Sonic and Sage approached the back of the line to Imperial Tower, where Sonic was supposed to apply for re-entry to the military. It stretched on for miles, and was tightly packed. "A line? I hate lines…" Sonic groaned, leaning against the fence. "Sage, how long will this take?" Sage ran the calculations.
"Roughly 30 hours," Sage mumbled. "Although, this is merely the queue to enter the building. After that, we will need to wait before the entrance in order to be screened for contagious artificial bacteriophages. After that, there's a lengthy training program that may take upwards of two years. We will be unable to leave the floor of the tower we're on until the course is completed. Falling below the 60% performers on any of the courses will result in execution in less than five seconds."
"Damn. Wasn't like that when I was a kid."
Sonic and Sage waited in line for hours. They couldn't come up with anything to talk about, and movement was sluggish yet sudden. Sonic quickly learned three things… If you nodded off or didn't move along exactly in time, you risked losing your place in the line by at least a few spots. If you got hungry, you had to tough it out, because a pack of four saltine crackers only showed up every few miles at checkpoints. Three, deodorant was too expensive for anyone down on their luck enough to apply for the Eggman Empire military.
"Heyyy!"
"HEYYYY!" Sonic exclaimed, as someone walked just outside the line. The green tenrec walked right past him without so much as a glance, separated by a thin line of razor wire. "Hey, you! Any chance we could speed things up? I was actually invited here by Eggman on account of my years of service, and I have her greatest creation right beside me. Isn't there a carpool lane or a way to skip all the training BS?"
"If I had to go through it, so do you," the tenrec said, flipping Sonic off with an electric-charged silver ring on her finger as she kept strutting along. "There's no room for whiners in the Eggman Empire. Love it or die."
"What's her deal?" Sonic asked, crossing his arms.
"That is Surge the Tenrec. She was the greatest performer in the training program's previous pool, which featured roughly three times the number of applicants lining up now," Sage replied, scraping the Eggnet. "She set the bar so high that the Empire is trying to catch lightning in a bottle once more— so to speak. Sonic, you were probably allowed in solely to become that next powerhouse for the military." Surge stopped in place, before zapping back over to the pair.
"So you're this traitor I've heard so much about. You really messed things up when you skipped town, and now you expect everything to go back to how it was?" Surge asked, staring Sonic down with static electricity sizzling between them. "You got any idea how tight a leash I'm on thanks to the antics of cowards like you? I should kill you right now."
"Why don't you come onto this side of the fence and say that again?" Sonic asked, smirking. "Kicking your green ass might be a fun way to pass the time." Surge lunged towards Sonic, but her arms didn't move the way she wanted them to. Her spiked bracelets held her in place as they locked together behind her back. Surge snarled as she pulled at her restraints. "Heh, never mind. I wouldn't feel great beating down on someone who can't fight back."
"You—! YOU! You're the biggest deadbeat of all time!" Surge shouted. "Must feel nice living free as the wind, huh?! What a flowery excuse for abandoning all your responsibilities and leaving all of us to step up!" Sage scowled, displeased as the people in line around them began to stare. They then began shouting and chucking trash at Sonic.
"Do not liken my father to a deadbeat!" Sage screamed, smacking Surge up the face as she kept struggling against her bracelets. The storm of insults and garbage came to an end. "Once this program is complete, he'll be your superior! Then your tight leash will be in his hand." Surge scowled, before the line began to move once more. Sonic blew a raspberry at Surge as he walked along. "It is advisable you do not provoke her, she is an elite military unit."
"You just smacked her up the chin!" Sonic exclaimed. "Some double standard, sis."
"That was strictly necessary. I will not allow her to intimidate you like that," Sage sighed, smiling a little. "Furthermore, I am the highest quality Eggman creation. I am much less likely to receive any punishment for my transgressions."
…
"Wake up."
A gunshot. Sonic snapped awake with a deep and guttural inhale, feeling the cold metal under him. He tried to ground himself. He was still in line, but it was hard to tell how far behind he was from where he passed out. "Jeez, Sage! Can't I get a 'good morning' or 'rise and shine'---?" Another gunshot. Sonic watched as someone a few spots behind him fell sideways, splattering onto the ground.
"Yo, losers! On your feet! We're trimming off any of you attempting unauthorized leisure, so watch your step and maintain an orderly line," Surge barked, walking the red carpet parallel to the breadline alongside a Swatbot with a smoking gun. "Remember… napping, reading, mobile device usage, and extended conversations all fall under unauthorized leisure at this time. So get with the program!"
