by Tom Jones
Both anthros were very confused from what they were hearing. Arcades was probably the most dumbfounded since he was the one who witnessed the event unfold in the first place. The fox was not too sure how the human was able to suffer from such an intense form of amnesia from hitting his head on the glass. After all, from what Arcades saw, the human did not seem to hit his head that hard when he ran into the vehicle, but the glass did still crack. Perhaps the impact was more severe than what Arcades initially thought when he witnessed it occur. The human placed his hand on his forehead again, “Shit… I’m pretty dizzy.” Arcades sat the tarp on top of the Mustang, and he went over to the human to assist him. The fox placed his arm behind the human’s back and reached underneath the human’s shoulder to support him, “Take it easy. Why don’t we sit down somewhere?”
Arcades helped the human move over to the 4Runner, and he sat him down on the right side of the SUV. The human thanked the fox after Arcades was able to successfully escort him to the vehicle and sit him down, “Thanks.” Arcades squatted in front of the human and replied, “No problem. What’s your name?” The human took a few seconds before he was able to reply, but he finally was able to remember his name, “I’m Terry.” The fox held out his hand, “Hi Terry. My name’s Kurt -- Kurt Hofmeier.” The human reached out his own hand and shook the fox’s hand. Arcades could tell that Terry still looked fairly disoriented, “I’ll get you something to drink, and then I’ll see what I can do about your head. Sound fair?” The human nodded, “Yeah. That’d be nice.” Arcades stood up, and Jason approached the fox, “Kurt, what are you doing? This is the bloke who was going to take you to the Foundation. How do you know this isn’t some kind of trick?” The fox placed his hand on the wolf’s shoulder and said, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.”
Arcades opened the rear door of the 4Runner, and he pulled out a bottle of water that was kept in a small cooler. All the while, Jason stood by the human, and the wolf watched as the human continued to feel his injured forehead. Arcades returned to the human after retrieving the water bottle from his vehicle, and he unscrewed the cap before handing it to the human. Terry received the bottle, and he began to drink from it while he still sat against the rear passenger door of the 4Runner. Jason did not say anything or intervene, but he did stand back to watch as the fox shortly came back with a cloth which he dampened with some more water. Using some soap which he had in the car to rub on the damp cloth, Arcades wiped off the blood on Terry’s head while feeling for any shards of glass which may be left in the human’s head. Fortunately for the human, there were no shards of glass lodged in his head, so all the fox had to do was just clean the wounds.
After cleaning the human’s head wounds, Arcades gave the human the cloth and said, “You should wipe your head with this if it continues to bleed, but you should be fine.” Terry nodded and said, “Yeah. Thanks.” Arcades decided to ask the human a question next, “Do you know where you’re supposed to be staying?” The human shook his head, “I can’t remember.” The fox asked a different question next, “No? What was the last thing you remember?” Terry looked at Arcades for a few seconds before speaking, “I think I was driving on the road somewhere.” The fox asked a follow-up question, “Do you know who was in the car with you?” The human looked towards the ground and said, “Um… There was someone in the car, I’m pretty sure, but I don’t quite remember who he was.” Arcades had a feeling he knew exactly who Terry was talking about, but he decided not to remind him about the dead body for the time being. The fox visually examined the human’s clothes, and he could see several blood stains. Arcades did not see the human hurt his torso and arms, so the fox figured that the blood was not his own. The fox pointed towards the damp cloth which Terry still held, “You should wipe that blood off from your arms. I’ll get you another cloth.”
The human began to wipe off the blood which he could see, and Arcades stood back up to move back to the 4Runner to retrieve another cloth which he would then dampen. While the fox stood behind the SUV, he peeked inside of the vehicle to get the vixen’s attention, “Don’t worry Jackie, we’ll be on our way soon. I just need to get this guy cleaned up.” Jackie did look at Arcades when she heard he was talking to her, but she did not say anything in response. Noticing her silence, the fox then asked, “Will you be alright in here for the time being?” The vixen finally spoke in response, “Yes.” Though Arcades wished that Jackie was more talkative, he decided that it would be best for him to accept her brief response and continue with his current objective. The fox often would think about why Jackie seemed to display rather unusual patterns of social behavior. Arcades knew that when he previously met the vixen, she did not have too much to say to him, but at the same time, he found it a bit odd when he met her once more at Destin and she was substantially more talkative. The fox was not sure what the Foundation did to her, but it was pretty clear that she was psychologically damaged to a significant degree.
The fox moved back to where Terry was, and he briefly shot a look at the wolf who was standing in just about the same spot the fox last saw him in. Jason had nothing to say to the fox, but he did look at him for a quick moment before Arcades turned back around to give the human the second moist cloth. Upon receiving the cloth, the human wiped off a great deal of the rest of the blood that was on his person, and he spoke to Arcades once he had finished, “Okay. I think that’s all of the blood. Is this all my blood?” The fox remembered that the human had landed on his colleague when he was first knocked unconscious, but he decided to act as if he did not know such information, “Your blood was on your forehead, but that other blood could’ve come from anybody. Are you sure you don’t know what happened to you before you got knocked out?” Terry gave a rather unexpected reply, “I was knocked out?” Arcades nodded, “I’d have to believe so judging by how bloody your forehead looked. You must’ve hit your head pretty hard to forget what happened.” The human looked down towards the ground as he struggled to remember what happened, but he could not come up with anything. Before the human could say anything else, Arcades decided that it would be best for him to proceed with the primary objective before the human’s memory came back to him, “Here, how about we get going? I think I might know a place that you may be familiar with.”
