Arcade Armageddon

Chapter 15

"Good, nobody's around," Gretel whispered, peeking around the corridors of the Enchanted Castle in search of the code room where she would find out what was wrong with Red. Shortly after Wreck-It Ralph had dropped her off at the port of Fairytale Speedway, the tween headed through the Enchanted Forest, despite the horrors and dangers its nightlife provided. Sure she had been freaked out and frightened by the many goblins and other creatures that hung out within, but she had managed to come out unscathed.

She had staked out under the moat until she'd been certain everyone was in bed for the night. What Sergeant Calhoun had said about Red's being either corrupted or used had raised some of Gretel's anxiety about her fellow racer, and she needed to find the answers behind it.

The tween sneaked down the long hallway, glancing from door to door to make sure all of the castle's residents, the royals, were still asleep. Thankfully there wasn't a sound in the hallway, save for her footsteps that sounded like Bob-omb explosions.

Gretel kept her steps slow and silent, careful not to alert anyone as she hung a left at the fork at the end of the hallway. A vast, domed sitting room loomed before her, windows surrounding the entire room. Though the under-aged characters (even if they were royal) weren't allowed in the west wing of the second floor, Gretel knew where the code room was thanks to her eavesdropping sessions. And they were going to pay off. She hurried across the wing to a curtained area, where she stepped through to end up face-to-face with an enormous mirror, which shone brightly before her. Usually the Evil Queen was in charge of anything regarding her mirror. Especially when it served as a portal to the code room.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall," she uttered, causing the looking glass to shimmer. The young racer stepped through, setting foot in the code room, whose surroundings were similar to the code room in any other game, with its metallic and tube-ridden walls sending data and code toward the vault that housed the codes and stats of every character. Its NES controller-like keypad resided in front of Gretel.

She glanced behind her, making sure nobody had followed, then punched in the Konami code. The vault opened with a loud pshhh, allowing the tween to step in. The pitch-black void was as dark and foreboding as any other code room she'd explored. Not that Gretel had explored one of another game. The tween had only ever known her own way into this one, even when she had still been in Juniper's Arcade. Gretel knew her way around the surrounding clusters of codes and panels like the back of her hands. She swam through the many codes, glancing at all of the panels in search of Red's. Gretel knew she had to make this quick before someone found her.

"Where are you, Red?" she wondered, spinning around until she found an odd, red panel in the far corner.

"Never seen that one before." Gretel floated over to the strange-colored panel...and her jaw nearly dropped when she noticed the name on the panel.

"Red?" This frightened the tween, knowing that all of the racers' panels were either blue or purple. The last time Gretel had been in there, playing around with her brother Hansel, Red's had been the usual purple. So why was it red all of a sudden? Did it explain Red's change in behavior?

Gretel opened her friend's panel, revealing the latter's racing stats. Everything appeared normal, but she didn't turn away yet. Instead, the young racer took a closer look, where she noticed a few patches entirely different from the rest that displayed little icons in the form of creepy smiling faces. Gretel had never seen any patches like those, or known where they came from. But she knew this: it could very well explain Red's behavior and that someone had clearly been in the game.

But who? And what was their motive? Why did they need Red to do it? Gretel didn't understand it, but she knew she had to let Calhoun and her friends know.

Just as Gretel was about to make a break for it, voices were heard from the other side of the mirror.

"How long do you plan on keeping that disguise?" one of the voices asked.

"Ath long ath I need to, Burn," another, lisping voice replied.

"Who was that?" Gretel wondered as she moved closer to the exit to listen in closely, but reconsidered as she scrambled further into the void to hide when the mirror started to shimmer. Gretel hid behind a cluster of power-up panels, watching as the voices' owners entered the room. One appeared ghostlike, clad in a blue and white jumpsuit. What disturbed her was his golden catlike eyes, knowing they were similar to the ones Red had earlier.

Gretel noticed the other one as...Red? She could have sworn the second intruder had a lisp, but there she was instead, red hood and all. What was her best friend doing in the code room and with a creepy character named Burn at that?

