Arcade Armageddon

Chapter 7

The next day, Felix woke up with a start, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and glancing over at his bombshell wife sleeping next to him. They were in Hero's Duty, with Calhoun's arms wrapped around him, with no signs of letting him go. Not that he blamed her, after what she'd seen last night at Fairytale Speedway, where Markowski had taken the Good Guy for the "sights," which earned him, Silverman, Green, and Johnson guard duty for the weekend.

Felix, on the other hand, was dragged back to Tamora's hut, where the latter had asked him about the new racing game as well as making sure Markowski hadn't caused any further damage. To her relief and the handyman's, they hadn't intoxicated him, but there were more questions that followed.

Like Red Riding Hood, who, as the Good Guy had explained to his wife, just asked to see the rest of the arcade, but left out the part that he was the one who was going to give her a tour after closing time today. But there was absolutely going to be no romance between them. There was only one dynamite gal he was loyal to, and Felix planned to keep it that way. Besides, Red was too...girly, not to mention young.

Also, Felix had a job to do, and he and Tamora had to get ready for it.

The Good Guy took one last glance at his wife, who was sleeping peacefully, mumbling in her sleep. Calhoun was like a goddess when she slept, which was a far cry from when she was awake and leading her men on a daily basis. Planting a kiss on her forehead, Felix slowly and quietly slipped out of her strong hold.

"Don't worry, Tammy," the handyman whispered, "We'll make up for yesterday, I promise."

...

"I've taken first in the last Random Roster Race, and I bet I can do it again," Taffyta bragged.

"Yeah, yeah," Vanellope struck a relaxed pose at her sister. It was the next morning, and, as Taffyta had promised, she'd taken over the job of making sure the president was awake, especially when they had to get the Random Roster Race out of the way before the arcade opened. Right now, she, Candlehead, and Taffyta were enjoying breakfast consisting of pancakes and an assortment of different toppings. Taffyta, of course, loved strawberries; her flapjacks were heaped with said fruit. Vanellope, on the other hand, just topped hers at random everyday. One day would be strawberries, the next day blueberries, and so on. She sometimes played that game to decide which toppings she liked the best. Though she hadn't decided, Vanellope loved playing it whenever Candlehead made pancakes.

The birthday racer was right next to her, keeping to herself and enjoying her breakfast until it was time for the race to determine who was going to be part of the day's roster. Candlehead could care less about Taffyta's constant bragging, which was continuing, but Candlehead was focused on her breakfast and not paying any heed to her partner in crime, which was rare for her, as Candlehead always listened to Taffyta.

"Did anyone not hear me?" Taffyta shouted.

"All Sugar Rush heard you, Taffyta," Vanellope said, "And you don't have to rub it in, either."

"Especially when Vanellope let you win yesterday because she's won almost all of the Random Rosters lately," added Candlehead. "Don't think she'll do it again today."

"Whatever." The blonde racer rolled her eyes. "She won't have to. Speaking of races, we need to get down there." She jumped out of her seat, heading out, with Candlehead following suit.

"Princess?" Sour Bill came out of the kitchen, approaching Vanellope.

"Now? Really?" Taffyta complained, "Don't you know I woke her up as I said I would, Sour Bill? Just so we could get the race done in time before the first quarter alert?"

"Don't worry, Taffyta. Go on ahead." Vanellope waved, signaling for her sisters to go. She knew Bill wanted to speak with her alone about the upgrade.

"You'd better be there or I'm coming back to drag you."

"Yeah, right."

"We'll see." Taffyta smirked playfully as she and Candlehead left, leaving Vanellope and Bill alone.

"What's up?"

"It's more about the upgrade," the sour drop droned, "Litwak's just received the upgrade drive today and is installing it tomorrow before opening hours. During that time, nobody can leave or enter the game for twenty-four hours, which is the minimum amount of time for any upgrade to be fully integrated."

Vanellope was processing everything Sour Bill had just said, namely the twenty-four-hour installment period. They were basically trapped in the game for an entire day, along with any out-of-game characters who happened to stumble inside at the wrong time. Also, how were Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun going to react? Then there were the other racers, including Taffyta and Candlehead. How were they going to react once Vanellope told them about the upgrade, which she planned to do before the arcade closed today?

Unless they don't know until it happens. The princess devised, gears turning in her head as her mischievous side was taking over. She loved surprising others, and what better way to do that than to keep the upgrade quiet until it happened?

...

Meanwhile, Taffyta and Candlehead were pressed up against the doors of the dining room, listening in on every word of Vanellope's and Sour Bill's conversation. They'd heard quite a bit, and they knew it also explained why Vanellope had been so dodgy a few times yesterday when they'd asked. Especially when the president had returned for the night after talking to Ralph for a bit. Taffyta had grilled her with questions on why she'd been "busy," where Vanellope had, again, thought up an excuse.

Now she and Candlehead knew the reason behind it, and it was in the form of something that could affect Sugar Rush altogether. The two girls were ecstatic, wondering what this mysterious upgrade was going to have in store for the game's residents. Excitement and anxiety were coursing through their codes with anticipation. Candlehead especially was having so hard a time keeping her uncontrollable excitement in check that her candle was starting to blaze.

"Keep it together, Candlehead," she urged, "We can't let Vanellope know we know about this."

