by Tom Jones
Arcades was surprised to hear that the cat already knew what the fox was planning on doing after he finished talking to the cat, “Well, I know that we’re gonna have to relocate, but ain’t somebody going to come with me to wherever we need to go next?” The cat shrugged, “Highly doubtful. Nobody wants to hear you get all preachy. That’s another thing that drove some people away. I would hear them complain that you never shut the fuck up.” Arcades replied, “I’m just doing what I need to do!” Bocchino shrugged again, “Well… Not everyone thinks that way.” Arcades nodded slowly while frowning, “I know, and that’s unfortunate. People should realize that God is the one that sent His only begotten Son to die in our place.” The cat decided to move along with the objective that he just made up, “I can try and schedule something with CDI. Maybe you can convince them to help with taking down that Omega complex. Facility… Five? Was it?” The fox nodded.
“Well, I’m not going to postpone this, I guess. I’ll go ahead and see if CDI is willing to talk to us first. Then, I guess you can tell everyone that we’re going to relocate. We’ll see how many of them are left after you do that, alright? I’ll stay with you for this move, provided that you still pay me.” The words spoken by the cat did not entirely help the fox. Arcades was glad that Bocchino was willing to help, but he did not like the last part of the sentence. Arcades asked one last question, “So, what are you in this for?” Bocchino gave the fox a straight answer, “The money. To be honest, if you didn’t pay me what you did, then I would have left long ago, man. I would have told you to go and fuck yourself. I don’t really plan on staying too long after the move. You’re not going to have much of a Fox Security left when that happens.”
The fox knew that his days at his current ‘base’ were numbered. He did not know when Omega would come in and destroy the place. He also knew that he lacked the equipment to defend against the Foundation. After all, Arcades only had only HH-60 for his miniscule fleet of military aircraft. He never bought any other mil-spec vehicles. His 4Runner and his Mustang were his own cars. They were not considered part of the company’s ‘fleet’ of vehicles.
“Well, I guess I’d better get on that. I’ll let you know when I’m done. Alright?” Bocchino said. Arcades nodded, and he was about ready to leave. The fox only said, “Sure. Bye,” before leaving the cat to do whatever he was going to do. Arcades left the room, and he slowly walked down the hallway before reaching his room. Once Arcades reached his room, he laid down on his bed, and he thought about what Bocchino had said to him. Arcades frowned, and he closed his eyes. The fox could feel tears were now forming in his eyes. The tears soon became quiet sobs. Arcades wished that others cared as much as he did.
The fox called all Fox Security personnel into a large room that he would call everyone into in order to deliver important messages to everybody in person. He didn’t do this too often, so many of the Fox Security personnel were wondering what Arcades had to say. Bocchino was sitting close to the front of the room, and this was where Arcades would stand to address everybody. Even though the fox was tall, he still brought along a soapbox to stand on. CDI had agreed to meet with Arcades at their English field HQ in Ipswich. Arcades knew that he would have to get moving soon, as he was still living with the knowledge that Omega was looking for him. The fox was not sure when Omega would arrive, but he wanted to be far away before they would ever arrive looking for him.
Arcades looked around, and he counted forty five people including himself. He knew that this was all Fox Security had. Bocchino had chosen the seat closest to Arcades because he wanted to see how many people would leave, but the cat did not tell the fox that this was the reason why he was sitting so close to him. Arcades took a breath before speaking, “Alright. We have a little situation. It’s a long story, and I’m not sure how many of you know all of this. The run-down is that the Omega Foundation has been the reason why the NSS attacked Berlin. I was able to infiltrate an Omega Foundation complex, and I have gathered incriminating information that confirms that they were behind the NSS. They know that I know this, and it’s no longer safe here. They’re going to most likely destroy this place in the near future.”
