*two months later, Vivian*

Vivian was currently on a charming lunch date with Vince, he had surprised her with it as he liked to surprise her with things and took her to a quaint café. She'd been dating him for two months now and he was a great guy, always sweet and charming, respectful and honest. He always went all out on dates making sure the next one was better than the last and quick to surprise her with flowers. He was even making headway with Nick, who was starting to warm up to him, even if only a little bit.

He most definitely would make some girl very very happy someday and they'd be extremely lucky to have him... But the girl wasn't her. As the weeks went on and kisses were shared she slowly came to realize that as great as a guy Vincent was, he just didn't click for her. She never had any dreams of him both normal and frisky, instead, her mind was filled not with fox, but wox.

Of course, Jack was stuck in her head still they talked literally every day for at least an hour. He was very slowly opening up about himself, telling her stories about himself, but still, he preferred to hear her speak and tell her stories. It took a while, but she finally realized that the entire reason she was dating Vince was to get Jack out of her head, and oh how that had failed. She couldn't lie to herself anymore, she liked Jack a lot, a whole whole lot. He was the only mammal she could imagine being with right now, it just felt right imagining them together. Of course, if Jack felt the same way or was at least up for trying was a whole different fish to fry.

But for now, it was time to stop leading Vincent on. It was cruel and this was mating season, he needed to know so he could try and find another to make his own. Pausing her meal she cleared her throat and said "hey Vince, there's something I got to tell you."

Vince for his part paused his own meal and gave her an easy look as he said "you're breaking up with me. It's alright, I kinda saw it coming."

Vivian raised her eyebrows and said, "yes, and I'm so sorry you're a great guy, but…"

Vince finished the sentence "I don't click for you, as I said I pieced it together."

Vivian's ears lowered a bit and she said "yeah, how did you figure it out?"

Vince chuckled at that and said "well considering you spend an hour every day talking to another tod on the phone, that tod is a topic of conversation for you regularly and Nick for that matter, and my brother has told me about the amazing things that tod did for you and Nick. Well, I don't quite measure up to him at the end of the day, do I? That tod wormed his way into your heart and mind long before I first laid my eyes on you. I held on to hope that I would be able to capture your undivided attention but I was fooling myself. It's okay foxes mate for life and you want to make sure you choose the right mate. I understand that as much as I like you I can't force you to fall in love with me and knowing that I never really fell in love either."

Vivian was shocked, Vincent was being incredibly understanding. Seeing her expression Vince chuckled again. "I take it I'm the first mammal you've ever dated?"

Vivian nodded and said, "past the first date yes."

He nodded and replied "well since we foxes mate for life we don't sulk in sadness if a relationship doesn't work out. We don't want to be mates with someone who isn't compatible, that's why lots of species have divorces and at high rates. They're so focused on getting in relationships and making them work that they forget about compatibility. Whether or not they can work in the long run and last. We're not compatible, so what's the point of trying to force it? In the end, it benefits neither of us and ends up with more heartache and break."

Vivian gave a sigh of relief at hearing that. "I really appreciate you being so understanding. I imagined this going over so much worse in my head."

Vince laughed at that. "What imagined those scenes from movies and tv where I make a scene by either being a blubbering mess or get real angry screaming 'you don't know what you're missing!' Nah I got some form of self-respect I'll save my blubbering for when I'm at home."

Vivian gave him a look of concern at that and he began laughing harder "I'm kidding! I am a little bummed at most and I'll get over it." Getting his laughter under control he held out a paw and said "friends?"

Vivian smiled at that and took his paw shaking it. "Friends."

*Same day, Jackson*

Jack awoke with a barely contained scream and a gasp, panting hard. Untangling himself from Lyla who he'd been dating the past two months he stumbled into the bathroom. Once inside he leaned against the sink taking in his bloodshot eyes, twenty minutes, he had been asleep for only twenty minutes before he was awoken from a new and horrible nightmare. A nightmare that was now permanently seared his brain. It involved Vivian and little Nicholas being right in the middle of the street and Sangin as a battle raged around them. They were scared and calling for him to save him and he was looking at them through his scope. He tried to shoot the enemies approaching them but all he heard was clicks, his sniper was empty. He tried to leave his sniper, get up to save them but he couldn't, it was like he was glued to the scope and he watched as they were gunned down….unable to do anything.

That nightmare was permanently seared into his brain and right now it was all he could see. He needed to get some fresh air, and he needed to fill it with smoke. Stumbling out of the bathroom he tugged on some boxers and pants, not bothering with a shirt, and grabbed his cigarettes. As he opened the door and shut it he didn't notice it woke up Lyla, who gave a look of concern as he stumbled away. She quickly got up and began searching for her clothes so she could join him and see what was wrong. He looked really shaken up.

