#metal virus stories

[divtanver]

Metal Virus Story

- Good and Bad -

Awakening, dinner, lunch, breakfast, lights out. A new day, a new cycle. How annoying it all was, even when she had once enjoyed a fight with the security service or members of a rival gangs, it no longer had a kindling spark. Even now, being in her already native solitary confinement, another mess later, a red vixen dressed in a yellow jumpsuit named Fiona still could not calm herself down. The psyche demanded the satisfaction of a wild disposition, and there were not so many available ways of leisure here. If she were free, she would obviously find something to entertain herself with, but here?

Despite many unsuccessful attempts, Fiona still had few options in her head for another escaping from this hole called prison, especially after some of the staff had been withdrawn a day ago and half of the equipment had been taken out. Most likely, this was somehow connected with the recent riots in nearby cities, newly arrived prisoners sometimes told about the events taking place there, but few of those present here believed them. However, the task did not become any easier - strict instructions and enhanced security measures came to replace the departed ones and the things taken with them. On top of this, the volume of food portions given out has recently decreased significantly, which made the outcome of the hunger–weakened venture more obvious than ever - beatings, failure, and a loner cell again. But she wasn't going to give up so easily, since when could difficulties along the way make her give up? No, none of this was capable of deterring this persistent vixen. Neither strong walls, nor a strict security system. But it takes time to think through a good plan, which Fiona had plenty of.

Lying on the cold floor and looking at the ceiling of the cement box, she was mentally outlining the sequence of actions when the flow of her thoughts was interrupted by a noise from outside. A little later, incessant chatter began to emanate from the radio of the standing outside warden. Fiona couldn't make out any of the words, but their loud sounding made it clear the importance of the broadcast. Very soon it's receiver left the corridor in the direction of the stairs, leaving the yellow-suited prisoner alone with herself. It seems that someone managed to get ahead of her.

Jumping to the double bars of a small window on her third floor and clutching them with both hands, she watched as crowds of unknown people entered the courtyard from the entrance gate. They looked strange: ordinary civilians, completely unfamiliar faces, no bandages or noticeable marks hinting at belonging to any criminal group, as well as fabrics hiding their faces. It was thanks to this that the attentive vixen was able to discover something alarming for himself – their glowing red eyes and faces full of malice. Outsiders immediately began to rush at everyone they met. Perimeter guards and security personnel who arrived to help them, instead of the usual expected orders not to move, immediately opened fire upon all of those who approached. However, this did a little to stop the attackers - those who fell to the ground soon got to their feet and again rushed into a suicidal attack. Fiona could have sworn that she saw one of the crowd's member hands torn off, which, however, did not affected the victim's behavior at all.

Retreating personnel and the crowd chasing them very soon disappeared from her sight, while sounds of the struggle shifted somewhere to the first floor, and with them came the shrill screech of a siren and intimidating red emergency lighting. Going back down to the floor, red vixen began to think about what to do next, it was unacceptable to miss this unique opportunity to escape, but... The cell door is strong - can't break it down, the same story with the window, and even with success, there's nothing to do without a rope on the outside. The situation seemed hopeless, all that was left for her to do now was to wait for the rest.

Or else…

A crazy idea popped into her head, Fiona got to her feet and looked at claws. Despite their weekly forced cutting, these incredibly sharp and unusually durable tips grew back quite quickly, which in the current situation was more useful than ever. Leaning on the claw of her finger on the nearby bed, she sharply kicked it off from the phalanx of her finger at the root. Burning pain went through her whole body with an unpleasant impulse, but only an angry exhalation left her lips – one of her methods to endure any torment. Loud noise of the confrontation that had previously existed somewhere deep below has now shifted to the second floor. She quickly began to rub the picked-up fragment of herself against the wall with one end, sharpening it middle to the shape of a straight screwdriver tip with which she could try to unscrew the bolts blocking the axial pin at the intersection of the door hinges, which she eventually succeeded. Now, the iron obstacle standing in the way of freedom could be removed with the use of brute force. But loud noise has already outstripped the savvy tailed one.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Someone on the other side of the solitary cell was desperately tried to get inside, showering the barrier with a heavy hail of weighty swings and a burst of angry growls. Whoever it was, such intentions were clearly not friendly. Under the pressure of the angered stranger, the previously twisted pins began to bend towards the yellow prisoner, threatening to crush with all the weight of the door they held. With the last push, the rectangular surface separating them fell on the yellow-clothed vixen that was waiting for it. With the opposite, and even stronger impulse she kicked it in the opposite direction. Unexpecting attacker was soon pinned down by so hated obstacle, from under which only twitching limbs with pointed fingers could be seen. But Fiona barely noticed this. Wasting no time in vain, she rushed to run along the corridor towards the stairs, around the turn of which the warden assigned to her had disappeared relatively recently. Going around the corner, she did not meet the password-locked gates she expected, instead there was a wide-open passage that allowed both to go down to the exit and climb up to the roof. Taking into account the sounds of battle that had not yet subsided on the lower floors, she beat off a rhythmic melody along the towering steps that marked the first step towards long-awaited freedom.

The first of an unknown set. The second turned out to be the blue-armored warden standing in the middle of the corridor. Before their gazes crossed, with a sparkling blow of an electric baton armored jailer knocked out a prisoner who were trying resist and, seeing a new target, immediately changed electric charged steel to a plasma blaster and ordered her to lie down on the ground. But instead of the expected submission, received only a sly grin. Even through the opaque visor of protective helmet, Fiona could see an expression of confusion. This one obviously new here, anyone else who knew her would have opened fire right away knowing how dangerous she is. That's her chance to act.

Short moment of confusion turned into a lightning-fast rolling of the red-tailed target towards one of the lead pipes, followed by an equally rapid separation from the water supply system. Belatedly aimed blaster managed to make only a few close-to-hit shots before being knocked out of hand by an oblong object that cut through the air and caused deadly weapon to fly several meters away. Leveling the chances, Fiona were now rapidly closing the distance.

