Tron left soon after, much to Ram's displeasure. As the monitor brushed past, Ram caught him by the elbow, fingers wrapping around his arm tightly.
"Tron," he began, pleading in his eyes and voice. "Stay with me for a while."
The security program smiled tightly and gently unlatched himself from his friend. "I'll be back, Ram," he promised. He ruffled the little program's curls lightly and swept out the door, leaving Ram gazing dejectedly after him.
"Don't expect too much too early," Flynn said after a pause, watching the actuary from his doorway. "He'll come around eventually, but it's going to take some time."
Guilt washed over Ram. "I listened in to your conversation," he admitted sheepishly.
The User smiled sadly. "I know. I was hoping you would."
Ram sighed and hugged himself, nodding. Poor Tron. He wished he could help him properly, but without knowing the entire situation, it would be difficult to tell what he could or could not say. He knew more than he had previously, so he was slightly better off, but even so.
An idea slowly began to form and he turned back to the other.
"Flynn, is information in this system free? I mean, can everyone access it?" he asked.
Flynn considered. "Well, almost all of it is available to all Programs. There are some more specific coding details that can only be viewed with admin access as a safety protocol. Are you looking for something in particular?"
Yes. Ram bit down on his lip to keep himself quiet. "Nothing really specific. I just thought I might go check out an I/O tower and see for myself what's happened," he explained. "Even in the old system, they kept detailed records on everything that happened."
The User nodded. "Of course. I was going to rewrite a program or two, but if you like, I can take you to the closest tower."
"No, that's alright," the actuary replied quickly. "I'd rather go alone, and I don't want to get in the way of your work."
"Suit yourself. Don't get lost."
Ram waved once before stepping outside. The barren, unfriendly terrain of the Outlands greeted him and he glanced over towards where he knew the city lay. He couldn't see it from here. A rack of batons propped up beside the door caught his eye and he reached out to take one. A little marking on the end indicated it was that of a lightcycle and he smiled to himself. That was something he knew well. Ram launched himself forward and pulled the baton apart, watching the 'cycle rezz around him. It felt more comfortable on all sides than the previous design and the actuary was especially glad that he wasn't hunched over uncomfortably in an area too small for even him.
The 'cycle was one of a newer model that Flynn had been working on for some time, an all-terrain bike designed to function on and off the main Grid. It was faster than even the vintage that Clu had captured some cycles previously. It leapt forward, engine purring loudly as it spit out rocks from beneath the tires. Ram let out a shout of excitement, grinning as the wind whipped his curls every which way. There was something about riding a lightcycle that was so exhilarating, and the handling on this one was just beautiful. He sped happily across the rocky Outlands and glanced around, quickly spotting the closest I/O tower.
Even though the system was incredibly different from the one Ram had known, some things had to stay close to the same. The I/O tower was one of those things. Not necessarily that it looked the same, but that it was the same. All of Ram's functions heightened around it and it sent out the same tingly, crawly feeling.
One lightcycle ride later, Ram found himself gawking up at the tower. As he tucked away his baton, he couldn't help but wondering absently if his original User was aware that he'd been rebooted. He made a mental note to check if there were any messages left from him.
First things first, to see for himself what had happened in Flynn's system since its inception. This was the easiest place for programs to access information directly from the system. Ram approached one of the access panels glowing faintly on the walls and put his hand to it, closing his eyes and diving into the data stream.
At first, the sheer amount of information overwhelmed him and he faltered. Everything flickered oddly at the corners, and then, abruptly, he was fine. Ram relaxed and sifted through the data, easily finding the records of the system.
Apparently the system had been around since just after Ram's deresolution. He skimmed through the origins of the system, rather pleased to find that Tron had always been an integral part of everything. There was also another there had had helped Flynn and Tron. Codified Likeness Utility, or Clu.
Things went wrong somehow. Clu was corrupted and went rogue. Threatened Flynn and supposedly killed Tron.
Ram shivered violently.
Tron, repurposed by Clu into the Black Guard known as Rinzler. Rinzler, Clu's right hand man, head of the Black Guards…ruthless killer. Slaughtered thousands in the Games, which were once again turned barbaric, and actively participated in the annihilation of the programs known as ISOs. The genocide of a peaceful people, an extremely unique race that Flynn had been delighted with and Clu had felt threatened by.
Flynn forced into exile with the very last of the ISOs. Quorra. Rinzler searched for them on Clu's orders but never managed to find or capture them. Assisted in the rectifying of millions of programs, again on Clu's orders. Captured the last ISO and brought her to Clu, knowing she faced a fate worse than death.
Yet Sam Flynn had saved her, saved them all. Oddly enough, his life had been spared upon initiation into the Grid during the Games by the same Rinzler.
Rinzler attacked and fired on Sam, Quorra, and Flynn. At the pivotal moment, however, he'd fought back. He turned on Clu. Flynn reintegrated the rogue program and miraculously survived. Yet the program he pulled out of the Sea of Simulation was no longer Rinzler, but Tron. He'd emerged horribly scarred, unable to face what he'd done.
