by Tom Jones
The Arvak fired its last remaining rounds from its autocannon at the tank instead of the BMP-3, hoping that it would do at least something to the most threatening vehicle. However, the tank had plenty of reactive armor that absorbed practically all of the remaining rounds that the MAV-29 still had loaded in its autocannon. The prototype vehicle’s main gun finally stopped working due to running out of ammunition, and the crew inside of the MAV-29 knew that there was now nothing more they were able to do. They had lost, and they would likely be blown up right there by the Super Abrams. The tank aimed its cannon at the center of the laser generator, but the last BMP-3 was already shooting at the third compartment, just doing more damage to the already crippled Arvak. The Super Abrams was now aiming directly at the center compartment, right where the armor of the MAV-29 had eroded away enough to expose the inner-workings of the prototype vehicle. The tank waited just a couple more seconds to see if the crew had anything left to do in a vain attempt to make anything out of the situation, but the Arvak was simply too damaged to do anything. The prototype could not fight, it could not flee, and it could not change anything to make the situation better or worse. The MAV-29 was completely helpless and at the mercy of the Super Abrams. However, the tank crew did not seem to care; they fired upon the vehicle anyways.
The 120mm round fired from the M1A3 and impacted right in the Arvak’s most vulnerable spot, and the entire MAV-29 erupted into a very violent and fiery explosion. Shrapnel was sent flying in all directions, and the fireball generated from the explosion was large enough that it was visible by the remaining two helicopters outside of the smoke plume. Some shrapnel of the destroyed prototype was even blown a fair bit away from the boundaries of the facility itself with some of it coming close to taking down the last two helicopters. If the remaining CDI personnel in the general vicinity of the Arvak were not sitting inside of armored vehicles, then they surely would have been severely injured or killed in the massive explosion. The flat dark earth paint schemes of the two surviving armored vehicles were now a charred gray color thanks to the explosion. The MAV-29 practically painted an explosion shadow on the last two vehicles which were responsible for delivering the death blow to the Arvak.
The gunner of Rattlesnake commented on the explosion, “Damn. What the fuck did that?” The pilot of the Super Hind did not know the source of the explosion thanks to the smoke cloud which hid the battlefield, but he could no longer see the Arvak through the smoke cloud, “Shit, do you think that was the MAV-29?” The gunner attempted to spot the prototype, but the smoke was simply too thick to see through, “I can’t see anything. We’ll have to wait for the smoke to clear.” Before the pilot could say anything else, the crew of the Super Abrams spoke over the radio, “All callsign. The Arvak has been destroyed. I say again: The MAV-29 has been confirmed destroyed. Over.” Rattlesnake’s pilot heard the transmission over the radio just as the gunner did, and he spoke, “Huh. I guess that was the Arvak. I didn’t think it’d blow up like that, though.” The gunner replied as he looked into the sky to see how high the smoke cloud was rising, “Damn. Do you think that was the laser module exploding which did that?” The pilot considered the gunner’s suggestion, but he was not entirely sure, “Maybe. I guess we may or may not find out in the future.”
All the CDI vehicles which remained operational in the area of operations were the two Mi-35 Super Hinds, the BMP-3, and the M1A3 Super Abrams. Though there were plenty of CDI infantrymen alive inside of the facility, CDI lost a great number of vehicles and men in this massive operation. Though CDI would be able to eventually recover, it would take them a decent amount of time to get the aircraft, tanks, and APCs back. It would also be an even greater amount of time before they would be able to manufacture and test another MAV-29. However, it could be argued that this operation was a live test of the MAV-29’s combat capabilities. After all, it took a whole fleet of aircraft, vehicles, and infantry armed with anti armor weapons to take the vehicle down. Though CDI was not initially sure whether or not the laser would be particularly effective as a weapon system, it ended up proving to be the MAV-29’s most valuable weapon. If it took that much to stop one MAV-29, one could only imagine how much effort it would take to bring down more than one of them.
Inside of the facility, the CDI ground forces were finishing up sweeping the rest of the rooms. They had killed all of the MJ12 and Templar personnel they found, and they had even found and killed the men who were the supposed leaders of the secret society, including The Majestic One. However, none of the CDI personnel really understood the significance of the facility they raided, nor did they understand the significance of the people they killed. All they really knew is that they got their MAV-29 back, though it was definitely in plenty of pieces after the battle. There was nothing left of the MAV-29 that was salvageable after the mission; many pieces of the vehicle were scattered all over the place, and those pieces were practically unrecognizable as being part of the Arvak in the first place. The MAV-29’s design was going to be studied along with the mission itself. Changes would be made to the Arvak’s design accordingly to ensure that not only it would not get stolen again, but it would be even more effective in combat. Though these changes would eventually be made, they would not be made for a good long while. The Invisible War cost CDI a great deal of money that came out of their own pockets, and continuously losing resources and assets whilst getting nothing in return certainly does not help business.
