Conspiracy.

Tamora had called Smythe back in. They discussed going in to look at the town's code. Ralph was more concerned with Vanellope's safety above all else. He had seen the lab, and it had scared him witless.

Tamora reassured him. "Look, the arcade is closed. There may be the odd 'bug that didn't see the beacon. But this area is unoccupied, and we'll have a full squad. Your Princess can handle herself pretty well on her own, and we'll have backup." Still not happy, Ralph had to agree it was as safe as could be.

While they finished their snacks, Kohut began outfitting the group that was going to guard them. Soon they were on their way. After they were all back at the train terminal, Tamora addressed them outside the landing area.

"All right, kids. This should be clear. Should be. But I want every eye open, and a perimeter kept on the civilians. Here we go." This last as she hit the open toggle on the landing bay.

As the door clanged down, there was the sight that was all-too-familiar to the troops. The sky dark, the air heavy with ash and smoke, and the wreckage of the landscape put everyone on edge. Troops fanned out in a half circle in front, ever watchful for anything moving. Then Tamora, with the others, followed by the rear guard.

Across the bridge, and down towards the lab, the trip was uneventful. Instead of going in the main lab door, Smythe led the group around the right side of the lab. Around the corner of the building was a smaller, heavily armored door. He worked with a small security box for a minute, and it slid open. Beyond it lay a harshly lit metal stairway, going downward. Smythe, Tamora, the civilians, and a couple of troops went down. Kohut closed the door behind them, to protect them from behind.

The trip down the stairs was quiet. There was the clank of metal soled boots, but other than that, everyone was listening for signs of cybugs. At the bottom of the stairs, it opened up into a fairly large room, with another heavy door on the other wall. There was equipment lying around, as there had been attempts to cut the door open.

Smythe knelt down to talk to Vanellope. "Okay. The door's about a foot thick. There's a platform on the other side. Please don't go too far. Once you're in, there will be a switch by the door, or lever, or maybe a wheel. That's it. Be careful, please."

Ralph's teeth were clenched hard enough to hurt as he watched Vanellope walk up to the door. She could feel his eyes on her. She turned to him, winked, and blew him a kiss. Then she faced the door, took a step, and glitched out of sight.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Rancis had found Sour Bill in one of the hallways. Herding him back to the kitchen, the three of them were soon sitting at one of the small tables.

Candlehead pointed at him. "C'mon, give. We know you listen to everything that goes on around here. Vanellope has a problem."

Rancis spoke up. "Yeah. And if we can fix it, she'll be happy, and we can get back to normal. She'll quit biting our heads off."

Sour Bill had to think about a lot here. With freeing the memories, he remembered everything. He remembered Candy taking over, changing the code, and trying to delete the Princess. Being… well… him, and being concerned for the Princess's welfare, he had listened from behind the curtain in the throne room. And he had heard last night. He knew what she wanted, and he knew how to get it, also. He remembered everything Turbo did now. He looked at the two racers across the table. He knew that they probably had their own reasons for this. But, he also knew that the code wouldn't let them do anything to harm the Princess on purpose. Just like Sour Bill himself, loyalty to the Ruler was part of the code. He could believe that they would not do anything to harm his Princess.

Slowly, Sour Bill began to tell the story of Turbo, the code, and the problem of the Princess in love that wanted to grow up.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Oh my! Wow!" Vanellope looked out into the vast dark area that held the code for Hero's Duty. As far as the eye could see, and yet even farther, there were thousands, or hundreds of thousands of boxes of various size. Cables by the millions connected them into a glittering, beautiful pattern formed by the mass.

Vanellope tore her eyes away to look around her. She was on a platform. Behind her was the door, secured by a long, red-handled locking lever. Rubbing her hands together, she walked up to it. Grabbing it with both hands, and putting her shoulder into it, she grunted as she swung the lever up. There was a clunk, and the lever clicked into the top, the door opening several inches. She pushed it open. As she came into view, everyone in the room relaxed just a bit. Ralph unclenched his hands and sighed as he released the breath he had been holding.

