't find anything, what makes you think you'll do any better?"

As he ran his paw up the machine's leg, the glowing queii trimming his paw shifted a brilliant indigo in hue and the titan stood as tall as it could manage. "Uh... Because I can do things they can't." He thought about the cockpit the pilot had used and the front of the tank's 'chest' opened, revealing the seat to the hybrid. "I really am fine. Let me finish checking things out and I'll let you run more tests. Alright?"

"Fine." The fox nodded and backed away, but still kept a keen eye on his patient. "Just take it easy. There's no more enemies around now that we've rounded up the stragglers. No need to push yourself."

"Unless I find out something urgent, anyway." Carbon clambered up the side of the cockpit and hung off with just one hindpaw planted. As he peered inside he found no real information paneling or formal control systems like a normal pilot might expect; all that filled the cramped seat was cold, foreign metal and the barest of cushioning. "What am I looking at here, Eve? How's this thing work if there's nothing to manipulate?"

Eve appeared in the seat for a moment almost as a demonstration, only for visage to mostly fade away due to her lack of concentration. "Sorry, I forgot about that part. I need to help you a little there myself." Suddenly the bare metal paneling surrounding the cockpit appeared to turn clear, then faded away to metal again in perfect sync with the fades of Evelyn's avatar. "Fiir can send us sensor information directly. This fir seems to be in good shape still, but I'm having trouble relaying that sensory information right now. Try to make due, Carbon."

"Alright. Don't mind me..." Carbon gave Eve's illusory body time to hop out the seat before he slid into it himself, finding it to be a snug but welcome fit for the hybrid's small frame. Then the seat pulled backward some and the paneling sealed shut, cutting out all light and most sound save for a slight hiss. "What was that? Is it supposed to do that?"

"Yes, Carbon. In fact..." The hissing noise stopped momentarily, then started again at a slightly different pitch. "All set. If you want you can remove your mask while the interior is sealed. There's an internal air mix circuit that appears undamaged."

"But I should keep the mask in case that changes, huh?" Carbon shrugged and removed his gas mask, hanging it from his knee. "So I can see outside... Oh, and there's a few rear angles? Is this like a closed-circuit camera system? It's in color, too."

The video feeds bracketed through nearly the entire gamut of Carbon's extremely wide visual range before going back to the full spectrum. "Something like that, but not as limited. There's nearly two-hundred sensors for each view, making about... ninety-four percent of your perception of the electromagnetic spectrum. That should be close enough for nearly any tasks you'd need."

"So way better than a basic camera system. Gotcha." The hybrid checked all of his virtual displays in between flickers and came across one in the top right corner that appeared to be a blobby mess. Upon focusing on the one frame, it followed his desire for a larger image and expanded to fill half the forward surface so he could take a closer look. "What's this one showing me, Eve?"

"That's... Wait, what is that? One minu-u-u-u-u..." Eve's voice stuttered and then cut out, returning after a few seconds of dead silence. "Ack, sorry. That took more effort than I thought. That looks like... oh, it's a map of the area."

"It just looks like a bunch of blurry dots to me."

"Oh, that's because the satellite hasn't been focused since the last power down." The image slowly cleared up, revealing a picture of the camp in a somewhat limited bracket ranging from infrared to microwave bandwidths. "So that's some sort of picture from up high?"

The view zoomed in until the hazy silhouette of the walker filled the screen. "No, you'll love this. There's thirty-two micro-satellite fiir listening to a signal from this specific fir. Make this big one do something. Oh, and touch the round panel in front of you so it can listen."

Carbon shrugged as he rested his paws on the mentioned panel and thought about the right arm moving outward. Sure enough, the images on screen showed the arm moving into position. "Okay, what am I--?" Carbon's question answered itself when the overhead map view updated later with a few seconds of lag. "Oh, now that's impressive."

"A personal capture stream from space? Yeah, that's great." The image skewed to an angle, yet somehow retained its depth. "But this comes from a bunch of sources, so we can look at odd angles as well. They're paired too so you get depth perception from all composite shots." The image filtered down to only the broad, blurry microwave band, but soon the details of an Army topographical map overlaid to fill in the details. "I think I can use this to track anything we come across. Oh, and I found a few notable locations in those memories if you want to take a look."

"Hell yeah. Bring that up if you're not overstressed."

The map view centered atop the walking tank and then zoomed far away, a few points of interest dotting the map nearby. "These are locations of recent operations, I think. The pilot was looking at the map so I have to double reference for accuracy. Let's see... I don't know what these are about but he was definitely here too..."

