Panting heavily, Ozone collapsed on the ground. He covered the bullet wound in his stomach with his left forepaw while he coughed up more blood. He couldn't feel his right paw at all and his back leg was screaming out in agony. His skull was a raging wildfire now while he bled out from the many scratches he had all over his hairless body. Based on the thud he heard beside him, Ozone assumed that Tiberius had collapsed as well. Groaning in pain, the cat slowly turned his head to face the hawk.

Blood seeped out from the cut on Tiberius's right leg while his broken wing lay limp by his side. His left eye had definitely swollen up by now. His chest, rising up and down as the hawk gasped for air, was now crimson with his blood. The bandages and stitches from earlier were no longer performing their job. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Ozone whispered, "You don't look too good man."

"Hey, you're not looking so great yourself," Tiberius responded. A faint smile spread across his face though as the old hawk mumbled, "Thank you for saving my life."

"No, thank you! I almost fell off a building!" Ozone exclaimed quietly. He smiled softly as he drew in breaths. His entire body shook with the effort. Both he and Tiberius lay in silence the as they recalled the events that happened over the course of the day.

"Some day, huh?" Ozone commented.

"You said it," Tiberius replied.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day where I actually work with my worst enemy to stop a psychopath."

"Same here. Never saw it in my fourteen years of life.

"You're fourteen?!"

"Rats."

"Seriously?!"

"You sound surprised."

"A little. I'm finally the first person to find out how old you are!"

"Actually, Norman did know."

"What? You lied?"

"Course I did!"

"Why?!"

"You lied about your age."

Laughing a tiny bit before coughing, Ozone bit his lip. "What's gonna happen now?" he asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's gonna happen if we get home?"

"The others are probably gonna be happy."

"Why you say that?" Ozone asked quietly, raising an eyebrow. Glancing around nervously, Tiberius sighed before answering, "I might have just gained a new friend today."

Eyes lighting up with surprise, Ozone smiled faintly as he admitted truthfully, "You know, I think I'm adding you to my list of friends."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"For a cat with a big head and a little brain, you have your moments of glory," Tiberius spoke softly. Swishing his tail quietly, Ozone replied, "You are a pretty loyal and steadfast pigeon- hawk! I meant hawk!" He flattened his ears in embarrassment. However, the hairless cat had nothing to fear as Tiberius laughed quietly and responded, "Call me whatever you want."

"Friend included?"

"Yeah."

Blinking his eyes, Ozone smiled softly at Tiberius while the sky above them grew dark as the sun moved closer to setting below the horizon. The pair laid there in complete silence.

That is, until they both heard a very familiar voice...