Vanellope skipped up to Calhoun; "See, Tamora? No problem." The Sergeant nodded; "Good work, kiddo." Turning to Smythe, she waved an arm towards the door. "Okay, smart guy, take a look. But think of this as just a recon, unless you get really lucky."

Smythe grabbed his bag of gear and went through the door, Vanellope on his heels.

Calhoun grabbed her shoulder; "Just where do you think you're going there, sugar queen?"

Vanellope looked up at Calhoun; "Look, I can glitch anywhere. I can watch him, I can help! I can get him back here if anything happens."

Calhoun thought for a second. The short stack was right. This could be tricky. Grudgingly, she let go and watched her walk through the door.

Ralph came up behind Calhoun. He was slightly upset. "You let her go back in?"

Calhoun looked around at him. She nodded. "It isn't much of a risk. We know there's no 'bugs, or any other dangers in there. And I don't mind having some backup for Smythe." She even smiled a faint grin; "Besides, she really might help. She knows more about dealing with code than anyone here." Ralph was somewhat reassured, but still worried as he stared at the green hoodie disappearing.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sour Bill finished his tale. It was a bit involved, since he had bits and pieces, and places where he only had the Princess's emotions to describe. He concluded with his belief that Vanellope wanted to be older, and more of a 'big girl' for Ralph, who she loved so dearly.

Rancis shook his head. He couldn't understand how anyone could want anything outside their game. Didn't it have everything a racer could ever want? Why would anyone, and especially their Princess, want to go off with the huge smelly… He paused there. The big man did fight for her while they all ran. He did protect her from the rest of them. But love? Surely Sour Bill was wrong about that. He looked across to Candlehead. There were plenty of people right here. You didn't need to leave the game.

Said green-haired girl was thinking hard, her brow wrinkled as she tried to put everything they had heard together. So that's what King Candy did. So she loves the guy now. Fine. She can have him if it makes her happy. For once, her loyalty to the Princess and her selfish wishes happened to go down the same path. There was no conflict with her code on this.

She looked across the table at the others. "But I'm confused. What's this about being grown up? We're as grown as we're going to get, aren't we? What more can she do?"

Rancis pointed at her; "Maybe she means like the tall lady. The one with the loud voice and the shooty things."

Candlehead nodded. "Well, that's the biggest girl I've ever seen. But we don't know what normal is for…" she waved her arm at the air "out there." She tried to think. The one time they had left the game, it had been a noisy, crowded, confusing disaster. She couldn't remember much detail. There was only one option here.

She looked at the others with a frown. "Rancis, Sour Bill… we are going out to look at some girls!" The others shivered at this decision. They had to make sure Taffyta didn't get wind of this. Candlehead did not want that snob to take any credit for this one.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Smythe stood on the edge of the platform, taking in the grand view of the magic behind the game. He looked down as Vanellope came up beside him. "Really something there, huh, your Highness?" He looked back outwards. "This is it… the brain… even the heart that keeps us all alive."

He knelt down beside her, talking as he opened his bag and began looking for something. "You know, if I'm right about the rules of the arcade, even you are out there now." Vanellope wondered at this as Smythe took out a pair of combat binoculars. Dialing up the magnification, he began scanning the near area for labels. He started with the larger ones, like the enormous one in the middle of the air in front of them marked Lab Building. It had hundred of cables running off in all directions. He sighed, since it was obvious this was going to take some time.

But off to the side, at the edge of the group, he saw three small boxes, each with only one input and output wire. He read the labels on them; the larger one was labeled Wreck-it Ralph. The two smaller ones carried the names Fix-it Felix, Jr. and Vanellope von Schweetz.

He lowered the binoculars, handing them to Vanellope. "I was right. Look just over to the left at that small group of containers."

Vanellope lifted the awkward field glasses. "Ohhh!" she exclaimed as she saw how everything seemed right at arm's reach. She saw the boxes he pointed out. She had an amazed look on her face as she lowered the glasses. "Us? That's us… in your game?"

Smythe smiled and nodded. "Yes, it is." He knelt down to talk. "So I got the general info from everyone, and especially that Tapper guy. There's a reason you really die outside your game." He pointed out to the new containers. "That container out there is your heart, if you want to call it that. It's the real, inside piece of code that keeps you alive. When you go into another game, it goes too. You get connected with the game you're in. When you leave, it goes back with you."

