Writer's note: A new multi-chapter fic that will have some graphic content! Buckle your seat belt and hang on!
"Make room, kid."
"I thought we were done with the food run."
"I found one more thing we need."
Ralph stuffed a cherry as big as Vanellope's head into the satchel with her. Vanellope rolled her eyes. She should have known Ralph couldn't make a food run without snitching his favorite snack.
"You just had to get a cherry."
"What? Getting my hands on one of these is a rare treat. Now pipe down before someone gets suspicious."
A commotion further down in the port station caught Ralph's attention. On a raised platform he could make out the bonbon-shaped head of King Candy, the shiny crown adorning his bolding dome. "Trouble up ahead. We better get back through the portal."
Vanellope peeked out through the top of the satchel. "Wait!" Ralph halted, glancing over his shoulder at the small face peeking out from under the satchel's flap. "I want to see what that crazy joker is up to."
"You know it's not safe, kid."
"Nothing is safe anymore, Ralph. Just hang toward the back, okay?"
Ralph winced at the idea of being exposed to the outside world any longer than they had to be, but he obliged to the girl's wishes.
As the pair drew nearer to the edge of the crowd, King Candy threw his arms in the air, tossing candy to the masses. "Come one, come all! Boy, do I have a treat for you today!" he chirped in delight. King Candy gestured for his guards to join him on the platform, the oversized donuts manhandling a furious Jumpman from the Donkey Kong realm.
King Candy flung his arms out wide, making every single movement a spectacle. "This criminal has been caught, and will finally be put to justice!" He turned to the criminal in question. "Anything to say for yourself, Jumpman?"
The mustached man muttered something fierce in Italian then spat on the ground at the king's slippers. King Candy shrugged his shoulders. "Did anyone get that?" he giggled, leaning an ear out toward the crowd, "No? Okay!" He flittered his fingers at the guards. "Release them."
A terrifying buzz drew close as two cy-bugs bolted from a laser-barred cage off to the side, the acid green code of their eyes zoning in on Jumpman. Gasps of horror echoed through the crowd as the Italian was ripped apart pixel by pixel by the pair of cy-bugs.
Ralph watched in alarm, his stomach suddenly wishing to lose its breakfast. He'd momentarily forgotten his tiny companion in the satchel, her horrified gasp alerting him of her presence. He reached back to close the satchel's flap. "Let's get outta here, kid."
Calhoun sat beside the stainless steel toilet bowl, flushing the contents of her stomach down before the smell triggered another bout of nausea. She breathed in deep, willing her insides to calm down. She had no time to be sick; too many people depended on her leadership.
"Tammy?" she heard her husband call from the bedroom. She didn't have time to lock the washroom door when she sprinted in there a few minutes prior. She pushed off the wall carefully to stand, and walked to the sink to clean up.
"Oh, there you are." Felix appeared in the doorway, his doting eyes taking in her ruffled state. "Are you okay, hon?"
Calhoun swished a sip of water around before spitting it into the sink. She accepted the towel Felix handed her, scrubbing away the experience. "Eggs didn't sit right," was her explanation, because honestly, she didn't know what was causing her stomach to revolt. She glanced down into her husband's worried face. "I'm fine, Fix-It. Anything to report?"
"Ralph is back," he answered solemnly as he trailed behind her, "He says it was a rather disturbing run."
Calhoun nodded, waiting to ask for the full report from Ralph. She and Felix walked quickly to the conference room, passing a few stray civilians through the hallway.
"What dirty deeds of King Candy-bug do you have to report to me, Wreck-It?" she asked, leaning her backend against the rectangle table.
Ralph frowned, head hanging low. "We witnessed an execution."
"We?" Calhoun emphasized, saving the questions of the gory details for after this unbeknownst information.
Ralph rubbed the back of his neck. "The kid joined me."
Calhoun's eyes flamed as she pushed off the table, fist at the ready to deck Ralph in the face. "You know better than to take the kid out there! King Candy has placed the biggest bullseye on her back, and you're going to risk her life for a food run!"
"I know, Sarge!" Ralph retorted, raising himself to full height, daring to take on the marine. "She was hidden the entire time. But after what we saw on this run, Vanellope is never going out there again."
"What happened?" Calhoun growled, backing down but only a tad.
Ralph's shoulders dropped as the fight left him. "King Candy drew a crowd to the platform, and in his own sick way, had two cy-bugs tear Jumpman apart." He inhaled a shuttering breath. "And the kid saw the whole thing."
"Oh my land," Felix gasped, his presence forgotten by the two taller individuals in the room. "How is she?"
Ralph shrugged, half-heartedly. "Quieter than usual, but she seems okay."
"I'll go check on her." With that, Felix left the room.
A beat of silence thick enough to slice filled the space around them. Ralph shifted his weight and cleared his throat, the tension obviously getting to him. "We need to get rid of this guy, Sarge, and quick before every port in this station is destroyed and everyone is dead."
"You don't think I know that," Calhoun snapped, fists balled at her sides. She turned her head, her face hidden behind a protective curtain of bangs. The burden of their dire situation weighted on her shoulders as if she were Atlas himself holding up the earth.
"King Candy is the only cy-brid known to exist," she continued, beginning to pace the length of the room, "We've never battled anything like him. To be able to control every cy-bug hatched is possibly the most dangerous power any being could ever have." She paused, finally looking Ralph's way. "Organizing an ambush and taking Candy out has been near to impossible."
Ralph frowned. "I know," he said softly, "I'm just worried for the kid. How can he hate her that much to want her dead? She's just a little girl, for pete's sake! What did she ever do to him?!"
"Because for some reason, she's a threat to him," Calhoun reminded him.
"But why? King Candy has every port in the station under his foot. Why would he be so concerned with getting his hands on Vanellope?"
"Hate can run deep inside someone's code, and Candy is more like the king of lunatics. He's out of his mind, Wreck-It."
Ralph rubbed a huge hand over his face, a frustrated sigh escaping his throat. "I'm gonna go check on the kid." He lumbered out the room.
Calhoun leaned against the table, crossing arms over her chest as she listened to him leave. They couldn't stay hidden in Wasteland forever. King Candy would one day find a way inside, and that would be the end of their barren sanctuary. The only options were to take out Candy or stay put until they were found; either choice that was made, they were doomed.