The map pulled out further, nearly to a world scale, and a few more dots lit up on the western-most side of the Soviet Union. "That's a long way from here, right? That can't be too recent. Can you sort them by date or something?"

"Uh... Don't quote these for accuracy just yet, but I'll try." The dots flickered off, then came back online in varying levels if intensity. "The brighter ones are newer."

Carbon checked the map, but found it peculiar that one area to the far west contained dots of all different intensities. He pointed to the spot and asked, "Eve, where's this one located? Can you give me any more detail about it?"

"Only one of the fiir pairs can see that spot, but let me check." The camera view panned over, slowly zooming on the area until a few small cities could be made out. "Best I can do until I move more fiir that way. Oh, and here... I think that's the right set of maps."

Another Army overlay appeared and labeled the area as the 'Ukraine SSR', as well as listing a few notable tactical locations. "Those dots are on this one river between Pryp'yat' and Chornobyl. There's something going on there if he was heading back all the time."

"This fir is responding to those dates, Carbon." Eve highlighted certain dots and overlaid some of the tank's video data for each. "It was reactivated during most of these visits. This fir only needs to deactivate for maintenance."

"Can we give this thing a name, please? Just calling it 'fir' isn't very helpful."

"We could call it an exoskeleton, since that's effectively its function."

Carbon placed his mask on his head again and thought of the cockpit opening, which caused it to release its seals and slide forward. "Fine, we'll call him 'Ex' for short I guess. So what's Ex's activation mean for us?"

"I don't really know. Ex was created by your father, but it's possible someone else learned to repair him." Evelyn appeared outside the cockpit as it opened, acting as if she was waiting outside along with the small crowd of soldiers that had gathered during the machine's inspection. "Wait... Carbon, one of these visits is... the first one?"

Carbon hopped out of the maw of the beast and climbed down to solid ground. "And that helps us how?"

"This was only from four years ago, and it's a memory from Ex itself, not the pilot." The plant girl looked at the fir and then back to Carbon, a distant and confused stare layered over her face. "The first recorded memory of a fir is its first awakening, and the person that brought life to this one was your father." Evelyn brought up the map from earlier, though only a static memory this time, and pointed to the pool of dots she'd placed. "Carbon, I don't think your mother was right about your father dying just after you were born... I think he's here in Pryp'yat'."

Carbon looked at the map and then shot his gaze up to find Mycroft. "Mike, get the men ready. I think we found that dead idiot's home base."

"Really, mate? There's more than just the one bugger we gotta worry 'bout in this here jungle?"

Carbon shook his head as he walked back to the Chinook, some sort of afterimage of the dead Yangurran appearing as if he'd been hanging out the side door. "Uh... No. We're heading to Europe."

"Europe?" Mycroft took note of those words and followed the Major, trying to understand his logic. "Why on the gods' green Earth would we go there? We don't have any enemies that far west."

The hybrid stopped at the back of the helicopter by the ramp, then started inside when he found Cheat doing some maintenance. "Oh yes we do. I hope you've brushed up on your Russian, Mike."

"Russian? So you think it's the Commies doing all this?"

"Maybe, or maybe they're just the scapegoats for something larger. I honestly don't know yet." Carbon waited for Cheat to finish what he was doing and then addressed the dart frog directly. "Got a request for you, Cheat. Think this lovely lady can fly to the USSR?"

"The USSR? Shit, I don't even know where we are relative to that."

"About six-thousand miles out."

Cheat nearly dropped his jaw at the figure, but gave the Major an honest answer. "So, the whole of Red territory. Well that'll take about four or five hops if we fill up on fuel and maybe carry a drum or two in the back. I saw some petrol drums around here, so you'd better hope there's fuel we can use in there." He quickly finished tightening a seal and then shut the engine manifold. "If we do some flight checks and refuel at every stop, I don't see why we couldn't make it."

Mycroft huffed as he thought about the logistics as well. "And since you're AWOL from your own military, we'll need to find places to land on the way. I'll hit the charts and call in some favors. Hopefully I'll find some bases."

Carbon nodded and gave Mike a pat on his back. "Thanks. I owe you one, Mike."

"No worries. After that stunt you pulled to bring that new toy of yours down, I'd call us even." The Aussie shook his head as he thought about the workload he'd just volunteered and then he exited the vehicle for his radio man. "Least I can do for the bloke that kept me and mine in one piece."

"Carbon? Wake up, mate."

Carbon fluttered his eyes open slowly and rolled in his seat, finding himself leaning on Adrian. "Drifted off there, I guess. It's a bit boring, after all."

