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Savannah Central - The Red Lion Apartment Suites - Forest Penthouse Suite - Den 23A Tuesday - 7:57 PM - Dark Overcast Skies / Pouring Rain

Murana had just finished a bowl of noodles from the local Red Panda Noodle Express. It wasn't anything to write home about, but it filled the belly and that was what mattered right now to her. She didn't feel altogether willing to come home and face Anthony tonight. She knew he'd already be at home chugging away a cold one, most likely watching some sports. She highly doubted Zoey would be around given their altercation earlier, but it was hard to tell with their neighbor.

The sky had opened up and the downpour was commencing in earnest. She cursed inwardly, berating herself for not stopping by her bank to pick up a trench coat to at least cover her suit. It was getting soaked through and her belly cuts weren't being helped by the damp wetness. The electrical thunderstorms were starting to brew again over Zootopia. This time they seemed a bit closer than they were the previous night, almost hovering right overhead in Savannah Central.

A buzz in her pocket caused her to shuffle to the side under a storefront awning to prevent her cell from getting wet from the rain. She tapped it on and saw who it was. She rolled her eyes and sighed as she brought it to her ear and answered it, "Yes, Ron?"

"Boss!" His voice boomed through the speaker, making her cringe at the volume of it. "Where were you this afternoon? We had a ton of new accounts and filing that were quite unexpected! I had to figure out half of it all by myself without you around. I thought you said you were coming back here today."

"Here?" She said incredulously. "You're still at the bank?"

"Yes, Boss." He affirmed matter-of-factly.

"Ron, we close at six. What are you still doing there?" She barked. "I'm not paying for overtime if that is what you're going after!"

"No, no, Boss! I was just...well, you didn't really specify my work hours and being the boss and all, I figured you usually work odd hours to begin with: coming early and leaving late sort of thing. So I was just staying behind in anticipation that you'd return before we closed." He explained succinctly, almost rehearsed in the ease of his reasoning.

"Be that as it may, I am on salary and you are hourly. You are to work from eight to six every day." She commanded, somewhat upset to be having to clarify this for her secretary. "Things came up today that I couldn't get out of and didn't I say earlier that I probably wasn't going to come back in?"

"Oh right, of course...but I was hoping you'd at least pop back in since I had a few questions here about certain aspects of our accounting methods with regards to the offshore accounts." Ron began, the tone in his voice indicating he was getting ready to unleash a lot more.

"Ignore them for now." She said quickly to cut him off. "I appreciate what you did with them yesterday, but for now they are not your concern anymore. Is there anything else you wish to ask, Ron? It is getting late, you should be going home and I need to rest for tomorrow."

"All right, Boss." She could just sense his whole body sag on the other end of the phone. "See you tomorrow then." He clicked off.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she plopped the phone back into her pocket and took stock of herself before stepping back out into the pouring rain. Flattening her ears back, she stuffed her hands into her pockets as she strode across the sidewalks, sidestepping multiple mammals huddled underneath their flimsy umbrellas. She stepped into the foyer of her apartment complex sopping wet, shaking off the droplets in the designated area meant for such a purpose. Satisfied she had removed most of the offending liquid, she headed up the elevator to her penthouse floor.

She gave her keys a jangle, turning them in the lock as she opened the door. Walking in, she spied a rather solemn Anthony on the couch doing exactly what she had expected him to be doing. His eyes drifted over to her, a small frown etched onto his muzzle, before they wandered back to the screen. It was clear he had probably plowed through an entire six-pack before she arrived and was already on his second helping. This was not going to end well.

"And my better half returns home." He said under his breath, loud enough for her to hear, before taking another swig.

"Good to see you too, Anthony." She replied icily, dropping any pet names she would have used in any other situation for him.

"Late night at work, I take it?" He asked, his eyes still glued to the screen.

She shrugged. "It's to be expected by someone in my position."

"Right." He said dryly. "Because people like me can't attain such positions and aren't required to stay behind for that sweet salary."

