by Tom Jones
Bocchino remembered how much cash was currently left in the bank account he was using, “Well, none of this applies to me because I never spent any of my own money. I don’t need any of this money right now. I don’t have anything I need to replace, and I haven’t lost anything but a job.” The Prince reassured the cat, “Well, you can take some of the cash for yourself to hold you over until you need to start working again.” Jim shared what he was currently planning to do with the money, “I’ll definitely change my name and I’ll go to live in a different state. He’s right, you know, Bobby. We don’t stand a chance against Omega. Take it from me: I used to work for Omega myself.”
Bocchino was still somewhat hesitant, “I just don’t know if it’s the right thing to do. It’s not what Kurt would’ve wanted.” The Prince shook his head, “It doesn’t matter, does it? Kurt’s as good as dead now if he’s not dead already, and there is nothing any of us can do to bring him back here. On top of that, we wouldn’t stand a chance even if Kurt was here. It’s time to forget about him. You don’t need him anyways.” Bocchino knew that the Prince was right, “Man. I know what you’re telling me makes the most sense, but… I just don’t want to leave Kurt behind.” The Prince replied, “Even if you had all the resources in the world, it would still take forever to find him in Africa. We’ve already told you: He’s as good as dead, and you should consider him as such. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you this entire time.” Bocchino’s face clearly displayed disappointment, and Jim spoke, “Come on, Bobby. We have a whole week to think about this on the ship. We don’t have to do anything with Kurt’s stuff quite yet when we arrive, either. We have plenty of time to think about the best way to divide it up amongst ourselves.”
Chapter 10
Escape
Arcades opened another door with his keycard, and what he found were several yellow-collared anthros held in very small cages. All of them were blindfolded, heavily restrained, and naked, but Arcades did not see that Jason was one of them. The fox had a relatively hard time determining the race of each anthro due to the combination of devices covering their faces, but Arcades could tell the difference between a canoid and a feloid by the shape of the muzzle they wore. The fox briefly examined each anthros to see if he recognized any of them, but he could not do so because they were unable to look back at him. The fox studied the yellow collars, and he was trying to remember which collar color the ISG placed on him. Arcades knew that the collar could change color without being removed because he remembered seeing the lights disable when the collar hit the ground after being removed from his neck.
After a brief moment of trying to recall prior details, Arcades remembered that the collar appeared to glow red before he took it off, but the fox did not know which color collar Jason wore. Arcades had not looked at Jason since the two of them were captured by the ISG in the Congo due to the blindfold the ISG forced him to wear, so the fox did not know where Jason was within Facility One. Since Arcades was in a room with plenty of unarmed and defenseless anthros, he decided to flip the selector switch to the safe position on his XMP-1 to avoid a negligent discharge. As the fox performed this action, he briefly shouldered the weapon to peek into its scope while holding the rifle in a safe direction. Seeing as the scope was disabled, Arcades depressed the power button of the scope in order to enable it. Arcades looked through the scope again, and he could see that both the reticle and rangefinder were now enabled. The fox did not know if he was going to have to use the XMP-1, but he knew that he would be ready to use it if he had no other options. Arcades could not afford to be captured again by Omega.
The fox walked down the narrow pathway while he was still looking at the captured anthros to his left and right. Many of the anthros had special devices attached to their genitals and nipples which Arcades could not determine the function for. The fox did not want to stop and inspect the anthros, but he also did not want to leave them to stay in the Foundation. The fox knew that the anthros would surely be killed by the ISG if they discovered that the anthros were trying to escape. After what happened in Facility Twenty-Four, Arcades wondered if the ISG would shoot him on sight as well. The fox knew that he would not be able to rescue all of the anthros in the room, and he also knew that there were definitely more anthros within the facility than the anthros which he was currently looking at. After all, Arcades was only looking at the anthros which were wearing yellow collars. The fox was trying to remember how many collar colors Omega used, so he tried to remember what he saw in Facility Twenty-Four. Though Arcades did not get a good look at many of the anthros at the facility, he did remember that a few of them were wearing orange colors while most of the rest of them were wearing yellow collars.
The fox looked at the other end of the hall, but there was not a door which connected the current room to another. Arcades acknowledged that the best way to continue moving through Facility One would be to return back to the hall where he was previously at. Arcades removed his left hand from his XMP-1’s handguard, and he went back into his left pocket to grab his keycard to open the door on his way back out. The fox was glad Omega did not employ the use of security cameras, for he knew that he would have been discovered to be escaping long ago. Arcades also did not know when the ISG would find One in his office, and the fox did not even know if he had killed the human or not. Though he did use all of his strength to whack the human on the head with the reinforced metallic locksets of the restraints, he was not sure if he was even able to hit the human hard enough to cause death. Arcades also discarded the restraints when he was free, and he was beginning to think that applying them to the unconscious human would buy him at least some time for his escape. The fox, however, frowned upon the idea of restraining somebody who is already incapacitated.