The fox took a pause. He looked around the room, and he saw that most of the people looked pretty surprised to hear this information. Bocchino looked up at the fox, and he was studying the fox’s face. Arcades continued, “Now, I’m not going to just let Omega continue with all of this. They need to be stopped. Bobby has arranged for us to meet with CDI at their HQ in Ipswich, UK. However, we will have to abandon this base here. We’re planning to move out everything. I’ll leave you all with this choice. You can come with me and stop Omega, or you can take your things and leave if you don’t want to relocate. I know that many of you have families here, and I won’t make you all come with me.”
The fox sighed before finishing, “So, if you’re willing to come with me, stay here. Everyone else can leave this room. I’m just going to let you all know this ahead of time, but I know, it’s kinda short notice. We’ll be moving in the next following days. We’ve arranged to have a couple C-5Ms come out here in order to move the stuff out. That’s all I have. Stay here if you want to come with me, or leave the room if you’re not coming.” The fox watched as forty two people left the room. His eyes widened to see that only two anthros were left in the room with him, and they were Jason and Bocchino.
“Holy shit…” Bocchino said in amazement. The cat was not expecting forty two people to leave the room. Arcades shook his head slowly, “Gosh, I don’t believe it. Well, it looks like we’re all that’s left now.” Jason looked at the fox, “Mate, at least it’ll cost less to move all the stuff over. We all own our gear.” Arcades stepped down from the soapbox, “Maybe we only need to have one C-5M now.” Jason was trying to be optimistic, “Well, at least you have forty two people less to pay now.” Bocchino was the next to speak, “Well, I guess you have less of a Fox Security now than I thought you would before. I was expecting at least five of them to stay with you. Those two anthros that we got from that train didn’t even stick around. Did you see them? They were some of the first ones to leave.”
Arcades was so disappointed, but he knew that he had to let people make their choices. Arcades looked to the cat, “I guess we shouldn’t stick around for too much longer. We should call in one C-5M Super Galaxy for the move. That plane will have plenty of room. I’ll bring the Pave Hawk with me on the plane, and everything else that I have. I won’t need to sell anything because we have plenty of money anyways. Besides, we don’t really have the time to sell anything, anyways.” When Arcades mentioned money, Jason asked, “Kurt, we still have enough money, right?” The fox nodded, “Yes, we do. Money is not what troubles me, rather it is the fact that those guys just don’t care.”
The cat added something, “Well shit, then I guess I can stick around a bit longer, eh?” Arcades was not impressed with the cat’s statement, but he knew that he needed all the help he could get. The fox then said to the cat, “I guess we can call in that C-5M now. I’ll go and get my stuff together to load onto the plane.” Bocchino nodded before he began walking towards the room’s exit, “Yeah, sure thing. Oh by the way, don’t expect me to stay too much longer after we meet with CDI. I’m not going to move to Europe. I dunno what you two are gonna do, though.”
Arcades shook his head as he watched the cat leave. Jason was now the only one that was in the room with the fox, “Kurt, I’m still here if that makes you feel any better.” Arcades looked at the wolf that was standing next to him. The fox was not sure what to say. After some silence, Arcades said, “I’m gonna go and get my stuff together.” The fox walked out of the room, and he left Jason standing in the middle. The wolf looked around, and he realized that the room was previously occupied with forty five people. Now, he was the only one remaining. Jason had watched Arcades walk out of the room, but he didn’t decide to leave as well yet. He thought that he would give the fox a bit of time to himself. Jason couldn’t imagine what
Arcades was feeling right now. The fox had spent time and resources building up the company, and now the Foundation was coming to tear it all down. It reminded Jason of what Arcades had told him one time, “The devil is only here to steal, kill, and destroy all that the people of the Lord have made. However, there will be a point and time where that will happen no more. The Day of the Lord.”
Arcades made it to his room, but he did not enter. He was already watching as some of his former employees were taking the Fox Security badges off of their uniforms. He even saw a couple of men walking off while holding their combat gear and their weapons. Most people did not have a lot to pack, as most of the contractors brought their own equipment and weapons. He even saw Cipher and Pixy leaving the base. They were leaving empty handed as they had only been at Fox Security for a few days. The fox was not sure where the jackal and the lynx were going, but he remembered that he was the one who told them to make their own decisions. He was praying that they would make the right decisions.