Though CDI did not understand what they had done, they had actually delayed the plans of the New World Order for a significant amount of time. Before the Invisible War began, the Illuminati was preparing to unleash their army of manufactured anthros that would be able to ravage the world’s governments. With the help of the XVP-1 Dreadnought and human opinion of the entire anthro race set at hostile terms, it would be rather easy for the Illuminati to institute a New World Order to ensure that no such event would occur in the future. However, they just would not tell the general populace that they were the ones who staged the entire world war to begin with. Instead, their plan for a One World Government was at a very great delay. Though the takeover of the Illuminati can never truly be stopped for good, it can indeed be delayed for a decent amount of time. With the loss of all of their resources, their research, their facilities, and a huge number of personnel, it would take several generations for the Illuminati to even build up just a fraction of what they had lost. They would have to start practically from scratch again, and they would be going up against a company such as CDI that would likely be even more powerful than it currently is. CDI did lose a lot of resources and personnel, but they still have plenty of resources which they did not lose. Though the victory in this particular operation was a rather Pyrrhic victory, in the grand scheme, CDI was more successful than they would know. At the same time, CDI was not solely responsible for the downfall of the Illuminati. If Saint Arcades was not present to take notice of the Omega Foundation in the first place, then the entire Illuminati likely would have remained completely unnoticed. Though the fox did not see what came of his strife, he at least would not have to worry about the likes of the Illuminati for the rest of his natural lifetime. Arcades may not have been able to rescue all of the anthros that he desired to rescue, but he was at least able to rescue two. Those two anthros are still two more than zero, and they will never forget what the fox had done for them both.
The smoke had cleared up after a good while, and CDI reinforcements had eventually arrived to gather what they could from the base. The squadron of Fullbacks and Frogfoots circled the area for a good while, but they did not drop their bombs since all of the targets had been destroyed. Though the M1A3 and the BMP-3 were still operational after the battle, they were definitely damaged, and they would require significant maintenance and repairs before they would be able to return to combat operations. At this point, the sun had fallen on the facility, and the Mi-35 Super Hind had landed a fair bit away from the facility. Rattlesnake’s crew was standing out
in the grass, and they were looking at the aftermath of the whole situation. The pilot spoke, “You know what this reminds me of?” The gunner was not entirely sure what the pilot was talking about, but he was curious as to hear what the pilot was referring to, “What’s that?” The pilot replied, “Do you remember what happened back in ‘28? You know? That first facility we went to? It kinda looked like this, a bit. It was just… How do I say it? It looked familiar. Don’t you think?” The gunner shrugged, “I suppose so. You know, I’m sitting here trying to think about how these guys are able to build all of this completely unnoticed. After all, I heard this place wasn’t even visible from satellite imagery. I guess whoever made this place was imposing enough to censor it.”
The pilot continued to watch the rest of the CDI forces continue their cleanup of the facility, but he could not help but notice something that he found to be weird, “Don’t you remember how they found anthros at all of these other facilities? How come this one’s different? There was not a single anthro here. This entire battle was just humans fighting other humans.” The gunner shrugged, “Are you sure about that? They haven’t even finished taking everything out from in there.” The pilot replied, “Well, they’ve stopped fighting, and they didn’t find any anthros.” The gunner closed his eyes, and he thought of something he found to be amusing. The human gunner spoke to the pilot after a short chuckle, “Hehe. Think about this -- You ready? What if this place was the kingpin of some sort of organization that was trafficking anthros just to make an army out of them to take over the world?” The pilot was not very amused, “How do you even come up with that? It sounds like some sort of plot that somebody would write in a weird spy action thriller or something.” The gunner displayed a small grin due to the sheer hilarity of his colleague’s response, but he was unable to come up with a good answer, “Well…” The pilot spoke once the gunner fell silent, “Let’s just hope that this’ll be the last time we’ve gotta deal with something like this.” The gunner agreed, “I’m with you.” The crew of Rattlesnake continued to watch the cleanup of the facility. They were just glad the battle was all done and over with.
Chapter 15
Hofmeier’s Barter
“Alright, Jason. We’re ready. Let’s get going,” Arcades said as he sat in the rather small boat with the wolf. Jason acknowledged the fox and stood up in the boat the best he could without losing his balance, “Fair dinkum, mate. Here we go.” The wolf undid the rope which tethered the boat to the small wooden dock, and once the boat was free, Jason sat back down in the boat and looked to the fox who was manning the boat’s motor. Arcades waited until the wolf gave him a thumbs up, and the fox began to accelerate the watercraft away from the dock, “Hold on to somethin’. I ain’t too sure how fast this thing will take off.” The wolf held on to the side of the boat as well as the seat, but he was not jerked by interia when the fox activated the boat’s throttle. Arcades was not moving too quickly, but he did pick up some speed once he felt confident enough that they would not have an immediate accident from increasing the boat’s throttle some more.
The boat’s motor was fairly loud, so the two anthros would not have a chance to speak with one another during the ride itself. Arcades and Jason only looked ahead as they proceeded further away from the dock. The fox looked around the surroundings as he continued: The skies were blue and clear, the weather was fairly warm for a summer day in Florida, and they so happened to be the only people out on a boat in the general vicinity. A few other civilian boats were visible in the far distance, but the two anthros were not planning on heading out so far. They only needed to go far enough so they would be able to deposit what they needed to before heading back. The day would definitely be one to remember for both of the anthros, and they recognized that by dropping off the contents held in the boat, they would be metaphorically turning to a new page in life.