Jack burst outside and immediately lit up a cigarette as he leaned against the building wall and looked up at the sky. Taking a long drag looked at the stars and thought about his current predicament. "20 fucking minutes, I was asleep for only 20 fucking minutes! This was the first time I tried to sleep in so long and it went horribly! Why did I think it'd be any different!? Oh, that's right my therapist saying I'm making progress and my own philosophy that I'll be able to sleep peacefully next to someone I love!"

A revelation clicked for him then and there. "Love….I don't actually love Lyla."

It was then Lyla laid a paw on his shoulder and with a look of concern said "you okay?"

Jack gave her a side glance as he took another drag and replied "no, not particularly. Nightmares immediately after falling asleep, didn't even make it an hour."

Lyla let out a sigh as she leaned against the wall next to him. Crossing her arms she said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tried to push you to sleep with me….(Jack glances at her) oh well, not in that way, like sleep sleep. You didn't need much prompting with the other version really."

Jack let out a huff of amusement and replied "I recall, and don't apologize. I blame myself, and a little bit of Evelyn to I suppose. She convinced me I was improving and I thought if I slept next to someone it could prevent the nightmares. Thing is, I think I'd have to sleep next to someone I love…"

Lyla saw this coming. "And you don't love me. I know, it's okay."

Jack gave her a genuine look of surprise to which she scoffed at. "Oh come on don't give me that look. It was obvious to me pretty quickly. I clearly don't hold a candle to the vixen you talk to on the phone every day, Vivian. I mean you actually act alive when you're speaking to her! Your emotions are genuine whenever you're talking to her and about her and her kit, you're animated! You're never animated! Not to mention your tail swishes around! When you're talking to me it's like I'm talking to a wall that just happens to talk back! You force a smile, force a wag, I tell you a joke and you crack maybe a ghost of a smile and a chuckle at best! I NEVER, never see a light in your eyes! That is unless you're talking to her or her kit, and there's no way I can compete with that. I suspect the only reason got with me is to try and get her out of her head because you don't know what you're feeling about her. Which by the way makes you an idiot."

Jack shook his head a little and faced away from her, after another drag he said. "That's what everyone tells me. I can't help being an emotionally stunted wox….look I'm sorry, but I think it'd be safer for both of us if we broke things off now. I don't want to keep leading you around when it's clear to both of us that I'll never love you. Which sounds harsh, but we know it's true. So friends?"

Lyla nodded once and said, "yeah, I was way out of your league anyway. So friends…with benefits?"

Jack let out a bark of genuine laughter at that.

*the next day, Vivian*

Vivian had a productive couple of months. She started her classes at Sahara University for nursing, already impressing her professors with her knowledge and tenacity. She had elected to take online classes for the classes she could, it was easier since she had Nick to take care of and with the fact she was a fox. She didn't want to have to deal with any speciesist drama that might come with them knowing her species. Nick's schooling was in full swing and he was loving the new school, and making some friends to boot, something Vivian was extremely happy about.

Work at Sparrowtail kept her extremely busy and while it wasn't her dream job she found the work enjoyable. The work environment itself was fantastic and her boss was a splendid mammal, though she was getting tired of reminding him about his lunch dates. At least an hour every day consisted of her calling Jack and speaking to him, the 15 minutes were about whatever product he was testing. The rest was them chatting about anything and everything, he was even beginning to tell her some minor personal stories, which was a win.

Her weekends and weekdays used to sporadically consist of dates with Vince but now that they broke up those time slots were empty. Currently, she was filling one of those slots by sharing her lunch break with her best friend Skye who at all times demanded to be kept in the loop of things. Currently, Vivian had just finished telling her that she and Vince were no longer together.

Skye between a munch of her salad said "so you two broke up smoothly, just like that?"

Vivian nodded and replied, "yep. He explained that since foxes mate for life we take into account compatibility and stuff heavily. He understood that I determined we weren't and was okay with it, though I'm sure he's sulking a little bit."

Skye let out a "huh" before saying, "well having never dated a tod myself I never knew it'd be so…painless if things didn't work out."

After that they ate in silence for a few moments before Skye not so innocently asked, "…sooo, did you tell Jackson yet?"

Vivian shot Skye and look and said "no I haven't! Besides, why would he need to know that information?"

Skye rolled her eyes. "Duh, so he knows you're back on the market!"

Vivian let out a groan, Skye was relentless about this. "For the love of…he's dating someone for crying out loud! A female lynx named Lyla!"

