by Tom Jones
The engineer continued to describe the vehicle, “And that’s just talking about its armor. The vehicle features a trophy system and a CIWS array to ensure that projectiles won’t even come close enough to the XVP-1 in the first place and cause damage. The CIWS can also be used offensively against incoming aircraft that might be threatening the vehicle if they fly close enough. You can use the radar guided SAMs on the fourth compartment to get this job done as well. We have infrared-guided SAMs too, so that’s another option. Either you can use the missiles, or you could even use the laser weapon system on the third compartment. The laser is invisible to the naked eye, so your enemies won’t even see it coming. It is capable of melting through a Super Hornet’s airframe within seconds. The LaWS is also more than capable of wiping out incoming bombs or missiles that may be coming towards the XVP-1.” The unit was still listening to the description of the vehicle, “The Dreadnought is equipped with an LRAD system to disorient subjects that may come too close to the vehicle on foot. We’ve even designed a special version that operates outside of the range of sound filtering headsets such as the 3M Peltor Comtac IIIs. If a subject is brave enough to get up close in let’s say a tank, then you can use one of the many available armaments for close-range combat. Each compartment’s panels can open up to reveal hidden weapons underneath. From built in 105mm howitzer cannons to incendiary grenades and flamethrowers, it’s basically bulletproof. You can engage subjects either seven miles away, or seven meters away. That’s not even including the missile bay which can fire anti-tank missiles alongside other SSM armaments.”
Bocchino watched as Arcades and Jason exited the jail, “Look who finally made it.” Arcades heard the cat and replied, “Hey, Bobby.” Jim spoke next, “I’ll be honest with you: I didn’t expect to see you two ever again.” Jason spoke after the human, “I wasn’t expecting to see you three either.” The fox looked down at what he was wearing, and he decided to ask Bocchino about his choice of clothes for the fox to wear, “So, why’d you give me this? We’re not in the Congo anymore.” Bocchino shrugged and returned a sarcastic comment, “Well, I just figured it’s something that’s fitting for a fox like you.” The cat looked over to Jason, and Arcades understood what he was trying to imply, “That’s not true, Bobby. I don’t find it funny, either.” Bocchino rolled his eyes, “Yeah, alright Kurt.” Arcades was not impressed with the cat’s response, “We haven’t seen each other since we were captured in Africa, and this is the greeting we get?” Bocchino became agitated, “Well if your dumbass didn’t get captured, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation, now would we?”
Arcades spoke again, “Bobby, please -- ” The fox was cut off by Bocchino, “Shut the fuck up, bitch. We came all the way back to get your fucking ass out of jail. That fucking faggot wolf too. Did you two enjoy yourselves while you were in jail? I know you looked pretty happy when you were being taken away back in the Congo.” Jason was offended, and he began to move forwards with an obvious angered look on his face. Before the wolf could go any further, Arcades placed his arm in front of Jason to prevent the situation from further escalating. The fox also spoke to try and diffuse the situation, “Enough. This is neither the place nor the time to have an altercation.” Jason began to talk back to Bocchino from behind the fox’s arm, “Listen here shit cunt, you’re the fucking dumb cunt who didn’t bother to do fuck all to help us in the first place!” Arcades could tell that Bocchino was getting angry, “Oh yeah? You’re the retarded dickhead who’s a fucking faggot. You gay-ass shithole!” Arcades knew that he had to step in before the two of them were thrown in the jail one of them had just exited, “Enough!” The two anthros did not listen to Arcades, and they drew themselves closer despite the fox’s efforts to keep Jason somewhat distant from the cat. Arcades intervened once again by placing one hand on the chest of each agitated anthro in order to prevent them from coming any closer to each other. The fox attempted to reason with the two anthros again, “Have we forgotten our entire goal? We should save our strength for the Foundation. We’d be unwise to waste it fighting amongst ourselves.” Jim walked on over to Arcades while the fox was still stopping Bocchino and Jason from getting into a fight, “Yeah Kurt, the problem is that we’re running low on cash.”
