[b][u][center]TF-Tube.Com
Room 6: Team Play
By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]








Five hours passed, and Haruki left his chambers with a grumble and a hungover look to his face. Not that he’d been drinking, but more that he’d been trying to sleep and failing more than he’d been succeeding. Sleep had fled from him again and again, only pouncing when he felt that he was just dead and done, and then only staying long enough to fuck him over when he woke up again. 

[i]Fucking...fuck...fuck…[/i]

He hadn’t even bothered putting on an illusion of clothes. He wasn’t even sure that he could maintain it at this point. Instead, he walked in human shape towards the cafeteria, stuck his head under the coffee machine, and turned it on. 

Unfortunately, he forgot that the coffee tended to come out hot. 

“AHHHHHHHHHH!”

Suffering minor burns along his tongue and the insides of his cheeks, Haruki leaped back from the machine, pawing at his face and whimpering. He stuffed his mouth full of ice cubes and held his mouth shut, hissing through clenched teeth. 

[i]Stupid...stupid…[/i]

Lack of sleep, lack of sleep and an urge to be angry at everything, even himself, meant that he ended up forgetting some of the most basic things. He rubbed at his face, waiting for the cold to take care of the worst of the burns, making sure that they would fade enough for basic regeneration and healing to take care of the rest. 

Well, at least he was awake, now. 

The various types of bats that had been taking the night shift stared at him from across the room, their eyes wide as he kept cradling his face. Haruki rolled his eyes, conjuring up a schoolboy outfit for himself. If nothing else, the tight shorts clung to him nicely enough to show off his ass, and to make sure that everything was properly displayed. It didn’t make him feel better, but it made him feel sexier, and that was enough. 

“Better now?” he growled at them. 

The bats found that it was better to stare at their food rather than him, and he nodded. 

“Good!”

Turning around, he stomped out of the cafeteria, making his way through the base. He was awake, finally, and there was no way in hell that he was going to waste the angry, painful energy that he had grumping at them. 

#

Arriving at the Manager’s office, he took a deep breath, slowed down, and took a moment to shift over to his kitsune form. His fur slowly crept out from his skin, and his clothes faded away as he let his natural form take over. The feeling of satisfaction as the orange-black fur started to creep along his arms was like nothing else, and he sighed happily as he let it cover him, sweeping along his arms and legs, chest and shoulders, up and along the back of his head and down his spine. 

His five tails tingled at the base of his spine, slowly pushing out. They were slow to emerge, at first, wriggling free of his skin like little worms from the earth, but nevertheless he felt them coming. He groaned with each one popping free, and he sighed happily as they started wriggling further and further out. 

His toes popped and cracked as his feet started to grow, toes lengthening and pads forming along the bottom of his furred feet. The slight itch of his tails growing out, becoming something curled and hard like claws, always made him smile. He shuffled his feet in place as they lengthened, then became slightly more slender, more feminine, in ways. 

Running his hands along his hips to smooth the fur down, he waited for his cock to grow out again. The feeling of that throbbing flesh, his creeping sheath, the slowly-increasing weight between his legs as his balls filled properly: it all combined to give him a hell of a boner, and he growled pleasurably to himself. 

Creep, crack, click. His ears moved up along the side of his head even as his muzzle started to come in, flowing out and dragging his tongue and his nose and his lips along with it. It was all going slower than usual, but that was because he was taking his time, letting it happen, allowing himself to just enjoy it for once. 

After all, he deserved it after getting up this early. 

When the transformation finished, when he had gone from human to kitsune, with five tails and sweeping limbs, with claws at the ends of all his fingers and toes, and, well, one hell of an endowment between his legs, Haruki felt pleased. He felt himself. He felt [i]right[/i] with the world again. 

And with that, he could handle the Manager. 

He stepped forward, pushed the doors open with a smile, and - 

“You’re late,” she said. 

He narrowed his eyes at the - frankly - intimidating woman behind the desk. She looked as if she had been sleeping for at least the last eight hours, despite the fact that he knew she would have been awake all night long. Her dress, as ever, was immaculate, and her skin, a light ochre, was as clean and fresh as if she’d just stepped out of the shower. 

It wasn’t fair that she could look so good, particularly with the little smatter of bronze dust that seemed to make her shine. 

“Well, I had to wake up early. Some of us do need to sleep, you know,” he said, walking in and sitting down. 

“I suppose it would be too much to ask you to put on clothes?”

“It would, thank you.”

“Well, you are allowed that.”

