by Tom Jones
Jim pushed the helmet’s visor upwards and sighed, “Bobby, I know it may look bleak, but we are going to come back for him eventually. We have to.” Bocchino remembered one thing that he did know about the fox, “Y’know, Kurt probably spends enough time locked up that he probably knows how to take someone on while still locked up. Whattya think?” Jim smirked slightly, “Welp, I guess that could be one way of looking at it. How often did you tell me he does that again?” Bocchino replied, “He’d do it pretty often during most weekends. I would come and pick stuff up from there, and I would either hear him or see him. I guess he just assumed that I couldn’t. I kinda pretended I didn’t see that anyways.” Jim nodded as he flew the helicopter through a few clouds, “Kurt’s going to be fine. We have bigger things to worry about, and he would want us to worry about Omega before coming back to save him.” Bocchino felt slightly relieved, “Well, I guess I’ll just have to trust a fox to get out alive. You know how it is when it comes to trusting foxes…” The human smiled, “Don’t worry, I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
“Just keep moving,” Kitchi gave Jason a shove with the magazine of his Milkor BXP to motivate him to keep walking. Arcades briefly turned his head to look at Jason, who staggered forwards a bit before continuing. The fox wondered if the cats would prevent him from speaking to Jason, but he decided to take his chances, “We’re doing alright so far, Jason.” Kitchi chuckled, “Heh, I wonder if you’d still be saying that once we’re done with you two.” Arcades replied, “I guess we’re going to have to wait and find out, now will we?” Kitchi appeared visibly angered by the comment returned by the fox, but Spectre ordered the anthros to stop moving, “Knock that off. I’m going to have to climb up here and check our bearings.” The female cat turned around to face Kohei, “Make sure these two can’t get far.” Arcades looked down at his restraints before commenting, “I beg your pardon, but we wouldn’t be able to get far like this.” Spectre moved over to the fox, and she easily forced him to his knees, “Just stay there down, fox. It’s where you belong.” Arcades looked to his right, and he could see that Jason was now developing another erection from witnessing the fox as he was forced to his knees. The fox looked away from the wolf and impatiently spoke to the female cat, “Did you really have to get him excited by doing that?” Spectre disregarded the fox, and she began to walk away. Arcades sighed.
The gray cat moved up ahead, and she began to climb up a small hill that she would be able to get a better vantage point from. When Spectre reached the peak of the hill, she opened up one of her pouches on her South African Pattern 90 webbing before pulling out a pair of tan binoculars. Making sure her rifle would not slide off her back, Spectre waited a moment before looking out from where she was currently standing. She recognized a few landmarks she had seen from when she was on the helicopter earlier in the day. Spectre looked through the binoculars, and she was determining the best route to take that would return them back to the shelter the unit had been staying in before meeting Arcades and Jason. Once Spectre felt that she knew where the group was going, she put away her binoculars before traveling back down the hill. “Are we on the right track?” Kohei asked the designated marksman when she drew enough to the group. Spectre nodded, “Yes. If we don’t take too terribly long, we should be able to arrive there within a couple hours.” Arcades raised his eyebrows upon hearing the last two words, but the fox remained silent. Jason looked down at the kneeling fox again, but this time he was trying to resist some more lustful thoughts. Koh-Koh tapped the wolf’s shoulder with the butt of his Vektor Mini-SS Compact, “What are you looking at?” Jason realized that he had been caught looking at Arcades, “Oh… Uh, I’ve… I’ve-- I’m just… ” Arcades knew what was going on as well, “Jason, please. That’s enough. We’re not doing this now.” The wolf wanted to apologize to the fox, but he could only close his eyes and hang his head in shame. Arcades looked back, and he could recognize that the wolf was feeling guilty. The fox would be able to talk to Jason later.
