Nights of Lightning Part II: The Arcaders

Chapter VIII: Vital Information

Hey guys, I'm glad to be back writing one of my favorite stories to write. Last time we left off, The Arcaders were nearly beaten before Calhoun setup a special jamming signal to make the Cy-Bugs and Cynosaurs self-destruct and explode. But now, problems have arisen and all the Arcaders know where their imprisoned friends are, but Jubileena is in trouble and Swizzle is determined to get to his girlfriend as soon as possible.

Disclaimers, I do now own Wreck-It Ralph or the characters from the Call of Duty Modern Warfare Video Game Series.

(Back with the Arcaders)

Swizzle quickly snapped his crossbow onto his back and tightened the belt of his quiver. Sucking in a deep breath, the swirl pop archer took off for the exit to Sugar Rush, maneuvering past the debris and fallen corpses of Cy-Bugs and Cynosaurs. "Malarkey! Get your arse back here!" Captain Price yelled out to the soldier. Swizzle ignored the order from the S.A.S. captain and continued to huff and puff his way out to the prison. "Von Schweetz, stop him!" Price ordered Vanellope. Vanellope's jet pack fired up and launched towards Swizzle in a flash.

"Get off me!" Swizzle yelled as Vanellope snatched his arms and brought him to a halt. The green haired racer kicked around as Vanellope flew back to the group and dropped him on the ground. Swizzle's body hit the ground with a thud and stirred up a cloud of dust. As soon as he hit the ground, the archer jumped up and once again attempted to escape the group. Ralph's hand grabbed ahold of Swizzle's shirt collar, preventing him from leaving. "I have to save my Jubee!" Swizzle fought and tried to get free of Ralph's grip. Price puffed a last puff on his cigar before tossing it aside onto the dirt and squishing it with his boot. The S.A.S. captain crouched down to Swizzle's kneeling height and got right into the racer's face.

"Now you listen here boy," Captain Price's gruff voice came out. The stench of cigar smoke and Jack Daniels alcohol penetrated Swizzle's nose, scrunching up his face. "I understand completely that you want to save your girl, but running into a situation like that like a chicken with its head cut off will get you and everyone here killed," Price calmly and coldly explained. "We need to come up with a plan that will get us in and everyone else out without getting anyone here offed."

"Sir, with all due respect," Swizzle began to reply, "screw that, I want to save the girl I love and I want to RIGHT NOW!" The Archer yelled back at Price. The next thing Swizzle knew, a gloved hand smacked into the side of his head, hard. Swizzle seethed in anger and pain as a red mark appeared on his right side cheek.

"You watch how you talk to a superior officer, do you understand?!" Captain Price demanded. Hesitantly, Swizzle nodded and Ralph let him drop back to the ground. "On your feet soldier!" Price ordered and helped him back onto his feet. "Now, we'll get your girl back and all your friends soon; we just need a little time to draw out a plan, got it Malarkey?" The Captain calmly asked. Not wanting to anger Captain Price any further, the archer nodded slowly and stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. Calhoun turned her attention back to Vanellope who still had the portable code reader displayed on her wrist.

"Now kid, you said she's in Redneck Country?" Calhoun asked.

"Yeah, do you have a plan Auntie Calhoun?" Vanellope replied.

(In Hero's Duty)

The Ten Arcaders on foot marched themselves down the various corridors in the emergency bunker network underneath the first level of Hero's Duty. Maverick and Iceman had to stop back in their game to refuel, luckily for them, the Cynosaurs had ignored the fuel tanks on the aircraft carrier and the game refueled their jets. The group passed door after door, following every twist and turn in the tunnel network until they reached the main office. Calhoun balled her hands up into fists and knocked on the door so hard, she put a few good sized dents into the metal. From the other side, the Arcaders heard, "State your name and business!"

"It's Markowski," Kohut whispered to Rancis behind him.

"Sgt. T.J. Calhoun Fix-It Markowksi, now let me in!" Calhoun barked an order. Suddenly, the door flew open to reveal a saluting Markowski on the other side. Inside the office was a small cot, a small fifteen inch color TV, a locker filled with food, drinks and spare clothes. Behind the soldier was a bank of security monitors, showing in every room who currently was occupying the space.

"What can I do you for Sarge?" the timid space soldier questioned.

"We need to find out where the NASCAR boys are hanging out in here. They may have some vital information in stopping Turbo," Calhoun informed the Private. Markowski nodded and turned back towards the bank of monitors and typed in a few keys on the monitors began to change images rather quickly, trying to find the room that housed at least one NASCAR racer.

