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A Fair Trade

Summary: Jefferson wished he had his hat on so he could pull it over his face. This place was too dark and too bright simultaneously. He looked at the two programs, one smirking and one helmeted in black, and at Rumplestiltskin, who was rubbing his hands together gleefully. Prequel to People Like Us.

Rating: T

Genre: General/Adventure

Disclaimer: Please see the disclaimer in People Like Us.

The place was too bright and too dark all at once, and Jefferson had wanted to squint when he dropped into the world. It was full of black and dark colors that may as well have been black and accented in colors that seemed to glow. "Where are we?" He asked Rumpelstiltskin, who had come through the portal after him.

"We're in an electronic world, Dearie," The grey-skinned Dark One said. "I need something from this place for the spell I'm working on."

The Dark One had been elusive with information about his latest project, but Jefferson considered it better that way. The less he knew, the better. He was starting to wonder if maybe it was time to give up world-jumping altogether, given that his wife's due date was so close…

Rumpelstiltskin walked past him, and Jefferson jumped back to awareness and followed. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just stay close, Dearie. I am at least as dangerous as anything you're going to meet in this world. But then, you knew that." Rumpelstiltskin said. "Now, let's go find our ride."

Jefferson followed him through the back lit streets; past people who gave them curious looks occasionally but for the most part ignored them.

"Aha!" Rumpelstiltskin said after a moment. "Here's our ride!"

Jefferson looked up at the enormous ship approaching them, and his jaw dropped as he took it all in.

Rumpelstiltskin giggled, as though there was some secret joke taking place that only he knew about. "Just do what they tell you dearie. They'll take us to where we want to go."

The ship landed on two stands that looked to Jefferson like legs, before the body of the ship slid down to the ground and a detachment of what Jefferson assumed to guards stepped off the ship. His assumption was proven correct a moment later when the people who stepped off procured weapons and prodded the two of them on board, locking their feet in place on board the ship.

At least, Jefferson realized after a moment, his feet were locked place. From all appearances, the Dark One was faking being held in place. They were the only ones on the transport, besides the guards.

And Jefferson had a sudden realization as the ship lifted into the air: he did not like flying. Jumping through a portal with a destination in mind was one thing, but to float over a city while you could look at your feet and see everything beneath you was terrifying. He tried not to look down, and instead looked forward.

Jefferson was so determined to keep the horizon in his line of sight that it wasn't until the strange ship began to vibrate that he realized that they were not flying anymore, and the bulk of the machine was sliding down it's legs toward the ground. More guards were waiting there.

Rumpelstiltskin stepped forward, smiling. Half the guards were immediately frozen in place by his magic. "Take me to whoever's in charge here, Dearie." He ordered the other guards. "And make sure my associate comes, too." And just like that, they did, with one of the guards freeing Jefferson before escorting the pair of them into the building.

The inside of the building was no brighter than the outside, but Jefferson kept quiet and followed the others through a twisting, winding maze of halls, full of guards and others in black head-to-heel garb that was sprinkled with glowing orange lines.

In one of the chambers they passed through, though, there was a woman there whose black garb was sprinkled with blue lines, not orange, and curiosity got the better of him. Jefferson hung back as Rumpelstiltskin and the others strode forward. There were two guards in the room, but neither of them went to stop him. The woman's hands were restrained, and she looked angry.

"You don't belong here, do you?" Jefferson asked.

She glared at him. "I don't think you do either. What system are you from?"

"I'm not from a system. I'm from the Enchanted Forest." Jefferson replied, annoyed.

She gave him an appraising glance. "Definitely not from around here. Where is the Enchanted Forest?"

"It's, well…" he paused and thought it over. "Good question."

She sighed. "You're just as bad as Flynn. Always saying there's something else out there, but never explaining what or where it is."

"It's real." Jefferson said, then another thought occurred to him. "Here. I'll give you something to prove it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small yellow feather, which he dropped in her hand.

"What is this?" She asked, turning it over in her hand.

"A feather. I found it another world, something with a circus in it. Birds wear them like clothes. But sometimes they lose pieces of their clothes." Jefferson said.

She turned the feather over in her hand, but before she could say anything else, a new voice spoke up behind them.

"I was wondering where you had wandered off too, Dearie!"

"That's the guy I'm working with." Jefferson said, turning away. "I have to go."

"Wait! What's your name?" She asked.

He paused and turned back, just a little. "I'm Jefferson. You?"

"Yori."

Jefferson nodded. "Well, good luck to you, Yori," He said, and turned and followed Rumpelstiltskin out.

Yori snorted. It almost reminded her of something Flynn would say. "I'm going to need it." She turned the feather over in her hand once more, then tucked it away in her gridsuit.

Later, after her meeting with Clu, she would ponder the feeling of holding a piece of another world in her hand.

Jefferson followed Rumpelstiltskin back down the hallway. "Stay close Dearie. I don't know what we're going to run into here."

"Where is here?"

"According to the guards, this is Administrator Clu's throne room." The Dark One announced, before he threw open a door.

There was a growling off to the side, and Jefferson turned to see another black-clad figure, this one wearing a shining black helmet and holding a disc in each hand. The way the figure walked towards them told the pair that they had been evaluated as a threat.

