by Tom Jones
After the EW&C operator acknowledged the pilot’s decision to perform an emergency landing, the pilot deployed the landing flaps and landing gear. With both of the engines stalled, the pilot knew that he had to use remaining momentum in order to land the aircraft. The pilot tried to create enough drag to slow the aircraft, but not too much drag as the aircraft would come down at a rough angle. The pilot was able to level out the plane despite the shrapnel embedded in several parts of the aircraft, and he applied the air brakes as the rear wheels touched the ground. The front wheel touched the ground moments later, and the pilot felt the bumps from the rough terrain as the Flanker-D began to slow down. The rear gear on the port side of the aircraft collapsed, and the sudden loss of balance caused for the rest of the landing gear to collapse as well. Inertia caused the pilot to ram his helmeted head against the control console as the plane slowed to a stop. When the Su-33 finally came to a complete stop, the pilot opened his eyes to see his cracked pilot visor. The pilot spoke over the radio as his hands were still shaking due to the situation, “This is Pole 3, I’ve made it down alive. Over.” The pilot heard a few cheers from his comrades, “This is Door 1, solid copy! Glad to have you alive!”
The pilot of the final aircraft pressed the canopy release and watched as the canopy moved up about halfway before getting stuck. The pilot then disabled his ejection seat and blew the canopy off by pulling the ejection handle. The canopy landed about twenty meters behind the aircraft and cracked once it hit the ground. The pilot removed his seatbelt and started to climb out of his aircraft after leaving his pilot helmet inside of the aircraft. The human stepped out on the rocky ground, and he looked over to Facility Zero in the distance. A thick plume of black smoke covered much of the sky, and multiple parts of the building as well as the remains of the Dreadnought as a whole were still on fire. Most of the gunfire had also ceased, but Pole 3 was too far away from the facility to hear much gunfire anyways. The human took a seat on the ground and took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was frightened throughout the whole mission, and he was finally glad that he was not taking fire from the Dreadnought.
A few minutes later, Jim’s Stealth Hawk descended past the black smoke clouds, and the human looked out the window at the remains of Facility Zero. He knew that Arcades, Jason, and Bocchino were still inside, but he figured that he should land in case they were ready to come out. The human descended upon the facility, and one of the downed pilots commented on the Stealth Hawk, “This is Door 1, I can see a black helicopter approaching the facility. Is this our SAR? Over?” The second surviving Super Hornet crew replied, “This is Roof 1-Actual, tell the SAR craft to come a little closer to the facility. He’s a little too far away. Over.” The EW&C operator did not see any additional aircraft on the radar, “Negative, we did not send any more aircraft out from the carrier. What are you guys looking at? Over.” Pole 3 replied as he sat and watched the Stealth Hawk come in for a landing, “This is Pole 3, I’m looking at it too. It looks unarmed, but it’s definitely not with CDI.”
After CDI’s battle with the MJ12 anthros, only five operatives remained out of the sixty-four who came in the first place. The final five operators moved into the area where Jason and Bocchino were after using the hand of a deceased MJ12 anthro to open the door. The humans aimed their rifles at Jason and Bocchino, and they saw the two anthros lying injured in a pool of their own combined blood. Jason raised his arms once he saw the humans, “Hey, don’t shoot! We’re not with them!” The humans pointed their weapons at the two anthros, and they saw Jason squint when the flashlight shined upon his eyes. The humans looked around and could see numerous deceased MJ12 anthros in the room, but there were no CDI personnel lying on the ground. Multiple STANAG magazines from the ARX-160 and the HK433 also were scattered about the ground along with empty shell casings. Jason’s plate carrier was sitting not far from him, and it was clear that he had been shot several times in his chest. Bocchino was relatively unresponsive, and he did not have anything to say for once. The cat did lose a lot of blood, and he even had a couple of tourniquets strapped on him: one was strapped around his left arm with another around his right leg.
