FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter Twelve

Break

Blood dripped from the table where Hank was tied to. A white tiger stood beside him, knife in hand, a bloody mass of fur in his hand. A badger was standing on the other end of the table, hands on Hank's tail, which bled through the cut off tip. The tiger cleared his throat, "Inch by inch, Hank. You can stop me, at any point." He grabbed a chair and sat in front of Hanks head, looking down at him, holding the poof of the lion's tail to him "You just need to tell me where George is."

In another part of the ship, Patrick was sitting in a corner, clutching his pistol tight, vigilantly observing the hall he cornered himself into. He was waiting for things to settle. He was still breathing heavily. He slowly stood up, taking one step forward when a door beside him burst open. A lioness walked out and stopped. Patrick didn't know why until he noticed he was pointing his gun shakily at her. She slowly raised her hands and said, "I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?"

Patrick stumbled on his words, "I.. You.. Don't move or I'll shoot!" He realized then that he was still crying and made a small attempt to stand straighter to salvage any intimidation he could possibly show her.

She frowned, "Look, I'm not going to hurt you or anything, just calm down."

Not knowing what he should do, Patrick blurted, "What did you do with Hank!?" And fired his gun at her, purely by accident.

In an instant, he felt his wrist hurt and his body shoved into the wall. He missed his target by a good deal considering they were already only a couple feet apart. She glared at him menacingly, which was more than enough to cause Patrick to start a stream of apologies and incoherent blabbering about diamonds.

The woman eventually hissed, "Shut up a second!"

Patrick shut up, looking directly into her eyes with a fearful expression.

"Okay. We got all that out of our system?"

Patrick nodded.

"Good. What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Patrick replied.

She paused a moment, "I asked first." She said, loosening her grip on him.

"I don't want to say." replied Patrick.

"Why?" Asked the lioness.

"You might kill me."

The woman sighed, "I already said I wasn't going to hurt you." She sighed again, "Then you shot at me."

"I was scared." Patrick then went a little bit more limp.

The woman let Patrick go and then said, "Are you working for anyone?"

Patrick shrugged, "I can't say." He pointed at her and said, "You still haven't told me what you're doing here."

She laughed to herself, "I'm a bounty hunter. I'm looking for a man named Lance, a white tiger. Would he be your boss?"

Patrick shook his head, "No.." he sighed in relief, "I know where he is! He almost killed me and my partner. You have to help me!"

The lioness smiled, "Alright. We can definitely help each other here. Can you lead me to where Lance is?"

Patrick nodded, "I can try. He was in the jewelry shop when I saw him last."

"You're a thief?"

"Well.. No.. I just wanted to get off Namiq."

The woman nodded, "Okay. I think I know the place you're talking about. We should hurry." With that, the two felines made their way quickly back towards the shops.

Lance have finished the final inch of Hank's tail, the badger ready to stop any bleeding and cauterize the wound. Hank had said little more than a grunt the whole time. The tiger looked frustrated. He sat back down in front of Hank and said, "Looks as though we are out of tail.. Maybe I should flip you over and start cutting elsewhere, hmm?

Hank just glared up at him, muzzle firmly shut. Lance sighed, "Alright, we can continue." He then turned to the badger, "Let's flip him over." He crossed to Hank's side, getting ready to turn the large feline over when the door burst open. He looked over to see a lioness and black cat standing in the door way. He only had time to say, "Who?" before he took shotgun shell to the groin, causing him to fall onto his back. He groaned in pain, staring up at the woman who was now refilling her sawed off shotgun with another two shells. Patrick was pointing his gun at the badger, who has his arms raised. Lance winced and yelled, "The fuck is wrong with you? You crazy bitch!"

She held him up against the wall, one hand holding her shotgun to his throat, her other groping the new hole in his groin. She looking him dead in the eyes and said, "Where are you guys hiding?" She then began fingering the tiger in his new hole as he squirmed and screamed. The woman raised her eyebrows, "I'll stop when you tell me."

Almost immediately the tiger screamed, "Earth! Wa.. Washington D.C.." She forcefully retracted her paw from the man and let him slump into a ball onto the floor as Patrick untied Hank from the table. The lioness picked up Hank's things, handing them to him as he sat up, painfully and she said, "How are you feeling? Hank grabbed The Devirginizer, from the stuff handed to him then, with a loud bang, the head of Lance had be taken clean off, leaving only a large pool of blood and scattered bits of metal. He put the gun back into it's holster, got dressed and turned to her, "Better." he put his coat back on, "Much better."

Patrick took a pair of fuzzy handcuffs from his jacket pocket, cuffing the badger to his desk, "There.." He turned to the others, "We should leave." He rubbed his eyes, taking his contacts out, dropping them and replacing them with his glasses. Hank turned to the woman,wincing as he asked, "Who are you?"

The lioness replied, "I'm Susan, a Bounty Hunter. Who are you guys?"

"Hank, freelancer." He paused, "Could you give us a ride home?"

Susan shook her head, "Only if you're heading to Earth. I have more business there. You waiting for someone?"

Hank shrugged, "We were going to pay our way onto a supply ship and find someone on Mars to help us.." He looked over to the dead tiger, "However, Earth is starting to sound like an option."

Patrick walked over to the door, "Can we leave, please?"

Hank smirked, "Would you be willing to hold these diamonds for us? I'll cut you in on the deal, Susan."

Susan smiled, "How can I resist?"

It was then that they gathered everything worth anything into crates. As they were ready to leave, there was a knock on the door. Hank opened it, seeing a skunk in a dark suit holding a gun. The skunk took a step back, pointing the gun at Hank, "Don't move, asshole!"