The husky didn't flinch, simply allowing Carbon to rest against his side as long as he liked. "Cheat said we're coming in for another refuel. Just thought you'd like to keep an eye on things."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." The helicopter shuddered, but took a longer time than normal to regain a stable angle of attack. "And ~that's~ why." Carbon unlatched his buckle and shambled over to the cockpit, leaning inside even though he used his microphone to speak. "Cheat, you alright? You've got to sleep sometime during this flight plan, so don't risk anything."

The amphibian stretched in his seat and then glanced back to the hybrid addressing him. "You got it, Major. Let me set her down and run some checks, then I'll take a rest."

"No, the checks wait 'till morning. You're about to fall flat dead here." Carbon looked out the front, noticing a few landing lights below through the foot well windows. "Right, we're already here. I'll go take a seat for now. What's this stop, Cheat?"

"Stop number four of seven, Uzbekistan. Only joint UN airbase in the country, actually." Cheat gave the Major a moment to find his seat before flipping his mic to the rear intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're approaching for landing. Please put your seat-back tables up and return your chairs to their upright and locked positions. I hope you enjoy your brief stay here on the Soviet border."

"Cute." Carbon peered out his bubble window on the Chinook's shoulder and watched the helicopter slowly drop down near the landing grid so it could release the exoskeleton hanging below. Once they had set down themselves, he clicked the button for his radio and hailed his other choppers. "Report, guys. What's your position and ETA? Over."

After a slight delay one pilot reported, "Roger. Left wing here. Directly on your six, eight miles out. We can barely see landing lights now... so five minutes give or take, sir. Over."

"Right wing? You copy me, right wing?"

A bunch of garbled static destroyed any level of comprehension to their reply, but left wing reported in their stead. "Left wing again, sir. Right wing had a slight overheat a few minutes back and had to slow to sub-cruise speed. We're bingo fuel, but we could still try to circle back for a radio relay, sir. Over."

"Negative, left wing. Maintain heading and speed. We're packing up here for the night so they can come to us. I heard voices so they're probably ~just~ out of radio range. We'll give then some time and then refuel for a rescue if need be. How copy?"

"Roger, wilco. On our way, sir. Out."

Mycroft raised an eyebrow at Carbon as he stood to stretch. "Didn't I tell you, mate? Those Hueys aren't the best at long ferry flights."

"Yeah, yeah. They'll still make it." The Major stood himself and opened his shoulder door so he didn't have to wait on the rear ramp. "Nice, a concrete pad. Must be a permanent base." He hopped out and immediately regretted doing so, a cold blast of air whipping him off balance. "And they chose a horrible spot for it."

Evelyn walked from around the front of the helicopter and leaned against it, her arms wrapped around her shoulders as she shivered. "For both our sakes, you should put on that suit. I know it's awkward, but it'll help with the cold amongst other things."

Carbon sighed as he noticed himself shivering in the winter air. "It's bad enough you convinced me to peel it off a dead guy. It's strange, so it deserves research at least. But wear it?" Another gust of wind brought with it the start of light snowfall, causing the hybrid to stare both in awe of his first snow and fear of freezing to death. "Fine. Anything is better than this shit."

The hybrid looked over to find Eve smiling back as she got her way. "It won't hurt you, I swear. Just slip it on and it'll react to you much like Skelly does."

"His name is Ex, Eve. Don't go making up your own..." For just a fraction of a second between blinks, Carbon thought he saw the dead Yangurran hiding just around the front of the Chinook. He leaned to get a clearer look, but all he found were landing lights and distant darkness. "Huh. You doing alright, Evelyn?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I don't think anything's wrong. Why?"

Carbon looked past the flower girl and than checked in the opposite direction as well, just to be sure. "Uh... Nothing." He spun around and climbed back inside the rear cabin, but a pitter-patter of hurried footsteps caused him to snap his gaze backwards. "What was that?"

Eve looked around the dark of the sleeping airbase but shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see anything. Maybe it's just the cold getting to you?"

Carbon huffed in defeat at the girl's pressing tone. "Alright, alright. I'm getting it." He rummaged around a rucksack tied to the front wall of the cabin and pulled out a one-piece bodysuit made of an unidentifiable, smooth material. "So how's this work? There some hidden buttons or a zipper or something?"

"Just touch it and think about it opening."

Carbon held the short-sleeved suit by the shoulders and imagined the front with an unzipped zipper, and then as if by magic the front split down the middle with a glowing indigo light filling the seams. "Wow. That's pretty snazzy. So I can just wear this thing over my uniform and--"

"Under it. It needs to contact your body to be of any use." Eve hopped into the cabin herself and ruffled the fur on Carbon's arm. "Not sure how it'll work with that fur of yours, but I think it'll be fine."

