"You've committed a lot of crimes. Stealing the disc of another program– multiple programs, in fact… Experimenting with illegal upgrades, forging permissions. From what I can tell, you've broken a lot of the most fundamental laws of our system."
CLU paced back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back as he addressed the criminal program in question, a bulky man with wide shoulders and a protruding cleft chin. Wide eyes watched the Administrator nervously from under close-cropped hair that stuck up in the front, a near-white shade of blonde. The program sat hunched over, an air of fear about him as he waited to find out what the empirical leader of the Grid would do to him.
"If I turn you in, Tron will tell Flynn to delete you from the Grid… Kobol, right? From where I'm standing, it looks like you're out of options."
Kobol grimaced, and tried to hunch even lower, which proved ineffective with his large frame. He opened his mouth, ready to make up an excuse to save himself, but CLU cut him off.
"But I could give you one… There's another matter I'm dealing with right now, I'm sure you've heard. The ISOs - creatures that look like us, but they possess no directive, no purpose. They're not programs– they're horrifying. Flynn adores them, and at this very moment, Tron and the other security programs are trying to integrate them into our society! Can you believe that?"
The Administrator made a disgusted clicking noise with his tongue before he continued. "The ISOs will be the downfall of us. Right now, the only program who sees them for the abominations they are is myself… There isn't enough conflict to get the security programs concerned, and by the time there is, it'll be too late. They'll bring about the end of the Grid."
The criminal program sat up a little straighter, waiting to hear where CLU was going with this.
"So I need someone to set that conflict into motion for me. There's been a protest going on for the past couple cycles over the integration of the ISOs… So far, nothing too serious has happened, according to Tron. Go there. Blend in among the protesters, and hurt someone… Make it look like the ISOs are responsible. That'll prove beyond a doubt that I'm right about them."
He paused for a moment. "If this works out, I'll have you moved to some remote city on the edge of the Grid where the security programs will never come looking for you. I'll cover up the evidence of your crimes and you can live out the rest of your miserable existence in peace. If you refuse to help me, or if you tell anyone about this conversation… Well, I'll leave what happens to your imagination. You're smart enough to steal discs; you're smart enough to figure it out."
/
/ v1. - Takes place during the timeline of Uprising.
Dyson had an unusual look of shock on his face as the surveillance footage concluded. When he'd found an unusually encrypted video, he had expected it to be a communique from the Resistance. This was… It was unprecedented.
The leading security officer snatched his data-pad from the desk and headed upstairs to find out what the Administrator had to say. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe misleading data put out by the Resistance to turn neutral programs against CLU. One could hope–
…but Dyson had never been much of one to believe in blind hope. He'd seen plenty of forged and edited surveillance videos in the course of his duties.
This one was almost certainly real.
He'd long sought after preparedness, and for once, he found himself thoroughly unprepared as he entered the Administrator's office. "Sir. Something has come up that… demands your immediate attention."
As soon as CLU turned to look at him, the officer held up the data-pad, displaying the condemnatory footage. The Luminary's eyebrows raised as he watched, but by the time the video was finished, he was frowning. Dyson was watching his reaction closely. "This is something that truly occurred– is it not?"
CLU didn't have to say anything. To an experienced security program used to observing criminals and interrogations, his posture and expression were enough.
"Then you endangered the safety of the entire Grid– both by letting such a treacherous program go unaccounted for, and by bringing us to a possibly unnecessary war against the ISOs! I trusted you, CLU… I believed that you wanted to set things right, to save us when Flynn and Tron wouldn't. And you wanted what– more conflict? More power?"
The Administrator held up his hand, and despite his newfound anger towards the leader of the Grid, Dyson reflexively went quiet.
"I meant what I said that cycle. If we hadn't wiped the ISOs off the face of the Grid first, they would've derezzed us all. They're abominations, Dyson… They should never have existed. You know that - you know it better than most."
Dyson remained silent for a moment longer, just studying CLU's reactions. "I would agree with you," he said finally. "Except for one detail– if you truly did this to protect us, you know that I would have agreed with you. Why did you hide it from me?"
CLU sighed. It seemed this… issue wasn't going to go away on its own. "Let's say you're right," he replied. "What are you going to do about it?"
Dyson maintained his rigid posture, his narrowed eyes trained on the Administrator. He would not allow himself to appear caught off-guard, but the reality here was, he didn't have an answer. With Flynn gone, CLU was all the citizens of the Grid had, no matter what he'd done in the past.
"Nothing."
/
/ v2. - (Altered Timeline) Takes place during or shortly after the Purge.
From the moment the surveillance footage finished decrypting, Dyson had been watching it with wide eyes. No, this couldn't be right… It had to be some kind of a trick coordinated by the ISOs. CLU had saved the Grid– he had proven himself to be the leader that Flynn and Tron had failed to be. Why would he help a criminal escape justice; knowingly endanger his own people…?
Yet that didn't make sense either; the ISOs had never had access to the military communication network or to surveillance feeds, and they didn't use this type of encryption. Unless there was a more advanced, more strategic ISO running around–
"What are you doing in here, Dyson?"
The officer's head turned abruptly at the sound of CLU's voice. He was about to answer, but realized with a jolt that he didn't need to… CLU had seen everything he needed to see.
"How did you find this?" the Administrator asked, gesturing to the video screen.
"I have a more important question," Dyson said in response. He struggled to maintain his stoic military composure. "Did you…?"
"It needed to be done," CLU interrupted.
Dyson stood up abruptly, and gave the leader of the Grid a look of pure horror. "You– you drove us to conflict against the ISOs? You protected a dangerous, possibly even viral program from protocol? But I thought–"
The security officer was cut off when, suddenly, CLU's hands shot out from behind his back and he sliced his disc across the front of Dyson's body.
Instinct kicked in and Dyson jumped back and pivoted - which saved him from being derezzed - but it still left him with a nasty gash down his chest. He looked up at the Administrator in astonishment for a fraction of a nano before he turned and ran from the room. He couldn't very well derezz CLU; doing so would inevitably cause the Grid to spiral into chaos… However, he certainly wasn't going to stand around here and wait for the end to come.
CLU coldly watched him flee. The Administrator made no move to follow. It was pointless– with the injury the security program had sustained already, combined with the fact that he now had enemies on both sides of this conflict, he would derezz on his own in due time. It was an unfortunate loss - Dyson had been a powerful ally… But, like every other matter CLU took into his hands, it needed to be done.
The Administrator reached over and deleted the surveillance feed. This issue should never come up again.