AN: Inspired by headcanon 1757 from the old Wreck It Ralph headcanon blog.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wreck It Ralph.
They had called the cybug cute.
It didn't matter that the cybug was a cardboard cutout, that they were in the Hero's Duty training halls, that while their armor and guns were real everything else about this simulation to teach them how to fight was fake. They had called a cybug cute.
"Do you think it'll be cute," Tamora asked, her hand falling to rest on a lever to her right, her voice low as she tightened her grip around it, "when that cybug eats Vanellope?"
Yelping in fright as Tamora pulled the lever, Felix and Ralph lept away as another cardboard cybug popped out of the ground before them, its hazel eyes staring at them accusingly from under a fringe of black, candy tangled hair. Although crudely done, there was no mistaking the child that the beast had eaten, especially when it began to glitch across the track and the vocal recording began.
"R-R-Ralph," Vanellope's voice wailed from between the creature's mandibles, the metal pincers moving in time with her words. "H-h-help me, R-R-Ralph! Help-p-p me!"
"Stop it, Sarge," Ralph called, his hands pressed over his ears as he tried to ignore the plea coming from the creature before him, as he tried to remind himself that it wasn't real, that his little sister hadn't been eaten by a cybug, that everything was okay, because at the moment it was as far from it as he could get. "Turn it off!"
"Do you think it'll be cute," Tamora yelled as Vanellope's pleas turning to sobs, raising her voice to be heard, "what that cybug eats the Nicelanders?"
Pulling another switch, a dozen more of the mechanical creatures rose from the floor, their recorded screams of fear and confusion assaulting the two before they had even fully emerged. Twisted mutations between old and new, eight-bit and high definition, the familiar monsters swarmed around them, the dull drone of their wings echoing the pitch of their words as they called out for the hero that had abandoned them.
"Felix." "Felix, hel-" "Fel-" "FELIX, help me!" "Felix, we need y-" "FELIX!"
"Tammy, stop," Felix cried out as the bugs surrounded him, their claws scratching against his armor in search of his touch as he drew away. Already his cheeks were wet under his visor, his movements slow and hesitant as Mary reached out for him, hers the only bug that remained silent of them all. Backing up against the wall, he watched with wary eyes as she bent so they were eye to eye, the multifaceted orb blinking in the slight light that was in the training room. Clicking her mandibles, it was with an almost smile that she finally spoke, her words the ones that finally brought him to his knees before her.
"It's okay, dearie. I forgive you. Not even you could have fixed this, Felix."
"Do you think that cybug will be cute when it eats Tapper, or Zangief, or Clyde?" Tamora was screaming, her voice cracking and tearing at itself as she pulled lever after lever, adding a new accusing, pleading, begging voice with each name that she threw at them, all of them swarming toward the two who could have saved them. "Do you want it to stop?"
"Yes," they howled.
"Then shoot the damn bug."
Without another moment's hesitation they both fired, blasting the infant cardboard cybug that had started their hell into ashes. Immediately the others began to retreat to holes they had come from as Calhoun flipped their switches, each voice fading into a silent echo as the doors closed behind them. Pausing for a moment with her hand hovering over Vanellope's, she allowed the twisted child one last phrase before shutting it away.
"You really are a bad guy for letting this happen."
"Cybugs, no matter their size, are. Not. Cute," Tamora said, panting slightly as she pushed herself away from the control system. "They don't care if you're conflicted about killing them; they won't show you the same consideration. They'll hunt down everyone you love, everyone you've ever cared about, and will come after you with their faces." Weaving her way through the obstical course, making sure to avoid the trap doors that the cybugs simulator droids came out of, she knelt down so that she was kneeling before Felix, her hands gentle as she removed his helmet. Muttering comforting noises under her breath as he latched onto her, his arms tightening around her as he buried his wet face into the crook of her neck, she leaned back so that he was in her lap as her back was pressed against Ralph's arm. Using her free hand to pat the wrecker on the leg, she sighed before continuing to speak, eyes closing as she did. "It was harsh, Fix-It, Wreck-it, but that's what you came here to learn to fight against. I'm not always going to be around to shoot the little ones before they get big, and if you want to make sure what you just saw never leaves this training room, then you'll have to do it yourselves before someone gets hurt."
"I know," Ralph said shakily, using that arm that she wasn't leaning against to wipe at his eyes, "I know. But all of those characters at once, Sarge? That was harsh."
"But you won't hesitate to shoot the little ones again, knowing I have that, will you," she pointed out, gently pushing Felix away so that she could look him in the eye. Smiling kindly as he shook his head, an action that she could feel Ralph mirroring behind her, Tamora placed Felix back onto his feet before pushing herself to hers, jerking her thumbs toward the door that led to the outside world. "Get your guns and put the armor back; I'm taking you two to Tapper's. Drinks on me."
"Sounds good, Sarge," Ralph said, snatching up both his and Felix's guns before almost running toward the door, speaking over his shoulder as he raced for the exit. "I'll meet you two there in a bit; I want to go to Sugar Rush first."
"You going to be okay, short stack," Tamora asked gently the moment Ralph was gone, bending down so she could unlatch the collar of his armor, revealing the blue work shirt he had kept on underneath. Stacking the pieces as he handed them to her, she watched carefully as he continued to free himself from the armor, frowning as his hands slightly shook and his breathing remained uneasy. Holding out her arms as he put the last piece to the side, she placed a kiss onto his head as he accepted her silent invitation for another hug. "Sorry," she whispered. "Should have stopped with the squirt."
"No, Tammy, you did what you thought you needed to," Felix finally spoke, shaking his head as he pulled himself away. "I can't hesitate, not even if it is as adorable as a pecan pie." Gathering up his armor, he followed her toward the exit Ralph had disappeared through moments before, steadier than he had been before her hug. Pausing for a moment by the control panel that Tamora had used to release the drones, he waited for her to notice that he was no longer by her side before asking if he could see her gun.
"Sure," she replied, slightly surprised that he would want another weapon so soon after they had ended. It normally took her a few days to convince him to return to the training station, and even longer to get a gun back into his hands. "What do you need it for?"
Putting the armor off to the side, Felix took a moment to read the labels under the levers before answering her question, nodding grimly as he found the one he wanted. Cocking the gun, he flipped the switch and waited for the cybug simulator he had chosen to appear.
"Fel-"
Smiling at the look of surprise on Tamora's face as she looked at the destroyed Gene-bug drone he had just blasted, Felix just shrugged as he picked up the pieces and turned to leave, his response to her unasked question thrown over his shoulder as he used the other to hold open the door for her.
"Had to see if I could put the poor thing out of its misery, Tammy. Had to see if I could."