Location Unknown
September 16, 10:59 pm

The sound of the clock ticking resonated around the room as Lucas wrote in his journal of Eggman's cryogenisation and his thoughts about the whole process. Recalling the events into words left him unsettled on how the person he works for managed to overthrow the doctor and garnish enormous support in the empire. Then again, this was the second time that someone took the throne by force, so it wasn't much of a surprise to him.

Lucas let out a sigh and finished writing his last words, settling down the journal on the nightstand on his right. He was about to take off his clothes and settle down for the night when, suddenly, the alarms began to blare. Lucas instinctively drew the Wispon he had beneath the bed and aimed it at the door, his clandestine self-protection kicking in full gear. A few seconds later, the door opened and Seth barged inside the room, startling Lucas a bit.

"Seth? What's g—"

"We gotta go," Seth responded, his eyes not peeling away from the door. "Something happened. Something very bad. You'll need that Wispon to get to the safe room."

"I-I don't understand. What are you talk—"

Both men were startled by the sound of people screaming and gunshots further down the hallway, firing for approximately two minutes until going completely silent. They both walked slowly towards the door and pressed their ears on the metallic panel, keeping quiet as they listened the other side off the room. Neither of them could hear another person; instead, a low moaning was heard, followed by a dozen few more converging slowly in the distance. A few seconds later, the sound of guttural growls became loud enough to be heard through the door.

This startled Lucas deeply as he put a hand on his mouth to avoid making a noise. He knew what the sounds were and the creature that it comes from. He never once thought, however, that they would escape containment. Or that he would find himself in this predicament.

"Lucas," Seth whispered, his face showing concern for his friend. "Hey hey hey, look at me. We're gonna be fine."

"Chaos," Lucas whispered as he looked back at Seth, his eyes showing disbelief at the situation. "How did those things get out? Those chambers were supposed to be shut tight and secured!"

"I don't know. But we gotta get to the security room now."

Lucas scoffed incredulously. "Are you crazy?! We're never going to reach it in one piece! I suggest we stay here until help arrives."

Seth breathed deeply and looked at Lucas in the eyes. He braced himself for his friend's reaction to what he was about to say. "No one's coming. We're on our own."

The news impacted Lucas sharply in the mind. What the hell is going here?, he thought, Are they really going to let us die for the sake of this project? After all our years of loyal service to the empire? Why? What could they hope to gain from our deaths? This makes no sense!

As he continued to ponder the possibilities of this disaster and its ramifications on them, Lucas began to hyperventilate inadvertently, something that caught Seth's attention. The latter brought the former closer to him in an embrace, soothing him down as he caressed his head softly. This helped Lucas calm down a bit and refocus on the situation at hand as Seth pulled back and took out his own Wispon from his holster.

"Alright. Listen carefully," Seth spoke while standing close to the door. "We'll travel to the security room using a series of hallways that serve as shortcuts. We need to move quickly and not stop at all times."

"Got it," Lucas replied as he readied his own Wispon.

"I'll do my best to avoid bumping into those... things," he continued, "However, if they start approaching us, try to aim for the head. If not, shoot their limbs instead. Ready?"

Lucas took a deep breath and nodded. They both moved quickly through the hallways of the facility, bearing witness to the carnage that's taken over in the past hour. A few minutes later, they reached the security room and locked the doors. Upon inspection, they saw a few more personnel who managed to reach the room safely, all of them working on isolating the creatures in different rooms of the facility. This brought relief to Lucas as he sat down near a terminal and began establishing communications with the outside world for help. Seth, on the other hand, kept an eye on the doors tightly as the alarms blared loudly followed by an emergency announcement regarding the crisis.

Hope began to amount on the survivors but they remained as well among them. They just needed to survive until help arrived...

M.O.S.S. Headquarters, Outskirts of Central City, United Federation
September 17, 5:40 am – 6:59 am

Morning rolled slowly over the base as all personnel in site huddled inside the main hangar. The Director had planned to introduce the new operations unit in front of everyone, something Gadget should've asked him yesterday in his office. Thankfully, the secretary he saw yesterday came to his room to inform him where he was supposed to go. Gadget put on his uniform quick and followed the man in tow, seeing only a small handful of administrative personnel roaming the hallways at dawn.

Once he reached the hangar, he was met with the sight of a large group standing near a Blue Eagle, the group being a mixture of humans and anthropomorphs. The Director's secretary and Gadget approached them and they all saluted them when they appeared in sight.

"At ease, everyone," the secretary spoke. "As you all know by now, Director Fritz wants to introduce you all as the new operations unit in a few minutes. In the meantime, please get to know each other."

