Chapter 11: The Justice

The helicopter touched down on the deck of the Justice. The back door opened, and a sudden gust of bitingly cold air filling the cabin.

"Brilliant." Charbonneau muttered under his breath.

He led the Sugar Rush racers, Cinndon, Candace, Toxika, Damon, Crepe, Valerie, Nell, Gaston, Kocoum, Carl, Violet, and the soldiers out onto the flight deck. Adorabeezle's jaw dropped.

The Justice was tethered by way of giant steel cables to the unmistakable lines of the SHIELD helicarrier. A dark mist had descended over the ships and was getting darker. Lightning could be seen in the distance, but fluorescent lights kept the flight deck clear. Dozens of planes, many experimental in nature, were lined in neat rows on the side of the carrier.

"Look at all this stuff. This is cutting edge." Adorabeezle said.

"Sir!" a voice shouted.

A soldier in very thick white cold weather gear ran over to them, nearly slipping on the damp deck.

"Thunderstorm." the soldier warned.

"I noticed. Why didn't we pick this up sooner?" Charbonneau asked.

"Sorry, sir. We were too busy monitoring the Nightmare King to worry about the weather." the soldier replied. He then shook his head and said "It'll be colder then Everest within five minutes, sir. I've been ordered to bring everyone inside.".

Charbonneau nodded, and the group followed him towards the bridge.


Candi, Minty, and Jeremy were sitting outside of the door of the conference room on the Justice, looking out the window at the oncoming storm. Behind them, Dr. McFlambe was in a very animate conversation with Tony, while Millard stood in the corner, anxiously looking at the clock.

"I can't believe he's gone." Candi said.

"He might not be. I mean, he... he could've escaped..." Minty started to say, optimistically.

"Officer on deck!" a voice shouted.

Millard snapped to attention and saluted as Charbonneau led the other Sugar Rush racers, Cinndon, Candace, Toxika, Damon, and Crepe into the room. Charbonneau shook his head.

"No salutes, Captain. There isn't time. Is the conference ready?" Charbonneau asked.

"We've patched in representatives from the US, Russia, China, and Australia. Director Fury and Commander Hill are already talking with them." Millard replied.

Charbonneau nodded and looked at everyone.

"Dr. McFlambe, Mr. Stark, we'll need you in there. You too, Miss Von Schweetz and Queen Crumbelina." Charbonneau said.

Vanellope, Crumbelina, Dr. McFlambe, and Tony followed Charbonneau into the dark conference room, and the door shut behind them.


"General, in all due respect, I don't think that your qualified to talk down to me about an extra-worldly crisis! SHIELD has a plan to deal with this..." Fury started to say.

"We already tried conventional warfare, Fury! Our forces in EAGLE HAWK were near destroyed, and I am not going to stand around while some glorified zombie with a Napoleon complex is destroying our..." a man on a holographic screen started to say.

"Would you care to fill me in?" a voice asked.

Charbonneau walked into the small dark room, stopping in front of the four holographic screens in front of him. Director Nick Fury, who had been engaged in an animated argument with one of them, gave him a stern nod. Behind them, Vanellope, Crumbelina, Tony, and Dr. McFlambe stood next to Maria Hill, who was looking very unamused.

"How's it going?" Tony asked.

"Horribly." Hill replied.

The man on the furthest right screen, an American general replete with an almost stereotypical cigar in his hand, turned to Charbonneau. A nametag above his right breast pocket identified him as 'Taylor'.

"Colonel, thank you for joining us. As your aware, Operation EAGLE HAWK has failed." Fury replied.

"It was always going to. Conventional force can't beat the Nightmare King. Even if they had been competent, the Guys in White could only have slowed him down." Charbonneau said.

"Exactly, which is why we're pulling out all the stops." Taylor said.

"Our Premier has been in discussion with his counterparts in America and Russia. We have come to the conclusion that we must use our most powerful weapons to stop the Nightmare King." the man in the second right screen, who wore an impeccable green suit, explained.

Charbonneau paled.

"You have got to be kidding me." Charbonneau said.

"We don't joke about these matters. A nuclear strike at the heart of Amity Park should hit the Nightmare King, provided we hit the greatest possible area..." the man on the left-most screen, a general in a bright green uniform and slouch hat, started to explain.

