"Has anyone seen Vanellope? Our first opening is in two hours - she'll miss the racer meeting."
King Candy frowned slightly as the Oreo guards exchanged glances and then all answered negatively. Vanellope had been so excited about their game's debut, had been the one to insist on a meeting of the racers beforehand - and quite aside from that, it simply wasnt like her to vanish without sight or sound. The Princess of Sugar Rush was a gregarious show-off, and a disappearance like this usually meant something was up.
Probably nothing to worry about. She was probably showing off her kart and the tracks to Turbo - the racer from an unplugged game who'd appeared only minutes after they were plugged in - and would come tearing in any moment, half-tripping over her dress or pulling on her racing gloves as she arrived.
"Sir?"
"Oh, Sour Bill!" He turned toward the royal assistant with a smile; if anyone knew where his granddaughter was it would be the sour candy that pattered patiently after the both of them with schedules and reminders and the attention span the von Schweetzes couldn't always muster. "Have you seen..."
King Candy trailed off, staring. Sour Bill was pale, visibly agitated, his sleepy eyes wide open as he held out something. Two somethings, striped pink and white.
Vanellope's wand, snapped cleanly in the center, the candy head of it cracked as if she'd been striking at something, and King Candy went sick and cold with dread.
The trail was easy to follow. It was the strange racer, and he wanted to be followed; after quickly assuring himself that the other racers were safe King Candy took Duncan, Wynchell, and a small unit of castle guards to oblige.
He couldn't fathom what Turbo could possibly want; when he'd arrived, looking distinctly worse for wear, King Candy and Vanellope had immediately invited him to reside in Sugar Rush, even offering the possibility of after-hours racers for a character they suspected had lost his game to make way for theirs. Turbo had seemed pleased at the invitation and had readily accepted, listening to their descriptions of game mechanics with interest.
What had changed?
None of that mattered right now. Their path led out of the game and King Candy moved forward in trepidation, waving for silence from his guards and trying not to consider what he might find in the outlet. After a moment he steeled himself and stepped across the border, squinting in the sudden dimness.
"Grampa..."
Vanellope was there, unharmed but white and wide-eyed, her voice an uncertain squeak.
Turbo was just behind her, yellow eyes shining in the darkness. He was smiling almost jovially, the shadows and his firm grip on the back of Vanellope's neck giving the expression a sinister cast. King Candy started forward, gripping his cane like a miniature quarterstaff, and Vanellope yelped as Turbo squeezed her neck sharply.
He froze, at a loss. Turbo could kill her out here and might just try it, and he had no idea whether he could reach them in time or what makeshift weapons Turbo might hold.
"Let go of her, Turbo."
He tried to keep his voice calm, reasonable. Turbo's smile grew into a sneer.
"Or you'll what?"
Vanellope tried to move forward, whimpering as Turbo tightened his grip again, and King Candy shifted his grip on his cane as he looked at her.
"It's all right, Vanellope." It was more plea than reassurance, and he looked at Turbo again. "What do you want with her?"
"Her?" Turbo shrugged lazily. "I don't care two bytes about your obnoxious candybrat. But I'll bet one of you can do something for me."
"You were welcomed into our game, Turbo. There was no need for this. Let go of her, and we'll talk."
"Sure, just me and you and your stupid cookie battalion." Turbo's expression shifted slightly, almost apprehensive, and King Candy took another step forward before the moment passed. "Get rid of 'em."
King Candy hesitated, but at another cry from Vanellope waved the guards off; they wouldn't go far, and as soon as he had Vanellope back they could deal with this treacherous racer.
"What is it you want, then?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Turbo paused, smiling again. "Where's your coderoom, old man? Or maybe she knows? One or both of you has to be a character with that kind of authority."
"The code?" King Candy thought quickly. Games made by the same company tended to have the same passcode, but there were so many companies that it was unlikely Turbo had the same manufacturer; even if he did, King Candy couldn't imagine what he thought he might do in the code, what he thought he'd gain.
If he could just get him to let go of Vanellope, then the guards could come in to help them and it would be a moot point.
If.
"All right," he said at last. "Just let go of Vanellope. Please."
Turbo shook his head.
"I'm not that stupid, old man. Show me first."
King Candy nodded slowly, and even seeing Vanellope dragged back into the relatively safe Sugar Rush did little to reassure him.
Turbo still hadn't let go of Vanellope when they reached the hidden corridor behind the throne; King Candy was beginning to despair of ever getting a chance to get her out of his grasp.
Just as he was thinking it they came to the lock on the code itself. Turbo stepped up to it, muttering as he finally released the princess.
"Tobikomi, isn't it... that's lucky."
King Candy winced at that, a brief stab of horror thrumming through him. Still, Vanellope was free, and he carefully moved between her and Turbo.
"Go and get the guards," he muttered. "Hurry - I'll do my best to keep him busy here."
"But-"
"It will be all right, Vanellope. I promise you, everything is going to be fine." He lifted her chin briefly, giving her a nervous smile before taking her gently by the shoulders to turn her around. "Now go."
She nodded, and scurried off as he turned back to the lock. Turbo seemed to be having trouble, cursing under his breath; despite his remark he didn't seem to quite know the code, and King Candy began to relax.
Then Turbo rummaged in the pockets of his tracksuit, producing a small scrap of paper. Seconds later the vault opened, and King Candy moved toward him.
"Just what do you think-"
He froze, staring as Turbo dove into the code untethered; it was almost tempting to lock him in there, but he needed to see if the racer actually did anything so it could be repaired later.
Get him out and throw him in the Fungeon when the guards arrived; for now, he needed to see if any damage was-
A sudden shock of pain brought King Candy to his knees, a strange fizzling rippling through his skull. After a moment he crept forward again, using the open vault door to get to his feet even as smaller shocks ripping through him.
Turbo was deep in the code - in his code, tearing at wires.
He started to cry out, and then Turbo ripped out one last wire, sending one last agonizing jolt through King Candy.
And the king found he couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even shift his eyes from what was happening.
Turbo was still in the code, reconnecting wires here and there.
Then he vanished, and though King Candy still couldn't move he realized he was raising his hands to examine them.
"It worked. I'll be damned, it actually worked. End of the line, old man - I've got it covered from here."
King Candy was speaking, but it wasn't his words, and with a sick sinking feeling he realized where Turbo had gone.
The other racer had somehow merged himself into his code, had taken over, and there was nothing King Candy could do as his own voice told the guards that Turbo had overpowered him and fled, as Turbo coaxed Sour Bill into tethering him as he entered the code to remove Sugar Rush's memories of the incident, as he went down to the races as if nothing was wrong.
Only Vanellope seemed to suspect, watching him with growing suspicion as the day wore on.
King Candy consoled himself with the thought that she was safe.
He had no way of predicting what would happen when Turbo realized King Candy wasn't officially a racer.
