Note: Lots and lots of character death coming up. You have been warned…
Chapter 10
I have to admit, I was more than a little excited when I first caught word that Game Central Station was under attack. Now that I've been shaped into a full-fledged fighter through all this training, it seemed like this was my chance to put those skills to good use. It couldn't be all that hard, anyway- normally, when the Surge Protectors say there's an "attack", it usually means a stray Bug or two ended up in the station while passing from game to game. What's the worst that could happen?
Unfortunately, I was about to find out.
As the soldiers edge their way out of the monorail, I leap over them into the terminal and skip to the front, fully expecting to have an encounter with a handful of Bugs. When I reach the entrance to the station, however, it's all I can do not to scream at the top of my lungs.
What used to be Game Central now looks like the nucleus of a wasps' nest. The cacophonous buzz of dozens upon dozens of Cy-Bugs fills the once peaceful station, their presence giving this hub area the look and feel of Hero's Duty.
As I take in the devastation, the other soldiers catch up to me and gasp in horror.
"Sacre bleu! Game Central est sous attaque! (Good heavens! Game Central is under attack!)" exclaims Glass Joe.
"Oh my land!" gasps Felix.
A stray Surge Protector spots us and runs to the terminal. "Oh, thank Litwak you're here, we need backup NOW!" he yells in a panic. "These Bugs are taking over the whole station, and we can't stop them! We have to get rid of them before Turbo comes back…"
"TURBO?!" Felix and I say at the same time. The three of us briefly exchange looks, as if we'd all met this same Turbo before.
Turbo… King Candy, who for fifteen years had played me and my friends like puppets, deceiving us into believing that he was the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush. That surely wasn't the same Turbo that Felix had known before… Or was it?
"What was he doing here?" Calhoun demanded.
The Surge Protector gulped. "H-he said it was only a matter of time before his takeover of the arcade would be complete, and then this whole station started flooding with Bugs… and then he retreated into Sugar Rush…"
Sugar Rush? Well, at least we know where Turbo is now. But why would he want to return to his former home? …Could he possibly have known we were coming for him?!
The Surge Protector clears his throat and continues, "Access to all games has been shut off for safety. The Bugs have taken this entire hub, but as you can see, that's the very least of our problems…"
Suddenly, Citrus points to the bunkers and gasps. "Jubi, look!"
My eyes follow her finger to the open hatch leading to the bunkers, and widen in raw fear as a cluster of Bugs flies in.
Oh my code…
"The bunkers!" I scream at Calhoun. "They're attacking the bunkers!"
That gets her attention, and she leaps to the head of the team. "Alright people, spread out! Kohut, Joe, take this hub area!" she orders. "Felix, Bing-Bing, head for the bunkers! No one stops fighting till every last Cy-Bug in this station is dead, you hear me? Now let's move!"
On her word, we barrel out of the Hero's Duty terminal and into the buzzing green sea of chaos. Mayhem ensues as the still inexperienced new recruits fire haphazardly at anything that moves (including each other), leaving the troops from Hero's Duty to hunt down the Bugs themselves. But they are greatly outnumbered, and just as a group of Bugs is shot down, another zooms in to take its place.
I want to stay and help them fight, but I have orders to follow Felix to the bunkers, and more importantly, friends down there from Sugar Rush and the entire rest of the arcade who need me, now more than ever. I can only imagine the hell that was once this last safe place in the arcade, now abuzz with lethal Cy-Bugs, making a meal out of the cast of every last game… the thought is so horrible I push it out of my mind.
But once we descend the stairs to the upper level of the bunkers, shooting down several Bugs in the process, I get to see it for myself. The common room on the upper floor is a mix of Bugs, Surge Protectors, and the helpless residents of the bunkers, some doing whatever they can to attack them, some fleeing.
At the sight of Felix, Q*Bert scurries over to us and briefly utters several lines of gibberish before a Cy-Bug lands right in front of us, snatches him, and devours him whole. Instantly Felix responds with several rounds from his blaster, and the Bug disintegrates.
"You and Citrusella take the lower levels!" Felix shouts at us. "I'll handle this!"
Without hesitation Citrus and I race to the stairwell and head for the lower levels, where the rest of the Sugar Rushers reside. But just as we round the last flight of stairs, a Cy-Bug emerges from within the stairwell, rushes past me, knocking away my blaster, and pins Citrus to the wall.
"Jubi, help!" she screams.
"CITRUS! NO!" I shriek, flinging myself at the attacking Bug. But the creature is clearly unfazed by my attack, lashes me in the face with its tail, and sends me careening towards the wall, right next to my blaster. I can taste the tang of blood in my mouth as I lunge for my gun and rush back to the Bug, which takes a swipe at Citrusella but misses.
