History Recap / SonicTheHedgehogIDWTheLastMinuteArc

** Starline takes matters into his own hands and calls upon the Deadly Six to help control the Zombots. However, he's not reckless enough to just bring them in, knowing their history with Eggman. He needs to prepare for an inevitable double-cross, which is why he found and stored a Cocophonic Conch after his first meeting, which its sound is the only thing that immobilizes them.

* WhamEpisode: This whole arc, pretty much, although Issues 22 and 24 are the real shockers.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Cream is prone to crying or just being sad, which is obvious for a child as young as her. The fact that Cream is outright ''depressed and cold'' the next time she and Sonic meet signifies just how dire the situation has become.

* TooDumbToLive: Issue 23 reveals the extent of Eggman's SuicidalOverconfidence with the Metal Virus; not only has he not made a vaccine or contingency for the virus, he ''sees no need to''; as far as he's concerned, just not touching the Zombots will be enough to avoid infection. Starline brings up other points, like the virus potentially mutating to become airborne, only to be enraged when Eggman blows him off as nitpicking.

** Tails manages to find the cure for the virus, but the wifi ends up cut before he can upload it to Restoration HQ, and the Server Blade is destroyed when he tries to flee with it. Not that it would've mattered, since Restoration HQ itself has fallen by then.
** Vector and Espio capture Zombot Charmy and plan to isolate him in case Tails finds a cure to test on him. When an infected is loose inside Restoration HQ, the ensuing chaos frees Charmy and makes thing ''much worse'' as almost everyone inside are infected, including Cream's mother.
*** Amy, Cream, Vector and Espio nearly all escape together along with other refugees, but a Zombot-ifed Charmy manages to jump through the exit before they can seal the building, forcing Vector to carry him out of the escape shuttle, at the cost of getting infected himself. To make matters worse, the shuttle they are in is the only one left in the HQ not compromised.
** Sonic was essentially the "Plan B" for the virus cure by collecting data for it while running. But in his fight with Eggman, he ends up breaking the device that does so.

[[caption-width-right:350:Nothing screams DespairEventHorizon like ''this''. [[note]]Issue #24 Cover A by Jonathan Gray. Colors by Reggie Graham.[[/note]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sonic_idw_24_cover.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hmm, something seems off. Hey wait a second... [[SkewedPriorities Marine isn't in this arc]]!]]

-->Featured in issues 21-24

The third arc of the Metal Virus saga.

With the Metal Virus escalating out of control, Sonic and the Restoration try their best to help the survivors, find a cure and stop Eggman. But, being in a ZombieApocalypse, things are easier said then done. All the while, Eggman soon finds that the Virus isn't as perfect as he thought. But when he doesn't try to fix it right away, his ward, Starline, decides to take matters into his own hands.

** Sonic has been fending off his infection so far thanks to his SuperSpeed, but he is still mortal. He has been running nonstop with little to no rest and, according to Gemerl, it's starting to wear him out. That's not even counting the discovery that the virus is staring to adapt in a way that bypasses this.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Sonic may have done the right thing by sparing Eggman in his amnesic state as Mr. Tinker; at least it gave him a chance to do some good for once, even if he wasn't in his right mind. However, like Shadow, Espio had contemplated arresting, or eliminating, Eggman at his most vulnerable because... well.. let's face it. The doctor is a mad man. One would think Sonic would ''get the hint'' based on all of the wrongdoings Eggman has committed prior to the Metal Virus. Instead, he thinks Espio is just 'assuming the worst about everyone and everything'.

** Issue 22: The Restoration base ends up infected due to one of the citizens hiding that he got some of the virus on him. That, and Zombot Charmy breaking free from the container Vector and Espio put him into, turns a majority of the survivors into Zombots including Vanilla and Vector, with the rest of the heroes just barely escaping. Amy reveals to Tails the lone ship is all that remains of the Restoration.

* HeroicRROD: Having been running as mock speed for several hours -- if not ''days'' -- just to keep the infection from consuming him, on top of trying to save civilians and trying to keep Eggman from regaining control over the situation have certainly taken their toll on the Blue Hedgehog.

* FromBadToWorse: '''''[[UpToEleven And how.]]''''' As if to drive the point home, the ToBeContinued text at the end of Issue #24 literally says this.

* NightmareFace: Whisper has a feral, agonized one during her breakdown over Tangle's infection.

* RageBreakingPoint: Eggman drives both Sonic and Starline to this in Issue 23. As Eggman's disinterest in managing his wayward virus and the Zombots becomes apparent, Starline almost has a VillainousBreakdown before Sonic interrupts the doctors' argument. Then ''Sonic'' gets triggered and attacks Eggman in rage, while Starline bitterly watches the ensuing fight in [[BrokenPedestal disappointment with his idol]].