[b][u][center]TF-Tube.Com
Room 3: The Manager
By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]








“...summary, it isn’t that complicated.”

Haruki shifted in his seat, looking over his shoulder to see how the once-water dragon was doing. She had since shifted back to her human self, her eyes closed, her mouth hanging open slightly. Chuckling, he shook his head and looked out the viewscreen again. 

[i]Unsurprising, really. She did have a long night.[/i]

“Are we done with the scenic route, now?” Shaka asked with a soft growl.

“Yes, yes, we are. You can speed up now.”

“Finally.”

As Shaka put his foot down, the disguised kitsune got comfortable, putting his hands behind his head and letting out a soft sigh. The mission was essentially done, and this time, he didn’t even have to hurt anyone. It was a nice change, honestly. There’d been times when a pick-up mission had turned out to be something...well, a little darker. 

Not this time, though. Instead of a government agent trying to track down this mysterious operation, they had found someone that had the good sense to keep what she found to herself. Very few loose ends, and a very willing new member of the community. All things considered, it was as good a result as one could hope for. 

Beep, beep. 

He blinked, looking down at the console. Communications were never used save for two reasons. Either there was an emergency back at the base...or the Manager wanted to have a word with him. 

Glancing at Shaka, he got a discreet shake of the head. No way was the lion taking this call. He sighed, picking up the microphone. 

“This is Haruki, go ahead.”

“[i]This is the Manager. I’m told that you’re finally on your way home.[/i]”

Wincing, he looked at Shaka again, pointing at the microphone, and once more, the pilot shook his head. This was his call. He let out a silent groan, shaking his head as he answered. 

“Yes. Our passenger is fast asleep and we’re on our way.”

“[i]Why, pray tell, was she still awake when she boarded your shuttle?[/i]”

“There was a more consensual joining this time.”

“[i]And you checked her for bugs? Listening devices?[/i]”

“Yes, yes.”

“[i]Trackers?[/i]”

“The shuttle should have shorted those out, if there are any.”

“[i]Check again. And don’t land until you are sure.[/i]”

The channel cut out before he could argue. Not that he would, he supposed. It made for a good reason to get up close and personal with their new acquaintance. 

Fen was still completely out of it as he turned his chair around. She didn’t move her head, didn’t wake as he knelt down at her feet, tapping his fingers around her ankles, and then gradually making his way up her legs. 

“Noticed you didn’t tell the Manager that she’s a lizard.”

“Well, she did tell me to make sure.”

“Or that she shed her skin just before we picked her up.”

“Indeed. She didn’t seem too inclined to hear these things.”

“Fen’s gonna scream if she wakes up.”

“Then I should make sure that she doesn’t wake up while I’m checking, shouldn’t I?”

He shook his head, working his way up her legs, tapping her along the knees and then the thighs. With the little EMP emitters gathered around the shuttle’s ramp, there was almost nothing that could actually keep functioning if it was turned on while entering the craft, not to mention that there was a dampening field all around the craft. Any signal going out was as weak as a cell phone signal buried under ten stories of concrete. 

Even without that, unless she had a tracker chip buried in her, he doubted that there was anything left. She’d shed her skin during her transformation, and he’d seen the residual bit that was left in the trash in her bathroom. If there was anything to track, she’d probably shed it already. 

[i]But best to be sure,[/i] he thought, making his way up her body. He spread her legs, looking down at her pussy. Hairless, like most everything else down there. Probably another result of her transformation. [i]But if there’s something inside…[/i]

Later, he told himself. He might be a porn star, but he wasn’t that big of a deviant. Besides, there were other places to check before going for the inner walls. 

Much as he mocked the Manager for it, he did his job professionally. He stroked along her sides, her stomach, and under her breasts, feeling for any of the tell-tale hard points where a chip could be embedded. He worked up to her breasts, fondling them slightly, making her nipples a bit harder in her sleep and drawing a soft moan from the Chinese girl. 