The Major looked to the rest of his and Mycroft's men leaving the rear of the vehicle and then met eyes with Johnny and Adrian. "But I... I don't want anyone seeing my queoo..."

"Then have Johnny get everyone out first. I dunno." Evelyn rolled her eyes and slid down the side door's stairs. "Just close this bitch up and say it's for medical reasons."

The hybrid looked about for another answer to his issue, but relented and went for the doc. "Johnny, can I ask a favor? Get everyone to clear out for me so I can change?"

The fox tilted his head at the request. "But you're back to being a guy now, right? What's the big deal?"

"It's... not that. I've got those ~tendrils~ coming out my back..."

"Oh, I get ya, buddy." Adrian stifled a chuckle, but backed up his boyfriend all the same. "Carbon's having a fret over being different. Best not let the rest of the boys think he's one of the enemy, yeah?"

Johnny squinted and torqued his mouth at the idea. "I'd rather you keep things on the level, but I can respect a secret if you really want." He clapped his paws and corralled the remaining men out the back before raising the ramp. "Sorry, boys. Need the deck for a clean surface. You can grab your gear in a minute. Won't be long."

"Thanks, Johnny." Once the men had cleared out, Carbon quickly threw off his clothes. "Alright, so I just get in this thing and then I can put my clothes over it?"

"Actually..." Eve giggled as the other two furs in the cabin stared at Carbon's bulging feminine panties. "Those too. Besides those not working for you anymore, you have to lose ~all~ your clothing. Might want to ditch the panties permanently though."

"What? It's all I had since I left base a woman." Carbon started to blush as he slid the panties off and stepped into the suit. When he got his arms through the top he gave thinking about the suit in a zipped state a try, the one-piece sealing itself and leaving no seams at all. "Wow, this thing fits perfectly. I thought it'd be a bit tight."

"One size fits all." Eve reappeared inside the cabin, wearing a mock suit of her own. "It conforms to your body's needs. The material's self-healing given enough time, but not impervious. It can act as a massively efficient insulator and can convert kinetic energy into heat if needed, so you'll keep warm." She pointed to her exposed forearms and forelegs. "Your extremities are still at risk though, and sadly the boots and gloves don't self-size like the rest. We should be fine with our core body heat along with the aid of other clothing."

Sure enough, the suit was already making a world of difference. "Aside from knowing a dead guy was in this a dozen hours ago, it's actually pretty nice." That was until Carbon looked down and found that his crotch was form-fitted enough that he might as well not be wearing anything at all. "And I think it's time to wear the rest now."

"Or you could leave it off a while." Adrian smirked as he offered Carbon his pants. "That's quite a view, buddy. Like you're wearing a big rubber or something, yeah?"

Again Carbon flushed indigo as he quickly stepped into his pants. "Keep talking and I might never take it off for you."

Johnny shook his head and laughed as he hit the drop button for the rear gate. "Just don't let the other guys see you like that or they'll laugh you all the way back to Wildebrooke."

"Damn... I wish we ~could~ go back home. I know it's small, but I sort of miss my old test cell in the--" Carbon froze as the Yangurran stood on the landing pad and stared angrily into the rear of the aircraft. Then in a blink he was gone, causing Carbon to shiver again for reasons other than the cold. "Eve, what the fuck is going on?"

Evelyn looked to her host quizzically, then to the other two's newly-concerned expressions. "I'm not... sure? I haven't done anything. What's the matter?"

"You mean to tell me you didn't see that?" The Major nearly growled as he tried to make sense of the illusion. "You didn't see him standing out there?"

The plant avatar shrugged her shoulders and looked out to the rear gate. "Out there? Nah, just snow. You must really need a nap."

Carbon blinked his eyes a bit, then forced himself to throw the rest of his uniform on loosely. "I'm going to sleep, sure. But you need to run a check on yourself or something too. That's not... normal, even if I'm just tired." He grabbed his portable air unit and switched his feed hose to it once he was dressed, then headed for the rear ramp. "Let's find some warm clothes and free beds before I go crazy."

Evelyn stood in the Chinook, watching in concern as she was left alone to slowly fade away. "Carbon..."

As the engines of the Chinook spooled down and the rear gate lowered, Cheat chirped a very exhausted and tired message to its crew. "This is it, guys. Last stop before the mission zone. Welcome to Sevastopol Station, fellas." He stood from his seat and stretched before dropping the shoulder doors. "If you hear Russian, you're shit outta luck. This is Red territory, boys. Eyes and ears."

