'I can't believe he would go to get another coat just like that…'

Mangle was currently sitting just outside Clark's shop as she watched the vulpine talk with the wolf. She had followed him to ensure he didn't get into any more trouble, less that he couldn't hold his own, and more for her own sanity. Though, she felt bad that she would assume he'd get into trouble just because he went to town when in reality he was kindhearted and wanted to help. She knew that, it's just that she couldn't stomach what happened the night before, on top of how emotional she had been feeling days prior. She didn't know why, but it was like her mind went into a supercharged state, feeling every emotion multiply for no reason.

"Hey, guys!"

She didn't pay any mind to the voice across the street, the gangs had been extremely active since the night prior, and she didn't think they'd bother her…

Some people may say they felt bad for her obliviousness, but others may say they feel bad for the soldiers that tried to attack her…

A commotion started up behind her as she felt someone grip her shoulder and spin her around.

"Well, missy… Window shopping?" The person who'd spun her around was a wolf who was armed with a bat and seemed to be more interested in going out with her than anything else, but in reality, he was trying to capture her for the experiment.

"Waiting for my boyfriend," She replied sharply, her instincts telling her to find a way out of the situation as soon as possible. As soon as she said that, she could see the lupine's face go into alarm as he began to try to get a hold of her while some other 'gang members' started to rush in from the street.

She quickly brought her knee up, getting a quick cheap shot in his groin before wrapping both her arms the limb holding her shoulder and pulling hard into the elbow. She earned a loud snap coming from the joint as the man shouted in pain before she planted her right leg behind his and pushed him to the pavement.

"Get her, quickly!"

The door to the shop was thrown open as heavy, rapid footsteps sounded out. Each face of the 'gang members' went into shock and fear as red filled her vision. Foxy had stepped in front of her, mask and hood on as she heard a guttural growl come from him.

"It's him!"

"Take him out!"

"Command-"

She didn't pay attention as the soldiers began to encircle them, the vulpine carefully switching to his stained blade while she watched them scan him for a break in his defense, that being he was defending her, again.

"Foxy," She whispered to him just loud enough to get his attention, "Don't worry about me, you don't need to defend me."

"Not happening," He stated simply as he reasserted his stance in front of them.

Several seconds went by as some of the bystanders began to look at him, several mentioning it was the vulpine from earlier that morning, others simply watching in awe as he faced down the squad of men.

One of them let out a cry as he charged the vulpine, Mangle seeing a glint of metal at the vulpine's waist which she grabbed at and pulled out, it being the buck knife from the alleyway, she placed herself in front of him and prepared to swing the soldier's blade away, but she didn't realize that he was so close. She could hear the vulpine shout her name as the soldier rushed on and nearly stabbed her with a longer blade, but the vulpine's own wrist-mounted one came into contact with it, swinging it off course as he pulled her back somewhat, stabbing the man through the chest before gripping his shoulder with the hand he used to pull her, quickly clamping his maw around the android's head before pulling back and sending the blood everywhere.

In his mind he was remembering how he bit the girl all those years ago, around him the soldiers watched on in shock as he brutally killed their comrade, and the spectators from the city could only feel sick as he spat out the chunk of the soldier's forehead, kicking it away as he spat.

One of them was charging him from behind and he wouldn't be able to turn around, so Mangle swiftly turned over and shoved the combatant's blade away from either her or the vulpine, slicing his stomach and upwards towards the inside of his arm before spinning around and throwing him over her shoulder. She slammed him into the ground and shanked him in the chest before standing up and turning around, watching the vulpine cleave one of the soldier's necks with his blade before sending a left hook into their jaw, a sickening crack coming from them as they dropped to the ground, dead.

She saw one pulling out a longer weapon which had a box poking out of the bottom, before aiming it towards Foxy. The vixen rushed towards him and leaped, wrapping her arm around his neck while her legs went around his side and yanked him to the ground before she sunk the blade through his neck. Behind her she heard something get slammed into the ground before a distinct "Ka-Shunk" sounded out, the vixen looking over at the vulpine who had shot the blade into the final combatant's upper chest who proceeded to fall, choking on his own blood.

"Code-5; The Captain and the subject are both…" They both turned towards a final soldier who was choking out words into a comm, his chest was a mess of synthetic blood thanks to the vulpine. "They're both in the town-"

A gunshot sounded out from beside her, making her jump as she looked over at the vulpine who'd pulled out the handgun Andy had given him. A small amount of smoke rose from the barrel as he holstered it again and grabbed his blade from the chest of the other soldier, soon mounting it back and switching to his hand before walking towards her and grabbing her arm, sprinting away from the crowds as they started to grow in size to see the carnage.

The two of them eventually came to a stop in an alleyway where the vulpine pulled off the hood and mask and looked over at her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Why the hell would you do that?" She looked up at Foxy as he stared at her, she couldn't tell the current emotion he was feeling. "Why the hell would you rush in front of me like that?"

