by Tom Jones
Still in a fit of anger, Bocchino grabbed Arcades’ shoulder, and the cat shoved the fox. Arcades staggered, and he tried to regain his balance after being shoved. However, his hands were unable to help them since they were now locked behind his back. The leg restraints around the fox’s ankles were not helping him either. Bocchino shoved the fox again, and this time Arcades fell to his knees, “This shit is all your fucking fault! You damn foxes are all the same! You dipshits do nothing but cause problems. You know that right?” When Arcades fell to his knees, he had accidentally tightened the shackles around his feet, and this caused them to dig into his ankles. Arcades was now afraid that the cat was going to inflict actual harm to him, and he knew that there would be absolutely nothing he could do in order to protect himself. He was entirely at the mercy of an angry Italian cat.
Bocchino moved behind the fox and came very close to stepping on Arcades’ tail. The cat considered stomping on Arcades’ tail, but he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to hurt the fox that bad. After all, Bocchino knew that Arcades was completely helpless in his current state. Instead of hurting the fox, Bocchino grabbed Arcades’ shoulders, and he pushed the fox down flat on his stomach. The cat stood up, and he could see a few tears running out of Arcades’ eyes, “You fucking dumbass. You’re a real fucking shitbag, you know that?” Bocchino raised his boot to kick the downed fox, but he stopped himself from kicking Arcades at the last moment. Instead, Bocchino took another deep breath, “Your fucking joke of a PMC went down the shitter too. All because you had to fucking pursue this Omega Foundation bullshit! Now you’re fucked! You are so fucked you damn fucking idiot! Son of a bitch!” Bocchino did not stop his rant. The cat watched as his captive was still lying flat on the ground with tears rolling from his eyes, “Don’t just lie there! Do fucking something!” The fox did not do anything, and he continued to lie on the ground. In the silence, Bocchino could hear a few sniffles that were emanating from Arcades. The cat’s hand balled into a fist, and it began to shake as he began to grasp tighter and tighter, “This is all your fucking fault! We shouldn’t be out fucking here in the middle of the fucking ocean with a dumbass Anglo on some fucking sea fort!”
Arcades had nothing to say to Bocchino, and he knew that even if he wanted to say something, he lacked the means of doing so. Bocchino squatted down, and he grabbed Arcades’ head before pulling it upwards. The cat shouted in Arcades’ face, “I should have never worked for you, you fucking idiot! I should have fucking left when I had the damn chance to! Now I’m fucking out here with a retarded idiot fox, a faggot-ass fudgepacking wolf, psychotic Anglo-Saxons, and a fucking Illuminati pilot. Get fucked you complete and absolute dumbass!” Bocchino suddenly released Arcades’ head, and this caught the fox off guard as his face collided with the ground. When Arcades turned his head back to the side again, he could feel the wetness of his tears in his fur. Since he was muzzled, Arcades could only sniffle and endure Bocchino’s seemingly endless ranting. The cat stepped away from the fox, and he sat up against the wall while facing Arcades. Bocchino buried his face in his hands, and he shook his head, “Damn…” As the cat sat in silence, he could still hear several sniffles coming from his captive, and he began to wonder if what he did was actually necessary. As the cat looked back to the restrained fox, he began to regret his actions. Bocchino began to realize that taking his anger out on Arcades actually did not change the fact that he was still practically stranded at Sealand.
“This is Alpha 1, we’ve planted the GPS device on the transport, and we have secured one anthro. Requesting exfil and ETA on extraction. Over,” the Omega operative spoke after the squad retreated to a safe location to speak aloud. A voice quickly sounded over the radio, “Alpha 1, this is Ghost 1-Actual. We are en-route to return to deployment LZ. ETA five minutes. Be ready for pickup. Out.” Alpha 1 remembered where the squad was dropped off at, “We gotta get back to where they dropped us off at. That’s our LZ. Come on, and make sure she doesn’t get lost out here.” Alpha 1 had pointed to the gray wolf whom the operatives restrained with zip-ties since the operatives did not bring any other items they could use with them. To prevent the wolf from shouting, the operatives even zip tied her mouth closed. Alpha 3 tugged on the wolf to motivate her to get moving, “Come on bitch, you heard them. Let’s fucking go already.” The wolf reluctantly complied with the operatives, for she knew that she was in no position to escape seven deadly humans all armed with experimental rifles. Alpha 1 briefly turned to face Alpha 3, “Make sure you hold onto her the entire time. You don’t wanna lose her out here.” Alpha 3 nodded to acknowledge his squad leader, and he brought his left arm around the wolf’s right arm in order to make sure that he would not lose her. The wolf was terrified; she didn’t know where the humans were planning on taking her. All she could do now was continue.
