Eventually, the trio made it to the bridge and exited into Game Central Station. Everytime Vanellope had a chance to leave her game, she was always more than excited, since she had spent the majority of her life thinking that she would never get that privilege. This time however, she only had one thing on her mind; and that was to figure out what was going on. During their walk, the princess-turned-president had climbed up to sit atop one of Ralph's massive shoulders, and she took advantage of her new perch to scope out the area.
The hub was still bustling with activity, though from what the girl could tell Sarge's marines were nowhere to be seen. At least, not yet. Either that, or they had already been assigned to different games and were already checking them out. She wouldn't doubt it either, the Sarge worked quick.
"I don't see any soldiers." She stated her thoughts as they continued through the crowd towards Fix-It Felix Jr. "And what's the plan when we get in here? Are we just gonna wait around?" She looked down at Ralph.
"There's not much we can do now that Sarge is running things," he said, glancing at the kid through the corner of his eye. "Waiting in Niceland is our best bet. Which reminds me," he broke off, looking down at Felix. "You'd better give the Nicelanders a heads up. I don't think they're gonna react too well to having Sarge's men in here."
Felix – who had been sticking close-by Ralph as they entered the tunnel – looked up and nodded at the larger man. If the soldiers were in there, he wasn't sure that he wanted to go in. Though he knew he had to save face in front of the Nicelanders. The idea of talking to Tamora after what had happened was both something that he desperately wanted to do, and at the same time wanted to avoid for as long possible.
Fix-It Felix Jr. was far too quiet and peaceful a game for the diehard men of Hero's Duty to stomp around in. Besides, Ralph was more than sure that Mary would have a heart attack if she opened her door to find an armed soldier towering over her, demanding answers she couldn't provide.
As they entered the sleepy environment, the wrecker was both surprised and unsurprised to see the Nicelanders waiting at the station. They looked to be in full-blown "panic mode", and the moment, no, the very millisecond they spotted―"Felix! Thank goodness you're back!"―they were swarming their resident fixer with all sorts of questions and concerns, since they still believed him to be immune to the virus.
For what it was worth, the Nicelanders did look worse off than he'd recalled from earlier that morning; their 8-bit movements were more delayed than usual, and their normally bright eyes appeared much duller than they were on a daily basis. Ralph could tell without even trying that they were getting worse. All of them.
"Don't worry, everyone - help is on the way." He told them all, hoping to at least calm their panicked babbling down somewhat. "The fellas from Hero's Duty are gonna stop by and make sure everything's alright. If there's anything in here, I'm sure they'll find it." He assured them, looking them over. "Just hang tight."
He honestly hoped that was the case. The Nicelanders had gotten visibly worse since earlier that morning. If they didn't find out what was happening soon, then - he didn't even want to think about it. They would find out what was happening, and they would put an end to it; because they had to.
Though as worried as the fixer was about the virus, a completely new worry collectively surfaced in the faces of the Nicelanders. Concerned and fretful glances were exchanged, and a panicked chattering filled the crowd. Hero's Duty soldiers in Fix-It Felix, Jr?
They weren't too thrilled about that.
Beside the fixer, Ralph tried to think of anything he could offer as support. He doubted that it would do much as far as comforting went, just because all of their hopes were resting with Felix and Felix alone. That certainly didn't stop him from trying, though.
"Felix is right," he said, catching their attention. "Those guys know what they're doing."
Gene looked to be in absolute disagreement with this assertion. He lifted up a stubby finger and pointed it at Ralph, prepared to give the bad guy a piece of his mind, but before he could get a single criticizing word out there came a low rumbling from the tunnel. Everyone slowly turned towards the opening to see what could have been making that noise. The closer it drew, the more detailed it became.
It sounded like…footsteps. Lots of footsteps. Uniformed together in flawless unison.
Protectively, Ralph reached up and held onto Vanellope with one hand. He may not have been in the greatest shape, but the kid's safety was foremost in his thoughts. Not five seconds later two lines of soldiers appeared, marching through the tunnel and into Niceland; they wore their armor and held their guns at perfect attention. Ahead of them, a familiar sergeant led the way, barking orders at the men as they filed forward.
"Alright, ladies, keep formation!" Tamora shouted, prior to gesturing to two individual soldiers. "Greene, Rodriguez! Start lining 'em up! The faster we get through the inspection the faster we can wrap up and head to the next game. Now move!"
The burly men wasted no time carrying out their assigned directive. The Nicelanders were herded, much like skittish sheep, away from the station platform and onto the pathway that led to the apartment building. From there, they were put into pairs of two while a single soldier performed an inspection.
"Woaah, awesome…" The tiny racer breathed out in awe at seeing the soldiers at work. She had momentarily forgotten that she was there against the Sarge's orders. Quickly remembering though, she zipped her lip and ducked down a little lower behind Ralph's steadying hand. Wide, fascinated eyes remained fixated on the soldiers however. Soldiers that would have absolutely towered over her, had she not been on Ralph's shoulder.
"It's alright, everyone. They're professionals." Felix stated, looking over the terrified, huddled Nicelanders and up towards the Hero's Duty soldiers. He would admit they were intimidating, and he probably would have been trembling along with everyone else, had he not felt the need to reassure everyone. That, and he had become somewhat familiar with them during his time spent with Tamora - gosh, he wished they hadn't gotten into a fight. If anything was going to be intimidating about that, it would have been interacting with her.
Though he figured he should deal with the hulking figures before all of his friends, before he dealt with his personal issues. "What do you need us to do, gentlemen?" He asked the towering soldiers with an attempted smile.
Markowski - the man that Ralph had once impersonated - heard Felix's question and replied.
"You'll be instructed to open your mouth, and from there an oral probe will be inserted. It should be able to determine the nature of the virus, as well as what degree of severity it's issuing," he explained. "Our foremost goal is to assist any and all infected civilians, so your cooperation would be appreciated."
… Oral probe? That didn't sound too pleasant…
Felix glanced up towards Markowski with a paled expression as he described the process, watching as his friends were rounded up like cattle to have their own 'examinations'. They were obviously not used to that kind of treatment – Gene especially seemed to have some things to say – and he was quick to send anyone that happened to look over to him an apologetic look. This whole day was a disaster.
The large soldier at his side suddenly shifted in his position, and the little fixer couldn't help but tense up. Even though he was trying to keep up a brave face for everyone, this whole thing was pretty scary.
"Markowski! Take care of the other civilians. I've got this one," she ordered, sending the soldier further down the line of Nicelanders. When he obeyed, she walked into the scene to stand in front of Felix. Her expression remained firm and far from the loving, sweet woman that had cuddled with him the night before. "Open your mouth," she instructed, saying nothing more.
Suddenly, he would have preffered Markowski...