Arcades was confused, “What do you mean, Jim?” The only human in the group replied, “We had to use your money to get back to the U.S., and we’ve almost used it all up at this point.” Arcades still did not entirely understand what Jim was telling him, “What?” The human decided to stop beating around the bush and just tell the fox one truth, “We can’t stop the Omega Foundation! There’s nothing we can do about it.” The fox was silent, but he did release both Jason and Bocchino after the two anthros stopped trying to push forwards and fight. The two anthros gave each other dirty looks, and Jason did display Bocchino the middle finger. The cat shook his head in both anger as well as disapproval, and he returned another vulgar hand gesture to the wolf. Arcades was more concerned with the mission, “Well, we definitely can’t stop the Foundation if we’re too caught up with infighting.” Jim replied to the fox, “Kurt, this entire campaign was a lost cause from the beginning.”
Arcades did not believe the human, “No, that can’t be right.” Jim shook his head, “Kurt, there’s something about the Foundation that you don’t know. I wanted to tell you this before we left for Africa, but… I don’t know why I didn’t.” The fox’s eyebrows raised, and he was curious as to what the former Omega pilot had to say. Jim sighed, “Kurt, what you need to know is that… There are two types of anthros at the Foundation. Over ninety-eight percent of them fall into one category, and the remaining -- I’d say two percent into the other.” The human stopped speaking, and the fox was still curious to hear what those two groups were. Jim began speaking again, “Those anthros belonging to the larger category willingly went to the Foundation.” The fox’s face was a unique mix of disbelief and surprise, “What?” Jim nodded, “It’s true.” Arcades shook his head, “That can’t be right. That doesn’t explain the Berlin attack the Foundation staged.” Jim replied, “Those numbers come from before that attack. What I’m trying to say is that the anthros don’t want to be saved. You’d be wasting not only your time, but your money as well. You’d also run the risk of being caught yet again. You know what it’s like to be taken by the Foundation.” The fox was doubtful, “Those anthros Omega took from Berlin… They’d want to be rescued.” Jim said in response, “While I do agree that they’d probably want to be rescued, you do remember what happened in Africa, right? Omega started killing their anthros to stop you from taking them.”
Arcades still did not know why the NSS had to exist, “Why would they make the NSS as a front organization if they have anthros signing up to go to the foundation?” Jim hesitated for a moment, but he continued speaking, “The Foundation has long been planning on using unwilling anthros to further their -- training regimens. This was the first time they actually went ahead and snatched anthros out from the public. Previously, the only unwilling anthros were the ones like you: Somebody who found out more than he should’ve.” The fox sighed, “What happened to those anthros they snatched up?” Jim’s eyes trailed off, but he answered the question after he looked back at Arcades, “Kurt… I don’t think we’ll have a chance at finding them. Omega considered those anthros as disposable, and they were willing to try more dangerous tactics on them and use the data gathered to see how far they can push the willing anthros without causing… Irreversible physical damage.” The fox sighed since he knew what was already happening to the willing anthros. The fox did want to ask Jim if he knew some information about the unwilling anthros, “Do you know where they are at least? Which facility are they in?”
Jim assumed he knew why Arcades was asking, “Kurt, even if I did know where they were, we wouldn’t make it there and back. The facility in the Congo was remarkably small compared to the other facilities, and it still went to shit.” The fox frowned; he knew that there was not anything he could do. B
occhino and Jason again looked at each other momentarily, but they looked away almost instantly after remembering their grudge. Arcades looked to the parking lot, and he could see his gray Toyota 4Runner was parked in one of the spaces. He could even see Jackie sitting in the rear seat watching the affair from afar. The fox spoke, “How about we just get going? This isn’t really the place to have this kind of talk. Jim shrugged, “Well, Bobby is the one with the car keys.” Bocchino looked to Arcades and then Jim, “Well, fine… Dipshits…” Arcades asked Bocchino with a concerned tone, “Bobby, what’s the matter with you?” Bocchino took a deep breath and remembered that he spent Arcades’ money and not his own, “Nothin’... I’m ready to get going too, Kurt.” As the group walked towards the parked SUV, Bocchino began to wish that Arcades did not survive. He would rather sell the fox’s stuff and keep the money for himself.
