"I was sure by now, God You would have reached down And wiped our tears away, Stepped in and saved the day But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining As the thunder rolls, I barely hear Your whisper through the rain "I'm with you", And as Your mercy falls I raise my hands and praise the God who gives, And takes away..."
Mara stared blankly ahead as programs gathered around her. They were sitting at the club, discussing what to do next. Pavel had fired everyone in the garage. Once he derezzed Bit, Mara realized that she would need to stand up for herself, and the rest of her fellow programs.
"What do we do now?" Link was sitting beside Copper and Dash. His usual calm expression was replaced with anxiety. "Able's gone, and we have no place to live."
"This is all that blasted Renegade's fault!" Copper exclaimed. "We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for him."
Everyone in the room nodded in agreement. The usual music that blared through the speakers was oddly quiet. Mara had requested to the DJs a few microcycles of silence to discuss their situation. Luckily the DJs had obliged and were slacking off somewhere nearby.
"But the Renegade saved our lives, several times," Mara pointed out.
He was also the reason why Able was gone. And the shop had been destroyed. Mara was so confused right now.
All she knew was that he was responsible for many things. He was on the most wanted list in Argon City. And Clu was likely on his way, ready to apprehend the program.
"Mara's right," Zed told them as he patted her on the shoulder. He looked at her sheepishly as she glanced at him warily. "We wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for the Renegade. He rescued us from the games."
Dash visibly shuddered at the mention of the games. They all knew too well what their fates would have been had the Renegade not stopped that train.
"Didn't the Renegade blow up the statue that caused that mess in the first place?" Copper asked.
Zed's hopeful smile disappeared, it was quickly replaced with a scowl. Mara frowned as she thought of all the reasons they were here today. The Renegade had given them reason to hope again. It was like he had given them a chance for freedom.
"And I'll praise You in this storm And I will lift my hands For You are who You are, No matter where I am And every tear I've cried, You hold in Your hand You never left my side, And though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm I remember when I stumbled in the wind, You heard my cry to you And you raised me up again My strength is almost gone, How can I carry on If I can't find You..."
"The Renegade didn't cause this," she suddenly whispered. She remembered what Able was about to tell them before the crane exploded. Someone else was responsible for his death. "We need to learn how to stand up for ourselves. This will keep happening unless we fight for our own freedom."
Copper looked like he was ready to argue when he thought better of it. Even Dash and Link looked at her as if to agree. The few other programs gathered in the building were whispering to one another. Suddenly Zed glanced at Mara before nodding, as if to confirm what she had been thinking.
"Mara, you got us through some tough situations," he explained once the whispering had died down. Mara bit the bottom of her lip when he said that. Beck should be here with them, but once again he was off doing who knows what. "We're thinking maybe we should open a new garage, better than the old one. You can be in charge."
Mara stared at Zed in disbelief. She looked around at the other programs beginning to look at her with hopeful expressions. Once she had led her own ragtag team of renegade programs. Though that plan had failed miserably, she still often used free code to spread the word.
Tron still lives... there's hope for the future.
"I don't know what to say," she admitted. "But I promise that I won't let you down. We'll get through this, together. It's what Able would want us to do."
The programs gathered around her began cheering in agreement. Once they started the DJs began playing their music again. Mara couldn't help but grin as she thought of what the future held before them.
There was always hope for the future. And even in the darkest of storms they would pull through. She knew that now.
"But as the thunder rolls I barely hear You whisper through the rain "I'm with you" And as Your mercy falls, I raise my hands and praise the God who gives And takes away I lift my eyes unto the hills Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, The Maker of Heaven and Earth..."
AN: I've had this little one-shot running through my mind for a while now :) One of my favorite songs by Casting Crowns, and if you've heard the Acoustic arrangement you'll see why. Truly a beautiful song, especially when you read the message Mark writes about this song. Hopefully there weren't any spelling errors, but please let me know what you thought of this!
Lyrics come from the song Praise You In This Storm by Casting Crowns.