Chapter Thirty-One
Reckoning
By the time Portia emerged within Game Central Station, a quarter of SANG's forces were already within, eyeing the walls, floors, and ceilings warily. Spotting Bruce, she headed over towards him.
"What's going on out here?" she demanded. "You said something about the walls shocking people?"
"Something heats up spots of the walls periodically," Bruce replied. "Quick bursts, not everywhere at once, but where it does occur, we get burned pretty badly."
"Rapid bursts…" Portia muttered. "Rapid materializing and dematerializing…he's back. Get Ainsworth out here now with that weapon of his."
At that moment, Portia's wrist communicator beeped again. She switched it on.
"This is Frosty!" a frantic voice on the other end of the connection shouted. "They've gone psycho, surprising us...weren't expecting…ah, help!"
Portia heard the sound of several vicious blows. "Finish him!" somebody cried. There was a loud snap, and the connection went dead.
"What in the LAN is going on?" Portia exclaimed. She tried another connection, and then another. Nobody answered. Then suddenly, there was a beeping noise
"What is…oh wait, that'd be Ainsworth." She answered the communicator.
"What's going on?" she cried.
"I told you they could coordinate something big," she heard Mr. Ainsworth say, his tone a mixture of smug superiority and intense worry. "Surge is back, and those arcade folks have been stealing weapons under our noses. Now, I'm bringing you the device. I'd recommend we electrify this place to kingdom come and get out while we still can."
"Ainsworth?"
There was no reply. The connection had been cut off.
"If he doesn't get out here…" she said aloud.
Bruce paled. "Game over man, game over!"
"Shut up," Portia snapped. "This isn't the time for memes."
A spark appeared on the floor beneath Bruce's feet. Electrical pulses shot through his frame, disrupting his form repeatedly until it burst apart into atoms. A small, balding, green man appeared where Bruce had been a moment before.
"Surprise," said the Surge Protector. "Oh, it feels good to be at full power again."
Portia leaped atop an electronic display board. "Mr. Ainsworth, where are you?" she said through gritted teeth.
As Vanellope steered her kart across the hardened chocolate roads, she heard the police van coming up behind her. She veered to one side, allowing it to pass. As she prepared to drive back onto the road, she felt a sudden weight descend onto the rear of the vehicle. She jerked her head around to see Sergeant Calhoun, rifle in hand.
"Get me to that van," Calhoun ordered.
"Got it," said Vanellope, gunning the engine. She swerved back onto the road, following the line of gumdrops.
"There," said Calhoun, pointing. The van was a short distance ahead. "Pull alongside of it."
Vanellope did as directed. Before Calhoun could leap onto the van's side, however, a lean, poncho-clad form leaped from the top of one of giant gumdrops and landed astride its roof.
"I need a free ride," said Mr. Ainsworth. He fired a pistol at Ralph's hand. Instinctively, Ralph relaxed his grip. Unfortunately, this allowed him to be knocked off of the vehicle when the van veered too close to an especially large gumdrop.
Before Mr. Ainsworth had time to issue another taunt, Felix climbed atop the vehicle's roof. He leaped onto the mercenary's back, grasping him about the neck and knocking him onto his face. Snarling, Mr. Ainsworth reached behind his back and grabbed Felix's leg. He gave a savage tug. Felix, caught off guard, relaxed his grip. Mr. Ainsworth pulled again, and Felix tumbled off of his back. Mr. Ainsworth spun over, climbing to his feet. Felix leaped to his feet as well. Mr. Ainsworth drew his second pistol.
"Any last words?" he said.
A laser blast struck his hand, and he reflexively dropped the gun.
"Touch him again, and you die," said Calhoun, aiming the gun barrel directly at Mr. Ainsworth's head. Felix retrieved the dropped pistol and aimed it at Mr. Ainsworth. Behind him, Duncan, who had overheard the commotion, emerged onto the roof, truncheon in hand.
"Have you got any last words?" Calhoun asked.
Mr. Ainsworth smiled and looked towards the road.