Vanellope frowned as she tried to explain her life; "But I was a glitch! Ralph said that Turbo tried to delete me! I couldn't leave my game!"

Smythe took that in and nodded. "I don't quite have all the facts, but that fits." He paused a second. "Look, the first rule here is that code cannot be created or destroyed. It can be changed some and rearranged, but the code is absolute. Turbo unplugged you, but he couldn't delete you… that's not allowed once the code is written. You couldn't leave because your code couldn't move with you."

He thought another moment. Vanellope bit her tongue to keep from interrupting him with a hundred questions. Finally he nodded; "And the rest fits, too. Only your own game code has the backup to regenerate you. That's why if you leave your game and die, you can't regenerate. Your game doesn't know what happened." He pointed out to the three small containers. "That's also why Turbo had to unplug you inside your own game. If you had left, you would have taken your code with you."

Vanellope sighed. "That explains why he wanted to lock me up forever." Smythe nodded; "You get it, don't you? In your own game, if he had just killed you, you would have regenerated from backup completely normal again. So he had to unplug you, and keep you alive." He felt sad for the young Princess. This Turbo guy was one sorry sack of…

"So what do we do now?" Vanellope interrupted his thoughts. She didn't like reliving those memories. She much preferred her new ones, like racing, and travelling, and especially Ralph.

Smythe took the binoculars from her and began scanning again. "I'm looking for containers for the town. If I can rearrange a few bits of code, we can make the town safe. Nothing much, really. Just a few road gaps, and things like which direction the wind blows. The most important is the barrier that keeps the bugs out of the town unless that part of the game is unlocked. That one thing would change life a lot for us."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Candlehead met Rancis at the top of the Rainbow road. He looked back to the castle sitting on the hill across the valley. "So, where's Sour Bill?"

Candlehead shrugged. "He said he had too much to do to get ready. I think he's just too afraid to go out there again."

Rancis gave her a forced grin. "Well, I can't blame him for that. I'm not thrilled about this, either." He reached out and held her hand, facing the entrance to the tunnel. "Let's get this over with, then. But let's just stay together, okay? I can handle it as long as you're there."

Candlehead broke out in a genuine smile. She pulled Rancis closer. "You know, Rancis? That's about the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

A short train ride later, and they were approaching the entrance to Game Central Station. As they slowly edged past the gateway, they relaxed somewhat at the total lack of reaction from the characters scattered across the terminal. A boy on a bicycle waved as he rode past. Several nodded to them. Rancis let his breath out in a huff as he found they wouldn't be set upon by crowds again. He noticed he wasn't the only one worried, as he felt the feeling rush back into his hand when Candlehead relaxed her grip slightly.

"Okay." He said; "Which ones are the girls?" He was amazed at the range of sizes, and shapes, and colors of the hundred or so characters enjoying the day off. Most of the benches were full of people sitting and talking, with others standing around. There was laughter, and animated conversations all around as friends, old and new, discussed their games, a particular player, or the state of the arcade in general.

Candlehead poked him in the ribs, giggling. "Silly. How do you tell them apart?"

Rancis shrugged. "Dresses and long hair, usually. But you said the tall blond was a girl, and her hair's shorter than mine." He snapped his fingers. "Lipstick! Eyeliner! She had those!"

Candlehead leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Better. But look at that group over there." She pointed to the group of Street Fighter characters leaving Tapper's. There was one in a white outfit, a red headband across his forehead. Another was a tall character, long legs whisking out from a long oriental dress as she walked. There was another hairy, nearly naked man walking with them. They were all laughing about something.

"That's easy." Rancis sneered; "The one in blue's wearing a dress. Her hair's just pulled up into those buns. And girls don't run around without a shirt on… or with beards." He squinted. "Not sure about the other, though."

Candlehead was catching on to the world, but amazed at how dense Rancis still was. "You dunce! Look at her chest! When girls are really big and old, they have those! Haven't you been looking out that new screen to the arcade at all?"

