For a moment, everything went dark and Juno's ears rang, an intense yet brief headache shooting through her skull. It felt as though someone had put her head through a blender, and her stomach didn't feel much better. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she blinked a few times before keeping her green eyes open. That was when she noticed that things were… different.

The room she was in had been filthy, filled with clutter, machines of various purposes, and photos. It had been a mess, to say the least. But everything changed the moment Sam pressed "yes". The room had become very dark and practically empty, the once dusty table was now a shiny black, everything was flawlessly clean, and it was very quiet, the thrumming of the music coming from upstairs gone.

Frowning, she looked at Sam. "What the hell did you do?" she demanded.

Looking just perplexed as she did, Sam stammered, "Uh… I'm not sure."

Well, that was just what she wanted to hear. A few possible explanations ran through her head but she ruled all of them out, none fitting the situation. Maybe she was just dreaming, safe and sound in her bed in her apartment. Was it possible to dream about wondering if one was dreaming? She'd never dreamed about something like this before, though she'd had quite a few strange dreams before that made her question her sanity, never one with a laser, though.

Remembering the laser, she looked back to find that it was gone. It was almost like it had never been there at all.

A roar sounded in the distance and soon grew until the room shook lightly. Earthquakes were quite common in California, but this didn't feel like one.

Fear gripping her, she moved closer to Sam. "What's happening?"

"I don't know." Even as he spoke he was jumping from the chair. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her with him back the way they'd come. "Come on!"

As pissed as she was at him for saying "what's the worst that could happen" – the ultimate jinx – she still trusted him completely. Offering no resistance, she ran with him up the stairs, cursing her heels when they made her stumble. She really should have worn better boots, but she grabbed the first ones she came across – a pair with three inch heels.

Coming to the main floor, she tried and failed to hide her shock. The games were gone! What was once filled with games, dust, grime, and spiders was now nothing more than an empty room, shining and perfectly clean. It was impossible!

She must have slowed down because Sam tugged on her hand. "Come on! We just need to get to my bike, then we can find Alan and…" he trailed off the moment he burst through the doors, both of them coming to an abrupt halt. "And find out just what the hell is going on."

With wide eyes, they stared at what was once a filthy L.A street littered with graffiti. Now it was dark and clean, the buildings and sidewalk and road one solid dark grey color with glowing blue-white lines running everywhere in perfect symmetry, buildings made up of sharp curves. Were she not scared and shocked out of her mind, Juno would call it all beautiful and amazing. But for the moment it was just downright freaky and terrifying when she remembered the outside looking very different not ten minutes ago.

Shaking her head, she forced herself to push the fear and shock to the side, using a technique her brother Marcus taught her a while back so she could apply it to her childish fear of the dark. It was something he learned in the military and he said it often came in handy when being fired upon. Fear could only get in the way and get one killed, so he taught her how to suck it up and keep going, no matter how scared she got. It hadn't helped that he laughed at her while teaching her, finding her fear of the dark to be funny considering she was in her twenties, but he was a fairly decent teacher and his lesson had helped her get through the night if the electricity suddenly went out. Pushing it aside in this case, however, was easier said than done. This was nothing compared to a silly fear of the dark. This was real and it was dangerous, and she had no clue what was going on.

Looking around in disbelief, Sam murmured, his voice barely heard over a clap of thunder, "This isn't happening."

He took the words right out of her mouth. This had to be an illusion or something. But it all felt and looked so real, but unreal at the same time. She didn't know how to explain it.

A bright light snapped on and shown down on them, making them start.

Juno figured it was the police and she raised her hands a second after Sam did before turning her eyes upward, expecting to find a helicopter. What she found was flying, but it certainly was not a helicopter. The flying aircraft was large and in the shape of an upside-down U with neon orange lights running over it. The draft it caused blew her long hair about but she didn't even attempt to grab a hair band. All her attention was on the thing hovering above her.

"Oh, man," Sam exclaimed beside her. "This is happening!"

Clutching her hand, he made to run.

"Wait!" she shouted, yanking him back before he stepped off the ledge.

The street seemed to have sunk several feet below them, leaving them trapped on a small space as the craft lowered towards them until people came into view. Some had neon blue-white lights on their clothes and appeared to be trapped at their feet. Others – three she counted, one piloting the thing – wore strange suits and helmets with neon orange lights and held staffs. Two of the men in orange and black approached them, one taking hold of Sam's arm and the other grabbing her.