Swing, dodge, somersault and now warden knocked down on the floor, pinned down by a nimble vixen. Small grin shining on her only widened at the sight of the disarmed opponent, satisfied gaze fell on the electric club lying out of reach of the former owner, such ironic outcome of his current situation suggested itself. But the subject of satire himself could hardly understand this, having barely recovered from the stunning, jailer only managed to notice the outlines of suppression instrument towering above. A moment to counteract.

*Ding*

Warden's left elbow protection reflects the attack, quick swing of the right fist forces red vixen to roll backwards, dropping the weapon.

Draw. For now.

Incessant noise from the lower floors is only getting louder, but none of the moral barricades sides paid any attention to it. Staring at each other, they prepared for a new round of confrontation, stretching limbs and examining surroundings. Red paw picks up the earlier throwed lead, blue glove returns it's lost iron. Both opponents are now waiting for the right moment. Light bulb, weakened by energy fluctuations, like a starting pistol gives both of them a signal to start, with the last flash of light and plunges the corridor into low-pitch darkness. A second later, the dull thud of approaching footsteps is replaced by ringing blows from the participants of the conflict who crossed their weighty arguments that, with the sparkling contact of hostile intentions. Shadows of the blue warden and the red prisoner circling in a dangerous dance were carved on the uneven surface of the walls. While the nimble vixen confidently dodged every lunge aimed at her, the armored jailer steadfastly blocked each of her lightning attacks. Despite their increasing fatigue, none of them could afford to stop, just as any decisive blow.

Suddenly, a cellmate, who had been lying unconscious before, came to the vixen's aid. She couldn't see the face, but the physique alone was enough to remember who it was - a weak coward who often did the desired job with a simple snap of her fingers. Pouncing on unsuspecting warden from behind, he knocked his enemy to the floor and, like a madman, began pounding helmet-covered head into the crackling surface of the floor.

'Where did he suddenly got so much strength and character from?' Fiona thought as her pride took its toll.

Even though fumes of heated air were still coming from her lips, she was sure that she could have handled it on her own, and therefore, having replaced her hitherto gambling grin with a displeased expression, red vixen began to scold her uncalled ally for completely unnecessary help. But her indignation was interrupted by a familiar facial feature. Through the darkness surrounding trio, a pair of red glowing eyes with barely noticeable dot pupils stared at her, radiating materialized anxiety. In response to the rebuke, only a guttural growl sounded, as if passed through a broken dictaphone. It echoed down the dark corridor from which rapidly approaching and heavy stepping footsteps now continuously came by the side of the stairwell that had once been left behind. Someone who seemed to be one of her own, having risen to his feet, now turned all his furious attention from the motionless body to the dumbfounded vixen. Instantly released into the blood adrenaline turned the following moments into a creepy slideshow. Gleaming angular teeth. An ineffectual blow. Sharp fingers on a lead pipe and a full of hatred face getting closer and closer, stopping centimeters from her frightened own. With back pressed against the nearest wall, Fiona could only try with all her might not to let herself fall to the floor, simultaneously dodging the sometimes particularly strong attempts of the overly aggressive attacker to cling to her with his sharp fangs. However, each passing second only exhausted the remaining reserves of endurance more and more, while the noise from the stairwell grew more and more menacingly louder and clearer scary. If not for her titanic efforts of will, the muscles aching from hostile pressure would have weakened their resistance long ago, giving her former ally the opportunity to tear the exhausted victim apart. But she held on, at least until the overstressed tendons will begin to rip one by one.

When the sweating fingers seemed about to slip off the only oval barrier separating them, the head of the red-eyed monster, with a flash of bright blue behind, shattered into flickering in the weak light fragments. It immediately let go of the red-tailed vixen and fell on it's side, twitching and writhing, trying to grab a more nonexistent brain. Startled, sky-blue eyes fell on the only possible source of the faded glow - previously lying warden. With one relying hand with an electric baton, jailer rested on the floor, and in the other a trembling blaster, through a hole in the cracked visor of the helmet, a half-closed orange-yellow stared at dumbfounded prisoner.

Behind, at the stairwell checkpoint, pushing each other, crowds of red-eyed monsters, similar to those who drove the guards into the building, had already caught up.

"Run… Please..." The only thing that former opponent could squeeze out before collapsing to the ground.

Fiona first thought was to do so, but…

Despite the obviousness of the decision and her bad attitude towards law enforcement and heroes in general, something made her hesitate.

What had happened here did not look like at least one of the prison riots she had ever seen, why would strange-looking civilians suddenly need to break into a correctional facility and attack the first people they met? And why did the cowardly cellmate she knew suddenly attacked the warden, almost smashing protected head with his weak little hands, and then, with a wild roar, at her herself while looking indistinguishable from "uninvited guests"? There are too many questions and very few answers. Something was clearly wrong, and if that "wrong" was happening in the outside world, then she had to know as much as possible. But to her great regret, the only available and, perhaps, the last source of information was former opponent lying on the floor, whose interrogation is possible only under the condition of private and personal communication for which she will have to take risks. However, is this idea so bad? If an electronic lock or, chaos forbid, a retinal scanner turns out to be on one of the doors ahead? Such a mistake would be fatal.

Besides, in the current state of affairs, it wouldn't hurt for her to have at least some kind of help. Even such as this one.

No matter how much Fiona hated them, she still couldn't help but recognize their sometimes even sacrificial selflessness, which, not without a drop of long-suppressed regret, she often used for selfish purposes and cunning plans. If they were not on different sides of the barricades, then everything could well have been different, because she's truly respected the dedication of which her sworn enemies were known and which was very often not enough for accomplices in criminal activities. It would be very useful to have such an ally. Moreover, in the event of a meeting with another attacker, her chances of fighting off alone will be quite low, and with a companion in misfortune they will become somewhat higher. At least for a while, unless later it becomes necessary to use that "ally" as bait for her own salvation.