“Look, Kurt… Maybe all of that wasn’t really the best thing I could’ve said to you,” Bocchino spoke after he gave the situation a decent moment to cooldown. The cat took another deep breath to calm himself, “I admire that you cared enough about those anthros to make an attempt to rescue them, but I really don’t think you would’ve made it out of there by yourself. Especially given the amount of manpower that Omega had in there.” Arcades was still unable to reply due to the fact that Bocchino still had not removed the muzzle from the fox’s face. The fox, however, was still watching the cat speak because he was still able to turn his head to look at Bocchino. Arcades blinked away his remaining tears a few times before the cat replied, “I know you’re probably really mad at me too, but just give this a little thought, will ya?” Bocchino took another pause, “Going from one continent to another and then back to that continent again kinda fucks with ya. You know what I’m saying?”
Bocchino waited a few seconds, but he realized that he had muzzled the fox and left him in such a state of forced silence. The cat continued to expect replies to his own questions, but he knew that he had prevented this by silencing the fox himself. The cat stood up and approached Arcades, “Alright, here. I’ll let you say whatever it is you want to say to me now. I know you’ve gotta be pissed, so I’ll still leave you chained up for now.” Bocchino unbuckled the muzzle from the fox before he detached it completely. Arcades still lied in silence as he looked at Bocchino. The cat was not expecting this, “You gonna say something?” After an even longer period of silence, Arcades finally began to speak, “It wouldn’t be right.” The cat was confused, “What? What are you talking about?” Arcades spoke again, “I’m not mad at you, Bobby. I understand where you’re coming from, and I’m really sorry that all of this had to happen in this short period of time.” Bocchino looked directly at Arcades, “You’re not mad? Even after I did all of that?” The fox replied, “Why would getting mad be helping anything? What type of example would I be setting if I were to get mad at you? We wouldn’t be getting anywhere. We would only be getting stuck in the same place.” The cat was having a hard time believing what he was hearing, so he said, “I was fully expecting you to want to fight me after that little event.” Arcades replied to Bocchino by saying, “You’re forgetting one important thing about me. I turn the other cheek.”
“Is this going to turn into a Bible lecture or something?” Bocchino asked as he sat back on the floor again. Arcades answered, “I mean, that kinda happens when you base your whole life around the teachings of Jesus Christ.” Bocchino sat in front of the fox, and he tugged on one of the restraints, “Oh yea? How do you explain this?” The fox knew what Bocchino was asking about, “That has nothing to do with anything. That’s just something that I choose to do. I mean, it would be a problem if I did it sexually, but I don’t. I’m not doing anything wrong by doing what I’m doing.” Bocchino was partially in disbelief, “Uh-huh, sure. I suppose it’s a problem for Jason then?” Arcades replied, “Yeah, but I don’t really wanna talk about that specifically.” Bocchino did not observe what Arcades requested, “Why did you let him stay with us? After what he tried to do. Why didn’t you kick his ass out
to the curb? You know you should’ve done that.” The fox replied, “Everybody gets a second chance. God is so patient that He will give us as many chances as it takes until we repent of our sins while we’re still living. I wouldn’t be truly representing Christ if I didn’t forgive Jason. He was genuinely repentant, so I let him stay. He genuinely wants to make things right, and I trust that he will stay repentant.” Bocchino asked another question, “Is that why you’re not mad at me?”
