238 Minutes Lost
• Chapter IV •
6:39 A.M. – 201 minutes until the Arcade opens.
Felix had initially been too shocked to speak as Calhoun had shoved him into the pod; he hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise as she slammed the acceleration; and when one of the many Cy-bugs she'd left living had chased them and rammed into the side of the vehicle, he'd only managed a scream or two. He'd been content in that silence, knowing that the sergeant was likely outraged by his display in the tower and anything he could say would only dig him into a deeper hole. Silence was more than welcome at this moment, as it only gave him more time to consider his future actions and, more importantly, wonder where the heck he'd gone wrong! I was only trying to get a moment to ask her out, he reminded himself. His intentions had been pure; his execution, however, hadn't been so well-planned. The scene in the tower, however, was completely confusing to him. He'd only been trying to be the man Calhoun deserved – he wanted to prove that he could be what she wanted! Instead, he'd caused a huge disaster in the tower, and gotten her hurt in the process (she acted as if she wasn't, but he knew when he saw something in need of fixing). He was a Fix-It, darn it! Why wasn't he fixing anything?
"Fix-It!"
He was snapped out of his lamentations by a sharp voice belonging to the Dynamite Gal that clouded his thoughts. Looking up, he found she wasn't even looking at him, eyes darting from the front window to her side, trying to see how close behind the giant bug was. He coughed into his hand to indicate he was listening, and she continued.
"You ever parachuted before?"
At first, he hadn't taken her question seriously. He considered letting out a laugh, but, being unsure that she'd intended to be humorous, he held back any immediate reaction. And it was better he did, for moments later he realized she was serious and any chuckle he'd been about to offer would have turned nervous. She honestly thought that Fix-It Felix, Jr., of all people, had any experience in sky-diving? That would have been something to laugh about. That is, if he weren't Fix-It Felix, Jr.
"N-not exactly, Ma'am..." he stuttered, unsure of how exactly one answered such a question. "I mean, I've watched Ralph fall from the building, and it didn't look like it hurt too badly..."
"This is not the time for jokes, Felix!" she snapped, jerking the vehicle to the right and making his stomach lurch. Had he been joking? He certainly hadn't meant to. "If you can't parachute, then I'm gonna have to land this thing, and I can't do that."
"Why not?" he asked quietly, only half-expecting an answer.
"If I land right now we'll be in the village," she informed him, pointing downward. He tried to peek over the edge of the window, but his height failed him and he shrunk back into his seat. "And we'll lead this giant bug right into the streets."
He swallowed. "So we can't land, and I can't parachute..."
"So we're screwed," she huffed, just dodging an oncoming Cy-bug. She reached for where the shooting-controls usually were, but was rudely awakened to the fact that she was in an escape-pod, and not an aircraft created for combat. Rolling her eyes, she resolved to fly upward, steering clear of any and all threatening creatures. Up they went, headed into the misty cloak of Hero's Duty, swerving left and right.
Then an idea hit her. "Unless..."
She could feel his eyes on her, knowing he was about to interrupt (because that was just his personality, as far as she'd had experience with), and in due course, he did. "Ma'am..."
She silenced him with a gloved hand, but quickly stuck it on the controls and barely ducked a bug flying overhead. "Maybe my gun can't kill that thing," she began to herself. "But I could feed it to the-"
"Sergeant, miss!"
"Felix!" she scolded him, turning to glare at him. "Can't you see I'm-"
Her words were cut off as a bug slammed into her side of the pod, bursting through it completely and tearing into the controls in front of her, subsequently rippling through half of her armor and tearing her skin. Not even taking time to wince, she reared back and pulled her gun, trying to shoot and maintain control of the vehicle intermittently. Felix screamed something unintelligible, but she paid no heed and, seeing as her gun was evidently useless against the mutant, resolved to lead the beast to the Obliterator herself and save her troops the hassle of attempting to destroy it without her. It'd take no effort at all to direct him to his certain demise - her only issue would be avoiding further damage to the vessel. Other than that, her plan was flawless.
