Bright orange light shone through the window of the bedroom, the ash collected around the island and even managing to build up in the windowsill. The arctic vixen watched in silence as the northern section of the city burned, her stomach churning with sickness as she had a sudden realization of how many of them had died down there. She grew curious at how long it had been going on and checked a clock that was on the nightstand beside the vulpine who was now bedridden, and owed a good chewing out from her as she gazed at the several bandages that now covered his body, not only from cuts but from scorch marks as well. The vixen shook her head slightly and looked at the time, reading four A.M.

The inferno had started at around eleven, outlasted a storm that came at about twelve, and then proceeded to spread to a few nearby buildings. All she knew was that it was not going to slow down any time soon, especially at this rate. She once again turned over to the vulpine, slowly stepping towards the side of the bed, his side, and sitting down just beside him while her gaze never left him. His face was in a pained snarl, though she didn't seem to think it was from actual pain. He'd been mumbling incoherently for the past couple of hours, nothing of it made sense, but she didn't dwell on it as her eyes shifted downward toward his right wrist, the blade still outward with his hand sealed inside. She took the rough wrist into her hand and turned it over in search for the button, until she finally found it and clicked the button in. She held it just above the sheet as the blade rotated inward and his hand came out, allowing her to hold his hand as he slept.

She turned over, laying just to his side as he slept, and rested her head against his broad shoulder, feeling each pained breath of his and the wrap of the bandage that pressed against his back where he'd been sliced at.

"Foxy, what is going through your mind," She whispered, not expecting an answer as she sighed, carefully nuzzling up under his chin while mindful of the injuries across him.

He felt heat all around him, an odd form of claustrophobia choking him to his very core as the orange light radiated on him while he watched his blade pierce through an android's chest, synthetic blood spewing out from the gash and lathering his body. He quickly pulled it out as he saw the singular drops of the oily liquid fly out in a slowed-down view, some of it splashing onto his arm, another drop onto his mask, and the rest simply flooding the air around him, landing on the scorched floor behind him as the building around him burned.

He could hear the distinct sound of a gunshot to his left as another soldier shot a wolf animatronic on the floor as it tried to crawl away. Guttural sounds escaped the soldier's maw as he withdrew the blade, using his other hand to pull his ASR up, and aimed at the other soldier's chest, firing seven rounds into him as he fell back, leaning against a wood railing which had been weakened by the fire and promptly fell through. A dull thud signaling his quick descent and demise… Though, to Foxy, it felt nothing quick. Everything around him seemed to move so slow as he relived his run from the compound through the buildings, watching as soldiers killed left and right while he did what he could, killed the few that were in his way, at least, with how it felt to him.

The one android still alive in the room was another wolf, she saw everything he did before he took off into the next room, and she'd probably never see him again.

He continued onward, ducking as some soldiers shot through the walls at him from another building across the street, and he looked to see a crashed transport in the street as well. Everything around him seemed like a living hell, all he saw was the smoldering buildings he was walking through and the ones that surrounded him. Smoke dulled his sense of smell as he ran towards a door. It had been burned already, he could see the wood was blackened, covered in glowing embers and coals as he simply broke through it, splinters going everywhere in the next room…

His mind went blank, forgetting the hellish events he had just gone through only hours before for the time being.

Mangle laid in silence as she rubbed the vulpine's arm, staring at his fur as she manipulated it, though, she noticed that something. There was a wisp-like shadowy mist irradiating from a cut across the inside of his upper arm, flowing out from the bandages, she looked towards his chest and saw the same there as he snarled even more fiercely. His body tensed as she felt his hand grip hers with bone-crushing strength for a few seconds before he suddenly stopped.

She looked at his face once again, noticing that some of the cuts were replaced by blackish looking 'skin' and fur.

For the rest of the night, she watched in awe as the black mist coated his injuries and seemingly healed them.

Sunlight barely pierced through the thick smoke that settled in the streets.

All night and for the majority of that morning the people worked hard to put out, or at least stop the fires, and they succeeded when they saw that the storm from the night before had made everything too wet and damp for it to gain much traction, allowing them to tear down and remove anything flammable in its path for good two-hundred feet, effectively containing the fire to the northern district.

The orange haze from it could still be seen, but it had died out a considerable amount since the fuel line had been cut and it burned down most of the buildings, along with how it had essentially suffocated itself. Ash still rained down upon the other districts as the breeze continued dragging it through the air, though, it wasn't anywhere near as much. The majority of it had already fallen to the streets. In the house on the hillside, the two vulpines were laying down, except one was beginning to stir.

Foxy lazily opened his eyes to see the darkened room around him, feeling the comfort of the arctic vixen leaning on his shoulder making him smile a bit before leaning his head over toward hers, feeling their fur messily mix together as he rubbed his cheek against the top of her head affectionately. As much as he wanted to lay there, however, his throat ached from the fact he hadn't drunk anything in the past…

'When was the last time I drank anything? What time is it now?'