"I just wanted to help-"

"I don't care about that, you could've gotten yourself killed!"

"But I'm fine right now, aren't I?"

"You wouldn't have been if I didn't pull you out of the way of that guy!"

The vixen stared at him in offense for a second before she shouted back.

"And I wouldn't have been tempted to get in the way if you would simply let me fight my own fights! You seem to forget you weren't the only one trained to fight!"

"I don't want you to get hurt-"

"And I don't want you to get hurt, either. We would be safer working together! I want to help you!"

"You don't understand, I don't want to do this! I never did…" He seemed to quiet a bit as she watched him tremble for a second. "I just bit that man like I bit that girl to save you… I didn't want to do that… I didn't want to find out what I did, but I'm glad I did. It means we can prepare for whatever they throw at us. In the past week alone I have done shit I never thought I would. Simply so I know we'd be safe." Something in his eyes broke as he grabbed her shoulders firmly. "I've killed at least forty people within the past couple of days alone, and in the entire time I've been here I've probably injured several more. Sometimes it was because I wanted to help others, other times it was something personal, but right now, it was for self-defense… You need to stop..."

Tears welled up in her eyes once again as she felt her throat grow tight.

"Why are you so set on holding me back? Why won't you let me help you at all?"

Foxy's voice dropped to a dead whisper, broken by his intermittent panting.

"Because I'm so... fucking afraid... I found out last night that we've been spied on for the past few months, this island is a fucking fake, and that they plan on capturing you and taking you back. All because of my stupid decisions." He broke, planting his forehead against her chest as he fell to his knees, making her get on hers as well while he seemingly froze, tears rolling down his cheeks and wetting the fabric of her shirt.

"I'm afraid… I'm afraid that soon I won't be strong enough to protect you, me, anyone. That one of us will get hurt or die and that our freedom is short-lived, or our futures are gone…" She moved her hands up and around his back, rubbing him soothingly as he bared his thoughts and doubts. "I'm afraid I'm not going to be strong enough to withstand the upcoming hell I've just put us on course for, even if it's better than the one we originally had, and now I've got to fight, to not only protect ourselves but for everyone else, because they don't know the truth behind this place. Because this place is our only chance at surviving…"

"Shh," She whispered into his ear before rubbing her cheek against the top of his head, trying to comfort him as best she could.

"I feel so alone… Knowing that I now have to fight for everyone else too, because they have no empathy for anyone else here – because I watched them gun down person after person last night after basically leveling the building I was in, the floors painted with blood and the streets the same, body after body, building after building, soldier after soldier… But also because they simply don't know, and won't understand…" She could tell he was struggling to get anything else out, now.

"You're not alone. Jason, Ava, Goldy, me, we can all help-"

"I shouldn't bother them with stuff that's my fault, you especially… If I hadn't brought you with me you wouldn't be caught up in it, you'd be back at the pizzeria, safe, and with people you could at least call frie-"

"You wouldn't have known about the building without me. You wouldn't have gone through everything you did already without me being here. The old Foxy would have simply stopped and stayed content until he finally pulled up his blade and did the job, and you know it's true." She grew brash as she continued, not because she wanted to hurt him, but because she needed him to understand that he chose the right choice.

"You need me. Let me help you."

He was quiet for a few moments as he held onto the vixen tightly, like she could disappear within a second before he finally pulled himself up to face her, his eyes closed as the fur was stained, but when he opened them up they were firm as he stared back at her.

"Alright… I trust you..."

He stood up, pulling the vixen to her feet as well before sighing. "We should head back to the house-"

"They said they came through this way!"

The two of them quickly looked towards the end of the alley they heard shouting from, hearing the movement of several soldiers as they quickly turned the opposite direction and ran, maneuvering through the tight innards of the city, putting as much distance between them and the grunts as possible before stopping at the edge of an alley which came out into a street. Out in it were several of the soldiers who sat with weapons as they scanned the streets, forcing people into buildings and even beating some of them with electrified batons if they didn't listen.

She felt something flip inside her as she went to stand up and yell at them, but the vulpine swiftly stopped her by firmly holding her shoulder.

"Not yet." She watched him carefully put the mask on, allowing her a view of the distinct black marks across it which lined up perfectly with some of the cuts on his own face, but she didn't pay much attention as she turned back and watched them move closer to them.

"Come on," He whispered, moving back towards a door that he carefully opened up, leading into a darkened room filled with sheet-covered furniture. The vulpine quietly moved just inside the door, holding it open to let her pass before shutting the door and locking it. Outside she could hear rampant footsteps as the soldiers that were chasing them walked out into the street where the two squads began questioning the other.

They carefully walked through the building, careful not to cause much noise as they walked out into a lit room, conversing coming from down the hall where several people yelled at the 'gang members' for forcing them inside. While they walked, they realized they were in a diner, and they quickly saw that it was a full one with the soldiers asking people questions about if they had seen them. The two moved behind a counter while no one was looking and swiftly went into the back where they prepared the food, the cooks too preoccupied to pay any mind to them as they quickly went out the backdoor, into the alley once again.