Though Arcades was referring to the address he found when he searched the Ford Explorer, Terry did not seem to make the connection, “You know a place? What are you doing out here, again?” Arcades replied, “I’m here to get this Mustang out of here. I don’t want it to stay here anymore.” The fox began to step away from the human, and he moved over to Jason. However, before Arcades moved out of speaking distance from Terry, he said, “Yeah, and we’re about to get going. Stay here real quick for me.” The fox then gestured for the wolf to follow him, and he walked a few paces until both of the anthros were out of speaking distance of the human. Arcades spoke to the wolf and said, “I think I know how to handle this: I’ll drive the Mustang alone, and you should take Terry with you in the 4Runner. Have him sit in the passenger seat so you can keep an eye on him. They were looking for me, so even if he remembers what his mission is, he won’t see me right away. After I find a place to park the Mustang, I want you to pick me up and drive to the address that was on that sticky note. We’ll take the guy there, and maybe we can convince him to help us out when he remembers what he was supposed to do. I’m expecting that memory loss should be only temporary.” The wolf did not have any objections, “Alright, Kurt. I’ll follow you.” Arcades nodded back to Jason and turned towards the Mustang, “If I happened to get pulled over for the bullet holes on the roof, I want you to park nearby, but don’t intervene with the police. However, I should be fine. I just need you to stay close enough to me with the 4Runner. I’ll grab one of the radios just in case.” With nothing more needing to be discussed, both Arcades and Jason proceeded with their respective duties.
“This is Rho-1, we are approaching the land
ing zone. Is the site clear? Over,” the pilot of one of the MJ12 King Stallions spoke to the control tower. The air traffic controller replied, “Copy, Rho-1. This is Tower, You are cleared to touch down with the cargo in the zone marked with the orange lights. The ground team will detach your cargo, and we’ll let you know when you’re cleared to land your aircraft. Over.” The pilot of the CH-53K replied to the air controller as he looked down and spotted the orange lights on the ground, “Affirmative, Tower. We’re coming in. Standby.” The air traffic controller then switched channels to speak to all incoming aircraft, “Attention all aircraft: Rho-1 will deliver the cargo first. Remain in a holding pattern until the cargo can be delivered. We’ll start clearing the helicopters carrying cargo to touch down first before granting regular clearance to land. The flight of AH-280s will be the last to land after all of the Rho aircraft land their King Stallions.” By the time the transmission completed, the first CH-53K was now just a few meters above the ground while still carrying the first compartment of the MAV-29. While the pilot worked on making sure that he did not touch down too hard with the covered vehicle, the traffic controller was still giving instructions for the pilot to make sure that the compartment would be deposited in an ideal spot on the ground, “Move forwards just a bit more.”
The pilot pushed the stick forwards while giving the aircraft just a bit more power so that the MAV-29’s front compartment would not strike the ground. When the aircraft flew a few meters in the direction it was facing, the traffic controller amended his statement, “You’re right on the money. Bring it down here.” The pilot of the King Stallion finally lowered the throttle of the helicopter, but he only did so just enough that the MAV-29 would gently touch down with the ground. The traffic controller spoke once he saw that the treads of the MAV-29 met with the ground, “You’re good. Hold your current position, and the ground team will detach your cargo. Standby.” On the ground, several humans wearing Kryptek Obskura Transitional combat uniforms began to climb aboard the covered MAV-29 in order to detach the load-bearing hooks that connected the compartment to the King Stallion, and it did not take long for the first compartment to be successfully detached from the transport aircraft.
“First compartment has touched down. Proceed out of the landing zone,” the traffic controller spoke to the pilot of the first King Stallion. The pilot, seeing that the aircraft was no longer carrying the first third of the MAV-29, pushed the stick forwards and increased the helicopter’s throttle to proceed out of the general vicinity. While the helicopter was flying out of the area, he spoke to the traffic controller, “Copy. Proceeding.” The traffic controller waited for the King Stallion to fly far enough away from the landing zone so there would be no possible way for it to collide with the other helicopters queuing up to deposit their cargo. With the first helicopter now completely out of the way, the traffic controller spoke to the helicopter carrying the second compartment, “Rho-2, you are up next. You are cleared to deposit your cargo in the landing zone. Over.” The pilot of the second CH-53K lowered his throttle and flew closer to the marked area. The traffic controller continued with his instructions as he watched the helicopter come down to deliver another third of the Arvak, “Maintain your current heading, and lower your airspeed.” All the while, the ground units were on standby waiting for their opportunity to detach the second part of the MAV-29 from the helicopter. Since the middle compartment housed the laser weapons system, the crew had to be careful so the weapon would not sustain any damage.