Is it reasonable? Fiona didn't know. Anyway, the decision has been made, she will have time to hate herself later, but for now…

*Wham*

A pipe darted into the shapeless crowd and knocked down the first one of them, causing the rest to fall like skittles. In two jumps, reaching the warden, the red-tailed vixen threw heavy arm around her neck, and intercepted the plasma pistol with the other.

"On your feet, I'll need you!" She hissed.

On legs wobbly from floating in agony mind, the carried one rustled along the surface vibrating from the trampling, while Fiona, in a half-turn, began to settle the nearest of her pursuers with a plasma pulse, briefly increasing the distance with a periodic flash and gradually approaching the fire door at the end of the corridor. So close, only half a dozen meters. One, two, three…

Too-frequent footsteps behind attracted all her attention. With a quick movement of her hand, she managed to shoot offhand the stomping threat, who turned out to be her recently headshotted cellmate. How is that even possible? Fiona didn't know, and she wasn't in a hurry to find out. All she cared about right now was the saving red rectangle at arm's length. Opening the heavy door, she roughly pushed warden inside onto the stairs and pulled the handle. The impotent blows on the other side of the barrier sounded like a victorious triumph.

Leaning against the wall, the red-tailed vixen slowly slid down, lowering her hands to her bending knees. Finally, a break.

Survived duo spent some time in relative silence, gradually recovering their lost breath while the faint red light was getting weaker.

"Why…?" Slightly raising its head, a tired look asked through a cracked visor of bended helmet.

"I need information, as much as possible. And you..." Fiona glanced at the badge "Gadget, going to tell me. One way or another."

Red vixen casually showed plasma blaster that now belongs to her, wordlessly hinting at a different way of interrogation from the verbal one.

"I'll... I'll tell you. Just..." He paused to take another deep breath, but fell silent.

After waiting a few seconds and getting no response, Fiona waved her hand.

"Hey!" Red vixen hit the cement floor with the handle. Weakly, but loud enough to bring her interlocutor's attention. The latter only twitched slightly "I'm still waiting."

"Do me... A favor. Take off that helmet..."

A simple, unremarkable request, despite its simplicity of execution, still aroused Fiona's suspicion – why wouldn't he do it himself? Was it just an attempt at deception disguised as weakness, or did he really get hit SO hard? There was only one way to find out.…

With her hand extended under the visor, she snapped the groped clasp and abruptly took off protective gear.

*SIGH*

Red vixen immediately retreated a few steps and pointed the weapon at the head of the moving body, waiting for retaliatory actions from the recent opponent. But got nothing, instead of the attack, there was only a relieved exhalation.

"Thank you... Very much."

Realizing that her suspicions were not justified, Fiona sat back down.

Only now, having passed the moment of tension, she could fully see the face of her soon-to-be companion in misfortune.

The once defeated blue-armored warden turned out to be a red wolf with long pointed ears that had a green mono headset with a microphone, amber eyes and tanned skin. On his muzzle, distorted from not yet passed pain, black glasses with, apparently, recently cracked glass twitched slightly.

While Fiona was waiting for an answer, the muffled bangs on the door and the noise of confrontation coming from somewhere in the distance became fainter, which seemed to suck the last remnants of electricity from the fading red staircase lamps.

"So tell me. What's going on outside of this place?"

As if trying to get ahead of the answer, with a buzzing, one floor after another, the lights began to turn off. The creeping darkness was slowly but surely creeping up on the only heat carriers.

"It's a nightmare out there..." With the last spoken word, the space around them finally descended into impenetrable nothingness.

[divtanver]

Transcript of the interrogation of a member of rescue group 4 related to incident 3A-67C.

Note: At the time of publication of this document, the case is closed.

Investigator: Inspector Brian Worf

Interrogated: Captain Aren "Arrow" Rooks

Purpose of interrogation: Clarify the previous events and the causes of the incident

Course of the interrogation

— Could you repeat again what happened in Farside city? For the record.

The interrogated continues to sit with his face in hands and resting his elbows on the table.

— Arrow... Aren, our command needs to understand what happened there. The consequences for those involved in the operation, including your subordinates, depend on the information they receive. So I'll ask you again: Tell them what happened there.

The captain exhales heavily and stops hiding his face.

— Okay. Okay, I'll tell you. Upon arrival in the city, alpha and beta took up positions at the eastern gate and the central entrance, respectively. Together with the BioSec team, I disembarked at the EP (Evacuation Point) on the main street near the local hospital and got down to business. While my guys were holding ZB's (Zombots) off the perimeter, pilot detected multiple vibrations somewhere inside QA (Quarantine Area). After determining the source, I sent several available SP (Security Personnel) to investigate, but none of them got in touch to report. Had to recall a couple of guys from the front line to find out the causes of it and place fire department personnel at hastily made observation posts. It soon became clear where the sent scouts had gone. I received a message from the recalled fighters about a large number of ZB's roaming inside the perimeter and requested reinforcement.

— Yes, the records from dispatch confirming it. But how did they get inside QA bypassing both field teams?

—The answer was revealed to us when I ordered alpha and beta to retreat to the LZ (Landing Zone), on the way back, one of them discovered a hole from which these creatures came out, apparently it was an abandoned part of the underground catacombs. While the city was quietly waiting for IEP (Initiation of Evacuation Protocol ), they rested there, but our appearance and the noise created in the process apparently woke them up, provoking to dig their way to the surface. While I was trying to reorganize the defense, both field teams were surrounded by external and internal ZB's, only a few among them them were able to reach the RV (Rendezvous). By the time support arrived, control of the situation was already critical. Once CV's (Civilians) heard the approaching horde, they began to panic and violate processing. One of the BioSec members was almost beaten to death by the few rebellious ones, their neutralization only increased the growing tension. When the ZB's broke through to the line of direct sight with the CV's, almost no one listened to the instructions given. Some of them tried to leave the EP only to get into the line of fire and further complicate the situation. Horde came dangerously close and grabbed the first of the crowd, everyone seemed to go crazy at this moment. CV's were running everywhere without looking, crushed each other, climbed over heads and bodies. BioSec team and SP who tried to stop them but were trampled in seconds. I ordered the remaining fighters to retreat to RS (Rescue Shuttle). In this chaos, it was impossible to identify RED (Designation of confirmed infected persons) among the approaching crowd. I couldn't let the potentially infected get onboard, and then I...

