by Tom Jones
“Hold up. Do you see that? There are seams around that general area. Was this image digitally altered?” Bocchino looked at the screen, and he could see the seams as well. The cat spoke, “Well, there are seams there. Here, I’ll go and check with Tor and see if anybody knows about that.” Arcades nodded, “Alright, that sounds like a plan.” Bocchino turned around to look at Cipher and Pixy, “What are you going to do with those two now?” Arcades looked at the anthros, “Well. I need to give them a room. I guess I’ll take them to one. Do you mind if they wear your uniforms for now for the time being? I’ll have to order them some uniforms of their own from Crye or UF PRO. Don’t worry, they won’t be going on any missions for a while.”
The cat reluctantly replied, “Alright. Sure.” Arcades smiled, “Thanks, Bobby.” Arcades led the two anthros out of Bocchino’s room. As the cat watched them leave, he looked back at the latex suits that they came in. He also thought about the way that Cipher first talked to the fox. Bocchino wished that what Arcades was saying about Omega was not true. However, the cat’s fears were now becoming his reality. Bocchino did not know what he would find out next, but he wanted the truth. The cat sat out to search for the answers himself.
Chapter 11
Infiltrating Facility Five
Bocchino compared the satellite images to some aerial shots that had been posted online. He could see where a complex had been digitally removed from the satellite images. However, the transition was not entirely seamless, as a few seams could be seen around the edges of the sector that was blotted out. The cat knew where the complex was, but he was still unsure if it was real or not. It would be pointless to fly all the way out to Salt Lake City for nothing to be there. However, Bocchino considered Cipher and Pixy, and it was becoming harder for him to deny the existence of the facility. After all, they were allegedly being taken to the complex themselves. It could be worse than the cat originally thought.
“Now, I need to tell you two the most important thing you’re ever going to hear. Are you ready for it?” Arcades asked the two anthros. He brought them to the room that Johnny used to stay in before he left Fox Security. The lynx and the jackal stood ready to hear what Arcades was going to say to them. Arcades spoke, “Now, two thousand years ago, God came to this earth as a man named Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus came in order to pay off the sins of all sapient beings. He did this by being the only man ever to never sin. Since Jesus was both God and man, He was completely perfect in every way. The religious leaders at the time, the Pharisees, condemned Him to death, and they sent Him to die on the cross for claiming to be the Son of God. Jesus paid our debts on the cross, so that means salvation is available to anyone who repents of their sins and trusts in Jesus alone for eternal salvation. If you do this, then you will be born again with a new heart and with new desires. You will be able to inherit eternal life when you die. Eternal life is something that countless people seek after, but they cannot obtain it by themselves. There is nothing you can do that can make you eligible for eternal life. Salvation is a free gift given by God, and it is not something you can work for. You cannot bribe a perfect judge.”
The two anthros listened to what Arcades said, but they did not say anything to acknowledge the fox. Arcades continued, “Now, this is your own choice. Remember, I told you two to make your own decisions previously. This is not something that I’m going to force you to do. If you love life and desire your eternal debts to be paid, Jesus is the answer.” The anthros still looked at the fox. Arcades knew they were listening, but he did not know what they would choose. After all, he could not make their minds for them. Arcades decided that he had something that he wanted to show them. The fox spoke, “Wait right here. I’ve got something to show you.” Cipher and Pixy both nodded.
Arcades exited the room, and he was on his way back to his own room. Approaching the door to his room, Arcades was wondering if Jason had left his room. He did not check to see if the wolf was in when he was bringing Cipher and Pixy to the room that he was going to keep them in for the time being. The fox decided to knock before opening his own door. He heard no response, so he let himself in. Arcades noticed that Jason had already left his room. Arcades looked to his dresser to retrieve his Bible which he kept on it. However, he noticed that his Bible was missing. The fox scratched his head as he knew that he did not move it. Arcades looked around to look for the Bible. He looked inside a few of his drawers, and even in his Multicam combat pants. However, it was nowhere to be found.