Skye wasn't going to let up. "Well, maybe he's only dating her because you went and told him you were going on a date those months ago. He did mention he had a date too only after you said you had one after all. I bet the lynx offered and he was going to say no until you told him you were off the market!"

Knowing Skye was never going to let this go Vivian conceded. "Fine fine! If he asks about my relationship status I'll tell him. Happy?"

Giving a victory smirk Skye replied, "very…oh hey isn't your call supposed to happen soon?"

Vivian shook her head. "No today will be after work, he'll be out on patrol but in a low combat area, so he can talk. If something happens he can just mute the phone to take care of it, but it should be a fairly normal day for him."

*Jack*

Today was NOT a normal day. From the literal SECOND, he finished setting up in the building he was using and scoped in it appeared the ENTIRETY of Sangin decided to erupt into chaos and gunfire. This "low-combat zone" was awash with insurgents and teams were fighting across the area, including his. Things got so bad so fast they had to fall back into a three-story building and they were currently holding it. The second Bravo Platoon hit the ground from the choppers that dropped them in they were ambushed, three of the team were already injured, one of them pretty badly.

It had only been 15 minutes and he'd already racked up 12 kills as he fired at any insurgent in sight from his perch half a kilometer away. He was in a brown six-story abandoned linear office building, located on the fifth floor far back as he could be. He had a direct sightline to the front of the building via a straight road with buildings and alleyways on both sides. The team had already called for extract as they were pummeled from sides he couldn't see. He had already asked if he could reposition, the front door not seeing much action. But he was told to hold it by Bravo, "Don't you dare move NightOwl! You keep them from coming in the front door, we got this covered. Make em' scared to walk into the street!"

So that's what he was doing, the second he saw an insurgent he let a round fly dropping them. He suspected he was keeping a very large group at bay from traversing the street to rush his team in a frontal assault. Moments later a drone pilot proved him right."

"Bravo 1 this is Echo 2. I have sights over you, there's a large group massing in the sub-streets and alleyways of the road to your north. Must be at least 50, they haven't made a move yet. Your overwatch has got them scared to enter the main street and it's their only access point to your front. How copy?"

"Copy Echo 2! We are holding what we got! NightOwl keep doing what you're doing!"

Jack keyed his mic. "Copy. I will keep them contained, but if they grow some stones and rush out all at once I'll maybe get a quarter of them…odds are they'll do it soon. Be ready. they'll try and assault my position as well, I'm making plenty of noise but the echoing helps…. For now. When they find me I'll bug out as best I can, try and draw some of them off and make it to my own extraction."

Bravo was not a fan of that plan. "Negative! This entire sector is a warzone! You may be a badass but no one is that good! Hold what you got and our extract will carve its way to you! You'd never make your own exfil! How copy!?"

Jack simply replied, "I'll manage. That's an order." And left it at that. He outranked Bravo so Bravo had to obey it, and the lack of reply was all Jack needed. He wasn't going to risk the entire team he'd grown to know over the radio simply for him. Every single one of them had a family, immediate and/or extended so he had much less to lose. Besides he knew he could handle things and make it out, worse comes to worst he could call an emergency exfil or make it over to Bravo Platoon. One mammal was easier to move than over a dozen. As he scoped back in he muttered a phrase that he said every time he provided overwatch to Bravo platoon. "No folded flags."

A particularly ballsy, and stupid camel decided to poke their head out trying to spot him, and promptly lost it in the next half-second. The spray of red mist and the body hitting the dirt was enough to send whoever was gaining courage scurrying back. These insurgents may want to go to heaven and all….but they didn't want to lose their head in the process. Odds are these were little foot soldiers and not full-fledged jihads, it made things easier. But it also begged the question of where were the real deal?

It was this moment where Jack's sat phone rang, he answered it, and simultaneously took another camel's head. Normally whenever he received a call from Vivian while out on patrol he muted the line whenever he took a shot. But there simply wasn't enough time so the first thing Vivian heard through the phone was the loud boom of a 50. Cal sniper. Safe to say she was pulling the device away from her ear while immediately being concerned. She could hear the large amounts of gunfire in the background. "Jack are you okay!? What's going on!?"

Another boom. "Jack!?"

She was near frantic now. "Jack!? Talk to me!?"

Hearing her tone made Jack cringe a little. How to sugarcoat a warzone? "Sorry Viv! Busy day at work right now! I'll be fine but I'm going to have to call you back! Sorry!" He then hung up.