Arcades reached the door he had walked through, and he swiped his keycard. As he heard the door beep to indicate it was unlocked, he pressed the buttstock of the XMP-1 against his shoulder in case he needed to raise it quickly. Arcades also kept the keycard in his hand as he placed his left hand back on the handguard in order to stabilize the weapon. Though the weapon was still set to safe, the fox would be able to flip the selector switch to at least select the semi-automatic position if he was to be suddenly spotted by the ISG. The door slid open, and Arcades kept his balance as he turned from side to side while looking out for the ISG. The fox was surprised that the compound’s alarm had not sounded yet, so observation indicated to Arcades that either One had not awoken from his unconscious state or the ISG had not found him injured yet.
Since the dimly lit hallway was clear of any hostiles, Arcades proceeded further as he tried to guess as to where Jason was. The fox felt bad for having to leave all of the other anthros, but he knew that there was nothing he could do for them. He also knew that he might not even be able to find or help Jason, but Arcades did not entertain the idea of merely abandoning the wolf at the Omega Foundation. The fox knew that he would be taking Jason with him one way or another, even if he would not be able to fully free the wolf from any restraints. Arcades did not see which restraints the ISG forced Jason to wear, but he assumed that they were similar to the Smith & Wesson models fitted with the uniquely-keyed BOA Medeco locksets. If Jason was wearing such restraints still, then Arcades would have to take the wolf with him with the restraints still on and cut them off later if his procured key was incompatible with Jason’s set.
As the fox’s mind continued to wander while searching the compound, he remembered that there would be further complications brought about if he were to remove Jason from the Omega Foundation without removing the restraints. For one, Jason would still be completely naked with no way to wear any clothing. Arcades would also have to use bolt cutters at the very least to cut the bows of the restraints off, and he did not currently possess such equipment for performing this process. He was also not sure as to where he would procure this equipment. Arcades did consider going to a hardware store which may or may not be in his general vicinity, but he knew that
he had no money on his person to pay for such equipment. The fox also lacked a vehicle to drive to such a store if it even was adjacent to his location, and Arcades did not want to try to take one of the Omega vehicles; the fox feared they could be equipped with GPS or a similar tracking technology. An MRAP would also look extremely out of place driving to a hardware store of all places. Even if Arcades did have a vehicle and money to drive to a hardware store to procure the equipment, he knew that he would have to leave a naked wolf chained up in his car, and Arcades knew very well of associated risks regarding such a possibility. Considering the best possible scenario, Jason would still be without clothing for an extended period of time within view of the general public, and a situation involving law enforcement officials would present both of them with more problems than he could count, especially since neither of them currently possessed identification. Even though neither anthro would lie to the officers, the fox knew that the likely human police would not believe the words of a fox. Arcades knew that there were further problems with taking Jason with him, but he decided he would think about those later once he found the wolf. He did not even know what state Jason currently was in.
The fox finally reached the opposing end of the hall, and he once again waited in front of the door as he used his ears to discern if there were any people on the other side of the door. After a few seconds of waiting, Arcades scanned his keycard to open the door. The door opened, and Arcades was presented with a seemingly medium-sized staircase which was perpendicular to the current path he was using to travel with. The fox looked up and down the staircase from where he was standing, but he was unable to determine which way he would have to travel to provide him with the most desirable results. After all, the fox was looking for two things: Jason and the compound’s exit. He also knew he had to accomplish both of these tasks before the ISG was alert to his escape. The fox continued to consider ascending or descending the staircase, but he reminded himself of the time constraint associated with his situation. He knew that it would be unwise for him to remain in the same place for too long, especially since he was pretty sure he was still on the same floor as One. After some more brief consideration, Arcades decided to descend the staircase.
As Arcades descended the staircase, he couldn’t help but remember that he did travel up a staircase when he was being taken to One’s office. The fox was surprised he did not run into any ISG members during his escape, but Arcades reminded himself of what was associated with working at the Omega Foundation. The fox had no idea how many ISG personnel the Foundation employed at each facility, but he did not know many people who would want to work in such conditions. Arcades also could somewhat remember what Jim had told him about the hiring process for the people who worked at the Omega Foundation, and Arcades was starting to believe that the ISG was not as large as Omega wanted him to think. Supported by personal experience, the fox knew that Omega heavily relied on psychological manipulation techniques in order to make adversaries and victims feel overwhelmed and helpless. Arcades began to rationally think about the methods which Omega used, and the fox was soon starting to realize that Facility One was probably smaller than he perceived it to be. Considering the sheer logistics required with maintaining such a massive facility, Arcades knew that such maintenance could have the potential to blow Omega’s cover unless the ISG performed the entirety of maintenance work in-house at the facility. When Arcades considered the logistics, he remembered how small Facility Twenty-Four was, and he also remembered that Facility Eleven only held one thousand anthros at a single time. Despite the fact that the facilities were not actually as large as Omega wanted outsiders to believe, Arcades knew that Omega had to have some method of manufacturing as well as sufficient resources in order to mass-produce the XMP-1 rifles.