Captain covers his head with hands and begins to sob.

— And then you ordered to open fire?

Interrogated ignores all subsequent questions. Interrogation ends.

After collecting all the information, HQ command recognized actions of involved in this operation personnel as "justified". Captain Arrow has been assigned to a weekly and mandatory psychological examination from now on. Involved personnel have been temporarily placed on inactive duty.

In order to avoid the recurrence of such incidents, the following changes have been introduced:

Containment, evacuation and cleanup protocols have been updated.

All armed personnel are now required to undergo psychological training.

Size and operating of BioSec teams have been changed

Even a month after reading it, I’m still get taken aback by how dark the metal virus arc was, cause not only did all the main characters go through tins of grief, but we also see a glimpse into how other characters feel that aren’t apart of the main cast.

The poor girl, who knew she was infected, and despite that she tried and pleaded not to be left alone, cause the world was falling apart, she was losing everyone she loved, and she was scared. So the last thing she wanted was to be alone. Seeing this kind of feeling displayed in a sonic comic of all things filled me with dread, cause it felt oh so realistic, cause I know people in rl would react the same way.

What makes it worse is that she was screaming and crying up until vector, know definitely didn’t want to do this, but knew that if he didn’t, more people would be hurt, picked up a car and slammed it onto her, crushing her. And if she hadn’t turned into a zim bot after this point, that impact would have killed her.

[theramblingsofadork]

Cello hated the Metal Virus. It was a nightmare unlike any she’s ever had to experience. She lost her parents and her neighbors within minutes due to their village’s placement making them unaware of it till it was right on top of them.

She was forced to watch so many of her friends turn into mindless, metal zombies, and nearly suffered multiple breakdowns from the horror of being the last Starpoint Squad member to survive it.

Even so, when all is said and done, some good still comes out of it. While it’s not how she wanted it to happen, after everything goes back to normal, she goes home to be with her parents, and has a conversation with them that changes everything.

📘 Short Fanfic: Giving Up Grievances

🎵 Accompanying Music: Spirited Away - Day Of The River

————

Things had been weird since coming back from ground zero.

Cello hadn’t touched her chemistry set once. In fact, she had to cover it up, because even looking at it filled her with a squirming sense of depression and guilt.

She didn’t speak about chemistry anymore like she used to either. Instead, she busied herself in helping her mom with the chores and cooking, as well as aiding her dad and the miners with moving the ore from below ground to over the ridge to be processed.

Everyone had no doubt noticed her stark change, but Cello didn’t care, nor did she wish to get into the details of why. She would simply say “I’m fine,” before quickly flying off to busy herself with something else whenever anyone asked.

But she wasn’t fine. In fact, the firefly felt quite empty inside.

The Metal Virus had changed her. Wrecked her security and confidence in her efficiency as a chemist. How could she say she was going to make a real change in the world when she couldn’t even compose a formula in time to save her family and friends from the virus?

Perhaps, this was her sign that she finally needed to accept that her father might be right about her path in life. That she was meant to be a miner like the rest of them, and she needed to stay in their village, instead of gallivanting about, chasing a silly dream.

She had been stewing on this thought for over a week, and now, sitting around the dinner table with her parents, Cello found herself staring down at her mother’s mashed potatoes and meatloaf, both of which sat half-eaten on her plate. Her parents were talking about the day’s findings in the mines, but she didn’t hear a word of it.

Guess it was time. Today would be the day she would finally tell them that she was giving up everything.

The thought made her queasy to her stomach, but her mind was made up. If she couldn’t even save people with her talents, then it would be better for everyone if she just stayed home and supported the family by working in the mines with them.

At least then, she might be able to finally make her dad happy with her life decisions. Maybe he would finally approve of her like she’d always wanted him to. Especially considering his new, long-term injury was keeping him from working as much as he’d like to.

She narrowed her eyes a bit more. Yeah... This was for the best…

“Cello? Honey?” Her mother suddenly addressed her, noticing her daughter’s apathy towards one of her favorite meals. “Are you feeling alright? You’ve hardly touched your food.”

Right. Cello swallowed hard and steadied herself. Time to face the music.

The firefly took a deep breath, then quite solemnly declared to the table as her gloved hands balled in her lap, “I’ve decided I’m giving up chemistry for good. I’m going to stay here in the village with you and Dad, and work with the others in the mines from now on.”

There. She had said it. The decision that would change her future forever had been made. She wasn’t happy, but it was what it was. And like it or not, she would have to accept this was her new lot in life.

She briefly winced as she remembered Hex and the others. They would no doubt be sad to hear the news. She would have to apologize to them later on…

The firefly then braced herself for her father’s response, no doubt that it was going to involve a callous scoff and something snarky like, “About time you saw reason!”

But, to her surprise, there was nothing but tense silence for a long moment across the table. She sensed her mother turn to glance over at her husband, and he, in turn, swallowed his food and heaved a heavy sigh. As he set down his fork, it echoed against the plate loudly with a heavy clank.

Then he spoke, and it was the last thing Cello ever expected him to say.

“…No. You should go pursue chemistry, like you’ve always wanted to.”

Cello felt herself freeze. Felt as if the breath had suddenly been stolen right out of her lungs. She lifted her head and looked at the older firefly across the dinner table. “What?” The word echoed emptily across. She couldn’t hide or hold back her confusion and disbelief. “Dad, are you… hearing me? I’m… saying I want to be a miner. That I’m not going to do chemistry anymore.” Her brows furrowed. “I’m doing the one thing you’ve always wanted me to do!!”