Jason had a tourniquet around his left leg, but he did not lose as much blood as Bocchino did. The cat looked over to the wolf and quietly spoke, “For a fuckin’ fag, you did a pretty good job at not letting me die…” Jason looked to his left and replied to the cat, “I’m not about that lifestyle. Not anymore, Bobby.” Bocchino closed his eyes and tried not to focus on the pain, “Once a fag, always a fag. That’s what I have to say.” Jason replied to the cat again, “Kurt would disagree with ya, mate.” Bocchino shook his head and opened his eyes again, “That fox is a real fucking--” The cat stopped as he felt a sharp pain in his side and groaned instead. The CDI operatives brushed the dirt out of their goggles before rendering aid to the two anthros. Jason let go of his HK433 as the CDI operatives moved him. Bocchino’s ARX-160 sat next to him, but he was in enough pain that he did not want to reach for anything as well. Though he was not the best fan of humans, he’d rather have them tend to them than die alone.
Arcades’ eyes slowly opened, and he slowly looked up to the ceiling. The ceiling was gone, and most of the smoke had trailed out. The fox looked around himself, and he could see that the fire had mostly dissipated in the giant room he was in. Arcades looked directly upwards, and he could see the sun shining directly on his face. The fox lacked his sunglasses, so he squinted once the light hit his eyes. Arcades felt himself for injuries, but he did not seem to have been burned more than he was during his fight. The fox sat still, and he looked at the Salient GRY which was still in his hands. The fox was beginning to realize that he was still alive. Arcades took a breather before he decided he was ready to get going; he knew that he did not have any business staying where he was. Arcades needed to find Jason and Bocchino. The fox slowly got to his feet, and he did feel very sore and wobbly since the adrenaline left him after the fight. Arcades shuffled his way to the side of the machine, and he looked downwards to see the ground. The machine did have an access ladder on the side which was unharmed by the fire, so he began to slowly climb down while he enjoyed the silence for a change.
When the fox reached the bottom of the floor, he stepped in liquid, and he looked over to the tubes of broken glass. The liquid from the tubes was all over the floor, and Arcades also saw several anthros who were charred from the fire. The fox shook his head since he did not like seeing the dead anthros, but he had to look around the large room for the area he came out from. Arcades eventually spotted a structure which resembled the railing he leaped from when he first pursued Zero, so he started walking his way towards a ladder connected to the railing while trying to avoid the broken glass littering the floor. After the fox took a few more steps, he started feeling pain in his legs, so he was forced to start limping instead. Arcades looked down at his body, and he could see his bare legs. He realized that he cut his combat pants at the upper thigh when they started burning, so he was now practically wearing a pair of Rhodesian short-shorts again. Arcades remembered that he was indeed missing some of his equipment, but he still had his Salient GRY, so he felt satisfied enough to leave. He did not want to search around the room to look for his sunglasses and hat while he could potentially miss an extraction.
Finally approaching the ladder, Arcades began climbing. The fox’s climbing process was very sluggish due to the pain he was feeling, but he knew that he couldn’t stop now. He had made it so far, and he was not ready to quit. Arcades reached the top of the ladder after almost an entire minute elapsed, and he pulled himself up with the strength he still had in him. The fox moved over to an open access door, and he entered it. Arcades limped down the hall he chased Zero through, and he eventually reached the door Zero entered in order to make it to the anthro manufacturing part of Facility Zero. Arcades was relieved to see that the door was opened by pressing a button rather than scanning his hand, otherwise he would be trapped in Facility Zero. Arcad
es pressed the button, and he watched as the automated door slid open. The fox walked through the doorway slowly, and he was now in the same location where he first encountered Zero at. There were a few bodies of MJ12 anthros in the room, but Arcades was ready to just get going.