[i]Oh, the things that I would do for you if you were on camera,[/i] he thought with a small smile. [i]Such a lovely, soft form…[/i]

Shaking his head, he dragged his fingers along her neck. She tilted her head slightly, pushing her cheek against his hand as she slept. It was good enough to allow him to check behind her ears, and then along the back of her head. Nothing there, nothing further up towards her scalp. Nothing in the cheekbones, either. 

Back down, along her spine, leaning her gently to ensure that she didn’t fall out of the chair or wake up. Nothing along there, and nothing that seemed to stand out in either ass cheek. 

“She’s clean everywhere but the obvious,” he said as he pulled his hands back. 

“Gonna check those, too?”

“Obviously.”

“Gloves?”

“Oh, why bother? We’re immune. Or at least, I am.”

Kitsunes, much like werewolves, had a strange immunity to the diseases of other species. Werewolves were completely immune, recovering from anything the moment that they transformed from human to wolf and back again. Kitsunes, on the other hand, had an immunity to most diseases, suffering only from the deficiency of food and malnutrition problems. In either case, he would be fine. Anything she might be carrying, he wouldn’t be getting. 

Haruki slid one of his fingers into her pussy, gently spreading her open in the process. Fen moaned under her breath, shifting slightly in her sleep until she was pushing her hips forward, almost sliding off the chair. 

Not an issue for him, and quite a help, actually. It exposed her other entrance, something that would probably wake her up as soon as he touched it. It was why he was waiting to do that one last, and why he was doing this one while still in human form. Fur was lovely, but it certainly made entry into some orifices a little bit more difficult. 

Tap, touch, stroke. He thrust his finger back and forth a few times, mostly clinically. She dampened around his digit, but there were no abnormal surfaces, nothing in there that would signify a chip. 

“Lucky bastard,” Shaka muttered. 

“Skilled, my friend. Now, wish me luck…”

“Wishing you a cracked skull, more like.”

He shrugged, sliding his slick finger down to her tight little pucker. It was a slightly different shade of color, the skin darker rather than pinker. He gently stroked his fingertip along her rim, feeling it push back against him. A few little rubs to help it relax, and then - 

“Ah…”

[i]Hmm. Interesting.[/i]

Haruki didn’t push his luck. The last thing he needed was a kick to his face, particularly considering that the Manager was probably going to have him hop back in front of a camera as soon as they got back to base. Instead of fingering her ass to get it nice and loose, the way that he might have done another time, he just stroked his finger around, feeling for anything that wasn’t waste. 

Thankfully, there was no lumps of either in there. Shaking his head, he pulled his finger free. 

“She’s clean.”

“Completely?”

“Surprisingly so, actually,” he said, shaking his head. “Just...a moment.”

He let the illusion fall, and as he did, the slight smell that remained on his digit faded away. The fur had a chance to glow, his transformation into his true self letting the light flare for a moment, and then it faded away again as he put the human form back on. 

‘Illusion’ really was the wrong word for it, considering the fact that kitsunes were quite physical beneath their shapeshifting, but there was always the feeling of their fox parts still being ‘there.’ It wasn’t the same as when a werewolf shifted shape, or when one of the dragons changed from one form to another. It was an odd combination of the physical shift and a magical spell, allowing them to become something else while their true self was still there. 

It was one reason why he was always confident, despite not having the glamor of his tailed self when he was in human form. He knew that it was only a step away, always waiting for him to let go of the other side. 

Sitting down in the copilot’s chair, he glanced out the window. 

“Are we close?”

“Very.”

“Alright. Let’s bring her home.”

The shuttle dropped from the clouds, and they were flying down the west coast of the North American continent. The shuttle wasn’t quite as fast as the latest missiles that the US government had been perfecting, but it wasn’t far off, either. The ground sped by in a blur, their sonic booms exploding behind them at a gradually decreasing rate as they slowed down. 

Their headquarters were based in the Rockies, and they swooped north and east to make sure that they were properly lined up. No matter how many times they did this, Haruki always gripped his chair tightly as the mountains came in sight, and this was no exception. 