She leaned back in her seat, tapping her fingers together as she looked at him. He didn’t like the feeling of pressure behind her stare, but he didn’t complain. Last time he did that...well, better not to tempt her just before a mission. So, he glanced behind him, half-expecting to see Shaka at the door. When he didn’t, he cocked his head to the side and looked back at his superior. 

“So, where’s my pilot?”

“Resting.”

“Any reason he gets to sleep in?”

“Because he’s not going.”

“...What?”

“You’re assigned a new partner for this.”

“...” Haruki slowly sat up straight in his chair, looking the Manager in the eye. “You want us to eliminate someone.”

“There’s the potential for it, yes.”

The kitsune gritted his teeth as he crossed his arms. Admittedly, there was always the potential for having to take someone out if they decided not to come back with a retrieval team, but he had never failed to persuade someone to come home. He had never, [i]ever[/i] failed on that. There was no way that she lacked faith in him, so - 

“This isn’t just a pick-up. Someone made a mistake.”

“Correct. Someone nearly got through Betina’s firewalls.”

“...Nearly?”

“Near enough that they might have gotten data that was less-secured. I want to ensure that we don’t have a leak.”

“And if we do?”

“That is where your new partner comes in.”

“You’re making me work with a Cleaner.” He stuck out his tongue. “It’s not the Slug, is it?”

“...No. But I do expect you to be on your best behavior.”

“Hmmph. Who is it?” 

“Cackal.”

“I don’t know them.”

“You’re about to.”

The door opened before he could ask how, another little reminder that the Manager knew more than she was letting on. He narrowed his eyes at his superior, turned in his chair - 

And blinked. Someone he didn’t know, and female, from the looks of things. She wore an empty black t-shirt, a pair of distressed jeans, and sandals. Dark skin, not black, but darker than the Manager’s, almost closer to a dark mahogany, was half-hidden behind long, tight braids that fell over the sides of her head. 

“...Hey,” she said, nodding. 

“Hey.” He turned his chair the full way around, not bothering to hide anything as he looked her over. “Can’t say I’ve seen you before.”

“Oh, you have. Just not like this. Name’s Cackal.”

“...I’m going to be so angry with myself if I am right. Hyena?”

She smiled and nodded. 

“Goddammit. How did I not guess that?” he muttered. 

“Nobody does when the Manager says it. She says it wrong.”

“It is how it is written. Cack. Al.”

“You really think I named myself something that stupid? It’s Cackal. Cah-cal. Like a laugh.”

Haruki rubbed his forehead. He should have picked that up as soon as the Manager said it. He really was more tired than he should be. 

“Alright. So...how much experience have you had? And how much trouble am I going to get into if I keep staring at you and your...assets?” he asked, nodding to her chest. “Not that you have that much, but they’re still good looking.”

There was a split second between when he stopped talking and when he hit the floor when he realized that he fucked up. However, the timing also meant that there was only enough time to realize that he had fucked up. There was no time to do anything about it. 

When the world stopped spinning from hitting the ground, he realized that Cackal was sitting on his chest, her legs spread just enough for him to see something stuffed down one leg. Not a cock - he had seen enough of those - but something that was packed in there to look like one. 

“Okay, rule one. Never talk about the girl parts, ‘kay?” Cackal said. “I might be pre-op, but I’m still a guy, and I’m going to be a guy. Got it?”

“Yep. Ow.”

“Great. Rule two. I hear you calling me a girl, I’m gonna slap you. You don’t call me a girl, don’t talk about the girl parts, and don’t stare at ‘em, we’re good. Fair enough?”

“Yeah…” He groaned, shaking his head. “How are you so fast?”

“I’m a Cleaner. It’s what we do, cutie.”

As she stood up, she offered him a hand. He took it, pulling himself up with a bit of a smile. 

“Well, not that I usually go for other guys that fast, but I gotta say. When we get back, I want to see if I can handle that.”

“No one can, honey.”

“I think I could block that. Just have to make sure that I’m paying attention.”

“No, that move can’t be blocked.”

“It can, I just didn’t do it.”

“Anyway, Manager, that can’t be blocked.”

Haruki shook his head, more than slightly amused at the whole thing. He had to admit, it was more than he expected from his new partner. Someone with personality, someone with a little flair, and someone that could put him on his ass in a split second. It was definitely someone that’d be interesting. Even though he still didn’t like the idea of possibly eliminating someone, at least Cackal seemed like someone that he could talk to about it, and see if he could negotiate a shot at actually keeping them alive. 

Before he could say another word, however, the Manager cleared her throat. There was such a tone to it that they both realized that they should probably sit down, and they did. 