"JACK!?" The dial tone was her only answer. That really did not help her mental state of hearing Jack knee-deep in what actually sounded like a war. She just stared at her phone mutely and it was very fortunate Skye had just let herself in, intent of finally talking to Jack. Seeing Vivian in her state she quickly rushed over to her side and said "V what's wrong?"

Finally, something clicked for her that hadn't the entire time she'd been talking to Jack these last two months. With a sob, she croaked out. "Jack might die."

Jack's world quickly turned upside down after he hung up the phone. "NightOwl! NightOwl! this is Echo 2! You have a large mass of heavily armed insurgents approaching your building! At least 30! Your position is compromised! You have two mikes tops to squirrel out of there! They look like jihads!"

The jihads had found him. He wouldn't lie and say he hadn't been an absolute nuisance to them, but this show of force just for him? That was surprising, but then again so was the bounty on his head. After his first month, a bounty to be paid out on his death was issued and posters were posted in the streets. It wasn't nearly as high as the deer Chris Kyle's was, but it was generous enough. His solo missions are what really pissed them off he was sure, he eliminated three V. during them, and a couple ranking of Lieutenants. But sheesh an angry phone call would have sufficed.

Naturally, the situation did not improve. As the group coming for him advanced the group waiting to rush the platoon surged out into the streets in a mad dash. "Damn it! Bravo One get hunkered down that mass is heading your way! NightOwl bug out! Bug out!"

Jack's brain was working a mile a minute as Bravo called out over the radio "damnit NightOwl go! Get the hell out of there! You still have time! Fall back! We'll manage!"

They both knew that was a two-faced lie. If that group of insurgents made it to the front entrance they would be swarmed. For Jack it was an extremely easy choice to make, so he said the phrase he uttered every time, this time for all to hear. "No. No folded flags."

Scoping back in he made rounds fly. His 50. Cal ran empty fast as he dumped rounds down range nailing targets quickly thinning the herd. Once he heard the click he discarded Sally and grabbed his EBR immediately continuing to fire. Out of the group of 50 it ended up with less than half remaining when the jihads made their move. Unfortunately for them, they didn't know about his entry denial devices so the first ones to enter through the doors and windows quickly made that discovery…and died in the next nanosecond. This also took some of their friends with them, and there were still more traps in doorways inside the building. Jack was prepared for the assault, but what he wasn't prepared for was for the remainder of the group rushing down the street to turn heel and head straight for him. Oh, that and the camel that appeared on an adjacent balcony and shot an RPG right at him.

Luckily Jack had an escape route. To his left was a hole in the floor that led to the fourth floor…and potentially the third if he fell through the fourth. Seeing the RPG he had a spilt second to jump into the hole before the room he was previously in ceased to exist, a shame he had to leave Sally in there in his haste. But better that than dead he supposed so he quickly took up a position and began firing down the street again, he still had time. There were still six EDDs and two claymores that had to be triggered before he had to worry about anyone getting to him.

Taking a quick second Jack pulled up his camera feeds to the portable cameras he had set up. What he saw was not to his liking as the jihads had spotted the lasers to his traps, not falling for the same trick twice. Another unfortunate turn was they were smart, a quick throw of a rock had a wire trip and an EDD going off. That was something he was going to have to work on, later obviously. Pretty soon the rest of his EDDs were fooled into exploding, so all that was left was his two claymores, one on each staircase. One was set off about 20 seconds later killing three, and the second one was found and set off with a stick. Jack huffed at that, he REALLY had to fix that.

Jack's time was up. They were moving up the stairs now and would be on him and second, how unfortunate for them. Jack left the room he was in and moved to the closest staircase where he heard a brief conversation in Arabic. "Come on! He's just one mammal!"

"That one mammal has killed a lot of us!"

"He's not god!"

The time for some corny action hero line was now. In perfect Arabic, he replied "I am no god! I'm a monster." He then pulled the pin on the frag grenade he had in his paw and tossed it down the stairs before running toward the next staircase. Going through a doorway to reach the next staircase he was quickly pissed as a camel was waiting for him and sent his EBR out a window in a swipe of his hoof. He'd already lost one gun today, two was just an insult, so he did snag any rational mammal would do in this scenario…..he hit them with a table.

This all happened in a span of a few seconds. They sent his gun flying, he sent their's flying, he shoved them back, picked up a table by one end, and bitch slapped them with the other end. The table miraculously didn't break, but the jihad's jaw did, they didn't have time to contemplate that thought. Jack used the table to pin the jihad to the wall and pulled his 1911 firing three rounds through the table. He then dumped the rest of his mag in the ones that had just reached the top of the stairs down the hall.