Rancis looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "But why?" he asked. He held his arms out, pretending to drive. He made steering motions, while leaning his body about. "It looks like they'd just get in the way in a cart." He turned back to Candlehead. "The padded hips could be useful, though. Some of the tracks are pretty bumpy."

Candlehead sighed. She walked up to him and hugged him. "You know, Vanellope is right about one thing. Clueless boys are the sweetest."

Rancis hugged her back. Their faces were just a few inches apart. He looked down between them. "Besides, if you had those big lumps, I couldn't hold you this close. And what about when we…"

Candlehead put a finger in the middle of his chest and pushed him back slightly. "Shhhh. Not here." She looked around. "Now we need to find this Tapper's she talks about." They started down the center of the Station.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Smythe was scanning and taking notes in a small book. Vanellope was torn between the excitement of seeing the code, and the boredom of waiting for something to happen. With her, boredom won pretty quickly.

Smythe noted her being so restless. He finally put down the binoculars, and pulled out a long coil of climbing rope. "Okay. I'm curious myself. Ready to go out there?" He fastened the clip on one end to a ring by the door, and the other to a loop on his heavy belt. Taking a smaller line out, he fastened it around Vanellope's waist, and clipped it to the other line. "You just stay with me, now. If it's too scary, you can just pull yourself down the line back here."

She grabbed hold of his belt. He pushed off slowly towards the closest large container. It was a strange feeling to Vanellope; floating without weight in a large, open area. For some reason, she wasn't afraid. At least, she kept telling herself that.

Smythe reached out to catch the front of the container. It had Church across the front of it. Vanellope floated off to one side as Smythe tapped it to open the front.

"Why the church? Is there something wrong with it?" she asked. She saw Felix completely fix the church.

Smythe shook his head. "No, not there. I need to find where it connects to the street. That's the road that we have to repair." He followed the internal connections around and around until he saw the one that said 'To Street'. He followed that line to where it went off to one side. It ended in a container with dozens of others, which were all the other buildings on that street. Closing the container there, he lightly grabbed Vanellope's sleeve and slowly pushed to that one.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

There was a fair amount of business going on in Tapper's, but they found a couple of seats together at the bar. Tapper came up to them shortly. "Hmmm. New faces, I see. Wait… you two were with the Princess during the riot. Pretty brave of you."

Candlehead looked around the place. "Thank you. Something to drink, please."

Tapper thought a second. He remembered how Vanellope had never had anything not from her own game before. He left and soon returned with a pair of tall, cold root beers. "Something mild to start you two off with." He dropped in a couple of straws, since the mugs were rather large for these two.

Tapper smiled as they both took a sip, looked at each other, then dove into the drinks. The mugs emptied pretty quickly. He refilled them, and they took their time a bit more now.

"Mr. Tapper?" Candlehead leaned over the bar and asked in a low whisper; "I need a girl for a while."

Tapper leaned towards her. "That's quite alright. We don't make any judgments here at all."

Candlehead turned pink. "I don't mean for me! Well, I do mean… but for… I just need to talk to one!"

Rancis snickered. He decided to help her out. "Look sir, the girls out here are different than our game. And Princess Vanellope just won't shut up about it." He frowned slightly. "We just thought we would try to figure out what's so different about them. We're trying to help her."

Tapper nodded. "I see. I know you've all been trapped there for fifteen years, but I still forget you've never seen the arcade." He thought for a minute. "But you know, there's not just one kind of girl out here. Just like you're different, so are they."

Candlehead nodded. "I get that stuff. But she's hung up on this kid thing. She wants to be grown up, but we're not sure what she means." She waved towards the big screen to the arcade. "We've been watching more, and there's girls and boys in every shape, size and color out there. We just can't figure out what she wants!" She looked back to Tapper. "And she and Ralph keep arguing. But I can't help if I don't know what's bugging her!"

Tapper understood now. He gestured towards the next bar over, where the Sorceress sat, sipping something from a tall, slender glass. "See her over there? She's the Sorceress. She's a friend of Ralph's. Your Princess got upset when she found out that's what a lot of women look like." He looked at the two racers. "She's been having problems with Ralph, but it's not her fault. Ralph does have a hang-up about age. See, he's been watching humans grow up for thirty years now, and it's kind of set in his mind."

