by Tom Jones
The wolf caught the fox’s attention, “Say, Kurt. What language do they speak here? Or at least for the country we’re going to?” Arcades replied, “The Democratic Republic of Congo speaks French, and I’m pretty sure none of us speak French.” Bocchino voiced his concern, “Well that’s just all fine and dandy now isn’t it? Another thing that’s stacked up against us.” Arcades took a moment to exhale before saying anything back to the cat, “We’ll make it through alright. Can’t you at least trust me once?” The cat spoke again, “Yeah, like I’ll ever trust a damn fox.” Arcades did not bother saying anything back in response to Bocchino’s statement. Jason noticed how the fox did not reply to Bocchino, so he decided to talk to Arcades instead, “So, uh -- Who do we expect to actually see out here while looking for the Omega guys?” Jim immediately remembered something, “Oh that reminds me, a couple of weeks ago, I heard on the news that several South African defense firms began operating here in the Congo. We may or may not see them out here.”
Arcades was intrigued, “Is that right? That’ll be interesting if we run into any of them. A higher chance of somebody speaking English.” Jason asked the fox a question, “Mate, do you think any of them are with Omega?” The fox shrugged, for he did not know the answer to the question. He relayed it to Jim, “What do you think Jim? Did Omega call them up from South Africa for this?” Jim shook his helmeted head, “That’s highly unlikely. I didn’t hear anything about that at all. I’m pretty sure they’re there just to do their regular contract work. Skirmishes and small battles happen all the time in Central Africa nowadays, so it would probably be that kind of stuff. You should be familiar with it.” When the human pilot finished, the fox looked back at the wolf, and he waited for Jason to ask something else. However, Jason did not have anything else that he wanted to ask Arcades.
As the fox redirected his attention to his equipment, he began to wonder about what was happening to the anthros which he had helped to liberate. He also wondered what would have happened to him if he faced capture by Omega during his infiltration operations. Arcades reminded himself of the two Omega Facilities that he visited, and he knew that nothing good would have happened to him if he was subdued. The fox then remembered the coyote that he encountered at Facility Eleven. He knew what would have happened to him if his escape attempt proved unsuccessful. Merely thinking about the event evoked the fox to close his eyes and slowly shake his head to rid his mind of the memories of what happened at Facility Eleven. Even though Arcades was able to escape practically untouched, he knew that if he failed, he would certainly be in a significantly different situation. He also knew that nobody would be able to help him in that type of scenario since hardly anybody outside of Omega knew where their facilities were. Many people don’t know Omega even exists.
The wolf noticed that the fox appeared visibly distressed, “Mate, is something wrong with you?” The fox opened his eyes as he heard Jason speak, “Oh, I-I was just thinking about what happened the past week. I’m very blessed to have made it through all of that in one piece. Not everybody ended up that fortunate.” Jason replied, “Then I hope we can make it in and out of the Congo in one piece.” Arcades looked out the window as he spoke, “Place your trust in the Lord, and He will guide us through with what we need to do. The Lord will protect us and help us out with our endeavors.” Bocchino was skeptical, “Are you sure about that, Kurt? How many times did God supposedly help you out in the last two weeks?” The fox let out a deep breath as both of his eyebrows raised, “Phew, more times than I can count. You didn’t even see half of it, Bobby.”
“Get in there,” an Omega Internal Security Group member shoved the female wolf into a small cell. The wolf staggered as she was not expecting the guard to use such force to shove her into the cell. Unable to catch her balance, she fell on the floor, and she was particularly unable to catch her fall due to the fact that her hands were still restrained behind her back. The wolf turned to the door that was quickly shut, and she realized that she was now a captive of the Omega Foundation again. Desperate to escape, the wolf stood up, and she attempted to kick the door. This attempt was quickly shut down due to the fact that the wolf was wearing carbon steel shackles around her ankles which featured a very short chain. All the wolf could do was groan to herself, since she was not even able to speak since Omega also gagged her. The wolf sat in the middle of the cell, and she attempted to pull her hands apart, but the rigid ASP handcuffs prevented this as well. With no choices remaining, all she could do now was wait for Omega to return.