The fox entered his room, and he looked at all of the stuff that he had collected over the years that Fox Security was around. He looked down at the Salient GRY propped up against the wall, which was his favorite weapon. The fox picked up the rifle, and he inspected it. A small amount of powder had been accumulating on the proprietary Jailbreak Muzzle Device, and this reminded Arcades of the last time he used the weapon. He thought about the recent missions that he had undertaken. The fox was glad the German government had already paid for their services when he was over there. This would leave Arcades with plenty of money to set up shop somewhere else. However, the fox was not sure if he was going to keep Fox Security or try and make something else work. The fox gathered his stuff together, and he occasionally looked through the open doorway to see his former employees walking off with their equipment. Not too many of them were left in the building now.
Arcades pushed the yoke downwards as he was preparing to land the HH-60 near the C-5M that was already ready and waiting at the airport. The fox noticed that the 4Runner and the Mustang were already at the airport as well, and the crew was preparing to load the vehicles into the cargo hold of the transport craft. When the fox was able to successfully land the helicopter, he stepped outside of it, and he noticed that Jason and Bocchino were already waiting for him. The two anthros had driven the vehicles to the airport while Arcades flew the helicopter that he was going to take. Jason was the first to speak, “Kurt, I didn’t know you could fly that type of helicopter.” Arcades nodded to the wolf’s surprise.
“Well, looks like we don’t have too much to actually move out. I guess that’s what happens when you’re three people instead of forty five,” Bocchino said. The fox did not want to think about the fact that forty two people left almost after he addressed them all. None of them even had any parting words for him, as they just took their things and left. Arcades’ small base was now entirely cleared out of everything. It was not too hard to clear it out once everybody left. The fox was able to fit all of his stuff into his 4Runner, and he even had room to put Bocchino and Jason’s stuff in there as well. However, the equipment did all pile up in the trunk of the 4Runner. The good thing about SUVs was that Arcades was able to pack all of the stuff in there. He had plenty of bags for all of his things.
“I guess we better load this stuff into the plane. There ain’t too much sense standing around here now. We still don’t know when Omega plans on showing up,” Arcades spoke. They would have to fold the rotors of the HH-60 back and push it into the plane. They would also have to move the two vehicles into the plane as well. However, they would not have to unload the equipment that was inside of the two vehicles. At least it would be easier for them to unload all of their stuff when they arrived at the UK. The fox was not sure when he would need to use his weapons as they were inside of the 4Runner. He had both the Salient GRY and the HK433 inside of a dual rifle bag stowed away in the SUV. All they had to do now was to load up the plane and get going. They knew that it would take a few hours to get everything secured in the Super Galaxy, so they decided to not waste any more time.
“So, we don’t know his current location?” The man who previously had a laptop asked. His colleague was still wearing the UCP uniform, “Nope. He slipped away. We lost him in the woods.” The first man shook his head, “Dammit. I bet you he ran into the nearest city, too. How the fuck did he get in here in the first place?” The camouflaged man shrugged, “I dunno how he got into the conference room, but the maintenance team reports that there was a broken vent about a floor or two below this room. Those aren’t designed to fit human-sized things in. I’m surprised it didn’t break earlier. That son of a bitch must’ve been lightweight as fuck.”
The first man unzipped his suitcase, and he removed his laptop from it. He opened the computer up, and he logged into his encrypted communications channel. He read some of the new messages, and one in particular caught his eye, “Oh, this is interesting. One of our contacts in CDI is saying that they are supposed to be meeting with some Fox Security personnel tomorrow at their main office in the UK. It’s in Ipswich.” The camouflaged man took note, but he then thought of something, “Hey, what if Kurt Hofmeier is supposed to be there?” The laptop man halfway nodded, “Hm, that’s a possibility. However, we can’t be completely sure of that. We don’t know if he’s still the United States.”
