It was exactly two weeks later when Tamora decided it was time to move this baby to the back burner. Her armor had been getting noticeably tighter every day and today it was all she could do to close the clasp of her black chest plate over her protruding belly. "Fix-It," she huffed, "come to my game after hours. I think it's time to put this puppy out of its misery." Her husband was shocked at her choice of words, but one look at her pained face told him she was right. "I can do that, Ma'am," he nodded, kissing her tenderly on the cheek.
All day the little hero worried about his beloved and their child, enough so that if he had any control over himself he would have died very early on in the day's games. In demo mode he did die a lot. Ralph noticed the protagonist's distraction and pulled him off to the side to talk between rounds. "What's wrong with you, Felix?" he asked in a low voice. "Is everything okay with Sarge?"
Felix had his hat in his hands and was wringing it nervously. "Well, y'see," he sniffed. He told the antagonist about that morning's conversation with his wife and how worried he was. "That's rough," the giant said sympathetically. "But, y'know what?" he asked as he gently plucked the cap out of the handyman's grasp. "Calhoun is tough as nails and any kid of hers is bound to be, too." He shook out the hat to return it to its proper shape. "I'm sure they'll both be fine." He held out the restored headgear. Felix accepted it gratefully.
"Thanks, Ralph," he said with a soft smile. "You always know just what to say." He leapt up and grabbed his friend in a rib-crushing hug. Ralph held up his arms awkwardly then, flushing with embarrassment, quickly returned the embrace and pushed the little man off. "That's what friends are for," he mumbled. A quarter-alert sounded so they started to get into position. The Bad Guy quickly stopped the repairman, though, and knelt down. "Friends are also supposed to have their friends' backs," he hissed, "so you go straight to Hero's Duty after hours. I'll take care of everything here."
For the rest of the day Felix rejoiced in the fact that he had such a wonderful friend as Wreck-It Ralph.
It was a rough day for Calhoun. Hero's Duty was especially popular today so she and her men had to run more than usual. The expectant mother had already thrown up a few times and she could feel the bile rising up again. Someone softly took her by the elbow and led her to a first aid tent set up just off the path where the first person shooter wouldn't see.
"C'mon, Sarge. You need a rest." It was Kohut, the only one brave enough to approach her.
The woman growled, "If you weren't right I'd kill you for this." She sat on a crude bench, discarded her helmet, and her lieutenant handed her a canteen of water and a packet of glucose. The dynamite gal grimaced but consumed the sugar. She threw the flimsy plastic pouch as high as it would go and shot it so full of holes it disintegrated. 'What are you doin' to me, kid?' she mused to herself, her fingers inching towards the lump on her abdomen.
Tamora sat there for what felt like a long time, and for a trigger-happy soldier who is constantly in danger fifteen minutes is a long time, when she finally heard that dancer girl at the front of the arcade announce that Litwak was gone and there was a faint, familiar sproing-sproing-sproing in the distance.
"Kohut!" she barked. The man saluted. "I have some business to take care of. Take a squadron and do a perimeter check. Dismissed!" Kohut saluted again and left, motioning for a few of the other men to follow him.
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as the woman hauled herself up. There was no way she was going to let that pint-sized, 8-bit goofball see her like this. They waved at each other on the main path and Felix sprang over to her, stopping just in front of her. "Well, that was fast," Tammy commented with a smirk. The little man blushed and ran a thumb over his golden tool. "Well, this is important," he replied. She knelt down and pulled him for a fierce hug which he eagerly returned.
The couple parted and she whapped his hat bill down. "C'mon. We're goin' into the lab so I need you right on my six. You got that hammer?" He drew it out of his belt and nodded. They had learned long ago that the magic mallet, while useless for a fight, would turn the cy-bugs back into eggs. "Good. Let's go."
The soldier pried up a hidden panel at the entrance and put her hand on it. The door opened with a resounding thud and they stepped inside. Dormant monster eggs littered the hallway. The two of them carefully picked their way to a hidden door and opened it. It was an elevator and they rode it up and up.
"So…" Felix drawled, "Where will this take us?"
"It's going to take us to the very top. That's the entrance for the code room."
The lift stopped with a small bump and they disembarked into the dark corridor. When Tamora opened the door they found themselves in the medal room. A small brown box was waiting on the raised platform. "Good. Seems Smith was able to come up with something," she said cryptically. Upon opening the package they found two transparent disks, frosted lines of circuits decorating the surface.
"What's that, Sweetheart?"
"A transporter, I hope." She took out one of the disks and dropped it on the dais. The plate glowed blue. Satisfied, the woman clipped the other to her belt and descended the stairs again, motioning her husband to follow.
When he was close enough, she grabbed him and held him in her arms. "Ready for a ride?" she chuckled, laughing at his panicked stammering. Not waiting for an answer, she swung them under the platform into the void below, the handyman screaming all the way down.
They stopped just above the floor and floated down safely. "You can let go now," the sergeant said gently when she noticed how tightly her love had his arms around her. He did, but with some difficulty.
Calhoun activated the orange disk while Felix looked around. They were in a brightly lit corridor with pipes of blue something on the walls. There was a door at the end with a lock that looked like a keyboard. The man was looking at it wondrously until his wife came up and carefully scooted him off to the side. She typed in a password so fast he didn't see what it was and he didn't ask. The door opened and he was surprised to see not a dark code well, but a dim room filled with shelves. There was even a floor to walk on. A lone black cable dropped down from the inky ceiling and snaked across the ground.
"Well, that makes things easier," the woman smirked. She followed the cord to the end where she found her code shelf. The shelf had digital boxes, drawers, and icons. One of the drawers seemed to be blinking so she pulled it out and a screen popped up. It was the data for her baby. She could see a loading bar and a count-down timer, and there at the bottom was the option to download the data in the background.
Tammy reached out to touch it but stopped short, her lips pressed together grimly. Felix noticed her hesitation and reached up for her hand. "It's alright, Love," he soothed. "This is the best thing to do. We're not going to love the baby any less and we certainly won't forget him."
"Or her," she added, a small smile coming across her face. Sighing heavily, Calhoun touched the download indicator, set it to the background, and configured the file to open automatically when the download was complete. Instantly the pressure around her middle disappeared, her breathing became easier, and her nausea lessened.
The woman hastily tore off her armor, exposing her civilian garb, and lifted her thin shirt. The bump on her belly was gone. Tears stung her eyes and she barely noticed that her husband had pulled her into a sitting position on the floor. He stood behind her with his arms draped comfortably on her shoulders. "Well done, Milady," he said as he kissed the top of her head. She chuckled wryly, "No need to get sappy, Shortstack. Life will go on."
"That it will, dear," he agreed as he pointed to the still counting timer. "That it will."