He threw the question around in his head as he turned towards the clock and saw it read one-thirty-two in the afternoon. He slowly, and stiffly, got the vixen off his shoulder before walking into the hallway, bandages somewhat inhibiting him from a full range of motion. He shuffled down the stairs, the undersides of his feet feeling the coldness of the wood which he greatly appreciated in comparison to the fires from last night, eventually stepping off the stairs to the main room where he went right, into the kitchen to find something to drink.

He opened the fridge rather obnoxiously, grabbing a bottle of water, and shut it only to turn around and see Goldy staring in shock at him with a mug up to his mouth and a book on the counter. The two stared at each other; Foxy wondering why Goldy looked so surprised, and Goldy wondering how he's even standing up at the moment, and also why he had blackened lines of fur all over him.

"So um, hey?" The vulpine offered a toothy grin as he opened the bottle of water. A long sigh escaped the bear's maw as his eyes shut for a moment.

"Can I ask why you're standing up?"

"Well, I got thirsty while I was asleep and decided to come down here to grab something."

Goldy dropped his face into his hand at the response.

"I meant as in why you came down here. Why didn't you get Mangle to grab it," Goldy asked as he raised his head to look at the vulpine again.

"She was asleep and I didn't want to wake her."

The bear once again dropped his head, instead into the counter.

"This is Jason all over again…" He mumbled loudly before looking at him again.

"You came in here last night, cut, burnt, exhausted, nasty, and then just stand up not even twenty-four hours later like nothing happened. How in the hell are you not suffering right now?"

A look of realization grew on the vulpine's face as he slowly hummed to himself in thought before he looked at his body.

"I mean, I feel perfectly fine-" As he spoke, he was reaching for the bandage around his right upper arm, soon pulling it off to see the long cut that was now mostly healed, leaking the blackened mist while the rest of the cut was jet black, yet solid and firm.

"Okay, what the fuck!"

He went into action, ripping the bandage off and trying to rub off the mist as Goldy quickly teleported beside him and held him still watching as it leaked out slowly into the air before disappearing. Awe shone in the golden bear's face as he observed the scene in front of him, the mist slowly but surely healing the wound that was left by the recaller, and he soon noticed the several blackened lines that ran across his body, small marks that seemed to have faded more so than the current one on his upper arm.

"Goldy, why the hell is it attached to me!" The vulpine freaked out at the sight, thinking that the recaller had somehow poisoned him or something akin.

"It isn't attached to you," Goldy told him as he slowly looked closer at it before letting go of the vulpine's opposite arm, reaching towards the bandage before pulling it up and seeing that the mist was also leaking from the large gash across his chest, some of it solid while the majority was still being healed. "Foxy, I need you to explain everything that happened last night." The sound of the bear's voice was stern, making it clear he wasn't joking with the vulpine who took a moment to remember everything, eventually enough to recount the events from the night prior, letting him know everything that happened. From the building being blown down by the MGs to the shadowy recaller that had attacked him vehemently, however, a familiar face appeared when he mentioned the recaller.

"What the fuck do you mean some shadowy robot attacked you?" Both of them looked towards Jason who had a serious expression, only empathized by his intimidating stature, his arm in stance for when he switches it to his blade or gun.

"I was walking through a warehouse area after I cut the power and I saw something like a little girl," He forcibly avoided bringing up exactly who the little girl was so he didn't have to explain that, but it was obvious by his expression it wasn't simply a little girl, "And it came at me, calling my name for a second before I noticed the shadows didn't match up, only for me to notice it swinging some type of blade at me which I only just managed to avoid. It continued coming at me and seemed to teleport around. I only barely managed to kill it."

"Okay, and you said it was 'shadowy,'" Goldy asked somewhat impatiently.

"Yeah, it had mist surrounding it kind of like Jason's eye and the same mist is currently leaking out of my fucking arms!" He had empathized the last point by shaking his right arm free of Goldy's grip and motioning towards the large gash that was in his arm, Jason taking on a stunned expression as he had apparently not noticed it.

Goldy seemed to study it for another couple of seconds before he let it go and sighed, grabbing the book which Foxy recognized as the binder which he went to ask for before Goldy simply looked over at him with a knowing expression.

"I'm going to think on that for a bit, and no, I need this to figure out what's going on with you." He walked out, leaving an annoyed Foxy and a still shocked Jason as he looked at the cuts across the other vulpine.

"God damn it," He mumbled as he groaned.

"So, what are you doing today?"

Foxy couldn't help but smirk a bit at the other fox's serious and nonchalant attitude he seemingly fazed between.

