Chapter 2: Return, Pt. 2
Travis gazed at the costume-in-the-box before him. The Renegade Disk flared against the light of Argon's buildings. Silver and white gleamed against the glass mask that clamped Travis' face. Travis ripped off the mask and stared at it, no lens flares blocking his vision.
He carefully picked up the disk, holding it horizontally in both hands. It seemed fascinating to hold something that wasn't his, but at the same time, he felt he was violating somebody's private life. Beck had tons of memories on his disk, before tossing it into the Sea of Simulation, and Travis felt he was on a trail to another mystery. Travis winced as he pressed a Disk lock mechanism, and a life-size hologram rezzed in from the disk's core. A program, with a small amount of white and blue circuitry and a glowing white "D" on his chest, was the only object in the hologram. Delta. Travis stood up and drew his disk for good measure, not even activating it.
"Greetings, program," the Beck hologram spoke, Travis backing away in shock, "If you're receiving this message, that means you found my half of Tron's Disk. And that probably means that something's happening. Even if there isn't some crazy CLU successor running around-" Travis rolled his eyes at the irony of the message, "-there is still a lot of crime going around in Argon. And I'm not going to be there to fight all of it. Whoever you are, I need your help. This disk is the key. It's all yours. Be the hero, and make sure that the Renegade's name is kept alive." The hologram sank into the disk, Travis moving towards it. Picking it up, the disk was split halfway. Travis, hoping that the reward was greater than the risk, put the Renegade Disk on his back, and watched as the white suit took over a suit he knew so well.
And then, everything went white.
Travis looked around. A slate-white room surrounded him, with no evident walls to be seen. Looking down at his body, Travis noted that the Renegade costume had vanished, replaced with his civilian outfit.
"What the Users?!" Travis shouted, his voice echoing through his subconscious. "What's going on?! Where am I?!"
Travis sunk to his knees, pounding his fists on the invisible floor around him. A soft, mellow noise, the sound of footsteps, caught Travis' attention. Two boots, white in color, appeared in front of his confused face. Travis stared up as he saw Beck's hand take his and pull him up.
"You okay, kid?" Beck said, clapping the now-standing Travis on the shoulder. "Or should I call you Trav?" Beck raised an eyebrow as Travis scrunched his face in annoyance.
"That's a personal thing, Beck!" Travis shot back, "Now, you have some explaining to do! Why am I here? Why are you here?!"
"One at a time, Travis," Beck smiled, gesturing to the black void around him. "This is your subconscious. I created this place in your mind. When you attached my disk to yours, you allowed me to enter your memories. And now, as a side-effect, when wearing my Disk, you can use my memories."
"So... does this mean that I can use your fighting skills as well?" Travis asked meekly, hoping for a positive answer. Contrary, Beck shook his head. "Sadly, no. My fighting skills are something I taught myself. If you want to learn to fight, you need to teach yourself." Travis frowned, forcing Beck to laugh. "But... I can teach you to fight. I went into your most recent memories. There's a program called Concept, correct? And he's taken over the Grid, just like CLU?"
"Yeah, only he's a bit more benevolent to the public. On the personal level, he's more or less CLU to the squared." Beck nodded in understanding. "I feel guilty, though. I could have saved one of my friends from derezzing. I only needed a few more seconds to stop Concept. But I couldn't do it. I failed."
"And that means you have a responsibility, Trav," Beck bluntly pointed out, jabbing a finger into Travis' chest, "You have to make sure that Miranda's death doesn't go unnoticed. You can be the next Renegade. You can show Concept that he doesn't have the entire Grid to himself. But you need to be cautious. Keeping this secret will not be easy, especially around your friends."
"I can do this," Travis said, nodding in compliance, "I will do this. I promise. I'll find your consciousness a home, other than my mind. But I have a score to settle with Concept's forces first. And some explaining to do with Heliod."
"Be my guest," Beck said, fading away into the void. "But remember... be cautious. Concept's forces are new to me, and I don't know what kind of tricks they have." Travis nodded as color flashed back into his eyes. Black, white, a rainbow of colors bringing Travis back to Argon. Travis gasped, leaning forward for air, then sitting down on the nearest bench he could find. He had a lot to think about.
Next Cycle, GridTech Labs...
"What the Users happened to you, kid?!" Heliod snapped, as Travis strode into his lab and dumped the damaged equipment on the repair table. "I thought you were destabilized! Why didn't you contact me last Cycle?!" Travis sighed as he moved a box of tools to the counter next to his security feed.
"I... was held up." Travis knew that at least was true. "I don't have an excuse."