Though, they didn't get away from the soldiers as they quickly crouched down behind some trash as they listened to a pair of soldiers beating another android, a raccoon, who they suspected saw them since he was in the way of the only other direction they could have gone. His snout seemed broken, his teeth were probably shattered, and he coughed up blood like a fountain. This time, Foxy told her to move towards the right one, the closest, which she did. She snuck up behind him as he went around towards the other, and both of them eventually jumped on them, Foxy managing a cleaner knock out as he walked up behind him and put his leg in front of the wolf's right one, his hand behind his head, and shoved him to the ground before pouncing on him and slamming his head into the ground once again.

The vixen jumped onto the other's back, wrapping her arms around his throat and pulling as tight as possible, making him stumble to the ground where she quickly maneuvered around him and proceeded to give the android a clean right hook to the jaw which left him stunned long enough to slam his head into the ground a few times as well. She watched as the vulpine helped the android up and sent him on his way, the two of them leaving as quickly as possible. At least, they tried. Gunshots sounded out from behind them as screaming filled the air as well, shouting also came from the building they ran out of as more gunshots went off, the vixen swiftly stopping in place as her stomach sank, the vulpine stopped as well, except she could feel the tension radiating off him as his blade spun outwards and his hand wrapped around the grip of the handgun, she went to tell him not to but words refused to come out her throat as he spun around and quickly ran towards the backdoor to the diner again.

Inside, the soldiers shot the androids who wouldn't comply, simply culling the herd that was gathered inside. Foxy ran in just in time to see the hell being unleashed. The majority of the patrons that were gathered were now dead on the floor, being looted for anything worthwhile by the soldiers before he saw one take notice of him. He didn't let the man sound the alarm, however, raising the gun to eye level and squeezing the trigger, the sharp sound of the handgun going off piercing every pair of ears within the building and just outside, the man falling to the floor with a dull thud as the other android behind him was lathered by the blood of the now-deceased soldier.

Everyone in the building turned to see him, and he quickly turned the gun towards the other soldiers as well, counting a good five of them left which he swiftly shot as well, some not as clean as other as the recoil violently shook his arm. After the sixth round was fired, the slide locked back and the sound of the casing bouncing around on the wood flooring was all he heard aside from the last body dropping to the floor and the grunts of two of the five who he accidentally shot in the chest instead of the head.

No mercy was shown, however, as he walked towards the first one and kneeled beside him, using his left hand to shove the back of his head to the floor and his blade to slit his throat, leaving the soldier to gag on his own synthetic blood as he quickly repeated the same technique on the final one who struggled to crawl away from him. Some of the patrons had seen him as he did it, but wouldn't dare voice their concern in fear he'd turn on them, that was until he looked at one of the ones who'd curled up in a corner of the room in a booth and simply nodded at him, grabbing the rifle off a dead soldier and tossing it to the android, a ferret, and leaving him to his own accords while the ferret whispered thanks to him, some of the other survivors looking at him in shock as he left back through the backdoor, where Mangle stood in shock at the scene that unfolded before her, until he walked up beside her and slowly turned her around and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, listening as some of the soldiers started to gather in front of the building to look inside from the street opposite of the building behind the.

Inside, some of the survivors had armed themselves, more gunshots sounding off as they ran back home through the alleys, careful to avoid any more attention.

After a good hour, they managed to make it home, avoiding patrol after patrol as they flooded towards the southern end of the eastern district. The two vulpines stood in awe on the ash-covered deck as gunshots rang out from the city below, fires even erupting occasionally. Due to the season, darkness started to roll into the overhead, coating the cityscape below with a flowing, comfortable, darkness that would usually allow sleep for anyone, but it was currently fierce fighting as people took to the streets to fight back the 'gang.'

"So that's the truth, huh?" The vixen vaguely asked, causing the vulpine to look over at her.

"What?"

"They really are out to hunt us and kill others. They don't care at all." A broken look shown on her face as she leaned against the rail. He sighed as well while leaning beside her, carefully wrapping his arm around her before pulling her up close to his side.

"This is the world we're in…" He mumbled as he stared at the utter chaos below. "We just have to find our place in it, and if that isn't an option, force our place in it."

Mangle was silent as they both stared below, the two of them eventually standing up straight again before she leaned into his back, allowing him to wrap his arms around her in an affectionate and comforting manner while they watched the horrors. In her mind, there was something she wanted to say, but the vulpine probably already knew what it was.

'I just wish this wasn't what we had to do…'

She grabbed his wrist as he placed it around her, squeezing it a bit before looking up at his jaw. His expression softened as he gazed down at her.

"We're going to make it through this."

Foxy looked back to the chaos-ridden streets below before finishing.

"Trust me."