by Tom Jones
“You sure there’s no security cameras or anything in here?” Jason asked the fox. Arcades looked up at the walls, and he looked around for security cameras. However, he did not notice such devices on the walls. Arcades spoke, “I don’t see any cameras anywhere. I don’t think they have any set up in here. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be careful. You never know if they have armed guards nearby with that hybrid weapon that we found.” Jason shrugged, “Eh. It’s not like they’d know who you are anyways. You look almost like any other fox. Minus the fact that your fur is black and white. Most of you blokes are reddish-orange and white.” Arcades scratched his neck, “Perhaps… Well, at least I’m not leaving any fingerprints with these gloves.” Jason looked down at the fox’s bare feet, “You’re leaving footprints, though.” Arcades smiled as a result of Jason’s comment, “Alright. I’ll give you credit for that. Here, let’s just get going. We should see what’s in the other car.”
Arcades and Jason stood in front of the door that would take them to the next train car. The way the door opened seemed to be similar to the hatch on the roof of the train that was previously used in order to gain entrance to the train. The fox grabbed the handle, and he began to twist it to open the door. After some turning, he could feel that the door was about to open. The door began to open, and Jason stuck the barrel of his rifle in the crack of the door. As the fox pulled the door open, Jason toggled on his weapon’s flashlight and looked inside. The wolf lowered his weapon after seeing that the next car was clear, “All clear.” Arcades replied, “Alright. Let’s get in there and see what they got.”
The fox felt around along the side of the walls for a lightswitch due to the fact that the room was still dark. Though he was not wearing his sunglasses, his eyes had still not been adjusted for the darkness. After feeling around the walls with both of his hands, he finally felt the lightswitch. The fox flipped the switch after he held his eyes shut to prevent the light from stinging his eyes that were already in the process of adjusting for the darkness. After flipping the switch, Arcades slowly opened his eyes, and he began to turn around. He immediately recognized the silver crate that he saw the previous night.
“Is that the one, Kurt?” Jason asked the fox. Arcades held his Salient GRY with his left hand after it bumped up against his legs numerous times. Arcades looked at the box before replying, “Bingo. That’s gotta be it. That looks exactly like the one I saw last night.” Jason began walking towards the crate. The wolf asked, “How are you going to be sure that box is the right one, mate?” Arcades walked up closer to the box to inspect it. Though the darkness of the previous night made it difficult to pick out details of the crate, he remembered where he placed the tracking device. Arcades knew that the tracking device was on the top of the box, so he needed to see if it was still there. Arcades stood up on his toes to peek over the box. While he was doing so, Jason began looking at the fox’s exposed soles.
“Yup, there it is. I see it,” Arcades spoke aloud before returning to a normal standing position. Jason’s eyes traveled back up to the fox’s face as he turned around, and the wolf attempted to play it off inconspicuously. Arcades could tell that Jason was likely looking at his feet again, but he decided to shrug it off. The fox was ready to get back with the mission, “This is the correct box. We need to get inside and see what the cargo is.” Jason looked behind the fox, and he studied the size of the container. The wolf commented, “For a box of that size, what do you think could be in it?”
“That’s what I’m ready to find out,” Arcades spoke as he turned back around to face the box. He stowed his rifle away as he looked over the features of the seemingly featureless crate. He was looking for a latch, lever, or some other way that he would be able to open the crate. Arcades was not able to locate anything from where he was standing, so he knelt down in order to get a better look at the sides of the crate. He even pressed his ear up against the side to see if he could hear anything rattling inside. He could hear a faint sound coming from the box, but he did not know if that was just the noise of the train as it traveled. Jason walked up to the box as well, and the wolf began to look over the box. He wondered if Arcades was overlooking the way to open the box.
After a few more moments of searching, Jason found what he thought was a carry handle. The wolf pulled the handle, and a clicking noise was heard. Arcades’ ear twitched towards the sound, “What? Did you find something?” Arcades asked. Jason continued to pull on the handle, “I think this may be it, Kurt.” As the wolf continued to pull the handle upwards, the roof of the box was traveling upwards. At the same time, the walls of the crate were traveling downwards. Arcades watched the metallic side panels as they folded downwards in order to reveal the contents of the crate. When the lid of the crate reached its maximum height, another clicking sound was heard. Arcades looked at the contents of the crate.
