Chapter 13 - Searching for Answers

Ted had been unaware that Felix had assured the others of his return, while Ned and Turbo had forgotten. Well, until now, that was. As nobody replied, Felix took another step into the room. "Are you all alright…?!" He asked, noticing the blood on Ned and Turbo's faces, as well as the tears staining Ted's cheeks.

Ted remained frozen, though he took a stride backwards as his mind slowly began to work again. "I-I'm sorry..!" He finally sobbed, now taking this as his chance to flee. Without a moment's notice, he shoved past Felix and out of the room.

Felix stumbled from being pushed before regaining his balance, his sight returning to Ned and Turbo. "What...what happened..?!" He repeated, now heading towards Turbo and drawing his hammer from his toolbelt.

Turbo's wary gaze flicked to the hammer before he took a step back. "What are you going to do with that?"

Felix blinked, glancing to the tool before looking to Turbo again. "Ah, right—my hammer fixes things when I use it," He started, earning an untrusting expression from Turbo. "In my game, Ralph wrecks the building and I fix it with this." He continued, wondering why he hadn't told them this before.

Turbo eyed the blood on his sleeve for a moment, now realizing the pain that he was faced with. Sighing, he returned his attention to Felix. "Does it work on other characters?"

Felix seemed to falter, laughing a little nervously. "I'm afraid I'm not quite sure, I know it works on me. It wouldn't hurt to try it though, by all means."

Turbo's brows furrowed further, but he eventually relented. "Fine, go ahead."

Felix took a small step closer, gently reaching his hammer forward and tapping it against Turbo's nose. The shorter racer flinched at first, though his eyes blinked open as the pain he had been experiencing disappeared. Upon regaining his vision, he was met with the smiling face of Felix. "Wonderful!" Felix beamed. "Is there anywhere else that's causing discomfort?"

Turbo glanced to Ned as he shook his head. "Ted only hit me in the face." Before Felix could question why Ted of all people would do this, Turbo extended his forearm where blood was stained on his sleeve. "You might want to get rid of this, though."

As Turbo's request was fulfilled, Felix quickly turned to Ned. "Uh...Ned, right…?" He tried to confirm, taking a step forward as Ned nodded. "Did…" The handyman paused briefly, "...Ted harm you as well?"

Ned drew in a small sigh through his nose, his gaze wet with panicked tears. "Y-yes…" He breathed, causing Felix's expression to shift in further confusion.

"Why would he do that…?" Felix questioned, wincing as his statement prompted Ned to let out a ragged breath, tears slipping down his face and smearing with the blood that was already there.

"I-I don't know…!" The twin cried, resulting in Felix raising his hands in a placating gesture.

"Easy Ned, it's alright brother, we'll get this figured out." Felix assured, now heading towards the taller racer with his hammer lifted. "I suppose you wouldn't mind leaning down a bit for me?" He added with a small laugh.

Ned proceeded to do so without comment, allowing Felix to heal what had been injured. After confirming that, like Turbo, Ned's face was the only area hurt, Felix took a step back. "Alright.." He began with a sigh, gazing between the two racers as he slipped his hammer back into his toolbelt. "What happened?"

Turbo crossed his arms at this, glowering to where Ted had disappeared. "That asshole who was here a second ago went completely nuts." He started, now glancing to Ned. "He had the audacity to make an attempt at murdering me, first of all."

Felix's eyes widened in shock, a hand going up to his mouth. "Why—why in code's name would he do that?!"

"Beats me." Turbo replied flatly, though his eyes narrowed as Ned spoke up.

"T-Turbo...Turbo started glitching when the arcade was still open…!"

Felix gave a sympathetic nod. "I noticed the Out of Order sign when I got here, so that's a viable reason for Litwak to think your game was broken."

"A-and…" Ned continued, his voice barely a murmur. "Ted started blaming Turbo for putting us in danger of getting unplugged...a-and he said that it wouldn't even matter if Turbo existed o-or not and that he would actually be happy if Turbo died with the game…!"

Felix blinked at this information, gazing to the floor in thought, though his sight returned to Ned as the twin continued to explain the situation. "And...and Turbo got upset a-and he came here and started crying—" His statement paused as Turbo gave a small scoff, "—and I was t-trying to help him and then all of a sudden he j-just flipped out he h-hit me—and Ted came back and saw it and then he flipped out too b-but he was taking it too far…!"

Felix breathed a small 'hmm' under his breath before looking to Turbo. "Do you know why you lashed out at Ned?"