"Hey, watch it!" Juno snapped when the one holding her turned her sharply to look at her back, mimicking what the other was doing to Sam. "

With a voice that sounded almost electronic, the one holding Sam said, "These Programs have no discs. They are strays."

Without an explanation, she and Sam were practically dragged to the craft.

Sam struggled against his captor. "Wait, wait, we aren't programs!"

What the hell did these guys mean when they called her and Sam programs anyways?

Either they didn't hear Sam or they just didn't care – she suspected the latter – and they led them to the people with white-blue lights and roughly turned them around and pushed them back. Upon stepping on the white square, a transparent restraint came over their feet and Juno found that no matter how hard she tried to get free, no matter how hard she tried to move her feet, the thing wouldn't give and she couldn't move so much as an inch.

As the aircraft rose into the sky, Sam could only look around in awe. Though she had to admit that it was hard not to get caught up in the scenery, now was hardly the time to get captivated by it all.

"He actually did it," Sam murmured in awe, looking at the ground below before looking at her. "We're on the Grid."

She stared at him in disbelief. "The Grid? Sam, that's just… I mean, we can't be…" She couldn't finish the sentence as she looked out at the strange world before her. Kevin had told her about the Grid, described it to her in great detail. This was a near perfect description. Looking around, she knew it was true "My God…" she breathed in shock.

"Hey," Sam said to the man next to him, raising his voice to be heard over the roar. "Does the name Kevin Flynn mean anything to you?"

The man stared at him with little to no emotion and it sent a chill up Juno's spine. "Keep quiet if you want to live."

Looking at some of their other companions, she spotted one guy who was panicking. Over and over he chanted, "Not the games. Not the games. Not the games."

Whatever the games were, he was positively terrified of them.

Frowning in concern, she looked at the man next to her, and asked, "Is he okay?"

Catching a glimpse of his face from under his hood, Juno gasped. His face was half gone! His reply was a grunt-like growl.

Sam leaned toward her. "Friendly bunch."

"I don't like this, Sam," she said to him, swallowing.

"Me neither," he confessed and sent her a reassuring smile. It did little to help.

A time passed and the journey to wherever they were going felt endless. She desperately wanted to ask where they were going but doubted she would get an answer. Instead she kept her mouth shut, studying those around her and her surroundings. It really was beautiful in a creepy sort of way. It was just how Kevin described it, though he'd left out the neon orange lights part. She wondered briefly if that was something new. But for all she knew everything could be new. This was her and Sam's first time on the Grid. So far, she wasn't enjoying it. Kevin had promised that one day, after he took Sam to the Grid, he would take her. As she got older, the more she believed that it was just a story that he'd told them. But here she was, face to face with the truth that was the Grid, and all she wanted was to go home, back to her world, the "User world". This wasn't how she thought it would be. By the expression on her friend's face, it wasn't what he thought it would be like either.

When her hair continued to block her view, she took a black band from her wrist and pulled her long blond hair up into a ponytail.

Approaching a large dome, the aircraft came down for a smooth landing. More men – Programs – in orange and black were waiting for them when they landed and came to them as soon as it was safe.

The one without a staff walked up to the Program at the end on Juno's left. "Rectify," he said, his voice electronic. He stood in front of the next. "Rectify." Standing in front of the panicky one, he took a second to speak, looking him up and down. "Games." The frightened man instantly started pleading with him to change his mind.

Coming to stand in front of her after saying "rectify" to the man next to her, Juno asked, "Do I get a say in the matter?"

"Games."

She pursed her lips. "Guess not."

Beside her, Sam said to the man, smiling, "You probably get this a lot, but there's been a big mistake."

"Games."

Sam's smile disappeared and Juno couldn't help but snort in amusement. Her amusement left the moment she and Sam were seized, each grabbed by two guards and pulled forward. The man who had been panicking was begging for them to let him go and frantically struggling against them until he managed to shove them off. Seeing his chance, he started running.

"No!" the man screamed, running to the ledge. "Erase me!"

To Juno's horror, he jumped off the platform, killing himself.