“What in the world?” Arcades was the first one to speak. Jason looked at the fox before looking at the contents himself. Arcades was not sure what he was looking at. Inside of the crate knelt two anthros. One a female lynx and the other a male jackal. The two anthros were covered in what appeared to be black skin-tight latex suits. Their faces were not covered by the latex, but rather covered by a muzzle and blindfold. The anthros seemed to have been bound in a position that forced them to be kneeling, and they had hardly enough room to be jammed in the crate. Both anthros were bound with their hands behind their backs, and their arm restraints were attached to their ankle restraints to prevent them from standing or walking. The anthros were restrained with leather restraints rather than steel.
“Unbelievable…” Arcades said in disbelief. Jason was silent, but Arcades did not know that Jason was thinking about Arcades being in the predicament that the two anthros were currently in. Arcades stepped behind the anthros, and the fox looked at the binds that held them down. He was trying to see how the restraints were attached to the anthros in the first place. However, he decided that it would be best to let them see and talk. Arcades sat up, and he pulled out his Heckler & Koch utility knife. He cut the rear straps that held the muzzles to the anthros’ mouths. He then cut the straps to the blindfolds, and he sat them aside. The fox returned to the front of the two anthros. They were only staring at him as if they did not understand what was going on. Arcades was surprised by their silence, for he was expecting them to plead for their freedom.
“Hey, I’m here to get you both out,” Arcades spoke with a calm tone. The anthros were still silent, and they did not even bother to say anything. The fox raised an eyebrow as he did not understand what was happening either. Arcades paced to the left and right while still watching the anthros. Though they were staring at him, their expressions seemed to be almost empty. Jason watched Arcades as he moved back and forth, “What the bloody hell are you doing?” The wolf asked Arcades while he continued to pace. Arcades looked up at the wolf to reply, “Have you seen how they’re acting? It’s like they don’t even want to be free.” Jason shrugged, “Maybe they’re just surprised. Maybe they’re in shock or something?” Arcades looked back at the anthros as they still stared at him, “I dunno about that.”
“We have a motion detection signal going off.” The human train engineer said to an operative that was standing in the cabin. The operative was wearing a blue combat uniform with black equipment, and he was holding an XMP-1. The operative listened to what the conductor was saying, “The cargo that you guys picked up from Facility 11. The motion detection has been tripped. You think they found a way to get out?” The operative saw the flashing light, “You mean the crate’s been opened? The motion detector is on the assembly that moves. It would only go off if the crate opens, and it does not open from the inside.”
“Then the crate has been opened if that is the case,” the engineer said. The operative did not remember anybody saying that they were going to open the crate. However, he was also unaware that Fox Security operators were aboard the train. The operative let the sling hold the XMP-1 while he beg
an switching his radio frequencies. The engineer asked, “You going to send somebody up to go and check it out?” The human operative nodded in affirmation before beginning the transmission, “Attention available personnel. The Facility 11 crate may have been opened. Whoever is closest, go check it out. Over.” A different voice was heard that accepted the task, “Alpha 1, this is Alpha 4. Going to investigate the crate, and I will provide sitrep with my findings. Standby.”
Alpha 4 looked at his XMP-1, and he made sure that a round was chambered in the KE chamber before looking to see if an HE round was chambered. Though both chambers were loaded and ready to fire, Alpha 4 would be using the KE rounds instead, as the HE round would do more damage than it would be worth inside of the moving train. This would prove to be even more problematic considering the fact that the train was transporting live ammunition as well. The human began to open the door of the train that would take him to the next car. He still had a couple cars to go until he would reach the one that he would be investigating. This delay would buy Arcades and Jason some much needed time.