Rancis looked over at the tall lady. "Well, that's a girl for sure. Let's go, Candlehead." He looked at Tapper. "Vanellope didn't say anything about wanting to be blue, did she?"

The two racers walked over to the Sorceress, who watched them approach with a slight tilt of the head. Her inner sight gave her the impression of a hazy fog about them. They were planning something that may not be good for everyone concerned, but not dangerous… at least not yet."

Rancis spoke up as they stopped by the stool; "Good evening, Miss… Sorceress. Can we talk with you a minute?"

The Sorceress noticed they were both looking her up and down. She was used to that. But these two weren't looking at her like most did. They looked like they were analyzing her. She remembered the first time Vanellope realized how older women were put together, and what misery it caused her. She turned to face them, hands in her lap, and let them stare.

Rancis broke the awkward silence. "I think those ears are neat! Do all girls here have them?"

Sorceress laughed; "No, just me, I'm afraid." These two had the same curiosity that Vanellope had shown. She looked at Candlehead, who was looking like she was trying to memorize every detail. "And is there anything I can help you with?" She wasn't upset, but she was starting to feel a bit self conscious here.

Candlehead looked up to her. "Well, we're friends of Vanellope. She's got this thing for Ralph. And she's really mad because he doesn't see her as a girl… well, you know… a girl you can… kiss… and stuff."

Sorceress nodded to her. "I know about this. Ralph can be slow, but I think he is beginning to see the reality of the arcade as compared to the human world." She looked thoughtful a minute. "I think both of them have been locked away in their own small world for too long. Vanellope was held captive, and Ralph simply isolated by the way he was treated. Now they both must grow." She turned back to her drink. "But watch how you interfere, you two."

She saw them both step back, their faces tight. She continued; "Yes, I can see much. You plan something. I don't know what. Be sure you don't hurt them in this. They are both fragile right now."

Candlehead lightly grabbed Rancis's sleeve and began slowly backing them up. "Well… ummm… thank you, Sorceress. We really need to get going now. We'll chat some more next time." Candlehead turned them around and headed for the door. The Sorceress noted that they were walking pretty fast towards the entrance. She shook her head, hoping they wouldn't throw a wrench in the works.

Outside Tapper's, Rancis stared at Candlehead. "What was that about? Why the sudden rush?"

She leaned close, looking at the gate to Tapper's, almost like she was afraid of being overheard. "Did you hear her? She sees things… she's magic. I didn't want her to find out what the plan is."

Rancis grabbed her shoulders. "Look, what we're doing isn't wrong, is it? Are we helping Vanellope or ourselves here?" He was beginning to question his reasons for this.

Candlehead took his hands from her shoulders, and clasped them together in hers. "No, Rancis, it's not wrong. Feel it? The code won't let us hurt her now. It's like a bonus lap if we get something from the deal, too." She looked down at a bench some yards away. Princess Peach was seated with Yuni, discussing the upcoming holiday.

Candlehead pulled Rancis along. "Now there's some different girls. Let's go see them."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The container for the street was different than buildings or characters. Smythe looked at the markings for where it started and ended. He was looking at his notebook again, and scribbling notes as he checked details. Finally, he touched part of the road, moving the end slightly, watching the numbers change. He carefully made tiny changes this way and that, watching the code markers adjust. Then he stopped, made a few notes, and closed his notebook.

"Well, that's all I dare do until we find out if I'm right."

Vanellope was confused about what he did. There was a hologram of the street, and he pulled at it, and that was all she noticed. There were numbers that were moving, but she was no wiser as to what he had actually changed.

"Well, what was that you did do?" She asked.

He turned around, floating, to face her. "Well, there's a spot in the game where the roads just don't meet. There's a gap there, and under it is nothing, and I mean nothing. There's a few places like that where pieces of the town just don't mesh. The problem, though, is that someone fell through one of the gaps." His face looked grim. "They were never seen again." He patted the container he had just shut. "If this worked, I sort of stretched the main street to make it touch the next one. The gap should close. And since it was only a few feet, nobody should notice the street isn't as wide by a few inches."

