Felix had been surprised that he'd made it through the terminal to Hero's Duty at all, without being stopped by the Surge Protector. Granted, he had been running pretty fast. Or maybe the blue man had other duties to attend to at that moment. But that wasn't important.

He had to see Tamora. Make sure she was ok. If the condition of Sugar Rush was any indication as to how bad things were, then he just had to know for himself. Two days was far too long to have not heard anything yet; and Tamora was the last person he would expect to be floored by something like a virus.

He ran through the tunnel as quickly as his swimming head would allow. It felt like the ground beneath his feet was twisting and turning underneath him, making his steps shaky and uncoordinated. Though he stopped and brought a hand to his head to steady himself when he reached the entrance to the game.

Cringing his eyes shut for a moment, he shook his head and blinked in an attempt to get his vision to right itself again, and looked over the scenery.

In direct contrast to the eerie silence of Sugar Rush, Hero's Duty was a loud, active catastrophe. Armored soldiers ran within the main facility while voices could be heard shouting orders back and forth. It was very clear that an aura of alarm had descended over the troops.

Felix's breath caught in his throat at the sight and his heart dropped as he walked further into the game, being careful to avoid getting in the path of one of the larger characters. Though Tamora was relatively easy to spot. Her commanding voice was a pinpoint to her location, and if anything, her light blonde hair was easily distinguishable from the otherwise darker atmosphere of the area.

"Tammy?!" He called out, sounding almost panicked. If her game had been infected too, he didn't know what he would do.

She currently had one of her men by the collar, tugged in close, as she barked words into his panicked face. "Over half of our platoon is in the infirmary right now. Either keep it together or you'll be heading there with my fist lodged halfway down your throat! Do you understand, soldier?!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

Releasing him with a firm shove, Tamora stalked down the hall yet stopped when her name reached her ears. She hadn't heard that voice in two days…

Rigidly, she turned around and took in the sight of Felix standing further down the corridor. This wasn't what she needed, but she couldn't ignore him now that they'd made eye contact.

The bombshell blonde had plenty of pent-up anger in her from all of the incompetence that was going around, but she managed to keep a tight lid on her manic frustrations as she spoke to him. He grinned at her when she turned to spot him and gave her a light wave, though his expression became more worried when she approached, she didn't look happy.

She got closer. "When I told you to stay in your game, Fix-It, I meant stay in your game." But he hadn't and now he was here, standing ten feet away, looking frailer and sicker than ever. She wished she didn't have to see him like this; she wished that he'd have stayed put; but most of all…she wished her swimming vision wouldn't have made everything ten times worse.

Felix clasped his hands in front of himself nervously and looked up at her as she spoke. "Yes. I know. I'm sorry," he said hurriedly. It was a great relief to see that she was fine - at least, not terrible. Her game looked as it usually did - in terms of scenery. It hadn't changed as much as Sugar Rush had, at least not yet - apart from the obvious fact that everyone was freaking out. "I just haven't heard from you in so long. Ralph and I - we were worried about you two," he said, referring to Vanellope as well. "We just wanted to take a quick peek in the Station to make sure everything was alright. But everyone's gone, Tammy. There's no one in there!" He stressed, pointing back worriedly in the direction of the tunnel. "Then the Surge Protector told us that almost the entire arcade was infected!" He paused for a moment. "You're not sick, are you?" The panic was rising in his voice again, but he tried to keep himself calm. How well it was working, he wasn't sure, because there was obviously something happening to make everyone so on edge.

As a soldier, it wasn't in Tamora's code to lie. Honor and truth were two of her greatest principles. Besides, she'd nearly ripped Felix a new one for not being straight with her a few days prior, so what kind of obnoxious hypocrite would she be if she didn't answer him truthfully?

Not that that made it easier, or pleasant to admit.

"We're all infected, Fix-It," she revealed, turning to look at the anxious men that continued to barrel down the halls, their thick boots clunking against the floor. "Most of us are able to fight through it, but there's a couple've men whose codes aren't agreeing with the virus. Those very same men are in the infirmary, struggling against muscle pains and raging fevers." She sighed forcefully and looked down at him again. "There's no word on a cure yet."

"... oh no," his shoulders fell and he took on a look of desperation. Tamora couldn't have been infected. Not her. Taking care of viruses was their specialty! And some of the soldiers had been taken out of commission by it? The Nicelanders hadn't been so bad-off that they'd needed medical attention of any kind (at least, he sincerely hoped not); but he had remembered Tamora mentioning that this strain of virus adapted to its host. Maybe it was more aggressive in the sci-fi shooter.