The camouflaged man reviewed his available assets in his mind before pitching an idea, “How about we attack both places at once? We can stage a false-flag terrorist attack at CDI’s office while we send the ISG to destroy Fox Security's office.” The laptop man knew what the camouflaged man was thinking, but he was not completely satisfied, “If you send our anthros to CDI’s office, you do know that’s going to cost us a lot of money, right?” The camouflaged man decided to mention the potential benefits, “If we can capture Kurt Hofmeier, do you think we would be able to sell him for more than it would cost?” The laptop man was quiet. He was thinking about the possibilities, “For a black red fox like him…. Shit, I know some people who would pay eight or nine digits for an anthro like that. Especially if we can break him down real good. Our buyers would be instantly sold.”
The camouflaged man nodded, “Uh-huh. Think about it, we could sell him and basically get back all that we lose. Also, we won’t have to worry about internet leaks.” The laptop man shook his head towards the end of his colleague’s statement, “No, there is a video of us talking and some video of the anthros in the cells. He’s already leaked it on the internet. It’s already been mirrored, and we can’t tell where it was originally uploaded from.” The camouflaged man was frustrated now, “Fuck! How bad is the video?” The laptop man turned his screen around so that his colleague would see it, “He’s got it all. The anthros in the cells and everything we said to each other. He also has evidence that we are the operators of the Stealth Hawks.”
“Is there a way we can remove it all from the internet?” The camouflaged man hated data leaks as much as every other human in the Omega Foundation. The laptop man replied, “I’m afraid it’s harder than that. Many people have already downloaded it and they have shared it to other hosting sites. We do live in the digital age, if you don’t remember.” The camouflaged man feared the worst, “So, how long until Omega is revealed to the public? Right now, only right wing conspiracy nuts suspect us. Kurt Hofmeier has evidence, though. That evidence will start a revolution once enough people see it.” The laptop man turned his computer back around before saying something else, “The good news is that many people have already called bullshit and are saying it is just some anthro BDSM club. I guess nobody trusts a fox.” The camouflaged man chuckled, “Heh, that’s funny. But I think staging a false-flag attack would be even more beneficial. We will have something to deflect off of. If we can make it look like a bunch of anthros attacked CDI, then it will hopefully cause human-anthro relations to become more sour than they already are.”
The laptop man was starting to be convinced, “Then, we don�
��t have to worry about Hofmeier’s leaks. By the way, it hasn’t gotten to the clear web yet. 4chan does not know yet, and neither do other websites. We’ve been checking them around the clock to make sure there are no new leaks. It’s a good thing because our personnel have been reporting that they’ve just been talking a lot of shit about anthros in particular lately thanks to the NSS. Our internet missions have been pretty successful lately. They don’t even know that it is us. They think Israel is sending their JIDF to do what we’ve been doing the entire time.”
“The less people know the better,” the camouflaged man said. The laptop man replied, “You can say that again. Alright. How about we send a bunch of our anthros to Ipswich, and we send some of our ISG guys over to Fox Security? We can make it look like an organized terrorist attack much like we did last week with the NSS. Oh shit, actually we could make it look like anthros retaliating against the humans. That’ll surely stir up some shit. If we’re lucky, humans and anthros might actually begin fighting in the streets. Then, we can come up with something and convince various organizations to let one of our front companies step in. Then, we can take more of the anthros to Facility Thirty Three or somewhere else.”
The camouflaged man nodded in agreement, “I think that sounds like a plan. Ain’t the conference supposed to be tomorrow?” The laptop man checked the date again in his message list to confirm, “Sure is. It looks like it will be around the middle of the day tomorrow.” The camouflaged man remembered something, “Hey, ain’t the Brits a few hours ahead of the US?” The laptop man nodded, “Yeah, it’s more than a few depending on where in the US you are.” The camouflaged man thought about the time zones, “Interesting… We have some guys over in Europe, right? Isn’t that where Facility Two is?” The laptop man began typing, “It sure is. I’m contacting them now. I think we have enough ISG personnel here to attack the Fox Security office in the US. It’s not too far from here. If I remember correctly, it’s in northern Arizona or New Mexico.” The camouflaged man grinned, “We’ll figure it out.”