“Don’t. Miss.”

“Never miss.”

That was true. Otherwise, Shaka would be plastered over the hole in the side of the mountain alongside the remains of a number of other shuttles and pilots. They had to make sure that they came in quick, past what the radar installations in the area could detect, and the only way to do that was to not hit the brakes until they were inside the mountain. So far, there’d been no problems with his pilot’s work, but there was always the chance. 

Haruki gripped the edges of his seat tighter and tighter as they came flying in faster than any sane pilot would have risked, shooting over the trees and for the little hole between them where the hangar lay. The world might as well have been on fast-forward for how much information he could pick up. 

Faster, further, lower, faster. Trees rustled and almost went down despite the shuttle flying a dozen feet overhead, the wind slipstream rustling them like mad. He was gripping the chair tighter and tighter as he saw just how close the big trees were to them. 

“Don’t. Miss. Don’t. Miss. Don’t. Miss.”

“Then don’t talk.”

“Don’t miss!”

And then, they were through. The shuttle slowed immediately, and he slammed against his seatbelts. So did Shaka, and so, apparently, did Fen. 

“AH!”

She screamed as her breath was choked right out of her by her seatbelt, and he shook his head in sympathy. He really should have woken her for that, he supposed. 

The magnets on all sides of the hangar produced a field that pulled their shuttle to a near halt almost too fast for their systems to manage. Even after that many landings, he still felt dizzy in his chair, all the blood in his body shoved right into his skull. The shift in g-force from the sudden stop was...well, not pleasant. 

Even as the magnets lowered them to the ground, locking them to the hangar floor, he didn’t dare get up too quickly. The budding headache had a great deal to do with that, too, and he groaned under his breath as he rubbed his forehead. 

“Piece of cake,” Shaka muttered. 

“Yeah...you say that every time. No idea how you aim this thing.”

“What I do.”

“If you say so. I’m just glad I don’t have to.”

“Look.”

“Hmm?”

“Manager.”

“...Great.”

He forced himself to lean forward, his vision going from spotty to blurry, and then from blurry to clear. At each stage, he noticed a bit more, but as soon as he could see the marching forms of the company’s employees, he focused on the one in front. 

She gradually came together as a human-ish woman with a long, willowy sort of figure, the sort of woman where you looked at her and immediately thought that she had to duck down at every door from how tall she seemed to be. It didn’t help that her hair ran down her back all the way to her waist, and that it was allowed to run free rather than get tied into a braid. 

Nobody knew where the Manager came from. Some bet on Spain or somewhere else on the Mediterranean, due to her skin tone, while others thought that she might have come from Central America, due to how she transformed. Nobody really knew, and that was part of what made her both interesting and a bit scary. 

Today, she was walking with purpose, spiked heels clicking loud enough for him to hear it through the shuttle. He winced as he saw her wearing the red suit today, the blouse and skirt just a shade lighter than blood, and he could tell that she wasn’t best pleased. 

Either someone else had fucked up, or he’d done something that he wasn’t supposed to. 

“Alright, let’s get this - Shaka?”

“Hmm?”

“Check the medkit for a stim.”

“Legs still not working?”

“Not one bit.”

“Where…” 

Fen was finally coming round again. He was honestly a little impressed, considering the fact that she’d been completely out of it when they were landing. The sudden brakes should have been enough to knock her out again, but she was conscious. He glanced around the side of his chair, and immediately winced. 

She already had an x-shaped bruise forming on her chest, the seatbelt having pressed right around her breasts and smashed the blue mark in like a stain or a harness. Haruki shook his head. 

“I imagine that you’ll need to get that seen to. Do you heal when you transform?”

“I...I don’t know. I’ve never tested that. Where are we?”

“Home. Or as much home as anything will be, from now on. Can you stand?”

“...I think so?”

“Really?”

She nodded, pressing the button on her seatbelt. To his surprise, she was able to get to her feet. A little wobbly, yes, but she was managing. 

“...Show-off. Nnngh!” 