When Red was glancing around, Gretel could get a glimpse of the same eerie eyes as Burn. She realized that wasn't her friend over there at all.

"You left my code'ths staths open again, Burn," Red pointed out, still in that lisping tone.

What the heck's going on? Gretel wondered, daring to move a little closer to listen to the exchange. She watched as Burn quickly closed Red's panel then regarded the teen. The tween had to hear their conversation.

"Someone was probably in here," Burn guessed. "Probably that annoying fairy Ryan, or that Lance-whoever."

"Perhapth." Red rubbed her chin. "But whoever it was didn't seem to have messed with anything, stho I have nothing to worry about. Not that it will matter once the ball comth around. Ethspecially when I'll be athking Felix to the ball. In thith form, that is. Who knew killing a helpleth brat would get me thith far?"

Gretel gasped at the sound of that part, not liking the sound of that at all. That explained everything: Red's bizarre behavior, the stolen files, breaking into another game, etc. All of it was not because Red was possessed or used. She'd been killed. Now some sort of...virus was taking over her best friend's body and avatar, and, more than likely, it was the reason Game Central Station was in danger. They also needed Fix-It Felix, Jr. to do it, but why? Gretel may not have had all the details now, but she knew the arcade was in even more danger, which meant she had to warn Calhoun, Surge Protector, or anyone who was programmed as an adult as soon as possible.

...

"I know the boss ordered us to hack into Hero's Duty, but I'm telling you, you got a strange way of doing it unnoticed," Whiplash said, adjusting his hood. He and Kenneth were in the dark, war-ridden atmosphere of Hero's Duty. It was after arcade hours, but they could still smell the slight stench of battle and destroyed Cy-Bugs as they had just reached the central fortress that loomed before them. Whiplash couldn't help but wonder how the soldiers could live in the first-person shooting game.

To their surprise, no one was around, which had been the norm ever since they'd set foot into the game. Not one soldier had been in sight, and there weren't any now to stop them, which made the Turbo Twin wonder where everyone was. They were probably out doing drills, resting, or investigating in Game Central Station.

Not that either character cared. Whiplash and Kenneth came to complete only one task, and by the looks of the dark, deserted atmosphere, it was going to be so easy they didn't even have to be with Burn or Red to do it.

"You know we can take these off, Ken," the Turbo Twin said, shifting his heavy cloak a little to let some of the heat out. "Besides, I'm burning up in this thing, and nobody's around."

"My, my, you must be asking to give away our identities, then." Kenneth smiled cheerfully at Whiplash, who was creeped out. He knew the angel was a little annoyed behind that blinding grin. Sometimes Whiplash wondered why Mr. Candy hired Kenneth, whom some people can judge as being overly-optimistic or psychotic underneath that grin. Was it because he wanted his own game? "You know there are cameras in this game, wanting to catch our moves. But they won't find us out...as long as we're hidden."

Whiplash groaned, knowing Kenneth was right. He had to either brave the overheating cloak or risk exposure.

"Okay, you win. But how the hell are we gonna get in? This thing's sealed shut." He felt the large steel door for some sort of switch, but found nothing.

"I don't think anyone will answer if we knock." Kenneth glanced up at where the beacon sat, which confused Whiplash.

"What are we gonna do? Climb?"

The healer laughed lightly. "No, silly. Well, we'll have to go up there, sure, but we're not climbing. I have ways of getting inside a building."

Whiplash watched as Kenneth approached the wall, then hunched forward, feathers emerging from the back of his cloak and then gave birth to two, pure white enormous wings. Whiplash had to shield his eyes from the white light emanating from them. He moved one hand aside so he could watch what Kenneth was going to do. The angel plucked a feather from one of his massive wings, which confused Whiplash for a moment and causing him to wonder what a feather was going to do in their situation. Kenneth winced from the slight pain that rose subsequently.

"You okay?" the Turbo Twin asked, noticing a red, bloody spot where Ken had picked the feather. He was trying not to be grossed out at the sight of it, considering his surprisingly weak stomach at the sight of blood.

