Wow, I know what everyone's thinking right now. "Hey, where've you been?" I...have been occupied with homework...and my own little read-a-thon - oh, and memorizing my script for speech. Yeah...wrote this whole thing up yesterday with the decision to post it on New Year's Day (Sorry it's not Tron Tuesday as usual). So...enjoy! :)

Chapter 10 – The Next Job

Beck's POV

"So then, that other Program came over and said-" Zed drawled out with a big goofy grin on his face. Beck could've sworn he could feel the pride and smugness radiating off his new friend.

Good for him.

Beck sighed and braced his elbow on the table's surface, his cheek rested on his fist. He wasn't in the mood to be here, he felt like his brooding was doing nothing but keeping others down. It's better off he spent more of his time alone…if only Mara would allow that.

The young Program stared at the flawlessly smooth surface that reflected back his own image. He was never left alone…unless everyone was sleeping, to reboot their systems so they'd have enough energy to keep everything cheerful and happy.

As of late, Beck just hadn't been able to keep Ally out of his head. Sure, they only knew each other for up to twenty cycles, but…he genuinely enjoyed her company while it lasted.

But it just wasn't enough.

Gage just had to come along and ruin everything. Beck thought bitterly as he down the rest of his energy. Just a few Micros earlier, Bodhi had asked Beck what had him down that cycle but the young Program refused to answer. When it became clear that no one was going to leave him alone that easily, Beck had snapped at Bodhi, rudely asking if he had some other Program to bother instead.

Needless to say, whatever happens later wasn't going to be fun for the ex-gangster. Beck just wanted time alone to continue sorting through his thoughts and emotions. He wanted peace to grieve over his loss.

As of late, Beck had made it past denial but was stuck constantly shifting between depression and anger over what had happened back in Neon. Honestly, the young Program wasn't sure what possessed him to get so attached to Ally, but there was something different about her.

Despite the female Program's young age, she seemed to hold knowledge and wisdom beyond what most were capable of; those sparkling blue eyes seemed to pierce through Beck's very code, like she could see everything. Then there was her personality, how she was never too quick to judge Beck…even after she found out he was a Crim, and no matter the situation, she'd always attempt to lighten the mood or make others feel better.

To Beck, Ally always seemed so upright, wholesome, pure, yet so strong and capable.

It was a pity, really, how all of that was wasted, torn away from Beck and blown to bits. Beck felt that he'd never be able to experience what Ally taught him ever again – at least, it wouldn't be the same.

"-eck? Beck?" Fingers snapped in front of Beck's face and he blinked, and then shifted his glare from the table up to Zed's face. His friend's proud smile started to fade from the expression he was fixed with. Clearly the story about witnessing a very flimsy old Program telling off a bigger, buffer Program was no longer amusing enough to stand a chance against Beck's negativity.

It's not like Beck was intending to hurt anyone's feelings, he just wanted to be left alone. Too bad no one else saw it his way.

"Are you okay, Beck?" Mara's worried gaze entered Beck's field of vision. Those innocent aqua blue eyes seemed to pierce the young Program, threatening to make him bleed out everything, all the negativity, anguish, and loss he was feeling. Mara's gaze almost seemed to give comfort and reassurance, to tell him that everything was okay now, that he could share anything.

Beck sighed and dropped his gaze. No one deserved to be burdened with his own problems. It wouldn't help anyone if he brought up the topic of that mess, it would only refresh his pain by saying it aloud. This was just the kind of thing Beck needed to sort out on his own. He felt that he'd be able to get past all of this one cycle, when he was ready.

He just needed to be strong and push through. Despite knowing Ally for a short amount of time, he was familiar enough to the female that he knew she wouldn't want him hung up over her, that she'd want him to move on eventually. As of late, he just didn't have enough mental capacity to push past the recent problems yet.

It's only been a MylaCycle since the accident and so far he'd moved to another City (a remote one at that), gotten a new job to use his natural talents, and he'd gained three new friends.

Gazing back into Mara's intense aqua eyes, Beck felt guilty. Any other Program would be grateful for what he had at that moment, yet he wasn't satisfied. Here he was, sitting in a club, glaring at a table and thinking about what he didn't have.