Hank sighed, "Look, kid. You're outclassed, and outnumbered. And I am in a real bad mood on account of you boss cutting off my tail, so I would really consider rethinking your life and running your striped little ass as far away from me as possible."

The skunk looked at the three of them in the doorway, two of whom were pointing guns at him, the other holding out his jacket to show an intimidating firearm holstered. He sighed, "Can I at least keep my gun?"

Hank shrugged, "Sure, you can keep it. We'll be watching you, though."

"Y..yes sir." The skunk said before putting his gun away, starting into a brisk fearful walk down the hall. Hank then carefully looked outside for more henchman. It was empty, mostly shut doors and more corridors. They placed the crates onto a dolly, having Susan lead them back to her ship. The small green fighter ship fit easily in the cargo bay. The area was starting to clear out, a large opening with a photon shield to keep the air in but let the ships out.

Susan led them to her ship, letting the hatch in the back open up. She jumped into the cock pit and turned to them, "Hurry up and get in, I don't want to be here a second longer than I need to."

Patrick helped Hank onto the bed and then took the jewelry into her ship, the hatch closing behind them. Patrick sat beside Hank in the cramped interior and said, "That was easier than I thought.."

Susan turned the ship's computer on and the entire thing lurched upwards. She sighed and said, "That's because there are probably more than a few fighter ships outside waiting for us."

"You have weapons, though, right?" Patrick replied.

Susan nodded, "I have two machine guns. However I also have no ammunition."

Patrick's heart sank, Hank groaned, "We're dead.."

"Don't worry, I have backup." Susan pressed a few buttons on her dash panel. A voice on the computer said, "Hello, Suzie, ready for pickup?"

Susan nodded, "Yup. I have some stragglers, they have business on earth, too."

The man's voice said, "Gotcha. I'm seeing a lot of fighter ships in the area. I would suggest delaying your departure until I can get close enough to help you guys if they are for you."

Susan sighed, "Yeah, those are ours.." There was a small bang coming from outside the Little Bugger. Susan looked at another screen, "Shit! There are people shooting at us."

Hank made a frustrated growl, "You didn't think to buy ammo?!"

Susan shrugged, "I barely had the money for gas!"

"We're dead.." Moaned Hank.

Susan sighed again, "Just hold on, I'm getting us out of here!"

The voice on the computer then said, "Please refrain from leaving the dock, I am not within range to fight, Susan."

"Shut up Hector, if I'm going to be getting shot it, it will be somewhere I can at least try to dodge." Susan then took the ship out into space. The red planet lay motionless beside them as they left the behemoth of a ship. The sky was empty, except for a few scattered cargo ships heading towards the Oasis on Mars. The Little Bugger made it's way into the open sky as Susan vigilantly viewed a number of monitors appearing on her holoscreen. Cameras set up around her ship showed her a full sphere of view around her ship. Susan took a deep breath, "Here we go.." The ship made a final lurch forward as she raced towards the spot of green on the red planet. On a few of the screens on her dashboard, other, dark colored ships made their appearances. Streams or red light whizzed by them as she did her best to dodge them all. She called out, "Shields active!" A monotone voice of her computer then said, "Shields active, power at 90%. Weapons off-line while shield is active."

Susan steered the ship along the large cruiser, people inside watching through their windows as Susan tried her best to avoid being hit. Susan scanned all of her screens and asked, "Hector.. Are you here yet?"

Hectors voice rang out, "Nearly there. I am stationed just behind the cruise. If you would, meet me there in once piece?"

"Working on that.." Replied Susan, and her computer cut in, "Shield energy at 15%"

Hank sighed, "What kind of shields do you have on here? Pedestrian?"

"Shut up Hank, you're distracting me." With that she muttered to herself. There was a loud bang and their lights went red. The computer chimed in, "Energy Shields are out. Ammunition canister for Machine Gun B lost."

"Shit! Almost there.." Susan was breathing hard, moving the ship more and more violently and randomly as bullets from the mobster's ships zoomed by. They came upon the end of the cruise ship where a bright gray transport ship came into view. Susan's eyes lit up, "There you are!" The ship dipped quickly under the heavy rain of gunfire that was now coming from the gray ship. Hector's voice came up on the computer, "I have arrived. Apologies for the wait."

When the gunfire had ended, the ships that were chasing them were nothing more than scraps. Susan sighed in relief, relaxing back into her seat, letting her ship glide onto a small docking bay on the gray ship in front of them. The small room they entered sealed shut. Hector's voice echoed, "Please be patient while I pressurize the docking bay. Catch anyone, Suzie?"

Susan started turning the holoscreen off on her computer panel, "Nope, but I got the information I needed. Also, I made some new friends."

"Oh. How delightful. I do enjoy meeting new people. Is it the man you told me about?"

Susan blushed, "No, not him, no.."

"Oh, well, any friend of Suzie's is a friend of mine. Welcome all!" With that, the Little Bugger's hatch opened up, the lights in the docking bay flooding the room in light. Susan turned the computer off, the ship ceasing to make any more sound. A sliding door opened near them, a bear in plain clothes stepping out. He wore glasses and his fur had grayed with age. He smiled warmly at the group. Susan waved at Hector, "Hi, Hector. Do you think we could use your medical stuff?"

Hector's expression instantly went serious and he replied, "Is someone hurt?"

Susan nodded, "Yeah, got his tail cut off."

Hector rushed to Hank, "Yes, of course, hurry, I'll look at him right away, go set the course, Suzie, you can fly to where we need to be." in an instant, Patrick found himself alone in the hangar. Not knowing what else to do, he set off to explore the rest of the ship.