She dropped the keys unceremoniously into the plate on the counter, delivering a rather loud racket that caused Anthony to tighten back his ears and bare a few teeth. "Is that what you think about how I regard you? Like you're beneath me?"

Taking another sip, "Well, why not? You didn't really need me for my money, that's for sure. Just some warm body to hold onto your arm and make you look respectable as a lady of influence in Zootopia. What could a bigwig CEO want with a lowly cop, huh?"

Murana folded her arms tightly, staring at him. "What I needed was not your money, but your love. You had something that I couldn't quite place at the time and I fell for it. I fell for you. Had nothing to do with your standing or mine; your 'position' or mine. I don't stay because I need to look respectable. I stay because I believe in the commitment and vows I made to you."

"Oh yeah? The vows?" He scoffed, his thoughts clearly not on the present.

"Yeah. In fact, today I could have easily taken another mammal to bed if I so chose, but I chose to keep true to you and I rebuffed his advances." She blurted, feeling rather hurt at his callous attitude.

"You were looking for tail then today, huh?" He set his beer down and faced her a bit more directly. "Is that why you are home late?"

"What? No!" She flustered. "I'm just saying..."

"Sounds to me you went out purposefully looking." He reasserted a bit more forcefully.

"Ugh, you are drunk, Anthony. I am not having this ridiculous discussion right now. If you really don't want this marriage to work, just say so. Grow a pair, be a male and just tell me straight up if this relationship isn't working out for you." She glared back at him defiantly.

She had reached the end of her rope with this inane attitude of his. She had no idea what had gotten into Anthony today, but it was clear something was bothering him very much and he was unjustly taking it out on her. She understood that his job had been a bit more stressful of late, but he always seemed to keep his chipper demeanor at home whenever he doffed his uniform and slapped on a pair of sweatpants and tank-top. He never really let anything get to him, until today.

Taking the bait, he stood up suddenly, rattling the coffee table and nearly tipping the bottle perched on it. Ignoring the brief commotion he had caused, he marched up to her and looked down upon her. He was over a foot taller, but it did little to intimidate Murana. She didn't back down from his menace. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of booze on his breath, but she did not let that distract her from returning his ire.

"I don't feel respected for what I do in this marriage. For all the times I have covered for you with dinner, whenever you came home late with no time to cook. For all the times when I had to pick you up and take you to appointments because you refuse to get yourself a car and I have to pick you up in the squad car. Which, mind you, is against regulations, but I do it for you anyway." He rattled off, with clear intent for more.

"And I appreciate all that." She tapped a foot. "And I do respect you, Anthony. I appreciate all that you do for me."

"Then how do you show it?" He spread his arms wide, claws out in frustration. She looked at him in silence, unsure of how to answer. "You're very hard to live with, Murana. You are stubborn, unrelenting and can sometimes be a bit unsympathetic. I don't know all that happened to you when you were younger, because you never want to talk about it. It's like you don't even trust me enough to let me know what causes you nightmares during the night."

"That's a bit personal." She retorted.

He huffed, "Of course it is! Everything is too personal for you! Ever since we got married, I have revealed just about everything about me, but I barely know anything about you." He jabbed a finger at her. "I figured maybe you were just shy and that in time, you'd open up and I'd fall in love with you all over again. Now I know that you aren't shy, you just don't care about this marriage enough to bother telling me anything about yourself. Why you didn't even tell me you couldn't have kids until today and just let me think you wanted nothing more than scruffy adopts as cubs."

"You were going pretty good there, but now you're losing the high ground here, Mister." She warned. "I suggest you back down now. You have no idea what you're stepping into with me."

"No, you listen." He growled, causing her to stop short. "Just for once, I'd like to feel like the head of this family. I've always felt inferior compared to you, like how I am not the sole breadwinner here. You tend to make all the decisions for this family. I had to sell my small apartment and drop everything to come live here with you after marriage and I didn't complain once. Even if it is for only a few moments here and there, I'd like to feel like I can provide for you. To provide and help usher in a new cub into our family, but now I find out that I'll never be able to do even that with you!"

