by Tom Jones
Arcades was still confused, “What? What are you guys doing?!” Kitchi quickly moved to the fox, and he grabbed the Salient GRY that was being held by Arcades’ sling. Kitchi unbuckled the rifle from the sling, and he dropped it on the floor. Arcades now was able to see Bocchino laying on the floor, “Did you guys shoot Bobby?” What the fox had failed to notice was that Bocchino was playing dead hoping that Kitchi and Koh-Koh believed they killed him in the confusion. Bocchino had the SP1 lying on the ground, but his hand was still over the handgun’s grip. His face was also on the ground since he was hoping that the three other cats wouldn’t be able to see that they did not really kill him. Kitchi unbuckled the fox’s chest rig and battle belt before removing his equipment from his person and dropping it next to the Salient GRY. Kitchi spoke to the confused fox, “Don’t you make a move now.” The black cat pulled the now unarmed fox aside, and he pushed Arcades down to the floor. Arcades was now on his stomach, and he had a clear view of Bocchino.
“What are you guys doing?!” Arcades said once more. Arcades could see Koh-Koh walk up, and the cat aimed his M590 at the fox. Kitchi finally spoke again, “What the fuck happened to all of those anthros?” Arcades was not sure what to say next, but he did not hear the previous conversation, “They were killed!” The fox then felt the barrel of the BXP being pushed up against the back of his head, “Who killed them?!” Kitchi asked the fox the question that he asked Bocchino already. Arcades gave the answer, “Omega started executing them -- ” the fox was interrupted by Kitchi smacking him with the BXP. The cat had lost his patience, “First the cat lies, and now of course the fox does. Which one of you motherfuckers really killed them?” Arcades spoke again, “I’m telling you guys, Omega started killing them!”
Jason slowly emerged from the door with the barrel of his HK433 pointed at body-level. The wolf silently shouldered the rifle, and he aimed it at Kitchi, who was still pointing his BXP at Arcades. Koh-Koh had not seen the wolf because he was still pointing the M590 at Arcades. Kohei was still trying to recover from the impact of the 9mm round to the front of his helmet since the angle that the round struck the helmet caused moderate backface deformation which injured Kohei. Jason was not sure what to do. He did not want to kill the three cats, but he also did not want to let them kill Arcades. Jason did hear what the cats had asked Arcades, so the wolf slowly lowered his rifle before speaking, “Some of them got caught in the crossfire.” Upon speaking, Koh-Koh stepped aside to aim his shotgun at the wolf. Kohei turned around as well, and he aimed his Vektor R6 at the wolf as well. Bocchino finally stopped playing dead, and he aimed the SP1 at Kitchi, who was still aiming his weapon at Arcades. Kitchi looked to his left, and he could indeed see that Bocchino was not actually dead.
Arcades spoke in hopes of diffusing the situation, “Can we put the guns away?” The fox was silenced when Kitchi grabbed the fox’s mouth. Kitchi then pointed his BXP at Bocchino with his free hand. Arcades tried to speak again, but he was unable to produce intelligible speech due to the fact that the cat was still holding his mouth shut. Kitchi also shifted more of his weight on the fox’s back with his knee in order to keep him down. He placed one of his boots on Arcades’ left hand while he placed his other boot on the fox’s right hand. Kitchi unfolded the weapon’s stock without the use of his support hand, and he shouldered the submachine weapon while still aiming at Bocchino. Kitchi briefly looked to his left to see that Kohei was still aiming his rifle at Jason as well. The cat spoke, “The mission was to rescue the anthros. Not to kill them. What did you guys do?”
