Chapter One

"And you develop a problem in trustin' in other people, Which later became an issue that will mentally pound you! You only get one life, But every time you lookin' at yours you feel like all you ever see are mistakes And the problem and the reason you could never move forward in life, Is because you were never awake..." - Wake Up, NF

The first thing she noticed was how dark and cold it was around them. For a moment, she wondered if this was what it felt like to be in Limbo. Limbo was a place where one went when the final decision was yet to be made. A place where it felt like one was about to die, and yet was still very much alive. A shiver ran through her at the thought. Was that to be their fate upon their arrival to the Real World? Were they meant to die?

Eventually, she felt a rush of cold wind brushing past her. Noises could be heard all around them. Panicked shouts, screams of pain and fear. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Mira found her arms wrapped around Beck's shoulders. Heat rose to her cheeks in nanocycles, and she untangled herself just as Beck had, looking as if he'd gone pale as well. She hardly noticed the cold now, as she realized they were not in Flynn's Arcade like they were supposed to be.

"Where are we?" Beck asked as he finally found the courage to speak.

Mira glanced around cautiously, noticing layers of dust covering the floor and shelves of the room they were in. She checked to make sure that her light cycle baton and light sword were still with her, and she let out a sigh of relief after finding them where they always were. She always kept her batons in close range if there was ever an emergency. On more than one occasion, the batons had saved her life or they'd given her the chance to escape from a major fight. If she lost them on the Grid, she wasn't sure what she would have done.

"I don't know," she admitted guiltily. She should have known where they were. The Portal should have taken them straight to Flynn's Arcade. Yet the more she thought about it, the more she realized how silly that sounded. Portals were opening across the Outlands, in different directions on the Grid. It made sense that each Portal would take them to a different location throughout the Real World. "Come on, we need to get out of here," she said after deciding that sticking around wouldn't get them anywhere.

The longer they stayed in one area, the higher chances they had of getting found by other Users. Mira wasn't in any hurry to explain where they came from, and why they probably looked like a mess from being on the Grid. Users would more than likely question where they came from, and she had a feeling that they wouldn't take well to finding out about the Grid, especially given the state it was in. A shiver of unease swept through her at the thought of what would happen if other Users were found in the same situation she had been in.

They took the stairs and ran up, only to find themselves surrounded in chaos. Mira's eyes widened in alarm when she saw that the floor was covered in broken glass and various structures that looked as if they'd been destroyed. She didn't miss the fact that Users were cowering in a corner of the building, looking particularly fearful when they spotted her and Beck for the first time. One look at Beck was all it took for her to realize that something was wrong. Rinzler clutched onto her shoulder for dear life, mewling in distress at the sudden tension. Though he'd never seen anything from the Real World, she could tell that he was on the verge of panicking when he noticed that they weren't alone, and that the Users were staring at them with horrified expressions.

That was when she spotted something approaching the group of Users. It was a creature that made her skin crawl with disgust and fear. It could be mistaken for a Gridbug, or worse, a virus. The heavily armored creature looked like something out of a horror nightmare, and it was carrying what looked like a weapon in its claws. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she realized that the weapon was likely some kind of grenade, and the Users were the creature's target.

"That's not normal in the Real World, is it?" Beck asked in alarm, already getting into a defensive position.

One of the creatures was headed straight for them, while the other had advanced on the Users. The Users themselves looked as if they were trying to find an escape route, but the creatures had all of them blocked. Instinct kicked in faster than she expected, and Mira reached for her light sword.

"Nope, definitely not!" She didn't hesitate to swing a fist into the creature that was holding its weapon, ignoring the stinging pain that followed. More of the strange looking creatures were crashing into the building, each of them carrying a high-tech looking weapon. The Users who were cowering in the corner let out terrified shouts when another creature rushed in and threw the weapon the creature she knocked out earlier was holding. She braced herself for the explosion that would follow after realizing it was a grenade, but it was blocked by something thrown in its direction. "This is definitely not anything I remember."

She turned in time to see Beck trying to turn his baton into a light cycle.

"My light cycle won't work here!" he exclaimed after trying multiple times to get it to work. Rolling her eyes, Mira swung her light sword into the chest of another creature that had gotten too close for comfort, causing it to lurch forward in pain. Of course he would have been more focused on trying to get his light cycle working than the fight at hand. "How are we supposed to get around here without light cycles?"