Turbo shook his head at this, a bit of guilt flashing in his eyes. "I don't know, it just happened." He replied. "When Ted showed up, we started arguing and then he got pissy because I started saying things he didn't want to hear. And I wasn't lying, either."

"What did you tell him?" Felix inquired, making sure to glance at Ned once in a while to ensure the twin wasn't on the verge of a sobbing fit or panic attack.

"I told him that he's an ass for no reason." Turbo stated flatly. "At least I'm programmed to be this way, but Ted thinks he can do whatever he wants without consequence." He gazed to Ned again, his brows furrowing. "He abuses Ned whenever he feels like it, which doesn't make any sense considering he said he was trying to keep Ned from getting hurt in the first place."

Ned winced at this statement, now hugging himself with a shudder. "I-I don't understand...he wouldn't listen to m-me…!" He rasped, earning Felix's comforting gaze.

"I know, I know, it's going to be alright.." The handyman eased, drawing in a slow breath to gather his thoughts. "So, what I'm hearing is that Turbo," He looked to the shorter racer, "Did something without thinking, and he's not sure why. When Ted showed up, a confrontation occurred that went south, causing Ted to lash out at the both of you."

"Don't forget that he literally said he was going to kill me, AND he said I wouldn't regenerate." Turbo broke in.

At this, Felix's expression shifted to that of confusion. "Now why would he think you wouldn't regenerate?" He began, though he paused for a moment and quickly added, "Not that I'm saying it was alright of him to make an attempt at something so irrational."

"How the hell should I know?" Turbo retorted, once again gazing to the door. "He was completely unhinged."

"Hmm...that's a mighty bit shifty.." Felix started in contemplation, holding his hand up to his chin in thought and absentmindedly fiddling with his hammer. "Was he just saying that as a threat, or did he actually mean something by it?"

Turbo gave a shrug, glancing to Ned. "Ted's just being an irrational nuisance," He muttered, breaking eye contact with Ned when the twin looked up at him. "Though, he claimed to be trying to fix this 'mess' and that we were stopping him."

"I—" Ned cut himself off, his eyes widening slightly in realization. "Mess—mess..!" He started, his voice raising slightly in volume as he processed what was going through his mind. "He…when the first fight happened...he said...he said that he could fix this mess by altering your code…!"

Turbo's expression flicked to that of utmost shock. "He said WHAT?!"

Ned flinched back at the loudness of Turbo's statement, but he forced himself to speak. "H-he said that he didn't want you to hate us s-so he could change your code and that would fix it…! He said he couldn't d-deal with us fighting all the time…!"

Turbo's eyes narrowed to slits, his gaze filling with hatred. "That fucking—" He could barely get his words out. "That fucking selfish piece of shit! What the fuck?!"

"Easy Turbo, try to calm down," Felix urged, though his stance wavered as Turbo's glower flicked to him.

"Calm down?! This fucking moron thought he could just mess with my code and I should calm down?!"

"Now now, we don't know if he did it for sure. He may have just said it, but we don't have proof he actually went through with it." Felix tried to reason, his attention shifting to Ned as the twin began to speak again.

"H-he said he wouldn't, but...he left while I-I had been sleeping and said when he came back that he was looking for Turbo…w-was he lying…?" Ned's voice slowly began to grow more broken as his statement continued. "H-he lied to me…?!"

"Hey now, remember, we don't know for sure if he did this so we can't act irrationally." Felix pressed, though he winced in surprise as Turbo suddenly snapped into the conversation again.

"I know for fucking sure how to find out if he did it." The shorter racer hissed sharply. "We drag his sorry ass back into the game and have him show us where the code room is. He probably fucking knows anyway, and then we can see if he did anything."

Felix was hesitant to reply at this point. "Well..that is an option, but we should make sure we deal with it in a calm manner."

"W-what if he just lies a-again…" Ned rasped shakily, his shoulders shuddering as his breathing grew uneven. "H-he's been lying this whole time…!"

"If he doesn't want us to get fucking unplugged then he'll show us. Unless, he really was serious about not giving two shits if I died with the game." Turbo countered, his brows furrowing in thought. "But he wouldn't want YOU to die." He added, gazing up to Ned. "Or, maybe, fuck, I don't know. Who knows how insane he is now."

"H-he kept saying sorry—"

"Oh yeah, sorry really fucking helps!" Turbo retaliated, though he drew in a small breath. "Let's just go get him and deal with this before the arcade opens."

