Foxy stared at the opposite side of the room, motionless. The right side of his face was blackened horribly from his healing ability pushing itself into overdrive, while a grafting tool sat on the table in front of him covered in his own fluid. His hearing felt distorted, slow, a high-pitched ringing deafening him. His eyes were blurred, two shapes in front of him hazed as he slowly moved his eye to look down at his left hand.

He closed his eyes for a second, then two, then…

The ringing stopped. The beaten vulpine opened his eyes to see the void again as he finally felt free from the bindings. A pained groan escaped him as he sat up, extremely weak as he rolled to his side and stumbled to his feet. All he could manage was a hunched position before calling out.

"H-hello!" Foxy was breathless as he spoke, more of a heave than any language he could recognize. "Someone… Any, anyone-"

He fell back down as he coughed up more of his own blood, hacking up pints of it before he let out a weighted heave, frantically sucking the air back into his chest.

"Ah, Foxy," The familiar voice stepped up from behind him, long thin black legs stretching down to the floor. "I… didn't expect to see you here, nor with any semblance of an ability… Did something happen?"

Foxy slowly looked up, eyeing upwards at the vague figure he soon recognized before sighing in relief. "Marionette," Foxy collapsed back down as he laid on his chest to rest, "I… I got captured while helping Mangle escape… So much has happened…"

His thoughts were murky as the lanky puppet began to crouch down, touching Foxy's back as a soothing coolness began to flow over his body.

"You aren't meant to be here yet. This place is far too destroyed for you to be resting, but," Marionette paused for a second as he looked down at the vulpine's wounds, noticing quite a few were quite substantial, that he probably shouldn't even be alive. "I can spare a few minutes, if you'd like. Now, what happened on the island?"

Foxy hesitated for a few minutes before recounting the events that transpired, from Andy's house to the artillery, the island being an experiment, and a few other things. However, when he mentioned the recaller, Marionette seemingly tensed up.

"You said the robot had the ability to create blades from its hands," Marionette asked as Foxy nodded.

"Yeah, why? Something about it catch your attention?"

"Well, let's say there's something I'm supposed to do about those abilities…" He paused for a moment before removing his hand from Foxy's back, looking around the Void in silence before he released an audible sigh. "Do you know what this place was, Foxy?"

Foxy rolled onto his back before he sat up, much less effort required as he examined the space around them.

"No, I don't recognize it at all."

"It was a forest once, then a city, then a desert, then… this…" Marionette lifted up his hand a bit as he pulled something out of the ground below them, some tendrils extended from his hands and picked up a handful of grass before squeezing them hard, his other hand below it cupping itself as very small drops of a pitch black ink dropped. The spots were extremely hard to see until Marionette managed to make it float, the liquid pearls that resembled voids of their own in the air as Foxy stared in amazement at it.

"This is Remnant, it's hard to describe, but every living thing carries a small amount of it. Those people you met on the street, they'll probably have a few more drops than this by the time they die, but people like you, me, Jason; we have immense amounts of it, we're anomalies to our own dimension, because we suffered."

Foxy nodded to him as he continued to look closer, reaching out to touch it before it soaked directly into his hand, the remaining wounds that refused to heal quickly sealing up with black mist as he stared at the spot on his hand.

"It is made from our emotions, but how each of us use it is different. When we're on the verge of death we gain the ability we need most, and if you're strong enough, you survive, however, when you run out of Remnant, you will slowly begin to die, progressing further and further until you simply rot from existence. The universe's way of fixing us out of it."

"So I'm gonna die," Foxy asked as he looked at the puppet who chuckled before shaking his head.

"We all die, some of us sooner or later. We can choose it. Killing a Remnant creature can give you some, but it's not sustainable. This dimension is proof of that. The original inhabitants of this world fought for power, to the point they glassed themselves over and suffered, then when everything was at its lowest they snapped. Most of them died from the Remnant activating per usual, but a few survived, and they fought for survival… People, animals, the flora…"

Foxy became more conscious of his surroundings as he looked around, seeing the different plants that laid throughout the ground.

"It's a hostile environment, but I was created to fix it. I am what would be considered a doll-maker, or a puppet-maker. I make creatures to fight corrupted Remnant, or to prevent it from corrupting a world-"

"So Remnant is bad?"

