by Tom Jones
Alpha 2 watched as Alpha 1 stepped inside of the small room and looked behind himself to make sure that he was not being followed. Once the human was certain that he and Alpha 2 were completely alone, he closed the door and waited just a few more seconds in order to listen for outside noise. The room was silent, but Alpha 1 began to speak first, “So, we both heard the Overseer himself.” Alpha 2 spoke next, “Yeah. We’re being replaced by anthros.” Alpha 1 nodded, “That’s right. What do you think Omega will do with us? They obviously can’t let us just leave. For one, we’re out in the middle of the Arctic. We also know things that could seriously compromise the Foundation itself. They won’t let us go for obvious reasons.” Alpha 1 leaned his back against the wall and looked up at the dimly lit ceiling. He then looked at the boxes on the floor, and he began to wonder what was kept inside of the boxes. The human shook his head to clear his thoughts and then spoke, “One thing that we do know from what Zero said is that the Foundation doesn’t really trust those ISG anthros. Remember the ones they put in the other facilities? They used green-tiered anthros, and they left them completely unarmed. These blue-tier bastards are fucking armed.”
Alpha 2 provided speculation, “You think they gave them weapons because the previous anthros weren’t good at their job without weapons?” Alpha 1 was uncertain, “Can’t tell. I know that the ISG had a few unarmed ones in Facility Five before it fell. They were apparently unable to stop that fox that broke in and out twice.” Alpha 2 remembered Arcades, “That fucker sure is a sly slimy fox isn’t he? He’s gotten away every single time.” Alpha 1 thought back to events which occurred a year ago, “Remember when we went to Hong Kong? He was the one who took the jade cane. I remember seeing him on the surveillance tape. It was him. I’m sure of it.” Alpha 2 remembered more events, “He was also the one who broke into Facility Eleven. He was there when we were. Did you know that? He even beat up the anthro Omega put in charge of that facility.” Alpha 1 raised his eyebrows and nodded, “That bitch deserved it. Those anthros are fucking degenerates, the ones at Facility Eleven. Fuck… That’s most of the anthros the Foundation has, too; they come from Facility Eleven.”
Alpha 2 voiced more of his thoughts, “Don’t forget that the Omega Foundation that we work for is responsible for making them worse.” Alpha 1 agreed, “I know. Anthros fucking volunteer to come to Facility Eleven, and then Omega takes them to a different facility when they feel like they’re ready for training. Damn, I can’t believe that they call that shit training.” Alpha 2 said, “Our pilot, Jim MacReady, you could tell that he wasn’t too thrilled about the whole Foundation shit. Bastard’s fucking lucky that he died before all this shit happened.” Alpha 1 spoke about the Foundation again, “Omega’s greatest fuck-up was making the NSS. I know that they wanted to branch out and take anthros unwillingly, but that event when all this started.” Alpha 2 replied, “Yeah, it was after Omega sent the NSS that we had Facility Eleven broken into. Only a couple weeks later, and here we are today. How did that happen, anyways?” Alpha 1 was unsure of the exact details, “The NSS had only a few ISG members to pose as leaders. Most of the members of the NSS were actual fucking neo-Nazis. Those motherfuckers must’ve been fucking retarded to not be able to realize that they were being used. Some people are fucking idiots, I tell you.” Alpha 2 chuckled, “Heh, just like when they sent those fucks to Syria. How did they not know they were being sent to their deaths? I guess the Foundation decided they served their purpose getting those anthros in Berlin.” Alpha 1 shrugged.
Alpha 1 continued, “But to answer your question, one of the actual ISG members must’ve died and left behind some sort of evidence tying him in with the Omega Foundation. After all, the NSS wore the same camouflage pattern that the regular ISG used. The ISG guy must’ve stashed his patch somewhere on his kit and forgot to get rid of it before the attack. He died before he could desert the NSS, and somebody found the patch.” Alpha 2 was curious, “Who do you think found the patch? It had to have been someone who knew the fox.” Alpha 1 shrugged, “No way of telling. That reminds me, didn’t somebody lose his patch when we landed at Facility Eleven?” Alpha 2 nodded, “Yeah, it was Alpha 4’s patch.” Alpha 1 nodded back, “Yeah. Do you think the fox took the patch on his way out? He did take one of the emergency parachutes we had in the Stealth Hawk.”
