FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The rain beat hard on the plastiglass window of the penthouse suite, a staccato that tried to overpower the somber melody of some opera singer Dorelia knew but couldn't put a face to. She stood on the faux tiger skin rug, dripping wet from the storm outside, her one good eye boring a firm and unwavering hole in her host's skull. Or it would if she'd opted for that heat vision bullshit that was all the rage with the core kids. But it still got the point across, plain and simple, just how she liked it.

"You know why I'm here, Jik." There was no inflection of a question in her tone. The blood on her sword from the two guards dumb enough to get in her way was proof of that.

Taking a sip from his wine, Jik Malthir uncrossed his long, lanky legs, and recrossed them; a restless gesture. He wasn't afraid of Dorelia Kane, he'd stared men and women like her down before. Some at least had the courtesy to try and kill him from afar before the hammer of whatever deity they believed in brought vengeance down upon their heads. So a threat from this... upstart, no matter how close it looked to being realized, didn't phase the jaded man.

Setting his glass aside on the edge of a broken table, he steepled his fingers underneath his chin as he looked over the seething woman, taking in the amount of restraint she was showing in not driving that ugly hunk of metal through his chest with a reserved amount of respect. Her jacket, riddled with bullet holes and blaster burns. Sword, gripped in anger, ready for the kill. The shotgun she'd had with her the first time they'd met was gone, no doubt on that stitched together excuse of a ship she called hers. Those interesting bracers were there though. He'd have to see if one of his tech boys could mock him up a pair.

Eventually, when he was done appraising her, he cleared his throat and made to stand when the tip of her sword was in front of his face. "Stay. Put."

"If you insist," he replied affably before recrossing his legs again. "What is it tha-" He was cut off when her sword reached dangerously close to his nose.

"You set me up."

He smiled and gently touched a finger to the slick surface of her blade. "What of it? You did your job, but you are a loose end. Too... wild; unreliable in your ways. I had to be sure you were out of the picture. Clearly I didn't try hard enough."

"Clearly." She was smiling now, those teeth of hers almost like fangs with how sharp they were. "Do you have anything to say before I gut you like a fish?"

He laughed again, short and confident. "Only that the authorities wouldn't let one of their main beneficiaries die without some form of retaliation, my dear. If anything, they should be arriving any moment now."

"Oh really?" Taking her blade away, she fitted it back onto the magnetic sling embedded in her jacket. Before he could adjust his shirt, she reached out and hauled him out of his chair. "Then I best make this quick."

"You know, there isn't anything you could do that someone hasn't already tried," he replied calmly as she dragged him over to the massive, plastiglass window that overlooked the downtown area. He was never fond of balconies, so when he bought the suite, he'd had his removed. "I want you to think long and hard about what you're about to do, Ms. Kane. I am a very influential per-"

"No," she interrupted as she reached into the depths of her jacket for an antique shotgun, its barrel sawed off and the stock replaced with a pistol grip. With a pull of the trigger, she unloaded a pair of shells into the glass with a deafening roar from the gunpowder relic, sending pieces of the window shattering into the streets and hovercars below. "You were an influential scumbag who took advantage of the weak. And I would have let that slide, had you paid me and walked away. But no, you had to be a shitbag and double cross me. Well, guess what, Jik. You say the authorities wouldn't let me kill you?"

It dawned on him the moment her bracer began to glow and those bestial claws appeared, piercing his fancy suit. She wasn't bluffing. Sweat started to dew at the nape of his neck as he stared into her good eye, a primal sort of fear welling up inside of his chest. It was a strange feeling; a tightening in his chest while his stomach felt like it had dropped into some unmentionable hole. "Let's see how fast their response time is." With a heave and a grunt of effort, Dorelia planted her foot and hurled the screaming man out into the night air.