Rumpelstiltskin raised a hand, and the figure froze in place. "Just a moment Dearie. No one wants anything to happen, so I won't start anything if you won't."

Though the figure had stopped, the growling hadn't. And then they heard another voice, this one somehow distorted. "Let him go."

"Only if he promises not to attack us." Rumpelstiltskin replied.

There was a distorted sound like a laugh. "I've sent a transmission to Rinzler to tell him not to attack you without my word. Now let him go."

Rumpelstiltskin obliged, and Rinzler turned and walked away from them as soon as he was free of the magic. He walked back until he reached a chair in which another black clad figure sat. This one was wearing a helmet also, and though it looked like he was wearing the same black suit that everyone in this world favored, he was also wearing some sort of coat over it. Unlike Rinzler, his glowing lines were yellow.

Rumpelstiltskin gave a broad smile and came forward. "I think you're the one we've been looking for!"

The helmet slid open, seemingly by its own power, and a man with gold eyes and a smirk sat there looking at them. "Who are you and what are you doing in my system?"

"I've traveled a long way looking for someone to help me. You see, I'm working on a little potion, something we do where I'm from."

Jefferson did not roll his eyes.

"But I need some help. You see, I have to make sure this potion works perfectly," Rumpelstiltskin dragged one grey hand across the wall, "And I have reason to believe that the world intended for this potion has applications like this in it. So I need your help. To be specific, I need some pieces of your system."

"And what's in it for me?" The man in black and yellow asked, leaning back in his chair and looking interested.

"That's the beauty of it for you, Dearie," Rumpelstiltskin said. "What is it that you want?"

Clu leaned back further in his chair and became pensive. "Track down my enemies for me. Bring Kevin Flynn back and I'll give you what you want."

Rumpelstiltskin gave a sharp smile, one that usually told people in the Enchanted Forest who'd sought his help that they were on thin ice. "Sorry Dearie. I'm not some tracker who goes around finding things for people. What I want from you doesn't make it a fair trade. Think smaller."

Rinzler started to growl again; Clu raised a hand and the other program fell silent. After a moment, Clu spoke again. "Very well. Come with me. I'll show you what I want."

They followed him, trailed by Rinzler, through another set of hallways, to a bay where some sort of construction was ongoing.

"This will be my means of escaping from this world when it's completed." Clu said. "I want you to make it invincible."

Rumpelstiltskin laughed.

"You're still not thinking this through, Dearie." The Dark One strode over to a window, which showed the city and the beam of light beyond it. "Is that little prick of light how you plan to leave? With something this big?"

"Yes," Clu responded, and now they could hear that he sounded a little defensive.

"I'll tell you what I'll do." Rumpelstiltskin told him. "You let me take the little things I need, and I will put a spell on your ship that will let it emerge through that little beam of light unharmed and come out somewhere where it won't be too broken to fly. Do you even know what's on the other side of that light?"

Now Clu looked frustrated. "And how do I know you can do what you say? You've given me no proof that you can do anything."

Below them, a piece of metal slipped, and a worker was under it. As it began to fall, Rumpelstiltskin reached out with his hands and magic. He held out one hand and the metal sheet stopped falling. He made a swirling motion with his other hand, and the program that had been under it, already half-derezzed, was suddenly whole again. The metal sheet landed harmlessly nearby when the Dark One dropped it.

Now Clu's expression was one of barely restrained fury.

A User! Another User! But not even Kevin Flynn could stop a derezz halfway through…

If Rumpelstiltskin noticed, he wasn't bothered by it. "Well? Do you believe me now? Because if not, we'll be going."

"Put the spell on my ship, take what you need, and then go." Clu ordered.

Rumplestiltskin grinned. "Don't look so upset, Dearie! You'll make it to the outside world. I give you my word."

Clu didn't answer, instead he turned and swept away. Rinzler remained, and Jefferson knew that somehow, he was reporting back to Clu what he was seeing.

It took only a moment for Rumpelstiltskin to cast the spell on the ship, and then he set about gathering what he wanted and placing the things, in jars, into a satchel he summoned out of thin air. There was a small jar of orange voxels, one of bright, shining water the like of which Jefferson had never seen before, one of dark and dirty water. A piece of metal from the ship construction went into the last jar, and then Rumpelstiltskin closed the satchel and put it back where he had gotten it.

"Alright then, that should be the last of it. Let's go home."

Jefferson nodded, and turned to follow the Dark One out. Behind them, Rinzler still stood watch, and even though the helmet kept them from knowing what he was looking at, Jefferson somehow felt that the program was watching them as they left.

[A/N:] So now that I''m building a backstory for People Like us, there may be places that I need to edit in that story. This was actually supposed to show Clu and Tron shortly after the spell is cast and they've come to Storybrooke. I'm debating making that another chapter. This was probably partly inspired by a question someone raised on TV Tropes about how Clu thought he was going to get that huge ship out into our world through a laser in the arcade. (sounds like a job for Rumpelstiltskin!)

No, I have not forgotten People Like Us. I'm a bit stuck at the moment. I'm hoping that that changes, but Real Life gets in the way a lot too, so that's not helping either. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this prequel, which might or might not wind up being a two-parter. Either way, reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for reading!