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. It is a very sensitive subject with me." Murana finally broke eye contact, looking away at the screen. "I'm just not ready to talk about it with anyone."

"Well, I'm not just anyone. I am your husband!" He rapped a fist on his chest. "Is your 'past' part of the reason why you keep that picture of yourself on your bed stand? Honey, if you can't put your faith in me, then who can you place your faith in?"

"I'm just not ready, Anthony." She turned her eyes back to him, trying to re-steel her resolve. "Please don't push this onto me right now. It's not a good time."

He snarled, his anger coming back. "Then when is it a good time? Next week? Month? Year? What this marriage needs is a little trust!"

"No, what this marriage needs is a bit more understanding!" She shot back, getting up on her tiptoes to get level with him.

"No, Murana!" He roared, spittle flying. "What this marriage needs...is one less husband. It's feeling a bit crowded right now!"

That stalled her rebuttal cold. She blinked at him as he swept past her, not even bothering to grab the keys to let himself back into the apartment. The walls shook at the slamming of the door, no doubt alarming some of the neighbors in the floors and rooms around her. She knew she would be receiving a call from her landlord the next morning over this fight.

Glancing over into the dining area, she spotted two plates arranged across from each other. One was already empty with nothing but crumbs. He had stayed up waiting for her to return earlier. She never showed. Who knew what was going on in his head while he was eating alone, expecting her to show up at any moment and appreciate the gesture of sincerity in his efforts of making up for earlier.

A movement out of the corner of her eye directed her attention to the glass panel door leading into the small suite that her friend Zoey occupied. She was sitting there, regarding her with an odd look. No telling how long she had been there listening to them argue. She held the gaze a moment longer before scampering off on all fours deeper into the wall and out of sight.

Murana collapsed onto the couch, the tears that were threatening her all afternoon finally overtook her. She wept bitterly over all she had lost today. She lost the support of her son, Steven. She lost the trust of her neighbor, Zoey. She lost the chance of loving a new kit, Max. She most likely lost the love of her husband, Anthony. She couldn't imagine this week getting any worse and it barely even started. She broke down completely and cried herself to sleep.

---

Zootopia - Central Districts - Tundra Town to Happy Town Tuesday - 10:48 PM - Overcast with Frequent Electrical Currents / Light Rain

She snorted, jolting herself awake as the buzzing in her suit pocket woke her up. She swore as she flipped over onto her side on the couch, her paw digging deep and grappling the phone out, swiping the screen to see who was calling her at this ungodly hour. She narrowed her eyes as she saw a familiar number, a smug, grinning face staring back at her with green irises. Not exactly the person she wanted to be talking to this late at night. She tapped the answer button and placed it to her ear.

"Mrs. Wolford? Is everything all right?" A surprisingly concerned voice reverberated through the speaker.

"Yes, Officer Wilde. Everything is fine." She responded flatly, wanting nothing more than to get back to sleep.

"Nick will do, ma'am." He reminded her. "Look, I'm all for buddies coming over unannounced for a good time watching the game or playing videos, but when they are passed out stone cold drunk on my bed, I kinda have a problem with that."

"What? Did you call so I could pick him up?" This was the last thing she needed right now.

There was a slight pause on the phone. Sensing the tone in her voice, he changed tack, "No, that won't be necessary. I'm just concerned for you. He was raving something fierce when he stumbled through my doorway. A lot of it...concerning you."

"Yeah, we got in a fight. Happens all the time in marriage." She rejoined swiftly.

"That's not the type of fight this sounded like." Nick began.

"I do not believe this is any of your business, Wilde. My family's affairs are our own." She cut him off sharply.

His voice changed, a bit of an undercurrent of indignation slithering through his words. "Mrs. Wolford, your husband is my friend and one of my partners on the force. What affects him, affects me. When we have difficulties in life, we have to learn to rely on our friends to help support us through the tough times. Officer Hopps taught me that. Anthony chose my doorstep to come to and I'll do everything I can to help him through this. Who do you have to rely on, Mrs. Wolford? None of us can do this life alone. Who do you have to open up to about this?"