“Can they even hear you?” Jason asked. Arcades squinted as he looked inside the jackal’s ear. There was nothing in the jackal’s ear that would prevent him from hearing. Arcades shook his head, “There ain’t nothin’ stopping him from hearing us.” Jason took a closer look at the two anthros, “Maybe they’re deaf or something?” Arcades moved behind the anthros before saying, “Look at me if you can hear me.” Both anthros immediately looked at the fox. Arcades raised his eyebrows. He waited to see if they would look away, but they kept their vision trained on Arcades. The fox decided to try something else, so he covered his mouth with his hand before speaking, “Look away from me.” The two anthros immediately did so, and they went back to looking directly ahead. Arcades was surprised, “Wait… Why did that happen?” The fox questioned aloud.
Jason did not have an answer to provide Arcades with, but he did have something else to say, “So, they’re not deaf, but why are they not talking?” The fox scratched his face before remembering what was currently more important. He got down on his knees when he returned back behind the anthros, and he pulled out his knife again. He began starting to work on cutting the leather restraints. As Arcades began cutting, he looked up at Jason. He asked the wolf to investigate further, “Hey Jason. See if they have anything on them that leads back to Omega.” Jason squatted down in front of the jackal before speaking to Arcades again, “You mean that one organization that one NSS guy had a badge of?” Arcades nodded, “Yeah, that one. You remember their emblem right? Blue circle with a yellow Omega symbol in the middle. However, it is not always in color. I need you to look for that symbol, basically.”
“Dammit, can he even hear me?” Bocchino said with frustration as he tried to contact Arcades. The cat held the PTT again, “Arcades, this is Bocchino. What is your status? Over.” He did not get a response. Noah spoke to the cat, “You think he forgot to turn the thing on again? Or maybe he accidentally set the volume low?” The cat thought about a few possibilities. Jacob had something else to input, “Hey Bobby. What if he’s not even on your frequency?” The cat shook his head, “We haven’t changed it. This is the same frequency we used in Syria, and the same one we used last night. There is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to hear me.” Jacob shrugged before saying, “Hmm… I dunno. I’m with Noah. He probably forgot to turn it on again, or he muted the thing. He might be busy in there.” Bocchino was increasingly impatient, “Yeah, well then he’d better hurry his ass on up.”
As Jason was examining the collars that the anthros were wearing, he could see that the screen of Arcades’ transceiver was changing colors from blue to orange. The wolf’s attention was caught by the flashing colors. He spoke, “Um, Kurt. Your radio is going off.” Arcades was just about to free the lynx from her binds as he heard Jason speak. The fox briefly did not know what Jason was talking about, but he then remembered that he was carrying his radio like he normally did. Arcades pulled the radio from the pouch that held it, and he twisted the knob on the top. After turning the knob, the fox said, “Oh shoot. I think I had it muted the whole time. Lemme see if I can contact Bobby.”
Bocchino was about to go and find Arcades when he heard the fox’s voice, “Bocchino, this is Arcades. We have located the cargo, and we are currently working on extraction. We are in the car opposite from the direction that you traveled in from our starting car. Over.” The cat twitched his head due to his impatience before he replied, “Dammit Arcades. We tried to reach you for the last few minutes!” Arcades was surprised to hear that they had been trying to reach him for that long, “Oh man, I’m sorry Bobby. What did you guys find in the car that you went into?” Part of Bocchino’s frustration was caused by the cargo that he uncovered. The cat decided to downright tell Arcades what he found, “Motherfucking dildos everywhere!”