Alpha 2 thought back to an earlier point in the conversation, “Do you think Omega would’ve had an easier time taking anthros if they were even worse off than they are now?” Alpha 1 knew what Alpha 2 was mentioning, “Perhaps. One thing is for certain: anthros definitely deserve the reputation they have; I don’t feel bad for them. It’s a wonder that they’re even still around given what’s constantly on their minds. It’s the entire fucking reason why the Omega Foundation had so fucking many of them!” Alpha 2 noticed that Alpha 1’s voice was becoming loud, “Watch your voice. You wanted this to be secret, right?” Alpha 1 realized what his colleague was saying, and the human quieted down for a moment. He continued his rant when he was ready a few moments later, “You get what I’m saying, right? There isn’t a single government in the world which is run by anthros despite them being half of the sapient population on Earth. They wouldn’t make it on their own.” Alpha 2 agreed, “Yeah, they put their -- carnal instincts above all else.” Alpha 1 raised his finger, “Exactly!” The human realized that he said his exclamation a bit too loud. After listening to make sure nobody was passing by in the hall, Alpha 1 continued, “They’re worse than animals, though. Even actual animals don’t do that kind of shit.”
Alpha 2 remembered a specific example, “You know what that reminds me of? There was that one anthro, she was a female red fox --” Alpha 2 was interrupted by Alpha 1, “Off to a fantastic fucking start, right?” Alpha 2 chuckled, “Hah, you’re fucking right. Foxes are some of the worst. They’re usually the sickest out of all of the other races. It may be a stereotype, but foxes really are sluts.” After realizing he went off on a tangent, Alpha 2 refocused himself on what he was saying in the first place, “Anyways, that red fox wanted to be picked up by the ISG from a casino in Las Vegas.” Alpha 1 interjected again when the memory came back to him, “Oh yeah, I remember what you’re talking about. She arranged it and everything, but somebody called a fucking PMC to get her out. I still dunno who called them in. Somebody with a fuckton of money or something.” Alpha 2 nodded, “Yeah, but what makes it fucking hilarious was the fact that she still wanted to get picked up by the Foundation even after that. She wanted to be picked up so bad that the Foundation called us in to do that. Fucking unbelievable if you ask me. That’s not our fucking job. We’re the fucking Special Operations division of the ISG. We’re not the motherfuckers who give regular ‘ole anthros a ride.”
Alpha 1 remembered something else about the event in question, “We saw a video on LiveLeak which was when somebody recorded that incident. That one black and white fox was the one who came in to get her out. How do you think he feels knowing that she went back willingly?” Alpha 2 shrugged, “He probably doesn’t know. I doubt he has seen her again since then. That guy who called that PMC didn’t do it again twice, remember? They ended up sending her away to Facility Twenty-Four after somebody around that area bought her.” Alpha 1 replied to the first part of his colleague’s statement, “He might not have known that she was planning on going to the Foundation again.” Alpha 2 began to chuckle, “Hah, can you fucking believe this shit in general? Who the fuck arranges to have the fucking Omega Foundation pick them up from underneath a hotel-casino in Las Vegas? That’s some next level shit right there.” Alpha 1 reminded his colleague of the facts, “Well, you do know what’s on the minds of anthros. What type of shit do you think that black and white fox was into? How much do you wanna guess he’s the fucking worst out of all of them?” Alpha 2 remembered what it was like when they brought Arcades to Facility One, “Ehh… He was fucking terrified when we brought him to Facility One.” Alpha 1 agreed, “Yeah. I also remember that he didn’t wear shoes at all. You
remember that as well from the videos we’ve seen of him?” Alpha 2 shrugged, “Meh, not all anthros do.” Alpha 1 spoke about his intentions for drawing attention to the detail, “The important reason is why he does it. Many anthros do it because they’re fucking degenerates who get a raging fucking hard-on by doing that.” Alpha 2 shrugged again, “I dunno. That fox always strikes me as being… different from the rest of the anthros I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of fucking anthros.” Alpha 1 couldn’t help but agree, “You know, I think you’re right. There is something different about that fox. Maybe we’ll find him some other day eventually under different terms. I’d really like to meet him, actually. He may be an exception to the stereotype surrounding foxes.”