Ally wouldn't want that. Beck knew it but he didn't know how to push past his ungrateful thoughts. He couldn't just ignore his problems…could he?

Beck sighed yet again and sat up straighter. "I think…I want to dance." His sentence started out sounding strong and firm but then he'd paused and started trailing off in a quieter, unsure tone.

Wow, very confident. He berated himself for sounding so stupid. He wanted to dance? When did that come up?

Yet Mara's concerned frown turned into a goofy smile. Clearly she hadn't expected that. "Well maybe," She started as she used her unbelievably strong arms to haul Beck to his feet, "You should ask Bodhi." She narrowed her eyes playfully, "Or are you going to be a big grump to him all night?"

She's always right. He knew he was a jerk to Bodhi earlier and clearly Mara was more interested in hearing Zed's goofy stories over and over again.

Beck found it kind of annoying how it seemed that Mara was telling him how to have fun, ordering him of what he should and shouldn't do, but then again, it was called for. Near the top of this things-to-do-list, he had to make up with his friend that he'd sneered at.

With another exasperated sigh, Beck stood up from the booth he sat in with Zed and Mara and looked around for his friend. He spotted Bodhi leaning against a wall with a bored look, merely watching the Programs on the dance floor.

The poor guy looked like he was waiting for anything more interesting to happen. Beck started nudging his way between Programs among the crowd to get to his friend. They really needed to sort this mess out and the more Beck thought about what he said, the more guilty he felt.

Ally was right; he's too much of a softie to be a Crim. At least that somewhat made him feel better – he wasn't a codeless monster.

"Hey," Beck tapped Bodhi on the shoulder and his friend glanced over at him with a smirk.

"I figured you'd get bored with yourself too after a while," Bodhi said with a mere shrug.

Ouch. Beck knew he had that one coming. The young Program pushed past the stinging insult and swallowed his pride just for that moment. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said," He started, "I was just a little upset over something that I haven't put behind me. That's all. I didn't intend to take anything out on you, man."

"Meh," Bodhi shrugged a shoulder, "I get that way sometimes. I accept your apology." He looks at Beck with a grin. "But I get the feeling you didn't come over here just to apologize, so what's up?"

Beck shrugs awkwardly, "Well, when I told Mara that I felt like dancing, she kind of told me that you'd probably be in a better mood for it than her."

Bodhi snickers. "So tell me, Beck, what are your thoughts about Mara?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean her behavior. Is it refreshing or what?" Bodhi laughs.

Beck shifts uncomfortably at the thoughts going through his head. "I swear, sometimes from the way she looks at me, it feels like she's staring into the very center of my coding. Makes me shudder sometimes."

Bodhi tries to stifle his chuckles but fails miserably, as it turns into uncontrollable hiccups of laughter.

The young Program sighs, feeling annoyed and a little exasperated. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh it up, man. You make me feel great inside, you know that?" He tells his friend with poisonous sarcasm.

"No, I was just worried that it was only Zed and myself that felt that way around her. I tell you, Beck, she can be scary sometimes." Bodhi snuck a glance at the blue-haired girl sitting by the awkward Program and shook his head slowly. "And she's an expert at manipulation, even if she doesn't know it. I think Able sees that in her too; she'd make a great leader someday…just not now, she's too scary for her own good."

Beck felt it was his turn to laugh and Bodhi shot him a dirty look. "It's true and you know it," Bodhi hissed and folded his arms with a pout.

"You wanna dance?" Beck asked out of the blue when he stopped laughing.

Bodhi gave Beck a mock bow, "After you, milady," He snorted, which earned a playful shove on Beck's part. "I mean, yes sir." He gave Beck an exaggerated salute instead and laughed when his friend looked at him weird. "Alright man, let's have some fun." Beck smirked and turned to get on the dance floor but Bodhi stopped him.

"Now what?" Beck asked, annoyed.

Bodhi struggled to keep a straight face. "I thought you wanted to wait until the slow dance." Unfortunately, poor Bodhi wasn't able to hold in his amusement when Beck gave him a weirded-out look.

"You know that's not what I meant." Beck snapped, "I challenge you to a dance off."