Felix and Ned cast each other a glance, both seeming uncertain, but unwilling to argue. It was all they could really do unless they felt like looking for the code room themselves, and who knew how long that would take. "Alright, let's go find Ted." Felix replied, taking a step back and turning towards the entrance of the room. Ned began to follow as Felix left, leaving Turbo alone in the room.

Turbo, who let out a frustrated sigh, glanced to where his helmet had been on the floor during the fight. With narrowed eyes, he trailed over to get it and slipped it onto his head. "You'd better hope you know how to fucking fix this, Ted." He growled out, heading out of the bedroom after the others.

Ned and Felix were now waiting for Turbo in the garage, the pair looking up as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. "Hmm, where do you think he could have gone?" Felix questioned, frowning as he earned a glare from Turbo.

"Fucker probably left the game and went into another to get as far away from us as possible." Turbo muttered in reply, looking to the entrance of the garage before directing himself towards it, his gaze narrowing at first as the artificial sunlight bothered his eyes. Upon adjusting to it, he started heading towards the entrance of the game, not bothering to glance behind him to make sure Felix and Ned were following.

Despite this, Felix and Ned were following, beginning to talk quietly between themselves. "W-when does the arcade open…?" Ned breathed out, watching Felix cast a glance to the Out of Order sign.

"Well, not for a little while," Felix assured, returning his gaze forward. "I'm sure we'll get this all solved before it does, so, there's no need to worry."

Ned nodded slightly at this, aiming his sight on the ground. "I-I don't understand why Ted would d-do this...he promised he wouldn't…"

"He was obviously lying." Turbo reminded sharply, his head turning slightly so he could look at the two characters behind him. "He was just being selfish."

"I-I mean I guess...I didn't want you to be mean t-too but...I thought Ted and I could just talk to you and figure it out…"

"That's what makes you and him different, then." Turbo replied sourly. "It fucking figures he wouldn't think about that when making his decision. He was only doing what was best for himself."

"I will admit that it wasn't the best decision," Felix spoke up, receiving a sarcastic scoff from Turbo. "But, there wasn't much either of you could do about it at the time."

"Why are you bothering to defend him?" Turbo hissed, returning his gaze towards the nearing exit.

"I'm sure there must be a more logical reason for Ted to act the way he's been acting," Felix responded, though he sighed as Turbo relinquished not an ounce of belief.

"Why can't the reason be that he's just fucking selfish?" Turbo retorted icily. "MAYBE there would have been a 'logical' reason if he hadn't lied about trying to protect Ned. It makes no sense, why would he say that then lie, fight, and lash out at him?"

Felix folded his hands in front of himself, his gaze growing sympathetic. "Sometimes people make irrational decisions when they're overcome with emotions they don't understand...surely you understand that?"

"Mine is different." Turbo snapped. "Sure, I thought at first that it was my fault, but now I know it's not, it's HIS. I was programmed to be like this, even before he decided to fuck it up. Besides, HE wasn't coded this way, he's just doing it because he can."

"Well…" Felix started hesitantly, glancing at Ned for a moment. "What I'm trying to say is that Ted may not be doing this just because he can, he might be dealing with something that's causing him to think irrationally," He tried to reason. "Yes, he may not be coded to do these things, but—"

"He's only putting this on himself." Turbo argued. "If he wasn't so fucking selfish and didn't do this in the first place then we wouldn't be out of order. And—I don't care if he tried to 'apologize'," The racer made air quotes upon stating so. "Him saying sorry doesn't make up for all this shit he's done."

Ned, who remained silent during this, tried to add his opinion as quietly as possible. "I...I don't know who to b-believe…I-I didn't want him to do this but he did it anyway...he must have b-been thinking clearly when he first suggested it...?"

Turbo gave a small nod. "Exactly."

Felix slowly closed his mouth from when he was going to speak, his brows furrowing as he returned his sight forward. "I suppose…" He murmured, trying desperately to think of a way that would explain why Ted wasn't fully to blame. And, to his dismay, it was becoming increasingly difficult.

If what the brothers were saying was true, then it truly was Teds fault. The handyman couldn't argue against the idea that Ted had been functioning normally upon making the decision to alter Turbo's code. So, if this was a fact, then everything that drove the twin to act irrationally was all his own responsibility.

Though, Felix continued to try and hold the hope that Ted hadn't done anything he was currently being accused of.