Captured

When Felix awoke an hour later, his head was throbbing and his vision was blurry. He squinted his eyes as he looked up at his surroundings. The light above him was blinding and the air was cold. A musty smell filled his nostrils.

He tried to move his arms. They were handcuffed together behind his back. He was sitting on a chair in a room and he couldn't see anyone else with him. It took him a second to realize what just happened.

He'd been caught. He wasn't exactly sure what for, yet, but he knew he was about to find out when the deep, feminine voice talked to him from the side.

"Fix-It Felix, Jr. You were the last suspect on my list that could've broken in here."

The lady was propped against the wall, staring down at him with her bangs in her face.

"I'm sorry!" Felix said. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to game-jump, I was just trying to help a friend out! Please don't hurt me!" He was shaking so much.

"Relax, pint-size." She dragged a chair over and sat down in front of him. "It won't have to come to that if you don't let it."

Getting a better look at her face, Felix realized he was looking at a high-definition woman with the sharpest eyes he'd ever seen. He shrunk back in his seat as much as he could and tried to keep himself from trembling.

"Do you have any idea what a cy-bug is, shortstack?" She asked him.

Felix's eyes shifted from one corner to another.

"I can't say that I do, ma'am." He answered, honestly.

She leaned forward, her eyes lowering to stare at a spot below him.

"Those critters are about the most vile creation ever known to humanity." She began in a low tone. "They're as bad as a virus. They don't know they're apart of a game. They eat, kill, multiply, repeat. And they don't stop there."

Her face was now inches from his.

"In the wrong hands, this could be a devastating bioweapon." She grasped his neck with a strong hand. "A criminal as mad as a headless cow could see it as the holy grail."

Her thumb was pressed into his neck.

"So I want you to give me a blow-by-blow about what you and the other dirtbag were doing here, if you weren't trying to override that sweet little game you're hiding in."

Felix gulped and nodded frivolously. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you!"

And he gave her the long version of the past events. He took full responsibility for Ralph's missteps, because in all honestly, he did give Ralph the green light. Maybe he should have tried to persuade Ralph to come back. Because as it turned out, their actions brought even worse results than they would have expected.

But strangely, he had yet to completely regret his actions.

The lady stood up and began pacing from one side to the other.

"Of all the places to prove your worth," she looked straight at him. "Why come over to the most violent and destructive place in this whole arcade? You two are more brainless than a bunch of jellyfish."

"Please, forgive us, ma'am." Felix lowered his head. "We didn't mean to cause so much trouble."

"It's a little late for an apology, Fix-It."

She came over to him and pulled him up from the chair. Setting him down, she shoved him forward into the dark hallways.

"Get moving."

She led him down the halls where Felix could see big, black-painted numbers in each spot. Cell numbers. The kind of prisoners looking down at him were as big as Ralph, with muscular arms and mean-looking faces. One of them had facial tattoos and metal pieces jabbed into his eyebrows.

Felix didn't belong here. No one did, he figured.

Finally, she stopped him in front of cell number twenty-eight. The door opened to reveal a tiny, dark space with vulgar words carved into the brick walls. She pushed him into it and slammed the door shut.

Felix spun around, his hands still bound together.

"Wait! How long am I going to stay here?!" He asked, frantically.

The blonde lady reloaded all of her small blasters and put them in their holds.

"This is the safest place you could be in right now, pint-size." She told him. "You're in quarantine until this cy-bug thing gets taken care of. We're the only ones that can stop it."

"I can help you!" Felix said, in slight disbelief.

"And what can a little man with a magic hammer do for us?"

The words were in his head but they couldn't come out of his mouth.

"Leave it to the professionals, soldier."

"But that means... my friends are in grave danger! Please! I have to get to them!"

She paused for a moment and turned around to look at him through the bars.

"Tell me where they are and I'll help them out."

And Felix was about to give her the information, but realized that she and the other soldiers would be looking for Ralph, too. He was still on the wanted list.

"I... we got separated before I came here..."

"Not very helpful, shortstack." She turned back. "Let this be a lesson about the good that comes from selfish, stupid men."

She left before he could say anything more.

...

Ralph was starting to get worried. He was exhausted and nodding off to sleep every few seconds, but he refused to take a rest until his handyman was safe and sound.

He stepped outside of the mountain and checked around the area. The little man was nowhere to be seen.

He hoped and hoped that the nut job, King Candy, didn't snatch Felix in his spindly clutches. An even worse thought occurred in his head that he might have been taken by something even more monstrous.

He remembered Felix asking about that egg they brought to this land. The insect laying inside could bring about the end of this game. He saw what those creatures were capable of. And in a game like this without any proper defenses against it, these inhabitants couldn't stand a chance.

He walked back through the wall and looked down at the sleeping Vanellope. He gently shook her awake.

"Ralph...?" She yawned. "What's going on?"

"Kid, Felix isn't back yet. I'm going out to look for him. Are you absolutely sure no one besides the three of us know about this place?"

The little girl blinked her eyes open.

"Well, yeah. No one's ever come through this place but me."

"Are you sure?"

She looked at him, confused.

"Yeah? Why?"

Ralph looked behind him to see if there was someone standing behind. But there wasn't.

"I'm going to need you to stay here."

"What?" She got up on her knees. "But I can help!"

The big man yanked his strap over his shoulder. "We don't know who, or what's got him, kid. It's way too risky to bring you along. I didn't want to leave here without you knowing." He turned towards the exit. "I won't be long."

Vanellope hopped up from her bed and ran in front of him.

"Ralph, I can respawn in this game! I'll be fine! But you and Felix won't! I gotta do something!"

Ralph knelt before her.

"You can help best by staying here and away from Candy. If you go out there, you'll be a moving target."

The little girl pouted, but gave him a nod in response. "... okay."

The wrecker lifted her small chin up.

"Hey, listen, when I get back, you better start thinking about all the different things you wanna put on your kart, and exactly how you want it to look. 'Cause we're going to make it happen once we get back."

Vanellope nodded and saluted him. "Aye, aye, Captain."

That was enough for him and he rose to his feet and headed for the exit.

"Ralph?"

The big man paused.

"Be careful."

And he turned to look at her, gave a small nod, and ran off into the late evening.