Chapter 9

The Renegade woke up, he saw Mara working on his code, and Zed was watching her. "Hi." The Renegade said casually. Zed and Mara looked up. "Oh hi," Mara said pleasantly with a smile. "You okay?" The Renegade answered briefly. "Yeah, never better."

Mara cleared her throat nervously, the Renegade looked at her. "Are you guys okay?" He asked them. Zed and Mara glanced at each other briefly. "We need to confess something." Mara said. "Okay." The Renegade responded casually.

Mara looked up at the Renegade's masked face. "We know that you're not responsible for Able's death." The Renegade tilted his head slightly to the side. "Did you look at my memories or something?"

Mara looked at the Renegade's disk in her hand. "It wasn't on purpose, I was just going to access your code, and then Zed walked up from behind and unintentionally startled me, causing me to drop the disk." Mara looked back up. "A memory came up, showing you confronting Cyrus, who I assume is the one who killed Able."

The Renegade nodded. "Yeah, Cyrus is one… crazy program." Zed looked at the Renegade with a quizzical look. "Did he… by chance, also be the program that blew up that shop and terrorize the girl? Because in the memory, he had the suit."

Beck responded carefully. "That's my theory, he had the suit; and he seemed dedicated to throw my reputation off balance… yeah, he hates me." Mara asked him a question of her own. "What happened to make him hate you so much?"

"Er…" The Renegade obviously didn't want to talk about it. He strangely started fiddling with his wrists. "It's okay; you don't really have to tell us. All that matters is that we know that Cyrus is a threat." Her eyes widened. "I don't think Beck knows about Cyrus!" She said quickly looking at Zed, who also had a panicked expression on his face.

The Renegade quickly responded. "Oh no, don't panic! Beck already knows; if you haven't noticed, he never really liked Cyrus from the start." Zed and Mara relaxed a little.

The other rebels started to walk into the room they were in. "Hey guys!" Dash says almost immediately. "We didn't interrupt anything, did we?" Copper asks. The Renegade looks at Copper. "No, it's fine."

Everyone was crowded around the Renegade. Zed and Mara were quiet, working on the Renegade's code. "So, what's the plan?" Link asks. The Renegade glances at Zed and Mara briefly.

"Well, for starters," He said, getting up. "We need to stop and think for a moment, reflect on what's happened lately." Everyone stares at him strangely. The Renegade explains further.

"A lot has happened out of the usual for me, as it may have for everyone else and I, well... need to take time off to refresh myself and practice my combat and light cycle skills. It would also be very good for everyone's well-being."

Dash leans over to Mara. "Do you think you should check his disk to see if there's anything mentally wrong going on up here?" He asks while tapping his head with a finger. Mara glared at him, then shook her head. He'll never understand. She thought.

Zed shoots him a look. "He's still injured!" He says sharply. Dash abruptly backs up, and says. "Okay, take it easy." Mara quickly changes the subject. "Ha! Finally! You're completely healed." She says as she stands up and hands the Renegade's disk back.

"Um… thanks." The Renegade said as he docked his disk back into place. He glanced at everyone else before speaking. "I really do suggest that you all take a break, at least for a couple of cycles."

The Renegade backed up before rezzing his light cycle, leaving everyone in the warehouse; with questionable expressions on their faces.

"Well… the Renegade seemed a little more laid back than I expected." Dash commented before sitting down. Mara looked at Dash. "Didn't you hear a thing that 'Tron' just said? The odds are obviously not in his favor and he needs to take a break. Is that too much for him to ask for?!"

"Relax Mara." Zed said calmly while sitting next to her. "You and I both understand what the Renegade said and I'm sure the others understood part of what he said as well." He said as he shot Dash a sharp glance.

"Hey, I'm just a little suspicious of him." Dash said. "I think he's hiding something... something big."

…

Beck rode through the outlands. His white suit still glowed brightly from the white and teal-blue circuits. Like Tron suggested before he left, Beck was riding the light cycle course. This is now the third time he had ever ridden on this path.

The first two times didn't end well, which made Beck nervous. He was approaching the canyon quickly. Beck turned towards the ramp that Tron always used to jump the gorge. He felt the surge of excitement as he went airborne; he felt it all in slow motion.

He reached the other side and landed with a swerve, the way Tron always did. "Well, that was easier than I thought." And if Beck could manage jumping an oversized gorge, he couldn't even imagine the things he could accomplish later.