The mistress of the facility looked at him, then at Cackal, then back at him. There was nothing said, but rather an unspoken warning, one that he picked up on loud and clear. He might be in charge, but Cackal was the one that would pick the outcome of this mission. He was not to question her. 

It was the first time in a long time that he had been reminded that they could actually end up killing people to protect the rest of the group. He hoped to never have that reminder again. 

The Manager tapped her desk, and a map of the world popped up. It spun around slowly, then centered on Alaska. 

“You’re going to Juneau. The last reading we got from the hacker put them in the city, though where is currently being pinned down by Betina and her staff. You should have a precise location before you arrive.”

“And when we get there…” 

“That’s where I come in,” Haruki said, nodding at his new partner. “I’ll talk with everyone there, find out what we can, and then we start tracking this guy down.”

“Or woman,” the Manager said. 

“Yeah, yeah. Culprit. Better?”

“Yes,” the Manager said. “Now, if you would pay attention. This is the serious part.”

The map expanded outwards, and this time, there were other things being tracked on the map. Fast-moving things, as a matter of fact. None of them were heading to Juneau, but there were some that were heading to Alaska. 

Haruki winced. That meant that there was the possibility of an outside power having already picked up on the situation. Not what they needed. 

“Any signs of who’s sending these?”

“Not yet,” the Manager admitted. “But considering that they all launched within five minutes of each other, it can’t be coincidence. You have high-atmosphere authorization for this insertion.”

“Oh god, no…”

“Oh, hell yes,” Cackal said with a grin. 

Rubbing his forehead and already bracing himself for the pains of going through that level of g-forces, Haruki forced the arguments and complaints down. This was definitely a bigger mission, and one that even he admitted they needed to take seriously. They’d always had the advance notice to take care of things before they started spiraling out of control. This time, they were acting behind everyone else. If they took high-atmosphere routes, if they worked as fast as they could, they might - [i]might[/i] - get to the scene an hour before the other guys did. 

They couldn’t afford to take it slow, this time, and he could see why Cackal was coming along. She - no, he - was going to be there as much for his protection as for anything else. If the other guys popped their heads up, they might be dangerous. They’d try and hide first, but if anything went wrong…

Well, he knew what would be needed. 

“Alright. I’m assuming we leave now?” he asked. 

“That’s correct. Your vessel is already fueled and waiting.”

Nodding, he got to his feet. Cackal followed, and as they left, his new partner looked him up and down. He chuckled. 

“You like what you see?”

“Actually, just wondering how many people you can imitate.”

“A lot.”

“Voice, too?”

“I’m not doing Idris Elba.”

“Dammit, ha! Guess you get that a lot.”

“More than you know…”

#

Fen Chao was sleeping soundly when someone knocked on her door. She groaned under her breath, slowly rolling out of bed. Remembering to get herself a robe, she pulled it over her shoulders, dragged it closed, and opened the door. 

“Mmmphlo?”

“You’re needed in the computer room.”

She managed to open one eye, just enough to see that there was a similar dark bronze color in front of her as the man that had escorted her to the showers earlier. Shaking her head, she blinked until she could actually see. 

It was one of the Manager’s assistants, and he stood patiently just outside her door, looking down at her. 

“...What? What time is it?”

“Approximately two hours after you logged out of your stream.”

“...You…”

“We know everything.”

“Oh...god…” 

“Before you self-immolate, please remember that you are called to work. I will give you five minutes to get dressed.”

“Five - okay, okay.”

She wasn’t used to sudden interruptions to drag her off to work, but no-one lived in China without learning how to get used to late-night interruptions, and everyone knew to take them seriously. Shutting the door behind her, she quickly gathered her clothes. What clothes there were, anyway. She’d been supplied with a jumpsuit, a few little bits of underwear, and that was it. Yellow wasn’t her color, but she took it. 

In short order, she was dressed, sans slippers or any other sort of footwear. Shaking her head, she opened the door and nodded. 

“Ready.”

“With two minutes to spare. Splendid.”

“What’s going on?”

“There’s been a near-breach. Betina is...not pleased.”

“...I don’t suppose that you, um, offer ear-plugs?”

The bronze-skinned man reached into his suit pocket, pulling out a pair of noise-cancelling buds. She almost collapsed in relief, nodding her thanks as she put them in. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Her behavior earlier was reported and she has been slotted for training on employee management. It should not be a problem again.”

“...”

“Come.”