"This is nothing, don't worry." Kenneth flexed his wings, shaking off the pain from the small wound.

"Hey! Hold it right there!"

The angel nearly swore when he and Whiplash turned to notice one of the soldiers heading toward them.

"Shit," Whiplash cursed, knowing they'd been caught.

"Well, this looks like trouble," Kenneth said, smile never leaving his face as he sized the soldier.

"State your business," he demanded, "or I'll have to turn you in to Sarge."

"Well, since you put it that way..." Kenneth removed his hood, revealing himself to the soldier. Whiplash followed suit.

"Wait a minute, you're the one who was here yesterday!" The soldier pointed an accusing finger at the healer.

"I think he's got us confused with R..." Whiplash's voice was muffled by Kenneth's wing slapping against his face.

"I think he doesn't." The angel grinned, head cocked to the side as he approached the soldier, who now pulled out his rifle to shoot.

"I-I'm warning you." The soldier's voice shook. "Leave or I'll..."

"You'll alert Mrs. Calhoun?" Kenneth filled in, still retaining his creepy smile. Then he placed a hand over the soldier's forehead, light emanating from his gloved hand. "Are you sure?"

When Ken removed his hand, the soldier blinked a few times, then glanced around Hero's Duty, eventually stopping at the healer and Whiplash.

"What the hell? What was I doing?" he wondered, then glanced at Kenneth and Whiplash. "Who are you guys?"

"That's a good question." The Turbo Twin folded his arms impatiently, glaring up at Kenneth.

"Wellll..." the angel drew out the word, his Southern drawl making him sound more compassionate. "We were lost, and we'd appreciate it if you'd show us around the fortress. We're new characters, and, you know, we'd like to tour the neighborhood. Namely this game."

"Yeah, show us," the Turbo Twin added, smirking. "Bet this game's pretty badass."

The soldier glanced between Kenneth and Whiplash, mind now a blank as to who the strange characters were. He'd never seen them before, that was for sure, but if they were just new characters, where was the harm? It wasn't like he was going to get chewed out by his no-nonsense sergeant for being a tour guide. Especially when they only wanted to see the place.

"Move aside," he finally ordered, approaching the steel door.

Kenneth and Whiplash complied, allowing him to push a small switch into the fortress wall. A pad appeared before him, where the soldier punched in some sort of code, causing the mammoth door to slowly slide open and allowing the three access inside. Both angel and Turbo Twin smirked, knowing they were in, beginning their "tour."

But there was only one area Ken and Whiplash were interested in, and it wouldn't be long until they found it.

...

Calhoun returned to her hut in Hero's Duty, attempting to at least get one or two hours of rest before opening time again. Unlike her husband's penthouse, Tamora's place was tiny, with a small foyer and a kitchenette in the corner. A futon resided in the center of the foyer, facing a closet-sized bathroom. She hadn't come up with any new information regarding the threat to the arcade or Red. She'd asked around the arcade, checked in other games for suspicious activity. Nothing had arisen. The sergeant had even asked Surge if he'd gotten any new evidence or seen the young racer. Neither had happened.

She slumped on her futon, pulling off her boots and sighing. She was starting to lose her patience, knowing she needed to nip in the bud whatever was going to befall the arcade before it even had a chance to surface. And then there was her rift with Felix, who had been getting a little too taken away by Red, whom she strongly believed played a part in the impending danger. Was she the one who had been in Fix-It Felix, Jr., scrambling the Good Guy's codes and causing him to glitch and behave erratically? Whatever it was, the sergeant had to reason her husband and try to keep him away from Red. But how, especially without going into another argument with him? Sure, Felix was naïve at times, but he wasn't stupid. He should have believed her right away after he had seen the stolen files. Unless...Red had corrupted the handyman's code so much that his will was at a critical point. It was worth checking out his game. But first, she wanted to rest for a few hours.

Just as she fell back on her futon, however, rapping was heard at her door.