“But is it what you want to do?” Her father asked, making her gape and flounder for words for a moment.

No, it was true. Deep down, she didn’t really want to give up chemistry. But what choice did she have? Her failure, as well as his consistent belittlement of her passion and skills had finally brought about this perfect storm. Leading her to the skewed conclusion that she had just been fooling herself all this time.

He had been fighting her for years on this! Wanted her to follow in the footsteps of the family business for as long as she could remember! Was he simply mocking her? Why NOW would he suddenly be changing his mind?

And she couldn’t help but voice this, finally sputtering, “W-why do you suddenly care about what I want to do? You never cared before!”

“Cello!” Her mother disappointedly chided her, but her father remained silent, not responding with the normal anger and ferocity he was known for. In fact, he seemed to sag a bit, rubbing his gloved thumb over a scratch in the table’s surface, suddenly looking far older and meeker than Cello had ever seen him before.

“You’re right. I didn’t,” he agreed with her. “I’ve only ever done what I thought was best for you. But, ever since the Metal Virus, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Don’t— get me wrong, what we do here in the mines is very important and all, but…” He dipped his head and his antenna sagged. “When everything went back to normal, I heard from one of your friends that you had managed to create a cure for the virus. And I found myself thinking, ‘my little girl…? Surely not.’“

He recalled the Mobian youth from the Restoration, firmly defending Cello’s honor against his unbelief. “But they insisted they had been there with you. That they saw the Zombot briefly return to normal thanks to your formula. But, by that time, it was much too late to mass produce it & administer it to everyone.”

He winced and shook his head. “You did what you told us you were going to. And I couldn’t help but think, that maybe if I had just… let you go, helped you pursue your interests sooner, rather than fight you every step of the way... Then maybe you would have been better equipped with the tools you needed to make the cure sooner. Maybe, you’d be a national hero right now, rather than someone who��s ready to give up.”

Cello blinked at him in utter bafflement as she regarded his words, and the memory of her last, desperate declaration to him as her family was coated with metal back in their village flashed back into her mind.

“I’ll find a way to fix this!” She had cried with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know where I’ll find the supplies, but I’ll make a cure to get you guys back, I promise!!”

Quite suddenly, she realized what was going on here. Her father, the rugged, brash, and innately stubborn man that he was; one whom never admited fault for anything, blamed himself for her failure.

A failure that, in of itself, had destroyed her self-confidence in the one thing she was great at.

And instead of just letting that be, instead of keeping his mouth shut to let her fulfill his own personal desires for her life, he was choosing to acknowledge that his stubborn desire to cling to tradition had nearly cost them everything. That if he wanted the best for his daughter, and the world, then he needed to stop being selfish, and just let her be who she was born to be.

Finally uttering the words she had so desperately been wanting to hear him say for so long.

He then pulled a white envelope out of his overall pocket. The older firefly regarded it for a moment with a sigh, then dropped it in front of her. “From me and your mom. I want you to use it to get into that fancy academy you always talk about.”

Cello, still reeling out of her mind, slowly reached out and took the envelope, still half expecting this to be one massive, mean prank. However, as she opened it up and saw what sat inside, she gasped and covered her mouth in shock. “Dad…” Her eyes began to water up.

It was a check. And not just any check. It was enough to cover her entire tuition.

Despite how her heart pounded with sudden excitement, Cello forced herself to quickly shake her head and push it back. “N-no!! I can’t take this!!” she exclaimed. “You and mom need this money for bills, don’t you?? Especially with your injury??”

Her dad rubbed the back of his fuzzy head and heaved a breath as he rubbed his injured leg. “Feh... don’t worry about it. I’ve been saving that money up for a while now so I could eventually take you and your mother on a big vacation.” His wife smiled and slipped her hand over his proudly. “But uh.. I think this will be going towards a better cause. Besides, I know you won’t forget about us when you make it big.”

Cello couldn’t hold her usual stiff face together anymore. She was steadily falling apart now, letting out a BIG OLE, UGLY SNIFFLE and practically gushing waterworks from her eyes as she clutched the envelope against her chest.

He was being serious. This was really happening!!

“Ohhh, Cello honey,” Her mom smiled softly at her daughter. It wasn’t often Cello openly cried in front of them anymore.

“Agh come on, kid— none of that now. You’re going to make your mother cry too...” Her dad grumbled, though it was more due to him getting embarrassed than anything else.

Cello fiercely sniffled and scrubbed her face clean with her arm before launching herself out of her seat to fly and tackle her father in a hug, nearly upsetting dinner in the process.

“…Thank you dad...” She mumbled into his shoulder, squeezing him tightly. “Really… You don’t know how much this means to me!”

The man grunted from the sudden embrace and chuckled a bit as he awkwardly hugged and patted her back. “Yeah yeah,” he grumbled, trying to act as if this wasn’t a big deal. “Just… get out there and go be that chemist your mother and I know you can be.”

Cello pulled back from him and flashed her confident smile again, a bright spark of light returning to her eyes. “Right! I’ll make you both proud!!” She exclaimed.

“We already are proud, dear~” Her mother chimed in lovingly.

“…But we’ll be even more proud when we get to brag about you being on the cover of one of those big, fancy science magazines,” her father added with a grin. Only to then immediately jolt as his wife prodded him in the side. “Ow! What? I was being positive…”

Despite herself, Cello couldn’t help but laugh a bit. Her father’s remark didn’t bother her one bit. On the contrary. It felt like she was floating on Cloud 9.

At last, a giant burden had been lifted from her shoulders. And for the first time in a really long time, Cello felt… happy. Like that excited little kid with super tight curls and oversized glasses, who had clumsily flown into the kitchen, excitedly exclaiming to her parents about the newest breakthrough she had read about in a scientific magazine she had received from one of the neighbors.

Except now, rather than getting a disinterested, disgruntled response from her father, he instead smiled down at her, sharing in his daughter’s joy as he picked her up to spin her around while she laughed and declared that she too, was going to do something great like that one day.