He then made a quick decision, he had to get down to the first floor to bug out. He was now down to his pistol and melee options, shooting his way down the stairs would drain his ammo, and the staircase was too narrow for his shoge. The solution was then presented to him, the staircase was narrow so they had to come one at a time, and they couldn't use their AKs in that tight of spaces. So he'd carve a path down, literally. Reaching into his boots he pulled out two boot knives and leaped down the first set of steps.

He did just as he said, he carved a path, slashing and stabbing before any had a chance to react. None of the jihads expected him to brazenly rush them with a set of knives so they were ill-prepared to fight back. Their mistake for bringing guns to a knife fight. When the boot knife in his left paw got stuck in a rams head he abandoned it and threw the one in his right into the next jihad. Then he pulled out his karambit and went right back to work now with karambit and claw.

He fought ruthlessly, he fought quickly, and he fought savagely. The fight down the staircase was bloody and brutal and he was covered in the blood of his enemies by the time he was on the landing just before the first floor. Whatever jihads had been left on these stairs had fled to the first-floor intent to gun him down when he descended, those left from out front joined them. Those that had been on the other staircase were dead, a mixture of claymore, frag grenade, and his 1911. No mammal had dared try and go up the stairs, as they were too scared. One, one mammal was carving them to pieces like it was nothing. They may welcome death, but the nature of their deaths, and who was giving it to them, that was another matter. The mammal they were facing truly was a ruthless monster. That scared them.

Jack halted on the landing, knowing by hearing and scent what awaited him below. Wiping the blood off his blade he sheathed it before reloading his 1911 and holstered it. He still had to save his ammo, besides, he had a better idea. Reaching behind his hydration pack on his back he pulled out his shoge, he'd been wanting to use it and the first floor was pretty open while still having ample cover positions. It was perfect, all that was left to do was create the opportunity to get down there. He solved that problem with a flashbang grenade and the second it went off he leaped over the banister.

He landed and immediately made his shoge dance, and he danced with it. It was a deadly and beautiful dance, one he had done many times, and it never grew old. The jihads had little time to react as he moved through the room spinning and arcing the blade, twisting it, stabbing it, redirecting it with a movement of his body. Quick and easy manipulations of his body sent the blade flying in every direction he desired to quickly dispatch his enemies. Throats were slit, heads and arteries severed, hearts punctured, fingers lost as the jihads stood no chance against him.

Little did he realize it was all getting caught on film, one Jihad had a camera they were using to record for propaganda. Killing the NightOwl would have made an excellent recruiting video, but instead, all that was captured was mesmerizing death. The amateur filmmaker was the last to die, his severed head being the last thing to roll onto the frame of the dropped camera before the feed cut. The video would be recovered of course, and promptly uploaded online to circulate and go viral.

When the left enemy fell Jack was left panting and the blade of his shoge steadily dripping blood to the floor. He stood in the center of the room the chain of his weapon clasped tightly in his paws as he scanned for any sight of movement from a mammal still breathing. He saw none. All heard was a shocked, "damn."

This had Jack sharply turning to face the sound as he readied to send the shoge dancing again. But what he saw granted him pause, it was Bravo platoon, all of them, and at the front was Bravo and his brother Echo. Jack had been so intensely focused on the fight he hadn't heard Bravo platoon over the radio trying to contact him, or them deciding to rally and come and rescue him once their evac came. But it didn't matter because here they were, bursting in ready to either save him or avenge him. But to their great shock there he stood, alive, covered in blood, and surrounded by dead mammals. But, besides all of that, the only thing that was said next was by a very excited Echo. "He's a fox! That means I win the bet!"

There was a cacophony of groans.

So yeah, I'm not dead yet! I know it's been four months since I updated this story and I'm sorry. But life takes precedence and the muse has to hit me to write, and as I'm working on two other stories that muse flips and changes. So a lot happened this chapter, let me know what you think!

Leave a fav/follow/review/comment/kudo if you enjoyed this chapter and story overall, it's all appreciated! And I appreciate you all sticking with me and story. I have decided to accelerate the timetable in the plot to wrap this story up and hit the key points. I no longer wish to drag this story out with 10 chapters just to get to one thing. This doesn't mean I'm losing interest in the story, just I don't want to be writing this for another two years. This story was published first in 2018 and I've been dragging ass. This story needs to get done and that means shortcuts, mostly in the form of cutting out a bunch of soldier Jack chapters in favor of focusing on the real plot. As well as a few other things.

That means next chapter Jack is back stateside! Which means what you think! But maybe not all that you think….

So until then this is TheConcernedF0X signing off! See you next time!