The journey was a mere 20 minutes as the rescue jet flew through the air at what felt like mach speeds. The ground passed rapidly below you as you breezed over the few trees that stayed true to their bark and leaves. A bright reflection burned into your eyes and forced you to flinch, blinking away from the sunny reflection.

Squinting your eyes, you managed to look at whatever had blinded you. You expected to open your eyes to the ocean, the sun blazing off of the reflective water. However, instead, it was like sheer metal from a building or the roof of a car. The dots of iron and shine were scattered underneath the dense tree tops. Stickfigures flailed their arms and walked aimlessly... It was the horde of infected, the transformed victims, and your first look at the metal virus in the real world.

The reflection of shiny blues, oranges, golds, and platinums made your heart sink. Flashing back to the robotic army you one held in power during the first war, but this was different. These were real victims, real pepole that were caught up in the cross fire between Eggman and the Freedom Fighters.

"It's horrible..." you muttered to yourself.

A breathe whisked across the skin of your neck, startling you as your fur stood on end in shock. Your eyes widened and you flipped around to see Gante standing menacingly over you.

"-that's why we're fighting to stop it. Tails is developing a vaccine back at HQ while we're saving who we can." The dragon huffed a plum of smoke and looked down to you again. His expression was monotone per his usual self, but this experience was cleary weighing on him.

"You guys are doing some pretty good work." Shifting your weight to the side, you gestured to the back of the hanger where the soldiers had finished preparing for the rescue.

"We're doing our best." The commander sighed.

"You really are." You both looked back across the horizon being left behind you as the aircraft slowly started to descent over the tops of buildings.

Infected were rampantly running through the abandoned streets towards the docks. They frantically began punching at Vector's crushed car barrier, climbing over each other and increasingly threatening the safety of the survivors.

And then you spotted them. The Chaotix. A team you hadn't yet encountered even on your previous crusade. It made you smile to see them in action, you may not be fighting them but it would be truly interesting to see them in action.

"Get ready to drop!"

You put your helmet on as sirens began to blare in the hanger of the airship, the doors lowering ready for you and Gante to drop down with his team into action. The lights on the airship flickered around in a circular pattern as the door lowered, revealing a direct path for survivors to frantically get into the rescue ship.

People immediately fled into the hanger, going into the farthest corners of the hold to get away from the terrifying wall of infected. They breezed past you and Gante as you tried to push through, some not even noticing the supervillain in front of them.

"(N-...n/n?)..."A voice caved and shuttered in fear. A canine mother and her child flew towards you, skidding to a stop. They had seen you unlike the rest of the crowd, and you could only imagine the absolute fear that shred through their bones. Between you and the virus, they might as well turn around and sacrifice themselves to the horde.

You snapped them out of their daze as one infected managed to break through the barrier behind them. "Get to the ship!"

Springing into action, you may have pushed them a little too hard towards the ship as Gante caught them. He helped them up and directed them into the hanger. "Watch yourself (n/n)!"

You ignored him and continued running, "I told you to call me (Y/n!)"

As you sped towards the infected, you reached behind you to reveal your (w/c), drawing the handles forwards and preparing to smack the poor infected away. A surge of adrenaline entered your blood and overwhelmed your senses with pure tenacity. You were back. (N/n) was dead, and it was time for (Y/n) to rise up. You were on the field, and nobody would stop you now.

Your impressive dexterity with your weapon cut/blasted right through the escapist infected. More had begun to make headway into the survivor's area. Vector and his friends were ushering people into the hanger, screaming and ordering people around the warzone.

"CHARMY GET BACK HERE!"

You heard the crocodile yell from behind you, his voice almost as booming as Gante's. It was frantic and concerned. His little bee friend, Charmy, had sprung free from the hanger in an attempt to go find more survivors. The clock was ticking and his poor judgment will certainly get him caught in the swarm of infected.

And that's when the leader of Team Chaotic laid his eyes on your armored form. He was shocked two-fold to see a moral enemy before him. You may be reformed, but this was just another situation where you just needed to apologize.

"Apologies later, saving now!"

Like an absolute beat, you ran (on all fours even if you want lol) towards Charmy who screeched after seeing you approach him, your helmet giving him a violent scare.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHH! (N/n)'s HERE!!!!!"

He froze in fear and lost his flight balance, drifting towards the crowd. Panic flooded your veins with more adrenaline and you jumped as high as you could to catch the insect. Your hand barely managed to yank on his legs and pull him away.

"Stupid idiot bee! What were you-!..thinking-..." Your gaze slowly pondered to Charmy's other leg. Another pair of hands had grabbed onto him. Shiny, slimy, and amputated from whoever it came from. A zombot had grabbed Charmy as well, but your strength pulled him and the zombot's hand off.

Charmy was infected, and it was spreading through him fast.

If you've watched Game Apologist's coverage of the Meta Virus Saga you'd know he called Charmy an Idiot Bug. Hehe

Chapter Length @1049 Words