"Well, at least you're fessing up," Heliod muttered, flipping out a Conduit Spanner to inspect the prototype 6th Gen Light Bike Travis had designed. "Gregor just depleted 12% of our budget last night. And he even lied about it when I questioned him. He was experimenting with 100 megaton yield fragmentation explosives. I hate to do it... but I have to cut off Gregor's funding for these. They could prove dangerous if we're ever in trouble with Concept's forces, and they could prove useful to said Concept if he ever wants us to work for him. I know what kind of trouble Concept's forces would want."
"And how would you know about that?" Travis asked blindly, not taking his eyes off of his fission welder.
"I once worked with Able. We were once co-workers there, until I created GridTech, and he went his own path. Remember that merging a DecaCycle ago? We merged with Able's Garage. And they used to be forced to work for General Tesler and his forces." Travis looked up, reminding himself of the Renegade disk. "Speaking of which, what happened to the box you found last Cycle? I wanted to have a look at it's contents. Travis' pupils dilated, the question sending him through a quest to find an answer.
"I was gonna bring it up." Travis confessed, though the full statement was only half true. "I got separated from it during the accident. Sorry I lost it. Maybe even forever." True enough was that Travis had gotten aboard a Light Boat and dumped the suitcase, empty of it's contents, back into the Sea of Simulation, making sure it hit the coastal rocks.
"It's okay. I'll send a recovery team to search for it. In the meantime, you should start looking for a place to stay. I heard about what happened. I'm sorry, for both your home and Miranda." Travis gazed at the screen solemnly, BIT joining him in silence. Heliod nodded in understanding, closing the door on her way out. As soon as Travis was sure that Heliod was gone, he slipped a data chip from his equipment belt and plugged it in. "BIT, start the transfer process."
"YES." BIT remotely activated the screen, Beck's voice and body pictured out of it. "All right. Feels good to have some space. What I would give for some energy right now..."
"Not the right time for jokes, Beck," Travis sharply interrupted, "We need to find you another computer to keep your conscious in. You can't stay in there forever." Beck's eyes turned into a storm of panic, as Travis explained. "Heliod does a routine network sweep every MylaCycle. I could try putting you on an isolated system, but that wouldn't keep you hidden for more than another MylaCycle later."
"It's not like it'll make much of a difference, Trav," Beck said, "The longest my conscious has away from my disk is half a MylaCycle. By the time you establish a base, it'll be too late."
"What about the hideout you used when you were the Renegade? Wouldn't that keep your conscious stable?"
"That base is publicly known," Beck grimaced, "It would have worked had the Occupation not discovered it a while back. We need to prepare you while we can. In the meantime, I need you to take anything that may help you in the future. Take every baton possible, and everything else, the roadster and viruses are yours for the taking." Travis shook his and pounded the desk.
"Beck, you can't die out on me!" Travis wailed, tears hiding behind his eyes, "We'll find you a way to keep you alive! I promise!" Beck stepped back, and pointed a finger at him.
"Travis, I'm leaving my legacy in your hands. I need you to keep it for me. And don't worry. One of the things that made me a successful Renegade was going on missions that were my idea. I learned from each mistake I made, and I did better next time. Only this time, you'll be on your own for your entire career. Besides, one day you'll find the real me. And he'll help you. I promise."
Travis nodded, understanding what Beck was saying. "I'm sorry, Beck. I wish I could help, I really do. But now, I'm going to leave you alone for a while. I have some issues to work out with my home and energy situation."
"All right. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you get back." Travis nodded and exited the room. Beck, from behind his screen, sighed, not even knowing how much time he had left.
"Trav! Over here!" Travis followed the sound of Natalie's voice to a small booth, where his friend sat waiting. "There you are. Kinda wish you got here sooner."
"Sorry. Heliod was chewing at my cubes for an accident on the Raft." Travis slid into the seat, looking at the empty space across from him. "Where's Zek?"
"He said he was held up. Not to worry, at least your behavior is reliable this Cycle." As if on cue, a figure occupied the space. Zek grinned as Travis dubiously smiled in an awkward manner. "Sorry I'm late, guys," he replied to Travis' silent question, "I got held up at Argon Architecture. Since the you-know-what happened last night," Travis and Natalie looked at each other, frowning at the mention of Miranda's 'incident', but decided to play along on Zek's excuse, "They need a new head of Design and Building Placement. And guess who they picked to do it?"