Nevertheless, both anthros were concurrently pondering the events they endured during the Invisible War, but they were glad that they were finally free from the conflict. Even though the fox and the wolf experienced plenty of hardships and stressful situations during the unseen conflict, they did not regret a single bit of it. They knew that if they did not get involved in the first place, then the Omega Foundation would likely still be operating. However, little did the two brothers know, their actions led to the downfall of both the Majestic 12 as well as the Knights Templar. It was not a downfall they got to see or even know about, but they were still responsible for the ultimate success in the end. It was a success which cost them greatly: Arcades lost his career path, Jason lost his biological brother, and both anthros came very close to losing their natural lives multiple times throughout the course of the battles they fought in. In the end, both of the anthros had practically nothing to show for their efforts and experiences, and they knew that nobody would understand them even if they tried to explain the Invisible War with as much detail as possible. Not many people knew about the conflict in general, and there was not even too much of a reason to even bother explaining it. Though it would serve as a cautionary tale against the agendas of the New World Order, many people would not even bother to care about the impending authoritarian regime in the first place. Even if they knew, they likely would not even bother to thank any of the people responsible for delaying the Illuminati’s plans.
Arcades looked down at the large duffel bag in front of him, and he thought about how the contents of his bag helped him out greatly during the Invisible War. The fox knew that his bag contained many items which were exceedingly uncommon in the hands of American civilians, but at the same time, he also knew that he would be unable to keep the bag’s contents. After all, he no longer owned a company. Arcades no longer had an FFL or an SOT, and he would be considered by the government to be a criminal for merely possessing the collection of machine gun lower receivers in his bag. The fox thought it would be unjust for the government to imprison him after all that he did, but he also knew that he should not be looking for justice in a world run by fallen beings. After all, Arcades and Jason were fully aware that they lived in a Fallen World. It was a Fallen World which had been plagued by an Invisible War.
After about fifteen more minutes of driving the boat, Arcades cut the engine’s throttle before disabling the engine. The polymer-hulled boat immediately began to slow down since water resistance was a greater force than the stalled engine. The wolf turned around to face the fox while still sitting in his seat, but he did not initially speak. Jason’s eyes trailed down to view the large duffel bag sitting in the middle of the boat, and the wolf could not help but think back to when he first met the fox. Jason was ultimately astounded that he went from being an employee of Kurt Hofmeier to being a brother of Saint Arcades. The wolf could not even compare his current brother to his biological brother; Jack Barter did not even behave like a brother to Jason Barter. Arcades never used the wolf for any nefarious purposes, and the fox always kept his brother’s interests in mind throughout all the things they did together. In a way, Jason wished that he had met Saint Arcades earlier, but he was at least comforted by the thought that he would be able to share a perfect eternity with the fox once they were resurrected by Jesus and judged for what they did in life. After all, life on Earth was short, but life in eternity with a perfect God is literally timeless.
When Jason saw his brother stand up, he finally began to speak to the fox, “Is it finally time, Kurt?” Arcades gave a nod in response, “I guess so. Perhaps you can consider this to be our final sortie. Almost kinda sad, don’t you think?” Jason stood up to stand at more of an eye-level with the fox, despite the fact that he was about an inch shorter than Arcades, “I know that this stuff means a lot to you, but at least we don’t have to get rid of what we both like better. Right?” The fox knew what the wolf was alluding to, and he smiled when he made the mental connection, “Too true.” Jason looked back down at the bag and said, “Also, at least we can live in peace for a little while here. After all, wouldn’t you rather get
rid of this stuff if it meant that we wouldn’t have to deal with the likes of the Foundation ever again?” Arcades stood silent for a moment, but he was able to answer the wolf’s question, “Yeah. I would. However, it just sucks that I won’t be able to keep this stuff. I know that we won’t be able to play with it after we get resurrected, but at that point, I doubt we’ll even remember any of this stuff. We won’t be able to remember anything that was sinful or brought about because of sin. These tools were made for war, and there won’t be any war in the New Earth.” When the fox finished speaking, the wolf formed a smile on his face and reassuringly said, “At least we’ll always have each other. That’s something you can count on.”
Arcades gave a sigh of relief, “You got that right. We’ll definitely remember each other, but we’ll only remember the good. We won’t even be able to remember the bad.” Jason still had the smile on his face, “Even better innit? D’nt’ya think? At that point, we don’t even need to remember the bad. It’s not like anything bad would ever happen ever again for eternity.” The fox nodded in agreement, “I see what you mean. This world’s full of sin, but God’s perfect domain has not a single sin.” Jason said, “That’s the ticket. I’m sure we’ll have a much better time there than we’ll ever have here on Earth, and we’ll be able to experience that perfect reality together.” Arcades looked the wolf directly in the eye and spoke, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Both Jason and Arcades now had smiles on their faces, and they were finally ready to complete what they would consider to be their final mission.