And they still had no idea what to do.

Thinking of nothing else he could do, he simply shook his head in disbelief and moved forward to wrap her leg in a tight hug, not thinking of how it might look in front of the troops. He knew that the taller woman was tougher than he was, in almost every aspect of the word, but he still didn't want her to have to feel the discomfort that Ralph, himself, and now apparently Vanellope had been feeling.

"There's got to be something we can do." His voice was strained, and he wracked his mind for any idea at all that could get rid of this thing - but nothing came to mind.

Releasing another sigh, she reached down and settled her gloved hand over his hat. Though, she quickly decided that speaking to him this way wasn't as effective as it could have been. Thus, she gently ushered him away from her leg and kneeled down, so they were now face-to-face.

"We're doing everything we can," she said. "And we're sure as hell not giving up." Since they were both infected, she saw no trouble in kissing him. Yet, as she went to connect their lips together for the first time in days, a familiar soldier suddenly came forward in a panicked rushed.

"Sergeant Calhoun!"

The woman pulled away from Felix and snapped back up to her full height. "What is it, Kohut?"

"We need you in the infirmary. It's Stevens," he reported.

Tamora didn't need to hear anymore. She looked down at Felix, whose brow knitted in concern at the news. She nodded at him to come along if he so chose, and then hurried with Kohut down the corridor towards the infirmary. As they neared the wing the sound of a man screaming could be heard reverberating through the walls; the shouts were loud and pained, as though he were being tortured to death. Felix noticeably slowed at the horrible sounds. Tamora entered the room, quick and determined – while Felix's footsteps became timid and tentative. Tamora entered first and approached a bed, and, not wanting to be alone, Felix rushed in after her.

A soldier lay on a bed, thrashing uncontrollably, as medics attempted to sedate him.

"What's wrong with him?" she demanded.

"We're not sure. He won't respond to anything. It's like he's lost his mind," a medic reported.

This wasn't unbelievable, since Stevens appeared crazier than a rabies-infested cat. Any attempts to soothe him were foiled by kicking, or clawing, or another form of violence. In spite of this, she boldly approached the bedside and shoved through the cautious bystanders. "Stevens! Pull yourself together!" she shouted, attempting to override his wails with her voice. When that didn't work, she took it upon herself to climb up and straddle the man's waist, hoping to pin him down long enough for a sedation.

She managed to weigh down his arms, but an abrupt surge of inhuman strength from his end sent the both of them crashing onto the cold floor. Once there, the crazed soldier flipped them and began attacking her. Intense training allowed her to deflect his attacks, even though she strained against his powerful blows. The medics were instantly by the sergeant's side, trying to pry Stevens off.

Everything changed, however, when Stevens grabbed a nearby gun from the closest ankle holster and shoved the barrel straight into the pulse in Tamora's neck; he did this without a single ounce of hesitation. Before he had the chance to pull the trigger, Kohut shot the man in the back; the bullet pierced his heart, effectively killing him, and rendered him lifeless against her frame. The dead body was then hauled off of her and set back onto the bed, just as he regenerated. Luckily, he was still unconscious.

In the aftermath of the unexpected turn of events, she stood up and stared in horror at the unmoving man that laid on the bed - the individual who, seconds before, hadn't failed to point a gun at her. Clearly, the virus had presented a brand new symptom: Insanity.

"…Keep him sedated. Don't let him wake up." For someone who had recently experienced a gun being shoved into their neck, Tamora was impressively calm. She knew better than to lose her head in the midst of chaos. "Keep an eye on the others. The instant their minds start going AWOL you jab them with one of these," she instructed, pointing to a futuristic-looking syringe.

The medics nodded and then headed off to make their rounds, leaving the sergeant by herself. Reaching up, she gently grazed her fingertips over the purplish welt on her neck, where the gun barrel had bitten into the skin.

The room was eerily silent now, and Tamora let out a tense breath and ran a hand through her cropped hair, before something broke the silence and made her turn.

"Tammy–" Felix spoke in a shaky whisper. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, but he scarcely noticed those. Raw horror stained his face. Never had he seen such a display of violence… and performed on his own wife? It was too much.

He wanted to ask if she was alright, but he couldn't get his mouth to work.

She needed to get him out of there.