Haruki bit his lip as the pilot stabbed him in the leg with the stim needle. Huffing softly under his breath as his muscles cramped up from the sudden pain, he forced himself to take a few deep breaths before getting to his feet. That was...unpleasant, to say the least. 

“You good?” Shaka asked. 

“Mmmph. Yes. Thank you.” He shook his head, pulling at the illusion that he’d wrapped himself in. A tight pair of black pants, a pair of dress shoes, and a suit and jacket popped up along his frame, taking him from naked to dressed in a half-second. “How do I look?”

“Pompous.”

“Excellent.”

“But...where is here? What’s home?” Fen asked. 

“I’ll explain in a moment, if the Manager doesn’t do it first.”

Taking her by the arm, he led her down the gangplank of the shuttle. She was still pulling her robe back on, tightening it up, and he could just make out the edge of a few scales on her hand. Not much yet, but it was a clear mark of the fear that she was probably feeling. No surprise there. This was going to be all new to her. 

[i]Well, at least she’s easy to read,[/i] he thought, taking her around the shuttle and towards the welcome party. [i]Let’s see what the Manager has to say.[/i]

Certainly, the Manager had managed to put on a half-smile by the time that they were facing each other. She looked at Fen, nodded to herself, and then looked at him. The smile faded slightly. 

“Tell me that you did not go to China in that.”

“I went naked, actually.”

“...That would honestly be an improvement.” She shook her head. “And this is…”

He nudged their newest member in the ribs, and she stepped forward. Again, she surprised him. No blush despite being nearly naked, and despite being in front of people that she didn’t know. 

“My name is Fen Chao. According to Haruki, I must be an empathic shifter, with an emotional trigger of fear.”

[i]...She was listening?[/i]

One surprise after another. He almost wished that he’d kept her awake in the shuttle. If she’d been paying that much attention while almost panicking in her apartment, he had to wonder how much she’d picked up before dropping off. Not just a pretty face, this one. 

The Manager arched an eyebrow, giving him a questioning glance before continuing. 

“You [i]must[/i] be?”

“It is what he said I am.”

“I’m assuming he saw you change, then. What is your other form?”

“A Chinese Water Dragon, miss.”

“My name is not ‘miss’. You will call me Manager, for now.”

“I apologize, Manager,” Fen said, bowing her head slightly. “I do not wish to offend. I...It’s very new to me.”

“I’m sure. When you say ‘water dragon,’ do you mean of the mythological or the lizard variety?”

“There’s...I...I mean, the lizard variety, Manager.”

“Less spectacular, then, but that is certainly not without its uses. Your skills?”

“Computer and information technology, Manager.”

The Manager smiled to herself, looking over her shoulders to one of her identical assistants. Each one shared her almost bronzed tone, and they were all as tall and willowy as she was. Rumors said that they were all her children, but nobody knew if that was rumor or truth. 

“I love employees like this. Always quick, always with a precise answer.” The Manager turned back. “Haruki radioed ahead and said that you were asking for an exemption to our adult entertainment division, yes? We’ll put you through an aptitude test, and if you pass, then you’ll be allowed to work on the computers, and nothing else. If you fail, then you’ll be put back to the webcam work. That’s the fairest offer I can make.”

“I understand, Manager. I look forward to the tests.”

“I’m sure. Yaotl.”

One of her assistants stepped forward, dressed in a red suit of his own, though without the skirt, of course. The Manager nodded at Fen. 

“Assign her quarters, and get her dressed. We’ll get the test set up later.”

“Thank you, Manager,” Fen said with another bow of her head. 

“Don’t thank me yet. This is hard work that you’ve chosen.”

“But I...I do thank you. This...you’re all...You understand. You understand. I’m not…”

She shook, her carefully neutral expression close to cracking. She obviously needed some support, some kindness. 

She wasn’t going to get it here. Haruki rolled his eyes, giving her a gentle push from behind. 

“Save the waterworks for later. You get yourself a room. Manager and I need to talk.”

“...Yes, we do,” she said, turning her head to him. “See to her, Yaotl. We’ll check later.”