"We run!"

Before Beck could make sense of what she meant by that, Mira grabbed him by the wrist and made a run for it when there was an opening. In the rush of panic, she would have never noticed the costumed User who was watching them curiously, if she hadn't looked over her shoulder. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight of the strangely dressed User. She didn't have time to dwell on it though, even if her thoughts were consumed with what was happening around them.

This is too weird, she thought.

It felt as if she should know what was going on, especially as they reached the outside and could see for the first time what was really going on. A battle that had left this User city in shambles. Buildings with shattered windows, along with more of those creatures flying around. The costumed User from earlier had finally caught up with a group of other costumed Users, and Mira couldn't help but exchange a look of worry with Beck.

Suddenly, it felt as if Cyrus was a small-time threat compared to this battle.

He could have easily been responsible for causing this battle in the first place, but Mira seriously doubted that was the case. Cyrus was cynical and slightly intelligent, but that didn't mean he could find creatures like these to attack the Users. Something or someone else was responsible for this battle.

"You think you can hold them off?" the User dressed in a red, white and blue costume asked.

Mira's eyes narrowed as she suddenly found herself trying to recall where she had seen him before. He looked very familiar, albeit battle-torn and wary from the fight going on. Though, after everything she and Beck had been through over the last couple of cycles, she had a feeling they didn't look much better. She tried to avoid catching their curious looks after they finally noticed they weren't alone.

"Captain," one of the Users said after pulling out what looked like a weapon of sorts, "it would be my genuine pleasure."

One of the aliens closest to them was suddenly knocked out in an instant when the User fired a weapon, the impact of the weapon exploding in the alien's face. That was when they noticed the two strangers standing behind them. Mira felt Beck tense beside her as one of the Users looked at them warily. The same red-head from her dreams. She wasn't expecting to see this User again. Her eyes narrowed as she recalled how coldly the User had acted.

"Who are they?" the same User dressed in a red, white and blue suit suddenly asked.

Mira glanced at Rinzler as he kept balanced on her shoulder, fur standing on end as one of the alien-creatures got dangerously close. This was definitely not what she was expecting to see the moment she returned to the Real World. But those creatures were getting closer, and the Users that had been momentarily distracted were fighting against them again. One quick nod to Beck was all it took for things to go from bad to worse. Rinzler jumped off her shoulder and found a suitable hiding place as she reached for her light sword baton, thankful that weapon still worked outside the Grid.

The fight was quick and brutal. Mira managed to stab a few of the alien-creatures in the chest when she found a weak spot, knocking them out while avoiding a blow from their weapons. Beck held his own by punching a few of them – she hadn't even realized until now that their disks were gone. The only other means of defense were gone. It felt like there was no end to these things as they kept approaching, only to meet their demise when they got too close for comfort.

"So, is this anything like you remembered?" Beck asked after knocking out his fifth alien-creature.

Mira only rolled her eyes at that, not bothering to make a snide comment as she grabbed one of the alien-creatures by the shoulder and flipped them on their back. By now, she was getting tired of being asked if she remembered anything from her past life. Memories of the Real World were foggy at best. Since she had been living on the Grid for over ten years, she'd begun forgetting what life in the Real World was like. She knew it was partly her own fault. Because there was so much to learn on the Grid, she hadn't wanted to remember the Real World simply because it would hinder her abilities to fight back against any enemies. Now, she was struggling to recall whether or not something like this had happened before.

"I was seriously hoping we'd just find Cyrus and take him down," she muttered under her breath. "This isn't our fight; we need to get out of here before they start asking questions," she added.

She shot a wary look towards the Users who had already begun splitting into smaller groups. They already seemed to know what they were doing. She and Beck were only there to close the Portals and possibly bring Cyrus down if he was in the Real World. Getting caught in someone's battle wasn't part of the plan. The last thing she wanted was to be dragged into something that neither of them were prepared for, especially if it meant they didn't have the chance to stop Cyrus once and for all.

Beck looked at her in surprise before nodding in agreement. One look towards Rinzler's hiding place was all it took for the kitten to bound over to them and jump onto her shoulder. She was thankful he hadn't gotten injured during the fight. He was just shaken from it, his whiskers twitching with terror at the thought of being caught by those large creatures. The Users were distracted enough that it gave them a chance to escape before anyone else took notice of them.