After a long while more of driving, Arcades was still wondering what had happened to the female fox that landed her in the Omega Foundation. He remembered that he was the one who rescued her from Las Vegas in the first place. Arcades was sitting in silence as there was not much of any conversation that filled the space within the vehicle. Though Bocchino did have to stop a couple times so far in order to fill up the SUV and get food for the crew, the cat did not have anything else to say apart from telling the group of his intentions. Jim did speak a couple words with Bocchino, but the cat’s conversations with the human pilot were very brief and did not offer any new information that Jason and Arcades did not already know. Arcades also was not enjoying the ride too much, and the fact that he was bunched up between two anthros was not helping the situation since he did not feel comfortable remaining in the same position for an extended period of time. The group did not have anything to do but view the road from the interior of the vehicle. The only source of entertainment the fox found was the barrage of rather rude comments which Bocchino would direct to motorists whom he found to be exceedingly incompetent.
The fox heard the cat shout another remark to a motorist driving too slow, “Step on the fucking gas, you piece of shit! You’re a fucking jackass shitbag, you motherfucker!” The cat turned the wheel to the right in order to move into the right lane and pass the slow vehicle, but Bocchino could not progress; there was another vehicle in the right lane as well. Bocchino shook his head violently and let out more of his anger, “Motherfucker! These non-driving fucks are pieces of shit! Son of a bitch! Get your damn ass off the motherfucking road and learn to fucking drive you assholes!” Arcades could not help but smirk as he found the cat’s profanity to be rather entertaining. Though the cat had said practically the same words to Arcades in the past, the fox found Bocchino’s words to be entertaining mainly because they were not specifically directed at him. As the vehicle in the left lane began to speed up, Bocchino saw that he was now lagging behind in traffic compared to if he stayed in the left lane in the first place, “Shit! Motherfucker!”
Bocchino turned the wheel to the left, and he disregarded traffic laws as he drove into the other lane without first enabling his indicator. Now that Bocchino was in the left lane, he pressed down on his gas in order to speed up and hopefully pass the slower vehicle on the right. Unfortunately for the cat, the vehicle on the right began to speed up as well and was now directly beside the car on the left again. With nowhere to go yet again, Bocchino’s anger peaked, “Dammit! What the fuck are these bitches doing? I bet these motherfuckers are damn humans, too! Bitches always gotta slow down anthros like me.” Upon hearing the cat’s last sentence, Jim loudly cleared his throat to get Bocchino’s attention. Bocchino looked to his right to see the human was giving him an unimpressed look. The cat shook his head, “Well, you’re not fucking helping. Why don’t you tell your fellow humans to make a fucking path? We’ve got somewhere to be!” Jim disregarded Bocchino, and Arcades tried to hide his laughter caused by the exchange. The fox looked to his left to see how Jason was reacting to the situation, but the wolf appeared to have dozed off in his seat.
Almost disappointed by the fact that the wolf was missing out on entertainment at Bocchino’s expense, Arcades looked to his right to see how Jackie was reacting. The female fox appeared to be uninterested in the situation, and she was merely looking out the right window. Jackie’s attention was suddenly captured by Bocchino blowing the vehicle’s horn at the motorist in front of him, “Get the fuck off of the road you stupid bitch! Motherfucker!” Seeing as the cat’s horn did not make the vehicle speed up, Bocchino blew the horn again, “Move, dammit! I said fucking move! Hey asshole, are you gonna move your retarded ass or not? Stupid bitch!” Arcades covered his grinning mouth with his left hand, and he was hoping that Bocchino would not notice that the fox was finding his road rage to be entertaining. Arcades looked to his left again, and he was surprised to see that the combination of both the horn and yelling was not sufficient to wake Jason. The fox wondered if the wolf was used to hearing road rage take place. After all, Australian motorists would often upload their bouts to the internet for the rest of the world to see, and a good chunk of the videos were indeed full of profanity.