As the fox searched for the Bible more, he remembered the last person that was in his room when he saw it. Arcades quietly thought aloud, “Did he take it?” The fox decided he should go and find out for himself. Everything else in his room was exactly where he left it, however. Even his Salient GRY remained untouched. Arcades looked up at the gold cube that he had made from the jade cane. It was still there as well. The fox left his room, and he went to go and find his Bible. As Arcades exited his room, he remembered that he was going to remove Cipher’s cage. He needed to grab his IFAK pack and probably some lockpicking tools before he would proceed, for the fox had a general idea of what he was going up against. Arcades stepped back in his room to grab the necessary equipment. He placed all of it in a spare Multicam Black dump pouch that he clipped to his belt before proceeding out of the room.
The fox reached Jason’s room, and he knocked on the door. He heard the wolf say, “Who is it?” Arcades replied, “It’s Kurt. Is it alright if I come in?” Jason replied, “Yeah. Go ahead, mate.” Arcades let himself in, and he saw that Jason was reading out of the fox’s Bible. Arcades smiled upon seeing this, “Ah, if you wanted to read that, you just had to ask me.” The wolf began to speak, “Oh, I was going to put this back when I was done.” Arcades continued smiling, “That’s fine. I was looking for that though. I can buy you one that you can have, you know.” The wolf responded, “Do you need this one back?” The fox nodded, “Yeah, I came back to my room to go and get it. I can give it back to you when I’m done with it though.”
Jason handed Arcades the Bible. The fox said, “Thanks. What were you reading anyways?” The wolf reluctantly replied, “Oh, I was just reading whatever I saw.” Arcades decided he should get on with business rather than further question the wolf, “Alright. I’ll give this back to you after I’m done. Can you put it back where you found it for me after you finish?” The wolf nodded, and then Arcades left the room. As the fox was walking back to where he told the two anthros to wait, he decided to hold the Bible rather than put it in his dump pouch with the IFAK kit and the lockpicking tools.
Arcades entered the room that Cipher and Pixy were in. The fox announced his return, “Alright, I’m back. Now, I have to show you two something very important.” Arcades held up the Bible, and he began to continue speaking, “This is the Holy Bible in the King James Version. This is THE Word of God. All scripture within this book has been directly inspired by God Himself, and it is profitable for reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Don’t believe me? Read it for yourself in the Bible.” The two anthros listened to the fox, but they did not respond. Arcades figured that he should move on with his next objective now. He knew that the seed had been planted, and that was all he could do. The fox placed his Bible on a nearby desk, and he unclipped the dump pouch from his belt. He placed the pouch on the ground up against a wall, and then he opened the IFAK pack to retrieve a pair of rubber gloves.
Arcades took a deep breath as he grabbed the lockpicking tools. Once he finished, he turned to Cipher, “Alright. Let’s get that cage off of you.” Cipher immediately removed his belt, and he dropped his pants. Arcades looked at the cage that was locked on the jackal’s penis. It was an opaque plastic piece with a keyhole near the bottom. Arcades moved close to inspect the keyhole, and he considered what he would need in order to pick the lock. The fox slid the tools next to him, and he said to Cipher, “Alright. Stay still for me.” Arcades inserted one of his pins into the keyhole, and then he began to turn it. He
was feeling for the locking mechanism to move, but he did not think that it was going to move.
The fox picked up another small tool from his kit, and he inserted it with the pin already in the keyhole. Arcades twisted the tools simultaneously, and he could feel that the lock was beginning to move. The fox was glad that he would be almost finished. After turning the lock some more, he heard a click. Keeping the tools still inserted into the keyhole with one hand, the fox carefully removed the cage from Cipher’s penis. Arcades spoke as he removed the cage, “Ah, there we go.” The fox removed the tools from the keyhole, and he placed them back in the case that kept them. Arcades was finished looking at the jackal’s penis, “Pull up your pants. We’re done here.”