"No, no… It's neutral– I guess is how I would put it. It can be used for good things, it can be a good thing, but we all suffer. That's the nature of life. This world was beautiful like yours, but the company that created you, they are trying to access this dimension, rather they did before I gained control. I can't blame them for their actions, the reward for successfully using Remnant as a power source is immense. Oil, coal, nothing would be needed. But I would call it the oil of our universe, it's created through the decay of our souls instead of our bodies. Jason's daughter, Kimber, was killed indirectly for her soul to use in order to farm more Remnant. I assisted him in fighting for her in what limited manners I can, but I won't risk allowing any of you to see me in action."

"Why is that," Foxy asked him, a curious tone in his voice as he felt at his chest where Judd had stabbed him.

"None of you would… comprehend my methods." A distinct howl was heard in the distance as Marionette looked towards it, deciding to stand back up before he grabbed Foxy's hand and lifted him back up before he squeezed it.

"Here's a freebie on me. Use it to give her a chance to find you, Foxy," Marionette told him. The vulpine felt the energy coursing through his arm into his chest before the puppet let his hand go and walked off into the void. Foxy felt his eyes close again as he stood, everything in his surroundings changing

Eight days had passed since Mangle managed to escape the tunnels, heading back to Marionette's house to recuperate in light of the events. She sat limply in the abandoned building, light shining on her feet through a hole in the wall. Her eyes were damp as she struggled to figure out where Foxy had gone missing. None of the locations she tried to look at from the folder yielded any results.

However, her mind was decidedly blank.

All except for the promise he had made to her not to get captured. That small thought, the single sentence, repeated through her mind at breakneck speeds as she began to slam her head back in anger. The only saving grace was that the attacks on the Eastern District slowed, the Southern District destabilized from their actions.

The bad part was that there were still small patrols managing to sneak past and cause some havoc in their back lines…

Something in the air shifted as Mangle sat there, stillness passing through her body as a vibration was sent through the ground. Her body immediately went alert, looking around for anything to signal something changing around her, before she saw smoke immediately rise from the coastal area of the island. The vixen promptly grabbed her stuff and ran off.

She ran for nearly half an hour, listening as gunshots grew closer before she saw a company android step out, making her stop in her tracks as she lifted up a gun she had stolen a day ago. Mangle let a few shots fly as she quickly ran to cover, rounds landing just on the pieces of cover as she ducked down and cursed to herself before turning away towards the other side of the barrier she hid behind.

She peeked out, quickly lining up the sights on the bot before squeezing the trigger a few times, hitting him in a burst across his chest. The droid landed in the dirt with a groan, allowing her to break cover and run alongside the front of the building, when something clicked.

'Up.'

She looked around her surroundings and spotted a metal pole, which she grabbed and lined up with the wall. Another shot rang as she clambered up, bouncing from the pole to the wall before grabbing onto the ledge and yanking herself up. She darted along the roof of the storefront, shooting at a window in an attempt to get them to back off, before firing through a window in front of her. She dove in without a second thought, rolling over her shoulder into cover as she panted from exertion.

"Damn it," Mangle shouted to herself as she slowly crawled into a doorway before using a bookshelf for leverage, lifting herself to her feet while searching for a staircase.

This was her life since Foxy had disappeared– she couldn't sustain a direct fight. She wasn't skilled enough with a gun, she also wasn't strong enough to hit them, so she preferred trying to stay out of conflict, but she was realizing quickly she needed to stay in enclosed spaces, the only way to use her one advantage was to try and stay somewhere she could easily maneuver around them.

Someone entered the lower story as she crept around, listening closely as they trashed the place looking for her. Glancing around, she spotted a window which led to an alley, already broken out.

"Maybe the roof…"

Mangle walked over and pushed some of the glass aside, before stepping onto the frame and looking out. A pipe ran up the other side which she quickly jumped over to, grabbing it rather unsteadily as it creaked. She pulled herself up with haste as the man looked around inside the room, barely missing her as she got out of view and cleared the rooftop.

Her body ached as she rolled onto her back, staring up at the sky as she looked over at the smoke again. She climbed to her feet before walking over to the edge, watching smoke rising from an area about 10 blocks away. Whatever taking place there was intense, a giant firefight from what she could assume. Flames licked up in the air high over a large warehouse-like building as she looked down, watching some of the company androids running off towards it with a worried expression on their faces.

She took off towards it, jumping from one building to the next in order to avoid the soldiers below.

Mangle stepped into the former warehouse area as she saw the carnage left, pieces of metal slowly collapsing inwards as flames seeped from the cracks. Bodies littered the ground in several different states of abuse, some stabbed, others brutally shredded as she surveyed the area.

