Chapter Six
The words sent shivers of fear and rage through Beck.
Finish what I started.
Clu knew that he would be taken down, eventually. So, he must have known that he would still have loyal supporters out there. Beck had to wonder how Dyson had grown so powerful in such a short amount of time. Or maybe Dyson had this kind of power long before Clu was taken down. Either way, he wanted to end this now more than ever.
"So, we take down this Dyson character, and everything goes back to normal," Clint suggested.
Beck highly doubted things would ever be back to normal. With Mira under Dyson's control, there was no telling how she would act when she was finally freed. He could only imagine how it was going to feel, suffering from the effects of repurposing and struggling to recover from them. Tron never talked about it, and Beck could understand why – it couldn't be easy to see everything that had happened and have no control over it.
She's going to blame herself for everything that's happened, he thought bitterly.
Mira didn't deserve any of what happened to her in the first place. Programs had hated her for her very existence when Clu was in power. A few programs still believed in his ways, even after everything she had done for them. There was no telling how this would effect the others when they found out she was behind all of these recent attacks.
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Tron sighed as he too must have wished the same thing. "If Dyson really does have his hands on Mira, we're in bigger trouble than I'd like to admit. It's going to take all of us to take him down."
"Not to mention he'll have the place heavily guarded," Natasha put in knowingly. "Dyson's smart enough to know when to strike and when to hide."
Which wasn't entirely surprising. Considering Dyson had known when Beck was ready to set off those smoke bombs when he was visiting the city, he suspected Dyson would always keep one eye or ear opened.
He crossed his arms as he considered what they should do next. Finding Dyson wouldn't be easy. Finding Mira would be almost impossible with the modifications she had on her disk, and Beck couldn't shake off the feeling that Dyson had given her even more modifications.
"You know, as much as I hate to say it, security monitor over here's right," Clint sighed in annoyance. Beck only rolled his eyes at that. Saying that had to hurt. He was well aware of Clint's pride, which often got in the way of SHIELD's missions, from what Mira had told him. "We can't do this without working together, and so far, we haven't done anything useful."
"I'm in."
Beck tried not to smirk when Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose. If anyone could take down Dyson it was them. They were after all master assassins. This was what they were trained for. He wasn't one to derezz programs, but they would not hesitate.
If Dyson had gathered intel on SHIELD, it would give these Users all the more reason to fight back. But, he had a feeling they were doing this for more than just SHIELD. They did care for Mira, much as either of them would try to deny it.
"I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing," Clint retorted. "Especially if there's a chance we can stop this Dyson once and for all, and save Mira."
Impatient as always. Once again, Beck had to remind himself that if Tron wasn't around they probably would have rushed off to fight by now. He was surprised they were able to follow Tron's orders at all at this point.
Then again, there was a time when he would have rushed off blindly into a fight if it meant protecting the people he cared about. He had been impatient himself back when he first became the Renegade. But that all changed thanks to Tron's training. He knew better than to go off without any experience, or without some kind of backup plan.
"We can't just jump blindly into battle, not when we don't know just how strong our enemy is," Tron muttered as if he'd read Beck's mind.
Though, Beck didn't miss the doubt in Tron's voice.
Beck couldn't shake off the feeling that Tron was blaming himself for what had happened to Mira. He was the one who had blamed himself for all of these cycles, and he couldn't help but wonder if things would ever get any better from here on. The real problem was, Mira was stronger than anyone Beck had ever faced in combat. True, Natasha could still beat her in a sparring session if she had the tactical advantage. But, hand-to-hand combat was a completely different story.
Clint looked like he was ready to argue when he thought better of it. Tron did have a good point. Though by now, they knew full well what Dyson was capable of. If he could repurpose a User, Beck had a feeling he was far more dangerous than anyone previously thought.
"The files I grabbed have locations on all of the bases he has," Natasha explained once the tension died down.
Tron raised an eyebrow as she tossed him the files she had picked up. Beck rose an eyebrow in surprise when he noticed the files in question Natasha pulled up. Most of them were scattered throughout the Grid, surrounding the Outlands.
Getting to them would be easier said than done, he frowned at the thought.
"If what you're saying is true, then Dyson could be anywhere," Tron sighed.
He sounded more exhausted than ever. Beck wondered if he had even gotten an ounce of sleep since Argon City was destroyed. It had been difficult to get much sleep since then. He was constantly wondering how anyone could let this happen. Fate worked in cruel ways, and Beck suspected this would have happened no matter how they tried changing its course.
"Or, he's giving us a false lead," Beck put in.
It was possible Dyson could only have a couple of bases, and make it seem like there were more scattered throughout the Grid. Anything to throw off intruders. But, those bases would also be crawling with soldiers who were willing to defend the bases with their lives.
"I should be able to pick out whether or not that's true," Tron told him once the computer screen was pulled out.
Even if communication was taken down, he could still access most of the files on the Grid. Beck watched with interest as he sifted through the files, careful to avoid spilling any secrets to the Users standing behind him. Keeping secrets from super spies was easier said than done, especially as far as Natasha was concerned.
Tron finally reached what looked like an archive of files. Tapping on a few codes here and there, his eyes narrowed with frustration.
"There's three bases?" Natasha's question broke the uneasy silence that filled the room.
"There's three main bases," Tron corrected her. He glanced at the two Users. "This is going to be dangerous. Dyson likely already knows we're looking for him, and the bases will be heavily guarded," he explained. "We'll have to split up."
"Sounds easy enough," Clint replied with a shrug.
Easy? Beck raised an eyebrow at his confidence. He wished he could have a boost of confidence at this moment. Right now, the odds seemed to be against them. He knew that Mira would be there, fighting on Dyson's side until they could break whatever hold he had over her.
