Los Angeles
Flynn's Arcade, upstairs loft
Two hours had passed since they'd all fallen asleep.
The room was quiet, aside from the occasional sound of soft snoring.
The take-out pizza boxes sat closed on the coffeetable, still mostly full of pizza.
The small lamp was still on in the corner over the two modular couches.
Sam was still fast asleep leaning back on one of the couches, his feet stretched out in front of him on the floor, with Quorra still curled up next to him, her head on his chest.
On the other couch, Clu lay sleeping soundly, somehow looking graceful while reclined on a piece of furniture which was way too short for his lanky frame, with his legs draped across the armrest.
Tron still slept sitting on the floor beside the couch, leaning his head back against the seat cushions. For a former program who'd been unsure of whether or not he was tired, he certainly slept deeply and imperturbably - twice Clu's arm had flopped down off the couch in his sleep to land on top of Tron's head, and the second time the small silvery-gray bit model had slipped from Clu's grasp and fallen down onto Tron's shoulder...but through it all, Tron hadn't even moved a muscle and had simply slept right on, completely oblivious.
A few feet away across the small room, Alan was sleeping just as deeply, still in the same position he'd been in for hours, curled on his side crossways along the foot of the bed.
Kevin's tall form was still draped across the head of the bed, feet hanging off the edge, but he'd somehow pulled the top end of the bedspread loose from where it had been tucked over the pillows, and then wrapped himself up in it in his sleep.
From the far corner of the quiet room came a very faint, muffled, repetitive beeping sound. It was Alan's pager, still inside the pocket of Kevin's riding jacket where it had been since they'd found it at the Grid's arcade simulation. Now the jacket was crumpled in a heap on the floor, and Kevin's boots lay where they'd landed on top of it, so the sound was barely audible. The faint beeping went on for several seconds, and then stopped.
But no one even stirred.
Except Clu.
He shifted slightly, turning his head fitfully in his sleep as a barrage of images began to play behind his closed eyelids.
Unaware that he was dreaming, and unaware of what a dream even was to begin with, he was completely taken in by the imagery...from his perspective there was no differentiating between what he was seeing and what was actual reality.
The arena resounded with the usual thronging cheers from the crowd, and Clu could hear Jarvis' voice announcing the games, but it was only an echo...he couldn't quite discern the words being spoken.
He also couldn't quite tell what the crowd was chanting, though they were repeating the name over and over. He knew it wasn't 'Rinzler'. And that alone perplexed him, until he saw the combatants enter the disk cage, which perplexed him far more. He sat forward in his chair.
One of the combatants was the petite female ISO. Then he realized it was her name they were chanting...Quor-ra!... Quor-ra!... Quor-ra!...
The other combatant, was him.
Which was impossible, because he was sitting in his chair.
But it certainly looked like him.
He was wearing his usual yellow-illumined armored suit, and for some reason, not wearing a helmet.
Which is how he knew it was him...he could see his face. It was the same face of Kevin Flynn. But he knew it wasn't Flynn, it was him.
And he didn't know just how he knew that, only that he knew it with certainty.
That too disturbed him - he was the system admin and a logic-based control program, therefore he should know and recall exactly why he knew every bit of information he knew.
But though he couldn't recall how or why he knew this, there was no question - he just knew the combatant was him, which was truly bizarre, since he was also sitting there on his throne in the observation deck of his ship.
And there as he sat, his circuits teemed with unrest, watching as the contest began.
But it seemed there was no contest...the ISO's skills far exceeded his, and she was lightning-fast, incredibly agile, and ruthless.
Within only a few nanocycles she had torn much of his armor to shreds, derezzing strips of it with relentless, mocking, whips of her razor-sharp disk.
Each blow seemed bent on reminding him that she could and would destroy him, but also that she was content to do so at her leisure.
First she derezzed the front of his suit, laying his chest almost bare beneath the shreds of pixelated armor, and then she scarred his face, whisking the edge of the disk up and across his cheek, then across his face to the other side, just enough to disfigure him horribly but not to derezz him completely.