"Sarge, are you awake?" a child's voice was heard.

Tamora recognized the voice as Gretel's. What was she doing in Hero's Duty at this hour? She guessed Green had been nice and let her pass (He was the one on doorman duty, after all).

"On my way, runt!" She headed for the front door, letting the tween in. Calhoun took Gretel's slightly distressed expression as a bad sign, which meant something had apparently happened in Fairytale Speedway. But she had to ask.

"What happened?" the sergeant asked.

"Red. She was in the code room. With some guy in blue."

Tamora raised an eyebrow at that last part. Red had allies, just as she had guessed. She didn't know a "guy in blue," though.

"And Red, she was all...bizarre. She didn't sound like herself; she was pronouncing all her s's like th's. And it was like a guy was in her body. I'm telling you, it was not her at all. And don't get me started on the eyes. I saw it all, Sarge! Something's totally up with her. That was not my friend in there." Gretel started to burst into tears. "Whatever she was doing with that guy-I think she called him Burn-it's not like her. She has never been herself lately."

"Calm down, runt. Okay?" Tamora placed a gloved hand on the tween's shoulder in an attempt to settle her down, pulling Gretel toward herself as if she were her daughter. Things were definitely taking a creepy turn now from everything Gretel had just finished telling her. It had sounded as if someone had taken over Red's avatar and body. A virus, perhaps? Or loose malware in the game that crept into her code by accident? Or some crazy glitch that was causing her to act erratically?

Calhoun, however, had her mind floating around the first possibility. And she knew only one virus that could screw up a game's programming and caused or risked an out-of-order the next morning. Gretel's vague mention of how Red had spoken hinted at that possibility.

But it was impossible at the same time as she'd watched the scourge of Game Central Station burn in Sugar Rush, never to regenerate. It had to have been another virus just like him. The only way to know for sure, however, was to follow Gretel back to Fairytale Speedway, and bring Ralph and Felix with her.

...

"Sweet dreams, bastard," Whiplash sneered, looking down at the soldier he'd just knocked out with a loose pipe he'd pulled from the metallic wall. The soldier had taken them on a "tour" (as Kenneth had claimed) of the fortress, showing them around every area and room of the place. The fortress's interior was more metallic on the inside than on the outside. Not to mention a bit more...futuristic. They had seen several test subjects of Cy-Bugs, among other things, with Kenneth asking the soldier where each corridor led to every five minutes. Whiplash knew it had been all to find one place in the fortress. Finally, when they got to a staircase heading all the way down to the fortress's bottom, which was off-limits according to their "guide," Kenneth and Whiplash raised eyebrows at that, knowing it must have held something important. And what led to the unconscious soldier. Both took a step toward the staircase...only to get a nasty shock from the doorway and rebound off it. That was when they realized they found the right place.

The only thing standing in their way was the matter of trying to break through the barrier that barred intruders.

"What the hell?" Whiplash cursed.

Kenneth touched the invisible barrier, feeling a jolt. "Looks like we found what we came here for. Just as I knew we would."

"They got some pretty damn good security," the Turbo Twin pointed out. "How are we gonna get past it? Without turning into a fried angel-and-racer platter?"

"Our friend Kowaltski's asleep, remember?" The healer glanced at the still-unconscious soldier. "And he already won't remember a thing when he wakes up. Now, help me get this armor off. I'll take his helmet, you take the legs."

Whiplash pulled both boots off, while Kenneth removed Kowaltski's helmet. Those had been the easy parts. The difficulty laid in the body armor, which, as Ken and Whiplash knew, would take a while. But as long as the place was still deserted, and the soldier didn't wake up, they had all the time in the world.

...

"Oh, come on, Ralph," Felix huffed, rolling his eyes. He and Ralph were in the large penthouse of Fix-It Felix, Jr., where the Good Guy was in a heated argument with Ralph regarding Red. He couldn't believe that the wrecker was on board with the suspicions as well. It annoyed Felix to no end, causing red binary to course through his body every few seconds. Luckily no one else was in the penthouse at the time, so they didn't have to worry about Gene or Mary overhearing or stepping in. "Did my wife tell you to warn me? Because I don't see a problem with Red. She's just a friendly (though pushy) kid. Just like Vanellope."

