by Tom Jones
The fox removed the L3Harris radio and comms system from the kit because he did not need the ISG to potentially find him thanks to the help of their own radio. Arcades checked the equipment which he was currently wearing, and he was wondering if he was missing anything else he would potentially be able to use. The fox then felt his head, and he realized that he was wearing nothing over his eyes or his head. Arcades looked back in the closet, and he did see a Revision Caiman helmet; However, the fox did not want to bother with the helmet since it would only be slowing him down much like the plates in the carrier would. Arcades picked up the M&P9, and he holstered it before he slipped the keycard into one of the pockets of the G4 combat pants. Arcades also kept the Medeco key and placed it into one of the pockets of his uniform. The fox then grabbed the XMP-1 by the sling, and he ejected the weapon’s magazine to make sure that it was loaded. The fox looked at the rounds in the magazine, and he then looked inside the chamber by halfway pulling the charging handle back to see that it already contained one 5.56x45mm round loaded in the chamber. Arcades released the charging handle, and he inserted the magazine back into the lower receiver of the XMP-1 before throwing the two-point sling around his body. The fox tightened the sling, and he felt that he was now ready to truly begin his escape from Facility One. However, the fox knew that he would not be leaving without getting Jason out first.
Arcades kept the rifle’s selector on safe as he took one final sweep around the room to make sure that he was not missing anything. The fox looked at One, and he examined what he could of the human’s injuries. Arcades wished that he did not have to hurt the human, but he knew that he had to do what he did in order for him to escape. Arcades also remembered that he asked the Lord Himself for support before attempting the escape. The fox felt he was obliged to thank Jesus, so he said another brief silent prayer to himself. When he finished, the fox moved back over to One’s desk, and he destroyed the computer by continuously whacking it with the butt of the XMP-1. Once the computer had been effectively rendered useless, the fox figured that he should destroy the L3Harris radio he discarded as well for good measure. Arcades gave the radio the same treatment, and he then looked around one last time to make sure that all of the communication equipment in the room had been disabled for now. The fox felt satisfied with what he saw, so he decided that it was now time for him to get going. Arcades used his keycard to open the door from the inside, and he then moved out to find Jason and escape.
The fox carefully stepped through the doorway, and he looked in both directions to get a feel for his surroundings. Arcades noticed that the place he was in looked very different compared to when he infiltrated Facility Five. The fox tried to mentally estimate a rough number of steps he used when he was being taken to One’s office, but he was not sure how many times he changed direction. For all he knew, Arcades could become lost in a maze like he was at Facility Five, and the fox knew that such an outcome would be substantially less desirable than the ideal situation he wanted. Arcades saw that he could either go right or left, and after developing a somewhat educated guess, Arcades decided to proceed to his left.
As the fox quietly traversed the metallic floor, he kept his rifle at the low ready position just in case he absolutely needed to raise it and use it. The weapon’s safety was not engaged, but Arcades kept his finger out of the trigger guard to ensure that he would not accidentally pull the trigger when he did not intend to fire the weapon. As the fox continued down the hallway, he kept his eyes and ears alert for signs of any ISG units who may be nearby. Arcades did not want to be caught by the ISG, for he knew that his fate would be even worse than it was originally going to be in the first place. He already knew what it felt like to comply with the Foundation, and he was not ready to see what happens when an anthro does not comply. When Arcades reviewed in his mind what the human was planning to do with him, he knew that he could not waste anymore time finding Jason. The fox also considered the possibility that Jason may still be restrained in handcuffs that use BOA locks, and he knew that he would not be able to take those off without cutting the bows off with bolt cutters. He knew that it would be too hard to tamper with the locks themselves, so he knew that he would just have to cut the bows from the rest of the body. Arcades decided that it would be best for him to wait until he found Jason instead of thinking about the possibilities ahead of time.
