by Tom Jones
Zero reached the ladder he was looking for, and he began to climb as fast as he was able to. The fox slid next to the tube nearest to the human, but the lack of sufficient lighting prevented him from seeing where the human was, Arcades quickly threw his Oakley M2 frames to the ground to allow more light to see his eyes, pushed the brim of his hat away from his eyes for a better view, and he fired at the human. It was too late for Arcades to land shots on his target since the human was already running up on the catwalk. The fox’s rounds only impacted the ceiling of the room. The fox knew that the human wanted him to climb the ladder to make himself vulnerable to an attack, but he could not find an alternate way to reach the scaffolding. Arcades held his rifle in his right hand as he started ascending the ladder. The fox was not looking at keeping his balance on the ladder since he was keeping an eye on his EOTech reticle while trying not to focus on it too much. Arcades did not want to be disoriented when Zero would fire back at him. The fox did debate reloading his GRY before ascending the ladder, but he knew that he still had about half of his rifle’s magazine remaining.
When Arcades was about halfway up the ladder, he saw the human peek over from the scaffolding, but the fox fired his weapon first. Zero saw the muzzle flash of the GRY, and he moved back to avoid getting shot. Arcades missed the human yet again; his rounds only impacted the ceiling. The fox continued moving upwards, but he did not see Zero peek back over the catwalk again to shoot him. Arcades figured that the human would wait until he had to stand up on the scaffolding to fire upon him. The fox held his weapon up, and he pulled the trigger. The fox’s remarkably skinny wrists were unable to properly fire the weapon with one hand, so rounds were fired in multiple directions. Some rounds impacted the wall afar, others hit the scaffolding itself, and one even impacted one of the anthro tubes. Zero held his ground on the scaffolding, and he could see the fox expose himself on the scaffolding. The human fired his second-to-last round at the fox, but Arcades let go of the railing to avoid getting shot. The Salient GRY connected to the fox’s sling whacked him in the face, so his hat and electronic earplugs fell off of his head. Arcades did not fall off of the ladder since he was still using his feet and legs to hold onto the ladder, but Zero walked on over to the fox and held out his handgun.
“Say goodnight, fox!” Zero yelled as he pulled the trigger of his Desert Eagle. The handgun did not fire, and Zero looked over to the weapon to see that there was yet another round which failed to eject from the pistol. Arcades swung himself upwards and grabbed onto the ladder with his hands while the GRY still hung from the fox’s sling. The fox quickly ascended the ladder to the top, and he delivered a kick into Zero’s chest as the human used his shaky hands to rack the slide of the Desert Eagle. The fox landed on the scaffolding with the human, and he placed his bare foot on the catwalk. The metal grating of the catwalk was extremely uncomfortable for the fox to stand on, but he did not let the scaffolding distract him from his mission. Arcades grabbed his GRY again, and he fired it at Zero. Zero lunged away from the gunfire, and Arcades heard the noise of the GRY’s bolt locking open. Arcades pressed the magazine ejection button and slung the weapon to the side to fling the empty magazine out of his weapon. The fox quickly inserted another magazine into the rifle and pressed the bolt-catch to release the bolt carrier group back into battery and chamber the first round.
Zero used this opportunity to fire his last round, but Arcades anticipated this action. The fox dropped to his knees right when he anticipated the human to fire, and Zero fired, aiming upwards at the fox’s head rather than his center of mass. The fox successfully avoided the round, and he was now at a lowered position to fire at Zero. Arcades pulled the trigger, but only one round fired before the magazine accidentally ejected from the rifle. The round missed Zero by a few inches, and Arcades looked down at the magazine which was in front of his knees. Zero looked at the empty handgun he was holding, and he decided to use the handgun itself as a weapon. The human rushed towards the fox with the Desert Eagle and attempted to hit him with the weapon. The fox raised his GRY to block the attack, and he was successfully able to stop the human from bludgeoning him with the handgun. Arcades pushed his GRY to the side and accidentally detached it from the sling. The fox lost his grip on his rifle, and it fell onto the catwalk next to the magazine holding twenty-nine rounds. Both Arcades and Zero scrambled for the weapon, and Zero’s Desert Eagle fell off of the scaffolding and landed on the concrete floor below.