As Fen was led away, the Manager’s gaze settled fully on him. He knew it was coming, and he knew that it was going to be uncomfortable, but he still couldn’t keep himself from flinching as she stared right at him. 

“Okay. Before you tear into me, is this work-related, or mission-related.”

“In this case, work.”

“...Well, that’s less bad.”

“You’ve been slacking outside of your solo shifts.”

“Oh, don’t tell me we are back to this…”

“You are allowed a certain amount of leniency as one of our more skilled agents. However, you are still required to bring in a certain amount of money for the organization. If you do not, then our protections are curtailed. So far, our profits are up enough that it hasn’t caused problems, but if you don’t start pulling your weight -”

“None of the other performers are up to my standards.”

She narrowed her eyes, and he swore her hair rose up, pushed up like the feathers on the back of a bird’s neck. The way she stood changed, too, like she had suddenly grown taller, looming over him. 

He took a step back, and the changes ended. She was just glaring at him, and that he could take. 

“Your standards don’t matter, Haruki. What matters is our audience. While I appreciate that you have regular fans -”

“Very regular fans, thank you.”

“They are not paying sufficiently for you to justify solo streams. You have an appointment tonight with one of our other performers, and two of my assistants will ensure that you attend this one.”

“...Who?”

She held out a hand, and a tablet was handed over. The Manager flicked through the list, then nodded to herself. 

“Aamish.”

“Oh god, not him,” Haruki groaned. “Please, anyone but him. I cannot [i]stand[/i] Aamish.”

“You gave up your choice when you refused to set up these appointments for yourself,” the Manager said, passing the tablet back to her assistants. “And this was voted on by the fans. They chose him, and were willing to pay the boost charge, so blame them.”

[i]Not him…[/i]

Aamish wasn’t that bad a guy, when it came right down to it. He was sure that his fellow shifter had a great personality, for those that took the time to see it. The problem lay less in who he was and more in [i]what[/i] he was. 

He was a white elephant, and that meant that he took up most of a room all on his own. Even apart from the size difference problems, there was the fact that the elephant had a way of being more...bossy, once he changed. The extra muscle made it impossible to deny him what he wanted, too, and that was probably just what the fans were looking for. A chance for a big Indian man to get it on with a bratty high schooler. 

[i]Fuck…[/i]

Well, there went his evening, and until the evening was over, there went his asshole, too. He’d be gaping, possibly worse, by the end of this. The only thing that would fix that would be a transformation at the very end, and from the way that the Manager was looking at him, there was no chance he’d be able to slide one in before the end of the night. She’d be watching to ensure that he followed the rules this time.

That would almost be fun, except he knew that she’d enjoy the show regardless of what he did. She might play the ice queen, but one thing that everyone knew for truth was that there wasn’t a kink that existed that she didn’t enjoy on some level. He sighed. 

“Fine. Do I have time to relax a bit first, at least?”

“Of course. I would not be so cruel as that. Take three hours. Then my assistants will find you.”

“...Thanks.”

“No need to be sarcastic. It’s just business.”

“I’m sure.”

“Go on. You may head to your quarters.”

And so he did. He knew that Shaka would be grilled next, and he imagined that the lion would probably be lucky enough to get the night off. Much as Haruki hated to admit it, Shaka was more responsible than he was. 

[i]Well...let’s get some rest.[/i]

He left the hangar behind, going through the hallways and the control room that were on this side of the base. It was divided into several categories, each one connected by a series of trams to make for quick transit. There was the Hangar, the Studio, the Dorms, Ops Control, and Research. They formed a pentagon of sorts, and considering the Hangar and the Dorms were on opposite sides, he had a long ride ahead of him. 

The kitsune let his human facade fade away as soon as he was out of the hangar, allowing his sheath to bounce and bob slightly as he walked. His balls were pushed forward by his thighs every time he took a step, and his clawed toes ticked ticked ticked on the metal floor as he let the human shape fade away. 

