"Wait, wait wait wait," it's Serax that's stopping me, "you seriously planned to pull a disc on a member the Black Guard, while cornered in a cell under the game grid, with minimal battle upgrades, on a single power boost?" The look on his youthful face is rueful and disbelieving.

I lean across the table towards him, folding and elbow and laying my right arm across it so I can get as close to his face as possible over it's rounded, glassy surface. Empowered by my story, I'm loosening up now for the first time in cycles, and aiming for dramatic effect. My playful side, to my surprise, appears to still be alive.

"Serax, you baby program you. I did pull a disc on the Black Guard. While cornered. In a holding cell." His eyes widen, and I'm smiling at him rather wickedly, with no exposed teeth, the corner of my mouth pulled far, far up on the left side. I lift an eyebrow and look at him as if I'm daring him to question me.

His expression falls flat, and he leans back in his chair as if he's suddenly uncomfortable being so close. I feel a little thrill run through me, and know my circuitry is probably glowing just that much brighter with the fun I'm having dispelling his attitude.

Still smirking, I say:

"Now, if you'll believe it, I'll tell you how that went for me. And if you pay very close attention, you might even learn something."

Several of the older members of our group, excluding Radi, laugh. Since most of us have a history with an exceptional amount of trauma involved, and the rest of us are being broken down by the reality of this new, leaderless grid, it's the dry laugh of programs who have almost forgotten how laughing is done. Still, it's a laugh. And their faces are engaged, and if not happy, at least clear and processing, not withdrawn and dwelling on our dark, collapsing world or the violence that permeates the city outside.

Serax crosses his arms and looks at me as if he's scanning me.

"I'm not sure if you have a glitch in that self preservation code you mentioned, or if you're just senile," he says. There's awe in his voice under his facetious tone.

My eyes narrow, and I almost move out of my chair.

"Program, did you just call me old?"

I'm joking. Of course I'm old, regardless of how I look. And he's joking, too. But the look of terror that suddenly lights in his face when he misinterprets me as beings serious is enough to knock me backwards into my chair with laughter. It's an amazing feeling; if a little bitter because of my sense of its absence for the last several hundred cycles.

He scowls at me in chagrin. At this, other programs in the bar outside of our exclusive group begin to loosen up as we. Smiles and laughter lighten the room in a literal sense as circuits pulse a little brighter for the first time since Clu's reintegration.

I look around the table. Radi is smirking, and that's the closest thing she has to a smile. Greshim's expression is as blank and introverted as usual, but his eyes are soft and bright. Serax is grinning at me sheepishly with closed lips and shaking his head, while Ti wraps her hands around the bicep of his crossed arm and giggles at him. Mav, too, is relaxed far back in his chair, his newness to our circle forgotten as he watches the goings on. He's not exactly smiling, but his young face is clearly amused.

I look over Serax's shoulder and see that even the hooded stranger in the back has taken notice of the lifting atmosphere. In place of the cold, hard, line of a mouth there is now the hint of a smile. It's just an echo; tired and heavy, but it's warm. I don't suspect he even realizes that I'm looking or that I noticed. That hidden little smile is nice though, somehow, done just a little more so with one side of his mouth than the other . . .

Author's note: Ten chapters went fast! Sheesh! Thanks to all of you who have signed up for story alerts, favorited this, or REVIEWED! I hope to have plenty more coming, but the writer's block is starting to rear its ugly head, so keep your fingers crossed. (Actually, it's not writer's block so much as me reeeeaaallly just wanting to skip ahead to a certain purring, helmet wearing badass, but same difference.)

Or, if you'd like to help me, out, I'm trying to put together a playlist to listen to as I write this, and your suggestions are totally welcome if you have any. Thanks!

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