The fox eventually shuffled his way to the door which he had opened in the first place to confront Zero, but he saw that he needed his keycard to open the door. The fox reached for his upper thigh pocket, but he quickly realized that he did not have the pocket anymore. Arcades thought of a different solution, so he reached into the kit on his battle belt, and he removed the RFID cloner tool. The fox was glad to see that the binary data from the tool was still available, so he held it in front of the reader and pressed a button that would send the copied data to the RFID reader. The door beeped and opened, and Arcades was greeted by two CDI members holding him at gunpoint. The fox’s hands trembled as he raised them away from the Salient GRY hanging from the sling on his chest, but he found himself unable to speak. Jason spoke for the fox instead, “Kurt! You made it! Thank the Lord!” When the CDI operatives heard the wolf speak, they lowered their weapons and realized that Arcades was not a target. The fox took two steps forward before he dropped to his knees. Jason realized that a good portion of Arcades’s white fur was black from the smoke, and he could see that some of the fox’s fur appeared noticeably burnt, “Kurt, what happened to you?” The fox said nothing, but he still sat up on his knees holding the RFID cloner in his hand. Arcades had the thousand-yard stare in his eyes, and his face was completely devoid of any emotions. The fox dropped the tool and he fell forwards on his face, landing on top of his Salient GRY. “Kurt!” Jason yelled as the fox blacked out again.
When the fox awoke next, he found himself lying in a bed in a sick bay. Arcades looked around, and he was able to see Jason to his right and Bocchino to his left. The wolf heard the fox wake up again, “Kurt? Are you awake, mate?” The fox looked over to Jason and spoke to the wolf the first time in a while, “J-Jason… I did it… That guy… He’s --” Arcades couldn’t finish his last phrase. The wolf smiled at the fox, “Yeah, I knew you could do it, Kurt.” Bocchino spoke next, “Kurt, you looked like you went through fucking hell and back. What the fuck did you do in there?” Arcades rolled over to his left to see Bocchino looking at him. Arcades did not have anything to say, but Jason spoke more after he finished typing something on his phone, “Kurt, if you’re wondering where we are, we’re onboard CDI’s aircraft carrier. Jim brought us there, and they’re gonna take us back to the port in England. Jim said that he’ll take us back to Sealand where we’ll stay for a little bit before we can go back to the US.” Arcades looked up at the ceiling, “Yeah, that’s good…” Whenever the fox moved around, he could feel pain. Arcades grunted, and Jason spoke in response, “Take it easy, Kurt. You didn’t look too good when you came out of that door. It’ll be a few days we’ll be on this carrier before we can get back to England. We’re not going anywhere.” Arcades looked around the room, but he did not see Jim, “Where’s Jim?” Jason replied, “I texted him when you woke up. He said he’ll be here soon.”
A few moments after Jason finished speaking, Jim entered the carrier’s sick bay, “If you guys thought what happened inside was a madhouse, you should’ve seen what happened outside.” Arcades looked at the human, “Jim… You made it too?” Jason could tell that the fox was still not entirely coherent, “Kurt, all four of us made it out alive.” Jim began to inform the fox of what happened while they were inside of Facility Zero, “While you guys were in there, Omega used that big vehicle outside to shoot down all sixteen aircraft CDI sent at them. I got to watch the entire thing from a safe distance.” Jason nodded, “Yeah, and while you were in there tracking that guy who ran, those anthros started shooting at us. We fought the whole lot of ‘em off. They put a few rounds into Bobby over there. You should’ve heard him. He was a real top bloke!”
Bocchino spoke once the wolf finished, “Yeah, fuck you too, faggot.” Jason chuckled since he did not take the cat’s words personally. Jim had another thing to say to Arcades, “Kurt, don’t worry about your guns and gear. We grabbed all of that for you before we left. CDI finished their clean-up, and we’ll be heading back to the UK for now. I’ve already spoken with the Prince of Sealand, and he said that we can stay with him for a week or two while we recover some more.” Arcades smiled as he tried to relax, “That’s good…” Arcades was glad that his mission was finally complete. Jason grabbed a book that was next to his bed, “Hey, Kurt. You’re gonna be glad that I took this off the chopper before we got here!” Arcades looked over to his right to see what the wolf had, “Hmm?” The fox eventually recognized the book once his eyes focused, “Is that -- my Bible?” Jason nodded, “Yeah, it sure is. I can read it for you while we’re on our way back.” Bocchino scoffed, “Fuck, we don’t need two Kurts now. I can only handle one of him at a fucking time. Fuck…” Arcades chuckled as he rolled over to his left, “Hah, Bobby. I don’t want you to forget that being born again is truly the only way to be saved.” The cat shook his head, “Well, I don’t think I can climb back up my mother’s womb now. A bit too fuckin’ late for that.” Arcades replied with the true meaning of being born again, “Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Bocchino took a deep breath, “This is gonna be a long ride back home.” The fox smiled and replied to the cat, “Then I’ll make sure that I show you as much of God’s love as I can before we do get back! I want to see you live forever.” Bocchino took a deep breath and closed his eyes while he shook his head.