"Hey, that's Richard, Dale, Jeff and Tony!" Rancis pointed to the monitor on the bottom right. Markowski clicked zoom on his keyboard and the image enhanced to show the four leaders of the NASCAR game sitting on chairs in a room.

"It appears they are in room number 14," Markowski explained.

"Alright, follow me everyone," Calhoun instructed and led everyone down the hallway. Room 14 was only a short walk down the twists and turns, so the walk wouldn't take very long. Markowski shut the door behind him and turned his gaze back to the bank of monitors. Meanwhile, the group had arrived at Room 14 and Calhoun allowed Rancis to do the honors since he knew the racers better than anyone.

"Come on," Rancis heard Dale call out after he knocked on the door. The metallic door whooshed opened to reveal the four champions in the room, "Good to see you folks again," Dale smiled and stood up to greet everyone.

"Sorry Dale, but we don't have much time to talk," Rancis explained.

"We need to know exactly where the Cy-Bugs and Cynosaurs came from in your game," Felix said to the seven time champ. Dale's mouth pursed as he thought. His body turned to the side to give a better view of the other three.

"I think they can tell you better, I was on the other side of the game when it all happened," Dale admitted. Calhoun and Price marched forward to the other champions quickly to get the answers they needed to save their friends.

"Mr. Gordon, Mr. Petty, anything?" Price asked. Richard shrugged, not knowing exactly what happened either. However, Jeff took off his DuPont cap and stood up from his metallic chair.

"All I can tell you guys is they came from behind Daytona, but I don't know what is behind the track to be honest, no one has ever bothered to look," Jeff told the military personnel everything he knew.

"Well, at least we're getting somewhere," Calhoun said. Jeff turned his gaze towards Tony whom was sitting with his hands crossed and his head hanging low. A small sigh escaped his mouth before he licked his top lip.

"From what I remember, Jimmie would go to that area at least once every two days for about five minutes, I have no clue what he was up to, but he may have had something to do with this. I mean, after that skirmish with Rancis over here," Tony pointed to the oranges suited Super Soldier, "Jimmie went back there for at least 10 minutes every two hours," Tony explained. Everyone in the room froze at what Tony had said.

"You don't think," Price said to Soap.

"We have to get there now," Swizzle cocked his crossbow and held it out in front of his body, "I want to save my Jubee," a small tear escaped his right eye.

Maverick and Iceman had flown to Challenge of the Champions and were patiently awaiting their orders from the backstretch of Daytona in case they were needed for aerial support. Samus and Vanellope with their specialized suits were scanning behind the massive 2.5 mile SuperSpeedway for any signs of anything wrong. "Guys, I'm seeing some weird heat signatures in those rock walls," Vanellope adjusted her thermal vision.

"Same here kid," Samus replied, "it looks like we found the prison for sure, there's numerous groups of characters all being held in cylindrical containers, but I'm having trouble finding the main area were he might be hiding," Samus added.

"Okay Captain Price, what do we do?" Ralph questioned. Price threw a spent cigar into a small puddle and exhaled the grey smoke from his mouth.

"We see if we can sneak in there and release as many prisoners as possible without alerting the guards," Price said, "we need at least two of our stealthiest soldiers to go in there and release everyone. With that many free escapees, there's no way that Bloody Wanker will stop us." Felix scratched his head with his platinum hammer, thinking about the obvious.

"Uh sir, should we try to cut the alarms as well?" The 80s carpenter asked. Price slowly turned around to face the little man and smirked.

"Who do we look like? James Bond?" The Captain asked. Suddenly, a loud piercing scream penetrated the ears of the heroes.

(Inside the Prison)

"Hey! There was NO call for that!" Satan yelled at one of the Cynosaur guards, "She was hurt already!" He scolded the guard as he held Jubileena's palling body. While Satan was helping Jubileena bandage up her cut from earlier with torn cloth from his cape, one of the guards's knife tongues slid through the bars of the circular cell and cut on Jubileena's arm for his own amusement.

"Taking us Prisoner is one thing, but injuring us on purpose is just plain wrong!" Sonic yelled from his cell.

"I, want, my, Swizzy," Jubileena weakly said as Satan was quickly attempting to bandage up her newest wound.

"It'll be okay Miss, I promise," Satan said. The guard seemed to be mocking the bruised racer as a sound of chortling escaped its mouth. Angered, Mario picked up a rock from the ground and chucked it at the head of the guard.

"Bad idea Mario," Link whispered to his Nintendo Brother. The Velociraptor Cynosaur head slowly turned around with a green laser shooting out of its eye. The beam landed dead-center on Mario's forehead...

End Chapter VIII

I hope this was a good chapter to come back to after more than a month guys! After this, things will get interesting.