AN: I got reviews! This is exciting. :) I just want to thank everyone that left a review or added this to their story alert or favorite list! 3 Just a short chapter. I need to go see the movie again to get back in the mood. :) I apologize if any of the technical details are wrong, like I said, need to see the movie again. Updates will be slow, still getting back into the writing thing. Don't forget, reviews = love! Let me know what you think of where this is going.
Disclaimer: Disney owns everything but Jules and Jamie!
On to the story!
James was looking at the computer terminal in front of him, there was no longer a program running on the screen.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think this is the same room we were in a minute ago," Jules said, looking around for a moment before taking off out of the room and up to the arcade with James following close behind.
It still looked the same, but the lighting was different somehow. Colder.
"It looks weird in here. Less dusty."
Jules gave him a strange look over her shoulder. "That's what you notice? The dust level?"
Jamie looked back at her and shrugged. "It's noticeable."
Jules shook her head and strode to the exit, only pausing momentarily to take a deep breath before pushing open the door.
What she saw took her breath away.
Outside was a city, but not the one she had grown up in. The buildings were tall, dark and beautiful without any of the reflective surfaces she was used to. The street was perfectly empty, no garbage or dirt... no pavement. She could feel James at her back, but couldn't spare him the attention to see how he was handling all this. She walked further into the street, her eyes wide as she tried to take in the details of this new world around her. It was exactly as her parents described to her, the sky dark but with a faint blue glow that seemed to illuminate everything anyways. As she walked closer to some of the buildings though she noticed that everything wasn't as perfect as she thought. There were places on the builds were the surface flickered, solid one moment then a jagged edged hole the next, showing the gridlines of the computer framework. It was like the building was degraded in spots. She took another look around, realizing that most of the buildings showed signs of damage.
"Uh, so, hate to interrupt your moment, but are we where I think we are?" James asked, worried look in his eyes.
Jules spun to look back at him, standing just outside the doorway of the arcade. "If you're thinking the Grid, then yes." Her face was practically alight with wonder.
Jamie was momentarily speechless, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to figure out what to say to that. Finally he decided on, "So... this is bad. How do we get back out?" He was not nearly so excited about the idea of being stuck in a computer.
Her face deflated slightly, "Don't you remember? We have to get to the interface."
"Yea, I remember. I also remember how hard your parents used to tell us it was. Oh God..." he was breathing hard and bent over to put his head down, his hands on his knees.
"Hey," she said, running back to him, "it'll be ok. We'll get through this. My parents had lots of stories of this place. They must come and go, it can't be that bad." 'Well,' she thought to herself, 'technically it could be, my parents didn't get out this last time...' But she was trying to be positive for her friends sake.
He turned his head to say something to her but was interrupted by a bright light making its way down the street, a loud humming noise accompanying it. The pair leaned to look out from under the awning. It was a ship. Jules thought it kind of reminded her of a floating Pi symbol.
"Thats a bad thing, right?" Jamie mumbled to her.
"Yep," she replied, yanking him back from view and opening the arcade door back up so they could slip inside. They stood there with their ears pressed against the door, listening for pursuit. Eventually the light moved off and they didn't hear anything else.
James turned and put his back against the wall, sliding down to the floor. "Whaaaat do we do now?" he asked around a jaw-cracking yawn."
Jules looked at him from where she was leaning against the door, frown marring her face. "I guess we sleep?" She looked up to the second floor apartment where her grandfather lived when he first owned the arcade. "Hopefully there is furniture up there. We can get a fresh start after we get some sleep."
"You think we're safe here?"
"Safer than anywhere else at this point." She shrugged. "This building doesn't seem to show any signs of degradation and no one knows we're here."
"True," James said as he got to his feet. To be safe, they carefully moved two of the game machines in front of the doors like a makeshift barricade before heading upstairs.
As she had hoped, the apartment was the same as her parents described it, with a wrap around couch, bed, bathroom and kitchenette. She didn't have any hope for the kitchenette, but the furniture looked fine to her.