At the root of it all, it was all she had ever wanted. Support over her dreams. Belief that she was capable of great things, and that she could accomplish them.

It was funny... Despite the Metal Virus being an absolutely vile nightmare of an event to go through, somehow, some good had still come out of it in the end anyways.

And if that wasn’t a frightfully fascinating realization, then Cello didn’t know what was.

💚🩵💛

— End

[thestorygenerater]

Something I remember some people talking about infrequently but never expanded on.

What if Eggman stayed as Mr. Tinker…

And what if the Metal Virus still happened?

Think about it like this, Starline has just been denied by his hero “Eggman” after bringing his memory back but he decides to stay as Mr. Tinker. In an attempt to push Tinker into the Eggman role he goes to his most recent project, the Metal Virus, and uses like in cannon thinking that Eggman would see his success and take control… only for Starline to immediately lose his control.

Cut to Sonic running around, trying to save his friends who he can’t touch or he’ll infect them, ending up at windmill village. Running across more zombots before seeing Eggman and Belle ether cowering or protecting the kids. The same Eggman he was regretting letting go because he thought (and to a degree still thinks) he did this.

Now imagine being Mr. Tinker, your worst project of a life you want to forget is rampaging through the world, your friends are all caught up in it, and your old arch nemesis is there, infected, and doesn’t know if you got your memory back. You did, but he thinks if you did you would be behind everything.

So much character potential

[moderator-monnie]

What should have been the first victim, and the most tasty victim for the worm, came last and the worm even gave the machine a fighting chance, but none of that matters in the end because metal was dead long before this encounter, fate decided as soon as Slammer got his host.

I'd like to thank the extremely lovely artist who helped me finish off the important 'sonic game' side of Slammer Sonic's story!

@sonic-enterprise

@the-hidden-levels

this journey started October 25th in 2022 with the Tails Comic! and now it ends with the Metal Sonic Comic thanks to them! and I'd love to give one last thanks to the artist who made this comic, and the ones who made the rest too!

Comics In Order Of The Slammer Virus Journey thru the Sonic CD Game, and the respective artists that brought these comics to life.

Tails (Click here) Artist: bugtoast

Knuckles (Click here) artist: Artist: crispy-dib

Robotnik (Click here) Artist: davidthephoneguy

Amy (Click here) Artist: an-artist-place-for-extra-art

Metal Sonic (this post your on lol) Artist: sonic-enterprise/the-hidden-levels

You might wonder...

Is that it for Slammer Sonic/Slammer Prime?

Nope! this final comic is just all the important stuff to explain how Slammer got his host/consumed a copy of Sonic CD, this takes place within the past.

At some future point I'll explore it's human victims and go in more in depth with the clones and their stories, but untill then ...

w a i t a n d s e e

[which-qsmp-egg-would]

Which egg would get so scared by a horror game they'd go sleep in their parents bed

[krafterwrites]

Wait now that I think about it, have Silver and Jet ever interacted? I feel like they're a pretty popular rarepair, but I can't think of any times they've spoken to each other

[raccoon-crown]

I once heard someone said that Eggman invasions will feel deeper for us readers if we were to know the life mobians had pre and post them.

Let me clarify, think about like a cat family. You start with a normal family with two kittens, then after one of the battles between the heroes and Eggman Empire their place is destroyed and the kittens have to grew alone.

But they manage to get up and continue, then there comes Sonic Forces War, once again they have to run but among the other refugees they find another kitten in the same state they were before. So they decide to adopt a bro/sis.

The war ends, the planet is safe and they return to rebuild their home! They even got a little of peace to get to know each other better and clean the mess around their house.

Then there comes the Metal Virus, the made up family try to shelter themselves in the house, they had to put planks over the new windows and doors and put the furniture they just fixed cleaned over them to secure themselves.

But it's all in vain when those that used to be their neighbors got in, the oldest try to protect the youngest but eventually the cat family ends up walking between the infected.

Days go by and Sonic and Silver save the day, the whole family wake up and celebrate that the three of them didn't got separated during the infection.

Then they hear a saw meow not far, just to find, to their bad luck, another's lost kitten who doesn't know where it is or where are their parents. The oldest ones take a decision and take the kitten with them again.

So, at the end the family had a new member each time, one for every calamity they end up suffering.

They end up losing their home over and over, but they keep fighting for the family they had and even the one they may gain

[squidthechaotickid]

HI HERE ARE MY OTHER NEW OCS!!!

I will drop their story later but they're the ones inspired by chronic wasting disease :3

The first two are t4t lesbians and Alice is Kore's little sister who's basically been adopted by Amaranth also

They are found family and nothing bad happens ever <3

[wereh0gz]

Ok random idea

A Sonic horror game where it's just a regular Sonic game but you play from the perspective of the villain.

Nothing's truly changed. Sonic's not possessed or suddenly turned evil or anything. He's still his silly goofy little self. But the way the villain's perspective frames him makes it look like there's something DEEPLY wrong with the guy. The way he relentlessly chases you, laughs and smiles when he lands a hit and constantly taunts you. The way his eyes glow with a determination that can easily be mistaken for bloodlust. The way he's just fast enough to where you can't keep up.

The villain player character in this case would be someone powerful enough physically to go head-to-head with him. But his speed gives him the advantage, and that combined with him constantly chasing you makes you feel powerless. Your only real option is to try to evade him and hide as you try to explore the map and reach your goal, all while managing resources to keep yourself alive.

Other characters could come in later on, like Tails, who sets up traps with his gadgets and uses old Badnik scraps scattered about to create enemies you need to ward off, like zombie enemies in other horror games. He always seems to know where you are, though he never directly chases or fights you, preferring to use his brains to catch you off guard and finish you off.

Or Knuckles, who uses the environment to his advantage, stalking you from high up places you can't reach and digging around to catch you off guard. Tikal could accompany him as a freaky ghost enemy, paralyzing you for brief moments so Knux can deal a blow.

