Throughout the cloudy dark sky, the nine aircraft, containing the Chaotixs and the soldiers, were soaring into the sky towards their destination.
In each crafts, Charmy, Vector, Mighty, Espio and a few dark-dressed furries were in their pilot seats.
So far, they had to take down two to three ravens along the way. However, they were very lucky that they didn't sustain any damage to the craft, which would result in them suffering from the disease spreading outside.
Int.
Inside the first craft, Charmy pressed a button on the intercom.
"How long before we reach our destination?" Charmy asked, in the intercom
"A little over two hours, maybe more." One of the soldiers answered
Charmy nodded in response before a rapid beeping sound emitted from the radar.
Instantly, he noticed and looked at his radar.
"Guys, I think we got company." Charmy said
Int.
Inside the second craft, Vector followed suit with his radar before responding.
"Ravens?" Vector assumed
"Yep. Only this time, we got five." Charmy said, from the intercom
Vector grew in shock after that comment.
"Five?!" Vector said
"Yes, five." Charmy said from the intercom
Int.
Charmy was momentarily in thought before Mighty's voice came onto the com.
"How are we gonna bypass five without damage to our craft?" Mighty asked
After a while of silence, Charmy finally spoke.
"We nuke 'em."
"What?" Mighty asked from the intercom in surprise
Charmy grew unresponsive to Mighty before speaking.
"Craft number five, how many loads of rocket nukes we got on our craft?"
"We carry two loads each, sir."
Charmy nodded.
"Get ready to use 'em."
Int.
In the fifth craft, the soldier nodded.
"Yes, sir." He said before gazing forward and pressed a few buttons to arm the weapon.
Int.
As Charmy regained control, Mighty spoke from the com.
"Are you crazy? We can't waste our nukes like that?"
"We won't have to. All we need is one and that's more than enough to deal with these fuckers pursuing us from the front."
Int.
In the third craft, the briefly exhausted armadillo sat back and spoke.
"Let's hope you're right, man."
Mighty pressed a button to switch his frequency before he spoke.
"Get ready to brace yourself, Espio."
Int.
In the fourth craft, Espio, with reassured confidence, shakes his head while controlling his craft.
"No need to worry about me."
Ext.
From the mist of the viral-infected sky, five airborne raven creatures were in view, screeching in the air while heading towards their intended targets.
Int.
Inside the fifth craft, the soldier typed a couple of buttons to arm the weapon while briefly keeping his eyes on the radar.
Within seconds, he was done before gazing forward from the radar.
"Nukes are armed." He said
Int.
Silence, Charmy nodded.
"And the creatures?" He asked
"They're in range, sir."
"Fire at will."
Int.
The pilot nodded in response and pressed a button on the console.
Ext.
As the gun fired from the button hatch of the single craft, a single white projectile soared across toward the targets.
A single raven creature took notice of the projectile and screeched from the sight of it before the projectile came in contact.
Upon contact, a brief white shockwave issued in the air, disintegrating the five screeching creatures.
Everyone that was presence on their craft hung on for dear life while their crafts shook violently from the force of the shockwave.
Momentarily, each of their ships halted as everyone grew in silence.
Int.
After a minute of silence, the soldier in the craft smirked before speaking.
"Direct hit, sir." He said
Int.
Swallowing saliva a bit, Charmy spoke.
"I know. Good shot."
He could hear the soldier's grin before taking control of his craft and resuming the course.
Int.
After a long dreadful and cautious walk, the teams made their way to yet another short stairway that leads into an underground corridor. A long one.
As Bunnie and Cream slowly inspects the opposite sides of the entryway, Tails took notice and spoke.
"What is it, Bunnie?"
Before Bunnie could response, she jerked her head forward after hearing a slight screeching sound from across the area. But suspicion masked the half-breed's face due to that sound.
Cream heard the sound and followed suit with an identical expression on her face.
The teams heard the noise and cautiously got on alert as they started across the corridor with Bunnie and Cream leading.