"Wow! That's great, man!" Travis said, high-fiving his best friend, "I can picture it now... Zek, start growing a beard. That's the only part of my image you're missing, besides the heroic pose and explosion behind you." Everybody at the table cracked up, as Zek leaned forward and took a sip of his drink.
"So, Trav," Zek said, changing his lively face into a serious businessman look, "I hear you're looking for a place to stay. Natalie and I talked it over, and we decided you should stay at my place."
"What? No, I couldn't. I'm gonna play it fair and say I pay half the rent. At your place? I could barely pay a fifth of what half the rent is, let alone the full rent."
"Ah, don't clixel it." Zek shrugged and took another drink from his cup. "We've all been going through a lot these past few Cycles. The least I can do is..." Zek stopped as he noticed Travis wasn't paying attention. As Zek waved his hand in front of Travis' eyes, he turned around to see eight Enforcers stepping into the Club, and pushing a program's head into the counter as they walked by. Zek turned around to see Travis seething with genuine anger. His teeth were grinding enough that they could turn to dust, his pupils were shrunk to little pinpricks, and his eyebrows sunk deep enough that they formed a "V" in the ridge.
"I don't get it," Travis said, "The Enforcers are arresting homeless programs? That doesn't make any sense."
"They're probably repurposing them to serve in Concept's army," Natalie replied, gripping Travis' hand strong enough that he temporarily lost all feeling in it. "Either that, or they're sendin' programs to the Coliseum."
"Repurposing units were destroyed in the aftermath of the Grid Wars," Travis said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And forcing civilian programs to participate in derezz matches of the Games was banned shortly after. Something's up with Concept. And I'll prove it." Travis turned to Zek and held out his hand. "When can I move in?"
Zek didn't waste any time taking the hand.
Two Cycles later...
Travis lay on the bed of his room. Zek had been generous enough to give Travis a medium-sized bedroom, along with his own bathroom. The apartment that Zek lived in, and now with Travis as well, was large enough to fit about five programs comfortably, with the ability to accommodate about three more with little pressure. But Travis' large mind wasn't thinking about where he was living. More or less, he cared more about Beck's ghost-like entiry. He only had a couple of Cycles left before Beck was lost to whatever he was facing.
Sitting upright, Travis walked over to the disk and picked it up. The edge shone brightly, tempting Travis to strike something with it. He pushed back the urge, instead inserting the disk into his dock. White overtook black, becoming a frenzy of circuits and symbols, the only noticeable one being the "T" on his chest. His mask gripped his face as he jumped out the window towards his mission, rezzing in his Light Cycle. The first stop, however, would be GridTech Labs. Gregor had a small present waiting for him, that wasn't gift-wrapped with love. Still, it would suit his needs.
Travis slid behind cover of a Light Tank, avoiding the patrol of Enforcers marching in unison nearby. He cursed himself with not creating a black version of the suit, with minimal circuitry to boot. Then again, the recoder he had on hand was too flimsy for disk editing, and the stronger models were in a crowded area where he could be even more easily spotted.
Travis' Renegade suit dimmed it's circuitry as he slipped into the military base. How fast they had built it in half a millicycle disturbed Travis, but he paid no mind as he climbed up into the central dome, where dozens of Enforcers were resting from settling into Argon. Not that they had needed any rest at this point.
Through an air duct, Travis activated a Fragmentation Charge, one of the prototype models Gregor had designed himself. He felt like a thief, stealing somebody else's work, but this wasn't plagiarism. This was war.
As the charge counted down, it splintered in multiple smaller bombs, until a group of Enforcers noticed and shouted, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert. Threat within base!" Travis grinned sadistically as he leaped out the air duct, a large wave of fire and shrapnel erupting into the air.
Hiding behind a half-destroyed Light Tank, the Renegade sighed as Concept rushed towards the flaming ruins that were once his base. He swished his cape backwards to prevent the flames from spreading like contagion, and turned around to his men.
"Why aren't you idiots moving?!" He shouted to a large cluster of Sentries, who immediately rushed towards their designated structures. "This base will take MylaCycles to rebuild. Everybody, get to work!"
Travis jumped to the top of his Light Tank cover and shouted. "You know, it only took you half a MylaCycle to build it anyway! Why didn't you just put an insurance claim on it?!" Concept turned to face the voice and growled as he eyed the Light Suit in seething fury.
"You... you're the Renegade..." Travis turned to see civilians programs seeking a hiding place behind the riot barricades. "Sorry, but the Renegade isn't able to take your call right now, please leave Tron a message at the tone."
Travis' confident (and hidden) smirk quickly turned upside down as a baton bashed upside into his helmet. The Renegade turned to see the citizens of Argon throwing miscellaneous items at him, ranging from wrenches to bottles of energy.
