It was twenty minutes later, after Ralph and Engineer conversed, where Demoman was dead asleep on the bar counter at Tappers, but was awoken from a tap on the shoulder.
"Eh wha…" The black Scotsman said sleepily picking his head up off bar. He turned around as best he could to see who woke him. Soldier was standing there with a friendly grin on his face. "Haha Soldier, my lad, come sit." Demoman said. Soldier sat down.
"How did the Sunset Riders game go?" Soldier asked inquisitively. Since the Team Fortress was unplugged, the mercs have been trying out the cosmetics that Engie snagged from the code and have been secretly using them to play as background NPCs. The mercs never got to wear the cosmetics in the original game because the code room itself wasn't discovered until a week and a half before they were shut down. They never had intentions of "going Turbo", they understood that they just weren't popular enough and there was nothing that was going to change that. They only did it for entertainment and to find a state of closure.
"Not bad, It just didn't feel…." Demo started
" I've never been more serious about anything in my life," Demo overheard from across the bar to the counter closest to the door. Demo looked and saw Ralph talk to Tapper with a determined look on his face. "That's why I came straight here, Tapper. You've never given me a bum steer. Now, come on, where can a guy like me go and win a medal?"
" I don't think such a game exists, Ralph." Tapper said. Demo took his focus off their conversation for a moment to take drink of his flask, only to find it empty. He looked and then became worried with his lack of drink.
" Hey, Tapper." Demoman shouts flailing his glass back and forth rapidly. Tapper looked over his shoulder and looked right at Demo and the rest of the customers.
" Coming! hold that thought." Tapper said to Ralph, rushing over to serve root beer. The silly, old timey, tune began playing as Tapper moved from counter to counter. Demoman caught his drink and gulped it down almost instantly.
" Ahh, that's the stuff." Demo sighed as Soldier was breaking up with laughter at Demo's inhalement of the root beer.
" Come on, the arcade's almost open and most of the other guys are going to Hero's Duty." Soldier said standing up.
" Alright." Demo agreed. They both started make their way towards the exit as they passed Ralph on his way to the lost and found.
Scout was leaning on the door frame to Tappers as Demoman and Soldier were walking out, already wearing their cosmetics. Demoman was wearing the Scotch Bonnett, Hurt Locher, and Juggernaut Jacket. The look itself was similar to a SWAT team member in heavy armor plates on the shoulder and front, a heightened blast collar around the head, knee pads, and a dark grey riot helmet with the plastic shield flipped halfway up and a chip in the glass. Along with the original six grenade launcher pellets replaced with two tactical pouches holding a pellet, each Soldier was wearing the Cross-Comm Crash Helmet, Coldfront Curbstompers, and killer's kit. It gave soldier a futuristic look having a long steel plate spanning from the center of the helmet and laser guidance beam strapped to the side a helmet which was linked to red battle monocle. The rest of his outfit consisted of camo pants, fingerless gloves and combat boots that were thicker than his normal set.
" Hey guys," Scout said looking at them anxiously. " Where ya goin'?"
" Today we were going to head over to Hero's Duty and gun it out there." Soldier said.
" Oh crap, that was today?" Scout panicked. Scout scanned the room looking for Medic until he saw him over by Engineer. Scout ran over to Medic. " Hey doc, I need my cosmetic case, stat. I need to get to Hero's Duty."
" Scout, I don't think you should be going out game jumping today, not after what you did at Donkey Kong the other day." The German physician scowled.
" Doc, I ain't got time for this crap. Besides, that guy was asking for it." Scout shot back. Medic just rolls his eyes and grabs Scout's case.
" Fine," Medic grumbled, holding out the red case. " But if I hear about any game breaking disturbances from you today, You won't be getting this back."
" Don't worry, I got it, I got it, I got it." Scout said grabbing the case from Medics grip. Scout opened the case and pulled out his combat loadout from the case. Scouts loadout consisted of the Delinquent's Down Vest, Orion's Belt, and a black pair of Red Socks. It replaces his red shirt with a white one and a red puffy vest over top. The belt he's wearing has additional straps, giving space for pistol holders on his legs, and the black pair of socks from a distance look like leather boots. The weapons Scout pulled out were a double- drum bullet clip ' Backscatter' scattergun, a long german 'Lugermorph' pistol, and an aluminum baseball bat.