"You are talking about killing innocent civilians!" Fury thundered.

"To save billions! Is it not worth the cost?" the woman in the last screen, who was wearing a dark blue uniform, asked.

"It won't work! The Nightmare King's been preparing for this for millennia! He's not going to be stopped by a particularly large bomb!" Charbonneau replied.

"Then we'll follow him. If he retreats to one of the other cities or worlds, we hit him there!" Taylor replied.

"Wait, nobody mentioned nuking the other cities or other worlds. You made it quite clear that there would be no threat to Beijing..." the green suited man started to say.

"Of course I did. I came up with that plan right now. We nuke him wherever he goes, and quickly, before he starts trying to taint our bodily fluids with some kind of zombie thing..." Taylor started to explain.

Charbonneau pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Gentlemen, ma'am, what if I told you I had a plan?" Charbonneau asked.

There was a short silence.

"What sort of plan?" the Chinese representative asked.

"We cannot win with a conventional army. But what if we had an unconventional one?" Charbonneau asked.


It had felt like hours, but eventually, the conference room door opened. Fury walked out first, and his presence was almost a magnet for the attention of the room. He turned to the Sugar Rush racers, Cinndon, Candace, Toxika, Damon, Crepe, and Jeremy.

"Charbonneau tells me that Vanellope and Swizzle are key to beating the Nightmare King. If I'm going to put all of my eggs in one basket, I need to be darn sure that I know everything about them. Vanellope has already complied, but I need to know about Swizzle." Fury said, narrowing his eye.

"Well, um, I don't think that we can tell you that because..." Candi started to say.

"All bets are off, princess. We need to know everything about Swizzle." Fury said.

Vanellope emerged from the room with Crumbelina, Dr. McFlambe, Charbonneau, and Tony.

"Candi, we have to tell them." Vanellope said.

"It's not your life to tell, Vanellope!" Candi sneered.

Fury leaned down, towering over Candi.

"I am the master of secrets, Owens. I know when people are holding out on me, and I will not let that jeopardize the safety of this world." Fury growled.

"I'm the one who did it." a voice said.

All eyes fell on Vanellope.

"I'm the one who gave Swizzle his powers, along with the rest of the team, besides Cinndon, Candace, Silvia, Damon, and Crepe. I modified their code boxes to include powers." Vanellope explained.

Candi shot Vanellope a very dark glare.

"Why did you do that?" Candi asked angrily.

"Why do you care so much? It's not like it was a secret." Vanellope replied.

Candi scowled, turned her back, and walked away.

"Hey! Hey, get back here! We've actually got a plan, princess! You can't just walk away..." Vanellope started to shout.

"Watch me." Candi hissed, walking out the door.

There was a long silence.

"I thought you said that you were a team. Because that? That was pretty terrible." Tony said.

Crumbelina sighed.

"I'll go talk to her." Crumbelina said.


Candi sat down next to a fighter jet in a hanger several floors below the bridge. Crumbelina walked into the hanger a few minutes later and sat next to her daughter.

"Well, that could've gone better." Crumbelina said.

Candi sighed.

"I can't believe her. It's Swizzle's personal life, and Vanellope decided that it was okay to tell everything about it!" Candi said.

"Come on, honey. I'm sure she means well." Crumbelina said.

"You don't just give info like that away. It'd be like if Eliza went around telling people about her secret while she and the rest of the Wild Thornberry's characters were shooting episodes back when their show was still on!" Candi said angrily.

"No, it's not. Swizzle isn't going to lose his powers just because Vanellope told Fury something about his life." Crumbelina said reassuringly.

"And you know what? That's completely unfair!" Candi shouted. She buried her head in her arms and said "Adorabeezle has her smarts, Swizzle has his powers, Jeremy's almost indestructible, and even Candlehead and Candace have their heat abilities. Sure, I have my caramel abilities, but their basically a rip-off of yours.". She sighed heavily and said "I'm a failure.".

"Is someone there?" a voice asked.

A door opened, but Candi didn't look up. But she did nearly jump when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up.

"Do you need someone to talk to, kid?" Captain Steve Rogers asked.