Jim arrived at the dock with the Stealth Hawk, and Bocchino stood up from where he was sitting as he watched the human begin the process of landing the helicopter. Bocchino could feel his fur and tail swishing in the wind generated by the rotors, and he was surprised how quiet the helicopter sounded compared to the standard Sikorsky S-70 series of helicopters. Bocchino turned around to see Jackie was also watching the descending helicopter with him, and his vision then trailed over towards the HH-60 as it was in the process of being loaded on the ship. Jim disabled the helicopter’s engines once he had successfully landed on the ground, and the cat watched as the human toggled a few more controls within the helicopter before removing his seatbelt. The human opened the door of the helicopter, and he pulled off his Gentex pilot helmet before setting it in the seat he had just gotten up from.
Bocchino visually examined the unusual helicopter, “How many of these fucking things does Omega have?” The human did not hear the cat at first due to the noise generated by the rotors as they continued to slow down, “What?” Bocchino repeated his question, but he slightly rephrased it, “How many Stealth Hawks does Omega have?” Jim briefly turned around to view the helicopter before turning back to face the cat, “They’ve got a bunch of ‘em. They used to use the regular Black Hawk, but they started retrofitting all of them with the angular geometry after DEVGRU proved it worked during the Bin Laden raid from over a decade ago.” Bocchino nodded, “Yeah, I want to think that Kurt mentioned that at one point.” The cat began to think about Arcades since he mentioned him, “Kurt… Fuck…” Jim heard the cat, so he tried to reassure him, “We’ll find him. What do you think the odds are that he’s on his way escaping someplace right now?” Bocchino took a deep breath, “Pfft, I dunno, man. Did you see how they had him chained up back before we left in the first place? He looked pretty fucked to me.” Jim shrugged, “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”
Arcades looked at the doors in front of him, and he removed the keycard from his pocket. The fox was not sure which door to choose, for none of them featured windows. To make matters worse, all of the doors appeared to be exactly the same. For all Arcades knew, one door could lead to Jason while another door could lead to a maze, and one door could even lead straight into the angry arms of ISG Alpha-Omega. The fox still was holding the XMP-1 with his right hand, but he had the weapon pointing downwards in case he entered a door which did contain Jason. Arcades certainly did not want to accidentally kill the wolf he was looking to rescue. The fox stood up to one of the doors, and he placed his ear against the door so that he would be able to hear voices or movement from the other side. Arcades could not hear anything, so he knew that either the doors were too thick to allow sound or nobody was actually on the other side. The fox did not know which possibility was the correct one, so he decided to take a risk. He placed the stock of the XMP-1 to his shoulder, and he swiped the keycard to open the door. Arcades then quickly raised his left hand to better support the weapon while still holding onto the keycard. Arcades stepped through the door, and he lowered his weapon as he saw that the door led to more corridors lined with doors. Arcades shook his head as he muttered under his breath, “Gosh, I’ll be here for a little while.”
Jackie sat back as she watched Bocchino and Jim work on moving the necessary parts of the MH-60X so they would be able to properly place it onboard the ship. The vixen looked over to the ship, already docked, and she looked at how the HH-60 was stored on the ship. She watched as the fabric covering the aircraft moved in the wind before looking back to check on the progress for the Stealth Hawk. After a few more moments of watching the anthro and human wo
rk on moving the parts they needed to, Jackie noticed an incoming Toyota 4Runner. The dark gray SUV stopped beside the helicopter, and Bocchino moved away from the helicopter to speak with the Prince of Sealand. Jim also hopped off the helicopter and approached the SUV as the Prince exited from the left side of the vehicle.
“I still don’t see how you bloody Americans drive like that,” the Prince said as he looked over to the approaching men. Jim spoke with a question first, “That’s all of them, right?” The Prince nodded his head as his response. Bocchino looked at the 4Runner, and he remembered that he already had the Mustang on the ship. All they needed to do now was get the Stealth Hawk and the 4Runner on the ship. Bocchino looked at the SUV, “Yeah, I’ve already got Kurt’s Mustang on the ship. I’ll go ahead and drive this one on the ship.” Jim looked at the helicopter which was partially ready to be loaded on the ship, “What about the helicopter?” Bocchino replied as he opened the left door of the SUV and climbed inside, “I put up mine; you can put up yours.” The cat could tell that Jim had something else to say to him, but he had already started the SUV’s ignition which drowned out the sound of the human attempting to speak to him. Bocchino drove the SUV away from the two humans, and he proceeded towards the ramp of the ship.
