WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 15 of Fire Force, "We Are Family."
In Fire Force's previous episode, Arthur, Shinra and Iris were sent by Captain Ōbi to try and entice the talented blacksmith, Vulcan, to enlist in Company 8. They soon discovered that they weren't the only members of the Special Fire Force interested in his legendary skills, however, as no sooner did they arrive at his scrapyard than Dr. Giovanni, Company 3's leader, also turned up with his own offer. Well, less of an offer and more of a threat to put Vulcan out of business if he didn't comply.
Though Giovanni appeared to leave after Vulcan rebuffed him, Shinra's Adolla Link -- his Spider Sense, in essence -- alerted him to the Doctor's malevolent intent. This malevolence is quickly revealed in Episode 15 to be tied to none other than the show's big bad: the Evangelist. Having already seeped his heretical influence into Company 1, Company 3 seems to be entirely under his control with Giovanni in his pocket. The Doctor sends two of his crewman -- who are actually two Knights of the Ashen Flame members, an elite division of the White Clad -- called Mirage and Flail to mount an assault on Vulcan's workshop.
Our teenage trio, meanwhile, make the mistake of splitting up, leaving Shinra to run into Giovanni alone and -- after putting up a decent fight against the canny inventor -- is knocked out by a shock of over two million volts of electricity from one of Giovanni's cruel gadgets. The treacherous Captain then calls for more of the White Clad to retrieve their much sought-after prize: Shinra's Adolla powers.
While this is going on, Arthur and Iris head back to Vulcan's workshop to warn the engineer of the incoming threat. Vulcan, who wears his hatred of the Special Fire Force on his sleeve, is unsure whether to trust them or not, but their warning is quickly given credence when Flail and Mirage turn up with what looks like an entire army -- ready for a good old fashioned siege.
This image lights a fire under Arthur, Fire Force's Arthurian fanboy, but he claims he won't be able to put up a fighting front without his necessary "knightly" accessories, such as his signature sword and armor. Hearing this, Vulcan cooks up a makeshift costume for him, complete with a cape, sword hilt for his plasma blade and a... donkey head on a stick between his legs. Sorry, noble steed.
As silly as the get-up it, is does the trick. Arthur's confidence is so boosted by his fantasy, he takes out Mirage's "shimmer" army with a single swing of his plasma sword, and puts up an impenetrable defence against Flail's flaming weapon that shares his name, who's suitably impressed by his unorthodox methods: "You look ridiculous, but what firepower." Unfortunately, Mirage figures out how to hit the young warrior where it hurts -- his pride. The White Clad agent creates a mirror image of Arthur and, coming face-to-face with his actual appearance rather than the heroic one in his mind's eye, Arthur's confidence -- and his strength with it -- crumples.
With the young Knight occupied, Giovanni is able to simply stroll up to the workshop and walk in to issue an ultimatum to Vulcan. If this wasn't enough for the blacksmith, Lisa, the woman he took in and treated like family, unmasks herself as a spy sent by Giovanni to figure out where he's hiding the key to the Amaretsu power plant is. Vulcan's family were the ones who built the perpetual source of power for the Tokyo Empire, but Vulcan claims to not have a clue where this key is.
With Lisa pinning him to the floor and Giovanni inflicting a possibly fatal wound on Yu, Vulcan's young assistant, before turning his destructive hands to Vulcan's precious inventions, the blacksmith needs to figure out something fast before his whole life goes up in flames.
New episodes of Fire Force are released every Friday on Crunchyroll, and as SimulDubs from FUNimationNOW.