However, try as she may to steer clear of the murderous claws thrashing about the pod, no motion followed; the pod continued forward. Had it taken so much damage as to tamper with the controls? She'd expected better of the game designers than to make such a vital addition to the game so flimsy. Fortunately, she knew just the handyman to deal with such a problem.
"Fix-It!" she barked, shooting at the bug in an attempt to deter it. "Toss me that hammer if you wanna live!"
Felix, rather than responding immediately as per her instructions, hesitated and shouted over the rumble of hundreds of Cy-bugs breaking out of the tower, "I don't think that's a good idea..."
"Felix, are you actively trying to die?!" Calhoun snapped, not even half-joking. She didn't know if he was just dumbstruck by the situation at hand or simply playing thick-head in acknowledgement that his life was basically a name on an abandoned arcade machine, but if it took her standing up and knocking his head around a few times to bring him to his long-departed senses, she was up for the challenge. "Give me your hammer or we'll be kissing the ground in record time!"
"But-"
"FELIX!"
As her words hit a volume he hadn't thought possible for a woman sporting such a deep voice, he knew the battle was lost and underhanded the golden tool to her. Obviously irritated beyond normality, she caught the hammer swiftly in one hand and reared it back, releasing it on the controls. One tap of this Litwak-forsaken hammer and we're in the clear, so long as Felix doesn't do anything stupid...
Did I just jinx myself?
As she'd feared, something did go wrong, and that something was Felix's hammer, which, for lack of a better phrase, wasn't doing so hot. Instead of its usual immediate reaction of fixing whatever it touched – good as new, as he put it - it didn't appear to be doing much of anything. In fact, it seemed to be worsening the damage rather than relieving it! Was she doing something wrong? Was there a magic word or some other additional detail she'd failed to carry out? Felix made it seem so easy; tap and smile, occasionally saying something dumb, and he had you thinking he was some kind of wizard. Ridiculously easy when you watched, but evidently not so easy when you practiced it yourself.
Well, he'd better give me a quick crash course, 'cause this bug isn't giving, and, based on our altitude, we're not exactly flying high.
"It's not working!" she snapped backward, trying to pull the controls upward but not exactly succeeding. The only control working was the steering, which, in turn (no pun intended), caused them to twist in circles as they spiraled downward. Frustrated, she asked, "What am I doing wrong?"
He exhaled roughly. "I was trying to tell you," he began. "that it wouldn't work. The hammer only works when a Fix-It uses it. Otherwise it just breaks things."
Eyes widening, she dropped the hammer and returned to the piloting system. "Thanks for sharing, Felix! Maybe next time you could remember to mention the fatally important things before we're speeding toward the ground with a demolished control board?"
"I can fix it!"
But as he stood and rushed over to her seat, he found himself stumbling toward the window as gravity pulled them both forward, indicating that they were nearing the ground. Knowing that, even if Fix-It managed to clear the mess before they hit land, she'd have no time or room to return upward, she grabbed Felix's shoulders and pulled him to her chest, preparing for the crash-landing. It wouldn't have been ten seconds later before they touched ground; unbeknownst to them, in the middle of nowhere.
Sorry for the rushed ending, but I just couldn't wait to post this! I've been on my Holiday Hiatus for a couple months now, and this marks the end of it, so... YAY! Here she is :D
And... they crashed :O The whole "hammer-only-fixes-for-Fix-Its" deal was something I thought of overnight; if anyone else has done this, I'm not copying anyone. They may not know it, but they're in for one wild ride.
Happy New Year's Eve! How were your holidays? Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc... Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? I did :) In fact, this chapter was written on my Christmas present, so excuse any punctuation mistakes. I'm still learning how to use it :/
Anywho, thanks for reading! Don't forget to review, follow, favorite, blah, bleh. I'll be updating again, now that my break is over, so don't be mad at me for the wait D:
* *-TheSongbird341-* *
DISCLAIMER: If I owned Wreck-It Ralph, I would have spent much more time on the Hero's Cuties :)