Arcades looked at the cat before speaking, “It wouldn’t be right for me to get mad at you. Why shouldn’t I give you a chance to change your mind too?” Bocchino shook his head as he closed his eyes, “Ahhh, I’m not sure how often I meet somebody like you.” Arcades replied as he moved to sit on his knees, “Probably not too often.” Bocchino was beginning to feel guilty for what he had said to the fox, “Kurt. I hope you know that I didn’t really actually mean all of that, what I said.” Arcades formed a genuine smile, “Don’t worry Bobby, I forgive you. I also don’t see you any different than I did before. To be honest, I probably should have been more prepared for a situation like this.” The cat shook his head with a smile as he took another breath, “What ever happened to an eye for an eye?” Arcades replied, “Already been fulfilled. The New Covenant commands us to turn the other cheek.”
Bocchino looked at Arcades, “Why did God give us rules to follow anyways?” The fox gave a reply, “Because God knows what is truly best for us. God is Holy, and He demands us to be Holy as well if we want to live with Him in eternal paradise. Sin separates us from God, and it has always been that way since the Fall of Man.” Bocchino looked at Arcades’ tail which was curling around and coming over to the fox’s side, “Are you sure that anthros can get salvation like humans can? Jesus Christ was a human, not an anthro. Right?” Arcades took a breath before responding, “Salvation is available to all sapient beings. We are sapient beings just like humans are. We’re almost the same as them. We do look quite different from then, but we all still have souls. That’s the most important part. It doesn’t matter what Christ looked like. That doesn’t change a thing.”
The cat ran his hand through the fur on his head, “You’ve got more faith than I do, that’s for sure.” The fox replied, “Bobby, I promise you… It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. You’re not out of the reach of salvation. All you have to do is repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ for eternal forgiveness. You’re not out of reach, and neither is Jason. Though Jason may have homosexual tendencies, it is completely possible for those to be removed through the Grace of God. He doesn’t have to be like that.” Bocchino raised his eyebrows, “Is that true now?” Arcades nodded, “Yes, that is true. I promise you I am not lying. I know I am a fox, and that you probably expect foxes to lie… But please, you need to take my word on this for once. I promise you that I’m not lying to you. Hell is real, and there are people on their way to eternal suffering. You don’t have to join them, and Jason doesn’t have to join them either. There’s a chance for everybody. Salvation is a gift, and it’s eternal.”
Bocchino decided that he wanted to change the subject, “Do you want out of those cuffs now?” Arcades shrugged, “I don’t have the key, so I kinda have to wait for you to either give me the key or to release me yourself.” The cat repeated his question, “Do you want out or not?” Arcades replied, “I’ll take the key if that’s what you’re asking me.” Bocchino stood up, and he went over to Arcades’ bag again. This time, the cat removed a keyring which carried multiple keys hanging off of it. The longest key appeared to be a standard handcuff key, but the rest of the keys hanging off of the ring had different bits. The cat dropped the keyring in front of the kneeling fox. Arcades looked down at the keyring which was a few feet out of his reach, “Not like I can reach that, but alright.” Bocchino shook his head and shrugged, “You’ll figure it out, now won’t you?” Arcades was already shifting his body while still on his knees in order to grab the keyring lying on the floor, “I’ve had to get out of worse. This is nothing new for me.” The cat watched as Arcades turned himself around to get into a position to pick up the set of keys. Arcades picked up the keyring without looking at it, and the cat decided to ask another question as he watched several odd keys jiggle from the keyring, “Why do you have so many keys on that keyring?” The fox replied as he began to unlock the handcuffs which bound his wrists behind his back, “I have one key that’s supposed to be compatible with most American made brands, and then I have other keys that are compatible with international brands. This keyring opens all variants I know of that are currently used by military and police forces.”
Bocchino watched as Arcades placed the Safariland restraints on the floor after freeing his wrists and asked, “If you had to take a wild guess, how many times have you locked yourself up with your little collection?” Arcades began to free his ankles as he answered the cat, “Probably at least a few hundred times. I have been doing this for years though. However, I don’t do this daily. I mainly do it some weekends if I’m feeling up to it. Otherwise, I just don’t.” Arcades freed his ankles, and he laid the shackles on the floor next to the Safariland restraints. The fox stood up, and he looked at the mess of restraints all over the floor, “Looks like I better get this all cleared up.” Bocchino forgot what Arcades already asked him in the first place, “Say, why did you come here to find me in the first place anyways?” Arcades remembered what his original question for the cat was, “I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to the Congo with us. We’re going to find out who bought those two foxes from Omega, and we need your help. You’d be very valuable to us and our mission.”