The question hung there like an indictment. Without answering, Murana turned the phone off and let it sit there on the coffee table. She stared at it for a long time before getting up, leaving it there and padding over to her bedroom to get dressed for the evening. She had just slipped off her suit blouse when a small, crumpled piece of paper fell to the floor. She unfurled it, having completely forgotten she had stuffed it into her new suit back at the office during her impromptu wardrobe change.

It was that tip she had procured from Chris at ZNN regarding the rapist sheep living in Tundra Town. One of his common outings was a local pub just on the east side of the district and according to the scrawl on the paper, tonight was one of his scheduled visits to that establishment. If she didn't act now, she would miss the chance at him again until three days from now. She didn't have the time to go shadowing his movements waiting for an opening when she already had the knowledge right here in her paws as to his next destination.

Steeling her nerves, she fought back the urge to roll back into bed and lifted the mattress up off the box spring to reach her new suit given to her by Billy. She had made a brief stop at the homestead before heading to Mercy Hospital and lacked a better place to hide it on a moment's notice. She marveled at the looser feel of the material and purred at the feel of her hook gauntlets as she fastened them around her wrists.

Curious to test them out, she pressed one of her palm buttons and a hook flared out, zipping across the room before making a huge hole in the wall, spitting chunks of whitewall across the grass carpeting. "Shit!" She exclaimed as she pressed the button again and the hook retracted and folded in its fins back into her gauntlet. "Holy crap, that is fast." She shook her head, knowing she would have to caulk that damage on her own without the knowledge of the apartment complex.

Cringing at the smell, she took the last remaining can of skunk musk and sprayed it on her suit. Although she loved her son dearly, she would be glad of the day that she wouldn't have to use his scent anymore to mask her own. Maybe she'd ask Billy the next time she saw him to see if he could invent something that could mask her scent without the usage of other mammals and potentially implicate them in the process.

Murana opened the verandah sliding doors, breathing in the small sting of chlorine. The odor whipped through the wind generated by the electrical storm, which was now in full swing. Streaks of lightning danced across the sky at swift intervals, illuminating the buildings below in a cavalcade of colors. This was far worse than she had anticipated. As dangerous as it was, she had a mission tonight. She would take the lower buildings to traverse Zootopia. The higher ones were just too risky and she did not want to be burnt to a crisp by an errant bolt since skunk musk was highly flammable.

Leaping off the balcony like she usually did, she aimed for the lower of the complexes around her suite. She yelped loudly as she swung haphazardly through the air, unacquainted with the new speed and nuances of these hook wires. She smashed side first into a window, forming a small crack as she cried out. She began to fall as she hastily shot out her other gauntlet hook towards an opposing building. Securely hooked, she pressed the other button, curled up her first trial and swung over to the next.

"Sweet pile of chicken feathers!" She swore, swaying over to the next structure. This was far different than her previous setup. It would take a minute for her to get the hang of these new upgrades.

With some finagling, Murana eventually made it over to the eastern side of Tundra Town, albeit in a fashion that took far longer than she would have liked. The bulk of the storm was further to the west, resulting in far less lightning on this edge of the city. She skidded to a halt just above the Ivory Bun, a rather prominent pub that catered to winter-furred mammals with all sorts of liquor and bar foods.

Balancing over the edge of the curved rooftop, she surveyed the street below. It would probably be another hour or two before her mark would leave and blunder back home completely drunk. It would be a rather long stakeout, but if it meant one less vile individual in the world, she was willing to stick it out. Curling her tail around her, she sat down and prepared for a long sit.

Shaking the small flecks of snow drifting across this part of Zootopia, she sniffed the air and looked westward towards Happytown. The fur on the back of her neck was standing on end. She sensed that the storm was accumulating over that district. A hard pinging in the back of her mind galvanized her to her feet. The central nucleus of the clouds was over Tundra Town last night when Pale Moon Orphanage was struck. It was now over Tail Hollow! This was not some coincidental storm!

