Sergeant Calhoun glided her hover board smoothly through the ash-filled atmosphere of Hero's Duty, eyes searching intently for any signs of wayward cybugs. It was her turn on patrol, and as usual, her husband joined her.
She smiled, glancing down at Felix as he balanced himself easily right behind her. He wasn't your typical idea of a soldier, especially for a ruthless game like Hero's Duty, but the little handyman had proven himself over and over again that he could handle almost any hand dealt to him.
She felt a tap on her leg and pulled the hover board to a stop.
Felix pointed to an old crawl hole dug out in the harsh terrain.
Calhoun swiveled the hover board to face the crawl hole and reached for the blaster on her back, readying to drift closer to the suspicious opening.
Without warning – not so much as a flutter of wings – a cybug slammed into them from behind. Searing pain sliced across her abdomen like a whip, but the pain was quickly ignored. A frightened yelp rang in Calhoun's ears as they both tumbled to the ground. Panic flooded the sergeant's mind. Her husband, who could easily die, was falling to the ground below. She had to protect him.
Calhoun snatched Felix from the air, yanking his small body to hers and wrapping herself around him. She'd take the impact for him, and hoped she wouldn't die from it herself.
A ringing sound buzzed in Felix's head. Something heavy and hard covered him, and he wiggled to free himself. With a groan, he sat back, holding his head (not even registering that his hat was missing) as he recalled what just happened. The last memory he had was of something hitting him in the back almost as hard as Ralph could punch.
The ringing finally stopped, and Felix opening his eyes letting out a gasp when he saw his wife lying beside him. He moved to roll her onto her back, but a horribly familiar whirling noise caught his attention and Felix looked up to find the cybug that had slammed into them staring straight at him from less than 20 feet away.
He barely had time to react as the cybug leapt into the air, descending upon them. Felix screamed, fumbling for the small blaster on his tool belt and shooting off several rounds straight at the creature's head. Acid green goo leaked from its busted eyes. It lagged to the right before crashing into a dead heap.
Felix stared fixated on it for a long beat, his small chest rising and falling. Once he was sure the creature wasn't coming back to life, he dropped the blaster and turned back to his wife.
"Tamora!" he said in a strained voice as he rolled her onto her back. A long, gaping gash ran across the sergeant's abdomen, crimson blood quickly filling out the wound and dripping down her armor onto the ground. "Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead!"
Felix grabbed for his golden hammer, taping squarely in the middle of the wound. The telltale fixing sound jingled as the wound vanished and the armor repaired. He waited; gazing frantically at Tamora, hoping by fixing the wound it would bring her back to consciousness. If she were already dead, she'd respawn close to the gameplay area and he'd be stranded alone.
Felix nearly jumped out of his pixels when Tamora gasped and grabbed his arm as she came back to life. She raised her head, long bangs swept across her forehead, and looked at him slightly disoriented.
"What in hell's bells just happened?" Tamora finally said, glancing at the mangled cybug close by.
Felix couldn't help but laugh in relief, attacking Tamora in a fierce hug. "We were hit by this cybug-"
"I know that, Fix-it," Tamora replied, gently pulling away from him and standing. She sauntered over to the cybug's lifeless body, popping a hip out to place a hand on. "You took it down?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Felix saluted, scooping up his hat off the ground and joining her.
"Good." Tamora nodded, approvingly. She surveyed the cybug. "Well, we know where the hover board went."
Felix looked closely, realizing underneath the cybug, a board shaped underbelly had formed. "Oh my land."
"Without my helmet, I can't radio for pick up. That means, we'll have to hoof it on foot back to base," Tamora growled. "Flapjacks!" She kicked a piece of debris, most likely a part from an old cybug killing, and stomped off to retrieve her blaster.
Felix frowned, walking away to retrieve his own blaster. "How long will it take, Tammy?"
Tamora shrugged. "A few hours tops," she answered, examining her weapon to make sure it wasn't damaged. "But it's a dangerous trek. We'll have to be highly on guard."
The dangerous part was no surprise. No matter where you went in Hero's Duty, there was potential danger lurking in the shadows.
Tamora began walking in the direction they had come from. "Stick close, short stack."
"No problem, honeybadger!"