"What? It's not like we're gonna tell the other racers," the birthday racer whined.

"Of course we're not letting them know...yet. We'll ask Vanellope more questions in front of everyone else, and then she'll have no choice but to 'fess up."

"Wouldn't that pressure her, Taffyta?"

"That's the idea! Make her run out of excuses. This is something everyone needs to know before it happens."

"Whoa, you're pretty intense," said Candlehead, taking a step back, knowing this was a little unlike her sister and made her wonder if Taffyta had entirely shaken off her fifteen-year-long habit of bullying Vanellope. "And a little sly as a Sneasel."

"I know." Taffyta grinned.

"Hey, guys, what're you still doing here? I thought you were at the track." Vanellope had just come out of the dining room after her brief conversation with Sour Bill.

"Oh, um...we just wanted to wait for you this time," the blonde racer lied.

"Yeah, you know, so we can all get there together and nobody gets lost?" Candlehead added, trying to contain her excitement as much as she could and not raise any suspicion in her president, but when the latter noticed her still-blazing candle, she knew something was up.

"Okay, what's going on?" Vanellope folded her arms in annoyance.

"I'm just...excited about the race today, that's all. Now let's hurry before the arcade opens."

...

It was the first quarter alert of the day, and everyone in Fix-It Felix, Jr. started to take their positions as the first customer, a little boy, was preparing to play.

"I'm gonna wreck it!" Ralph roared as he started to wreck the Niceland building as per the program, albeit a little less forcefully than usual.

Felix noticed this too, glancing up at his nemesis/friend every few seconds between fixed windows and wondering what was up. The Good Guy was guessing that it had something to do with what the wrecker had been up to last night, only Felix hadn't met up with Ralph again until he'd returned to their game. However, he was certain that whatever was troubling the Bad Guy had something to do with Vanellope, considering how much the friendship between the two had been growing since the Turbo fiasco.

Suddenly, his thoughts were cut off by an abrupt quack. The next thing Felix knew, he was moved up to a higher window pane, well out of an oncoming duck's way. The Good Guy watched the fowl fly by, breathing a sigh of relief and silently thanking User that the little boy who was playing was more experienced than he looked. He took one last glance up at Ralph, who appeared to be staring off into space as the wrecker's body seemed to be in autopilot. Ralph must've had quite a night. As if I hadn't had quite the night myself.

That was when Felix started to think about what he was going to do with Red, whom he'd promised to show around the arcade after closing. He couldn't just leave her hanging outside the Fairytale Speedway port. That was unlike the Good Guy, but he'd promised Tamora a nice, quiet evening. And he did not want to let his wife down.

Unbeknownst to the wrecker and handyman, a figure was hiding in the garbage pile of bricks not far from the exit port of the game, watching Ralph and Felix as the round was playing on, though his yellow, catlike eyes were fixed more on the Good Guy with interest as he was planning his next move. Surviving the Cola Hot Springs through a backup file was only the first step, now he was just another step from executing the next part of his plan. The figure smirked, knowing his path to revenge was right around the corner.

...

"Watch it! These monsters become what they eat!" Calhoun instructed, leading the player, who was a teenage boy, through the gameplay of Hero's Duty, she and her men fighting off the endless wave of Cy-Bugs.

However, the sergeant's game was off today, as she couldn't get memories of last night out of her head, especially when she'd seen Felix talking with one of the waitresses of the new fairytale racing game. However, Tamora had only walked in on the tail end of the conversation, not having seen enough to come to any form of conclusion. Besides, from what the Good Guy had explained earlier, she had nothing to worry about, as it was truly unlike Felix to be turned on by another woman, let alone a character who looked like any normal teenage girl. Calhoun trusted her husband, as Felix did her.

Especially when she couldn't wait for whatever he had planned for her this evening, which Felix only had but almost ten minutes to briefly explain before the arcade opened.

"Sarge!"

Kohut's voice broke Calhoun out of her subconscious as she was suddenly brought back to the round, with the lab entrance opening and releasing more Cy-Bugs. She blasted away the many dozens of viral insects flying at her.

The player, however, was in a bind and obviously had been knocked off guard by the large swarm. The kid was trying his best to pick off the endless viruses, but it was to no avail, as they piled themselves on top of the screen, causing a game over and ending his short round.

"That sucked," the adolescent grunted, jamming the gun controller back into its holder. "I got farther than last time, though."

"All right, back to start position!" Calhoun commanded, as the soldiers who had died in the previous round regenerated.

"What happened out there?" Markowski asked.

"Yeah, it's like you spaced out for a second," Kowaltski added.

"Is that any business of yours? Besides, I'm fine!"

"Quarter alert! Quarter alert!" A voice blared throughout the game, signaling everyone back to start position.

"Let's hope it's not another sucky player," Green grumbled as he, Markowski, and the other soldiers headed back to the start.

Kohut was the last to head over there, as he glanced back at his commander with concern. Being one of the few who strongly supported Felix and Calhoun's marriage, he always felt the need to look out for his commander. Taking one last look, he followed the rest of the crew.

Deep inside, Calhoun wasn't fine, as she continued to think back on last night.

That Red girl better not have a crush on MY husband! Tamora quickly returned her to full sergeant mode, knowing full well if such a thing were to happen, it wouldn't be pretty for the unlucky waitress.