When Arcades heard the last thing Bocchino said, he stopped in the middle of cutting a leather restraint. The fox raised an eyebrow, and he looked up at Jason. The wolf was looking back at the fox with a similar surprised expression on his face as the wolf heard the cat’s exclamation. Since Arcades was using a speaker-microphone, Jason was able to hear the conversation. Arcades did not hold the PTT when he spoke to Jason, “Did I hear that right?” The wolf nodded, “Go ask him again if you don’t believe him, Kurt.” Arcades wanted to make sure he was hearing correctly, “Say again, Bocchino. What did you find in the car? Over.” The cat replied again, and he made extra sure to be loud enough to be heard clearly, “The fucking train is full of damn sex toys! They’ve got fucking dildos and a whole lot of other shit in here!” Arcades was now sure that he was hearing correctly. He began to speak, but he stopped himself halfway, “Wait? Why would the Omega Foundation --”
Arcades looked downwards after he freed the lynx, and he was now able to hear something that sounded almost like a low droning noise. The fox was not too familiar with the noise, but it sounded a lot like a small electric motor. It reminded him of the days when he used to fly remote controlled aircraft when he was a young fox. Arcades heard Bocchino attempt to speak with him again, but the fox was more fixated on finding out what the noise was, “Arcades what are you doing?” Arcades held the PTT button again, “Standby Bocchino. I think I found something.”
Arcades was sure that the lynx that he was seated behind was emanating the droning sound, but he was not entirely sure why there would be a noise. Arcades’ first guess was that the anthro was rigged with explosives, but the fox figured that explosives sounding like an electric motor would not be the best option for someone to use as it would give away the fact that an explosive device was present in the first place. As the fox investigated further, he began to feel the anthros’ back through the latex suit. He was feeling for where he could pinpoint the sound coming from. He could still hear the noise, but he was not feeling anything. Arcades removed his gloved hand, and Jason watched as Arcades was trying to find the source of the sound.
“Mate, are you looking for something?” Jason asked. Arcades nodded, “Yeah, you don’t hear that? These two sound like they’re making some sort of droning sound just like those consumer UAVs used to make.” Jason shrugged, “Sorry Kurt, I never played with model airplanes when I grew up.” The fox was sure that he was not the only one hearing the noise, “Jason, you do hear that noise, right? It’s not just me having sudden hearing problems.” Jason quit moving for a moment as he focused, and he began to notice the sound that Arcades was talking about, “Hmm.. I think I hear what you mean, mate. It sounds like it’s coming from them two.” Arcades felt around the lynx’ back with his now bare hand, “Yeah. I’m trying to see where that noise is coming from.” As the fox moved his hand down the lynx’ back, he was starting to feel slight vibrations.
As the fox moved his hand downwards, he could hear the lynx moan softly. He immediately stopped, and he took his hand off of the female lynx's back. Jason heard the moan as well, but he asked the fox, “Blimey. What did you do, mat
e?” Arcades pointed with his bare hand while holding his glove in his other hand, “I was feeling her to see where the sound was coming from, and then she moaned.” Jason was not satisfied with the response, “Mate, did you do that on purpose?” Arcades gave an honest answer, “I did not.” Jason decided to not press on. Arcades wondered again if the anthros were rigged with explosives. However, he did not even know where the explosives were if they were rigged. The latex suits were form fitting, and Arcades did not notice anything bulging out that would be out of the ordinary. The fox then thought about what Bocchino said he found in the other car.
The fox looked at the lynx and he spoke to her, “Sit up for me.” The lynx sat up on her knees, and Arcades looked down after moving her tail out of the way. He could see a zipper that went across the bottom of the crotch area of the suit. Arcades shook his head in disapproval, “No way.” Jason wondered what the fox was talking about, “What’s the matter Kurt?” Arcades shook his head again, “I think they’ve got vibrators in.” Jason was confused, “What? What are you talking about?” Arcades put his glove back on before lightly feeling the zipper. He could feel it vibrating, “Those sex toys that Bocchino found in the other car are going to the Omega Foundation alongside these two anthros here.” Jason looked at the fox as he was thinking of the best way to get the two anthros out. Jason said, “Mate, that doesn’t even make sense. Why would Omega do that?” Arcades remembered that he did not tell Jason about what he saw the previous night.
“You weren’t on the mission last night. It’s a really long story and… I’ll just have to tell you later. Now is not the time at all,” Arcades said as Jason continued to look confused. Jason did not know what Arcades was talking about at all; Though the wolf knew that Arcades went on a mission, he did not know any other details besides that. Arcades noticed that the anthros were wearing collars as well. These collars resembled the ones that he saw when he was in Facility 11, but he did not know if they were equipped with the same technologies the other ones did.