Vanellope tilted her head and asked; "Not as wide? Why did you have to change that?"

Smythe explained; "Remember when I said code cannot be created or destroyed? Now let's say you had a two-pound block of plastic explosives…"

"What's that?", Vanellope asked. It sounded dangerous… and neat.

He found another example. "Okay, you have a block of modeling clay, and…"

Vanellope shook her head. "Sorry… no wiser."

Smythe racked his brain a few seconds. Then he snapped his fingers. "All right. You have a two-pound ball of cookie dough. Got it?" Nod from Vanellope. He continued; "Now, I can take that ball, and flatten it into a big circle. I can roll it into a tube. I can make it short and fat, or stretch it out into a long rope." He pointed a finger at Vanellope. "But… what can I not do?" She shrugged, listening closely. "I can't change the actual area of space it takes up. It's still the same amount of code… or cookie dough I started with." He pointed a thumb back over his shoulder to the container marked Main Street. "So the road was programmed to cover a certain area of the game… so wide by so long. To make it longer, those extra feet had to come from somewhere."

Vanellope felt her heart sink a little. The selfish part of her had wanted to watch and learn about changing the code. She had been developing an idea to change herself, just a little, for Ralph. But now, she found out that she can't suddenly make herself as tall as Tamora, or as big. Smythe had just shown her everything she needed to change the code, and the knowledge didn't help her the way she wanted.

She sighed. "Well, can we go back now?" The facts fit. As one of the only people to see Candy turn into Turbo, she remembered that they were about the same height, and the same body type. So much for that idea, she thought.

Smythe noticed her sudden change in attitude. He grabbed her arm, and pushed off towards the platform by the door.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Candlehead and Rancis were having a talk with Peach and Yuni. Candlehead, blushing slightly, had asked why they didn't look like the tall blond lady, or the Sorceress. She sort of wiggled her fingers at her chest.

Princess Peach giggled behind her hand. Yuni smiled, and touched Candlehead's cheek with her fingertips. "Oh, aren't you just the sweetest thing!" She reached out and took Rancis's hand in her other one. "You're both so darling!" Rancis turned a slightly red himself at that.

Yuni explained the code some; "We're like this because we were programmed as teenagers." She elbowed Peach in the ribs. "But I think her problem is she didn't eat all her vegetables."

Peach laughed. "Yep. All we had around the castle were mushrooms. And I got tired of those pretty fast. Not a burger in the joint."

Rancis asked; "What's a vegetable?"

Peach and Yuni broke out into laughter, Yuni stamping her feet. She looked up at the two frowning racers. She put a fingertip under Rancis's chin. "We're sorry. We're not making fun of you like that. Everybody is out of sorts some when they first get to Game Central." She leaned over close to his face. "Besides, you're so cute. Be sure to come by DDR when you're in town next time."

Candlehead grabbed Rancis's sleeve, gently pulling him closer, and away from that very forward girl. "Well, thank you again, Miss Yuni. We'll be sure to come by some time." Like she would let that vixen get her claws into her boyfriend.

Rancis was looking at her funny as she pulled him towards the Sugar Rush gate. "I really don't know what your problem is now."

Candlehead replied as they went to the train; "I don't have one. But I thought it was better to leave before I did. Besides, we have enough to go on now."

As the train started off, though, she wondered; Did they?

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Going back through the door, Vanellope ran over to Ralph, and leaped into his arms. He held her loosely, but she was hanging onto his shirt, and pressing herself against his chest.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Did something happen out there? I told her not…"

"No, Ralph." She interrupted. "Nothing bad happened. It was like one of my dreams, except I was awake." She leaned back to look in his face. "I'm okay. I just need my Ralph sometimes."

Ralph checked her face closely. No tears, no red eyes… just a fallen look. She had heard or seen something to upset her, but wasn't wanting to talk about it.

Vanellope looked at his intent face, smiled slightly, and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't worry, love. It's not a biggie. Not this time."

As the team gathered themselves to leave, Ralph noted that she clung to him, silent. She stayed that way all the way back to the café.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo