by Tom Jones
The Majestic One shook his head, “Nope. Not at all. I know we cannot go up against CDI ourselves. We need to do something smart to get inside there and take their Mini-Dreadnought.” The agent was skeptical about stealing the MAV-29, “Sir, how can we be sure that they’re not building more of those elsewhere? They might have the plans for those at other bases, and there’s no telling which ones know and which ones don’t know about the prototype.” The Majestic One replied to the Templar agent, “If we had that vehicle, then we would be able to get a jumpstart on making a new Dreadnought for ourselves.” The templar was not sure why The Majestic One planned on taking a reverse-engineered vehicle to reverse-engineer it into yet another reverse-engineered vehicle, “What happened to destroying it? That was the plan before.” The Majestic One spoke, “I would’ve wanted it destroyed if I knew it wasn’t combat ready. Now that I know they’ve used it, I want to see what it’s capable of.” The Majestic One looked at the image yet again and said, “Besides, I see that they have a neat little device on the middle compartment. I wonder what it does.” The Templar agent filled his superior in on the MAV-29’s laser weapon system, “We believe that to be a laser weapon system. It is similar in nature to the one the Dreadnought had, but it’s smaller.” When the Dreadnought was mentioned again, The Majestic One spoke, “Too bad we don’t have to people who worked on it originally. We had to have our artificial anthros kill them all before they were found by CDI.”
The Templar agent did not know about this specific detail, but he decided not to question it; Instead, he moved the conversation back on track, “Sir, are we planning to steal the Mini-Dreadnought, or are we going to destroy it?” The Majestic One stared directly at the agent for a few seconds before replying, “We’ll steal it; take it back to our site, and CDI won’t be able to find it. There, we’ll be able to study it and work on making up for lost progress. We’re going to need a site expansion for a new R&D unit, but having the Mini-Dreadnought will enable us to get a headstart. From there, if we can get that fox, we’ll be able to see if he’s a worthy candidate for new artificial anthro production. We don’t have the stuff we need to mass-produce them yet, but that won’t stop us from analyzing his specimen and getting what we would need from him. Even if it isn’t him that we would be able to use, we’ll still have our chance to get back at the fox for what he’s done to us.” The agent noticed the conversation was trailing off again, “Sir, do you have an idea on how to get the Mini-Dreadnought?” The Majestic One looked at the aerial view of the base, “Deception. It’s what we do best.”
Sitting at a stoplight, Arcades took his Oakley Radar sunglasses off as he grabbed a microfiber cloth to wipe them off. Jason, who was sitting in the passenger seat of the 4Runner playing with the XMP-1’s scope, spoke to the fox, “Hey, mate. You reckon that this’ll come in handy again later? Arcades looked to his right, and he noticed the scope the wolf was showing him, “That thing can see UAVs with the Foundation’s signature, so perhaps it would come in handy at some point. I guess if you see an aircraft or something in the sky, look at it and see if it’s one of theirs or not. It might tag those as well if they’re outputting another radio frequency that the software detects as being friendly.” The wolf looked at the scope, and he could see that there were a few smudges on it. Jason looked to his left, and he could see that Arcades looked as if he was done using the microfiber cloth, “Kurt, can I wipe this off?” The fox handed the cloth over to the wolf, and he placed his Oakley Radar sunglasses back over his eyes. Arcades looked up at the traffic light, and it had just turned green. The fox stepped on the accelerator pedal and began driving again.
The cargo compartment of the 4Runner was not carrying as much as it did before; the two anthros had moved practically all of the firearms to the Mustang. What was left in the 4Runner were survival essentials and three civilian-legal weapons: A Smith & Wesson M&P15 Competition, a SIG Sauer MCX Virtus Patrol, and a Heckler & Koch MR556A1. The weapons may not have been what the fox preferred to use, but they were probably some of the best civilian-legal weapons that they had. Though the fox owned objectively superior weapons, they were NFA items of some sort, and Arcades did not want to risk bringing NFA items with him since he was no longer the owner of a security firm. The legal entity did exist for the time being, but Arcades was not sure how long it would continue to exist. Jason spoke to the fox after he wiped the smudges off of the XMP-1’s scope he was playing with, “How much do you think they’ll give us for the parts we’re bringing them?” Arcades replied, “The HK416A5 will probably go for a couple thousand; some people get really excited about having genuine HK parts to put on their dumbed-down civilian models.” Jason remembered that the fox did not plan on selling the MR556A1 just yet, “Why not just put the upper from the better rifle on the semi-automatic lower?”
Arcades said, “I would, but then we’d be making another NFA item. The HK416A5’s barrel is way too short for us to put on the MR556. It would basically be in the same legality of us carrying the Salient GRY. Outside of our home, we can’t really be manufacturers of NFA items, and we’re technically not allowed to have them here, either.” The wolf did not quite understand how American gun laws exactly worked, “Why does that make it an NFA item? So what if the barrel’s short?” The fox chuckled slightly, “Heh… Well, let me just tell you this: The people who made such laws have little experience with weapons. Most of what they know comes from watching movies done with plenty of special effects and blank-firing replicas. Heck, plenty of those guns are not even made from real firearms at all. Speaking of Hollywood, that’s why suppressors are NFA items as well.” Jason shook his head, “Guns are still loud enough to make my ears ring even with a suppressor. Why did they decide to regulate them?” The fox shrugged while he still continued to drive, “Well, like I said, what they know about suppressors come from watching films produced by Hollywood. They think suppressors make a gun completely silent, so that’s why they typically refer to them as silencers. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. They can still damage your hearing even with a suppressor installed.”
Jason scoffed, “You know what’s a real load of rubbish?” Arcades stopped at another stoplight, and the fox took a guess as to what the wolf was referring to, “The fact that suppressors are considered restricted weapons in Australia?” The wolf was not thinking about the fact Arcades mentioned specifically, “Really?” The fox thought that his guess was what the wolf was thinking of, “Yeah, is that not what you were gonna say?” Jason perked up a smile and replied, “Well, I mean, that’s pretty rubbish too, but what I was gonna say is how hard these things are to get in general back where I’m from.” The fox gave a slight nod as the light changed and he began moving again, “I remember us talking about it before for a bit, and yeah, I know how bad it is over there. You guys can’t even have airsoft guns, either. Heck, I don’t even think you can have the gel shooting guns anymore. That used to be the last bastion for you guys after your government got rid of those airsoft guns. Now, you can’t really have anything.” Jason looked back down at the XMP-1 scope he was holding, “Good thing I’m not over there anymore. I’d rather be here with you than be over there.” Arcades changed lanes, and he briefly looked over to Jason as he thought about what was previously said, “Yeah? Why did you suggest we go over there, then? That was only like a day ago.”
The wolf sat in silence for a moment, “I guess what you think of on the spot may not be the best to go with.” Arcades nodded, “Yeah. Sounds to me like Jackie was right. I haven’t seen any more of those Foundation guys around here, so as long as we don’t use the same company entity we did before, then they probably wouldn’t be able to find us.” Jason looked around the surroundings outside of the 4Runner, “Well, do you plan on staying in this town for the time being?” Arcades continued watching the road as he answered, “I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t. I think if we don’t run into the Foundation here for the next month, then we should be golden. I’ll miss li
ving back at Foley, though. However, I guess beggars can’t be choosers. It’s either stay and get taken to the Foundation, or you leave and keep your freedom.” Jason remembered when the both of them had been taken to the Foundation almost two years ago, “Blimey, I know how that feels. I don’t wanna have to go through that again, and that’s for sure.” Arcades closed his eyes and shook his head for a brief moment as he pushed the memories out of his mind, “You’re tellin’ me.”
When the fox opened his eyes again, he looked into his rearview mirror at an angle which would enable him to see Jackie. The fox saw the vixen was sitting in silence and looking out of the window. Arcades spoke to the vixen, “You doing alright back there?” Jackie looked at Arcades, but she saw that the fox was looking at her from the mirror. The vixen replied, “I’m okay.” The fox asked another question, “Jason and I are going to sell these gun parts when we get to the dealer. Are you alright with going in there with us?” Jackie gave a soft nod and replied with a soft voice as well, “Yes.” Arcades acknowledged the vixen, “It shouldn’t take too long. Were you trying to sleep back there?” The vixen shook her head, “No, I was just looking outside.” Arcades did not have anything else he needed to ask Jackie at the moment, so he said one last thing to her: “Alright. Remember, if you need anything from us, just ask.” After the fox finished talking, he went back to focusing on his driving, and he heard the wolf speak again, “Ah man, Kurt. I’m going to miss a lot of these guns.” Arcades sighed at first, “Me too… That’s how the Foundation still knows about us, though. It’s because of our business. I would suggest opening one in your name instead, but I’m not sure how that’d go when you’ve just been naturalized not too long ago. They might give us trouble, and I don’t want a bunch of unregistered NFA items just lying around. People who aren’t working with the Foundation would still be able to take us in for that.”
The wolf sat in silence, still examining the scope he was playing with, but Arcades was not finished speaking, “I’ll tell you what: This state doesn’t have a gun registry, just like Alabama. We can still keep some of our guns that aren’t NFA items. The three we have in the trunk are all legal for us to own without any type of registration. After we sell all of the parts kits for our NFA items, I’ll let you choose what you’d like to keep. Does that sound fair?” Jason’s response played off of what the fox had just said a little while earlier, “I guess for once, a beggar like me can be a chooser.” Arcades smiled, “You should be glad you didn’t draw the short end of the stick. After all, I’m the one who paid for all of those guns.” Jason looked up, placed the scope in his lap, and he used his now free hand to prop his head up, “Which guns did you bring for us to sell off today?” The fox replied, “The HK416A5, the HK MP5K, and the HK G36.” Jason noticed that all of the weapons were made by the same manufacturer, “Why are they all HKs?” Arcades said, “I’m getting rid of those for two reasons: HK parts are pretty expensive since they’re proprietary, and also because all three of them are NFA items. They’re all fully-automatic. That’s why I stripped the lower receivers on all of them before putting them into that one bag sitting in the back of our truck.”
When the fox mentioned an item in the back of the 4Runner, Jackie looked behind her seat to see the bag in question sitting in the cargo compartment. Jason remembered a question he asked the fox earlier but didn’t get a full answer, “So how much do you expect to get for that whole lot? We still have a bunch of NFA guns that are left in the Mustang. When are we going to get rid of those?” Arcades answered the questions in the order they were asked, “Each parts kit will get us about a thousand dollars at the very least. I’m sure we can make a deal for more, though. Anyways, that’s three different parts kits, so we should be walking out of there with at least three thousand dollars.” Jason felt the amount of cash was satisfactory enough, “Yeah? That sounds pretty good for only getting rid of three guns. How much do you think we can pull in for everything we plan to sell in total?” Arcades mentally tried to count the total in his head, “Uhh… Well, I’d say that should get us about thirty thousand dollars at the very least. We may have to sell all of our guns for that, though.”