“Alpha-Omega, do you know why we brought you guys here?” Zero asked the unit. None of the members spoke, and Zero spoke after a moment of silence, “For one, we have reason to believe that the locations of Omega facilities worldwide have been compromised. Facility Zero should be considered our last confidential location. If things somehow go to shit over here, then I want you guys to use the XVP-1 to take down any hostiles.” Alpha 1 decided that now would be a good time to mention the blue-tier anthros, “The Foundation doesn’t plan on using the blue-tier anthros to pilot it?” Zero looked impressed, “Ah, so you’ve seen the Foundation’s blue-tier anthro project? Yes, we’re going to be using them to replace our human ISG, but we won’t let them pilot the XVP-1. Even though they’re completely docile, we still can’t afford to run the risk of a potential rebellion. They would be able to completely demolish this facility before we would be able to stop them.” The group decided to accept Zero’s explanation. Alpha 1 thought of an idea in his head, but he did not want to tell his colleagues with Zero currently in the room. Zero looked down at his screen, and he could see schematics of the XVP-1. The Overseer continued speaking about the vehicle, “The Dreadnought was designed to have a crew of at least eight aboard. That means two men per segment of the vehicle. One man to control the main weapons of each segment, and another man to control the secondary weapons. Each operator is able to maneuver each segment if the pilot in the first segment enables the option to do so. Otherwise, the pilot in the first segment controls the entire vehicle while everybody else is responsible for manning the weapons. I trust that one of the engineers described the Dreadnought’s capabilities to you?” Alpha 1 replied, “Yes sir. We are aware of the XVP-1’s capabilities.” Zero smiled, “Good. Now, that’s out of the way. I’ll also be telling you that Site Director One will no longer be working at the Foundation with us. He’s been terminated, so that means you report directly to me now.” Alpha 2 hid his face of shock. He knew that One’s fate was not a pleasant one.
The car ride was relatively quiet, and none of the anthros wanted to speak to each other. While Bocchino drove the car, Arcades looked around at the other passengers of the vehicle he was in. The fox looked at the female fox who was sitting to his right, and he then looked at Jason to his left. Arcades looked down at his furry bare legs and feet, and the fox did notice how the anthros on both sides of him were wearing shoes and pants. Arcades looked to his right again, and he began to speak with the female fox, “Surprised to see us again?” Jackie replied, “Yes. I didn’t think we’d ever see either of you.” The fox was not sure where they were going to bring the female fox, “Where are we taking you anyways?” Jackie then said, “Bobby said that we were going to figure that out once we get back to the town where you used to live.” Arcades knew that Bocchino also lived in the same town that he lived when he still had Fox Security, “Alright… What about my Mustang and Pave Hawk? Where are those at?” Bocchino answered the question, “We hired a couple of three guys to take that shit for us. It should all get there about the same time we get back. We’re all going to my house.”
Arcades slightly raised himself off the middle seat, and he peered behind himself to see how much stuff Bocchino and Jim put in the trunk of the SUV. The fox could see that there was a very generous amount of equipment stored in the trunk. Arcades moved his tail out of the way, and he returned to his previous sitting position before he spoke to Bocchino, “So, how much stuff do we not have with us in the back?” The cat spoke, “We got about everything. The only things we don’t have here are your guns, your body armor, and that damn motherfucking bag of fucking handcuffs your bitchass has. Y’know? Basically anything that could get us in a pile of shit, we didn’t bring with us here.” Arcades frowned, “Did you really have to say it like that?” Bocchino impatiently replied, “Go fuck yourself, you piece of shit. Fuck…”
The fox spoke defensively to Bocchino, “Bobby, I wasn’t even planning on using any of that stuff. Especially after what happened.” The cat gave another impatient reply, “Yeah? Well your fucking shitass probably enjoyed that shit anyways. Especially the fag sitting to your left. I know that motherfucker was really fucking excited.” The fox shook his head, “Bobby, come on. Let’s not get into this. What’s your issue?” Arcades’ words did not mediate Bocchino’s state of mind, “My issue is that I’m in this fucking car with your retarded fucking dumbass and that motherfucking faggot to your left. You pieces of shit ain’t worth jack fuck!” The fox figured that it wouldn’t be too helpful to keep agitating Bocchino, after all, he was the one driving the vehicle. Arcades decided to just remain silent for the time being while he was trying to think about what he could even do next. The fox looked at his free wrists, and he checked to make sure that all of the indentations in his arms were completely gone since he had been free from restraints for quite some time. Arcades took a deep breath and decided to think about other things.
