Chapter One: Kevin Flynn

The user awoke with a groan, rubbing her eyes. Her eyes flickered open and she shut them again immediately, cursing at the intrusion of bright light.

"What the hell is with you people and glowing things?" She groaned. A voice chuckled across the room. It was unfamiliar to the girl. Her eyes opened, adjusting to the light. The room was mostly made of glass, except for the exceptionally bright white floor and ceiling. A man sat forward on a couch in front of her. He was old and he had a beard and a white cape. His face was pulled into a smile at her comment. "Who are you?" Her head cocked to the side curiously. Of course the name would have no significance to her, but it would be nice to know.

"My name is Kevin Flynn." He stated, though he looked slightly hurt at the question. She was wrong. The same name was written on the building she first saw. It had some significance. He smiled again, noting her confusion. "Sam told me of your condition. You needn't worry." The words relieved her slightly. "This place is the grid. I created it a long time ago." He informed her, watching amusedly as her mouth dropped open. She went to speak but shook her head.

"I'm not even going to ask." He chuckled. "But I will ask; why are you all the way out here?" She asked after seeing the city outside the window. It was so far. She couldn't quite grasp why he was so far away. He sighed and began to tell her all about his first encounter with the grid as well as the tale of Tron, Clu and the Isos. The same ones he used to tell Sam. Her face contorted into rage by the end of the story. "Genocide." She growled. Flynn nodded sadly. Her eyes closed and she sat up, crossing her legs in deep thought. She remembered she did this a lot. At least her memory was returning. She blocked out Flynn's rustling around and focused on the sounds of thunder in the distance. Clu; a flawed program trying to create a perfect system. It was impossible, as well as ironic. Perfection was impossible. It differed from person to person. His perfection was very different from Flynn's and he never saw that. She must have sat there for hours, contemplating various things, before she was disturbed.

The door behind her buzzed open and her brow wrinkled in frustration. The footsteps were Sam's; she could remember from earlier. Her eyes flickered open calmly and Flynn shook his head.

"You meditate longer than I do." He stated with a chuckle.

"Meditation or not, I still can't maintain the whole Zen thing." He snorted and smiled at the people behind her. She gave a small smile and focused on the girl beside Sam. She gave a friendly grin and held out her hand.

"I'm Quorra." She said excitedly, using the greeting Flynn had told her users do. The girl took her hand and shook it eagerly.

"I'm a user that accidentally ended up here I guess." She shrugged. Quorra nodded.

"Flynn told me." She stated. The user nodded and closed her eyes for a long moment, before opening them again. She found she was still tired. Flynn nodded in understanding.

"Quorra will show you your room later. First, dinner." He gave a smile. His footsteps echoed around the room as he padded towards the table and brought up a holographic image. After a few minutes of typing, the user figured he was coding some sort of roast dinner. How she knew was beyond her. But she knew all the same. Curiously, she stretched forward and brought up a similar holographic image on the floor. She typed away curiously and grinned, confirming the coding. Flynn looked up and shook his head in disbelief. A kitten sat on the floor in front of her. Flynn had tried many times to create animals but found he was unable to do so. She picked it up and cradled it to her, petting it's head.

"Flynn, what is that?" Quorra asked curiously. Sam chuckled.

"It's a cat, Quorra. Users keep them as company." He responded before Flynn could get his mouth open.

"I could never do that." Flynn managed to get out, still shaking his head in amazement. The user shrugged and put the kitten on the floor.

"At least I know I wasn't dumb." She muttered. Flynn chuckled and confirmed his own coding. The dinner appeared on the table and Quorra's face lit up. They all sat around the table quietly, kitten sleeping on the user's lap. The user glanced at Quorra and they both frowned at the awkwardness between Sam and his father.

"How old are you now, Sam?" Quorra asked, breaking the silence. Flynn interrupted before Sam could open his mouth.

"You should be...27." He concluded.

"Yes, 27." Sam confirmed quietly. The user shook her head but smiled at the two. Not seeing you father in 20 years must be horrible, but still incredibly awkward.

"And do you attend a college?" Quorra asked curiously. Flynn often spoke of such things. Sam nodded.

"Caltech." The answer made no sense to Quorra, but she nodded anyway. Flynn leant forward, leaning on his hands.

"Caltech." He murmured. He said something else that the user couldn't quite catch.

"Yeah. Until I dropped out." Flynn frowned but Quorra burst out laughing. The user snorted and buried her face in her hand when the other two smiled at her. Flynn looked at Quorra strangely and shook his head before talking to Sam again.

"Work? Job? ENCOM? Are you..,," He trailed off as Sam mumbled a no. ENCOM reminded the user of something but she disregarded it as unimportant.

"I check in once a year." Sam smirked. The user thought she may have had an idea of what he was referring to.

"Wife? Girlfriend?" Flynn began but was interrupted by Sam. Again.

"Dog. Marvin. A rescue." He smiled at Quorra. Flynn nodded.