"So Vanellope's eyes change like hers?" Ralph retorted, a little peeved at how Felix compared the princess to Red. "And I don't think Vanellope's pushy either. Anyway, you may not have noticed or seen it, but Calhoun and I have. And she could be right about your little friend being involved in everything that's been going on. We may not know how, but she can be." The wrecker narrowed his eyes at his partner. "Usually you believe your wife whenever trouble arises, Felix."

"Yeah, that was with the dangers of her game and Turbo," the Good Guy reminded, "Not that he has anything to do with this. What I'm trying to say is we're talking about a newbie whose game has only been plugged in for a week. Nobody can go Turbo within a week."

"What if she's being used, then, Felix?" Ralph inquired.

"But it still doesn't make sense either way you look at it. She's innocent anyway, Ralph."

"Felix..." the Bad Guy sighed, making one final attempt to talk sense into the handyman.

"I don't want to hear anymore, Ralph!" The Good Guy growled, fists crackling with red energy, which caused the wrecker to jump a little.

"Felix!" Ralph gasped, at a loss for a guess as to what was happening before him.

"What now?" the handyman snapped.

"Your hand..." The Bad Guy pointed to his partner's gloved fist, which was still raised.

Felix noticed his fist crackling with unknown energy in the corner of his eye. He glanced down at it in disbelief, unclenching it and coming to his senses. He couldn't place what was happening to him, but he knew that whatever ailment it was, it was starting to worsen.

"W-What's...happening to me?" The Good Guy crouched to the beige carpeted floor of his penthouse, grabbing his head in an attempt to maintain what little control he had over himself.

"Felix..." Ralph extended a large hand toward his friend.

"Don't touch me!" Felix scooted away, red binary coursing through his body.

Ralph knew it was that red patch again. And whatever virus it contained, it was getting worse, slowly taking over Felix. The Good Guy was starting to lose more and more of himself by the second.

"Felix, come on!" Anger was evident in the Bad Guy's tone, though not directed at the Good Guy. It was mostly at the hacker, despite not having found him or her. Ralph could never forgive anyone doing such a thing to his best friend. If anything happened to Felix, he was going to make sure the hacker would pay for it. "You gotta pull yourself together! Look at me! You're going to be fine!"

The handyman trembled, slowly looking up at Ralph with fear in his sapphire eyes. He was becoming a glitch, that much he knew. He'd snapped at his wife and Ralph on more than one occasion for the past few days, as well as the occasional glitching. Now his hands were crackling. Felix was beginning to think it wasn't an upgrade. He wrapped his arms around himself to keep from panicking.

"Fix-It! Wreck-It! Open up!" Tamora's voice was heard along with knocking.

Ralph went over to the double doors to answer them, indeed revealing the sergeant and Gretel, but neither entered. Both had urgent looks on their faces, which, as Ralph guessed, wasn't a good thing.

"What's going on?" Felix wondered, slowly turning to regard his wife. "Tammy?" Then he noticed the tween. "And the kid from earlier."

"The runt found something in her game," Calhoun replied. "It might be related to what's going on." She was careful not to mention Red, otherwise Felix would have refused immediately, considering how he had been defending the teenage racer. "We need to check it out."

"We're right behind you." Ralph started after her, then regarded Felix, who didn't move an inch at first. "Come on, Felix."

The Good Guy slowly nodded, then got up to follow his wife and friend. Whatever Gretel had found in Fairytale Speedway could very well have something to do with whoever infected him. It could also lead to identity of the vandals who caused the destruction of two games in the arcade.

Hope you all enjoyed it! Also, I only own my OCs Red, Gretel, and Kenneth (whose character and features are inspired by one of my fave shows on TV), the other fairytale racers, Fashion Trendy, and Celestial Wars (and its characters).