#

As soon they walked in, Betina grabbed her and dragged her to one of the empty stations. The older woman gave her strict instructions to sit down and focus on updating the various tracking programs. With a chat set up in the corner to feed her any new parameters that had changed, she realized that she was given essentially busywork while the more experienced members of the team did a lot of the real work. 

Not wanting to look like she was doing nothing, Fen split the screens, making sure that the chat and the trackers were on one side while she worked on something else on the other. She brought up the current mission, pulling up all the information that was readily available at her clearance level. 

There wasn’t much. She could see who was assigned to the mission - someone named Cackal, as well as Haruki - and she could see that they were in the vessel making their way towards Juneau, but she couldn’t quite see what they were doing there. She cocked her head to the side, trying something else. 

There was a data stream going from the base to Haruki’s shuttle, which meant that they were constantly getting updated on things. She tried to tap into that, seeing if she could get an update through that. It turned out she could. 

[i]Betina needs to start securing these better,[/i] she thought. [i]If there was a breach, then they could get at everything, not just the basics…[/i]

That said, she read through the other information that she was getting from the data stream. The breach, she knew about, but the picture started to get more interesting the more she read. 

There were bits of data that had been accessed, even though the hacker hadn’t gotten into the main systems, confirming her earlier worries. With the slack security on the inside, it meant that all you had to do was get through the outer walls. But that wasn’t the worst of it. 

The hacker had been trying to find out where they were. Multiple search strings were present, trying to tie back to the broadcasting location for their signal. Thankfully, it seemed that the TF-Tube website was streamed and broadcasted in the same way that bitcoin and other such features tended to be, even buried beneath another layer or three of anonymity besides that, but the hacker had definitely been intent on finding out where their home base was. 

More than that, whoever it was [i]had[/i] managed to pull some of the data from the experiments going on at the facility for themselves. From what she could see, it was all data about how the shifters had come to be, none of it conclusive in the slightest, but it was sufficient data to allow someone to start proving that they existed. 

Considering what she knew of the people here, they weren’t going to be happy about that. 

She looked back at the tracker information. A little bit of a parameter shift had occurred, and she adjusted the information going into the program, shifting a variable or two. She cleared previous search results to keep them from interfering, and then ran it again. 

While it was compiling, she looked back at the other information. Haruki off on another mission so soon after getting her meant that they trusted him a lot. She was surprised; he seemed so...strange, at least to her, and it seemed so odd that he might be an effective agent for anything. Yet, the Manager seemed to trust him. 

But who was the other?

Again, the obvious way to the personnel files was blocked, but all it took was a little workaround from the side to see who Cackal was. She skimmed through it, her eyes going wider and wider the more she saw. 

A hyena-shifter, one that shifted at-will. No trigger, no emotional push. Old-style, according to the file, and one that had tested positive for a few other traits, such as various spirit-profiles that came up on scans, and the fact that there were sometimes more than one presence around when she was viewed by different wavelengths. 

But the dangerous part was her kill count. According to her personnel file, she had ‘cleaned’ a total of a dozen different targets, including two former employees. Her breath caught in her throat. 

[i]Holy...holy…[/i]

“Fen!”

She almost jumped out of her skin at the sudden shout, whipping around to see Betina standing behind her. Still desperately trying to catch her breath, she stared up at her supervisor with her mouth hanging open. 

“Sorry, sorry, I just wanted to stay busy, and -”

“You’re double-tasking. That’s fine. What’d you find?”

“Um, just that, um, the hacker managed to steal some files.”

Betina nodded, gesturing for her to speed it up. 

“Um, um, and that a Cleaner’s been dispatched for this mission, and I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m a little scared, and - oh god, oh god, claws, claws, claws.”

She jumped out of her seat, only for her supervisor to shove her right back into it. She gasped, her eyes wild. 

“Calm. The fuck. Down.”

“But - but I need -”

“No. What you need to do is get back to work,” Betina said, turning Fen’s chair around so that she faced the screens again. “Keep your eyes on that, and make sure that you send a message to the away team if anything changes.”

“But...but…”

“It doesn’t matter if you change here. Everyone else already knows, so stop freaking out. Just get the work done.”

“...”

[i]But I don’t want to change…[/i] she thought as her boss walked away. She whimpered, but stared at the screen, keeping her head down. [i]I don’t want to be ugly…[/i]











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

Summary: Haruki comes in for the job assignment, only to find that he’s working with someone different this time. Fen Chao is called in to oversee computers, and finds out that things in a crisis are a bit different than normal. 

Tags: M/solo, no sex, transformation, human, kitsune, fight, humor, banter, trans, series, patreon,