Bocchino did not let Jason answer the question. Instead, Bocchino started to berate the other cats in the room, “Come on shit-for-brains, you guys are fucking dumbass! Those Omega shitheads fucking executed them. You fucking pieces of shit!” Jason knew that Bocchino was not helping, “Dammit Bobby! Let me handle this.” Bocchino was not happy with what Jason said, “Fuck you, damn faggot. You didn’t even do anything to help us, you piece of fucking shit!” Arcades tried to speak once again, but Kitchi was still not letting him say anything. Jason let some of his frustration out on Bocchino, “Hey shit cunt! Your dumbass was the reason why most of the anthros were killed. Don’t try to pin this shit on me now. Fucking cunt!” Bocchino continued to argue, “You fucking shot some of them, you piece of shit! Son of a bitch, I should just fucking kill you instead!” Arcades tried to yell, but all that could be heard was a muffled noise. Bocchino looked down at the fox, “Fucking let Kurt talk! Fucking dammit! Son of a fucking bitch... ”
Kitchi was reluctant to let the fox speak, “How can I be sure that this fox isn’t going to fucking lie to us?” Arcades let out a couple muffled noises, but his unintelligible speech was not enough to answer Kitchi’s question. Bocchino spoke for the fox, “He’s not going to fucking lie to you! Damn fucking bitches! Damn you all to hell.” Kitchi looked to his left, and he could see that Arcades was wearing a paracord bracelet around his right ankle. Since the cat still did not trust Arcades, he wanted to make sure that the fox would not be able to make a move against the fireteam. Keeping his BXP pointed at Bocchino, the cat reached over to Arcades’ right ankle, and he removed the paracord bracelet after removing his hand from the fox’s mouth. Kitchi began unspooling the paracord that was currently in the form of a bracelet. Kitchi also had to let go of his weapon in order to proceed with this process. Bocchino still kept his weapon pointed at Kitchi, but the room was otherwise kept in silence.
Arcades found that his mouth was now uncovered, “Please, you guys gotta listen to us. We came in here, and Omega started to execute the anthros. Some of them got caught in the crossfire, but I promise that we did everything we could.” Kitchi did not seem to be listening to what the fox was saying. When the cat finished unspooling the paracord, he looked down at the fox, “Uh-huh. You did everything you could? That doesn’t explain why there are so many of them dead in here.” The fox continued, “They already had a few of them killed. There wasn’t anything we could do after that.” Kitchi removed Arcades’ gloves, and he tossed them where the rest of the fox’s equipment was. The cat then pulled the fox’s wrists behind his back before tying them together with the paracord.
When Kitchi finished binding the fox’s wrists together, he noticed that he still had a decent amount of remaining paracord that was not secured to anything. The cat looked back to see Arcades’ bare ankles, and he looked back at the remaining paracord before making a decision. Kitchi moved off of Arcades’ back, and he pivoted the fox’s legs upwards until they met with his wrists. Bocchino continued watching what was happening, and he briefly looked up to see that Koh-Koh was now aiming the shotgun directly at him. Though Bocchino still held the SP1, he did not have it pointed at anybody. Jason. on the other hand, was still holding Arcades’ HK433, but he was still held at gunpoint by Kohei with the Vektor R6. Jason and Bocchino were practically forced to watch Arcades become subdued yet again.
As Kitchi finally finished binding the fox, he stepped back to make sure that he did not miss anything. Arcades was now effectively hogtied with both his wrists and ankles crossed. The fox started to speak, “Can we please lower the guns? Pointing them at each other isn’t helping.” Kitchi sighed, and he turned to Koh-Koh in order to signal him to lower his weapon. Koh-Koh reluctantly lowered his M590 that he still had trained on Bocchino. Kohei briefly looked at Kitchi to see he was signaling him to lower his weapon as well. Kohei finally lowered his weapon as well, and he stepped away from Jason to give the wolf some space. Bocchino slowly began to stand up as well, but he kept the SP1 pointed downwards so as to not cause any further alarm. Apart from Arcades, everybody in the room was now standing.
Kitchi decided to cut to the chase, “Is the mission a failure, then?” Jason shook his head, “It’s not a failure. We’ve managed to sa-… I mean, rescue an anthro.” Koh-Koh looked at the bodies that also occupied the hallway, “Oh really? Where is the anthro you managed to save?” Jason slowly turned towards the door he had emerged from, “She’s still h
ere. Kurt got her out.” Koh-Koh briefly looked down at the captured fox before looking back at the door. The cat was feeling impatient, “Well then. Go on and show her to us!” Jason slowly moved back inside of the room he had emerged from, and he returned moments later with a vixen. Kitchi asked as to why the vixen was completely naked, “Where are her clothes?” Arcades answered the question from the ground, “I went to go and see if I could find any. I came back, and I wandered into this ordeal.”