Zero grabbed an emergency flare from his pocket during the struggle, and he attempted to burn the fox with it. The human used the scaffolding to ignite the flare, and he held it outwards to the fox. Arcades pushed the human’s arm aside, while using the GRY as a blunt object to strike Zero with, and Zero dropped the flare. The flare fell down past the scaffolding, and it ignited one of the machines which held an anthro. The machine exploded, shook the scaffolding, and the fox’s magazine fell off of the scaffolding. The GRY was about to fall off of the scaffolding as well, but Arcades caught it by the stock right before it could get too far away from him. Zero kicked the fox’s back, and Arcades yelped in pain though he was still able to hold on to the rifle. Zero looked over, saw the fire building up below, and he decided that he should let it get a bit worse before throwing the fox over. The human retreated down the scaffolding, and Arcades finally got back to his feet with his GRY still in his hands. The fox quickly attached the rifle back to his sling and inserted another magazine into the rifle. This time, Arcades racked the charging handle instead of pushing the bolt catch since the rifle’s bolt was not held open.
Arcades saw Zero retreating, but he did not want to let the human get too close to him even while he still had his rifle working. The fox raised his Salient GRY, looked into his reticle, and pulled the trigger, but Zero ran past an obstruction right when Arcades fired his weapon. The round impacted the obstruction, and Arcades knew that he would not have another chance to fire at Zero from where he was standing. The fox moved forwards, and he was starting to feel the heat from the fire building up below. Zero threw another emergency flare out, and the second flare started yet another fire. The fire now was spreading out of control, and many of the manufactured anthros below were killed by the fire itself. Arcades ran forwards, but he was struck himself by a flare which Zero threw at him. The flare ignited the material of his combat pants since the custom Rhodesian Brushstroke fabric was not flame retardant, and Arcades saw himself catching fire. To prevent the fire from spreading, the fox quickly removed his Smith & Wesson knife and cut his pant legs off before the fire could spread. Arcades used his gloved hand to brush off the rest of the fire starting on his shirt’s sleeves, and he managed to successfully put the fire out after a good portion of his shirt had already been burned off from his body.
Arcades saw yet another incoming flare, and he quickly stepped to the side to avoid it. The flare landed in a different machine, and the machine exploded within seconds. Arcades held onto the railing with his gloved hand as he did not want to fall into the fire, but he also knew that he had to keep moving in order to catch Zero. Though the explosion still significantly rocked the scaffolding, Arcades kept moving while keeping his GRY shouldered in case he found an opportunity to shoot Zero. The fox moved up while keeping himself relatively low to the scaffolding, and he did spot Zero a couple times lighting the rest of the flares he was carrying. Arcades shot at the human, but Zero ducked down to avoid the fox’s gunfire and accidentally dropped the lit flares he was holding. The flares fell down and ignited the large machine in the middle of the room. The machine exploded, and the scaffolding was torn apart in several areas. The fox lost his balance as the scaffolding behind him started to collapse, but he held onto the railings in order to keep moving up to the human. The human was standing on a more stable catwalk, but he held onto the railings as well as he shuffled away from the fire. The fox saw the human holding on the scaffolding, so he fired his weapon. His rounds impacted the scaffolding rather than Zero, but the sudden shock cause
d the human to lose his grip on the railing. The human slid backwards, but he was able to grab the next set of rails. Zero pulled himself up, and he tried to climb onto the remains of the large burning machine in a way that would make him hard to hit by the fox.
Arcades saw the human climb up on something, but the fox could no longer see the human to fire upon him. The fox looked down at the burning machine in the center of the room, and he could see that the fire had not extended so far upward yet. Arcades looked at something on the side of the machine he could use as a foothold, and he leaped from where he was standing to grab onto the side of the machine. Pulling himself up onto the same plane where Zero was, the rest of the scaffolding around the human and the fox had finally succumbed to the fire damage. The scaffolding fell into the fire and quickly began to burn up. Arcades tightly clutched his weapon in his arms after brushing off some ashes which landed on his bushy tail; the fox did not want his tail to catch fire whatsoever. When Arcades stood on the machine, he could tell that the machine was more comfortable to stand on than the catwalk, but he knew that he shouldn’t let himself get distracted. After all, the air was getting harder to breathe, and ashes were rising from the large fire which had significantly spread below.