"We all pretty much know each other here, Adam, so there's no need for 'em," one of them spoke. She was a human with a red curly hair and a scar on her left cheek. She sat on the nose of the Blue Eagle they were all huddled in, holding a data pad in one hand and a wrench on the other.

Adam, as Gadget learned, glared at the female soldier as he spoke, "Well sorry! In case you haven't noticed, Sarah, some of us can't remember every person they meet on a daily basis."

"Heh. Hasn't stopped you from remembering me."

"That's because you're memorable," Adam said, not thinking clearly on the words he said. It only took him a second to realize what he said when everyone gave him intrigued looks. He cleared his throat and soothed down the growing blush as he added, "I mean, you took down three Eggman battleships single-handedly. Not many fighter pilots can fare well with even just one battle cruiser."

Sarah hummed at Adam. "So you're saying you admire me?"

"Wha- No, I jus- Why would you say that- You know what, I'm not even gonna bother answering that question," Adam said. "All of you get acquainted or reacquainted with one another until the Director calls upon you."

Adam turned around and walked quickly towards the large hangar doors, not wanting to be humiliated any further than he already was. Gadget shook his head in amusement and spoke with everyone that was present, most of which he recognized and befriended before. However, as soon as he finished talking with Sarah, he noticed one more figure at the back of the Blue Eagle; they were an anthropomorph jackal with a long white hair, gray pelt and white mane. They were leaning on the fighter jet and had their eyes closed, having a little rest from being woken up so early as Gadget assumed. He immediately recognized them and walked up to them.

"Hey, Finn!" Gadget greeted. "You're here as well?"

The jackal, Finn, opened his eyes and looked at the red wolf. A small smile sprawled out in his muzzle and spoke, "I'm surprised to be here at all. You? Not so much."

Gadget chuckled, "You always say that. So I take it the Director approached you as well?"

"Yes. He informed me, as I assume he did with the others, that M.O.S.S. was forming a new operations unit and asked me to join in. Didn't know you'd be our CO, though."

"You could say that again," another voice spoke. A man with hazel eyes and black hair approached them and continued, "None of us knew for sure but Sarah suspected it for some time."

Sarah climbed off of the Blue Eagle and walked up to him, "Dammit, Noah. I told you that there were a few possible candidates for the position and I sure as hell didn't say it would be Gadget for sure. But hey, I'm glad they chose him as our leader."

The rest of the group nodded at Sarah's statement, leaving Gadget stunned for a moment. He worked with some of the men and women present back during the days of the Resistance; not all of them took him seriously enough and butted heads with him on more occasions than he'd like to remember. But seeing how they all saluted and showed him respect, truly showed him that not only did he grow as an individual, everyone else did grow into a unified group.

A smile spread across his face and stood tall as he spoke, "Thank you, everyone. We're gonna be one hell of a team."

"Hear hear!" Noah exclaimed, followed by the rest of the group.

Two minutes later, Adam approaches them once more and guides them to the entrance of the hangar. On the other side of the bulk doors, they could hear Director Fritz giving out a speech to, what they assumed to be, base personnel and other major military associates. When the doors opened, they saw a large crowd looking at the stage in front of the building, to which they climbed up and positioned themselves behind the Director.

They stood at attention for a bit as they were called by their rank and name one by one, ending with Gadget as he was promoted to the rank of commander by the Director. Gadget gave a simple yet thankful speech to the crowd, nodding at all his teammates who applauded him.

"Now that that's over," the Director spoke, "I hereby proclaim the establishment of the Special Tactics And Rescue Services, also known as the S.T.A.R.S. Unit!"

The crowd cheers loudly as the Director applauded them with great satisfaction; however, his demeanor changed when Adam approached him and spoke to him in his ear as he delivered news from the field. Everyone watched calmly while the Director looked at Gadget and his team and then back at Adam, nodding at the latter and whispering an order to him. The secretary nodded and walked away with a phone pressed on his ear while the Director looked to the crowd with a commanding presence.

"Hate to interrupt the celebration but everyone report to their work posts now!" the Director commanded. He looked at Gadget's squad and addressed them, "S.T.A.R.S. Unit, prepare for your first mission immediately. You'll be briefed on the way to your destination."

"Yes, sir!"

All personnel present moved back to their previous stations as Gadget and his team were suiting up for their first mission. As they were gearing up, Finn and Sarah were discussing the possibilities of what the mission would entail while Noah and the others were excited about getting some action. All this time, Gadget watched his comrades and smiled to himself, enjoying the witty banter amongst themselves as they left towards the transport.

He just hoped that this mission would be a piece of cake...