“We might as well get going then,” Spectre spoke again to the rest of her group. In response, Kitchi tapped the fox’s left thigh with his boot, “Stand up, brush off, and get moving.” Arcades got off of his knees, and he tried to keep his balance as he fully extended his legs to stand. Not even given another second extra to catch his balance, the fox was shoved by Kohei to get moving. Arcades staggered forwards and almost tripped yet again, but he managed to remain upright as he proceeded forwards. Jason began moving as well, for he knew that he would be given the same treatment by the cats if he was too slow to get going. As the two captives moved along, Arcades could hear Koh-Koh and Kitchi speak amongst themselves. “Look at him, he’s got to be no more than fifty-eight kilos. He’s the tallest one here, too,” Koh-Koh said. Kitchi replied, “Yeah, he definitely isn’t strong by any stretch of the imagination. This bitch’s got no business being out here.” Koh-Koh then asked his brother, “So, why do we have him all chained up? We both know that he can’t do shit to us even if he was completely free.” Arcades knew that what the cats were talking about was entirely true. Kitchi shook his head, “He’s a fucking fox, man. Did you forget that? They deserve to be chained up like that. They shouldn’t have freedom for nothing.” Arcades frowned since he internally felt that he did deserve to be deprived of his freedom and clothing. Koh-Koh then looked towards Jason, “I mean, I can understand why we have him locked up. He looks like he would be able to squish that fox easily. It wouldn’t even be a contest or anything.” Kitchi smiled and chuckled, “Heh, you know, I wouldn’t mind seeing him pummel that fox to a pulp.” Koh-Koh smiled back as he carried his Mini-SS Compact over his shoulders, “Too true. He’s also gay. Did you see the way he was looking at the fox? You know, we should put them in a room together tonight. Y’know? The fox can get started with what he’ll have to deal with for the rest of his life. He’ll get fucked almost to death by that wolf.” Kitchi nodded, “Oh definitely. Look at him. He’s a black and white fox that’s patterned like a red fox. No doubt we’ll have him sold as soon as we get him out there.” Koh-Koh considered what his brother was saying, “I bet you he’ll fetch five hundred thousand rand easily. You really don’t encounter too many red foxes that look like that around here, and that’s for sure.” Kitchi looked over Arcades’ naked body, “Especially not that many who are as powerless as he is. He wouldn’t be able to fight to save his life. Somebody with that body would fetch a high price around here because most people would be able to do whatever they fuck they want to do with him.”
Koh-Koh nodded in agreement, “Yup, it definitely wouldn’t be hard at all for an owner to force him into submission. Too bad he probably won’t last long out here. AIDS will definitely get to him sooner or later. Shit’s bad out here.” Kitchi looked to his brother, “Oh, no doubt. That’s for sure. You know how many anthros carry that where we’re going? You better watch yourself to make sure nobody cuts you or anything.” Koh-Koh felt that he did not need his brother’s advice, “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Kitchi remembered something his brother said earlier, “You know, I like that idea you had earlier. We should put both of them in a single room in that shelter when we get there. I bet the wolf would be able to easily overpower him even while he’s all chained up like that.” Koh-Koh chuckled, “Hah, I’ll be sure to let Spectre know about that when we get there. We can bet on it if you want. How long do you think he’ll last?” The cats continued their conversation, but Arcades was just about ready to stop listening to what they had to say. Arcades tried his best to ignore their conversation as the group proceeded forwards.
“If we need to grab anything before we leave for Europe, then you better let me know now,” Jim said as he stepped out of the helicopter that was currently refueling. Bocchino looked at all of the equipment that was in the cabin, “I think we have everything here that we need. At least we have more food for us. We have one less mouth to feed when you think about it.” Jim shook his head, “Most of thi
s stuff here belongs to Kurt. We can’t just leave him for dead, you know.” Bocchino leaned against the helicopter’s door, “Yeah… I mean -- I didn’t want to leave him for dead, but…” Jim continued looking at the cat, “We’ll be able to get him back. We have to make sure we put his gear to good use. From the looks of what he has here, he looks like he did his research before buying all this stuff.” Bocchino examined Arcades’ equipment, “Meh, I’ve never really paid too much attention to it…” Jim pointed to Arcades’ Salient GRY, “That AR-15 looks like it’s pretty decked out. That might come in useful for us. He’s even got a sight and a magnifier on the top rail.” Bocchino then pointed at Arcades’ Heckler & Koch HK433, “How about that one? That’s the one he let Jason use back there.” Jim picked up the rifle, but he did not immediately recognize it, “Hmm… I really don’t quite remember a gun like this.” The human inspected the lower receiver in order to find a manufacturer stamp or marking. After seeing the weapon’s name on the receiver, Jim relayed this information to Bocchino, “Looks like it’s supposed to be a Heckler & Koch 433. Hmm… I guess that’s something.” Bocchino looked at the magazine that was seated in the rifle, “Is that mag compatible with his AR-15?”