Carbon unlatched his seatbelt and stood, flipping a switch on a wall panel so he'd speak through the intercom as well. "This is a heavy radiation zone, guys. Don't stray too far from the landing zone. When in doubt, find me. I have a way I can sniff out radiation pockets for you." He switched over to his portable air system and then attached that to his belt. "Goal is to get our birds refueled and moving before our luck runs dry. We'll sleep once we've set up a forward base in the target zone after that. Something to look forward to, I guess."

The crew confirmed they got their orders in various ways and then shuffled to exit the aircraft, but Mycroft stayed behind. "I don't think we'll clash with the Reds here, mate. Whole point was the nuke drove 'em out."

"I don't know much about the area and I don't care. We just need fuel, right?" Carbon stepped out the shoulder door and stretched once he hit solid ground. "So this was a military base? Devastation aside, looks like this place was outdated. You sure there's air fuel here?"

"You're standing on an airstrip, yeah?" Mike hopped out and looked around, sighing when he couldn't make heads or tails of the overgrown runway. "Well you have a point, mate. We'll find the stores and pray there's still fuel inside."

"Where would the fuel be kept?"

Mike looked around and shrugged. "This was a pretty permanent base back in the war. I'd reckon it's in an underground tank."

"The war, huh?" Carbon took a good look around, finding his vision ceased merely ten meters from him like a dense fog. "Damn, it's too fucking muggy to find shit."

"Not sure what you're gettin' on about, mate. Clearest night I've seen in a while. Eerie quiet like, too." The wolf turned around and caught Adrian as he nearly tripped on the Chinook's hatch stairs. "Watch it, old friend."

"Thanks." The husky stretched out himself and took in the clear, cold atmosphere of the abandoned base. "So this is an old World War Two base, yeah? Pretty peaceful nowadays."

"Oh, it's ~that~ Sevastopol. Your guys have the pronunciation all screwed up in those sexy accents." Evelyn appeared, but the haze of the fog persisted through her projected image to give her a ghost-like aura. "That means we're in Crimea, just south of Ukraine. Not much of a flight from here."

"Eve, you alright? You look... odd."

"I do?" She looked at herself, then to the fog. "Right, the radiation. There's more gamma and beta particles in the air around here, so we're going to have issues seeing while we're here. Betas are on the edge of your vision too, so I can't really override those. Might make me look weird."

"Gotcha. So they can see and I can't?" Carbon took a better look around and confirmed that the mist was denser and thinner in various locations rather than uniform like true fog. "I take that back; I can keep everyone safe."

"That's the idea." Eve looked upward and smiled at the night sky. "Might want to check out the sky when you get a chance. The ionosphere is ~gorgeous~ around here."

Carbon looked up and found the mentioned sight, his enlarged range of vision giving him a view similar to the Northern Lights. "You're right. Fuel first... then maybe a bit of a snack break." He looked back at Evelyn as he walked down the runway, but paused as something moved out the edge of his vision. "There any wildlife that can live here?"

"Wildlife?" Adrian rested his arm on Carbon's shoulder below and walked in tandem with the hybrid. "You kidding, buddy? This is a nuclear wasteland."

Johnny caught up and tapped Carbon from behind as well. "He's right. Short term we'll be okay, but all we know is that long term radiation is a death ticket."

"Eh, not really. The trick is to absorb ionic particles in fat and then metabolize those specific cells from the body." Evelyn grinned as she ran up ahead, fading completely into the fog. "What? I can gloat sometimes too. You know how hard it is to process radiation at a cellular level?"

"I gotcha, Eve. You work hard." Carbon pointed to a small building to the side of the landing strip and diverted the group that direction. "That looks like a good place to start."

Mycroft waved over a couple of his men and pulled out his pistol in case they weren't alone. "Right on the money. See that pump on the side?"

"Not yet. My vision's limited around here, guys. What side?" Carbon squinted as Mike pointed to the right of the building. "Oh, yeah... I sort of see it." He clicked his radio switch and updated the team. "Listen up, guys. Cheat, left wing... We found a fuel pump, uh... to the Chinook's five-o'clock and you're the ones that get to test the fuel. If it's good, hook that sucker up. We're on the power. How copy?"

"Cheat here, sir. Roger that. Heading over now."

A bit of silence from the other team brought Carbon's head craning back even though he couldn't see them with his poor vision. "Left wing? Report in, guys." Carbon gave the men a few seconds more, but gave up when they still didn't respond. "Right wing, status?"