"Up, now," Sage whispered. Sonic, despite being groggy and mostly checked out of his surroundings, realized what was going on and jumped to his feet. Surge locked onto his jumpball as it poked out above the rest of the line. The signature move of a world-renowned legend, the mark of Sonic the Hedgehog himself.
Surge pointed at Sonic, and the Swatbot followed suit. "We have to speed things up. Open fire."
BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM!
Sonic opened his eyes and lowered his arm. Sage had set up a protective hologram shield just in time. The bullets bounced right off. Sage glared at Surge through the window. "This barrier will not break to any conventional weaponry. If you truly want to move things along, pick someone else," Sage suggested. Surge groaned, before swinging her arm and instantaneously taking out the eight entrants behind Sonic in an electric explosion. Sonic stood completely frozen, staring at their seared remains.
"Was that worth it, hero?" Surge grumbled, walking past them. Sage's gaze followed her for a moment, before returning to a trembling Sonic.
"Do not let her get the better of you," Sage replied.
"What are you talking about? I could have done something!" Sonic hissed, walking forward while hanging his head in shame.
"That was an illogical and spontaneous act of vengeance on her part," Sage stated.
"I could've taken the fall, you— you shouldn't have egged her on!" Sonic muttered.
"We are not to blame for the actions of others. We all act on our own accord. Furthermore, we all must look out for our own self interest…" Sage said. She took Sonic's gloved hand in hers and rubbed the blood off of it with her thumb. "If you want to be unreasonable, blame me. I was merely doing what was necessary to keep you safe."
…
The sun set behind Imperial Tower. Sonic stared directly at the haze of light through the smog clouds in order to keep himself awake. When there was no longer any sunlight to pierce his eyes with, he and Sage craned their necks all the way back to look up at the stars. There was a Starfall+ that night, each meteor sparked their bodies awake.
…
"Next."
Sonic watched as the guy ahead of him was inspected behind a thin curtain. "What are they screening us for, anyways?" Sonic asked, watching the red monkey lie down on a table. Bound Rings were placed around the guy's wrists. "I'm guessing it isn't your garden variety flu." Sage stared on as the man began to writhe and cry out in pain. The doctors were practically tearing him apart to find any traces of disease.
"The Empire has tried to keep this a secret for a long time," Sage said. "You are aware of their exit ban on citizens, correct? Even when you were amongst their ranks, you were only permitted to leave the country for conflict abroad."
"Yep, I know all about that," Sonic sighed. "This entire country's just one big Prison Egg."
"It's more of a quarantine zone," Sage replied. Sonic squinted at her, confused. "Decades ago, an experimental self-cloning metal was quietly leaked into the water supply. The idea was to bolster the citizens' resistance to Shadow Anomaly via devices the metal would grow in their brains."
A blaring strobe alarm painted the entire surrounding area a deep crimson. Soon, screams echoed out from behind the curtain. before morphing into metallic clanging and gargling. Sonic saw the man behind the curtain struggling against the Bound Rings as the doctors screening him reached for an Egg Hammer.
"Soon, the metal spread and mutated beyond control, to a point even Eggman herself couldn't influence the neural implants or contain the spread," Sage said. "It is spread by physical contact and by blood, and cannot be completely cured. Roughly 35% of the population are afflicted with the Metal Virus, even if physical or behavioral symptoms aren't immediately apparent."
The man broke out of the Bound Rings and began shambling towards the doctors. "Recently, some individuals have been completely and rapidly overtaken by the Metal Virus festering in their bodies. This turns them into mindless and violent vectors of disease known as 'Zomborgs'. The exit ban was primarily put into place to stop the Zomborgs from spreading globally."
People behind Sonic began to run, as the doctors up ahead were tackled to the ground by the Zomborg. They forgot about everything, the hours of pain it took just to reach the end of this long line. Loyalty to the Empire. The fact they had nothing to run home to without backing and payment from the military. The collective belief that their lives meant nothing so long as they were serving Eggman gave way to survival instinct.
Despite being held down by the Zomborg, now infected by the Metal Virus, one of the doctors gripped the Egg Hammer and swung it right into the Zomborg's head. Though most of the infected monkey's body was covered in nigh-indestructible metal, the corner of the hammer made contact with a fleshy patch. Sonic saw the curtain get torn down as the dead, twisted body crashed onto the ground. Those left behind from the stampede stopped running, and looked ahead. The parts of the corpse covered in metal were still twitching. With the host's brain smashed to pieces, the infected body parts simply powered down.
"Holy shit…" Sonic muttered. The doctors got up, saluted each other, and sat back down at their desks on other sides of the inspection booth.
"Next."