"I always suspected it to be you." A familiar voice echoed off from her left. "I just had to be sure before I confronted you."

"Confronted me?" She turned to the orange-hooded figure, wearing a contrasting set of fatigue pants. She picked up a whiff of his smell, the side of her lip rising in disgust. "It's you."

"Guess it isn't hard to figure out my scent, considering I don't have my own son's musk to cover it up." Chris retorted, pulling back his hoodie and revealing his brown ears. "It also wasn't hard to figure out that every time I gave Steven a 'tip,' it would somehow end up with you coming to call and the cops are left with a burnt body."

"So what? You going to turn me in? How did you even follow me in the first place?" She scoffed, disliking Chris even more now. She made a mental note to remind Steven later to not associate with this prick of a maned wolf.

"Actually no, I came here to talk you out of something and I did not follow you. In fact, that 'tip' I gave you to give to Steven was actually a red herring. It was actually meant for you to meet me here so we could talk face to face without masks. From one vigilante to another." He offered, raising a paw out for understanding.

Murana clucked her tongue, "Vigilante...is that what you think I am?"

"Well, aren't you?" His ears flicked in confusion as he tilted his head. "We both fight for justice and defeat the bad guys before they can harm anyone else, sometimes doing a few things outside the law just so that we can serve it."

"Bad guys? Justice? You sound just like a child. Things aren't as black and white in the real world." She admonished, crossing her arms. "These people are killers, vile and despicable. They do not need to be 'defeated' or jailed. They need to be put down for good."

"That isn't how heroes work!" He shouted, getting awkwardly angry. "We fight to protect the innocent and put the criminals behind bars. Tie them up and let the police handle the rest."

"Heroes?" She asked dubiously. "You're a greater fool than I took you for. The cops aren't going to hold these despicable mammals for long. There will come a time where some loop hole will be exploited or lack of substantial evidence will be proposed and they'll be loosed again on the populace, free to harm and molest innocent females and children again. There is no justice to be had here in Zootopia except the justice that we make for ourselves!"

"But is killing really the answer? Does burning them alive make you any better than they are?" He reasoned, taking another step towards her, hoping he could subdue her some other way. He realized that rationalizing it out with her wasn't exactly going to work.

"Who cares what that makes me?! What matters is that they no longer can harm anyone else ever again!" She spat.

"Yet you are harming them." Chris pointed out, taking another step closer.

"They gave up their rights to live the moment they hurt others." She concluded firmly. "I know what you're trying to do and it won't work. I have my own mission and you cannot stop me from it." She looked back down briefly at the street. "This sheep was not real was he?"

Chris shook his head, taking another step. "Nope, he's real. However, he did none of the things I said he did. That note was just to get you up here."

"Well now that you had your talk with me, you can move along now. I have to get back home and it would be unwise to follow me." She warned, her eyes flinging daggers.

"Knowing you'll just be out here again killing someone else and burning them to a crisp, I can't really just sit back and let it happen. I wouldn't be able to live with myself." He shifted a hind paw back and brought out a nunchuck, letting half of it dangle down the side of his leg. His sleeve rolled back from the motion, revealing the scratches on his arm. "I stopped you last night from getting a clean kill, and I'll stop you again tonight."

"Last night?" Her eyes grew wide, ears flattening as she realized where those scratches came from. "That was you busting up those cats and ruining my perfect shot?" A low growl rumbled deep in her throat. She didn't like it when others interfered into her affairs.

"Of course! I also knew about their deal going down that night and knew you'd be there too! I had to stop you from killing anyone else." He began spinning the nunchuck in a lazy circle.

"I knew I should have trusted my gut feeling about you the moment we met. Sly like a fox, one would say." She susurrated. Lowering a paw to her belt, she unclasped a pouch where her Kunai were kept. "You look like a fox and smell like one too. Why should I have expected anything less?"

Chris's snout twitched in irritation at the word. "What did you call me?"