Some of the others could be in there as well, but those are the only ideas I have right now.

The game would have different "levels" focused on a character trying to defeat you, each level being a different area of a somewhat interconnected map (think Resident Evil 8). Sonic would be a recurring one that appears in multiple levels and is the final boss. Each area guards a Chaos Emerald or some other thing you need for your evil scheme, but of course you can't get it without going through Sonic and his friends first.

As for aesthetics, considering most of the horror comes from how the player character views the world and our heroes, the world would have a sort of grimy, dark look to it. Sonic and the others would have a slightly uncanny appearance, off from the average mobian, meanwhile the player character looks obviously like an evil villain, but otherwise like a normal mobian (or maybe human? Idk). Almost as if they don't see the heroes as people, but as something else, some terrible force out to get them.

No idea how the story would actually go or how the game would end tho. Maybe it could be like an alternate universe where the villain actually wins, so you actually get to reach the goal in the end? Maybe there could be multiple endings, one where you win, one where you give up and turn yourself in just to end the torment, and one where it's implied Sonic kills you, all depending on how well you do and certain choices you make throughout the game.

I've been in a bit of a survival horror kick recently and have been watching Penny's RE2 playthrough, so this is mostly inspired by that lmao

[divtanver]

Tried to rewrite my old fanfiction at the same time and check how much my writing has changed.

Mobius, the evening of a significant day. A blue hedgehog was walking along a half-empty corridor, barely illuminated by the light of ceiling lamps and the not yet put in order command center of the "restoration", towards the much-desired sleeping cabins. Uncharacteristically, he slowly shuffled his feet on the floor, which was somewhat dirty from a relatively recent incident, paying little attention to the workers here and there doing their job.

Not out of disrespect, of course. It was just that too much was spinning in his unusually foggy head, once the fleeting flow of time hardly left an opportunity to slow down the movement of events floating along it, that one after another collision against the rocks of his consciousness blurred the already crumbling from exhaustion psyche. However, all this was behind him, the only thing that mattered to him now was the need to get a good healthy sleep and forget this part of the past as a terrible nightmare. But to Sonic's great regret, like any other emotionally colored dream, it could settle on a perception of reality distorted by accumulated fatigue. For example, by touching.

The self-absorbed hedgehog was brought back to reality by the feeling of a heavy touch on his shoulder. Uncomfortably cold and vaguely familiar, it caused anxiety coming from somewhere deep in forcibly forgotten memories.

Alarmed, he carefully turned his head in the direction of the cause of this sensation. The outlines gleaming in the dim light were enough to plunge his body into a shallow tremor, and his mind into an unrestrained panic. A cold iron hand, with pointed fingers and a shimmering liquid spreading from it, held the base of his limb. Immediately, fragments of the past flooded into the hedgehog, numb with fear, and the darkness of horror overshadowed his mind. Sonic immediately realized who had grabbed him, he did not need to see an angry, angular muzzle full of razor-sharp fangs in order to recognize the zombot standing behind him and realize what would happen if he did not immediately take the necessary measures.

With a supersonic movement, the blue hedgehog knocked the arm off his shoulder and with an equally significant swing of his leg, he threw the source of danger away from himself. Metal monster screeched against the cracked surface of the collision and made several uncontrolled somersaults before stopping its chaotic movement. Defeated creature seemed to be trying to say something, but only a quiet growl came from its cold lips, dispersing the dust that rose into the air.

Time is short, infected hedgehog needs to run while the transformation process can still be reversed.

"What are you doing, Sonic?!" weak voice confuses, the familiar pronunciation makes him freeze.

Zombots can't talk, and if it's not one of them, then it means…

The veil of fear slowly fell from his darting eyes, along with it came awareness and showed a terrible picture hiding behind its intangible fabric: A two-tailed fox cub lay on the floor, holding his head and moaning softly, his small paws covered a noticeable bruise, his lower limbs bent at an unnatural angle trying to calm the surging pain. Several workers standing behind him, their faces expressing the highest degree of incomprehension.

Sonic was numb, he couldn't believe what he saw, didn't wanted to, was afraid to accept what just happened.

"Tails, but how… How is that?! There was..."

Shocked hedgehog did not have time to finish, his gaze fell on the gray welding gloves lying next to the victim of his outburst, the same ones that terrified his mind with the cold of their contact and forced to do the impossible – to hit Tails, his support and pride, his friend and partner, his little brother. With wet eyes, Sonic quickly ran up to the bent fox cub, picked up from the ice-cold floor, pressed to himself with all strength and lowered his head onto twin-tailed one neck.

"I'm sorry, Miles! You know I wouldn't hurt you for anything, you know that, right?!" tears began to slowly drip from his eyes. He didn't know what was weighing more heavily on his wildly beating heart: the memories of the nightmares he had experienced over the past few stressful days, or the fact that he had just brought torment to his younger brother, the light of life that he promised himself at all costs to protect. Probably all of this.

Unbearable pain was bursting inside him, he wanted to disappear, evaporate, run away from himself as far as possible, just not to experience this burning sensation of guilt. It was scary to think what he would have done if the quiet words hadn't reached his ears.

"I know Sonic, I know better than anyone" sobbing hedgehog felt the movement of the fox cub.

Soft tails wrapped around his back, giving him a pleasant warmth and feel of materialized sympathy. Soft paws pressed his shoulders, a fluffy muzzle rubbed against his neck. Tails' words calmed and filled with confidence, which drove away the clouds of anxiety and precipitation of fear. Unwilling to disturb the peace he had found, only a minute later Sonic still got to his feet and carefully pulled the fox cub after him.

"Lean on me, let me take you to the infirmary," Sonic said, wiping his wet eyes, and led Tails along a less dim corridor.

Only a pair of gloves, having absorbed the drops of tears, remained lying on the warmed floor.