Panicking, she tried to dig her feet into the smooth ground, struggling and fearing the worst. "Let me go!" she shouted. "Sam!"

"Get off her!" he yelled at them, struggling to get to her. "Don't you hurt her!"

Shoving her forward, she once again found herself trapped by the transparent restraints at her feet. Sam was in the same position but was farther away. Their eyes met briefly before she was abruptly lowered, traveling fast to some other level and away from Sam. The moment it stopped in a room, she felt like she could breathe again. She wasn't dead, that was a good thing. With how that man reacted, she thought for sure that she'd be heading to a certain death. But instead she was taken to some creepy dark room.

Noise and movement caught her attention and she saw something on each wall move. Straining to make out what they were, she saw white-blue lights that outlined what looked like bodies. Around the same time she realized that were women, all four of them were walking towards her in perfect synchronization wearing white and gray skintight bodysuits. Now they were the definition of creepy and she wanted to back away when they got right up in her face.

"Uh… hi?" she tried, looking at each of them.

In reply, they raised their hands and a blue laser appeared on their index fingers. The two in front of her knelt down and cut away her jeans, boots, and socks while the two behind her cut away her black leather jacket and dark green shirt.

"Hey! Those aren't cheap, you know!" Juno snapped, more than a little pissed that her favorite jacket was ruined.

At least she still had her bra and panties on, but that didn't stop her from crossing her arms over her chest to hide herself.

As the four women started walking away, some sort of material started forming over her body, turning into a black body suit with a low V-neck that showed a decent amount of cleavage. "What the hell?" she murmured, looking at her arms when the clothing finished materializing. She was also keenly aware that she'd been raised up a bit and looked down to find that she was wearing some odd looking high-heeled boots, no doubt giving her height of 5'3 a boost.

Returning with objects in their hands, the women pressed the items against her and they seemed to meld with her form and turn into something a lot like armor. A few seconds passed and soon she was outlined in glowing white neon lines.

"What are these?" Juno asked, pointing to the lines, curious.

Raising a fine brow in confusion, one of the women had the courtesy to reply, "It is your circuitry."

Though it was nice to have something to call the lines, it didn't really answer her question. Before she could ask for some clarification, one woman walked away towards something circular.

"Attention, Program," a female voice said, and Juno looked around briefly before realizing it was a computer speaking. "You will receive an identity disc. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted on this disc. If you lose your disc or fail to follow commands, you will be subject to immediate deresolution."

That didn't sound good.

Walking behind her, the woman stuck the disc onto her back and twisted it until it clicked. Everything suddenly brightened for an instant and she felt a tingly sensation run from her toes to her head and her brain felt fuzzy. Shaking her head to clear the fuzziness, she listened to the woman in front of her as she spoke. "Mirroring, complete. Disc activated and synchronized. Proceed to games."

Hearing some unspoken commanded, they all began back away to the pods they came from.

"What the hell is going on?" Juno demanded but received no answer.

Some of the lights turned off and her feet were freed from their prison. Feeling a small sense of freedom, she walked around, trying to get a sense of what exactly was going on. She did not like not knowing what was going on.

In front of her, a large door she hadn't seen slid open and the light that spilled out nearly blinded her. Shielding her eyes with her hand, she cautiously walked forward, her senses on alert. She might not be a soldier like everyone else in her family had been, but her brother made damn sure she was strong and could hold herself, teaching her a few fighting moves.

Marcus… how the hell was she going to explain this to him? He'd probably call her crazy and lock her up in a padded room for the rest of her life. Of course there was always the question of whether or not she was going to be going back to her world.

Walking deeper into the light, the door behind her closed and she found herself in a transparent room. Vaguely, she could make out the shapes of others and could see their colored circuits. One in particular caught her eyes on the opposite end.

"Sam!" she shouted, jumping up and down, waving her arms. He was facing the other way and clearly couldn't hear her but she still tried. After screaming a few times, he finally turned and saw her. "What's going on?" she shouted.

He frowned and pointed to his ear.

Understanding that he couldn't hear her, she gestured to the suit she was wearing and gave him her best "what the hell is going on" expression.

Giving her a pitiful look, he only shrugged as they were all taken upwards and the roar of a crowd filled her ears before she saw hundreds of people, Programs, in a stadium-like setting, standing and cheering when they came into view.