After a few more moments of rage-filled driving, the motorist on the right had slowed down enough for Bocchino to overtake the vehicle on the right and speed past the vehicle on the left. As the cat passed both motorists, he held his middle finger up and looked at the drivers of both vehicles in order to show his dissatisfaction for their driving skills. Neither motorist looked back at Bocchino, but the cat was indeed able to confirm that both drivers were humans. As the 4Runner drove past both of the troublesome motorists, Arcades paid attention to the make and model of both cars. The first car was a gray Toyota Corolla. By the looks of the vehicle, it appeared to have been manufactured sometime around the early 2010s. The other vehicle was a red Ford Taurus, and it appeared to have been a newer model. Arcades identified the Taurus being manufactured only a few years ago. Bocchino lamented as a result of seeing that he was being held back by humans, “Fucking shits were human. Motherfucking pieces of shit… One of them was a fucking nigger, too. Fuckers deserve to get wrecked. Damn niggers make it even worse.” Jim spoke next, “Bobby, what does racial complexion have to do with driving skills?” Bocchino directed his next remark towards Arcades as he quickly turned his body around to view the fox covering up his grin, “The same reason why motherfucking foxes are associated with being dirty-ass fucking sluts! Yeah, I heard you laugh you fucking shitbag!”
Arcades immediately lost his grin, and he raised his eyebrows. Bocchino spoke again, “Don’t play the dumbfuck card you shithead, I can fucking hear you from here, you son of a bitch.” Bocchino then looked over to Jackie, and he could see that she was mildly offended by the comment primarily directed at Arcades. Bocchino shrugged off Jackie with the help of a gesture, “Ah, fuck you too, bitch. Fucking foxes.” The cat waved his hand off and went back to focus on the road. The cat was driving at around eighty-five miles-per-hour, and he was putting the group’s safety at risk by not only taking his eyes off the road but also by his own recklessness and instigative behavior. Arcades decided to wait a few minutes to see if Bocchino was calming down or not, but Bocchino spotted a sign on the road within the next dozen seconds, “Rest stop in one mile? Fucking finally. I’ve got to fucking take a piss.” It would not take long for the 4Runner to progress another mile, and Arcades watched as Bocchino moved from the left lane into the rightmost lane which would lead into the rest area. As Bocchino slowed the vehicle down to make the turn into the rest stop, the fox looked out the window to see the gray Corolla and the red Taurus pass the vehicle. The fox shook his head after he saw the two cars overtake Bocchino, for he knew that Bocchino had worked himself up for literally no reason.
Proceeding into the parking lot, Bocchino parked the 4Runner and turned the key to disable the vehicle’s engine. The cat quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, and he wasted no time at all hopping out of the vehicle and leaving the keys in the ignition. Jim unbuckled his seatbelt as well, and the human opened the door before stepping out on the ground. Arcades turned to Jackie and asked, “Are you going to step out and stretch too?” The vixen nodded, “I suppose
so.” Jackie undid her seatbelt, and she opened the door which was closest to her. Jackie climbed out of the vehicle next, and she was soon followed by Arcades disembarking from the car after confirming that Jason was still asleep. The fox decided that he would let Jason sleep. Arcades looked at Jim, who was examining the map, before viewing the car stop in its entirety. The fox stood on his toes in order to stretch, and he could definitely feel the hot July pavement beneath his bare feet. Arcades winced upon feeling the heat, and he shuffled his legs around to prevent his feet from becoming burned. Even though the pavement was uncomfortable for the fox to stand on, he was at least glad to not be still couped up in the back of the 4Runner. As Arcades thought about the car ride, he quickly remembered what had happened when he was being brought to the Omega Foundation. Arcades shook his head to try and rid himself of the thoughts, but he was thankful that his situation had at least improved enough. Arcades brushed off his tail before turning back around to see Jackie observing the few other people at the rest stop.
The fox approached the vixen, but he stood in the grass since it was cooler to stand on than the pavement, “Hey, there was something that I wanted to ask you earlier.” The vixen’s ear perked up, and she turned around to face Arcades. Jackie replied to Arcades to indicate that he had her attention, “Yes?” The fox asked his question, “How did you end up back at the Omega Foundation?” The female fox seemed very reluctant to reply, and Arcades did notice this detail from the face which the vixen made. Arcades did wait for a couple moments to see if Jackie would say anything to him. As Arcades was waiting for a reply, the vixen looked away from him, but she did not turn her back on Arcades. After another moment of hesitation, Jackie finally decided to tell Arcades the truth, “Kurt… I… I-I volunteered to go there.” Arcades’ face was that of surprise, “Why?” Jackie frowned and stayed silent at first, but she finally worked up the courage to reply, “I wanted…”