Bodhi managed to stop laughing and smirked, "Oh, you're on."

…

Ally's POV

"What in the name of Kevin Flynn is wrong with you?!"

Ally merely narrowed her eyes at the shouting. She could only overlook the stupid Program's shouting for so long before she was unable to stand it anymore. Lately, she'd been able to tolerate less and less of all the shouting and berating. It was all getting really old really fast.

She'd been losing so much of her patience as time went on. She couldn't get enough of fighting on the field. She wanted Clu dethroned at that moment!

Unfortunately, the only support Ally had at the moment were her comrades in the Resistance Movement, as she was unable to contact any of her old friends from Tron City – ISOs and Specials alike.

Ally feared that she may have been among the few to actually escape Tron City; that everyone she'd ever known was either dead or captured, held in Clu's wicked clutches. The negative thoughts only fueled her anger and made her fists clench.

All the shouting going on wasn't helping either.

"You nearly compromised this whole operation and put the lives of your teammates on the line! What have you got to say for yourself?"

She exploded. "Will your stop already?!" Ally stepped out of formation and glared at her commanding officer. "We all understand that he took a big risk and disobeyed orders on the mission but at least he seemed to know what he was doing!" Ally pointed a finger at the superior's face. "The outcome of what happened was even better than what we expected by following your orders and honestly, it could've gone better if you weren't always standing around shouting all the time!"

The room was so silent, anyone could have heard a voxel drop a mile away. Her commanding officer narrowed his eyes at her for speaking out of turn and directly insulting him in front of his squadron. "I suppose you think you know better then?" He raised an eyebrow.

Ally took a deep breath and glanced back at her comrade that had apparently screwed up. He looked so nervous yet relieved that he was no longer taking the brunt of their officer's anger. The look he snuck Ally, however, almost looked pitying.

Sure, Ally was the newest member on the squadron. The Resistance Movement, predictably, welcomed their recruit with open arms and training started immediately. The sessions were quick and brutal and it took a lot of endurance on her part to keep up with her teammates. She felt the only thing holding her team back, in particular, was their stiff commanding officer, who was never open to change, or any other ideas but his own or ones from his own superiors.

Ally glared back, "You have no idea what I've been through to get here, and you don't know even half the things I've seen before I escaped Tron City." She earned a few looks of surprise from that statement, but she kept going, "If you think we're going to win this war against Clu strictly from following orders and being the good soldier under commanders that don't know what they're doing, then you're wrong."

She was on a roll and nowhere close to finishing. In fact, she was only starting with the stupid head. "All this movement's managing is holding off Clu's forces from doing too much damage to this City," She sneered, "And when Bismuth is the last rebellious City standing, Clu will either apprehend the rest of us with brute force, or level the place! And he won't stop there!"

"Alright, that's ENOUGH!" She flinched from the voice and her commanding officer grabbed at the back of the neck area of her suit firmly to control her movement. "Clearly, you need more discipline as a soldier before you're capable of doing more than being counterproductive with your own team." Their commander turned to address the squad with a stern expression, "You're all dismissed."

Ally was tugged down the hallway by her officer and shoved into one of the training rooms. Upon being released, she whirled around to face the officer that forced her inside. His merciless eyes bore into her, unrelenting. "Drop and give me one hundred," He snarled, "And if I see even the smallest pause, you start over. Count them."

She shoots her commander a killer glare before she gets down onto her hands and knees, then shifts into a high plank position, then she bends her elbows to ninety degrees. "One, sir," She straightens her arms completely and bends them back into ninety degrees, "Two, sir," And she continues.

…

Ally rubs her sore arms and grumbles incoherently as she sips her energy. At some point during her disciplinary punishment, near the end, her officer thought he saw her falter when she was at push-up ninety three and made her start over again. These incidents during her punishment occurred several more times until her apparent "pauses" turned into real ones and she had to keep starting over.

Technically, Ally wasn't finished was probably going to resume at a later time. The only reason she wasn't continuing was because her commander was called into an emergency meeting with Chad and the other higher ranked officers. That, and she came close to collapsing from exhaustion and energy starvation.