The cat groaned, “Ugh… Well, that shithole is probably better than this shithole. At least there’s more land there… I guess I’ll be coming with you.” Arcades smiled, “Good, now if we didn’t have that little episode earlier, then we would have been able to speed things along a little bit. Now wouldn’t we?” Bocchino shrugged, “Well, I guess my anger was going to come out some time or another. I fucking hate small places.” The fox began to pick up the restraints that Bocchino left on the floor next to his bag, “Not really the best decision to take it out on others. You could’ve had worse results if you did that to someone who doesn’t have the patience I do.” Bocchino watched the fox as he placed the various metallic restraints back into his bag, “Where did you get your patience from?” Arcades returned with a simple response, “From God. The Holy Spirit provides you with many blessings. Patience is only one of them. You can read all about that in the Book of Galatians if you’re interested.”
Bocchino thought about what Arcades had said before disregarding it, “Hmm… Sure, alright. Whatever.” The fox finally finished packing his bag back up, “You can at least be glad that you won’t have to stay here for too much longer. As soon as we get the helicopter refueled, we’re leaving. We’re going to take it all the way to Africa. That means we’re gonna have to take a few stops along the way. I just want to let you know that.” Bocchino asked one more question, “So who’s all coming?” Arcades replied, “Me, you, Jason, and Jim. Jim is going to be our pilot.” The cat sighed and spoke sarcastically, “Sounds like quite the team.” Arcades stood behind the cat, “Come on Bobby. They won’t see us coming. Omega probably thinks I’m dead anyways.” Bocchino turned around to face Arcades, “I guess we'll be sure to see what happens. Off to Africa I guess… The sooner the better.”
Chapter 3
African Arrival
“Kurt, where are we supposed to sleep over here anyways?” Jason asked a question to the fox. Arcades smiled and looked to the wolf as he adjusted his Rhodesian Brushstroke boonie hat, “We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there. We’ll figure something out.” Bocchino turned around in the co-pilot seat of the HH-60 when he heard the fox speak, “Well damn, I was hoping they’d have at least one good place to stay in this shithole of a country.” Arcades turned towards his left to face the cat, “Come on Bobby, it can’t be that bad now can it?” The cat sighe
d as he turned back around to look out the cockpit of the helicopter, “I’m not doing this shit today.” Jim held the flight stick as he flipped up the visor of his black Gentex HGU-56P, “Never actually been here in person. Omega never sent me down here, so I never had a chance to visit any of their facilities or their affiliates.”
Arcades became curious as he thought about the mission, “Hey Jim, the guy who bought the anthros is not actually part of the Foundation itself, right?” Jim nodded as he kept his attention at the flight controls, “That’s right. The guy we’re looking for has his own compound or estate of some sorts, but that’s all I heard. I have no idea where he is, but I guess we could probably figure that out when we get there. What I can tell you is that I do have a rough location as to where Omega’s facility is, and that’s where the anthros go before they go to the people who buy them. They don’t simply send anthros to people. The buyer has to come to the facility and pick the anthro up. I can probably take you guys close to that facility, but I can’t bring you too close. We might be able to figure out something when we land there.” Arcades gripped his Salient GRY rifle with his left hand as he tried to get comfortable in his seat while using his right hand. The fox briefly looked through the L3Harris EOTech EXPS3 Holographic Sight to make sure that it was not enabled. He only had a few spare batteries for it, so he did not want to use one battery before the main operation started. Arcades also tugged on the sight and made sure that the magnifier behind the sight was not loose, either. Since both optics were firmly mounted on the rifle, it was likely that they still held their proper zero. The fox felt that it wasn’t too bright in the cabin of the helicopter, so he placed his Oakley M2 glasses on his boonie hat facing upwards so the frames themselves wouldn’t rub up against the hat.