An agent of the Majestic 12 spoke with his superior, “Sir, the prototype CDI vehicle has arrived. It is being delivered now.” The Majestic One nodded and sparked up a small smirk, “Excellent. Was the vehicle able to be extracted with minimal damage?” The MJ12 agent replied, “Yes sir. The Mobile Task Group inspected it before they disassembled it for transport. The hull does not seem to be damaged at all.” The Majestic One asked a different question, “What about the onboard armament? How much ammunition was able to be recovered?” The MJ12 agent relayed to his superior the information given to him by the MTG, “The Mobile Task Group reports that none of the armament was used. The front cannon and the missile launching system both still have a full payload.”
The Majestic One still had one more important thing which he needed to ask, “Can we be sure that CDI won’t be able to track the prototype here?” The agent had already spoken to the MTG about whether or not the MAV-29 was being tracked, “The team which secured the vehicle in the first place disabled the vehicle’s electronic systems and radio equipment they were able to disable when they were picked up by our aircraft. When the MTG landed to disassemble the prototype, they looked for any internal GPS systems that they would be able to get access to. They were unable to locate anything, but we are confident that the search was thorough enough. CDI did not show up during transit, and we believe that they don’t know where the prototype is.” The Majestic One decided to take precautionary measures, “I want the prototype reassembled and combat-operational for the time being. If CDI finds us here, I want to make sure that they won’t take back the prototype.” The agent nodded and acknowledged his superior, “Yes, sir.” The Majestic One had one other thing he needed to ask, “What has the response from CDI been so far?” The agent replied, “I’ve heard reports that they’re offering a bounty of one million dollars for whomever gives them information that leads to the retrieval of the prototype.” The Majestic One felt that there should be additional precautionary measures taken to ensure that they would not lose the MAV-29, “I want the facility on high alert until further notice. We need to keep this prototype, and I won’t let CDI take it back. Activate everything we have, and withdraw all of our field agents back here; we’re down enough men as it is, so we’re going to need all of the help we can get in case of an attack.” The agent had an objection, “What about the fox?” The Majestic One replied, “We have bigger issues right now, so forget about him. Withdraw all of our field agents and get everybody here to defend the facility. Get to it. You’re dismissed.” The MJ12 agent acknowledged his superior’s commands and proceeded to carry out his orders.
It took a couple hours, but the MAV-29 had finally been successfully delivered at the Majestic 12’s headquarters. Though the prototype was still in three disconnected compartments, word had just reached the team moving the MAV-29 into a hangar to assemble it as quickly as possible in the event that a CDI attack would be carried out against the Majestic 12. After all, CDI had been ultimately responsible for the destruction of numerous Omega Foundation facilities. With the Omega Foundation gone, it’s parent organization, the Majestic 12, had to ensure that they would not lose another facility. If the Majestic 12 were to lose their primary facility, then the New World Order would be significantly behind on its efforts to establish their authority. Since the bioengineered anthros were destroyed with the fall of Facility Zero and with the loss of a large number of human individuals from the Internal Security Group as well as the Mobile Task Group, the Majestic 12 was practically operating with a skeleton crew. All that remained were a couple MJ12 Mobile Task Group units, field agents that would be recalled, and some Mobile Task Group units sent by the Knights Templar that would be coming to the facility. Though the Majestic 12 was not directly anticipating an immediate attack by CDI at the current moment, they still knew that it would take a few days for their forces to regroup. They wanted to be as prepared as possible.
Without the MAV-29, it would be extremely difficult for the Majestic 12 to fend off a direct attack: CDI was definitely well-equipped enough to fight the Majestic 12. Even though the MJ12 and Knights Templar combined had more human units than the likes of the bioengineered anthros seen at Facility Zero, CDI still vastly outnumbered them. The MAV-29 would be instrumental in the defense of the facility, but it would only really be a matter of time before CDI would overrun their defenses. After all, the MAV-29 only had one laser and a limited number of conventional armaments. Luckily for the MJ12, CDI did not know where the locat
ion of the facility was, so the secret societies still had some time to regroup. However, there was no guarantee that the MJ12 and Knights Templar would be able to keep their location hidden indefinitely. After all, the Omega Foundation ended up becoming complacent, and their complacency was what helped lead to their downfall.
After finally finding a spot to drop off the Ford Mustang, Arcades was riding in the 4Runner with his companions. Terry still exhibited signs of amnesia, and he did not appear to remember anything related to his now-cancelled mission. Jason was still the driver of the SUV while Terry was sitting directly to the wolf’s right. Arcades and Jackie both occupied the rear seat, but neither of the two foxes had anything to say to one another. Jason did not have much to say either; he was mainly paying attention to the GPS on his phone directing him to the address which he typed in. Terry did ask the anthros a few general questions while in the SUV, “So, you guys have all known each other for a long time?” The fox was the one to answer the question, “Yeah. I’ve known Jason here since ‘27, and I also met Jackie in ‘27 as well. I met Jackie first, but I didn’t really get much of a chance to talk with her back then. I met her again for a little while in 2028, and now I met her yet again only a few days ago. I think it was interesting how it all played out.”