He stood up from the chair, reeling in shock and confusion as he watched this happen, then suddenly feeling the sting on his cheek he brought a gloved hand to his face, only to draw back bits of pixels which stuck to his glove before dissolving into thin air.
He froze in disbelief – this could not possibly be happening. It defied all logic.
But before he could begin to calculate the why's of any of it, a horrific sight froze him the rest of the way - the ISO crouched into the beginnings of Rinzler's most deadly parkour move, and then time itself seemed to slow to a crawl as she went whirling up and into the air in slow-motion, sending the disk flying right into her opponent – him – and shattering his existence into a thousand tiny pixels.
He stood gaping in disbelief at the combat arena, as a new and unfamiliar feeling began to crawl over him – complete terror. He looked down at his suit and robes, already knowing what he would see, and sure enough he was beginning to very slowly dissolve into pixels as he stood there in front of his throne.
And all he could do was scream, "NO!"
But no sound would come out of his mouth.
So he tried screaming again, and again, and again, yet still no scream would come.
When he raised what was left of his pixelating gloved hand to his face, he realized why - he had no mouth. She had taken it, with her disk...
Clu suddenly jolted awake and sat upright, his eyes wide and his chest heaving with panicked breaths.
Much to his surprise, he wasn't in the arena.
He was in the small room above the arcade, where they'd all gone to rest before he'd somehow ended up back in the arena.
And everyone in the room was in the same spot where they'd been before, but now they were all awake and staring at him.
Tron sat on the floor nearby, blinking his eyes and looking at him with growing alarm.
Quorra and Sam were just waking and staring at him in confusion from the other couch.
Across the room, Alan had leaned up to rest onto one arm and was squinting in his direction, unable to see much without his glasses.
Kevin was untangling himself from the bedspread and then was on his feet in an instant, jumping up and bounding over to Clu, hair completely disheveled and eyes bleary from sleep.
He crouched down beside the couch and spoke, his voice slightly husky.
"Clu,...What is it?... What's wrong buddy?..."
Clu stared at his Creator with eyes as big as saucers, his chest still heaving with frantic breaths, strands of hair hanging wildly into his face.
Then he looked around the room.
Everyone else stared back at him quizzically.
Except for Kevin, who just looked at him with gentle, concerned eyes and then reached out to pat his arm as he spoke, "You okay?..."
Then Clu stared at his own arm where Kevin had patted it. His arm! It was still there!
He looked down at his chest – it was still there too! So were his legs! Feet! Hands!
Then he brought his hands to his face to feel all around his cheeks, chin, mouth – yes! He had a mouth again!
He exhaled in extreme relief, though his eyes were still wide and now his brow was furrowed with gathering confusion.
This was truly bizarre, but apparently he'd recovered and somehow re-rezzed.
Or maybe he'd been re-written? And somehow had gotten back to the User world?
He didn't even remember going to the Grid again, but thank User he'd ended up back here once more.
Kevin frowned, then tilted his head slightly, still looking at Clu with concern.
Clu stared back at him, then cleared his throat and tried to speak. To his relief, his voice worked again. It sounded slightly husky like Kevin's, but it worked again. "How...long was I gone?"
Kevin's eyebrows launched upward, then he blinked, eyes squinting as he looked back at his young doppelganger with slight confusion. "Wh-...gone?..."
Clu nodded, raking his hair back from his face with a shaky hand.
And then he stared at his hand just to make sure no pixels were missing.
Kevin still looked at him with mild alarm, trying to blink himself more fully awake in the glare of the light from the lamp beside the couch.
"You,...you weren't... gone... anywhere, buddy. You were asleep..." Kevin paused, raking his hair back from his face with his hand, "...at least,...you were,...till you started screaming. 'Think that's probably what woke you up - 'sure woke me."
