Disclaimer: I do not own any of the TRON universe, tqvm. :)

Chapter 2: Magnetic

No conversation was initiated between Tova and her companions as they rode their lightcycles back to the city. She could sense that they were a little more than annoyed at her little exchange with Cadmus... poor program. She winced with guilt. She had known him many datacycles ago when they were both obedient, insignificant programs who tended to the maintenance routines of Tron City on a daily basis. Though sometimes you couldn't trust Cadmus to stick to his word, you would never doubt that his disc was in the right place.

The same, though, couldn't be said of her.

The weight of Cadmus's disc bore down on her conscience as it nestled in the casing on her back together with her own identity disc. Normally she would break the discs of the programs that she had derezzed, to spare her the guilt of their memories, and her companions would do the same, but she had known him. Spoken to him and had ridden the same solar sailer together to work. Vanquishing Cadmus's memories didn't seem like the right thing to do.

She laughed at herself. Look at you, Tova, thinking of doing right to a program you'd just robbed AND derezzed, she thought to herself bitterly. Well done.

The freeways of Tron City were empty, just like it had always been since the collapse of C.L.U.'s reign. Occasionally a group of two or three helmeted programs could be seen making their way warily from point A to point B. Tova remembered a time when Tron City was absolutely bustling with life: programs going about their daily business, stopping around the corner for a quick chat or data exchange, talking about going to see the games; now the city was a mere shadow of what it had been.

The upper levels of Tron City, though somewhat vacant, were still as brightly lit as before, but its underbelly, which once was also bright and vibrant, now existed in a state of perpetual dimness, lit only by the light given off by the circuitry of the programs who had been driven underground and the occasional surviving circuitry of a building or two. It was at this place of darkness and despair that Tova and her companions eventually arrived. They deactivated their lightcycles and discreetly entered Tova's housing unit with their precious cargo.

Her unit was pitch black when she unlocked the door. With the help of their circuitry, Tova managed to locate the vial of energy liquid that powered her unit and flipped it upside down. Once the lights were on, she placed the black metal box on the only furniture available in her unit: a plain grey slab of plastic with a thin black futon on it; otherwise known as her bed, and deactivated her helmet, followed suit by the other two programs.

One of them, Vido, stepped forward and opened the black metal box. The other program, his twin, Drom, stood beside him and smiled. There, in the box, were three rows of eight vials of pure, liquid energy each.

Vido took one vial out carefully and opened the lid with his thumb. He took a whiff, paused, then let out a long and contented sigh. "Refined liquid energy," he said happily, passing the vial to Drom. "Just a sniff and you feel recharged instantly. Who doesn't love them?"

Drom sniffed at the vial as well and smiled even wider. "I'm sure it'll be all right if we drink some now," he said, glancing at Vido, who grinned and nodded encouragingly at him. "We'll share," he told Vido, his excitement growing by the minute. "You wouldn't mind, would you, To – "

"Wait," she said abruptly, but her voice sounded distant. They turned to look at her. She sat on the bed, her eyes fixed into a blank stare, and they noticed that her blue disc was on the futon beside her, the green disc of the program she had derezzed earlier was fixed onto her back.

"Tova, don't you think it's dangerous for you to read that program's disc?" asked Vido uneasily; even Drom lowered the vial with apprehension. "What if it was being tracked?"

She didn't reply for awhile. The twin programs glanced at each other, then back at the vial. The azure blue of the liquid called out invitingly to them...

"It is," Tova said suddenly. They jumped and looked back at her. She got to her feet and replaced her own blue disc onto her back.

"What is?" asked Vido, not sure if he wanted to know.

"The disc. Cadmus was being tracked by his employer," she replied, suddenly feeling angry at herself. She had let sentiment get the better of her. This wasn't typical of a program. Emotions should not compute. She broke Cadmus's disc into half, their past half-friendship be damned, causing its circuitry to fade out at once, and stuffed it under her futon.

"Let's go. He'll find us here any minute now," she said bitterly as she snatched the vial out of Drom's hand, shut it back into the box and tucked the box under her arm.

The twins gave each other panicked looks. "He? Who?"

"Struthers was his employer," she said, turning the vial of liquid energy on the wall of her unit back onto its upright side and removing it from its holder on their way out of the now dark unit.

Vido paled. "But if he finds us – "

"I am NOT going to let myself be thrown into the games," she interjected, her eyes wild now with fear. "And neither will you two, compute?"

"Too late," whispered Drom.

Janus had been walking for a long time. Like his time in the Sea of Simulation, he couldn't remember how he had computed his path and arrived at that fateful shore. But as he marched on, he could clearly define it: he was being pulled in the direction he was now heading in. The further he walked, the stronger the pull he felt. Though there was nothing but stone and sand and dangerous cliffs and mountains as far as his eye could see, he knew that he was drawing near.

He entered a dark tunnel that was carved into the side of a particularly forbidding-looking mountain with a jagged, double-headed peak, his yellow circuitry lighting the way ahead of him. Without much fuss and trouble he had come to a small pool of pale blue liquid. Recognising this as energy and that he wouldn't last long if he did not consume some, he knelt by the pool and drank from it. Feeling more energized than he did before, he resumed his journey to his destination.

Towards 'Flynn'.

A/N: Terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but it is thoroughly possible for me to end up adding more to this chapter as I felt it was pretty short, hehe. So don't be surprised if you come back to find the content changed. XP