"You're no Tron!" One program shouted, followed by a thousand more insults. "You're not Beck! You're nothing!"
"Why are you doing this?! We were fine until you came along!" Travis said nothing, as he mounted his Light Bike and sped off down the Outland Highway. Though it seemed he was fleeing, he turned off his circuitry and sped onto the cut-off leading back into Argon, fooling Concept's forces into keeping the chase on the main road.
Travis sighed, pulled back his helmet, and changed his costume back into his civilian outfit. He needed to speak with Beck. Next Cycle would be Beck's last. Seemed only fitting that a program go out with bad news. After all, that was how every other program derezzed. A bad way.
"...and that's about it." Travis concluded, swiveling his chair to face Beck's screen. "I think your costume's out of style. And it may just be that Concept had twisted the public mind."
"Well, the suit isn't exactly designed for stealth, Trav." Beck's voice was a soft hiss, intelligible enough that Travis could understand him. "You can edit the suit any way you think will help you adapt. Maybe add some new tech that you're building at GridTech. As for the public opinion... it won't change overnight. You have to earn their trust. And it won't happen over-Cycle. One person will change, and the domino effect will come in place. Be patient." A rupture of static burst from the stereo, and Travis tried to tune the microphone in sync.
"Beck! Still there?" Travis shouted. A cracked response that sounded like a 'yes' strained out from the stereo. Travis' eyes sunk and his voice darkened. "Beck?" He slammed the palms of his hands on the desk, then buried his eyes in those same hands. "Beck..." A dragon, as dead as a frozen star, floating in Travis' mind, spoke wearily so only he could hear.
"You know you could have saved him. All it took was one more try." But Travis ignored the freezing dragon, and shut off the screen. The least he could do was put Beck down, and take his misery away from him. Though he knew Beck was still out there, he was on his own for now.
Travis pulled on his jacket, gestured for BIT to follow him, and closed the door as he walked home.
The next Cycle; Zek and Travis' apartment, 909 Marrow St...
Travis looked at the disk, holding it in his hand. His closet was the only place he had to be in private, and Zek knew not to disturb him there, where the heights reached upward into the sprawling tower above. If he wanted one of his few friends and a deceased memory to be caught in history books, he needed to do this. He needed to become better than Beck ever was. And make that memory proud.
'Farewell, Beck. You may be leaving this world, but you won't be leaving it to a failure. I swear.'
Travis took out a recoder, one that was meant for disk editing, and made some basic adjustments that Beck recommended. And that would only be a beginning.
'I will become the Renegade. I'll make sure that I live up to the name you created.'
The modification was simple. If he wanted to be the Superior Renegade, then he would need a superior outfit. A simple V-shaped border split the suit between the T and the three long, blue circuits surrounding it, in a silvery shade of white. The rest was pitch black, most of the torso circuits gone. His secondary circuitry, on the void, were their former bright orange, shining the opposite of the blue on his white chest.
'But I'll use every resource in my reach to become better. Make sure this city becomes free. With your name and my actions, I will become Superior. But if I want to be Superior, I can't accept failure. I have to be flexible. I have to be free. No..."
Travis' suit rose across his body, only a few circuits being replaced. As the "T" shone on his chest, his helmet slid over on cue, sealing forever two things. His identity, and something even more important: his destiny.
'I have to be Unlimited.'
A/N: So I can imagine how many of you are out there freaking out. You're probably saying, 'Holy Crap, Beck's dead!' This was just an incarnation of Beck's subconscious, meant to temporarily guide Travis to victory. I wanted to make a character with a rough rise to responsibilty, who has to learn to be a leader by himself. I wanted to differentiate from Uprising by making Travis a program without a mentor, and he has to teach himself to become a true hero. So don't go flippin' out that Beck's dead. Because he's NOT. I don't want to give too much away, but he will reappear later on. Anyways, on a lighter not, I'm leaving for a school trip tomorrow, so you won't hear from me until Saturday. Okay, that's not too good either.
Oh, and if you don't remember, Heliod, Travis' boss, has a cameo in Tron: Aftermath. Go back to Chapter 24: REvolution. And if you're confused to what's going on, you're going to have to read from Chapter 12 of Aftermath to the Epilogue.
Next: Travis' teacher at Argon Institute, a Grid Wars veteran medic who lost his arm, begins to experiment with Codeworm DNA on himself, affecting him in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Travis begins fighting street crime as the Renegade, flashing his new tech as the Batman of the Grid.