by Tom Jones
“K-Kurt?” Jason spoke to his rescuer. The fox moved back, and he began to cut the rest of the restraints which he did not need a key for, “I’ll have you out of here in a moment, Jason. Just hang tight.” As the fox cut away the mitts from the wolf’s hands, he could hear Jason continue to speak, “Kurt, how did you escape, mate?” Arcades looked back over the wolf to make sure he did not miss any restraints which he would be able to cut before placing the knife back into the polymer sheath, “I’ll tell you about that later. I don’t have much time.” The fox removed the handcuff key which he had procured, and he began to unlock the chains around the wolf’s waist since the padlocks holding them together were compatible with the key. When Arcades removed the chain from Jason’s rear, he could see that Omega did not remove the plug they had placed in the wolf’s rectum. The fox winced, but he knew what he had to do, “I’m gonna remove this. Brace yourself.”
“Brace myself for --- Ehh, ugh!” Jason grunted as the fox removed the plug using his gloved hands. Tossing the plug aside with disregard, Arcades saw that he would be able to now remove the lockbox from the BOA handcuffs since he had removed the padlocks securing it in place. When Arcades removed the lockbox and the accompanying chain which was padlocked to it, he could see that the wolf was indeed wearing restraints with BOA Medeco lockets. Arcades then noticed that Jason’s thumbs were cuffed together. The fox knew that not all standard keys would open the thumbcuffs, but he tried the key anyways. Arcades was relieved when he saw that the bows were opening once he disengaged the double-lock. Even though the thumbcuffs belonged to Arcades in the first place, he discarded them, for he did not need them in his current situation. The fox looked over the wolf one last time, and he could see that only the BOA handcuffs and leg shackles were remaining.
“Can you stand up on your own?” Arcades asked the wolf. Jason replied, but he did not stand up yet, “Yeah. You want me to stand up now?” The fox said, “Yes, we are leaving.” Arcades attempted to insert the key which opened his BOA restraints, and he quickly realized that it was indeed incompatible with Jason’s set of restraints. Arcades shook his head in disappointment, and he tossed the key away. He knew that he would not be able to use it to free the wolf. With one other lifeline on his mind, the fox began to rummage through the pockets of the ISG members, but he could not find the Medeco key for the BOA locksets. After he finished searching through the pockets of the incapacitated humans, Arcades looked at Jason from the front, and he could see that the wolf was wearing both a cage over his genitals as well as clamps over his nipples. The fox stood up and he gently removed the clamps before tossing them aside, “Those shackles don’t open with a standard key. They’re each keyed differently from the manufacturer, so we’re going to have to cut those off when we get out of here. The key that worked with mine won’t work with yours.” Jason was visibly disappointed by the news, “Kurt, you can’t take these off of me?” The fox shook his head, “I wish I could, but the manufacturer, BOA, made those specifically so that they were keyed differently.”
Jason asked the fox another question, “How did you get out of them yourself?” Arcades replied, “The guy they left me with had a key of his own, and I managed to take it after I… Incapacitated him.” The wolf looked at the two ISG members in the room with them, “They don’t have the keys?” The fox shook his head, “No, I already checked them. I’ll have to use bolt cutters to cut off the bows from those once we get to a safe area. Underneath those locksets are standard Smith & Wesson restraints, so they shouldn’t be too hard to cut off.” Jason looked down at the cage over his genitals, “You can’t remove this either?” Arcades looked over to see what Jason was referring to, and he shook his head, “Nope, the padlock they used for that is keyed differently than what the rest of the padlocks were. I still have the one they put on me too. They’re made from plastic, so I’ll probably be able to cut them off something that we’ll be able to get a hold of.”
Jason still had his hands restrained behind his back, and the fox noticed this, “Jason, do you know how to bring your arms to your front? It’ll be more comfortable for you until we can find tools to remove those.” The wolf was interested to hear what Arcades had to say, “Tell me what to do, Kurt.” Arcades eyed over towards the wolf’s lower body, “Push your arms behind your tail and keep going until you clear your entire lower body. It’s easier to do that if you’re standing up. You’ll know you’ve got it when your hands are directly behind your knees. Then, just use the ground to help you roll backwards and pull your hands in front of yourself by pulling your legs up to your torso.” The wolf performed what Arcades instructed him to do, and he successfully was able to bring his restrained hands in front of his body.