The fox reached the end of the staircase, and he saw a door in front of him. The fox swiped his keycard, and he was somewhat less hesitant as he proceeded through the door. When Arcades moved through the door to the next room, he saw that the room only consisted of a door to his right and a door directly in front of himself. Arcades placed his ear against the door to his right, and he was able to hear ambient sounds which he did not remember hearing behind the other doors. Arcades figured that he may have just found the way he traveled through when the ISG brought him in the facility. The fox hesitated, for he considered that there may be an ISG post right outside of the door he was just about to proceed through. Arcades considered trying to blend in as an ISG member for a second, but he knew he would not get too far by doing so. His obviously anthro feet were exposed, his tail was exposed, and his head was entirely exposed as well. He would be able to be immediately identified as an anthro at the very least, or specifically a fox with mere moments of visual inspections.
Arcades stood in front of the door, and he tried to remember what the ISG members spoke about before he initially entered Facility One. The fox ended up remembering something about Jason being taken through regular processing, and Arcades did remember hearing the humans speak about such when they were on his right side. The fox looked in front of himself, and he knew that the door he was looking at would technically be on the same side compared to when he was standing in front of the complex from the outside. Now that Arcades had a general idea of where he currently was, he decided that he would try and mentally map out the path he would be taking so that he would be able to bring Jason to the exit once he found the wolf. Arcades did want to confirm that the door did indeed lead to the outside world, so he took cover behind the wall as he swiped the keycard. The door briefly opened, and while it was open, Arcades was clearly able to see outside of the complex from the concealed position he was in, and he watched as natural light was able to enter the facility. The fox did not expose himself to the door itself, for he knew that he would be easily spotted by any ISG if they were looking towards the door. However, the fox did begin to wonder what would happen if the ISG became suspicious of a door opening seemingly for no reason. Arcades knew it would be foolish to remain in his current location, so when the door closed automatically, the fox swiped his keycard and entered the door directly in front of him.
When Arcades entered the next area, the environment was not all that different from the previous area he was in. The fox did notice that the lighting and architecture within Facility One was very similar to how Facility Five was constructed. However, Arcades did also notice that both facilities were starkly different than Facility Eleven and Facility Twenty-Four. The fox figured that there was maybe a reason as to why the facilities were different, but he decided he should refocus himself on the mission and not pay too much attention to such things. As the fox walked through the corridor, he looked around to see where the ISG might have taken the wolf. Arcades tried to consider how much time had passed since he had first entered Facility One, but he was not sure if his estimations were correct or not. All Arcades could do from this point is hope that he would choose the correct door to go to.
Arcades walked with his weapon pointed downwards since he had not encountered any ISG personnel since he had been left with One. Since absolutely nothing was marked within the compound, the fox was practically on his own in terms of navigation. With the lack of landmarks, Arcades was relying on the varying corridor construction to map his location. He also was trying to walk in a straight path, for taking more turns could potentially cause Arcades to lose track of where he came from. The corridor he was in was significantly larger than the other half of the facility, but it had fewer doors than the former. Arcades ascended a small staircase, and he came into contact with two more doors. One door was in front of him, and another door was to his right. Arcades looked at the door to his right, and it almost seemed as if something was trying to tell him to open the door. The fox looked away from the door, but his attention was immediately captured by the door yet again. The fox removed his keycard from his pocket, but he hesitated before he placed it up to the scanner. Arcades was feeling that something dangerous was behind the door, but
he was not able to hear anything. The fox scanned his keycard before quickly shoving it back down in his pocket and raising his weapon. Arcades entered the doorway with his weapon at the ready.
When Arcades entered the room, he noticed there was an anthro who looked very similar to Jason restrained in the middle of the room. Around the wolf were two ISG members who immediately spotted the fox. Arcades raised his XMP-1 at the two humans, and they quickly realized they should be focusing on drawing their own weapons back at the fox. Neither of the humans were wearing any tactical equipment; they were merely wearing navy blue BDUs and matching patrol caps. Arcades toggled the weapon to the HE configuration, and he fired upon the two men after aiming at their heads. Bean bag rounds were fired from the airburst component of the XMP-1, and both men were quickly incapacitated by the barrage of rounds fired at close range. With both of the humans down, Arcades stowed away his weapon in order to confirm the identity of the wolf he found.
Arcades stepped over behind the wolf, who had been forced to assume a strange position on top of a unique chair which the fox had not seen yet. The wolf was positioned so that he would be almost in a kneeling position with his torso pointed forwards. Arcades inspected the way the gray wolf had been restrained, and he realized that he needed to use a standard handcuff key to unlock a majority of the wolf’s restraints. The fox went back to the two incapacitated ISG personnel, and he searched their pockets for any useful equipment. After a few moments of searching, Arcades had finally found the key he was looking for, so the fox stood back up and moved back over to the wolf. Before the fox worked on removing the wolf’s restraints, he removed his procured knife and cut off the muzzle and blindfold from the wolf. After removing the silicone mouthpiece of the muzzle from the wolf’s mouth, Arcades leaned down to confirm that the wolf he was rescuing was indeed Jason.