"Gary here, sir. Left's run off somewhere and we can't hear their radios. Should we go take a look? Over."

"Negative, Private. Just help Cheat with the fuel for now and we'll grab them while the birds fill up." Carbon stopped by an ajar door to the pump house, blinking a few times as he swore he saw something large run past the far bank of windows opposite the small space. "And tell the guys to stop fucking around if you see them. I told everyone to stay near the choppers, not to ~actively roll around~ in radiation."

"Roger. On the way, sir. Out."

Mycroft nudged his way forward and pushed the door open, his weapon readied ahead as he instinctively cleared the moonlit room. "Bloody smells like the right place. Can't pick up anything but petrol in here."

Carbon rolled his eyes and fought past the wolf, knowing nobody would dare hide in a place like this. "Sooner we find a power source, sooner we..." A loud, metallic clatter sounded off the right wall, causing the hybrid to freeze momentarily as he mumbled to himself. "Fuck, Cheat. Think you could be any louder?"

Adrian scurried inside with Johnny and hugged a wall defensively. "This place gives me the creeps, mates. What are we looking for?"

Mike lowered his pistol as the safety margin appeared satisfactory, but still ordered his men to take guard. "Get the door, Privates. We'll find the genny from here."

"Right, a generator makes sense. This was an old war base and they couldn't count on power." Johnny shoved a turned-over desk into a corner and started looking along the walls, though the dark didn't exactly speed up the process. "Don't think it's in here. It'll probably be like the lab back home. We had one by the airlock and a backup out by the main entrance so..."

Adrian walked over as his eyes adjusted enough to see his own hindpaws. "So we split up? Check each side of the building?"

Carbon snatched the husky by the arm and headed rightward for the rooms adjacent to the pump, leaving the other two to search the remaining side. "We've got this end. Mike, radio if you've found it first."

"Aye, mate."

Adrian broke free of the otter's greedy grip and slowed the pace a little. "We're not in that much a hurry, buddy."

"Just wanted to steal you away," cooed Carbon as he hopped up and gave the husky a peck on his cheek, "so I could do that." With a big grin he walked the perimeter of the room, finding nothing but tools and pipework. "Room's clear, I think. How small can generators be again?"

"They're pretty large, usually." Adrian nodded after checking the room himself, then started into the next one down the line. "Right, nothing here. So, you wanted to kiss me?"

"For a while now. You're handsome in this weird lighting." Carbon followed, sliding his webbed paw up Adrian's arm slowly from behind for a bit more intimate contact. "Hmm, this looks like... an office?"

"Yeah. Moving alon--"

_ Crash! _

Adrian turned to the far exterior wall, then looked down to Carbon. "Bloody hell was that?"

Carbon clicked his radio switch and did a role call. "Report, guys. What was that sound? Cheat, you're closest." He huffed when there was no response and turned to meet up with the amphibian, but Carbon's path was blocked by the devilishly-grinning ghost of the dead Yangurran pilot. "Fuck!"

Carbon yanked Adrian into the final room and tried to pin him down near the ground, which the husky undid with a simple wriggle of his arm. "What's gotten into you, little buddy? Looks like you've seen a damn ghost."

Carbon furled his eyebrows at the coincidental phrasing. He peeked out the door frame and sighed as the phantom wasn't there anymore. "Well ~fuck~ me. I'm seeing some shit." He tapped his radio once more and hushedly shouted for an update. "Anyone, report in. The fuck is happening?"

Mycroft throatily whispered back, "Don't know, lad. Wait, I just heard something too. Going silent."

Carbon took another peek, but a presence nearby snapped his view to the side window just in time to see a shadowed figure zip by with impossible speed. "Holy shit." He looked below the window sill and found a small engine, the hybrid chuckling hysterically at the poorly-timed coincidence. "Load of good that generator there does us if we're dead."

"We're not dead yet, Carbon." Adrian slowly stood up and crept over to the window, confirming the find. "That's it alright. Let's regroup and figure this mess out."

Another loud series of thuds sent shivers up Carbon's spine, but the two trailing_gunshots_ only punctuated his fears. "Mike?! Report!"

The radio clicked on and off like the wolf was struggling to press the transmitter. "--something out there--" _ Blam! _ "--hunting us! Ah, Fu--!"

Another gunshot ended the report with only dead silence following. "Mike... mate..." Adrian rushed out the door and huddled up against the next, waiting for Carbon to follow before he continued to Mycroft's search area. "We've got to help them, Carbon. You have a gun?"