Arcades took a couple quiet steps around the machine, but he did not know where Zero was. After waiting for a couple seconds, the fox thought he heard something behind him. Arcades quickly swung around and fired his weapon at whatever was coming at him. Zero pushed the barrel of Arcades’ weapon away with his bloodied hands so that he would not get shot, and he tried to kick the fox off of the machine. Arcades did lose his balance from the boot which landed in his chest, and he fell over on his back. The fox’s chest rig and H-Harness almost fell off of his body, but the battle belt was tight enough so that it would not slide off of his body. Arcades’s left leg lost its hold, but he was able to place it on the side of the machine to keep his position. The human screamed at Arcades as he tried to toss him off the side, “Agggh!!” Arcades avoided the incoming attack, and he pushed himself out of the way while trying to stay on the machine. Zero was genuinely not expecting for the fox to avoid his attack, and he tumbled off of the machine. The human grabbed onto the side of the machine before he was able to fall to a fiery demise.
The fox saw the human go overboard, but he rolled onto his stomach before going any closer. Arcades pushed himself upwards while his GRY cut into the torso material of his combat shirt, and he could still see the human’s bloodied fingers holding on to the side of the platform. Arcades got up on his knees and looked over the side to see the bright flames and ashes spewing upwards. The fox looked directly into Zero’s eyes, but the human did not appear to be afraid of the fox. If anything, Zero’s facial expression was that of hate and disdain. Arcades knew that Zero could still walk out of the facility alive, so he extended his burned gloved hand outwards to the human. Zero saw the genuine look of concern in Arcades’ eyes, but he only returned a look of hatred. The human spoke his final words to the fox, “I will never grab the hand of an anthro like you.” Arcades still held out his hand and reminded the human of his offer, “You don’t have to die here!” The human let one of his hands go, and he could feel the rising fire quickly warming up his body, “I must die here now. It’s time for me to go to hell.” Before Arcades could grab the human’s arm, Zero let go and plummeted into the fire while letting out one final scream. The human’s body disappeared into the flames, and the agonizing screams died out after about a quarter of a minute. Arcades looked in horror at the fire, but he realized that the human was gone.
The fox, with his hands still rapidly trembling, shifted his position from his knees and sat on the top of the machine while hoping that the fire would not consume him. The smoke was becoming overwhelming for the fox, and he did not have any type of respirator on him to help him breathe in the smoke. Arcades looked down at what was left of his clothes, and he pulled up the damaged collar of his combat shirt and tried to use it to filter out at least some of the smoke. He did not know how long he would be trapped in this fiery room. Arcades considered that it may be his time to meet the Lord, so he prayed, “Lord, Jesus Christ. If this is Your day to finally call me up to You, then I want to pray for all of these anthros in this facility. I pray that You will have mercy on their souls. I pray that anybody who will still die today will repent and trust in You for eternal salvation and forgiveness. Lord, I’m ready to meet You… ” Arcades began to lose consciousness due to the smoke, so he knew that he had to wrap up his prayer quickly, “Lord… If You want me… I’m ready to see You… I’ve d-done my mission…” Arcades prayed for the last thing he could think of, “Lord, I pray that as many people as possible, anthros or humans, will be able to spend eternity in paradise rather than damnation in hell…” Arcades concluded his prayer, “Lord, I want to pray and thank You for all of my friends and family I’ve had throughout my life. I’m ready to meet You… In Jesus’ name… Amen!” Arcades passed out within seconds of finishing his prayer.