"Take this, you can use it to defend yourself." Tron tossed over a baton towards Natasha, who caught it with ease. She eyed the baton warily before activating it. "It's a light sword, and it should serve you well in battle," he explained.
Beck felt his chest tighten with pain at the sight. He really wished that he knew where Mira was. If anything had happened to her… he would never forgive himself. And seeing Natasha with a light sword reminded him all too well of her.
…
She ran a finger through her hair, nervous about what would happen next. The team had regrouped outside of what was left of Argon City. And while they were waiting for Copper's return, Mara was left thinking of which city would become the next target.
"Hey, Mara," Zed murmured as he joined her warily. Mara tried not to look wary around him. Despite how often she had turned him down back when Clu was ruling the Grid, Mara couldn't help but love the bitbrain. He just didn't know how to talk to her without making things awkward between them. "You okay?"
"Honestly, I'm worried," she admitted with a sigh. Zed raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I wish that Beck was around. He would've known what to do next in this kind of situation, even if he was the Renegade. We don't even know what happened to him."
Zed nodded in agreement at the thought of their old friend. Since the discovery that Beck was the Renegade, and that he had conspired with a User, everyone at Able's garage had stopped talking about him. Rumors had spread like wildfire that Beck ran off with that User, and the two had fled the system. Though, Zed had always pushed the rumors aside as they were.
He couldn't see Beck having a girlfriend. At least not anymore than he could see himself with Mara.
Yet, he recalled the girl Beck had been with back when the curfew had been lifted. The girl hadn't said much during her time with them, and Zed had always felt a little nervous around her in their short time together. Then Beck finally admitted that the same girl who was with him had been the User who sacrificed herself so that the three of them could escape Clu's clutches.
The more he thought about it, the more he began to realize just how wrong he was. It was clear that Beck had always cared about that User. While he never admitted it out loud, Zed saw it the moment he mentioned he was going to Tron City to rescue her.
"You don't think he was derezzed, do you?"
The question made Mara flinch on instinct. She hated the word 'derezzed'. After watching so many programs suffer for so many cycles, Zed didn't blame her for hating it. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that talking about Beck being derezzed was the last thing he wanted or needed.
"No, I refuse to believe that he was," she retorted. "I mean, Beck was the Renegade! There's no way he would let himself get derezzed."
Able chose that moment to join in, raising an eyebrow when he heard what his employees were talking about.
"Mara, Zed, there are things about Beck that you would never understand," he sighed, referring to the fact that Beck had protected the User they were talking about.
"But, Able, what about that User he was with?" Zed asked this time, his eyebrows furrowing as he remembered seeing the girl Beck was with all those cycles ago. "I mean, she's probably the one who influenced him to fight back in the first place."
The old mechanic let out a sigh and pulled up a seat, gesturing for the two of them to join him.
"What I'm about to tell you, is something I'd hoped to never share," he explained warily. "Before I do, you need to promise me you won't tell anyone about this."
"You can trust us, Able," Mara replied in a firm voice.
Zed also chimed in about being more than trustworthy.
"The User that was with Beck isn't like any other User I've ever seen," Able explained. "I've met Flynn once, and that was through chance… she was nothing like him. Her behavior and attitude threw me off at first, but Beck finally explained to me why she acted that way."
Mara and Zed stared at Able in appalled horror as he retold the story of how Mira had become who she was over the xilacycles. It was Beck who told him her story after everything was said and done. By the time Able was finished talking, Zed looked as if he was going to be sick.
Guilt suddenly swept through him as he recalled how many times he'd cursed Users for the rotten luck he used to suffer from. He could already picture the girl that had been with Beck all those cycles ago. She hadn't seemed cold and distant towards them. But it was clear from the way she looked at them that she had been through some kind of trauma.
"I… I knew that Clu was cruel, but I didn't think he was that cruel," he sighed once Able had let this story sink in. "And all this time, Beck was protecting her."
Mara frowned when she realized where Zed was going with this.
"He was protecting her from us!" she gasped in disbelief. Zed looked at her in confusion. "Think about it, Zed. You wouldn't have hesitated to turn her in the microcycle you found out she was a User. I'm sure I wouldn't have either!"
Mara couldn't help but feel guilty as she realized why the girl Beck was with had seemed so cold and distant towards them. Her fear and lack of trust was more than understandable. But, the more she thought about it, the more she wondered why Able would only tell them this now.
The odds of Able telling them now were slim. She couldn't shake off the feeling that he wouldn't have told them in the first place if none of this had happened.
Not that I don't blame him after what she went through, she thought bitterly.
She suddenly wished that she could take everything she said about the User back. There was a time when she admitted that Users didn't belong on the Grid. But, if it wasn't for Users, the Grid wouldn't even exist.
"That girl has something to do with these attacks, doesn't she?" Zed asked if he had read her mind.
Once again, Able sighed and confirmed their suspicions with a reluctant nod.
"Not on purpose, I'm sure," he told them before they could jump to conclusions. "Mira is… a complicated User. One who if in the wrong hands could easily destroy the Grid, if given the chance."
"Able, Copper went missing when we sent out patrols to warn the other cities," Mara sighed after realizing he was probably right. She couldn't help but wonder if things had worked out differently, had they known about this earlier. "He should have come back, but…"
She paused and let this sink in, Able's eyes widening in alarm.
"All we can do now is hope that Tron gets his act together," he said. "And we can only hope that those two Users with him know what they're getting themselves into."
Mara bit the bottom of her lip after realizing that Able was right. She knew that Copper was capable of getting himself out of this mess. The Users that were with Tron… she had a feeling that they were on the programs' side, despite everyone's earlier presumptions. Right now, hope was all they had. And that was all Mara could do at this point.