Clu shook his head, eyes widening and voice urgent. "No, but...that's just it - I couldn't scream. I tried. I didn't have a mouth. And,...I was derezzing, because-...she-...she was-"
He stopped speaking, glancing across at Quorra, who just blinked sleepily, looked at him with innocent, wide eyes, and yawned.
Suddenly Clu felt very confused.
Beside Quorra, Sam was yawning and trying not to grin. Clu glared at him. He didn't see what could possibly be amusing about this.
He felt even more more confused and he looked back at his Creator.
Kevin's eyes softened with understanding, and he spoke in a gentle tone, his voice still husky.
"Clu,...buddy,...think you just had a nightmare. A bad dream. It wasn't real."
Clu frowned and looked at him like he had six heads.
But Kevin just nodded again, eyes sympathetic.
"Yeah. It was just a bad dream. We all have 'em occasionally - Users, I mean. And now, you're a User too,...kinda..."
Kevin paused, shrugging and running a hand through his messy hair again before continuing. "...well, yeah,...'guess you are a User now. So, makes sense. Bummer you had a gnarly dream your first night here, though. But,...like I said, we've all had 'em..."
Clu's eyes narrowed and he looked at Kevin skeptically.
But Kevin just nodded once again, then looked over at Quorra. "...bet you've had one since you've been here, right Q?...or at least some kinda' dream, whether it was good or bad?"
Quorra nodded, her eyes shifting from Kevin to Clu.
Clu's eyes widened as he looked at her. "You've experienced this too?"
She nodded again, bashfully, gave a very subtle shrug, then mustered a soft polite smile.
This seemed to settle Clu somewhat, and he sat processing the news, but then he frowned again and looked back at Kevin.
"It's just... horrifically confusing. Frighteningly realistic. Definitely unpleasant. What- ...what causes this?"
Kevin took a deep breath and sighed, giving a speculative frown.
"Well,...Clu,...the mind works in funny ways. Dreams are what happens when your mind sorts through all kinds of thoughts in random order...then shows you images to represent them."
Clu's brow remained furrowed.
His discomfort was completely unassuaged by this explanation, and he continued to stare at Kevin, frustration and anger mounting in his voice.
"How completely erroneous! What's the point of that? There's no logic in it, Kevin!"
Kevin just sighed, patting Clu on the shoulder again as he stood up slowly.
"Well,...buddy,...I know. And we can talk more about that,...we sure can. But, right now, 'kinda wanna' get a little more rest first. Think we all probably do. But,... bottom line is, dreams are normal, you're fine, and we're all right here with ya. So, why don't you go back to sleep for a little while,... okay?..."
Clu immediately shook his head, frowning, his expression resolute. "No. Not a chance. And have that happen again? Definitely not." He crossed his arms stubbornly. "No. I'm staying awake."
With a slight chuckle, Kevin glanced at Sam, the corners of his mouth hitching into a knowing grin which he tried to suppress...Sam had said almost those exact same words to him once, as a very small child. Then he looked back at Clu again, sighed, and nodded.
"Well,...alright buddy. Suit yourself. But, I'm going back to sleep. You should try to, too. I'm gonna' turn off this lamp. That'll make it a little easier to rest, okay?..."
Clu just blinked up at him, not quite understanding why the absence of lamp-light should make a difference, but then he finally mustered a fraction of a nod.
Kevin smiled at him, clicked off the lamp's switch, then turned and shuffled softly across towards the bed.
With a yawn he flopped down across the head of the bed in the same spot as before.
After a few seconds, Alan's voice broke the silence, as he turned over, raised up on his elbows, and spoke with a smirk in Kevin's direction. "Dad?...can I have a glass of water?"
Kevin immediately pelted him with a pillow.
From across the room, Sam spluttered and then broke out into soft laughter, until Quorra giggled, shushing him and elbowing him gently in the ribs.
Then the room settled to silence once again.
In the newly-darkened room, Clu just sat there on the couch, still uneasy, a thousand questions racing around in his thoughts.
Once his vision slowly adjusted to the lack of light he felt a bit more at ease, because then he could more clearly see things, though shadows prevailed.