"No... I didn't think I'd need one." Carbon was deeply regretting that decision now, especially when another large shadow skittered past the other side of the building. "Fuck. Eve, any ideas?"

For once, the plant girl couldn't properly word a response. "C-Ca-Carbon... I d-don't..."

The hybrid stared at the image of Evelyn coiled into a fetal position on the floor, then forced himself to choke out a response. "Get ahold of yourself, Eve! I need you to help us!"

The girl was shaking as she peeked her head out, tears rolling down her face out of obvious fear. "I'm n-not a m-m-machine, Carb-bon!"

Carbon stood up straight and walked out the door, the two guards exchanging glances as he passed into Mycroft's area. "Watch the door. Something's out there, maybe two." A set of nods and they faced the door, allowing Carbon to more freely search for his missing friends. "Mike? Johnny?"

Carbon found himself looking through a few dozen large pipes that ran at all manner of obtuse angles throughout the room and sadly blocked a clear line of sight. He ducked down to look past a few and ended up sliding beneath a large feed pipe when an unknown figure swooped nearby to investigate the hybrid's call. Carbon's heart started pounding double-time as the shadow crept past, snarling and growling as it searched. Soon it seemed to give up, turning back from whence it came and bolting silently out a rear door.

Exhaling loudly after unknowingly holding his breath in fear, Carbon whimpered a call to anyone that would answer. "Goddess! It was just in here!"

Evelyn reappeared, still crying but at least better able to control her avatar. "Carbon, just get back to the chopper. Please, I can't..."

Carbon slipped out of his hiding place and made for the main room again. "Shit... No, we're missing men now. We've got to--"

_ Bla-pa-pop! _

Carbon rounded the door frame just in time to find a single remaining guard quickly get pulled outside with a desperate yelp. He reeled back quickly as another shadow ran into the room, meeting his eyes with Adrian's hiding in the other doorway. The massive hunter slid to a halt and looked around, a menacing, metal hockey mask hiding its true identity. Carbon was about to lunge out into the creep's blind spot when Adrian panicked, making something metallic clatter in his room.

"Fuck! Carbon!"

The mass of fur heaved into the room and hoisted Adrian out of sight, causing Eve to finally shriek a few words of wisdom. "Aieee! Th-The suit! Goddess, the s-suit can..." She broke down for a few seconds, but managed to phase Carbon's clothing on herself to silently emphasize her point. "S-Strip!"

Carbon heard a muffled gasp as Adrian's unconscious body flopped partway out his door. This only spurred him into a panic as he tried the crazy idea, shuffling out of his clothes as quickly as otterly possible. He tried to keep the noise down, but such a task was impossible. By the time he was down to just the special suit, his boots, and the breathing system, the shadowed figure started hurriedly slumped over to the hybrid's hiding spot.

Carbon quickly backed deeper into the room, his goal now being the rear entrance. The unknown creature huffed into the cramped room like it owned the place, immediately searching nearby nooks and pipes for the source of the noise it had heard. Unable to see much of anything with his poor visual clarity, Carbon relied on his paws to feel his way out the room as he slowly moved backwards. Then the figure snapped that bizarre mask to his direction, nearly causing Carbon to whimper.

As the creature moved closer to investigate further, Carbon hurried between a grid of pipes and the exterior wall to tightly hide in the cover's shadows. The hulking blob growled as it moved right next to Carbon's hiding spot, then paused to check the door. It turned to bring its head mere inches from Carbon's own, snorting and sniffing as the petrified hybrid held his breath. Then the figure turned around and sulked back into the shadows outside, allowing Carbon to relax.

"Fuck, Eve. Whatever you did..." Carbon took a ponderous look at the bodysuit now, holding out his own arm and waving it in an attempt to make sense of a complex visual pattern moving on its surface. "Some kind of camo? You're a genius, Eve."

"We... need your ~other~ clothes to survive the cold..."

"But we'll need this right now to save the others." Carbon perked up as he remembered his dear Adrian in the other room and started moving to help him. "Shit, hope he's--"

Suddenly Carbon couldn't move, finding his shoulder pinned from behind. His heart dropped and his soul nearly left his body as a metallic mask slowly slid past his other shoulder with a low, almost-feral growl. Then the predator bellowed an impossible roar and slammed Carbon face-first into the concrete floor, pitching him into darkness.

Carbon shuddered awake at a sharp pain in his lungs. He immediately noticed his mask was gone, and soon found it in the large paw of one of two--no, three--masked figures. He looked down to find his arms tied around a railing, then a groan next to him proved the same fate fell upon the rest of his gagged and unconscious team. He gasped for air as his eyes turned to what he assumed was Evelyn, only to watch the dead Yangurran fade from view.

