Beck was silently glad that his mentor had accompanied him on this particular mission. Every time Tron trusted the young mechanic with an important task, he felt a sense of pride well up in his chest- but never the less, he was only one program, he was a mechanic trying to change the fate of an entire system.
Rumours of a new weapon being developed by Clu had reached Argon. If they were to believed, Tesler would without a doubt be in charge of the project. Tron's sources had lead them to a small factory just outside of Argon, a short light cycle ride from the main city. Without knowing the details of the weapon or the amount of security Beck might face, Tron had chosen to accompany him in their mission to infiltrate the factory and gather information on the weapon- and if need be; to destroy it.
Sneaking in had hardly been a problem, something Tron found worrying but Beck deduced to be Tesler's false sense of safety in an area so far from the city. Utilising backdoors and quiet hallways, Tron lead them through to the heart of the factory where he suspected the weapon to be.
"What is all that?" Beck whispered in awe as they peered through a glowing window.
Through the window was what appeared to be a large, circular room. From their view point, Beck would see a rail spreading across the circumference of the room, making this door the opening to a balcony of some sort. Tron turned to the control pad next to door and attached a small device to it, punching in a quick code and stepping back as the door clicked and slid aside.
The two of them stepped onto the balcony and peered down. They were on a high floor, over the rail they realized this circular room reached all the way to the bottom of the building, meaning it was a single room at the core of the entire factory. Along the circular wall, Beck saw countless black objects, small and round, attached to every inch of the wall. He turned around to see Tron inspecting one on the wall behind them, an uncertain growl resonated from the black helmet.
"Grenades," Tron said.
Beck quickly stepped back against the rail, keeping his distance from the wall. "He could blow up all of Argon with this many bombs!"
Tron made a sound of agreement and peered over the edge of the rail, looking down to the white floor an immeasurable distance from them. The room felt strangely familiar, it felt like the old I/O towers of the ENCOM system; trust Clu to turn what use to be a symbol of the Users into something that could end everything for thousands of programs. There were no other programs in the room but Tron could see lines of control panels down on the bottom floor, a white platform sitting the middle- probably a lift, he concluded.
"These weapons have to go," Tron said, turning away from the rail and looking back at the bombs attached to the wall.
"How? We can't exactly pick them off the walls one by one," Beck stated.
"No, touching even one of them could set them all off with us inside," Tron responded quickly. "This entire facility has to go, but with so many explosives inside…"
"The explosion could reach the city," Beck finished as horror struck through him.
"Maybe, maybe not," Tron said. "It'd be impossible to calculate the exact mass of the explosion without proper testing."
Beck opened his mouth to ask exactly what they should do when the sound of the door opening caught his attention. Turning around and rezzing a black helmet around his head in one fluid motion, he was faced with two of Tesler's guards.
"Identify, Program!" One of the guards shouted, brandishing an electric staff.
"Careful, you'll hit the weapons!" The other grabbed his companion's shoulder and pulled him back.
The four programs faced each other in silence, surveying each other's movements and daring the other side to make the first strike.
Without warning, Tron had turned around and bolted in the opposite direction, Beck followed without question.
"Halt!" The guards called, chasing them.
"We can't just run around in circles!" Beck called.
"We're not," Tron replied, pointing ahead.
Beck looked up to see a ladder leading up to a glass ceiling he hadn't noticed before. When they reached it, Tron whipped around and pushed Beck roughly into the ladder.
"Go!" He ordered, pulling his disc into a defensive position.
"What? I'm not—"
"I said, go!" Tron interrupted Beck's protest, elbowing him in the back until he began climbing the ladder.
The two perusing guards stopped and growled at their opponent.
"Don't let him get away!" One called but his voice turned into a cry as Tron's disc tore through his chest, spilling red and black voxels all over the floor.
"You have someone else to worry about," Tron growled.
The remaining guard gave a cry and charged at Tron head on. The area was tight and Tron's movements were restricted even more so by the lines of grenades along the wall. He moved swiftly, climbing up the ladder and swinging his disc to meet the light staff that came at him. With a strong kick, Tron sent his opponent into the side rail and quickly launched his disc, derezzing him.