"You heard me." She grinned, ready for the fight now. "Only a fox would be so conniving to come up with some lie to get me to come out here just to talk. What are you going to do next, hustle me for my money? Like every other fox in town?"

"They're not like that! I'm not a fox, I'm a maned wolf!" His calm breaking, memories of his past coming back to haunt him as this bully of a wolf was calling him names.

"Keep telling yourself that, kid." Murana chuckled, her paw dipping into the pouch. "The resemblance is uncanny. Did you dye your fur because you sympathized with them? Wanting to be like one? It's not like you have to try hard with the way you look." She could see his composure failing, it wouldn't take much to overtake him in a state of angst.

"Stop it right now! I'm warning you!" He barked, his teeth bared. The hackles on the back of his neck were raised, he was ready to pounce.

"Oh look, the poor, little fox is offended." She regarded him a moment. "Actually, I stand corrected. You're really not that little, you're more like a fox on stilts."

Chris howled in fury as he rushed forward, swinging his nunchuck forward with vicious velocity. This was the opening she needed from him to gain the upper hand. In a flash, she whipped out two Kunai and flung them through the air. The maned wolf yipped in surprise as each blade caught the folds of his arm sleeve, throwing him back against the nearby rooftop vent duct causing his nunchuck to sag from his entrapped paw. The metal pierced the aluminum siding, causing the hot air within to spew out into a plume of white, hot mist in the chill night.

Using his fleeting disorientation from the blast, she hurtled through the air, elbow forward to knock him out. He caught wind of her movement just in time to duck his head as she slammed into the duct inches from his ears, denting it deeply. His left arm still pinned, he thrust his right paw upwards in an uppercut. Reacting insanely fast, she leaned to the side and blocked his attack before placing a paw on each shoulder for leverage and kneeing him in the groin.

"Ugh...low blow..." The maned wolf gasped, sinking to his knees and dropping the nunchuk with a clatter.

"Do you yield?" She pressed, bearing down on him with claws out.

Looking to be in great pain, he gingerly rose his eyes to meet hers before uttering defiantly. "Never."

Murana's eyes widened with disbelief just as his leg swept her off her feet. She managed to throw her upper body backwards as her hind paws left the gravel top, giving her the momentum to catch her fall in a backwards somersault and vaulting off her paws back onto her feet. Taking the opportunity, he yanked his arm down, tearing the fabric of his sleeve and leaving two gaping holes where the Kunai has speared it to the duct.

"Aw man...that was my favorite hoodie!" Chris smacked the ground before rising up with his nunchuck in full swing.

Murana quickly brought up two more Kunai, their tips jamming upwards through the chain-link hoops connecting the two wooden ends of Chris's weapon. She had to rear her head back to avoid the flailing end as it swept past her snout, barely clipping her nose and stinging her cuts there. She jerked back hard, tugging the maned wolf forward and causing him to lurch on one hind paw. His inertia was beyond the point of recovery as his eyes bulged at the clothesline of her arm ramming into his chest, flipping him onto his back with a whine.

Hacking up his lungs at the loss of air from the impact, she descended upon him with a knee deep into his neck, repressing his ability to draw in precious air. She calmly looked down on him, "You're a young cub trying to play in adult business. You are simply not equipped to handle someone who has had decades more experience at this than you. You belong at ZNN, Chris, not out here. Do not follow me."

Straining his airway to open, paws frantically trying to remove her oppressive knee closing off his windpipe, he managed to croak, "I helped...stop those criminals last...night. We...can help each other!"

Sneering, she returned her attention back on the storm brewing over Happytown. Frequent lightning strikes were cascading down into the district. Too specific and obvious to be just coincidence. She needed to get there fast now to allay her suspicions. "You only beat those cats up because they were dumb grunts, completely untrained in the art of killing. Go home, little fox. Take your false confidence and do not follow. This is your last warning." She spoke without even looking back down at him.

"If you...won't stop killing, then...I will have to...stop you." He wheezed out, her leg digging deeper with each word to get him to shut up. He was on the verge of passing out, legs thrashing as he struggled for air.