"We're not falling for that trick," said Calhoun. "It's the oldest one-"
Mr. Ainsworth spun about, grabbing the end of her rifle and forcing it away from his head. Felix fired, only for the shot to go awry when the van hit another gumdrop. Together with Calhoun and Duncan, he lost his footing and fell onto his back. Mr. Ainsworth barely managed to keep himself from doing the same.
"Watch your driving, Wynchel!" Duncan cried.
"I'm trying!" Wynchel shouted. "The road's gotten a few potholes since a week ago."
Mr. Ainsworth took the opportunity to remove the pulse emitter from his satchel. While Calhoun and Felix rose to their feet, he threw a switch on its side. A bolt shot out of it, knocking the gun from Calhoun's hand and searing her arm in the process. Before Mr. Ainsworth could fire again, there was a soft thud. He looked past Calhoun to see Vanellope standing on the rearmost portion of the van's roof. She had the gun in her hands.
"Well, well, little lady," said Mr. Ainsworth. "You sure you know how to use one of those things?" He began to turn the switch once again.
At that moment, Vanellope fired. The blast struck the pulse emitter just as it was about to fire a blast. The device burst into flames, and the fire rapidly spread onto Mr. Ainsworth. With a cry, he tumbled from the roof of the van onto the roadside below.
Vanellope stared at the weapon in her hands. "I just pushed a random button…"
"Give me that thing," said Calhoun. She snatched the rifle away from Vanellope.
"You could say thank you," Vanellope said crossly.
"Thank you," said Calhoun, "for not accidently shooting the rest of us."
Before Vanellope could reply, the sound of gunfire reached everyone's ears. The agents of SANG were pulling back towards the wire entrance, pursued by racers in karts and a horde of angry fans.
"We'll be regrouping in Game Central Station," said Calhoun as the van veered towards the Peppermint Forest. "We've got to meet the other games' characters in the middle and finish the job. With the pulse emitter gone, it's just a matter of time and survival."
Vanellope glitched onto a nearby tree.
"Where are you going?" Felix called after her.
"I've got to find Ralph!" she replied, leaping further into the trees.
"At least she can't die in here," Calhoun muttered.
"You could have shown a little more appreciation," said Duncan. "She technically did just save us."
"By sheer luck," said Calhoun. "Vanellope's never handled a gun in her life."
Duncan blinked. "Oh."
Vanellope glitched rapidly from tree to tree, heading towards the spot on the chocolate road where she had seen Ralph fall. She wished she hadn't left the kart behind; she was getting tired.
She paused to catch her breath on the lower branches of one of trees above a deep pool of taffy. The sounds of the combat were fading as the battle shifted towards the wire entrance. Here in the forest, all seemed still.
As she prepared to begin her journey once again, she felt a hand close about her leg. With a yelp, Vanellope tumbled from the branch, grasping it with her hands to break her fall.
"Get down here!" a familiar voice snarled from below. Eyes wide with terror, Vanellope looked down. On one of the bottommost branches was Mr. Ainsworth. The mercenary's poncho had been burned clean away. His clothes were charred and torn, and his body was covered in savage burn marks. His eyes glinted with unvarnished rage and hatred.
"Get down here, you wretched brat!"
"No!" Vanellope cried, struggling to haul herself out of his grip. He pulled hard, forcing her to let go of the branch. She landed hard on a rock below. Mr. Ainsworth scrambled out of the tree, drawing his bowie knife.
"I'm going to bathe in your blood!" he shouted, clambering over the slippery rocks. Vanellope glitched frantically onto the hard ground of the forest. She hurried forward, only to stumble over a rock.
Mr. Ainsworth was almost to firmer ground when a large form came barreling towards him. A pair of massive hands lifted him into the air and then smashed him down onto the rocks. The attacker then let go, allowing Mr. Ainsworth's corpse to slide into the taffy pool where it sank out of sight.
"Ralph?" Vanellope said hesitantly, getting to her feet. She turned.
"Nasty business," said Ralph, "but we're rid of him."
Vanellope leaped into his arms. Ralph quietly embraced her.
The sound of distant gunfire from near the wire entrance disturbed the moment. Vanellope glitched out of Ralph's arms.
"Come on, Ralph!" she cried, hurrying in the direction of the noises. "There's still a battle to win!"
Ralph ran after her.