Screeching metal stole her attention as the body of a beagle fell from the overhang that sat above a doorway, a man who had opened it getting buried in the process, the door formerly supporting the weight of the warehouse corner, however, another came out of an alleyway. Fear was written on his face as he aimed a shotgun down the alley, shouting profanities as more men ran out from his side before a blackened creature emerged, tons of mist seeping from its body as it impaled the man with its arm. Mangle's heart stopped as it tossed him away before taking off in an instant, leaving a trail of mist and fluid behind.

It continued forward, ragged breathing leaving its lips as it wiped away a considerable amount of blood from its face and slung it to the ground. Its eyes snapped around as it locked onto a reptilian android, watching as it tripped over rubble and hastily tried to get away. The beast stomped over, grabbing the screaming man by his scaled head before it lifted its bladed arm and sent it through its prey.

Mangle swore she could feel the intensity from multiple yards away as the man's head was severed clean off, the body limply laying across the ground as the beast threw it into the ground and let out a deafening roar.

That's when she realized who she saw, and what had become of him…

It was Foxy…

And he had been mutilated.

And he was taking his revenge.

He'd been skinned across the majority of his upper body, his eyes bloodied black with only little white pinpricks visible. The little fur he had left was stained black from the blood, the rest of his body clouded in the mist that continually healed him. The blade which he proudly held at his waist, mounted to his wrist, was noticeably dulled, stained as well. Parts of his ears were completely missing, and she swore she couldn't see a finger or two on his left hand.

She tried to step forward before he saw another company android, quickly running and lunging at him like a frenzied animal as he clamped his jaw around their arm, ripping back and stabbing the blade through his gut, before tearing his arm from his shoulder. Foxy spit it out, the screaming filling her ears as he placed the man against the metal wall of the warehouse and planted his foot against him, yanking the blade out with a loud scrape.

Mangle ran towards him as he spit out the arm, leaning over and gazing downward before he took off again, sprinting away from her as he saw another man, lunging from several feet away with a roar as he tackled him down, violently slashing their chest into pieces before continuing onward, blood virtually raining down his body as he looked like a mass of black, ruthlessly slaughtering with a calculated degree of strength, speed, and thought as his eyes were near impossible to see.

'What the hell happened to you…'

He ran out of view as she struggled to catch up with him, running towards some crates that she promptly climbed before jumping over the fence into the next street, watching from a dozen yards away as Foxy killed another android, stabbing him in his leg and dragging him back before chomping on his head.

"Foxy!"

He didn't respond, continuing on his rampage. She couldn't tell what happened, but it terrified her as he pushed himself, animalistically slaughtering anyone he held responsible, his face was emotionless save for anger, operating on instinct it seemed-

She froze as she watched as another man stepped out with a shotgun, pressing it against the back of his chest before squeezing the trigger. She watched in terror as his chest exploded, only for the mist to leak out faster. In a mere second, he turned around and slung the blade, gutting him as the black material solidified in his chest. He still had no fur, nor skin, over the tubing which allowed him to move.

"Over there, the white one!"

Mangle immediately turned around, pulling up the gun as a round flew by her, quickly pulling the trigger as she watched one of them get hit in the shoulder. She sprinted towards cover, managing to dive down as the rifle clicked, causing her to toss it while groaning.

The soldiers ran into the alley behind her, scanning the tight area. Each of them calmed down as they spoke with each other, occasionally calling her out while using flashlights to look up. A beam landed on her foot as she held onto a pipe, quickly jumping off and landing on one of them as she lifted the handgun, firing it rapidly into one's chest as she pulled out the buck knife and hurled it into the one under her, quickly killing him.

"They followed her into the alley!"

She quickly stood up, grabbing a rifle from one of the corpses before running off and turning the corner, finding a ladder to climb and scaling the building to the roof. Burning in her limbs was all she could feel as she reached the top, unsure on how long she would manage to keep this up, but she had to stay near Foxy. She couldn't let him get captured when he finally gave out– not after this mess.

Mangle steadied her breath as she listened for the screaming, soon hearing another before turning towards the building leading there, getting a running start before leaping over and rolling to land. She repeated it a couple times as she listened closer, now hearing Foxy's snarls as he continued wrecking havoc.

Watching him like this, it hurt her. This wasn't who she knew, this wasn't the man she had come to the island with. At this moment, he was more of a monster, focused on killing as many of the badge-emblazoned droids as he could, but she couldn't tell the reason.

All she could do was hope he wouldn't hurt himself or anyone not trying to kill them too badly-

"Judd!"