It didn't take either of them long to find shelter in a small, shabby looking building complex far from the scene. Mira's shoulders sagged in relief as she caught her breath. She couldn't imagine how something like this could have happened, or how they always seemed to get caught in these messes.

Figures that we would find ourselves trying to get out of this mess, she thought bitterly. She knew it was bound to happen sooner or later since they were in the Real World. But she had been hoping they would have enough time to find Cyrus and close the Portals as well.

"How are we supposed to find Cyrus in this mess?" Beck asked.

He peered cautiously out of the window to see the destruction those alien-creatures had caused outside. Mira followed his gaze, noting the broken windows and holes formed in the buildings where those alien-creatures had attacked.

It was strange not to see any Users around in a big city like this. She had a feeling that any survivors from this attack would have fled while they had the chance. Rinzler mewled in concern as he noticed how uneasy both of them were.

"I don't know," she answered honestly, letting out a sigh of frustration as she thought of the chaos on the Grid. "Somehow, we have to find him before he causes this kind of destruction in the Real World."

She was just thankful those Users from earlier hadn't tried stopping them. They were too distracted fighting off those alien-creatures, and part of her felt as if she should have helped them. But they had a different mission, one that was even riskier.

…

Shawarma was an interesting sandwich. Not that that was what everyone was talking about in the small diner that was still open, despite the chaos from earlier. The Avengers were all gathered around a table eating their sandwiches, either doing something to keep themselves busy, or discussing the aftermath of the battle.

"Stark, are you getting anything on those kids we saw?" Steve asked after grimacing at the taste of his sandwich.

Everyone shared looks of unease at the mention of the kids they had seen during the fight. They had fought alongside the team for a while, until suddenly running off while they were distracted. No one wanted to admit that they had been startled to even see a couple of kids lingering around that mess. The kids in question had looked as if they'd been through some kind of hell, even if it was just a brief sighting. The fact that they managed to hold their own against the aliens had left everyone wondering where they came from, and whether they would see them again.

Tony, despite looking like he'd seen better days, was typing away at a pad while taking a bite from his sandwich. He simply looked up from his work before nodding.

"Haven't found anything yet, other than a few odd stories about someone with weird tattoos leaving destruction wherever he goes," he muttered. "That someone had tattoos similar to that kid in the city earlier today."

"So, you think there's a connection?" Bruce asked.

"Not sure," Tony replied with a shrug. "I'm sure Romanoff and Barton will be hearing about it soon enough, though."

Both SHIELD agents in question glared at him in response. Because fighting the Chitauri and taking Loki down wasn't enough. Most of the team was already exhausted from fighting the Chitauri all day. Not to mention they needed time to recover from what Loki had done to them. Clint especially still had a hell of a headache that he was recovering from after whatever hold Loki had over him.

"They fought like true warriors," Thor boasted, thinking back to how well the two of them had worked together.

"You know, that girl fought almost like Romanoff. She could probably give you a run for your money," Tony said with a knowing smirk, to which Natasha suddenly kicked him from under the table.

"Then it's a good thing I planted a tracer on one of them," she put in, though no one really looked surprised by that.

Anyone who could fight as well as a fully trained SHIELD agent could pose a threat to national security.

"Very sneaky," Tony said cheekily.

Whatever these kids were up to, the team wasn't even close to finished with their job. One journey led to another, and this would be one of the strangest of all.

AN: So, there's the beginning of the rewrite for Freedom. And, it is very different from the original :) Obviously, there will be a couple of chapters that are similar to the original, but most of it will be different. Considering Mira's upbringing and her lack of trust in people, I really wanted to point that out in this story, and not just sugarcoat it, this time. So, hopefully readers will find this story just as enjoyable as the other two :) Also, NF is the real inspiration for rewriting this story, so please feel free to check him out. Nothing like a little promotion to one of my favorite rappers ;)

Retrokill - I know, it's been a crazy couple of weeks D: I've had to escape to the world of FF several times... too bad it's only a temporary escape. And I'm glad this helps your mood :) As for whether this is Beck x Paige, I'm afraid not. As awesome as that would be, I've already planned on making it a Beck x OC long ago ;) And, surprisingly, it's not the first Tron X Avengers crossover. I'm glad you'll be reading it, and hopefully you'll enjoy this as much as you enjoyed Rogue :)