[idiot-with-adhd]

I JUST SPENT 3 HOURS LEARNING ABOUT THE METAL VIRUS ARC AND I AM LOSING MY MIND

[one-half-guy]

The IDW Sonic Continuity starts immediately after the events of Sonic Forces, so we've got the Metal Virus Arc coming after...

But what if we had gotten the Metal Virus Arc in the Post-SGW Archie? It would most probably be the next huge arc after the Sonic Unleashed Adaptation since was hinted by the end of the Eggman's Dozen Arc... But would it come before a Sonic Forces Adaptation (If we would ever have this)?

I think that it would make sense: With the whole world messed, Eggman was lucky to find the Phantom Ruby, so he managed to rise and empower his empire back faster than the nations could and so had success in conquer them all...

I imagine that Infinite would capture Sonic AND the Freedom Fighters... And destroy the Sky Patrol... But Nicole managed to escape by the beginning...

It's funny because I imagine Silver arriving with Team Psych coming by total coincidence and accident through the Portal Genesis, so they just fall in some battlefield and Silver is like "I don't know where we are... I don't know when we are... I just know I must destroy robots!"

...

Archie Sonic MV and Forces would be two great stories... If someone ever write this fanfic, please tell me!

[pawtistictails]

I knew about the metal virus beforehand but actually seeing it in the comics is horrific, wow!

[moderator-monnie]

Technology Meets Organics (part 2)

(A Slammer Sonic & Contaminated au story)

This is a crossover between my sonic.exe au Slammer Sonic and @sonicexelle-junkary horror Sonic au Contaminated Sonic.

Contaminated, Sonic took its time to process the information this strange visitor had told it. One thing they knew was that Slammer was correct in one regard: it couldn't infect machines, and the worms infesting this mechanical body weren't organic, yet they worked like they were.

It slowly just circled around Slammer Metal, getting up close and personal, ominously just dragging its fingers across the shoulder of the robotic body, noticing one worm that slithered across the body. It picked one up and rubbed it in-between its fingers; it felt slimy and yet metallic.

The worm wiggled in Contaminated Sonic's hand, circling around its fingers and just crawling around, but did not move closer, just choosing to stay in the infected hedgehog's hand. After a few moments, Contaminated let the worm go back into the host's body.

and after a few moments of silence, it finally spoke to the other virus.

"Curious... Very Curious... SQL Slammer Worm, you differ from anything we have ever encountered. Your ability to act as fascinates us if you are organic, yet you remain completely technological."

"We are the Contaminated, and we have been around for a very long time, though only in recent times have we come to know our own host in Sonic The Hedgehog's body. Though anyone we infect becomes our host, we like to consider Sonic The Hedgehog our main one."

Metal Slammer slowly monitored the Contaminated as it picked up one of Slammer's worms and inspected it. Metal Slammer could feel everything the worm felt, and to a small degree, it felt strange.

Slammer then took time to process the infected word's creating a dial-up noise, and instead of an eye in the middle of the Metal Slammer Sonic, he had two on his hands, which he lifted to look at Contaminated Sonic, which showed two buffing circles slowly spinning.

His eyes stayed like this for a few minutes. Neither virus really knew how to react to each other; they didn't know the limits of each other's powers.

Although Slammer rarely cared for organic life, he always found a fascination with viruses and parasites. Maybe it was because they both shared things in common where they could destroy whatever something connected them to.

Slammer could completely disable a machine, and Contaminated could completely kill its host and remain in control, not to mention they could have as many hosts as they wanted but still prefer one host over another.

Soon enough, Slammer stopped buffering and finally replied.

"You are like me; we both wish to spread and grow stronger; you do it via completely organic means; I do it through code and manipulating creatures within children's games; and well, we both prefer Sonic as our main host, yet we could take anyone we want."

Contaminated rubbed its chin as it took in the computer virus's words. The virus had a point; they shared things in common, not to mention the worm's way of assimilating new mass. Well, it was pleased by what it saw Slammer do to Charmey in a way.

"We believe you are correct in a lot of ways about SQL Slammer worm... You show promise, and we must say you are almost as interesting to us as Shadow The Hedgehog. You show intelligence beyond your age. You came to us in a non-organic body; you have clearly done your research on us."

Slammer Metal Sonic took time to think again, but it didn't take as long as last time, as the worms soon crawled from his eye sockets and formed a lightbulb over his own head before it fell apart and all the worms wiggled their way back inside.

"I will H.E.L. P you assimilate this world completely. I am one of many Slammer we do sometimes make deals with other viruses, and I do not see the issue of joining one with you." Slammer Metal Sonic tapped his clawed hand against a nearby palm tree slowly as it slowly thought it out and planned.

"My greatest weakness is being unable to affect the real world, but if we combine our strengths, it should erase some of our weaknesses... We can focus on taking over machines, and then once we've consumed all there is, we could venture through the screen and truly make..."

"OURSELF GOD."

The contaminated thought long and hard about this; it would be interesting to learn about this REAL WORLD the computer virus mentioned, but it wasn't quite done with this world yet, so it declined the offer for now but had some plans.

"We are pleased by this offer, and we will take time to consider it. We truly could become beyond god if we teamed up, but until dawn strikes and the moon falls one last time... We aren't done here, and we thus cannot join you."

"However, we might roll the dice and decide our fate. You are an interesting hive mind, SQL Slammer Worm, and we can appreciate a big thinker and someone like you." We are glad you do not want to cross us, and we, in turn, will not pull a Judas, as it were, on you."

"We can pull the power of this world on its knees on our own, for we are god here, but we look forward to becoming something beyond godship, something that Jesus Christ himself would WEEP at."

Slammer Metal Sonic's face cracked open, twisting, breaking, and shifting before they left a large smile on his face in a disturbing manner. Soon, he held out his hand.

"To becoming one."

The contaminated nodded as well before shaking the metallic clawed hands with an iron grip.

"To becoming the one true and final life form."

[leori-the-unlearned]

*shinji pose* watching ur fav character be flanderized and her best character traits worn and eroded and shaved away by the even hand of bad writing and characterization