As of late, Ally had been so busy either following orders, sleeping, or being annoyed at other Programs that she didn't have time for other things, such as drinking energy or thinking about Beck.

She sighed, when her thoughts wandered back to the loss. Ally had only known the young male for a short while but it was long enough to build an attachment to him. Just like her other friends, he was gone.

It was why she was having such a hard time in the Resistance Movement. Thinking was far too painful for Ally that she'd insisted on getting a strict captain that would keep her on her toes. The outcome of her request wasn't exactly what she had in mind, as it all was quite annoying, but she had to admit that it was all better than thinking.

"Hey," She stiffened when she heard a voice close behind her. Ally whirled around and grabbed his wrist to twist it into a painful position.

"What do you want?" She asked as she set down her half-empty glass of energy. She recognized the Program, it was the guy that "screwed up," according to their bitchy commanding officer.

He groaned from the way she was holding his hand, "I just wanted to thank you," He managed to get out between the hisses of pain. "You know, for getting the attention off me."

Ally blinked in surprise, "Oh," She released his wrist and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly while picking up her glass, wincing from the soreness that still pulsed in her arms and shoulders, "It wasn't that big of a deal, really."

He rubbed his wrist and released it to hold it out again, "I'm Skipper," He paused, "Please just shake it. I really don't want a broken wrist."

Ally suppressed a giggle as she firmly gripped his hand and shook it. "Alpha."

Skipper released Ally's hand and he sat down, still facing her. "So is it true? Are you one of the Specials to escape Tron City?"

She sighed, "It was a horrible experience. I can't communicate with any of my old friends, so I don't know if any of them managed to get away or…" She trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Ally sighed and downed the rest of her energy. "So what brings you to the Resistance Movement of Bismuth?" she asked to change the subject.

Skipper looked thoughtful for a moment, "Same thing as you, I guess." he leaned back in his seat, "I've got a thing or two against Clu, myself."

"Don't we all," she replied dryly, "I mean, who does that guy think he is that he can just march across the Grid and take what he wants, to kill whoever he wants?"

Skipper was silent for a while, "Yeah, he tore apart quite a few lives,"

"I just want him to stop," Ally whispered, "I like to imagine that he doesn't know what he's really doing, that Clu's just confused or glitching," She paused, "But how can I buy that after all the misery he's caused me?"

"That's a good question," Skipper agrees.

"PRIVATE!"

Both Programs jump to their feet. "Me?" Skipper asks, looking confused.

"No, the other Private!" Their commanding officer shouts.

"It'd be nice if he could remember our names," Ally mumbled to her new friend as she strode over to the superior and narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?"

"That earns you two hundred this time, Private," he snarled in her face, "Keep it up!"

"Captain Geoffrey," A new voice addressed her officer, who stiffened. "Is this one of our new recruits?"

"Yes, sir," her commander replied stiffly, "But she still needs more discipline."

Ally snuck a glance at the cool and collected Program, who was looking through a data pad. It was one of the administrators of the Resistance Movement organization, Chad.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to take her off your hands, Captain. We're running short on medics in the hospital and could use a hand." he glanced up at Ally, "Do you mind?"

She shook her head, "Not at all, sir." Ally snuck a glance in Skipper's direction, but he had left the room.

Chad nodded and led her into the hall. "I'm sorry to have you transferred on short notice but we're in a bit of trouble regarding the injured Programs-"

"It's not a problem, really, sir." Ally insists, "I'd be more than happy to accept my new duty."

He's silent for a few painful Micros as they walk to the medical bay, "I've received a report from your commanding officer earlier about your mishap with him," Chad glanced at Ally, "Would you like to say anything regarding it?"

Ally hesitated, unsure if she'd get in trouble or not.

"It's alright, I won't judge what you've done." Chad reassures her. "Very few Programs can tolerate Geoffrey at all."

Ally sighed, "I feel that instead of doing our regular operations and sticking to the same old plans, we need to try something new, break the rules and take a few risks, like Skipper did on our most recent mission." She reasoned, "We can't stick to the same predictable routines or we won't stand a chance against Clu's forces!"

Chad was silent again and she wondered if she said something wrong.