The dome-shaped clearing area was anything but deserted. The dusty concrete walls were covered in blood stains from almost every direction. And what was on the ground became the reason. About five to eight mobians were there undergoing an unbearable transformation. Each victim had three long scratch marks on different parts of their bodies. All were severe.
As the teams entered the area, all except Bunnie and Cream, grew horrified and disgusted at the sight.
Tails, Manic, Knuckles, and Nack momentarily managed to hold back the vomit in their systems before Rouge spoke.
"Oh, my fucking God."
Slightly swallowing saliva, Lupe spoke.
"I second that."
Bunnie approached toward one mobian while Cream did the other. The teams hesitantly followed suit on the inspection with their weapons in check before Tikal spoke.
"What the hell happened here?"
She got no response from either one of the teams before Bunnie spoke.
"They were momentarily undergoing the transformation."
Nack took his eyes off a victim and gazed Bunnie in surprise.
"You mean they were scratched?"
Bunnie provided no answer for that question before Cream spoke.
"They were fighting it."
Nack looked to Cream before Tails spoke.
"Fighting what?"
"I'll bet they were fighting each other." Nack assumed
"They weren't fighting each other; They were fighting the infection." Cream said
"Wait, how do you know that?" Rouge asked
Cream was silent before Bunnie spoke.
"Ah heard their cries."
"Was it normal?"
Bunnie slowly issued a stern gaze in Rouge's direction in response.
Suddenly, the mobian victim near Nack's position shot its spliced eye open and caught the weasel off-guard by snarling and quickly got up on the attack.
The creature grasped a hold of Nack's right arm and before he could react, the creature pierced its fangs into the weasel's wrist.
As blood seeped its way out, Nack screamed in pain, which got the teams quickly on alert.
However, before anyone could make a move, the creature was impaled halfway in the forehead by a sharp claw-dagger.
The blood splashed onto Nack's face before the creature was motionless next to the wall.
Gritting his teeth and ignoring the blood on his face, Nack momentarily seized his scream of pain and endured it before glaring hateful eyes at the creature that bit him.
As he started panting from the pain while pressurizing his injury with his left hand, Tails spoke from his position.
"You alright, Nack?"
"I don't know. This fuckin' thing bit me on my wrist."
As Bunnie passed Nack's position, she grasped her dagger by the handle and yanked it from the creature's forehead. However, before she passed the weasel up, she spoke.
"Ya'll welcome."
With a glare of annoyance on his face, Nack turned around to find Manic aiming his weapon in the weasel's direction.
Nack grew surprised before speaking.
"The hell is this?"
With his aim to Nack, Manic shook his head and spoke.
"Sorry, Nack. You've been bitten. So we can't take any chances with you."
"But you..."
Nack halted himself and sighed deeply due to the realization of his state before nodding and speaking.
"Alright, fine."
"What about the other seven?" Lupe asked
"We do away with them." Knuckles stated. "If that one can lash its way up, so can they."
Tails nodded in agreement.
"Let's do it. Afterwards, we'll continue."
The teams including Bunnie and Cream nodded in agreement before performing the task of eliminating the seven bodies.
Manic kept his watch to Nack should he come into transformation. The weasel kept his nerves in check and could almost feel the chill in his body from blood loss.
One-by-one, the teams shot a hole through the recommended creature's head while Bunnie and Cream took the liberty to harshly slit their prey's throat open.
It didn't take long for the teams to finish the task with the amount of blood stained on the walls due to their work.
As they met back up with Manic and Nack, Tails sighed and spoke.
"Well, it's done."
Manic nodded.
"Good."
Tails gazed to Nack and took note of his brief shivering body before speaking.
"You okay, Nack?"
"Does it look like I'm okay? I'm fucking cold."
Tails took note of the wound of his wrist and spoke.
"Lupe, you got anything to patch that wound up?"
Lupe nodded.
"Yes."
"Do it. Then, we can go."
It took only a few minutes to patch the wound up while Nack grunted in pain in the process. Nonetheless, the task was done and the teams made their way from the area towards the end of the long dreadful tunnel that will lead them into the giant hive.