"I guess I'm running down to the store for a new coat. Was in need of a replacement anyways…"

After killing the bottle of water and tossing it into the trash, he walked back upstairs to him and the vixen's room, seeing her still asleep on the bed on his side, causing him to smile a bit before pulling off the bandages. He walked towards the bathroom and pulled out a red-button up, throwing it on unceremoniously in an attempt to cover the misty material that was currently leaking out of not only his chest but every other place on his body that had been cut open. He shut the closet door with a solid click before he realized that the vixen had walked into the bathroom to see him.

"Foxy, what are you doing?" He turned around to look at her, seeing the tiredness in her eyes as he smiled at her.

"I was going to run to town real quick to grab some stuff."

"How can you expect to do that?" His expression changed to a shocked one as he saw the anger rise in her eyes. "You come in here burnt, beaten, and bleeding half to death then just stand up the next morning fit as a whistle?"

'Note to self; never test her.'

In truth, the vixen wasn't angry with him, to begin with, she was afraid for him due to his injuries. Now, however, that he no longer seemed injured… To put it lightly, he'd probably be beaten by a 2x4 for the next month and a half.

The vulpine quickly walked up to her, placing both hands on her shoulders, seeing the mixed emotions in her eyes as she tried to comprehend what had happened.

"You came in here last night, dying, and you just expect to walk out again like it's nothing." Now tears were swelling up in the corners of her eyes as his heart tinged with guilt, causing him to bring her into a tight embrace before shushing her lightly. "That damned binder… I read about how they're searching for us." Her throat had tightened, causing her to struggle while getting the last part out. "Not only are they searching for us, but they also created something specifically to hunt you down and kill you all because you went out and fought people at night when I thought you were asleep! You got yourself deemed violent because you can't control yourself…"

"Listen-"

"No!" Now, she was shouting at him, not loud enough to disturb the others, but it sure did disturb him. "I can't handle that-"

"And if I didn't do what I did, we'd have been tracked down without knowing about it. That down there," He pointed outside the window towards the northern side, "-is the lengths they're willing to go to so they can contain this. I can guarantee you nobody from there survived, the same could happen to us."

"What happens when they manage to kill one of us? Have you thought about that? What about our futures?"

"Our futures? We wouldn't have them if I didn't do what I did, and we still might not!"

They both stared at each other sternly, neither backing down until the teary-eyed vixen finally shook her head and looked down at his chest.

"Just go to town. I don't care. I can't deal with this."

She watched as he silently walked over to the counter where his shredded coat sat, grabbing something from it before tossing it into the trash and walking out of the room. She eventually heard the door shut, signaling he'd finally left.

'I can't deal with this… I need to tell him…'

Thick smoke, dust, and ash filled the air of the town as people made their way through, some of them covered in soot and ash while others were carrying dead bodies away. Most of them, however, had the same eerie trait; blank stares. None of them seemed to be actively moving, more so on an autopilot as they dragged bodies, debris, or other stuff behind them. Though the situation seemed indifferent to the vulpine as he walked by, not that he didn't care, but he currently had too much on his mind to worry about them.

He made his way towards one place he knew he'd be able to recollect his wits and get some guidance; Clark's shop. He needed to go there, anyway, so why not ask the wolf for some advice as he gets a new coat?

As he opened the door, he watched as the wolf eagerly picked his head up to look at him while he worked on something on the table in front of him, his lips turning upwards into a friendly smile as he chuckled to himself.

"I had a feeling I'd get a visit from you," The wolf exclaimed while he continued working.

"Yeah, I've had a rough night," He said as he walked over and leaned against the counter.

"All of us have."

"You have no idea," Foxy mumbled to himself, just low enough for the wolf to not hear him.

"So, what brings you by? You usually only come when you need new clothes or advice." The vulpine sighed for a second as he considered his options.

"Well, I need a new coat. The last one got ripped into shreds last night." He saved the wolf the entire story, not wanting to have to explain he was technically the person who caused the explosion.

"I mean, I know the fires got bad last night, but how did you "shred" it?"

The vulpine winced as he realized he'd have to give some basic explanation, instead opting to leave out most details. "I was in the northern district when the explosion happened, looking for somewhere for me and Mangle to stay…"

The wolf's expression turned shocked as he heard what he said, looking up at him to carefully examine the vulpine closer and he eventually noticed the several darkened spots across his fur, which he assumed were soot marks, but were instead where the mist had healed the several smaller cuts across his hands, arms, and face.

"Well, at least you're alright. I can assume that your girl's shaken up by it, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that again," Foxy huffed, "Argued with me just a while ago over it."

"Relationships are complicated things. You're always going to have arguments, but you have to work through them." The wolf continued on his ramble about it as the vulpine sat silent as he thought.