Kitchi was still impatient, “Oh yeah? The only ordeal here is the fact that you guys massacred these anthros.” Arcades spoke once more, “We’ve already told you guys what happened: Omega started to execute the anthros--” Kitchi did not want to hear what Arcades had to say, “Shut the fuck up now. You damn foxes are all the same. Can’t trust fucking foxes…” Jason looked at the vixen that had been rescued, and then the wolf looked at Arcades before looking back at Kitchi. The wolf asked Arcades a question, “Were you able to find any clothes for her, Kurt?” Arcades waited a moment before he replied, “Yeah, I left them halfway down that staircase. I put them down to see what the commotion was about.” To Arcades’ surprise, the mercenary fireteam had no further comment to make.
The vixen began to speak in order to try and defend Arcades, “Kurt was the one who rescued me back in Las Vegas over a year ago. He’s not like those foxes you’re talking about.” Kitchi disregarded the vixen, “First one fox makes shit up, and then another one comes in and does the same. Typical. It’s all the fucking same.” Bocchino looked at the Vektor SP1 that he was still carrying, and he was glad that he was not a fox. He really did not want to be in the position Arcades was. Jason looked at the staircase Arcades mentioned, “So, if nobody minds, I’ll just go and grab the clothes for her.” Kohei turned to face the wolf, and the black cat carried a suspicious look on his face, “You better not try anything like your friend here did.” Jason assumed the group was talking about Arcades, “What did Kurt do to you guys?” Kohei shook his head, “No, I’m talking about Bobby. Motherfucker shot me right in the damn helmet.” Jason looked at Bocchino, and he could indeed see the handgun that the cat used to fire upon Kohei. He was surprised that the cats let Bocchino keep the handgun. The wolf began to wonder why it was Arcades that was restrained, “Why is Kurt tied down then?” Koh-Koh was also impatient, “The fox stays like that. Just go and get her fucking clothes already. Stop wasting our fucking time.”
Jason silently turned away from the rest of the anthros in the room, and he briefly traveled halfway up the stairs until he could see the clothes in question. Jason picked up the clothes, and he started traveling back down the staircase while making sure his HK433 was not bumping into anything on his way down. After all, the weapon belonged to Arcades. The wolf reached the floor where the rest of the anthros were at, and he held the clothes out for the vixen to grab. The clothes consisted of a navy blue flight suit and black combat boots. The vixen received the clothes, and she immediately started the process of clothing herself. Bocchino turned to Kitchi, and he offered the Vektor SP1 to the other cat, “You’ll want this back, won’t you?” Kitchi snatched the handgun from Bocchino before he spoke, “Sure thing. Or else that’ll be another thing you’ll be paying for.”
Arcades’ attention was caught by Kitchi’s last statement, “Another thing we’ll be paying for?” The black cat looked down at the black and white furred fox, “Yeah. You didn’t think we’d go on this mission with you for free, did you?” Arcades did not remember the anthros ever mentioning there would be a payment required, “What? You guys didn’t say anything about --” The fox was interrupted by Kitchi, “We’re fucking mercenaries, fox. We do our job, and we get paid. You guys are in debt to us for this failed operation of yours.” Jason stood in silence as he looked at the three frustrated South African mercenaries in the room. The wolf then asked, “So, how much money is required?” Kitchi looked at the wolf and replied, “I’d say about three hundred thousand rand.” Jason did not know how much money a rand was in neither United States dollars nor Australian dollars, “How much is that in Australian dollars?” Bocchino commented as well, “Uh, how about United States dollars?”
Arcades spoke in the middle of the brief silence, “Let’s just say that three hundred thousand rand is more than we have access to right now.” Kitchi looked down at the fox, “If you fucks can’t pay, then we’ll have to take some collateral instead.” Arcades was wondering where the mercenaries were taking this, “What do you accept as collateral?” Kitchi looked at the vixen, who had just finished clothing herself, and said, “She looks like she would fetch a decent price. We could take her off your hands and you all can consider the debt paid.” Arcades could not believe what he was hearing, “Hold on now. Why would you ever sell an anthro that you just worked to rescue?” Kitchi then said, “We only came because we believed you were going to pay up. We’re just doing what has the best monetary benefit for us. If we need to sell her to reimburse ourselves, then that’s what we’ll have to do.”