Ram staggered backwards, reeling with the overflow of information. This was what Tron hadn't wanted him to know. He almost wished he hadn't sought out the truth himself. It was agonizing to face.
Tron…Tron derezzing millions of innocents…He wouldn't….
Ram's breath came in fast and uneven as he trembled. His circuits sparked and flickered uncertainly. It was too much to take in. Too much too compute. His eyes fluttered back into his head and he shut down, collapsing onto the cold ground
Some immeasurable time later, Ram blinked awake, sitting up with a soft groan. An unfamiliar system monitor was kneeling beside him, but they were all unrecognizable with the black helmets that hid their faces from view. He instinctively scanned the program's chest, almost relieved to discover that it wasn't Tron.
"Are you functional?" the monitor asked with a hint of concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ram muttered, massaging his temples. In all honesty he felt awful, oddly weak and shaky. "I think I tried to upload too much information at once."
"You are Ram?" the stranger guessed.
The actuary blinked and nodded. "Yeah," he replied, a little confused.
"I am Anon. Flynn sent me after you."
Oh. Ram nodded again and wondered how long he'd been shut down. Silently, Anon held out a hand for Ram and helped pull him upwards. The actuary gave the other a small smile of thanks.
Now that he thought about it, that had been rather odd. Ram had never been prone to fainting spells and he'd been designed to handle larger amounts of information. That shouldn't've been enough to initiate a shut down. He must just be still adapting to being so newly rerezzed. That might have been too great a strain simply because he was so fresh in this system, not to mention the information had been so deeply personal. That had to be it. There was no other logical explanation.
As he stepped out of the tower, Ram had the oddest feeling that there was something else he had wanted to do here, but he couldn't think of what it was.
Ram felt very strange after that, still unsteady and shivery. Anon, who he had learned had also been recently rerezzed, escorted him back to Flynn's place before returning to duty with Tron. Ram gave him a small smile goodbye before retreating back inside to Flynn.
The User smiled brightly at the actuary as he entered, which was only just barely returned with a shadow of his usual energy. That was unusual. Immediately Flynn was concerned.
"Everything okay?" he asked, watching the other closely.
"I don't know," Ram replied honestly, slumping down into a nearby chair.
"Did something happen?"
The program shrugged. "Just exploring the system," he mumbled. "I think I'll go power down for a while."
Flynn sighed and nodded. Obviously he wasn't getting anything out of Ram today. "Go ahead."
Ram trudged off to the room that was temporarily his, feeling the worried eyes of the Creator on his neck all the way there.
Tron sighed to himself as he sped along on his lightcycle, hardly concentrating on where he was going. Ram's expression when he'd walked away…Tron wished he could explain to him that he was just trying to protect him.
He knew that eventually he would have to tell Ram everything. Ram was not unintelligent and was one of the most stubborn programs Tron had ever encountered. He would know something was wrong, if he didn't know yet, and he wouldn't stop until he knew exactly what was going on. Tron could only sidestep his questions and sympathetic faces for so long, and avoiding him completely was out of the question. That would only serve to hurt them both, not to mention it would upset Flynn.
He derezzed his 'cycle and approached the silent squadron of monitors. Most of them had been, until very recently, Black Guards, and had worked beneath Rinzler at some point. And as difficult as it was for all of them to move past that, there was no denying that they functioned very well together.
Tron stopped, facing the line of programs, and planted his hands on his hips.
"Report," he ordered.
One of the monitors stepped forward. "Rumors of a virus have been confirmed."
"User," Tron swore under his breath, his scowl deepening. "Continue."
The program stepped back, only to have another monitor take his place. He was the only unhelmeted one of the lot, long black hair only partially hiding the thin scar that ran vertically from brow to chin. "It takes only a half millicycle before total infection is complete. The source is still undetermined. It appears to be originating from something considerably less conspicuous than the Abraxas virus and more like a corrupted data particle, though it is still powerful. Corrupted programs are two point seven five times stronger after infection."
Tron took it all in quietly, nodding. "Alright. Split into groups of two or three and take a Recognizer. Those should be able to locate infected programs. Retrieve all corrupted Programs and take them back to containment centers one and two. Use more if necessary."
He looked them over, assessing.
"Anon, you're with me. You have your orders. Commence."
There was a moment of hesitation. Then the scarred program spoke.
"Tron, wouldn't it be better to simply derezz them? Infected programs are only destructive and very dangerous to the system. Containing them would only be a waste of space."
A ghost of a smile crossed Tron's face. It was actually nice to hear some objection after working alongside the Black Guards for so long.
"We've derezzed too many programs. These are good people who've been corrupted against their will," he replied firmly. "Flynn may be able to help them, and we aren't using those facilities for anything at the moment. But I do appreciate you speaking up, Norton. We're stronger when we can talk these things out. Are there any more questions?"
No one spoke and the head of the monitors nodded in satisfaction. "Alright. Time is of the essence. Now get going."