"Thanks, doc" Scout said smugly tossing the case back into Medic's arms. Scout turned and pursed Soldier and Demo who were already walking to tram. Medic just shook his head as Scout left.
" That boy is more troubles than he's worth." Medic said coldly.
" Don't worry about it," Engie dismissing Medic's anger. " I already talked to him about, He shouldn't try anything."
" I wish I could believe that." Medic said walking off. Engineer gave a short chuckle and took a seat on the bench. Then, a soldier from 'Hero's Duty' stumbled out of 'Tapper's' and was looking all over that place as if he just got out of a daze. He stood there for a solid fifteen seconds before he finally noticed his tram leaving the station. However the soldier failed to see Quebert standing in front of him and tripped, face first, into the ground. He apologized, stood up and clumsily banged into the door frame one more time before entering.
" Heh, Dumber than dirt ain't ya." Engineer muttered to himself before tipping his construction helmet over his eyes for a nap.
The tram arrived in the central control center for the different level selections. The alarms were blaring loud; it was a quarter alert. The tram doors opened and all the soldiers ran quickly to the starting point. Soldier stepped out with the other mercs and took in a deep breath. " Ahh, I love the smell of gunsmoke in the morning." Soldier said thinking back on his battles back in the gravel pits. The walked over to where all the other NPCs were situated, where they saw Sniper and Heavy standing at the back of the group.
" Hey hows it goin' guys?" Scout said walking up to them. Heavy and Sniper both turned and smiled at the their friends' arrival.
" Ha ha ha haaa, good times!" The Russian weapon's specialist cheered. The Heavy at this moment was wearing a heavy armour piece that covered his upper torso and right arm. Underneath, He wore a green camo jacket with red armbands. He also wore a grey colored space helmet reminiscent of the helmet from ' Alien Isolation'. He also held a 'Natasha' minigun in his hands.
" Nice to see you made it, mate." The Australian marksman said. His 'Hero's Duty' disguise consisted of the Chronomancer, a black leather jacket with a red stripe down the arms, Letcher's LED, a black beanie-like metal cap and fold-down targeting glasses, and a black bandana covering his mouth. He had a high-tech 'Machina' sniper holstered on his back and an smg hooked to his belt.
" So, how's the combat? Have ya done it yet?" Demo asked curiously.
" It's relatively easy, just back swarm tactics programmed into flying insect mutants, just stay out of melee range and you should be spot on." Sniper informed.
" Wicked, let's do this." Scout said confidently. The same clumsy NPC that came late to the tram stumbled forward, chasing his rifle as he was kicking it across the ground as he ran.
" Rootin' tootin' and ready for shootin'!" Exclaimed the half-minded NPC. The others just rolled their eyes.
" All right." a loud female voice said at the front of the room. The high-tech soldiers jumped to attention. " Now listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. Fear is a four-letter word, ladies. If you wanna go pee-pee in you big-boy slacks, keep it to yourself. It's make your mamas proud time!" Sergeant Calhoun said.
" I love my mama!" The klutzy soldier joked. No one laughed.
" Heads up, first-person shooter, coming through." an NPC called from the back. The unit parted as the armored computer made it's way to the front. Calhoun slipped on the helmet and whipped out her automatic laser rifle as the computer counted down: 3….. 2… 1….. and the players face flashed on to the monitor.
" We are humanity's last hope." Calhoun narrated. " Our mission? Destroy all Cy-bugs. You ready, rookie? Let's find out."
The door began to open and Soldier pulled out his 'Black Box' rocket launcher and Demoman pulled out his grenade launcher as well. " leeeeet's do iiiiit!" Demo cried as the door made contact with the ground. All the soldiers made a loud battle cry as they charged out into the rocky combat zone full of flying robot cy-bugs. bullets flew and cy-bug parts were flying all over the place. Heavy stood in the center of the bowl-shape cliffs firing up at the sky at the cy-bugs.