She gently touched the back of his head and ushered him out of the room wordlessly. The silence was maintained as she led them down the corridor and around the corner. An air-locked door hissed open and granted them entry into what looked like an empty briefing room. Alone with him, she kneeled down as she'd done before the incident with Stevens and reached out, setting her hands upon either of his narrow shoulders. She stared into his watery gaze for no more than three seconds before she pulled him in for a firm hug.

"You shouldn't have seen that."

His own arms reached up to return the gesture, and Tamora didn't have to ask him to know that he was deeply traumatized by what he'd witnessed. Violence of any kind didn't exist in Niceland. There were no guns, no murders, and no reason to sleep with a knife under your pillow. She often forget how innocent Felix was, and how low his tolerance was for witnessing sheer brutality between two human beings.

He agreed wholeheartedly with her. If he could somehow erase that image from his mind, he would do it in a heartbeat. How gamers could be so attracted to doing that sort of thing in a video game was beyond him. Killing and shooting and hurting others… He may not have wanted to know.

"He tried to– y-you almost…" He stuttered and shook his head against her shoulder. "Why would he do that?" He managed to ask. He knew the answer, but he didn't want to believe it. Her game had indeed been affected by the virus.

"He wasn't in his right mind, Fix-It," she replied, reaching out to gently stroke his flushed cheek. He leaned into her touch. Her gaze, however, remained somewhat firm. "Who knows what kind of sick, twisted damage the virus is doing to his head." She shook off the infuriating thought and gingerly swiped beneath one of his damp eyes. "We have instincts programmed into us, and they tend to come out in fight-or-flight situations. Stevens did what he was trained to do. Just with the wrong target."

Tamora didn't plan to tell Felix that this often happened to her on a daily basis. There wasn't a single day that passed where she wasn't injured in some way, shape, or form. But those were things he didn't need to know; it was none of his concern. It was just the nature of her game.

The hand that was set against his face ascended and moved the brim of his hat up slightly. Then, leaning in, she pressed their foreheads together. "I'm fine." Comforting didn't come very easy to her; it just wasn't in her code to be sweet or patient when someone was losing it. Even then she had to fight the pressing urge to tell Felix to tough it out. Instead, she settled on something a bit less harsh. "I need you to be strong for me, alright? Can you do that?"

It was a terrible image, seeing someone killed. One that he was sure he'd be trying to forget for a while. He was undeniably shaken up about it - but what Tamora had said was true. It wasn't Stevens' fault. That virus had somehow messed with the soldier's behavior. Interfered with it. He felt undeniably bad for the man. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that the soldier that had been shot was fine now; and Tammy was fine too. Everything was fine, and it was really just him who had been affected by it.

"Yes," he nodded against her forehead and wrung his hands nervously together once again as he tried to collect himself. "Sorry," he said, "I bet I look downright silly. Having a hissy-fit over things I bet you see all the time..." He attempted a smile and leaned back to look at her, somewhat apologetically. "I wouldn't mind getting out of here though."

She shook her head at his apology, implying that he was entitled to feel however he darn well pleased, and when he suggested that they leave the game she went ahead and agreed. "I'll need to take care of a few things before we head out. Meet me by the tunnel." A very soft kiss was pressed to his lips before she stood up and exited the briefing room to finish up some business. He was more than happy to oblige with that, and quickly walked alongside her through the facility until he felt secure enough to make the trip to the tunnel by himself as Tamora went on to take care of her business.

Realistically, Tamora knew that she wouldn't be able to stay with Felix for very long. Not with her men losing their minds back at base. It may have been selfish of her, but if they were truly doomed with no hope of fighting the virus, she wanted to spend time with her husband.

First, she stopped by the infirmary again to see if any other soldiers were experiencing the madness. So far, everything seemed contained and under control. Her next order of business was to make sure that the soldiers who had yet to be taken out of commission were able to handle their own while she was gone. With a promise from Kohut to inform her if anything worsened during her absence, she headed for the tunnel to meet with Felix.

She stopped by her quarters along the way to swap her armor for her civvies, since she planned to cuddle the holy hell out of the fixer while she could; something told her that she wouldn't be able to over the course of the next few days. When she arrived at their assigned meeting place, she reached down and extended her now bare fingers, requesting his hand to hold. He smiled up at her and extended his own hand to meet up with hers, their fingers curling together as they crossed the station and headed into Fix-It Felix Jr.