The three figures started bickering louder and louder, until the one holding Carbon's mask walked over to him and spoke in a familiar tongue. "Tsya lyudyna vymahaye masku, shchob vyzhyty. YA vpevnenyy."

"He requires... mask to live..." Carbon mumbled a few spontaneous translations as he determined the language. "It's Ukrainian."

Evelyn flickered into view, worry plastered over her face. "I know this one, Carbon. Let me help?"

Carbon nodded, allowing the plant girl to partially control his language centers and feed him the translations for his words. "Excuse...uh... Oh, right." He coughed as he choked for fresh air, then tried again in the proper language. "<Excuse... me...? Can I... have that... back?>"

"<He speaks our language?>"

The one holding the mask drilled its face right against Carbon's, revealing it wasn't some kind of wild monster at least. "<He can barely speak now. I'm giving this back, even if he ~is~ one of them.>"

The mask was roughly shoved back around Carbon's noggin and quickly attached to his air system, giving the hybrid a fighting change to plead his case. "<I don't know who or... ~what~ you are, but we can work this out. I'm only here for information, not to fight.>"

The third figure swapped to Russian to speak in private, but that didn't stop Eve from changing gears as well. "<He's a security risk. Besides, we've got orders to kill their kind on sight.>"

"<Don't kill me! Please!>"

"<Fuck, I bet he knows French too.>"

The one close to Carbon grunted and took off its blast mask out of frustration, revealing it was in fact a very large female husky. "<This one is different. He has ~fur~, Vlad. I think we should at least interrogate him.>"

"<...Fine. We have to rotate shifts at sunrise though, so I'm killing him no matter what then.>"

Carbon whimpered as Vlad walked away, leaving just one other massive blob in his vision as well as the kinder husky. "<Thank you! What do--?>"

"<Name and mission first.>"

Carbon stared back into stern, blue eyes as they both sized each other up. "<Major Optik, and I'm not on a mission. We're all deserters.>"

The husky sighed as she looked at the other soldiers. "<You weren't even armed. Running from your war is probably for the best.>" She looked back to her partner and then meekly shifted into broken English. "My comrades no speak the English. We safe to talk now, yes? What is actual mission, Major? They not let you live, you not give good answer."

Carbon read the wolf-dog's sincere expression for a few seconds before trying his luck. "After nearly choking me to death and scaring me shitless, I at least deserve to know the name of my captor."

The husky looked to her partner again, then lowered her voice as she conceded. "Forward Corporal Sofija Rihzyet, Spetsnaz Special Security." She grumbled and returned to her more aggressive tone. "Now you tell me mission."

"We're here en route to Pryp'yat'." Carbon thought about the argument from earlier and tried a new angle. "You called me one of 'them' earlier. You mean the aliens, right? The Yangurrans?"

"Alien... Yes." Corporal Rihzyet stood upright and gave the runway a quick check. "You alien. You have alien walking tank. But why you have fur like... what is word...?"

"Earthling? Or Terran, as they like to call us apparently." Carbon shifted so he could better support himself and stared honestly into Sofija's eyes. "I'm only part alien; my mother was from Earth. My father loved us very much, I think. That's why I'm looking for him in Pryp'yat'."

"You plan go home with father? Go back in space? We can no let this happen."

Carbon shook his head. "I'm not trying to escape with him or anything. I just want to meet him for the first time." Carbon sighed as he realized how sad it was that his own father would never so much as show his face, preferring to play dead. "I think I want to punch him in the balls, actually."

"...Why you do this?" Sofija moved closer and sat down so she wouldn't have to lean down for the much smaller hybrid. "You find father and punch him? Is he bad alien?"

"I don't know yet. He made that tank, and if you've seen more he's probably made those too." The Major raised his head and finally managed to take in the beautiful night sky. "And if what he's doing is really bad... I might have to kill him to stop it."

"You... kill father..." The husky looked up as well, huffing out a sigh as she made an executive decision on the matter. "Enemy of my enemy, my friend. That is saying, yes?"

"More or less."

"Then you my friend maybe. I talk to Captain for you." Sofija stood and went back to the other soldier to mumble something, then started in the same direction as Vlad. "We work deal, good for both us. Know result soon."

"Miss Rihzyet?" The Amazonian husky returned to tower over the little mustelid. "Thank you."

Corporal Rihzyet nodded while concealing a smirk. "You welcome, cowboy."