Arcades removed the keycard from his pocket, and he stowed the XMP-1 to his side before he spoke to Jason, “Alright, I can get that collar off of you.” The fox moved behind the wolf and held his keycard in front of the RFID reader on the rear of the collar. The red-lit collar disabled itself after the fox held the keycard in front of it, and it also fell to the ground after detaching from the wolf’s neck. The fox moved away from the wolf and said, “Move to the door, I’m about to open it.” The wolf took a few steps, and he was now in front of the door. Arcades swiped his keycard, and he held it in his left hand as he picked up the XMP-1’s pistol grip with his right hand. The door opened, and Arcades took a few moments to peek outside before he nodded to Jason to start moving. Jason looked around the complex, and he was surprised to actually see how it looked, “Mate, do you even know where we’re going?” The fox replied as he kept his eyes trained on the weapon’s sights, “Yes, so stay as quiet as you can and follow me. I know how to get us out.” Arcades knew that the shackles around the wolf’s ankles would significantly slow him down as well as generate noise, so the fox walked at a speed which more or less matched Jason’s pace so the wolf did not have to strain himself as he walked. He also did not want the chain making too much noise. After a rather uneventful walk, both anthros reached the doorway without any complications. Arcades swiped his keycard, and he moved with Jason into the next area. Arcades followed his path back to where he knew the exit was, and he was happy that he did not encounter any ISG personnel.
Arcades finally reached the exit, “It’s this one. Let’s get out of here.” Arcades stood in front of the door, held his keycard out, and prepared to scan it. The fox spoke again, “Alright Jason. Just follow my lead, and we’ll be out of this soon enough.” Jason thought he heard the fox say that exact phrase before, but he could not remember when the phrase was spoken. Using his right hand, Arcades checked the magazine that was in his XMP-1, and he also felt the equipment on his plate carrier before he prepared himself to open the door. Jason suddenly realized what he was trying to remember, “Kurt, no!” Arcades looked up at the wolf in confusion, “What? What’s wrong?” Jason was visibly shaken, “There’s a guy with a bloody shotgun right behind there!” Arcades looked at the door while carrying the XMP-1 with both hands, but he did not see what the wolf was talking about. The fox spoke to the wolf again, “Stand back, I’ll make sure it’s alright.” The wolf did not listen to Arcades, “I don’t wanna lose you!” Arcades was still not sure what Jason was referring to, but he swiped the keycard anyways while keeping a firm grip on the weapon. The door opened, and Arcades was prepared to meet whatever was on the other side.
The door opened, and Arcades stepped halfway out the door in order for him to be able to clearly see his entire surroundings. To the fox’s surprise, there were no ISG members in sight. Arcades turned back towards Jason, and he used his left hand to motion for the wolf to proceed as Arcades pocketed the keycard. The restrained wolf made a decent amount of noise as he walked, but Arcades continued to scan the environment to make sure that neither of them were being watched. Looking to the sky, the fox was able to tell that it was in the middle of the day, and he knew that this fact carried both advantages as well as disadvantages. The largest advantage would be visibility, for Arcades
would have less of a chance to become separated from the wolf. On the contrary, daytime meant that the ISG could also potentially have an easier time locating the anthros once they are alerted to the situation. Arcades was curious as to if the Foundation would want to risk being seen in the middle of the day, but he remembered seeing them deploy a Stealth Hawk to look for him when he infiltrated Facility Five.
Arcades moved towards one of the gates built into the fences, and he swiped his keycard in order to open the gate and let him and Jason out. Stepping outside of Facility One, Arcades looked back to see if there were any personnel on a vantage point seeking them out, but he could not see any humans whatsoever. Jason looked around the heavily wooded area, “Where do you think we are, Kurt?” Arcades felt the air around him, “Well, it’s pretty warm out here, so we’re probably a good bit north of the equator. That’s about as far as I can tell right now. We’re gonna have to find a town or city for me to be able to narrow it down further.” Jason looked down at his unclad and restrained body, “We’re going -- like this?” Arcades spoke to the wolf, “I’ll get those off of you as soon as I can find the equipment to do so.” Jason wanted an alternative, “Why can’t you just pick the locks?” The fox replied, “I’m not skilled enough to pick those. Those locks are specifically designed just to prevent picking, and I still don’t have the tools to pick anything at all. If I could pick those, we’d still have to find tools. Cutting the bows off would be the best way to do this.” Jason briefly vocalized his disappointment and Arcades replied to the wolf’s implied complaint, “I’m sorry I couldn’t find a key for those. I didn’t want to spend too much time there because they’re gonna find the guy I incapacitated sooner or later. We have to keep moving, because they’re going to be looking for us. That’s for sure.”