Cipher obeyed, and he pulled up his pants before putting his belt back on. Arcades looked at the cage that he was holding with his gloved hand, and he was wondering the best way to dispose of it. The fox also thought about what Omega did to Cipher when he was being held by them. It then made the fox wonder how Cipher and Pixy were captured by Omega in the first place. Though they were taken from the hotel that the fox infiltrated, Arcades did not know if they came to the place willingly in the first place. Arcades considered asking them, but he was not sure if Omega somehow managed to wipe that part from their memories. Arcades decided he should deal with the cage he was holding first.
“Why did you remove my chastity cage, Arcades?” The fox heard Cipher ask. Arcades’ face displayed some confusion. The fox spoke, “Because you’re not with Omega anymore. This isn’t right, either. Genuine chastity is a choice, not something somebody forces you to do.” Arcades knew what the point of the device was, and he also knew why Omega probably used it as a part of their mind control program. Cipher did not object to what Arcades said. The fox was hoping that Cipher was not trained to enjoy sinful practices, but his hopes were not too high due to the state he found them in. Arcades figured that Cipher and Pixy would hopefully forsake what Omega did to them. The fox reminded himself that with the help of God, anything can be overcome. Arcades spoke once more, “Alright. I’m going to dispose of this. I’ll be back to grab the stuff I left behind here.” Before Arcades left, he looked down, and he noticed that the two anthros were not wearing shoes, either. Arcades made an offer for them, “Put some shoes on if you want. You don’t have to walk around barefoot. I only do because that’s my choice.”
Arcades exited the room, and he was going to toss the cage and the gloves in the dumpster that was outside of the building. The fox made his way to one of the building’s exits, and he let himself out of the building. Arcades walked around the building, and he reached the dumpster that was sitting by the building. The fox tossed the cage in first, and then he carefully removed his gloves and tossed them in the dumpster as well. Arcades left the dumpster, and then he re-entered the building through the same door that he let himself out from. Now back inside of the building, Arcades knew that it would be best for him to wash his hands, as he had no idea if biological factors were involved. The fox made his way to the nearest lavatory, and he washed his hands. Once Arcades finished, he remembered that he still had to gather his stuff from the room which he left his equipment in. The fox returned to the room, and he could see that Cipher and Pixy were right where he had left them.
Arcades picked up his stuff from off the ground, and he also picked up his Bible as well. The fox looked at the anthros that were looking back at him. The fox said, “You don’t have to stay in this room. You can walk around the base and get to know the place if you want. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, though. Remember, you make your own choices now. Omega doesn’t make your choices for you. Neither do I.” Pixy spoke, “Understood.” The fox slowly nodded after halfway shrugging, “Sure, I’ll take it for now. Work in progress, you know?” The fox left the room again, and he clipped the dump pouch to his belt as he went to let Jason have his Bible for now.
As Arcades was walking, he could feel that his dump pouch was rubbing up against his tail. The fox slid the dump pouch a bit farther from his tail to prevent it from rubbing. One problem with being a fox was that having a bushy tail which would often rub up on things. It was sometimes hard to move it out of the way, or in this case, move other objects away. Anthros with short tails, like Pixy, did not have such a problem. Many anthros with short tails did not even wear pants that had the hole to put the tail through. The fox then remembered an interesting fact about World War II. Some bobcats and lynxes would disguise themselves as humans by covering up all of their fur. Since they did not have a tail sticking out, they would appear human at first glance. Especially since most feloids had smaller ears and noses than other races such as vulpoids and lupoids, they were able to mask their face and cover their head to give it almost a humanoid shape. Though it looked convincing from far away, it was not as effective up close. Some anthros were able to sneak by the humans that would otherwise shoot them on sight had they seen things such as a long nose or a tail.