The vixen began to plead, “Don’t let them take me!” Jason and Bocchino both looked at the vixen before they looked at the mercenaries. Arcades then spoke, “You guys are not going to take her.” Kitchi looked down at the already captive fox, “Alright, then how about we take you?” Arcades did not like what he was hearing either, but he felt that it would be better for him than the vixen. After a moment of reluctance, Arcades spoke, “F-Fine… T-Take me if you have to.” Jason shook his head, “No, don’t do it, Kurt.” Arcades replied to the wolf, “Jason, we don’t really have much of a choice here. We did not come all the way here to have all of the anthros from this facility lost.” Jason frowned as he remembered the mission again, “Kurt… You don’t have to do this.” Arcades replied again, “I am not going to leave you guys stranded out here in the middle of Africa. Take our rescue and get her to safety. That’s the mission.”
Jason’s frown only grew larger, “K-Kurt… I… When would I even see you again?” Arcades laid his head on the ground on its side, “You shouldn’t worry about me. I promise I will see you again.” Jason was now considering a very drastic choice. After a moment of contemplation the wolf spoke, “If Kurt’s going with you guys, then take me too!” Kitchi displayed a look of surprise on his face; he was not expecting the wolf to offer himself as well, “In that case, you guys could consider the debt paid, then.” Arcades asked Jason for confirmation, “Jason, are you completely sure you want to do this?” Jason replied, “I am completely sure, mate. I can’t just leave you out here.” Arcades focused his attention to Bocchino, “Bobby, I’m gonna need you and Jim to get her out of here. Take her to a place where you know Omega won’t find her again.” Bocchino looked down at the fox, still in awestruck of what was happening, “Uh… Yeah, sure. We’ll figure it out…”
Kohei moved over to Jason to take his HK433 from him as well as confirm that the wolf was not carrying any other weapons else on his person. Though the wolf was initially feeling uneasy at the thought of being disarmed, he came to accept the choices which he made. Kohei placed the rifle on the ground along with all of Arcades’ gear, and he pinned the wolf’s wrists behind his back. Kitchi squatted back down, and he began to untie the fox’s ankles. The room was completely filled with silence as Kitchi worked on untying Arcades’ ankles. Once the black-furred cat finished, he forced the fox to stand up. Arcades noticed that there was now a decent length of paracord dangling from his wrists. In fact, the paracord was long enough that a few inches of its length sat on the ground. Kohei guided Jason to stand next to Arcades while the cat kept the wolf’s wrists pinned behind his back.
Once Jason was standing next to the fox, Kitchi moved in, and he began to tie the dangling length of paracord around the wolf’s wrists. Bocchino and the vixen could only stand and watch; they would not be able to do anything even if they wanted to do something. After all, Koh-Koh had just finished picking up his Vektor Mini-SS Compact from off the ground. After Kitchi finished binding the wolf’s hands togeth
er, the cat stepped away from the two captives while Kohei stood behind them. Kitchi looked down at the collective equipment of the fox and the wolf that was on the ground, “Alright Bobby, you can grab that stuff. Call your helicopter, and we’ll be on our way after these two drop off all of their stuff. Do not come and try to find us after you leave. We won’t let you go twice.” Bocchino silently moved over to the equipment, and he picked up the two weapons as well as Arcades chest rig. Once Kitchi saw that Bocchino was carrying the equipment, the cat spoke, “Alright. Let’s get going then. Call your helicopter.”
Bocchino pulled out his own radio as the group began to move out, “Jim, it’s Bobby. We’ve got a little situation. Land in the courtyard of the compound for pickup. We’ve got one anthro that’s coming with us. Over.” Jim soon replied, “Roger, Bobby. Say again, what is the situation? Over.” Bocchino spoke into the PTT again as the group proceeded down the stairs, “I’ll tell you when we get there. Just land in the courtyard. Out.” Kitchi commented, “Damn right you’ve got a situation.” Bocchino did not return a comment to the black-furred cat. Kitchi then pulled out a radio of his own, “Spectre, the mission is over. Come to the courtyard. We’ve got a group refusing to pay up.” The open speaker broadcasted the response, “Copy. On the move. Out.”