"Very well. Then I have no choice." Murana serenely lowered her left wrist and began to coat his hoodie with a pungent oil.

"What...are you doing?" He gurgled.

"Making sure you don't follow me." She responded with chilling tranquility.

He began to flounder, his entire body trying to buck the moment he realized what she was going to do. She peacefully lowered her right paw and at the moment of releasing the hold on his neck, she lit him on fire. Without hesitation, she sprinted across the rooftop and leaped over the edge. She was already hooked onto her first building when she heard Chris wailing. Hysterically, he managed to get the hoodie off and flung it far away from him, dropping to the ground and rolling to get the rest of the flames off his person.

He was off in hot pursuit. Furious that his favorite and most sentimental piece of clothing was now ruined. He took a more circuitous route across the rooftops, unable to take a more direct route due to Murana's ability to just hook her way across. He almost despaired at being able to catch up until she took a rather curious detour through Savannah that led her straight to Happytown. Seeing an opening, he went for it and cut through several blocks to herd her at the entrance to that small district.

Pulling out another pair of nunchuks attached to the loops of his belt, he soared off one building just a few floors higher than the one he spotted Murana on. In mid-air, he chucked his weapon at her legs with stunning accuracy. It snapped around her ankles, causing her to cry out in shock as she tumbled forward onto her face.

She rolled over onto her back, scrunching up her legs so her knees were up to her chin just as Chris's paws hit the deck. While still on her back, she flipped her arms around so her palms were on the ground before exploding her legs out at Chris who was charging at her prone form. The impact of her hind paws on his chest catapulted him back across the rooftop, causing him to wobble backwards over the edge. With a small whimper, he teetered and fell over backwards.

Untangling herself from the nunchuk, she looked over into the street to see him desperately hanging onto a flagpole, his hind paws clawing for some pawhold on the draping flag. She smirked, "I hope you've learned your lesson. Now be a good fox and stay down."

Ignoring his protestations, she resumed her sole pursuit of reaching Tail Hollow Orphanage. Murana had just vaulted over the final cooling unit when she beheld something in the sky she thought she would never see again. The bottom of a huge, iron structure was peeking out through the clouds. Its sides flanked by gargantuan, purple ballast balloons, windows built into the siding of each. At the front of the aircraft was a dipping hunk of metal shaped like a vulture's beak and several propellers on the back end keeping the thing aloft. The symbol on the upright tail fin was that of a skull and crossbones.

It was from this structure that two massive cannons were protruding from the front of each balloon, aimed downward at Tail Hollow and blasting the roof off with concentrated bolts of pure lightning. She could hear the screaming of all the kids and the anguished cries of mammals as the smell of burning fur hit her nose.

As much as the sight of that iron vulture struck fear to her very core, she knew she needed to get to Max and get him out of there immediately. Swinging from each railing of the descending fire escape, she launched herself through the third story window, shattering it into a million pieces as she rolled in onto her hind paws. In an instant, she was bursting out of the room and down the halls.

She could see multitudes of cubs fleeing to and fro in abject terror. Bulky shapes were rounding them up, picking up two or even three at a time underneath each arm. Without warning, she launched a hook into the shoulder of the nearest canine, hearing his roar of pain as its fins flared out within his flesh. Heaving it back as she ran towards him, he flopped to the floor. She was immediately upon his back, driving a Kunai deep into the base of his skull as she twisted it savagely. His entire body went slack.

The dropped kids looked at her in fright, running away from her as if she was one of the others. Flouting the dead corpse beneath her, she tore down the hallway. Another canine emerged from the door nearby. She sprayed the slow burning oil onto his face in passing, wrapping an arm around his neck before flipping over and slamming him face first into the floor. There, she let loose a small blast of flame from her other wrist, letting him writhe in screaming agony as she continued on towards Max. She began to pant as she could feel the slight tearing of her stitches on her abdomen, but she couldn't give up now.