“Looks like we’ll be touching down in a few minutes,” Jim announced to the passengers of the helicopter. Bocchino was the first to comment, “Fucking finally. I’m sick of being cramped up in this piece of shit.” Arcades replied to the comment, “It’s not like these are meant to be comfortable.” The cat found this as an opportune time to make a remark back to the fox, “Neither are those handcuffs that you put yourself in, Kurt.” Arcades shook his head while feeling slightly embarrassed, “We’re not doing this, Bobby.” Bocchino was still irritated, “Get fucked, asshole!” The fox only sighed; he knew that there was no diffusing the situation at the current point in time. Jim eased up on the throttle as he pulled the flight stick aft, and the helicopter leveled out as it began to descend. Jason watched out the window as the HH-60 slowly approached the ground, and he briefly looked to see what Arcades was attentive to. The fox was only holding onto his rifle; he was ready to disembark from the helicopter after the long flight. Arcades knew that Bocchino just needed some time to himself in order to return to a more positive attitude, so he decided to give the cat some space for the time being. The fox also knew that Bocchino did not actually mean the things he was saying during his moments of irritation. Arcades could agree with the cat on one aspect: flying in the HH-60 was definitely not a comfortable experience.
The Pave Hawk’s landing gear finally touched down on the ground after the long flight, and Arcades stood up in order to open the side door that he and Jason were currently facing. Jim had already begun to disable the helicopter’s engines, and he even removed his Gentex pilot helmet. Eager to stretch his long legs, the fox was the first to exit the helicopter. Jason followed suit, and the wolf began walking off and following Arcades. After making sure that he had successfully disembarked from the helicopter entirely, Arcades let go of his Salient GRY, and he let his olive drab sling hold his rifle for him. The fox also adjusted the olive drab Condor H-Harness that he was wearing since it was becoming slightly uncomfortable. Realizing that he did not need to actually wear his equipment at the moment, Arcades began to remove his tactical equipment.
The fox unbuckled the belt that the harness was connected to, and he also disconnected the buckle that held the harness on his chest. Arcades placed the equipment on the ground, and he sat his rifle on the ground next to the OD green gear as well. Jason watched the fox as he placed his gear on the ground and asked, “Why didn’t you leave that stuff in the chopper?” Arcades removed his hat as well, and he placed it directly on top of the Salient GRY’s receiver group. He then replied to Jason, “I could have done that, but I just didn’t think about it. Shouldn’t make any difference leaving it here in the dry dirt, anyways.” Jason looked around at the surroundings, and he was able to notice that they landed right outside of a very lightly wooded area. The helicopter landed on a large flat mound of sand that was surrounded by tall grass.
The fox began to stretch now that he had doffed all of his equipment. All Arcades was wearing now was his Rhodesian Brushstroke combat shirt and his shorts that were of the matching camouflage pattern. Jason examined the fox as he stretched, and the wolf noticed one noteworthy piece of apparel that Arcades was wearing. The wolf pointed to Arcades’ left ankle, “Is that a bracelet you’re wearing on your ankle?” Arcades paused momentarily, and he looked at the olive drab bracelet on his left ankle. Arcades replied, “That is indeed a paracord bracelet. My wrists are too thin to wear that, so I have it on my ankle.” Jason had
another question; he was curious as to the paracord’s function, “What is it for, mate?” Arcades answered, “Paracord has many uses. One reason in particular that I have it is in case my chest rig ever rips or tears significantly. I can use the paracord to repair it out in the field so that I can still use it until I can find a suitable replacement.”
“I think it looks nice on your ankle,” Jason commented again. Arcades exhaled as he halfway closed his eyes, “Well, you are the first to say that, so I’ll give you that.” Arcades began to sit on the ground, and Jason kept his eyes trained on the fox’s bare legs. The wolf asked another question, “So how come you’re wearing shorts out here?” Arcades replied, “Well, Africa is kind of a hot place. Especially where we are, for we’re practically right next to the equator. When the humans from Rhodesia fought in the Bush War, they often wore similar shorts. I don’t blame ‘em.” The wolf nodded, “Right. I suppose it is important to stay cool out here.” Arcades nodded in agreement, “Oh yeah, especially given the fact that we’re in Africa. It’s important to look after yourself because help isn’t readily available out here. Water can be pretty scarce, too. We should be careful.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to stick together,” Jason spoke in response to Arcades. The fox looked past the wolf to watch Bocchino finally disembark from the helicopter along with Jim. Arcades spoke while still watching the cat, “Cooperation amongst ourselves is an absolute must out here, and that’s why we have to make sure Bobby keeps his cool. We can’t afford to have him getting mad in a scenario like this. I don’t want something bad to happen way out here.” The fox focused back on the wolf after finishing his statement, “If events turn for the worse, can I at least trust that you will have my back?” Jason nodded, “Mate, I’ll always watch your back.” Jason was surprised that Arcades was already willing to trust him again given the events which occurred in the previous week.