He looked around in the quiet. It seemed everyone else in the room except for him had closed their eyes and was resting in sleep-mode again.
But he was still stubbornly refusing to.
Instead he just leaned back down onto the couch again and stared up at the ceiling, fighting sleep for as long as he could.
Until finally sleep won, as slowly his eyelids closed. Within moments he was soundly asleep again.
: : :
Alan drifted somewhat to wakefulness.
He thought he heard a very familiar voice softly calling his name in almost a whisper.
There it was again.
"Alan?..."
He half-smiled in his sleep, chuckling in his thoughts.
...that's funny...
...it sounds like me talking to me...
For some reason this was amusing, yet some part of him understood whose voice it was.
He tried to wake himself, managing only to respond with a mumbled hum from behind closed eyes.
"Hm."
"Alan."
"Hm?"
"ALAN!..."
"Huh-...what?" His eyes flashed open and he flinched awake.
In the mostly-darkened room, he saw a blurry silhouette of someone standing over him.
From across the bed, he heard Kevin's soft snoring.
Startled and disoriented, he immediately reached down to the floor, feeling around for his glasses, and then somehow managed to get them onto his face.
Then he could barely discern the very familiar features which had always stared back at him from the mirror. Only this version didn't have gray hair.
He raised up on his elbows and answered in a sleepy whisper.
"...Tron?..."
The silhouette nodded, then crouched down beside the foot of the bed.
His own voice whispered back at him again as Tron spoke, stammering apologetically.
"You...told me to just call you 'Alan'...I'm sorry, for waking you...but,..."
Alan blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dim light which filtered in through the window overlooking the arcade, not quite sure why his former program had woken him up. But he had a hunch Tron wouldn't have awakened him without a very good reason. He blinked up at his younger self. "What is it?"
Tron turned his head quickly, nodding towards the window, then looked back towards Alan. "Something outside. I didn't want to alarm the others."
Though he wasn't quite fully awake yet, this brought Alan quickly to a sitting position and then to his feet, almost losing his balance as he stood.
He shuffled closer to the corner couches where Clu, Quorra and Sam were all sleeping, and then peered out of the picture window through the open blinds, looking at the arcade below.
The first light of morning was spreading through through the arcade's front windows, sunlight beaming across the plastic dust-covers on several of the game machines. He squinted and blinked, unable to see anything which looked out of the ordinary.
He looked back at Tron, confused, and whispered. "I don't understand,...what- "
But before he could finish, Tron's urgent whispered voice interrupted as he pointed towards the light which flooded in small refracted beams through the arcade's windows.
"Recognizer. I'm almost certain of it."
The word made Clu stir, and then he sat up on the couch, his voice gruff from sleep. "Recognizer?..."
"Shh!" Tron immediately hushed Clu.
Alan rolled his eyes and sighed. These two programs-turned-human were going to be a handful.
He whispered back to Tron, trying his best not to wake the others in the room.
"I can assure you, it's not a Recognizer. We don't have those here."
Both Tron and Clu remained silent, but Alan could tell they were still definitely alarmed and now confused.
Stepping away from the couches, he shuffled over and slipped his feet into the loafers which were on the floor at the foot of the bed.
Then he turned, motioning for Tron and Clu to follow, and he tiptoed towards the stairs.
Tron followed Alan towards the stairwell, and Clu stood up from the couch, slowly making his way across the room behind them.
Once downstairs in the arcade, both programs walked along behind Alan, staring around at the room full of slip-covered machines before returning a worried gaze to the light-flooded windows.
Tron's brow furrowed in slight alarm as he watched his User unlock the door, open it, peek his head out to look around, then step right outside into the light.
Then Alan smiled, squinting in the gathering glow and spreading his arms.
"This is sunlight. Harmless. At least, in moderate amounts of exposure."
Tron followed him outside, somewhat hesitantly. Then he stood turning around and around in the light, staring in complete fascination at the sky, then at the street around them, after which Clu followed suit, staring in equal fascination. Smiling, Tron cast his gaze all around at the amber glow which lit up the graffiti-covered buildings, and then finally looked back at his User.
