Fix-It Felix Jr. stepped lively as he made his way across Game Central Station to meet up with his lady in front of Hero's Duty.
The workday had finally ended, and characters were starting to emerge from their respective games to mingle. Still, it was just quiet enough for a strange move of the shadows and a faint sound of distress to catch the hero's attention.
Stopping in his tracks, Felix's head turned to the dark void of an empty outlet. He could have sworn he heard something.
He glanced back to the entrance of Hero's Duty before cautiously stepping into the shadowed area. Once the handyman's eyes adjusted to the low light, he spotted three roguish type figures, one of whom was holding Dig Dug upwards with one hand, and his drill bit in the other.
"Excuse me, gentlemen." Felix interjected, one of his gloved hands sliding into the pocket of his toolbelt to hover over his personal locator beacon. "Can I help you?"
Three sets of eyes quickly met his, and in their brief distraction, Dig Dug slipped away, quickly retrieving and using his drill to escape.
"Hey!" one of the rogues yelled, diving an arm into the freshly bored hole in the floor. A frustrated growl was tossed Felix's way when his hand came back up with nothing but dust.
"Hey, boss. Get a load of that!" One of the other men pointed to the fixer's side. "That's the big ticket item they wanted!"
Felix pressed the button on his locator, holding his hand defensively outward while the other grasped his golden hammer protectively. All he had to do now was keep a handle on the situation until Tamora came to answer his SOS.
"I don't want any trouble," he said.
"Shoulda thought of that before sticking your big nose in our business–," the leader approached. As he came closer, Felix recognized that he was a Netizen.
What could a being from the internet possibly want from Litwak's Arcade?
"–But letting us take this off your hands will make up for it," he continued, reaching for the handyman's tool belt.
Felix reflexively grabbed the man's wrist, his heart beginning to race as they stared each other down.
"Sorry," he explained. "I can't be parted with it."
"The hell you can't," the netizen growled, raising a knee to kick.
Two steps ahead, Felix blocked the attack, returning the favor to the back of his opponent's leg. With a yelp, the leader lost his footing, making himself vulnerable to a strike at the base of the neck.
The second netizen charged, whirling around to grab the handyman by the collar when his first punch was dodged. Felix curled an arm in front of his face to take the brunt of the netizens' second blow and tweaked their thumb to break away. Staggering backwards, the 8-bit just barely maneuvered out of range from his third attacker, taking advantage of their momentum by connecting his knee to their middle.
Breathing heavily, Felix scanned the room for other oncoming threats before the first netizen cranked his arm backwards and jabbed something into his lower back.
The handyman screamed as his body instantly erupted into a jumbled red cloud of code, only being able to form back into his regular self when the device against his back was removed.
His pixels coming back together, Felix crumpled to the floor in a cold sweat. He gasped for air, feeling like his body had just been set on fire.
"Say hello to the 'Scrambler–" the netizen taunted, waving the small device in front of him. "–And goodbye to this." he continued, kicking the 8-bit onto his back and taking his golden hammer.
"No," Felix grasped at the man's ankle as he walked away.
Rolling his eyes, the netizen shoved the hammer in his pocket before doling out another kick.
"Do yourself a favor and lie still."
A hover device rocketed past as Tamora Jean Calhoun grabbed the unsuspecting netizen, holding him like a ragdoll a few stories above the ground from her cruiser.
In a flash of blue light, Ralph roared as he ran onto the scene, grabbing the other two of Felix's assailants, knocking them together and pinning them to the ground with his enormous fists.
"Felix!" Vanellope glitched into the handyman's view, grabbing his shoulders.
"Wait–" the handyman's plea went unheard, his body briefly going numb as the girl glitched them both a little ways from the action. He groaned as all of the pain came back at once.
"S-sorry," she stammered.
"Alright, what in the heck is going on here?" a Minnesotan accent boomed like thunder after the Surge Protector arrived on scene in a spark of electricity.
"We caught these Wi-Fi lowlifes daring to lay a hand on my husband," Sergeant Calhoun lowered her cruiser, tossing the lead netizen to the ground like a discarded chew toy. On impact, Felix's hammer flew out of the offender's pocket, clattering to the floor.
A stunned silence filled the air.
Vanellope boomeranged herself, glitching forward to grab the golden object, then back to the handyman it belonged to. Felix accepted it from her with an appreciative word, holding it to his chest tightly.
"Why did you have that?" Tamora's voice dripped with venom.
"Look, w-we we're just looking to make some easy cash," the netizen gulped. "Junior over there was the one who had to go and make things difficult."
Felix shook his head in disbelief, and his eye caught something glowing, lying on the ground in the distance.
"Dig Dug said you fellas were aiming to take his drill when he reported Felix might be in trouble," Surge took out his clipboard, and lazily took a note down before stepping up to all three of the netizens, placing a small device on each of their wrists. "Theft isn't taken lightly here at Litwak's, prepare yourselves for questioning."
Surge pressed a button on his wristwatch and the three men were zapped away in an instant.
"I'll let you lot recuperate while I process those three," Surge deadpanned as he clicked his pen and stuffed it back into his shirt pocket. "Come to me when you're ready to file a report."
As soon as Surge was gone, Ralph, Vanellope and Calhoun flocked to Felix as he sat up against the wall, asking the fixer if he was ok.
"Did you heal yourself?" Tamora added, worried at just how ragged he looked.
"Yeah, one of them got me with something mean, though." His hammer had taken care of all the superficial wounds he'd sustained during the tussle. But whatever that 'scrambling' thing was, it meant business.
The fixer's attention turned once more to the glowing piece of something off in the distance.
"Vannie, could you grab that for me?" he pointed, and the girl obliged. The two of them looked at it when she brought it back over.
Vanellope gasped, her eyes going wide.
"What is it, kid?" Ralph leaned forward when she turned it around.
In her hands was a green flier, an image of Fix-It Felix's hammer front and center. And the website's name where this ad came from was displayed below in big, bold letters. The familiarity of it knocked the wrecker off guard.
'Lootfindr'