"…I see where your opinion comes from and I highly value your input. I have recently considered the same thing, that if we do the same things over and over, we'll be nothing but a joke that Clu doesn't take seriously. We have many Programs on our side, but we don't have enough creativity for strategies. With more soldiers coming to Bismuth, missions become more difficult."

Ally took the opportunity to cut in, "I feel that's why we must take a few daring risks, to show the Occupation just how undaunted the Resistance Movement is, that we'll never back down."

Chad smirks, "I like your spirit," he opened the door to the med bay and ushered her in. "Are you tried your hand in working with a Program's code before?" She nodded. "Good, there are many Programs here that need their code rewritten."

"Okay, I'm on it." Ally changed her stealth suit into Medic's attire and immediately got to work with treating the patients. As long as she didn't have to constantly deal with Geoffrey, she'd be okay here.

…

Courtney's POV

"Listen, man, you gotta help me," The Program frantically begged her, clutching the gaping wound in his side, still bleeding voxels. "I'm dying here…they're coming for me!"

"I-I'm s-sorry," Courtney backed away from the Basic, pulling her arm from his free hand. "I d-don't know a-anything about co-coding," she hiccupped and hugged herself as she glanced around to make sure no one was noticing them.

She was just as scared as the Programs slowly derezzing in front of her, but for different reasons. Courtney wasn't worried about the soldiers chasing her, about dying (unlike her poor companion), she was scared of being alone, of never seeing a familiar face belonging to one of her friends ever again.

Courtney didn't want to be alone. She clutched the Program and spoke soothing words to calm him down, to keep him quiet. He was still whimpering when she gripped his shoulders and gently laid him down on the floor of the alley they were huddled in.

The disintegrating Program was situated so he was on his back, limbs lying limp with his head resting in her lap. His breathing was ragged, labored, and he gasped every once in a while when the pain seemed to get worse for him.

Courtney gently shushed him and trailed her fingers through his matted, platinum blonde hair. Her melancholy yellow eyes gazed deeply, sorrowfully into his faded grey ones that were so clouded with pain and fear.

"I'm sorry," She barely whispered, "I'm so sorry," Tears filled her eyes as she watched him slowly, painfully, turn from a suffering Program laying on his back into nothing more than a pile of cubes.

Mouth hanging agape, Courtney stared at the voxels piled in her hands and lap, what remained of an innocent life that probably had friends that missed him, maybe even a loved one, a Program who probably had a comfortable life and enjoyed every moment of his time before all this chaos ensued.

Courtney sniffed and hiccupped as she let the cubes fell from her hands and lap as she stood up. Her head hung low as the big realization hit her: she'd failed the poor Program. She couldn't save his life.

She tilted her head towards the sky and flinched when a few raindrops accompanied the tears accompanied the ones already adorning her face. Why…

When had everything become so messed up? The Program that was just with her didn't deserve to die, he hadn't even resisted Clu's forces. He was nothing more than an innocent civilian that was at the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in the crossfire of the battle between the Clu's army and the ISO sympathizers.

This was what the majority of Tron City and the Outlands surrounding most Cities had become: a barren wasteland. The ISO War had destroyed so many buildings, so many lives, torn and ravaged everything beyond repair.

She'd been so stupid, having not left the City earlier like she should have. Ever since involving herself with Alpha and the rest of her friends during the great battle, she'd become a target, hunted. Instead of splitting like her friends did, she'd stayed in the City's limits to help the innocent Programs. The outcome was far from worth it. All Courtney had faced since deciding to stay was misery and fear on account of the ones she tried to help, bloodlust and hatred from the ones chasing her or attacking the others.

Courtney couldn't stay anymore, she had to make a run for it and leave the City's borders behind, live as a refugee in the Outlands and take her chances there. What used to be a Program on the ground in front of her is enough proof that she's no help to either side, she's just in the way.

She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes as she pulled out her lightcycle baton and rezzed her bike. Courtney had barely exited the alley before a spotlight shone on her. She huffed and annoyance quickly replaced her grief.

Pushing her bike to go faster, Courtney swerved around a corner so she was heading toward the bridge that was at the City's limits. It was her escape route to the Outlands.