Catching his disc on the return, Tron quickly docked it and began climbing after Beck who had just about reached the ceiling. A loud bang echoed throughout the chamber as Beck slammed his arm into the small, round hatch at the top of the ladder.
"It's not budging!" He called over his shoulder.
Beck held tightly onto the ladder with one hand and reached for his disc with the other. He pulled his arm back and swung forward to strike when the hatch suddenly threw open. A masked program peered through and started back at the sight of Beck's disc.
"Woah, hold it stranger, I'm friendly!" The unknown program said. "Come on, I'll give you a hand!"
Beck hesitated for a moment but the sound of more guards was growing louder. He kept his disc in his hand as he climbed through the hatch, taking the other program's hand to climb out.
"Er, thanks," Beck said as he helped pull Tron up.
The mysterious program seemed to be surveying Tron as the monitor stood up and brought himself to full height, towering over him. Before he could ask any questions though, a door burst behind them.
A wave of guards came flooding out of a stairwell door, spilling onto the roof on which Tron and others were now standing. All three programs took offensive positions, discs bursting into life in their hands. Behind them, more guards dropped out of the sky, falling out of a couple of light choppers.
Surrounded, Tron thought grimly, counting the number of guards and disliking their odds of survival more and more by the nano-cycle. He shot a glance at the masked, third member of their crew and frowned, unable to determine his objectives.
"Get them!" One guard shouted as the others roared in agreement, all converging into the middle of the roof.
Beck's disc flew first, bouncing off the ground, being smacked up a light staff and redirected straight into the leg of another guard. Tron threw his disc and scattered the oncoming wave of attackers when he felt something hit him gently in the back. He turned his head in surprise to see the still masked, shorter program standing behind him.
"Together," he said in a suddenly familiar voice.
Without thinking, Tron gripped his returned disc and threw it again, moving in completely synchronization with the other program. Tron felt the other program's back against his as he tossed his disc again. When he turned, the other turned with him and together they protected each other's blind spots, withering down the enemy numbers to nothing.
Beck, who had taken shelter behind a large barrel when voxels began raining everywhere, stepped forward towards the middle of the roof where the two programs stood. He let out a small sound of awe as his tiptoed around the red voxels littering the floor. Tron and his strange partner stood panting, still standing back to back as the stranger docked his disc. As Beck stepped forward, Tron flipped around brought his disc up to the stranger's throat, outer edge blaring a bright, dangerous white.
"Who are you?" He snarled.
The stranger had taken a step back and thrown his arms up defensively, shaking his head.
"Woah, okay, just a nano!" The stranger spat out quickly as Beck ran up to the duo.
"He saved us," Beck said quietly, stepping up to Tron.
Tron ignored him. This program, this masked fighter appeared out of nowhere and read Tron's movements like they were his own. The security codes in him blared warning signals; unknown program, dangerous, threat, eliminate.
Something felt familiar though; the way they moved together, his body shape, his voice, his very tone felt impossibly familiar.
"Answer me!" Tron growled, thrusting his disc up to the other's throat again.
"Tron, calm down!" The stranger suddenly pleaded. "It's me."
Both Tron and Beck looked at the other program, their alarm that this program knew Tron's identity was hidden behind their helmets. The other's helmet derezzed, soft, brown curls bouncing into place and a pair of bright olive eyes looked up with a small smile.
The program didn't look familiar, Beck was sure he had never seen him before but he turned to Tron and realized it was definitely someone the older monitor knew. Tron didn't move, the whirring of his disc showed he was still gripping the weapon very tightly, but he wasn't moving at all. In a moment of panic, Beck wondered if Tron had actually glitched and frozen. He opened his mouth to speak but it only fell open in surprise as Tron's helmet derezzed, revealing the stunned expression on his face.
"Greetings, Program," the smaller program said in a soft voice, grinning as his eyes and circuits lit up brightly.
Tron's eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open.
"Ram?"