"Citrus, duck!" I call out.
She does, and I let fly with my blaster, putting three bullets in its face. The Cy-Bug shrieks in pain and rolls down the stairs, and its dead body comes to rest beside the entrance to the living quarters. Citrus falls to the floor and gasps for breath.
I hurry over to her. "Citrus, you okay?"
After a moment of heavy breathing, she answers, "I'm… fine."
Just as I help my sister to her feet, a bloodcurdling scream sounds out within our living quarters- a scream that could only belong to one strawberry-themed racer…
"Taffyta!" I call out as Citrus and I rush ahead. "I'm coming!"
We enter the bunkers to find our first pleasant surprise: the other Sugar Rushers are still alive, and like the arcade's other characters, some are fleeing, some fighting back. But their weapons- baseball bats, shovels, and the like- are proving ineffective against the Bugs. In a matter of seconds, Citrus and I burst in and begin firing, wiping them out.
"Candlehead!" I ask the hotheaded racer, as she uses the flame on her candle hat to swat away a passing Cy-Bug. "Where's Taffyta?"
"I dunno… I think she ran into her room!" says Candlehead. "And I think one of these Bugs followed her there… you better check on her! Oh, I hope she's al- AAAAAH!"
The Cy-Bug returns to have another go at Candlehead and knocks her to the ground, only to be shot down by my blaster and blown to smithereens.
"Come on, Citrus," I tell my sister, and the two of us make a mad dash for Taffyta's room, just as another scream from Taffyta sounds from within.
We barge into the room and find her just as the attacking Cy-Bug sinks one of its pincers into her chest. She gasps and shudders as the creature retracts its talon, leaving a bloody hole in her stomach.
"Please… make it stop…" she whimpers, her face lined with tears.
Without hesitation we both fire at the Bug, which uses its pincers to block our attacks. Its defense, though, is no match for our offense, and the Bug is dead before its body falls and collapses on Taffyta's cot.
I run over to Taffyta and ease her up against the wall. Then I see the wound in her belly and gasp- the Cy-Bug has sliced her open to the bone. She needs medical attention now- if this wound is unchecked, it will kill her for sure.
"Just… leave me here…" she moans weakly, as I help her up. "I'm… fine…"
"No you're not," I say. "You're dying, Taff. We need to get you to a doctor, now."
"What are we gonna do, Jubi?" asks Citrus. "The hospital's probably under attack right now too! Besides, who's gonna be able to fix a wound like that?!"
And that's when it hits me. I know exactly who can fix it- because I've seen him do it before, after Vanellope saved me from Cy-Bugs for the first time. The answer to our problem was lying in wait on the upper floor of the bunkers… Now, all I had to do was find a way to get her there.
"Come on, Taff. We gotta move," I tell her as I stand her up. But the pain from the wound is too overbearing for her, and all she does is wince in agony and double over.
"Jubi, what are you doing? Can't you see she can't stand up?!" snaps Citrus.
"We have to get her to Felix. He's the only one who can heal her," I answer.
"Carry me… Jubes…" Taffyta grunts, before dropping back to the floor.
With no other option, I sling Taffyta over my shoulders and bolt out of her room and into the stairwell. Now that all the Bugs in the lower level have been destroyed, I don't have to worry about shooting at anything. All I have to do is reach Felix in time.
We reach the upper levels of the bunkers and find Felix locked in battle with a particularly large Cy-Bug. "Felix, we need your help!" I yell over the roar of his bullets.
"I'm a little busy at the moment, darling!" he yells back.
I glance at Taffyta, still flushed and bleeding profusely, and try to reassure her, just as Kohut's voice says, "Hub area clear. Reporting to bunkers, upper level."
The other Hero's Duty soldiers have returned- just in time to watch in horror as the Cy-Bug grabs Felix's blaster with its teeth, devours it, and sprouts a gun atop its head.
"Jiminy jaminy…" the Niceland repairman gulps as he braces for the attack.
"NOOOO!" shrieks Calhoun, running into the fray, as she and the Bug fire at the same time. As the Bug stumbles back and explodes from Calhoun's attack, its bullet sinks squarely into Felix's chest. Calhoun runs to Felix, and cradles him in her arms.
"Fix-It, please," she begs him, her eyes full of tears. "Come on… stay with us…"
With his strength leaving him, Felix reaches up and brushes away her tears with his hand. "Don't worry, Tammy…" he says, smiling. "You'll always be… my dynamite gal..."
As Felix's last breath finally leaves him, Calhoun kneels over his body, and the rest of Litwak's arcade join both of us in weeping for our fallen warrior.