Jim looked at the lower receiver of the HK433, and he saw a paddle magazine release. He depressed the paddle, and he was able to remove the magazine from the weapon. The human examined the Magpul PMAG he was holding, “It looks like it should fit. How about we try it out?” Bocchino watched as Jim placed the HK433 back in the cabin, and he grabbed the Salient GRY before dropping the PMAG already seated in its magwell. The human inserted the PMAG from the HK433 into the Salient GRY, and he patted the bottom of the magazine to make sure it was able to properly seat. Jim nodded after he saw that the magazine did not fall out of the rifle, “Yup. Looks like this one fits. Actually…” Jim ejected the magazine from the GRY. He then picked up the PMAG he had previously removed from the GRY, and he compared the two magazines. Jim now realized that he was holding two of the same magazine, “They’re identical.” Bocchino moved over to Arcades’ chest rig, and he grabbed one of the magazines in Arcades’ double magazine pouch. The cat noticed that all of the magazines that Arcades brought were Magpul PMAGs. The cat looked over to the XMP-1 he had brought with him from Facility Twenty-Four, and he noticed that the magazine sticking out of the weapon was indeed another STANAG pattern 5.56x45mm magazine. The cat inserted the magazine back into Arcades’ chest rig, “Looks like Kurt brought along four more of those magazines. I dunno why he brings that many if he doesn’t even use any of them.” Jim looked at the chest rig that Bocchino was carrying, “What, he didn’t fire a shot in there?” Bocchino shook his head, “No, he didn’t. Jason and I were the ones who did all the work.”
“Didn’t you say those South African cats were mad about something else?” Jim asked Bocchino. The Italian-American cat replied, “They didn’t really like the fact that I was involved with the deaths of a few of those anthros in there.” Jim raised an eyebrow, “What? How many of them did you guys kill?” Bocchino shrugged, “I dunno, I was aiming for the Omega guys. Some of the anthros were in the way. The Omega guys used some anthros as shields while they executed the rest of them.” Jim shook his head, “Whatever… Too late to do anything for them now. At least we managed to get one of them out alive.” Bocchino looked in the helicopter, and he could see the vixen was trying to rest after the event which recently occurred, “She apparently knows Kurt from before. I dunno when he ever ran into her, but…” As the cat trailed off, Jim remembered that Bocchino already told him this factoid, “Yeah? What’s her name, then?” Bocchino shrugged, “I never asked. Kurt might know, but we can’t really ask him right now, can we?” Jim turned to Bocchino, “Why don’t you just ask her?” Bocchino replied, “I’ll get to that eventually. My mind’s kinda been more on what happened earlier.”
“Kurt would’ve wanted us to stick to the mission. You know that, right?” Jim asked. Bocchino frowned, “Yeah, I know. Now we have two problems: Omega and getting the little shit back.” Jim took a breath before replying, “I’m sure Kurt will figure a way out. We should worry about Omega primarily. Like I said before, Kurt would rather us worry about our mission than worry about him.” Bocchino picked up Arcades’ Rhodesian Brushstroke combat shirt that was lying in the helicopter, “That fox was always good at escaping.” The human nodded, “Yeah, they ain’t called sly foxes for nothin’ now are they?” Bocchino placed the shirt back in the cabin, “Sure, I guess. He’ll probably be fine.” Jim knew that Bocchino was still feeling uncertain, “What about those people that we’re going back to get? They could be of use to us.”