Bocchino stood on the port bow of the ship, and he looked at the water as it splashed against the ship. The cat was still contemplating what he was going to do with Arcades’ possessions since they were all aboard the ship along with the vehicles. Jim began to approach Bocchino, and he started speaking as well, “How did Kurt manage to buy a helicopter anyways?” The cat looked down at the waters before looking up at the human, “He used to do a lot of contracts, and he saved up until he was able to afford it.” Jim nodded slowly, “Yeah? How long have you guys had it?” Bocchino replied, “About five years or so. How was it when you flew it?” Jim looked back in an attempt to view the helicopter again, but he remembered that it was stored away inside of the ship. He spoke after turning back to face Bocchino, “It was pretty solid. It handles somewhat differently than the Stealth Hawk, even though both of them are technically the same.”
Bocchino continued speaking with Jim, “Which one’s better?” Jim considered both aircraft, “Ehh…. They each kinda have their pros and cons. The Pave Hawk definitely has more features than the Stealth Hawk, but the Stealth Hawk has some advanced avionics that Omega developed themselves after they got it from DEVGRU. Y’know the ISG really isn’t that big when you think about it.” Bocchino became curious, “How many people are in the ISG in total?” Jim said, “They have a few thousand people worldwide, and that’s across all of their facilities.” Bocchino shook his head, “Damn… Worldwide?” Jim nodded, but he then elaborated further, “Yeah, but not every Omega facility has anthros. Some of them solely exist just for other functions. Like, those guns that you found on that one train, they came from…” Jim paused as he tried to remember the facility which manufactured the XMP-1. He continued his thought, “It was Facility Twenty, I think. They only deal with manufacturing those guns. A different facility builds the Stealth Hawks.”
Bocchino replied, “Interesting… Yeah, but the odds are still against us. At the very least, it’s literally us versus a thousand men. That’s fucking impossible.” Jim nodded, “I’m with you on that. I think we got lucky at the facility in the Congo. They didn’t have as many ISG in there as I was anticipating.” When the human mentioned Facility Twenty-Four, Bocchino couldn’t help but shudder as he remembered the anthros which he accidentally killed. He then shook his head when he remembered Arcades and Jason being captured by the mercenaries. Jim could see that something was on the cat’s mind, “What’s up with you, Bobby?” Bocchino snapped out of his thinking, “Oh, shit… Nothin’, don’t worry about that.” The human decided to continue, “We’d wind up bankrupt if we were to continue, though. I hope Omega doesn’t clone anthros to replace their human ISG. If that were to happen, then Omega would be able to grow entirely under the radar, and they would be able to show up at any time with a whole army.” Bocchino was rather skeptical, “I don’t think we’re gonna have to worry about that for a long time.”
Alpha 1 began to knock on One’s door. The human knocked again, and he called out after receiving no response, “Are you done in there yet?” Alpha 1 was given no response, and he was beginning to wonder if One was still playing with Arcades. The human gave another knock on the door, “Everything alright in there?” The human still received no response, so he pulled out his radio to call for the rest of Alpha, “I’m gonna need you guys here at the Site Director’s office. He’s not answering.” Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 soon acknowledged their leader, and they began to proceed to the office. Alpha 1 stood in front of the door, and he tried to listen to what was happening on the other side. Though humans had inferior hearing capabilities when compared to anthros, he still attempted to listen to what was happening behind the door. Alpha 1 could not hear anything, but he was not sure if it was because he could not hear behind the door or if simply nothing was happening.
Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 soon approached the door, and they could see that Alpha 1 was still standing in front of it. Alpha 2 spoke first, “What’s the deal?” Alpha 1 thought he remembered telling his reason for calling over his colleagues, but he decided to relay his situation again, “Haven’t heard anything from the Director in hours. I came here to go check on him, and he’s not answering.” Alpha 2 tried to think rationally, “How do you know he’s not still playing with that fox we took earlier this morning?” Alpha 1 shrugged, “He would’ve stopped and said he’s alright at least, right?” Alpha 3 then spoke, “They must be really into it, then.” Alpha 1 was skeptical, “I dunno, it’s been over two hours.” Alpha 3 raised his eyebrows, “It’s been that long? Shit…” Alpha 1 nodded, “Yeah, see what I mean?” Alpha 3 was still skeptical, “He must be having a lot of fun there.” Alpha 1 suddenly heard a voice sound over his headset, “Alpha 1, this is Omega 1, we have two ISG members down, and at least one anthro has escaped. Over.” Alpha 1 looked up at his two colleagues, but they could not hear the message he had just received. Alpha 1 looked over to the door and spoke to his unit instead of replying to Omega 1, “We need in there, right now.”
Alpha 1 removed his Level 5 keycard, and he swiped it in order to open the door. The three humans readied their XMP-1s as they rushed into the office, and they quickly found One still incapacitated on the ground. The three humans quickly swept the office in order to find One’s attacker, but they could not find anybody else in the office where One was. Alpha 1 heard his radio as he continued to search, “Alpha 1, this is Omega 1. Do you copy? Over.” When the unit cleared the office, they lowered their weapons and went over to assist the downed human. Alpha 1 reported the current status to Omega, “Omega 1, this is Alpha 1. The Site Director is down. We’re gonna need some assistance. Over.” Omega 1 replied within seconds, “Copy. We are on the move. ETA five minutes. Standby.” Alpha 2 squatted down to lift up the damaged head of One, and he could see that the human had bled a considerable amount from the wounds he had received to his head.
Careful to not get blood on his gloves, Alpha 3 lifted the human’s arms to make sure that he was not wounded anywhere else. Alpha 1 looked at the ground, and he could see all of the restraints which Arcades had been wearing when he entered Facility One. When Alpha 1 saw the open restraints, he immediately remembered that he was the one who escorted the fox to One’s office. Alpha 1 then looked
over to the open cabinet which seemed to be completely empty. As the human proceeded over to the cabinet to inspect it further, he looked down to see that there were a few XSAPI plates which had been discarded on the floor as well as a few more assorted pieces of tactical equipment such as the Revision Caiman helmet. The human then looked over to the computer on One’s desk, and he could see that it had been damaged enough to be rendered inoperable. Alpha 1 looked back at the door, and he watched as Omega entered the office. The four humans who had just entered the office opened their IFAKs which were attached to their plate carriers, and they began to render the aid that they were able to render to One after confirming that the injured human was still holding onto life. Since the computer had been disabled, Alpha 1 was unable to set the facility on alert or to call for further reinforcements. They did not have the security chief’s radio frequency stored on their radios. Alpha 1 spoke to Alpha 3, “Go and find the security chief. Tell him what happened.”
“I’m glad whoever set up this kit packed those MREs in the back panel of the plate carrier,” Arcades spoke as he allowed Jason to finish the food he gave to the wolf. Both of the anthros had taken a break from walking after proceeding a few miles from Facility One. They were both still in a wooded area, and they had no idea where the nearest town was supposed to be. Jason spoke as he finished his food, “I don’t think I’ve eaten for about a day now.” Arcades attempted to figure out the correct way to go from where he was standing, but he could not figure out such details. The fox spoke, but he did not comment on what Jason said, “The radio that was originally part of this kit probably had a built-in GPS, but I didn’t want to risk us being found because of that.” The wolf ignored the fox’s comment and requested water instead, “Kurt, can I have some more water?” The fox grabbed the tube from the CamelBak which was attached behind the plate carrier’s back panel, and he held it up to the wolf’s mouth so that he would be able to drink from it, “There you go.” Jason drank from the CamelBak for a few seconds, and he let go of the tube to indicate to the fox that he was finished. Arcades secured the tube of the CamelBak after Jason had finished, and he spoke to the wolf, “Keep in mind that we both might need to make this water supply last. I’m not sure how long we’ll be out here.”