The computerized voice appeared again and said, "All combatants, prepare for disc wars."

"disc wars?" Juno though out loud. That sounded about as good as deresolution did.

Everything shifted and she looked back as her cubical lowered and Sam's rose, keeping them far apart. Coming to a stop at a transparent platform, she stepped out of her cubical and saw a man standing on the far end with his helmet on and his disc in his hand. Swallowing her fear, she walked closer and pulled the disc from her back, surprised when a helmet formed on her head.

"Platform six," the computer began. "Combatants seven and thirteen. Disc wars."

Seeing the man kneel in a threatening crouch, Juno took a step back. "Look, can we talk about this?" She hardly got the words out when the man's disc came flying at her head. Acting on instinct, she dropped to the ground, landing flat on her chest. "Okay," she groaned, rising to her knees. "No talking. Got it."

Not wanting to find out what would happen if that disc hit her, she jumped to her feet and threw hers at him.

Just like Frisbee, she thought as she watched the disc fly through the air, missing its target, ricocheting off the wall and coming back to her waiting hands. Before she could take a breath she dodged the man's disc again, diving out of the way. A very dangerous game of Frisbee.

They repeated the process for a moment or two and all the while Juno studied how her opponent fought. Not once did he kneel to throw his disc or jump to avoid some of her lower throws and he was slower when things came at his left.

His vulnerable spot.

A light bulb went off in her head and she started running full speed towards her opponent. Just as she predicted, he threw his disc at her waist. This time, however, she dropped to her knees and bent backwards until her back touched the backs of her legs and slid forward a few feet to let the disc fly safely over her before rising a few inches and hurling her disc at his left side. It made contact and sliced cleaning through him. But there was no blood. The Program shattered into what looked like glass. It made the knowledge of her taking his life a little easier to swallow.

It was over, and she fell backward and stretching her legs out in front of her, and closed her eyes for a moment. But then she felt the platform jerk and snapped them open, rising to a sitting position. The computer announced round two and she wanted to cry. Looking above her, she saw Sam on his second round already and hoped to God he had a plan because she didn't.

When her next opponent came into view looking far more deadly, she gulped but held her ground.

This round was much harder and she'd resorted to rolling and dropping to the ground just to stay out of the disc's way. He blocked and dodged every single attack and didn't seem to be tiring at all. Then he started running at her and she knew that he meant business. Getting into a defensive position, she prepared to attack him up close but was stopped short.

A stray disc shattered the top portion of the cage, bounced back to its owner, then back down again directly under the piece of glass her opponent was standing on. He didn't have time to react and was quickly falling before he slammed to the ground, shattering into millions of pieces.

Looking up, a grin came to her face. "What took you so long?"

"I got held up," Sam replied, reaching down as far as he could without falling in. "Grab my hand!"

Spotting something that had been between her and her opponent, recognizing it as something to boost ones jump, she ran to it and towards Sam, landing on it with a firm jump and was boost high into the air, grabbing Sam's waiting hand.

"Got you!" Holding on tightly, he pulled her up. "Let's get out of here."

Following him to the end of top of the tube, she waited for him to give the okay before jumping, ignoring the computer when he accused them of violating the rules. The moment Sam yelled "jump", she jumped and smacked into another tube with him before sliding down it and landing in another, this one much larger. At least she managed to land on her feet while Sam sort of rolled. A musical sound played for a second and she rushed to her friend's side.

"Any other bright ideas?" she questioned. They'd made it out of their tubes and landed in another. From the sound of that music, they'd been better off where they were.

"Cut me some slack here," he snapped, rising to his feet and facing her, blue eyes seeking her green ones. "Let's see you come up with a plan!"

But her eyes weren't on him.

Her green eyes were locked on the Program with orange circuitry far behind him. Unlike all the others in orange, he didn't have much of it. Somehow, that made him look much more dangerous, especially combined with his slow, predatory approach. Everything about him screamed killer, and she gulped.

"Initiate final round," the computer commanded. "Combatants three and seven versus Rinzler." The crowd immediately began cheering Rinzler's name. Juno took that as a sign that he rarely, if ever, lost.

By now, Sam had turned to face their opponent and extended one arm in front of her protectively. She would have none of that and batted his arm away, removing her disc and gripping it tightly in front of her.