Arcades reached Jason’s room, and he knocked on the door. Jason answered Arcades by opening the door to greet him. Arcades held out his Bible for Jason to grab, “Here you go. You can have it for now. Make sure you put it back on my dresser when you’re done with it. Alright?” Jason accepted the Bible and thanked the fox, “Thanks, Kurt. I’ll get it back to you, mate.” Arcades smiled and nodded before leaving. The fox still had to drop the dump pouch back off in his room. Arcades returned to his room, and he sat the dump pouch up against the wall. He would unload it later. Right now, Arcades had to return to Bocchino. Arcades began making his way to Bocchino’s room again.
As Arcades made his way down the hallway, he stopped to look at his bare feet. The marks that had appeared on his toes due to the thumbcuffs were now gone. Arcades nodded to himself before continuing down the hall to reach the cat’s room. Arcades knocked on the door when he arrived at Bocchino’s room. The cat spoke, “Kurt is that you?” Arcades replied, “Sure is, Bobby. Can I come in?” The cat spoke again to give Arcades permission to come in, “Alright, boss.”
When Arcades entered Bocchino’s room, he saw that the cat was inspecting the XMP-1 that Arcades had retrieved. Arcades asked of the cat’s opinion, “What do you think about that gun? It reminds me of the XM29 OICW.” Bocchino looked through the scope that was on the top of the weapon, “Yeah, this is an interesting gun. You’re telling me that Omega was the one to make this?” The fox nodded and pointed to the rifle’s receiver, “Yes. See for yourself. The rifle has ‘Omega Foundation’ engraved on the right-hand side, right above the ejection port.” The cat flipped the weapon around, and he noticed the inscription. Bocchino raised an eyebrow, “Shit… It does say Omega Foundation.” The fox nodded, “Yes. Do you believe me now? Omega is up to something big, and we need to figure out what it is. Were you able to confirm the location of that complex that the train was enroute to?” Bocchino neither nodded nor shook his head, but he did speak instead, “Yeah. There is definitely a place there that was scrubbed from the map. However, I’m not sure what you would do there if you decide to go and try and break in.”
The fox considered his options. He then remembered something he said earlier, “Hey, we need to get evidence on the Omega Foundation. I have a Contour ROAM that has an adaptor for a FAST Helmet. I could sneak into the complex and record whatever I can.” Bocchino considered the idea, but he had an objection, “Wait. Doesn’t that thing make a loud beep whenever you turn it on and off? Someone would easily be able to hear that.” Arcades replied to the cat, “I can disable the beep by editing the config file that is stored on the memory card. Problem solved.” Bocchino nodded slowly. The cat had another objection, “How would you get into that place, anyways? I’m pretty sure they have top notch security to prevent sly foxes like you from making their way inside. You wouldn’t be able to sneak in from the ground, especially if they’re harboring anthro sex slaves as you suspect they are.”
Arcades thought about possible points of entry as he looked at the monitor.
He saw the general area of the complex from the satellite image, and he knew that the complex was landlocked. There would be no way to enter from the water. He figured that entering from the ground would prove to be far riskier than it would be worth, as the security team would likely be able to see him from the visible watchtowers. Arcades voiced another idea, “How about the air?” Bocchino thought about the idea. The cat objected again, “When I was reading about the complex while you were gone, a lot of the pictures were pretty low quality. They had been taken from distances, and then they were cropped. Apparently, they are shooting down UAVs and other small aircraft that are flying near the complex. They might have a radar system set up in there. It is kind of hard to see exactly what they have from the blurry pictures that I could dig up.”
Arcades scratched the white fur that ran down his neck, “Hmm… How about a HALO jump? We borrow a C-17 or something, and you guys drop me at 30,000 feet. I open my chute when I get low, and I can use the cloak of night to my advantage. I can probably decrease my chances of being seen on the way down, and you’ll look like a regular transport aircraft from that altitude if they have a means of measuring that.” Bocchino replied, “Hmm… Could work. You’d be going in by yourself again. If you’re caught, and if what you suspect is true… We would not be able to come and get you.” Arcades nodded, “That’s a risk I am willing to take. I can’t just stand by while this stuff is just happening and nobody knows about it. We need to get this evidence. Maybe the Omega Foundation is part of the reason why human-anthro relations are so bad.”