Bocchino remembered the two anthros that he and Jim were going to look for, “Yeah, those green-tier anthros. Why were they even at that one place anyways?” Jim did not know what Bocchino meant by ‘that one place’, “You mean Facility Eleven?” Bocchino did not bother remembering the name of the Omega facilities, “I dunno. It’s the place that they were at when Kurt broke into that one hotel looking place.” Jim now knew that Bocchino was talking about Facility Eleven, “Oh yeah. Facility Eleven is designed more as an Omega proving ground than anything else.” Bocchino was confused, “What do you mean by proving ground?” Jim replied, “Facility Eleven actually is supposed to be how anthros can voluntarily go to the Omega Foundation.” Bocchino was in disbelief, “Voluntarily? Are you shitting me? What type of shit is that?” Jim knew that Bocchino was still in disbelief, “Facility Eleven is not known to them as Facility Eleven. It’s designed as more of a… How do I say this? Hmm… It’s supposed to be more of a sexually inclined place than where most anthros would go.” Bocchino considered what Arcades had told him previously about the place, “Yeah? What’s up with the floors? Kurt told me that every floor had some sort of different theme or something to it.” Jim answered the cat’s question, “The way things work for that place is that the anthros that go there pay to be there. What they don’t know is that while they’re there, Omega is actually dumping the contents of their bank accounts and collecting everything that they own.” Bocchino’s eyebrows raised, “Shit, what the fuck?”
Jim nodded, “Oh yeah, it’s true. Anyways, the more that the anthros pay upfront, the better privileges they’re treated to while at Facility Eleven for the time being. Facility Eleven only accepts a thousand anthros at once, and the more you pay, the higher up on the list you are, basically.” Bocchino asked Jim for more information, “So are there tiers or something?” Jim replied, “The way it works is that you pay to have a higher tier. When you have a higher tier, you can do anything you want to a lower tier anthro.” Bocchino considered more of what Arcades told him about Facility Eleven. Bocchino replied, “I guess Kurt was telling the truth. Why did you guys show up there?” Jim replied, “Well, we were bringing in those two green-tier anthros to Facility Five. Omega brought them in the first place so that they would be tested by the anthros staying at Facility Eleven. You could let your knowledge on Omega tell you what ‘tested’ means.” Bocchino swallowed his saliva, “By tested… You know what? I don’t even wanna know. It probably ain’t that good.” Jim nodded, “I can assure you that it isn’t any good.” Bocchino shifted the subject, “So, do you think Facility Eleven would be a good place to take down next?” Jim scratched his head before replying, “Perhaps. Mainly because Omega doesn’t really have many ISG units there. Facility Eleven is supposed to be all anthro, so ISG units are not advised to interfere with the happenings there. Otherwise, the anthros would definitely become suspicious if they see humans in there. When we went there with Alpha-Omega, we had to stay out of sight of anthros.” Bocchino asked Jim another question, “What do you guys do with anthros in there?” Jim replied, “Facility Eleven has a trusted anthro informant that occupies the highest tier in Facility Eleven. That anthro’s position cannot be changed by another anthro paying more money. Only Omega themselves can change the informant. What happens is that the informant will decide which anthro would be suitable to
send to a different Omega facility.”
Bocchino felt that he wanted to hear more, “Continue…” Jim proceeded to give more information, “The informant will call that anthro, or group of anthros to his room on the top floor. He will then prepare them for transport, and he’ll call up us to take that anthro away. The ISG enters via the roof. Typically, Alpha-Omega rarely shows up, but they showed up that time because the anthros we extracted were green-tier. Anyways, this method is done so that the anthros won’t get too suspicious. Security is also mostly automated with RFID collars that all of the anthros have to wear. That means the ISG has to do less security themselves. The informant can still call them up if something happens… You know, I’m pretty sure that Kurt had an encounter with the informant when he infiltrated Facility Eleven.” Bocchino remembered what Kurt said about the informant, “He told me he beat somebody up on the top floor. Is that supposed to be this informant guy?” Jim nodded, “I’m pretty sure that’s it. Omega might’ve already replaced him. That guy probably didn’t disarm Kurt when he brought him to the top floor. Kurt was still lucky to get away.”