Chapter 16
Unsung Aftermath
“Hey, what can I do for you today?” Arcades asked as a human and his young son entered his store. The human replied to the fox, “Hi, I’m thinking about buying a gun.” The fox nodded and then asked, “What do you expect to do with it? Hunting, recreational shooting, home defense?” The human shrugged, “Well, I was thinking about home defense, but then I was also thinking about going hunting every once and awhile --” Before the man could finish speaking, his young son pointed at Arcades’ captured XMP-1 on the wall, “Daddy look! That’s the IMR Mk2 from Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2!” Arcades smiled upon hearing the child’s comment, and the boy’s father’s face displayed that of slight embarrassment, “Sorry, my son really wanted to come. He’s been playing those video games for the Playstation 5.” Arcades replied, “Oh, no it’s completely fine. I remember playing the first Advanced Warfare when it was new. Gosh, that was over ten years ago.”
The man returned to the previous subject, “So, what type of gun do you think would be best for something I can use for hunting and home defense?” The fox turned around and looked at his gun wall, “Well… Would you rather have a revolver or a shotgun?” The human did not know which to choose, “Um… I’m not sure.” Arcades turned back around to face the customer, “If you want, you can try one of them out on our range outside. It only costs how many rounds you fire. We have our ammo prices on the shelves over there.” The human turned around and looked over to the shelves, but the child saw another weapon of interest on the wall, “Daddy! Daddy! Look! It’s the KF5 from Advanced Warfare 2!” Arcades saw that the child was pointing to a Sig Sauer MPX. Arcades remembered when he used to play video games, but he eventually grew out of them.
The human returned back to the fox’s desk holding a box of 9x19mm Parabellum rounds, “Yeah, how about I’ll try something that’s 9mm? It seems to be cheaper than some of the other bullets.” Arcades nodded, “Yeah, sure thing. Which weapon would you like to try?” The child pointed to a Heckler & Koch MP5SD on the wall, “Daddy! I wanna shoot the silenced machine gun!” The child’s father said, “Chris, don’t you get enough of those in your video games?” Arcades spoke up, “The MP5SD fires the ammunition you’re holding. You could give it a try if you want. I’ll even let you fire it full-auto.” The father looked su
rprised, “Full-auto? Isn’t that illegal?” The fox shook his head, “Nope. Our company, Fox Armaments, is an LLC, so we can own fully-automatic weapons. We just can’t sell them to individuals because they’re made after May of 1986. We let people rent our full-auto weapons, but we are required to stand by and make sure nothing bad happens. It’s a liability thing.” The father acknowledged the fox and looked back up at the gun wall before looking at the fox’s Salient GRY on the wall, “What’s that gun up there? I’ve never seen one with a front-end like that before.”
Arcades looked at his Salient GRY and replied, “Oh, that’s my Salient Arms International Tier 1 AR-15 GRY. It’s a weapon I could never quite let go. It’s also full-auto, but the company makes a semi-auto version.” The father nodded, “Well… That one sure looks interesting. You’ve got a scope and everything on it.” The fox said, “Yeah, I’ve got an EOTech EXPS3 Holographic Sight with a magnifier made by the same company. It can flip from side-to-side so you can in effect toggle your magnification on the go.” The father thought about something else to ask the fox, “You mentioned revolvers right? Is Smith & Wesson a good brand for those?” When the man mentioned the manufacturer, the fox remembered his many experiences with Smith & Wesson products which were not firearms. Arcades blinked a couple times to rid himself of those other products, “O-oh yeah, Smith & Wesson is pretty good. They make many products used by military and police forces all around the world. I’ve used plenty of them before…” The fox stopped himself before he could mention the non-firearm products. Arcades remembered the caliber that the human picked out, “They make some pistols that fire 9mm and even a revolver. Would you like to try either of those out?”