" Vzzzzzt! Rharharharharha! Vrrrrr! Wahahahaaaaa!" Heavy mimicked his minigun. Demoman was running over the landscape, lobbing grenades, hitting one bug after another. Soldier shot two rockets off and aimed the last at his feet, launching him flying up into the air.
" Maggot!" Soldier shouts, smack his shovel across the face of the cy-bug. It spiraled out of control and crash landed on the ground next to where Sniper barrel-rolled out of the way. Sniper quick scoped and fired a shot that pierced through one bug and hitting another standing right behind it.
" To the left." Sniper ordered to Scout. Scout took the order, ran up the side of a cliff face and backflipped off. Also shooting the bug that was pursuing him.
" Woo hoo hoo!" Scout cheered following the bottleneck path to the main tower.
" Shoot the eggs before they hatch." Calhoun instructed. The player shot the eggs, which exploded on to the same dimwitted who was flailing his arms, blocking the player's path.
" Markowski! Get back in formation." Calhoun scolded. Scout ran up and start pushing the soldier back and smacking him with his bat.
" What the heck is your problem!" Scout shouted.
" Alright, rookie." Calhoun said getting back to her in-game scripting. " The kitten whispers and tickle fights stop now. The entrance to the lab is straight ahead."
" I'll meet you inside!" The soldier blurted out, running ahead of everyone else.
" No!' Calhoun called out. Soldier chase the rule breaker down but it was too late. He already triggered the next scripted game sequence and the cy-bugs ate through the door. The soldier got preoccupied trying to stop the sudden outburst of cy-bugs they couldn't stop the broken NPC from breaking the rest of the emersion.
" I thought this was going to be like 'Centipede'!" The soldier cried. " When did videogames become violent and scary?" A cy-bug quickly approached them. The NPC grabbed the player display screen and held it infront of him. " Take her!" The cy-bug ate the monitor and a loud "Game Over" was announced over the whole map. The player disappointed put the blaster back in the pocket and she walked off grumbling. The bug continued trying to bite the klutz face. " Get off me! It's game over. Stop it!" A huge shot up into the air, emitting a bright blue light. All the cy-bugs stopped and stared into the beam as if mesmerized. Then they all took flight and flew at the beam and were zapped. The rest of the soldiers began to respawn and reset to start positions.
" Markowski!" Calhoun shouted with Soldier walking close behind. The soldier tried to squander up what little sense he had left.
" Oh, Uh yeah I'm Marko…" The NPC started. Soldier came up and punched the NPC in the face.
" You worthless maggot! Are you trying for a section eight?" Soldier threatened getting up in his face. " You scum sucking fruit basket. You are a disgrace to this entire unit."
" Stand down, soldier, I'll take it from here." Calhoun dismissed. She walked right up to the NPC and followed suit by also smack him in the face with her helmet. " What's the first rule of 'Hero's Duty'?"
" No cuts, no buts, no coconuts?" The numbskull said ignorantly. Calhoun smacked him once more and grabbed him by the collar of his armor and pulled him close towards her face.
" Never interfere with the first-person shooter. Our job is to get the gamers to the top of that building so they can win a medal, and that it! So stick with the program, soldier!" She finished. Another quarter alert was sounded. "Alrighty pussy willows. Back to start position." she ordered before smacking the NPC one last time. She stormed off as Soldier and the rest of the Mercs followed. The clumsy soldier wasn't seen for the rest of the day. It wasn't until ten hours later when the arcade closed and everyone was on the walk back from the last match. The regular NPCs were joking about the idiot earlier that morning.
" Did you get a load of Markoski?" A soldier laughed. The other mercs laughed as well.