“Crikey,” Jason interjected. The fox spoke again, “That’s just if we sell only all of the guns. That’s not even counting the tactical gear we brought. We still can get rid of that and make a fair bit as well. We could actually survive for a pretty decent while off of just getting rid of the guns and tactical gear alone. We may not be in a house, but we’ll be able to eat for a good while. However, I’d probably still have to pay taxes on doing that, so the government would have to get their share.” The wolf was surprised to hear the fox mention taxes, “Taxes? Why do you need to pay taxes for selling these guns?” Arcades replied, “Mainly because we’d be making as much as we would be making if we had a full-time job. The US government always has to get their slice of the pie. The IRS doesn’t necessarily care how you got your money, they just want their money.” Jason thought back to all of the guns Arcades was not initially selling, “Hey Kurt, why not just get it all done and over with? Sell all of your guns and tactical gear right now?” Arcades replied with his reasoning, “I’m not sure how many local businesses around here would be fine with dumping tens of thousands of dollars on a whole lot of parts kits that came from a bunch of NFA weapons in one day. They still have to make their living just as much as we do. We would have to spread it out over a long period of time.”
Jason saw the fox turn into a parking lot, and he looked up at the lettering on the store, “Is this it? We’re here?” Arcades nodded to the wolf as he parked the 4Runner in one of the parking spots, “Should be. That’s what Google Maps is telling me.” The wolf looked at the fox as he turned off Google Maps on his phone, “Wait, Kurt. Weren’t you telling me the Foundation can track you with that?” Arcades looked at his phone as he replied, “Yeah, that is what I told you from earlier, but after setting some time aside to think about the situation, I’m pretty sure they found us because of the company. I doubt they’re able to track phones specifically. Otherwise, they would have ambushed us prior to us returning back home last night. They knew that we own a gun store, so that’s the only place they could confirm that we would be at.” Jason remembered that the two of them were initially attacked outside of their store, “What about before? They didn’t come to us when we were at home.” Arcades spoke, “That guy probably followed us out there because he knew it would be easier to attack us when we’re not in a place we’re directly familiar with.”
Jason was thinking about what the fox was telling him, but his concentration was broken upon the fox exiting the vehicle, “You ready to go inside, Jason?” The wolf paused for a moment and thought back to something else the fox had told him earlier, “What about the radio that you gave me? We don’t need to use that anymore?” Arcades reached into his pocket, and he removed the Kenwood radio and the disconnected antenna that was also in his pocket, “Since we’re not going to be on foot, we don’t really need to keep them on us for the time being. Still, we should have them around just in case if we do need to use them later on. Unless you plan on abandoning our second vehicle, we should just keep these in the Mustang and just stay together. How does that sound?” The wolf reached into his own pocket and placed his radio right next to the one Arcades had put into the 4Runner, “Well, if it’s less stuff for me to carry about, then I guess I’m with ya, Kurt.” Jason unbuckled his seatbelt, and he briefly turned around to look at Jackie. The wolf spoke to the vixen, “Coming?” Jackie unbuckled her own seatbelt and used her right hand to pull the door handle, “Yeah.” Jackie stepped out of the 4Runner, and Jason realized that he was still sitting inside of the SUV. The wolf could see that both of the foxes were now waiting on him, so he exited the vehicle.
With all three anthros now outside of the vehicle, Arcades moved towards the rear door of the SUV where both Jason and Jackie followed him to. The fox opened the trunk, and he spoke, “I have all of the parts kits loaded u
p in that bag. I only removed what we needed to, so the rest of this stuff is fully-assembled. However, we shouldn’t get them mixed up with one another since these parts are not really interchangeable.” Arcades picked up the bag, and he lifted it up slightly to see just how heavy carrying practically three guns felt to him. The fox was still able to lift the bag for himself, though it was indeed a bit heavy for him. However, he would not have to carry the gun parts that far. As Arcades took a couple steps away from the 4Runner, Jason questioned the fox, “Do you need anything else from there, mate?” Arcades shook his head, “No. Can you do me a favor and close it?” The wolf reached up with both hands after the fox moved out of the way, and he closed the rear door of the 4Runner, “There you go, mate. The boot’s closed.” Arcades took off his sunglasses with his left hand, and he placed them between the buttons on his polo shirt. The fox finally used his left hand to gesture for the two anthros to proceed with him, “Alright. We’re good now. Let’s head on inside.”