"I'll take the couch."
Jules turned to look at James, then back at the couch. "Yea right, your feet will hang clear off the end. Take the bed."
As she walked over to the bed to grab a pillow and blanket for herself he sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing with her.
Jules kicked off her boots and threw her jacket over the other part of the couch and settled down for a brief nap. "Don't sleep too long!" she said with a grin, clicking her flashlight off.
Jules eyes snapped open. She could feel her eyes moving, but she couldn't see a thing for how dark it was. Something had woken her, but she wasn't sure what. She lay there listening for a moment. Eventually she hear a very faint noise, like a footstep muffled by carpet. She carefully moved the blanket back and swung her sock-clad feet to the floor. Getting up quietly she avoided the beanbag chair she had seen earlier and started for the door. She was getting close when she felt a cool, smooth edge press against her throat. She froze, her eyes wide in the dark.
"Don't move." a voice hissed quietly at her.
The edge was removed from her neck and then there was a low blaze of light and color as a disc was brought to life inches from her face. Jules flinched back from the sudden light, squinting as her eyes adjusted and she saw the person holding the disc at her neck. It was a woman with dark hair, slicked back harshly, and pale blue eyes that could only be described as icy. She didn't look to be much older than Jules, but that didn't mean much here.
She tried to take a step back only to bump into another body. She hissed in surprise, her eyes flashing to the woman with the weapon. As her eyes grew accustomed to the light she realized that there were quite a few bodies crowding the small apartment. They were all dressed in flat black.
She heard as James suddenly woke up to find himself surrounded. "What the...?" he mumbled, confused, before one of the large men tried to grab him.
"No don't!" she yelled just before he slugged one of them. The program fell back, shaking its head before tackling Jamie to the floor. Jules winced as his head smacked the ground. He was lifted to his feet and brought over to where she was standing, a slightly dazed look on his face. The dark-haired woman watched all of this without expression, her disc still at Jules neck.
Jules gave her a dark look. "What do you want with us?"
The woman's eyes flicked to Jules. "Who are you?" she asked harshly.
"Jules. Who are you?" she said, throwing some serious attitude into her voice.
The woman didn't seem to find her amusing, lowering her disc to grab Jules by the throat. James tried to protest but was restrained by the two burly programs. "Don't be foolish. What is your designation and where is your disc?" she spat the words at Jules.
"I don't have one." she spat back. She wanted nothing more than to break this woman's wrist and grab her disc, but she was severely outnumbered and she didn't want her head smashed against the floor like Jamie's.
Apparently the woman thought she was lying as she raised her disc, ready to scratch Jules off her list of problems.
"Stop!"
Jules looked towards the doorway where the voice had originated from. There was a tall hooded figure there, and whoever it was was obviously in charge because Ice Queen's arm had stopped its downward descent towards Jules face.
"What is your full name?" the figure asked, voice deep and curious.
"Flynn... Jules Flynn," she whispered, hoping she wasn't signing her own death sentence.
"User!" the woman gasped, letting go of Jules neck and stepping back. She looked almost frightened now, and she didn't look happy about that either.
Jules looked around at all the programs. They had wary looks in their eyes and had let go of Jamie. He was rubbing the places on his arms where they had grabbed him as he stepped closer to her.
"Who are you? And how did you know we were here?" Jules asked, taking a step closer to the cloaked figure.
She heard a deep sigh. "We didn't. Clu's followers don't come here, they fear this place. Its where we meet." He gestured to all the programs in the room. "But the doors were blocked. We knew someone had to be here."
Jules frowned. "Whos 'we'?"
The figure stepped closer and raised his hands to put down his hood. He had a shock of white hair, long and messy enough to cover the majority of his forehead in the front, but short in the back and bright green eyes. That wasn't what had Jules mesmerized though. It was the faintly glowing symbol just where his cheekbone met his temple.
"You're an ISO..."