The biggest collection of screams was coming from the central foyer as it seemed the kids were being rounded up together and being transported by bunches in massive rope nets, being lifted into the sky to be enveloped in the cargo bay of the aircraft above. Each group of kids were batched up by type and the adult caretakers were cordoned off by themselves at the far side of the room. Murana was on each intruder in a heartbeat; twisting limbs, gouging out eyes, flipping them over the railing to the floor below and swiftly killing many.

"Stop, I say!" A lilting voice boomed out in the gloom, the flashes of lightning above doing little to illuminate his face. "Such grace! Such form! But you will go no further or our poor, dear Matron gets it."

The figure snatched the panther from the pile of sniveling adults at his feet and held a jagged scimitar to her neck. Murana was not daunted by the bluff and continued onward, tripping another lackey who dared get in her way. She could see Max huddled alongside other kits with his knees up to his chest, hands bound behind his back. He didn't even register her presence, his mind lost somewhere else.

"Such a shame." The figure clucked, his voice way too jovial for the nature of his work. "I do not like to resort to such measures, such violence. Killing is so unbecoming, but if I am forced to it then I shall!" With a scream from another caretaker looking on, he sliced the panther's throat from ear to ear. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she gurgled and crumbled to the floor, crimson staining the wooden floorboards. "Such a waste of a beautiful female. Ah, but such is life."

"Let them go or I will kill you." She said with seething malice. All muscles in her body taut and her heart racing.

"Hmm, that voice..." The figure mused before stepping out into the light to reveal himself.

He was a fox like any other, but garishly dressed in a navy blue captain's vest with gold buttons down each side of his breast. His wrist cuffs were of bright red along with the sash at his waist line holding up a pair of cyan pants. Murana was rooted to the spot at the sight of him, memories of dread and terror flooding her senses, but the fox did not notice or care.

"I can tell you mean business. I do too." The fox quickly hauled a giraffe calf up by the scruff of his long neck, legs kicking at him in the air as he was held aloft, braying and crying. Without ceremony, the intruder drove the scimitar through the kid's stomach as the legs dropped lifeless. Pulling the cold steel out, he flung the small body aside. "I don't need all of them alive, you see, just a few. So what is it going to be?"

He reached over and picked up Max by the neck, lifting him high into the air. The raccoon gave no resistance, his limbs and tail just hanging lifeless already. At the sight of him being the next to die, Murana's resolve broke. She fell to her knees as she stared on in helpless agony, whining as the wounds on her stomach began to seep again. The demons of her past were being made manifest before her very eyes and she broke into a cold pant, unable to handle the panic attack that was threatening her calm and causing her to go mad.

"Don...Karnage." She breathed.

The fox cocked his head to the side, lowering his scimitar from Max's abdomen. "Yes? It is I, the great pirate, Don Karnage! But how did you know who I am?"

He flung the compliant Max over his shoulder before advancing on the wolf, his scimitar held out before him. He picked up her scent, his nose crinkling at first from the skunk stench permeating around her, but then filtering out her true scent from within the mess of musk. He began to laugh heartily, a big, boisterous bellow that rose from his belly.

"Ha! What a glorious day it is today, men! Not only have we succeeded in two successful raids in the heart of this wretched city, but our long lost sister has returned to us!" He waved his scimitar around as if drumming up applause for this momentous occasion.

"No..." Was all Murana was able to utter as she felt like a little cub again in the face of this monstrous nightmare from the past.

"Ah-ah-ah, though..." Karnage snickered, as he pointed his weapon at her lower abdomen. "Last I recall, we did not leave on very good terms, did we? Oh no...! We each left a mark on the other." He inclined his head, flopping his left ear down as her eyes were drawn towards the healed flesh of what looked like bite marks that had ripped out portions of it.

Shaking his head in mirth, he signaled some men to come bind her. It was clear she was not going to be putting up any more of a fight. Readjusting Max on his shoulder, he knelt down until he was face to face with her. Taking her chin in his paw, he forced her to look directly into his tawny eyes.

"Welcome home, Pet." He cackled with glee.