Jim used his eyes to track the vehicle as it made it onto the ship. The other human spoke to Jim, “How rude. Anyways, it looks like that’ll be all the vehicles we need to bring over here.” Jim replied to the Prince, “Yeah. How are you supposed to get back to Sealand?” The Prince looked over to the waters, for they were still at the port, “I’ve got another boat of mine around here. I’ll be taking that back.” Jim looked at the boats docked at the port, but he did not know which boat the Prince was talking about. Jim commented, “How many boats do you have?” The Prince replied, “I am a commercial fisherman. I’ve got quite a few boats around here. If I were to leave now, I’d be back at Sealand in an hour and a half at best.” Jim was curious, “You’re not leaving now?” The Prince shook his head, “Not right now. I was going to just wait for you guys to get your vehicles on the ship, and then I’ll get going.” The human pilot was still curious, “Why wait for us?” The Prince said, “I just wanted to make sure you guys could get all four of those on the ship.” Jim shrugged, “Alright, I guess.” The Prince continued to speak, “I never imagined that all this would come my way. I don’t take it too many people acknowledge the existence of my nation.” Jim did remember what Arcades told him about the Principality of Sealand, “Is your country recognized by any international organizations by chance?” The Prince shrugged, and Jim could obviously tell that the Prince was indicating the answer as a negative while trying to mask his answer in ambiguity. Jim was prepared to speak, but the Prince spoke first, delivering a clearer response, “Unfortunately, I don’t think any of them recognize us. I wish that could change, but -- I mean, the bloody fort itself still needs loads of renovation. After all, it was made in World War II to look out for German U-Boats.” Jim spotted Bocchino walking back down the ramp, but the human looked back at the Prince again, “You know, I’m not even sure what the plan is when we get back to the US. Honestly, Kurt is probably a lost cause at this point. We may just have to hide from the Foundation for a while. We don’t have the resources to take them down. Even if Kurt was here, we wouldn’t be able to do it.”
The Prince replied, “Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised. If anything, I’d be surprised if Kurt did return with you guys here. If I’m being honest as well, yes, I do believe that he is a lost cause. Africa is the second most populous continent on this planet; you would not be able to realistically find him. I’m sorry, but it might be best to just count this as a loss. After all, there isn’t really anything two guys can effectively do. Omega is an international organization, and you lads have already spent a fortune solely on the air fare to make the bloody round trip.” Jim took another look at Bocchino, and he could see that the cat was approaching. Jim wanted to wrap things up, but the Prince replied before he could speak again, “What I think you guys should do is just get her to safety. Bobby’s been spending Kurt’s money, right?” Jim replied, “Yeah.” The Prince nodded, for he had an idea for the remaining crew, “Aye, just give her whatever is left of the money Kurt had. He won’t be needing it where he’s going.” Jim considered the Prince’s idea. The Prince was not finished speaking, “You’ve defected from the Omega Foundation, Jim. Change your name, and go live somewhere you know they won’t be looking for you at.”
Jim looked over at the cat one last time before looking back at the Prince, “And for Bobby?” The Prince realized that Bocchino was now in earshot of the conversation, but he started speaking to him instead of Jim, “You’ve got your own home, right?” Bocchino did not know if the Prince was speaking to him, despite the fact the human was looking directly at the cat, “Who? Me?” The human nodded, “Yeah. Do you have your own home back in the US?” Bocchino slowly replied, “Erm… Yes? Hey, what’s the big idea here?” The Prince shared his idea with the cat, “You’re not going to realistically ever see Kurt or Jason again. Save yourself the trouble and just consider this mission complete when you get the vixen to safety. Just go back home, and divide out the rest of Kurt’s money amongst yourselves. He’s not going to need it. You two are not going to be able to take down Omega. Even if you guys had Kurt and Jason, you would not be able to do anything about Omega.”