As they were moving some equipment out of the helicopter, Bocchino was speaking with Jim, “And then Kurt says that he’s planning on moving ahead, so he would be able to have a headstart in the morning when the German Army decided to push further into the city.” Jim continued speaking with the cat, “Is that when he was attacked?” Bocchino nodded, “Yup. That’s right. He doesn’t wear helmets too often, so one of the NSS dudes whacked him in the back of the head. Motherfucker went out like a light.” Jim placed a tactical MOLLE backpack on the ground, and he proceeded to return to the HH-60 to see if there was anything else currently needed, “So, how did Kurt escape the NSS after that?” Bocchino continued, “He used his Houdini escape artist tricks I suppose. I’m tellin’ ya, that fucker’s got a key to every single one of those damn restraints.” Jim was mildly intrigued, “Heh, I remember that Omega mentioned that they were going to use restraints with unconventional keys in order to prevent someone from freeing the anthros they were going to catch at Berlin.” Though Jim did not participate in the Siege of Berlin himself, he knew about the event before it happened. Bocchino was reminded of the events that did happen, “Oh yes, that’s right. Kurt just happened to have the keys to those when we all got to the train station.” Jim chuckled, “Hah, I guess that fox sure knows a thing or two about restraints.” Bocchino replied, “Don’t even get me started. He has a fuckton of them, and he wears them semi-regularly.”
Jim asked for more information, “Oh really? How’d you come about knowing that?” Bocchino gave his information, “Those things make noise mind you. I can hear him messing with them when I walk by his room.” Jim then asked, “So, he put those on in the middle of a workday or something?” Bocchino shook his head, “Nah, he would only do that on weekends. He lived at that one place Omega destroyed, and practically everyone would be gone during weekends. I would always keep my tactical gear there rather than at my house, but I would often leave some other stuff there such as guns since I can’t own fully-automatic weapons. Not legally at least, but Kurt technically can… Anyways, it was almost like having storage that I wasn’t paying for.” Jim asked the cat, “Did you ever give him some sort of heads-up before you would show up?” Bocchino shook his head, “Sure didn’t. I would just show up whenever I needed anything. One time I knocked on his door, and he answered it with leg shackles locked around his ankles. I also saw multiple pairs of handcuffs on his bed. I pretended like I didn’t notice anything. He was probably hoping that I didn’t notice.”
Jim continued the conversation, “So you’ve known about him doing this for a good while or so?” Bocchino replied, “Yeah, but I’m glad he doesn’t do that stuff while we’re conducting our business and all.” Jim looked at the gear that was still left inside of the helicopter, “Do you think he brought all of them with us?” Bocchino grabbed the bag that contained the restraints, “He sure did. However, I don’t think he plans on returning to Sealand, so that’s probably why he brought them with us. I can’t really see him comfortable with using them out here at least. I’m pretty sure he’d rather be alone while doing that.” Jim was curious, “So, does he ever bring any of those on missions?” Bocchino shook his head, “Nope. He only brings the keys. I’m telling ya, he literally just has these for himself. If you were to ask him, he would tell you that.”
“I would call that rather odd if I never worked for the Omega Foundation,” Jim spoke. The human continued after a short moment of silence, “Can I look and see what he’s got in there?” Bocchino handed the bag over to the human, and he immediately felt the weight of the metallic contents, “Yeesh, this bag is pretty damn heavy.” The human sat the bag on the ground before attempting to unzip it. After placing the bag on the ground, Jim revealed the bag’s contents. The human rummaged through the bag, and he soon noticed a few similarities, “Say, these are just like the ones that Omega uses.” Bocchino watched the human, “I bet you he probably purchased those from the same exact store.” Jim shrugged as he zipped the bag back up, “Eh, Omega buys these in wholesale. Kurt does buy all of the same manufacturers Omega buys from, though.”