Three steps later, he was a kitsune again, fully shaped with muzzle, five tails, and fur from head to toe. He cracked his neck to the side, and then to the other, shaking his head. 

[i]I wonder if Fen will remember everything I told her,[/i] he thought. [i]At the very least, she should remember the different shifters.[/i]

There were several kinds, divided between willing and unwilling, and between magical, empathic, and physical. So, one could be a willing empathic shifter, or they might be an unwilling magical shifter, or any number of other combinations. 

He was in the category of a willing magical shifter. He only changed when he willed it, though it could be overcome with a particularly strong urge, such as when he started feeling more horny and wanted to release the beast inside. Werewolves, on the other hand, could be a willing or unwilling shifter, but they were almost all of the physical variety. Their bodies were usually inflicted with some sort of virus or other such thing, but one that they could have control over and force a transformation if they wished. It allowed them to physically alter their cells down on the molecular level, changing them from one shape to another that way. 

From everything that he’d seen, Fen was in the unfortunate category of an unwilling empathic shifter. They had it better than the unwilling physical shifter, considering that they could have some control of how they felt, but it wasn’t much better. She might get control over when she felt something, and that would give her control over herself, but she’d never have that willing, happy shift that most people did. 

He was jerked out of his thoughts as he reached the tram station, and he sat down beside a human and a Rakshasa. Unlike what most people thought, the vaguely feline demon creature didn’t have magical power, but they did look pretty damn scary. At least, the first few times you saw them. After that, they just had too many teeth. 

Haruki exchanged waves with the ‘demon,’ and then leaned his head back against the wall. He pulled one leg up, tapping his foot against nothing. 

Despite all of his annoyances with the Manager, he had to admit that it was still better to be here than it was to be out in the ‘real’ world. TF-Tube allowed for them to make a living, to sustain an existence that would otherwise be impossible for them out there. The unwilling physical shifters would have been found out within a month, best case scenario, and once they were found and experimented on, it would only be a matter of time before whichever government caught them would start trying to figure out how to use what they found out for their own advantage. 

[i]Some idiot seeing if they could make a remote-controlled werewolf virus, or seeing if they could program a kitsune illusion into a projector, or…[/i]

Sighing, he rubbed his muzzle. So far, they’d been lucky. TF-Tube allowed them to not just make a living, but spy on the rest of the world. They could keep track of the different budding shifters out there, snag them before they were caught by the world at large. Because…

[i]Well, Fen was right about one thing,[/i] he thought as he watched the tram come in. [i]None of us want to be alone.[/i]

Maybe the Manager knew what had caused the shifters to start appearing again, but if she did, she hadn’t told any of them. Haruki might have a kitsune’s power, but he hadn’t exactly come from a kitsune line. One day, he’d had a dream, and then woken up with five tails. After that, and a lot of searching through TOR that he hoped had gone unnoticed, he had found TF-Tube and joined up. And after that…

Well, he’d gotten a rougher operative than he was. Not all of them waited until you got to the base to give you a ‘try-out’ for the cameras. Not that it’d been bad, but he could have gone without having a knot jammed up his ass. 

As the tram doors closed, an announcement came through. 

“[i]Attention employees. It’s that time again. The labs are asking for donations of blood and volunteers for a three-night experiment. If you want to earn some credit for days off, or just want to help the cause, please sign up between now and tomorrow night. Any slots left unfilled will result in random employees being ‘volunteered’ with no compensation. That is all.[/i]”

Haruki groaned under his breath, but he supposed that was no surprise. There were always some experiments going on, and again, almost nobody knew what they were for. Maybe the Manager didn’t know what was going on, and this was their way of trying to find out. Or maybe they were trying to find a way to offer some sort of ‘cure’ for the shifter abilities they had. Or maybe there was something else bizarre going on that nobody could guess. 

At any rate, he knew that he should make a stop on the way to the Dorms. If nothing else, he could donate some blood and get off the draft list for the three-night experiments. It was bad enough getting paired with Aamish. He didn’t need the extra aggravation.












[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]