The Dreadnought, with fires all over its hull, drove slowly as it would be soon unable to continue. During the time Arcades fought with Zero, the vehicle had managed to down six aircraft: the remaining two F-35Cs, two of the F/A-18F Block IIIs, one of the Su-33s, and the last Rafale M. The final two aircraft, an Su-33 and a Super Hornet, circled the crippled Dreadnought. The vehicle had sustained critical damage from the combined air attack, and it did not have much life left in it. Though all four compartments of the XVP-1 were now on fire, it still continued to fire its CIWS and remaining missiles. “This is Pole 3, the thing’s still going!” The EW&C operative replied, “You two are all that’s left. You must take the vehicle down.” The Dreadnought continued to fire, but the vehicle’s throttle became stuck. The vehicle started to drive towards the western wall of Facility Zero slowly, but the mechanical failures did not stop the vehicle from firing at the last two CDI aircraft still in the sky. The Dreadnought saw that the last Super Hornet was coming in close to use its autocannon, so the Dreadnought responded by firing its CIWS. The Super Hornet was struck by HE rounds fired by the CIWS, and it was unable to maintain altitude as it barreled towards the vehicle. The pilot pulled up and ejected from the Super Hornet before it collided with anything, “This is Roof 1, we’re done for!”
The pilot had yawed the aircraft to the right before ejecting, and the plane had collided with a large part of Facility Zero’s roof in the western part of the facility. When the roof was broken away, thick smoke emerged from the building. The smoke was so thick that the single remaining pilot had to comment on it, “Holy shit! This is Pole 3, the rear of the building must be on fire from the inside. There’s a shitton of smoke coming out!” The EW&C operator could not see anything but the radar, “Is the vehicle still active?” The Flanker-D pilot looked over to the Dreadnought and could see that the vehicle was crashing into the same part of the facility that the Super Hornet crashed into. When the XVP-1 collided with the building and tore it apart, more thick smoke emerged from the gaping hole. The Dreadnought only continued a little further before it finally stalled. Within the Dreadnought, its automated self-destruct system was engaged since the computer detected the vehicle was disabled. The MJ12 anthros piloting the Dreadnought stayed inside and did not attempt to disembark from the burning vehicle; they were not told to do so.
The Su-33 flew around the site and the pilot looked up at the thick smoke in the sky, “The vehicle isn’t moving, and it’s not firing. I think it’s disabled.” The EW&C operator replied, “Copy. Are you able to confirm that the vehicle has been disabled? Over.” Pole 3 lowered his airspeed, and he flew around the side of the XVP-1 to see if it would fire anything at him. Pole 3 spoke to the pilots who survived on the ground, “Anybody who survived, can you see the vehicle from where you are? Over.” Vent 2 replied, “Copy. I see it. It doesn’t appear to be targeting you. Over.” Another downed pilot replied, “This is Door 4, I think you’re in the clear as well. Over.” One more pilot spoke, “
This is Roof 2-Actual, I can see it from here with my navigator as well. We agree that the vehicle has been disabled. Over.” The EW&C operator decided to declare the objective as fulfilled, “Roger… I guess that it’s done for.”
The Su-33 prepared to fly over the stalled Dreadnought, “Phew… I guess I’m supposed to remain here for -- Shit!” The pilot was interrupted as the XVP-1’s explosion timer finished and the vehicle exploded. Shrapnel was sent into the sky, and Pole 3 happened to fly right over the vehicle as the shrapnel was sent flying. The Su-33’s airframe received critical damage due to the shrapnel embedded in the wings and fuselage, and the aircraft started to trail smoke as well. The EW&C operator questioned what had happened to the Su-33, “Pole 3, what is your status? Are you alright? Over.” The operator received a response from one of the downed pilots instead, “Control, this is Roof 2-2, Pole 3 just took shrapnel from the vehicle’s explosion. Over.” Vent 2 spoke next from the ground, “Control this is Vent 2, the ground vehicle just exploded! Pole 3 was caught in it. Over.” The EW&C operator tried to take the transmissions one at a time, “Dammit… Is he still flying? Pole 3, what is your status? Over.” To his surprise, Pole 3 actually was able to reply, “Control, this is Pole 3. I won’t be able to make it back to the carrier. I’m commencing an emergency landing on the ground. Over.”