"How do you settle issues, Clark?" The wolf stopped for a moment before he looked over at the vulpine and let out a short chuckle.

"Well, we had a son," The wolf laughed, causing the fox to choke for a moment before he looked over at him.

"You never mentioned you had a child."

"Yeah, me and the boy haven't really talked much recently," He took a more somber tone before he shrugged, "We had an argument as well. Some stuff had happened and we simply just stopped meeting up to talk… It's alright though, I'm sure we'll make up at some point."

"If you say so," Foxy said before he went to change the subject, "I'm going to go grab a new coat and all."

Clark simply nodded to him as he went back to work on the material in front of him, the vulpine going back through the aisles for another coat which he eventually found. This one was a dark crimson, unlike his previous one which was black. He tried it on, feeling how it gripped his frame much like the earlier one as well, and moved across his body while he maneuvered around inside it, even doing a couple of swings while Clark couldn't see him until he felt satisfied with it, and himself.

The vulpine found another mask too, one just like his original, but he decided to stick with his new trend and found a fully red one like the snout from the other, he also picked up a small bottle of black paint and a brush before he finally walked over to the counter with the coat, mask, and paint in his arm which he set on the counter.

The wolf eyed the stack from his seat at the table, chuckling lightly to himself as he stood up and walked over to the vulpine while also picking up something small from the table.

"You know, I've been having people buying these masks and such a lot more often. And there was talk of a fox who'd walked from the northern side covered by a mask while pouring with blood and a coat hanging by shreds on him."

While the wolf may have been trying to be subtle, Foxy already knew where this was going.

"Some of the survivors from the northern district said that they saw him fight gang members which supposedly started the fire. Fiercely defeating over a dozen before he simply disappeared. Some of those gang members also called him "The Captain…" Now, I know you, and you know I know you, so I can guess that sounds mighty similar, huh?" The wolf didn't have a prodding attitude, instead, he simply gave the vulpine a small smile before he pulled out something from his hand and set it on the table.

"After hearing about the vigilante from little Nicky who worked across the way for the hog, I had a feeling. Now, after hearing all morning about it from everyone from the northern district who survived, telling crazy tales about a masked vulpine who fought during a fire, showing an iron will, and you walking in here asking for the same things the fox wore last night which were supposedly broken, I knew. So, I made this for you."

He pushed the small object over the table towards the vulpine, it was a shoulder patch, and on it was a fox head with two knives behind it much like a stereotypical pirate flag's skull and crossbones. In the eyes, he could see they were made yellow much like his own, and just at the bottom, he could see the words "The Captain" embroidered on it in red.

"Wow…"

"It's yours, now. I'll even sew it on if you want me to."

"I mean, really? It looks like you took a while to make it," Foxy went to say as Clark shushed him.

"I made it specifically for you, and if I didn't expect you to wear it I wouldn't have made it to begin with, so go ahead and tell me which shoulder you want it on," Clark told him with a grin on his face as he flattened out the coat and pulled out a needle and thread.

"I guess my right shoulder," Foxy replied, grinning back at the wolf as he moved that side towards him so he could sew it on.

Years of experience showed great worth as Foxy watched Clark's hands skillfully move around the other and fabric, sewing both the patch and shoulder together in a remarkable fashion, also proving a resilient mend which would stand abuse for years to come. The two chuckled as they shared jokes and told stories to the other, and what felt like ages of progress between the two was only fifteen minutes as he finally secured the thread and cut it, allowing Foxy to pick it up and examine it. As he looked at it, he felt an odd sense of pride and another sense of gratitude for the lupine that had done it for him, though, now he asked him if he'd mind if he did something else.

"Mind if I do something I wanted to do real quick on the mask? It was why I grabbed the paint."

"Sure, I don't see why not."

The vulpine thanked him as he grabbed a stool from beside the door and pulled it up to the counter before opening the black paint and pulling both the new mask and his original mask into view. He watched from the corner of his eye as the wolf stared at his original one, seeing each cut that had gone across it. The right eye hole had a chip in it in the top, the left cheek was cracked from the eye down to the bottom, the slice across the left side of the snout, and another slice that went across his cheek, also seen on the other side except diagonally. Foxy meticulously painted each cut, scratch, chip, or bend in black, much like that of the synthetic blood. The crimson mask was now much more aged looking, making Foxy smirk when he finally finished it and closed the paint and stood up before looking at the lupine.

"How much do I owe, Clark?"

"I'll charge you for the paint, you've given me and this island enough as it is, I'd say." The wolf responded with a kind smile before Foxy simply pulled out a couple of coins, pulled the wolf into a hug, and snuck them into his pocket.

Their fun was short-lived, however, as Foxy heard a shout from yell from outside and the sound of a person being hit and thrown to the floor...