New Tricks
Felix had met his wife Calhoun at her quarters in Hero's Duty, where she'd changed out of her uniform and was now wearing a full length red dress. Since Ralph had his Bad-Anon meeting today and they'd have a bit longer before they'd have to meet at Sugar Rush, Calhoun had suggested that they go eat out today at a café in the China stage of Street Fighter II.
Ever since that day Ralph had gone game-jumping, it seems that every day has been brighter than even the first day that their game had been plugged in. Part of that, he supposed was due to that he has such a dynamite gal waiting for him at the end of each day. In addition, everyone in his own game is even more friendly to one another, especially in regards to Ralph. Of course, he'd always tried to be friendly to Ralph himself. That was just in his programming. But he never knew that Ralph was such a nice guy inside, or that the unfriendly attitude the Nicelanders held towards him was making him feel lonely. Not until the day Ralph had sought out a medal to show everyone that he was as much of a good guy as Felix. One Out-Of-Order sign and two Cy-Bug infested nightmares later, everyone now knows that even though Ralph is the game's 'Bad Guy', Ralph is actually a good guy deep down inside.
When they arrive at the café, they have a seat and Calhoun orders something from the menu for both of them. As the hostess leaves Calhoun says to Felix, "So I've been thinking: Your game's been around for a while, and while it's still as popular as ever, I imagine that it's getting increasingly difficult to get replacement parts for its cabinet. If something were to break on it, and Mr. Litwak is unable to fix it, then your game would be placed Out-of-Order and get unplugged for good. Because of that, I've been having my men create quarters for you behind our lines. And the other Nicelanders, of course."
"That's very sweet of you dear," Felix said, "but while I'd be more than happy to accept your quarters should we ever get unplugged, I think that the Nicelanders would feel more comfortable someplace like Sugar Rush, where they don't have to worry about possibly getting eaten and facing permanent Game Over."
"Oh, right," Calhoun said, embarrassed, "of course."
"It was a nice thought, though," Felix reassured her as he kissed her on the cheek, "So how was work today?"
"It was fine," Calhoun said, "We had a couple of first-person shooters almost make it to the top of the tower today, although one of them had used several continues to get that far. How about you?"
"It was really good," Felix answered, "Q*Bert and the other new guys are really settling in, Ralph and the Nicelanders are really getting along. The only thing that kept it from being perfect was that neither you nor Vanellope were there."
"She's a sweet kid," Calhoun agreed, "Still can't leave her game, huh?"
Felix shook his head, "The barrier still won't let her pass because it registers her as a glitch. She says that she elected to retain her glitch powers because it is the 'coolest superpower ever', but I think it's more than that. I think that more than her memory was damaged by Turbo's amateurish hacking, and even though the game had restored the others' memory of her and was even able to give back her princess dress, it wasn't able to fully restore her."
"Hmm," Calhoun considered what Felix mentioned. As she gently rocked the wobbly table back and forth, she glanced at Felix's hammer on his belt, then said, "I just had a thought: whenever I've seen you use your hammer, I've only seen you hit things with the flat end."
Taking his hammer from his belt and looking at it, Felix asked, "I don't understand, wow else would I use it?"
"Well, how about trying the claw end on the other side?" Calhoun suggested, "Maybe you could try it on this table."
It sounded like a strange idea, but he decided to humor her. Flipping the hammer around, he hit the table with the claw side. As soon as the claw made contact with the table, it instantly disappeared and reappeared in the same nanosecond, only now it was in pieces.
"Oh no!" Felix exclaimed, "I wrecked it!"
Looking carefully at the table parts, Calhoun corrected, "It's not wrecked, more like it's been taken apart."
Felix, confused, said, "I don't understand: this hammer belonged to my father, and he was a Fixer like me. Why would his hammer have the ability to take thing apart?"
"Well, sometimes that's the only way to fix things properly." Calhoun explained.
"Huh?" Felix asked.
Calhoun continued her explanation, "Well, sometimes things are put together improperly in the first place, either by a mistake or by an unwise addition. If it got broken, very likely due to that imperfection, then it was fixed, then that imperfection would remain and it'd likely get broken again the same way because of it. The only way to fix something like that is to take it apart so it can be put back together properly."
"Really?" Felix said.
"Just take a look at me," Calhoun stated, "I was programmed to be an excellent soldier and a fearless leader. However, I was also programmed with that tragic backstory. You could think of that as being my imperfection. I led my men, but I didn't count on anyone, not even you when you offered to help me find Ralph and the Cy-Bug. And when you paid me that compliment, I panicked and completely freaked out. Me, the fearless soldier, freaking out by a simple compliment. All due to that imperfection caused by my backstory I was given during my creation. But you got me to lower my guard and open my heart, essentially taking me apart and removing my imperfection so I can be put together better than I was before."
As she gestured back to the table, Felix took the hint and used the head of the hammer on the table, which caused it to reappear fully assembled. Calhoun placed a gentle pressure on her end and demonstrated that it didn't rock. "See, no wobble," Calhoun pointed out, smiling, "Sometimes to fix something, you must first take it apart."
As Felix looked at his hammer in a new light, he smiled at Calhoun in appreciation. Then, just as they lean in to kiss, the timer on Calhoun's time piece went off. "Jiminy Cricket!" Calhoun exclaimed, "Ralph's meeting should be over by now! That means that Vanellope's race will be starting any minute!" Looking at the hostess, Calhoun said, "We'll take those orders to go!" They then hastily grabbed their bagged dinners and hurried over to the tram to Game Central Station and Sugar Rush.
End of chapter