"This...is the most magnificent thing I've ever seen."
Alan couldn't help but chuckle.
He grinned, shaking his head. He'd never witnessed quite that sort of reaction to an abandoned, run-down urban street.
"Tron, my friend, this is hardly the most impressive landscape to see in this world. But,... yes, sunlight is magnificent."
Clu raised his head, feeling the slight warmth which spread across his face with the light.
Kevin had often spoken of the User world, and Clu had he'd uploaded all the data he could about it in hopes of one day seeing it.
He'd known the sun existed in theory, but experiencing now it in reality was quite a different matter. He blinked in the warm sunlight and turned to Alan. "How long does it last?"
Alan shrugged. "Depending on the season,...about twelve to fourteen hours."
Clu thought for a moment, running the calculations in his head. "Approximately one-point-seven-eight millicycles."
He nodded, looking at the sky again, recalling the cycles of day and night that Kevin had mentioned. "..and then it returns again in roughly the same?"
Alan nodded. "More or less. A day here lasts for twenty four hours,...has both sunlight – which we call 'daytime',... and darkness – which we call 'night-time'...before it repeats all over again as another day."
Clu gave a slight tilt of his head, then a slight nod. "A day is three millicycles long. Sunlight-...daytime,... lasts for one-point-seven-eight millicycles,...so,...night-time is...one-point-two-two of a millicycle."
Alan gave a smirky grin. "Sounds like you got that worked out pretty well. So,...let's go back indoors, shall we?"
He turned back towards the door of the arcade and walked a few steps, only to look up and see Quorra and Sam walking out the door to greet them.
Sam blinked, sleepy-eyed in the sunlight, nodding at Alan with his usual half-grin. "Morning."
Quorra gave Alan a grin, then walked a few slow steps farther, stopping to stand beside Tron and Clu.
Tron gave her a slight smile.
Clu tried to do the same, but it seemed more of an anxious expression than a smile.
He had no idea at all how to behave around her now, especially after the strange experience which Kevin called "a bad dream."
But as he watched the ISO, strangely enough his uneasiness began to melt away when she looked up at the sky and then stood right in the first rays of amber sunlight which peered over the horizon, closing her eyes and grinning.
Her grin turned into a full smile and she opened her large eyes to look right at Clu as she spoke.
"It is wonderful, isn't it?...the sun?"
At first Clu could only nod awkwardly, but it seemed there was no way to look at her smile and not at least grin himself, partly because he had never seen her smile before.
And she seemed so friendly to him all of a sudden. He didn't quite know what to make of it. So he just gave a grin in return, nodding his head again in agreement.
Still smiling, Quorra slowly turned to walk back towards the door of the arcade where Sam and Alan stood talking.
Clu watched her walk away, then he stepped closer to Tron and spoke in a somewhat hushed tone, still looking back in Quorra's direction. "She was...friendly to me."
Tron tilted his head very slightly, and gave a small shrug. "Yes. So?"
Clu looked at his fellow program and quirked his brow, seeming genuinely puzzled. He stepped closer and spoke again, his voice even more quiet. "Do you suppose...she was being flirtatious?"
Tron's surprised look turned to a slight frown, and then a smirk. He sighed, leaned in closer to Clu, and raised his eyebrow, scolding gently. "Don't flatter yourself. She was just being nice."
Caught off-guard, Clu looked back at him with a slight frown, but the corners of his mouth fought back a grin.
He found it amusing and pleasant that the same old sparring camaraderie he and Tron had once shared so very long ago had now returned.
He gave a slightly dismissive tilt of his head at Tron's remark, then glanced back in Quorra's direction.
The two programs watched as Quorra leaned in to stand very close to Sam while he spoke with Alan, and Sam turned slightly in her direction...though neither showed affection outright, it was obvious from their body language that they were smitten with each other.