Sam groaned. "Why can't you be the kind of girl to stay back and let guys fight?"

"Blame my brother," she replied, eyes remaining on the Program named Rinzler. Was it just her or was he growling? It almost sounded like he was purring, actually.

Reaching back, Rinzler pulled his disc from his back, grasping it with both hands and pulling apart, revealing two discs, and then crouched in an attack position. Juno could almost imagine the smug look on his face behind his helmet. Of course it would be easier if she knew what he looked like.

Beside her, Sam was trying to pull his disc apart to no avail. "Come on. Is that even legal?"

"Smooth," she muttered.

With an elaborate spin and twist that seemed to defy gravity, Rinzler sent one disc flying at her and the other at Sam, forcing them to split up. Effortlessly, the Program caught the discs when they came back to him. Sam threw his disc at him but Rinzler jumped over it, spinning with grace that he didn't seem capable of and even managed to dodge hers when it came at him, ducking low beneath it.

Looking over at her, Sam asked, "Why do I get the feeling we just got dumped on?"

"Maybe because we did," she replied just as a beeping noise sounded while Sam tried egging Rinzler on.

To Juno's surprise, Rinzler ran away from them.

Frowning, she had just enough time to open her mouth in an attempt to question his actions before gravity reversed and she and Sam were slammed up into the ceiling.

Groaning, knowing she'd have some serious bruises, Juno jumped to her feet just as Rinzler advanced on them. She skirted around him to attack him from behind before Sam busted the glass beneath him. But Rinzler was smart and balanced both feet on the edges of the glass, staring from Sam to Juno before simultaneously fighting them both, blocking all their blows effortlessly. He managed to cut Sam's arm once before throwing one of his discs back toward the wall, probably hoping to catch her or Sam when it ricocheted.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Juno attacked harder and missed the front of his helmet with her disc by an inch before punching him hard in the helmet. Now that was a mistake! Her left hand erupted in pain, the force of her blow breaking the skin on her knuckles. With her vulnerable, Rinzler used his free hand to return the favor and punched her in the face. She felt her lower lip split with the force of the punch and tasted blood, bringing her hand up out of instinct to hold the wound.

The beeping sounded again and though they both knew it was coming they still landed on the ground hard when the gravity went back to normal.

Her head in agony, she caught a flash of orange and looked just in time to see Rinzler land on Sam, skidding them a few feet away from her, his discs at his neck.

"No!" she yelled, jumping to her feet and running into Rinzler with as much strength and speed that she could muster.

She caught him by surprise and he tumbled over, losing one of his discs and causing her to land on top of him where she straddled his waist. She appeared to have gained the upper hand, but he proved otherwise when he used his free hand to shove her off him and turn the tables, yanking her under him and holding his disc at her neck. The growl that came from him was louder and she guessed it got louder when he became angry. In the background, she could hear Sam yelling at him to get away from her but she knew that he wouldn't get to her in time. Defiantly, she stared up at Rinzler, holding his eyes despite the fact that she couldn't see him and waited for him to end it.

When he didn't killer, she actually grew mad. "What the hell are you waiting for?" she hissed. Was this some kind of torture?

Shocking her into silence, he reached out with his free hand and traced her lower lip with his finger, making her wince. Pulling his hand away, he studied the blood on his finger.

"User…" Rinzler said it so quietly that she almost didn't hear him.

And suddenly the disc was away from her neck and he was pulling her to her feet like he hadn't been about to behead her.

Gripping her arm tightly and retrieving his other disc, he returned them to his back as he stalked over to Sam and looked at his arm. Upon seeing the blood, he pulled Sam to his feet too. The crowd began booing but Rinzler paid no attention to them and turned her and Sam to face a large orange circuited viewing box above.

On the intercom, a male voice said, "Identify yourselves, Programs."

"We aren't Programs," Sam shouted.

Another voice, one that held more authority, ordered, "Identify."

Glancing at Juno, Sam said, "My name is Sam Flynn." Abruptly the crowd fell silent and he hesitated before adding, "And this is Juno Strider."

For a long time, there was nothing but silence.

Spitting out the blood in her mouth, Juno muttered, "You certainly know how to shut up a crowd."

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