Wow, I am so happy with the way this turned out! This is where I think I've gotten into Calhoun's head the best, and where the diversions from the canon timeline really start. In fact, what am I blathering on about? ONTO THE STORY!

Disclaimer: I neither own Wreck It Ralph, or my heart. Those belong to Disney and Spice respectively.

Chapter 2

Calhoun ignored the little figure, pushing him aside while he headed out the door, blaster in hand. He could apologize later.

For now, Fix It and the strange fascination he showed didn't matter, nor did the either dead or going-to-be-when-Calhoun-got-a-hold-of-him Markowski, or even the imposter who caused this whole mess.

No, all that mattered was the cybug, and stopping it, whatever the cost.

The men knew not to follow him when he was like this, which was good. While backup might become necessary, he wouldn't call on it until he absolutely had to. If the escape pod landed in the station, he could kill the cybug easily. But if it landed in one of the games, he'd have to search for it, and having a platoon of soldiers marching into an unsuspecting game is a surefire way to startle the inhabitants, and complicate matters immensely. Besides, the men had all the subtlety of a herd of rhinos.

The Surge Protector stopped him as soon as he crossed the entrance way holding a very dangerous weapon- despite the fact that it was nothing compared to some of the weapons found on the higher levels-, just as he had intended. From the way he glanced up from his clipboard, eying him in an annoyed fashion, he knew it was intended.

Smart man. But then again, he'd have to be to do his job.

Calhoun cut him off before he could even ask his usual questions. Typically he would let the blue being do his job, but time was of the essence. "Sergeant Calhoun, exiting Hero's Duty, heading to wherever the escape pod holding a possibly dangerous convict and a cybug had landed."

Surge sighed under his breath, sounding almost frustrated by the interruption in his routine, or possibly because he let the cybug through. Calhoun wasn't sure of either one, but later he'd make it up to him; they were both just men doing their jobs, and he seemed like a useful ally to have on his side in case this happened again. However, for now he has to do his duty.

"They flew into that sweet little game over there," Surge briskly walked him to an outlet titled Sugar Rush, thankfully sensing the urgency in Calhoun's voice. He didn't know how much the seemingly all knowing energy being knew about the cybugs, but at least he could tell that it was something important. Once he led him there, Surge vanished, leaving Calhoun to do his job while he did his. Calhoun could respect that.

Calhoun faced the empty tunnel, which was covered in graffiti and void of the train. He scowled, enraged at the fact that he'd have to walk the way.

"Sarge!" Calhoun turned to face Kohut, who had apparently followed him out carrying his gear, which he had forgotten in his obsessively focused state. Calhoun gave a small smirk for a fraction of a second before forcing it off his face. There was a reason why Kohut was the second in command. Hopping behind him was the frantic Fix It, still looking nervous and confused.

"Kohut, my cruiser." Calhoun commanded, still ignoring the smaller sprite. At this point, he's nothing but a distraction.

Kohut tossed it to him, and Calhoun caught it easily, putting it down and turning it into it's hoverboard state, stepping on it. He was about to take off when he heard a call. "Wait!"

Calhoun turned his head to see Fix It running forward. His face hardened into a scowl as he looked down at the tiny character. Couldn't he see he was wasting precious time that could be used stopping the cybug? "What is it?"

"I'm coming with you." In any other scenario, the way Fix It's little chest puffed out as he tried to look tough would be amusing. However, with a rouge game-jumper and a cybug loose in some hapless kiddy game, he was nothing but a nuisance.

"Do you even know what a cybug is?" There was something cold and hard in his voice, something barely restrained, as though he was struggling to keep himself from ripping Fix It to shreds with his bare teeth. The character in question shook his head, taking a few nervous steps back.

"A cybug is a virus, plain and simple. They don't know they're in a game. All they know is eat, kill, multiply." A part of him felt ashamed to see the little man pull back in fright, but the rest of him knew he had to keep going, so that the idiot didn't try and follow. "Without a beacon, there won't be anything stopping them from eating that game up. And do you think they're going to stop there?"

"Yes!" Fix It guessed hopefully, and it was all Calhoun could do to not punch him where he stood for being so goshdarn optimistic. "No! They'll consume that game, and move on to the whole arcade. If I don't kill that cybug before it reproduces, we're going to have an epidemic on our hands."

"You mean if we don't stop the cybugs, sir!" This time, Calhoun did punch him, although he did restrain himself enough so that he didn't hear the familiar crunch of broken bones. He didn't want to kill the fragile looking sprite, as annoying as he might be. "Did you listen to a word I said, shortstack?"