Tron's voice continued in the hushed tone. "Besides,...as you can see, she's quite spoken for."
Now it was Clu's turn to smirk, and he replied in hushed tones with slight indignance. "Well I wasn't suggesting THAT..." Even spoken at a quiet volume, his voice still pitched upward on the last word with a slight drawl, sounding just like Kevin's.
Tron suppressed a chuckle, and continued chiding him with a mostly straight face. "Of course not."
Clu just looked at him, eyes narrowing, and replied more insistently, in the same soft tone of voice. "Well,...I wasn't."
Tron's brows raised, and he simply nodded mutely with a soft smile.
Which infuriated Clu and made his eyes narrow even more.
He fumed quietly next to Tron, until Quorra glanced over at them, and then he gave a small polite smile.
Then Tron stepped forward, walking over to join the others, and Clu followed, clasping his hands behind his back and strolling slowly, in his best attempt to appear nonchalant.
Sam turned to Tron as he approached, hitching his thumb to gesture back at Alan.
"Hey,...I'm gonna take your User here on a little expedition. We have to go get his car."
Tron's head tilted slightly at the comment.
Alan regarded his former program with a raised brow, knowing Tron had no idea what a car was. Then he grinned and gave a slight nod, explaining. "It's like a light-cycle,... only it's four-wheeled, and hugely inefficient by comparison. And, it doesn't light up...well, not nearly as much."
Tron looked at him oddly, seeming no less confused after that explanation, so Alan just gave him a slight grin and patted his shoulder.
"You'll see. We'll be back soon. And, I'll bring you a pair of my glasses."
This made Tron smile, and he gave a slight nod.
Alan turned to Sam, raising his eyebrows. "Ready?"
Sam nodded, and then turned to Quorra. "After we get his car I need to stop by my-...our place and feed Marv. We'll both meet you all back here, figure out what to do next."
She nodded, then gestured back towards the arcade. "What about your father? Should I wake him and tell him?"
Sam shook his head. "No way. Let him get some sleep. He's earned it...he's probably exhausted."
Quorra nodded, and then she stepped close to Sam, wrapping her arms around his neck for a hug. He grinned, holding her tightly, and then stepped back to look at her. "You've got your cell,...so, ...you need me, you call me,... alright?"
Quorra nodded and gave a soft smile, then turned and opened the door of the arcade.
Sam looked over at Tron, dipping his chin and raising an eyebrow, his eyes more serious. "Watch after my dad and Quorra, man. Please."
He glanced at Clu, then back at Tron, and they both gave a solemn nod in reply.
Then he turned to walk towards the bike, but stopped after a few steps and turned back around, nodded his head towards the arcade door. "Hey, keep that door locked. Stay inside until we get back, okay? It's really important. "
"We will, Sam Fl-...Sam." Tron replied.
Sam looked at Tron and Clu for a moment more, then just nodded and continued towards the bike.
Alan stood beside the old Ducati, watching as Sam approached. He shook his head, and looked back at the bike with a chuckle. "Can't believe I finally agreed to go for a ride on this old thing."
Sam grinned, unlocking the cable which secured the helmets to the handlebars. "Hey, next step I'm gonna teach you to drive it."
Alan gave a wry grin and shrugged. "Hm. Can't be much tougher than driving a lightcycle. 'Did alright with that."
Sam's jaw dropped and his eyebrows raised as he looked at his guardian. "Seriously? You rode a lightcycle?"
Alan nodded smugly, then gave a slight grin.
Sam broke into a full smile and laughed, his eyebrows still raised. "Well, rock it, Alan!"
Still smiling, Sam handed him the helmet, then donned his own, fastening the strap around his chin. He hopped on the bike, then nodded at Alan, who climbed on behind him.
Just as Sam started the engine, Alan tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, go easy on me. No stunts."
Sam chuckled and grinned, revving the throttle slightly. "Now when have you ever known me to try any stunts, Alan?"
Alan just rolled his eyes, and held on as they took off slowly down the street.