“Rattlesnake, you are cleared for landing. Over.” The air traffic controller spoke to the Mi-35 Super Hind. The pilot of Rattlesnake pulled his stick back as he leveled out the helicopter in preparation for the landing sequence. The pilot eased off the throttle once the aircraft was completely level, and he made sure to keep the stick held steadily to prevent the aircraft from drifting off course. After using the rudder pedals to adjust the yaw, the pilot was now hovering directly above the helipad. The pilot spoke to the gunner as he held onto the controls, “Are we looking good from there?” The gunner looked out the window, and he looked at what he could see from the front seat of the Super Hind. The gunner replied, “Looks fine from here.” The pilot acknowledged the gunner, “Alright. I’m putting her down here.” The pilot lowered the throttle more, and the helicopter was now unable to generate enough lift to remain at a constant altitude. The wheels of the landing gear soon touched the ground, and the pilot disabled the idling engine.
After a few moments of waiting for the rotors to quiet down enough, the pilot and the gunner both opened their cockpit doors in order to disembark from the helicopter. The pilot unbuckled his seatbelt, and he left his pilot helmet in the Super Hind as he climbed down the side of the aircraft. The gunner exited the aircraft within a short timeframe, and he stepped off of the aircraft while trying to avoid stepping on the front turret of the helicopter. The pilot spoke to the gunner once they were both fully disembarked from the Mi-35, “Remember that mission we were on a few days ago? The one where the Super Havoc crashed after the building exploded.” The gunner did remember the mission, “Yeah. What about it?” The pilot replied with the new information, “I heard that they found bodies of dead anthros during the investigation. They had less anthros there than in the other complex we flew at, but they still had a decent number of anthros.” The gunner raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? Did they figure out what caused the explosion?” The pilot nodded, “Yeah, apparently the place was booby-trapped. Besides the people CDI sent in, there were no other humans in the building. There were just a bunch of dead anthros.” The gunner took a moment to think before saying anything else, “Sounds like the place was a set-up.” The pilot nodded, “That’s right. They likely knew
CDI would be coming.”
The gunner was curious, “How did they figure that out?” The pilot shrugged, “Beats me. Maybe that other place CDI raided after the base attack had something to do with it. I heard they found the location of that place from that compound anyways.” The pilot remembered something else and continued his thought, “Oh that reminds me, CDI also found the location of a place in Poland from the same complex. It’s run by the same people, I heard they’re called the Omega Foundation or something. CDI USA has asked its parent company if they can raid that complex. There’s supposed to be some sort of connection to that NSS attack that happened about a month ago, but I dunno about all of that. I’m not sure if this Omega Foundation has anything to do with the NSS.” The gunner nodded, “Yeah, I didn’t pay too much attention to that whole fiasco. Didn’t the German government hire some American firm instead of CDI to come to Berlin and help out?” The pilot replied, “Yeah, I heard only bits and pieces about that. The company they hired was a company run by an anthro, can you believe that?” The gunner leaned against the helicopter’s fuselage, “Probably because CDI would charge way too much for an operation like that. That’s understandable, though. The whole city was under siege from what I heard.”
The pilot moved over to the door of the Mi-35 which was directly under the engine. The pilot spoke as he opened the door, “Rumor has it that it was the Omega Foundation who attacked CDI’s base. They even had that same type of helicopter that we saw during the first raid we did on the original complex.” The gunner remembered the Stealth Hawk, “You mean that thing that looked like a Black Hawk but more angular? Wasn’t that from a movie that came out in 2012 or something?” The pilot grabbed a rucksack from the troop compartment of the Super Hind, “Probably was. Maybe they based the helicopter in the movie off of that one. Anyways, I’d say it’s more evidence it’s this Omega Foundation that’s behind all of these events. I’d say it’s down to what happens in Poland. If CDI decides to send people there, then they might be able to piece together more of what’s really happening.”