" Shut your chew holes." Calhoun said with caution. She listened for a brief moment. " Cy-bug." All the soldiers, including the mercs pulled out their weapons and scanned the area for the rogue bot. The was small sound of jumping that came behind them. " Taste it!" She said throwing the point of her gun to the door. Everyone followed suit and opened fire. the small figure was bouncing and dodging all the bullets. It did a huge leap off an explosion from Soldier and land right behind the group. Calhoun did a spin kick and knocked the small figure to the ground. Calhoun shoved her rifle up into the small man's face. " Slick tiddlywinking, pint-size." She says.
" Boom! You just got dominated, chucklenuts." Scout butted in.
" Shut it!" Calhoun snarled. The figure was in full view now, he wore dark blue jeans and hat, baby blue button-up shirt and a tan boots and belt. A gold hammer hung from his belt as well.
" I'm Fix-It Felix, Jr. ma'am." Felix begged. " From the game,'Fix-It Felix, Jr.'" He stopped for a brief moment and took a closer look Calhoun's face and was amazed by its beauty. " Jiminy Jaminy! Look a the face! It's amazing." He said giving her goo-goo eyes.
" D'they make them shirts for men?" Sniper giggled to Demoman.
" Flattery don't charge these batteries, civilians." Calhoun said flatly. "Now, state your business."
" I'm looking for my colleague, Wreck it Ralph." Felix said confidently removing his hat.
" Never heard of him." Calhoun said
"Well Q*bert said he saw him come in here." Felix said unsure.
" Impossible. Nothing gets past me." Calhoun assured. Suddenly, there was a loud sound that came from the tower that sounded as if something large struck the glass. Everyone turned to look at the sound.
" What was noise?" Heavy asked
" That came from the tower." A helmetless NPC said. Everyone took off towards the tower. They only made it about halfway before a rogue escape pod was fired off and spiraled around in the air.
" Look, metal pod!" Heavy shout pointing up at the craft. The pod took a deep nose-dive and head straight for the bridge.
" Incoming!" Sniper cried
" Son of a cussing cuss word!" Soldier said as everyone dove out of the way of the craft. Time slowed for a moment as the pod just missed the group and Felix, Calhoun, and Sniper looked in the pod as it passed. Inside, they saw Ralph waving his arms as a baby cy-bug attacked his face. The pod shot past them and flew back through the mission starting area, around the main gathering zone and down the tunnel back to Game Central Station.
"Ralph."
"Cy-bug."
"Holy dooley."
Game Central was already started filling back up with characters off work for the day and traveling to other consoles. Engineer, Medic, and Spy were standing together with Q*bert and his other friends. Spy looked around and noticed that no one has came out of 'Hero's Duty' yet.
" Odd, I wonder what's keeping the others?" The frenchman commented.
" I would worry about it. The arcade only just closed." Medic said back.
" I suppose so." Spy said. Pyro ran up behind them. He looked panicked and out of breath.
" Hmphadph, mphpadmph..." Pyro spastically started mumbling.
" Pyro easy," Engineer comforted. " Slow down and tell us what's wrong.
" Mmmmph mmph hudda mmph!" Pyro exclaimed.
" What, Out of Order? How, what happened?" Medic asked urgently.
" Mmmlph mph mmmph!" Pyro exclaimed again.
" Impossible. No one can just disappear like that. He's got to have gone somewhere." Spy said. A flying craft shot out of 'Hero's Duty' and started ricocheting off the walls and floor. It bounced off where the mercs were standing and barely missed them. However, Engineer didn't move fast enough and knocked him off his feet and plastered him to the windshield of the craft. He screamed as the pod bounced a few more times and then flew down another tunnel. The whole station stood still, unable to comprehend the absolute chaos that just ensued. Medic looked up at the nameplate of the tunnel that the craft entered. It read 'Sugar Rush' in bold letters.
" This is really bad."Medic mummered quietly to himself.
A/N: I'm so sorry! Why? The update time, that's why. I did't want it nearly as long to update this as I did. However, a whole bunch of school and life stuff kept impeding my progress. Ah well, enough of that. So I decide to make this a little bit longer, just to help speed things up so I can start my own creative stuff. Anyways, If you could please leave a review, that would be cool. I would love to hear you feed back. So I'll just leave here for now and I hope to see you all in the next chapter
-Thegamer98