Fix It winced visibly at his broken nose, before hitting himself with a golden hammer and restoring himself back to normal. "Yes I did, sir."

"Then why are you insisting on coming along?" Calhoun growled, forcing his fists to remain at his sides. It wouldn't do anybody any good if he kept attacking the smaller figure. Besides, there was a part of him that felt guilty at hurting someone so harmless and defenseless he was practically adorable.

Fix It squared himself up, trying to make himself look as tall as possible. "Because this is all Ralph's fault, and it's as much my duty to fix what he breaks as it is for you to stop that cybug, sir!"

Calhoun grimaced at his use of the word duty. Whether the 8-bit hero knew it or not, he managed to resonate with him just by using that single word. For a moment, the sergeant considered taking him, but-

-"Brad Hartley Scott! What do you think you're doing?!" Calhoun- no, he was Camoran then. He didn't become Calhoun until… later.- yelled angrily, marching up to his best friend, near-brother, and secret passion, shooting cybugs out of reflex and instinct alone. "No civilians on the battlefield!"

Brad looked at him in a mix between annoyance and regret, holding the civilian, a pretty little blonde, close to him with one arm, shooting cybugs with the gun in his other hand. "Camoran, will you just relax? This is a low danger zone, and she just wanted to see what being a soldier is like. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Nothing wrong with- you brought Lockload's daughter into a war zone!" Camoran tried to keep both his voice and his anger down. Brad was in love, and that made even the most sensible men do idiotic things. Like not report in immediately that his best friend brought the General's daughter into a battlefield, in spite of the fact that nobody was supposed to know who she was, and just act like she was another intern.

"Look, Camoran…" Brad soothed, using that soft, low voice that always made him melt inside. "She just wanted to see what it was like out here; what her father goes through every day. You can't blame her for that, can you?"

"No, that's why I'm blaming you." Camoran grumbled, but Brad had already won. "Okay, she's seen the fighting. Now, go take her inside while I cover for your lovestruck rear."

Brad looked like he wanted to argue, but he knew that pushing his by the book friend even further would be a mistake. Besides, he could feel his darling shaking in his arms, obviously frightened of either the cybugs or Camoran. So he just gave his fellow cadet a smile instead. "Thanks, Cam. I owe you one!"

"You owe me a lot more than that." Camoran muttered, watching his sweet, attractive, completely straight best friend walk away.-

-Calhoun jolted himself out of the preprogrammed memory before Fix It or Kohut got suspicious. He gritted his teeth at the pain his recollection brought. Brad was never even real! He was just a bit of coding made so that he could have a tragic backstory! Still…

"No civilians allowed in war zones." He growled, causing Kohut to frown. He forgot that his second in command would have remembered that part of his programmed past. It didn't matter though, as he didn't say anything.

Fix It, unaware of his inner turmoil, actually pouted, something that boggled Calhoun's mind enough to drag him at least partially out of his hole. He had never seen anybody do that before; he thought it was something only small animals and little kids could do. "Sir, I might not be one of your soldiers, sir, but I am not a civilian!"

Calhoun crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. "Right… and what sort of battle experience does a game like Fix It Felix Jr. provide?"

Fix It hopped closer, his eyes squinting up at Calhoun in what was the closest a ball of 1980's goodness could get to glaring. "The sort that allows me to dodge all of your troops' bullets, for starters."

That was actually a reasonable response. However, Calhoun wasn't convinced. "You can't just dodge a cybug's attacks and wait for it to drop dead. What's your offensive?"

The obvious pacifist looked uneasy with the thought of actually attacking something, but he soldiered on. "I've been swinging a hammer for thirty years; as soon as I can find a good substitute in there, you can see what that can do."

Another good answer. If Calhoun was a less paranoid man, he'd be impressed. Still, he had to admit that the little sprite had spunk. He liked spunk. Still, there was one more question to ask.

"You're the main character of your game. You understand that if you die, your game is doomed to be unplugged?" This was the last chance for him to realize what he was agreeing to, what he was risking if he went with him to what could essentially be a suicide mission.

At this, Fix It gave a sad, almost painful smile. "Sir, without Ralph, we're doomed to be unplugged anyway. I don't think that much would be lost if I don't make it out of there."

Moddarnit if that didn't pull at something inside of the cold metal machine that replaced Calhoun's heart. He didn't trust his voice, and instead just looked away, pointing to the spot next to him on the board.

Felix took that as permission, and hopped right on it, grabbing onto Calhoun's leg for balance. Strangely, Calhoun didn't feel the urge to shove him off.

One solid kick to the ground, and they were off.