"Dogs are cool." He murmured. Sam went back to poking at his food. Quorra looked between the two, thinking the silence was her fault. She looked guilty and she reached out, taking a sip of the cup in front of her. The user stifled a laugh at her expression and quickly took a sip of the blue liquid. It tasted similar to Sprite. Flynn had called it energy. "I'm sure you must have some questions of your own Sam." He stated, staring at his son. Sam looked back up at him.

"Just one." He murmured. Flynn nodded.

"Why I never came home." He confirmed. He then went on to tell Sam the same tale that he had told the user. Sam's face was neutral when he finished. The three of them moved outside and the user lost the end of their conversation, but it seemed they were arguing. Quorra looked down at the pool sadly before walking back inside.

"I'll take you to your room." She said quietly. The user nodded and followed her into the depths of the house.

-

'"Hello dearest." A voice growled. It was Flynn's voice. But there was something off about it. The user looked around suspiciously. He stepped forward. She back away and snarled at him. Clu stood in front of her, smirking. "Don't waste your breath." He murmured sweetly next to her ear. She shuddered in disgust. He reached out a hand and she flinched away. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." He whispered patronisingly.

"Get away from me you corrupted program." She hissed. His face contorted into anger. He punched her gut. She doubled over, wheezing as he kicked her to the floor.

"I'm not the corrupted one, little virus." He seethed, kicking her crumpled figure. She cried out as blood dripped out from her broken nose. "Imperfect." He snarled, punching her again. He kicked her again and she blacked out.'

"Wake up." Flynn shook the user's sleeping figure. She opened her eyes and the face of Clu loomed over her, the essence of the dream taking over. She reached up and punched his nose. He fell back against the wall, cupping his now broken nose. "Damn it that hurt. Man!" He groaned. The user cowered against the wall.

"I'm sorry Kevin. I thought you were Clu." She whispered after a few moments. He nodded in understanding.

"Just remind me never to get on your bad side." He grumbled. She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. "I woke you because Sam is missing. He went to find Zuse." He stated, looking extremely unhappy about it. Although the name Zuse was unfamiliar, the rest of the sentence made her shake her head.

"Knew this was gonna happen." She mumbled, getting up and putting on her jacket. Flynn frowned but remained quiet. The user walked into the main room and waited for him calmly. He stood next to her with Quorra. The platform disappeared down to the garage area. The user stood out and frowned at the Lightcar. She was definitely not going to fit in there with Quorra. Pushing a blonde strand of hair out of her face, she looked up at Flynn shyly.

"Do you have motorbikes?" She asked him. He nodded and pulled out a baton. First he pulled up the holographic image and typed at it for a few moments before handing it to her.

"Now you can drive it on this terrain." He stated. After demonstrating how she was to use it, he and Quorra hopped into the Lightcar. The drove out of the garage and the user ran forward. As soon as her feet lifted off the ground, a quiet clicking emanated from the baton. The bike formed around her legs and back and she landed with a thump. The purring of the engine relaxed her and she smiled as she drove along behind Flynn.

The End of Line Club loomed before the user and she pulled to a stop next to Flynn. She hopped off the bike and it turned into a baton again in her hand. There was a loud crash above and she looked up at the club suspiciously. Flynn and Quorra led her into an elevator and it went upwards quickly. At the top, they were greeted by another crash. The user looked out of the elevator to see a bunch of red and blue programs fighting with each other. And Sam was caught in the middle. She sighed and tripped a few of the red programs and they were then tackled by a bunch of user sympathizers. Flynn gave her a look.

"What?" She asked, smirking. He shook his head and went to help Sam. The blue and white programs began to attack and overpower the red ones; guards the user assumed were Clu's. The killed programs turned into a pile of what looked like glass but was actually pixels. She was thankful to Flynn for that explanation.

"This is cool." She grinned. Flynn shook his head and began to lead them out the elevator as the music in the club changed to a more dramatic tune. The elevator dropped down quickly and they exited at the bottom floor.

"We do it your way." Flynn breathed. "A full on sprint to the portal. If we beat Clu there, we have a chance." Sam nodded and they began to sneak out across the floor. The user walked behind them slowly and stopped when a loud rumbling caught her attention. It grew louder until the hair around her face blew into her eyes and her jacket fluttered. A recognizer loomed above her and she froze, mouth dropping open in surprise. Two guards came out and grabbed her. A sinking feeling settled in her stomach and she let them take her away.

Flynn stared at her sadly from behind the building. She gave him a pleading look; begging him to leave her and he disappeared behind it with the others. The recognizer took off into the distance, towards the arena.

When they landed, the guards went along the line of programs, saying either two things she couldn't quite catch. She gulped as the guard stopped in front of her. A quiet whirring came from under his helmet.

"Games." He said finally.

-

Ah, it's amazing how much better I feel after rewriting this. And this was a long chapter for me. Wow. xD