Jason was now sitting down with the fox, and the wolf was speaking with Arcades, “I just really didn’t know what to say at all. I remembered that you did end up sleeping there for a little while.” Arcades examined his Oakley gloves he brought with him before placing them back down with the rest of his equipment, “For a moment, I kinda wasn’t even sure if you spoke English when I first found you.” The wolf continued after the fox finished, “You know I am surprised that you did feel comfortable enough to sleep right next to someone you found in a room splattered with blood all over the walls.” Arcades smiled, “Well, I guess that was a risk I was willing to take. I could have died there if you really wanted to kill me.” Jason raised his eyebrows, “I wouldn’t kill you, mate.” The fox nodded, “Yeah, I know you wouldn’t. However, I know some people wouldn’t hesitate to end the life of a fox like me.”
Jason frowned as he placed his left hand on the fox’s right shoulder, “What can you do mate?” Arcades looked up at the sky, “I can’t do anything, and that’s what bothers me. Being in a state of helplessness is something that I never like to be in. I hate when there’s nothing I can do about a situation. I’ll be honest with you, it’s definitely one of my greatest fears.” Jason frowned as he continued to hold on to the fox’s shoulder, “Ah, that makes me regret what I tried to do even more. I’m really sorry I put you in that kind of situation.” The fox looked down at the ground as he remembered the ordeal, “I know you’re really sorry, and I already forgave you for that. The best thing we can do now is move forwards if you’ve already asked the Lord for your forgiveness. I’ll admit, I was absolutely horrified, but I’m willing to forget all about it if you are.” The wolf smiled.
“And then I heard him scream. He was fuckin’ pleading with all that he had to make that motherfucker stop,” Bocchino was explaining the ordeal to Jim. The human was listening, “So, you’re telling me that wolf was planning to rape Kurt?” Bocchino nodded, “That’s right. I dunno why he fucking stopped at the last second. I g
uess Kurt’s screaming really got to him or something. Fuckin’ unbelievable if you ask me.” Jim looked at the wolf sitting with the fox, “You’re telling me that’s him over there?” The cat replied, “Sure is. That’s Jason. I have no idea why Kurt decided to forgive him for even attempting that. I know I wouldn’t forgive him for that. If it were up to me, that shitbag would be six feet underground right now. He wouldn’t even get a chance to plead. I’d fuck that bitch up in a heartbeat.” Jim wanted to clarify what the cat was saying, “Kurt forgave him?”
“But you have to remember one thing. This is not an important issue at all. It doesn’t make sense to put too much thought into it. We should be focusing on other things instead. For instance, the reason why we came out here in the first place,” Arcades spoke to the wolf. Jason looked back at the ground, “Oh, I’m sorry mate.” The fox continued speaking, “The reason why we came out here was not to discuss why I do what I do in my free time. We came out here to find the anthros Omega sold out here. We’re also looking for the guy who bought them as well.” Jason looked back at the fox and nodded, “Alright.” Arcades still was not finished, “I only brought the bag with me because I do not plan on returning to Sealand to retrieve my things. I put everything I have on that helicopter. I’m not going to use anything in that bag out here. So if that’s what’s on your mind, then save it for later. We’ve got bigger problems to worry about. This time is not our free time.”
Jason replied finally, “I understand, Kurt. I’ll keep the mission the priority.” Arcades then said, “That’s right. If we don’t keep the mission in mind, then how would we ever complete it?” Jason realized that Arcades was practically restating the same point he had already mentioned, “I think I get it, Kurt.” Arcades was quick to respond, “I’m sure you do. I just want to make it absolutely clear that there will be no further mention of my off-duty activities until we get off of this continent. Can we both agree on that?” The wolf nodded. Arcades smiled, “Right. Then let’s get back on with the mission. Shall we?” The fox stood up, and he began to collect the equipment he laid out on the ground. Arcades threw the olive drab tactical harness over his shoulders, and he buckled the chest strap as well as the outer belt. The fox then placed his boonie hat atop his head before moving his Oakley M2 frames in front of his eyes. Arcades put on his Oakley gloves, and he then reached down to pick up his Salient GRY that was still lying on the ground. Once the fox held his rifle, he made sure that it was still set to safe before reattaching his sling to his body. After finishing, Arcades let the sling hold the rifle for him. The fox looked at Jason, who was still sitting on the ground, “No sense of staying here. We better get going.” Arcades outstretched his right hand towards the wolf while using his left hand to prevent his rifle from swaying away from his body and colliding with Jason. With a firm grip, the wolf grabbed the fox’s hand, and Arcades helped Jason stand up.