Bocchino was somewhat surprised to hear what the Prince was saying, “What?” The Prince continued, “Omega is simply too much to deal with. Your best bet is to just return where you came from and forget all about it.” The cat shook his head, “We know too much, though. How are we supposed to forget about this?” The Prince replied, “Any way you can forget about it. That’s all you can really do.” Bocchino began to raise his voice, his emotions were starting to show again, “What about all of those anthros? Are we supposed to just fuckin’ abandon them? We’re supposed to just leave them to get fucked?” The Prince nodded, “Sorry, I’m afraid so, mate. Too much for you two to handle.” The cat shook his head in denial, “What about Kurt and Jason? Are we supposed to just leave them behind?” The Prince replied, “Yes. You said they were taken with absolutely nothing on them. You would not be able to find them no matter what you do. They’re lost, they’re gone, and you’re not getting them back.”
The cat was still in denial, “There’s gotta be something we can do, though.” The Prince looked over to the ship which was still docked, “And there is: It’s called you go back to your homes, divide up what’s left of Kurt’s money, and consider it done. Move on with your lives, and deny the existence of the Omega Foundation. Never contact each other again, and write it off as a business trip to people you personally know who may ask you about it. Seven days on the water is plenty of time to come up with a convincing cover story if you really need one. As far as you’re concerned, Kurt and Jason died before he made it to Sealand in the first place. Don’t go any further than that. You do not need Omega to find you guys. There’s too much of a risk at play when you’re considering the Foundation.” Jim knew that he definitely did not want to be found by Omega, “Yeah, Bobby. He’s right. It might be time to call it quits. We’re not CDI by any stretch of the imagination or anything --” the human was cut off by the cat, “We’ve gone this fucking far! We can’t just give this shit up now, dammit!” Jim shook his head, “We haven’t gone far at all. Omega still has over two dozen other facilities around the world. Taking down that one in Africa cost us a shitload of Kurt’s money. We won’t be able to afford going to another one.”
Bocchino knew that Arcades’ funds would be completely depleted if he were to try and overthrow merely a couple more Omega facilities. The cat did not know what to say, “Man, I… We can’t just leave them out there, though.” The Prince reminded Bocchino of reality, “Kurt is just one fox. He can’t do shit. Neither can Jason. It’s time to forget about them and carry on. Kurt got himself into this situation in the first place, and you kno
w that as a fact. Here, save yourselves: Sell Kurt’s stuff and you’ll have plenty of money to divide amongst yourselves. After all, I don’t think you guys can legally own that stuff in America anyways. How does it work for those weapons you guys have?” Jim knew about the weapon laws in the US, “From what Bobby has told me, the weapons are registered under Kurt’s company. We would have to get rid of those before the company ceases to exist.”
The Prince proposed another idea, “Yeah? How about you guys sell his vehicles as well? That’ll give you guys, at the very least, a few million dollars for each of you. It’ll be plenty for you guys to live comfortably for a long while.” Bocchino remembered Arcades’ rifle, “I would like to keep Kurt’s gun, though. Maybe I can replace the lower with one of my semi-auto ones and I’ll be able to keep it.” The Prince shrugged, “Any way that’s best for you, really. You do have two cars there, but they’re probably under his rego. I’m not sure how registering cars works over in the US, but maybe you can sell them if you can’t figure it out.” Bocchino remembered the cars which Arcades had, “I dunno. We might be able to sell them for some quick cash.” Jim remembered something else, “Gotta make sure the IRS doesn’t get too suspicious about our cash.” The Prince replied, “If you’re worried about a government agency finding out about these funds, you maybe could put them all in an offshore account. How soon do you actually need this money?”