Several orange lightcycles beat her to it and crossed her path with their light trails. Courtney closed her baton and ran on foot, she hurdled any light walls that got in her way until she reached one end of the bridge, the other side seeming so far away.

A disk flew towards her and she barely ducked in time to avoid it, several strands of her hair was severed in the process. There wasn't a way she was making it out of this until she was either captured or dead-

Wait.

Courtney glanced over the railing of the bridge and squinted. She could just barely see the bottom…where there was a river. She dodged a punch and kicked another soldier away before she started climbing up the rails, jerking sideways in either direction to avoid whatever object hurdling towards her figure.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she reached the top of the railing and swung her body over to the other side.

"STOP!" A loud voice echoed everywhere as the soldiers stopped attacking her and stood helplessly where they were, watching.

Her eyes opened and she glanced over her shoulder, glaring at the soldiers that nearly killed her. She didn't understand their logic. Just earlier they were firing at her and throwing their disks, now when she was risking her life to get away from them they were telling her not to?

Courtney took a deep breath to brace herself, to give herself that moment of courage. She vowed to sacrifice anything for the sake of freedom.

She was willing to sacrifice this.

Eyes closed, Courtney let go of the rail.

For what seemed like forever, she only heard the air whistle around her, she felt the wind rushing by her so quickly it burned.

Splash!

The river was deeper than she expected. Courtney kept sinking deeper, deeper, never touching the bottom. When her initial shock wore off, she was so deep the pressure was crushing her, the air inside demanding to be released.

Everywhere there was darkness.

She forced herself to stay calm and assured herself as long as she had air, she'd float back up…eventually. Courtney flailed around underwater, trying to find her center of gravity, trying to figure out which way was up.

Spots started to cloud her vision already blurred from the water…if that was possible, considering how dark it was all around.

She was just about the give up and let her deletion happen when she finally felt some of the water pressure on her body lesson a little bit. Courtney was starting to feel which direction the air in her body was urging for her to go. With no other choice, she swam in that direction.

Further.

Further.

She gasped when her head broke through the surface. Coughing, she glanced around the figure out how far downstream she'd gone.

Apparently, far enough that the bridge she'd dove off of was no longer in sight. So…no landmark. She was lost.

Courtney set her sights on the next thing she should do: get out of the water. She saw a large rock above the surface and swam towards it. It took several attempts but she'd managed to climb onto it, where she sat shivering until she could dry off a little bit.

While she waited, Courtney checked her pockets and sighed in relief when she found she hadn't lost anything that she had with her.

She brushed wet, tangled strands of her long, reddish caramel colored hair out of her face with a huff and looked around once again. All around her were sheer walls of rock, trapping her in with the river.

Courtney figured she'd had enough excitement for one cycle and decided it would be better to just rest, rejuvenate her strength just a tiny bit so she could at least attempt to scale the steep walls around her.

Finally getting her shivering under control and feeling just a tad bit drier, Courtney lay down and closed her eyes, allowing sleep to take her.

…

Her fingers felt like they were on fire! Holy Users! Courtney cursed over and over inside her head as she put one hand just a bit higher than the other, one foot at a time to a different hold.

I'm halfway there… Courtney gasped for breath as she slowly climbed a little bit higher. She wanted nothing more than to scramble up the rocky walls and get it over with, but she feared she could make a mistake with one of her holds and go tumbling back down into the river.

She certainly didn't want a repeat of last cycle. It wasn't fun.

Courtney lifted her foot up but slipped when she momentarily lapsed in concentration from thinking about last cycle. She shrieked and scrabbled to regain her footing, the stress from earlier made her hands weak and they were starting to slip.

She managed to find two firm footholds and she shifted her grip on the rock face in front of her. Gasping, Courtney tried to calm herself down from the frightening experience and when she felt she had recovered enough, continued.

She reached the top almost half a PectroCycle later, feeling exhausted and weak. Courtney braced her arm on the edge to haul herself up with one final burst of strength, only for the ground to crumble. She screamed and dug her fingernails into the rock, refusing to fall back down, then she pounced, kicking her legs out of their holds to jump up and out of the gorge.

Courtney rolled as far away from the edge as she could and collapsed on her back, panting for breath. She held up her shaky hands to examine them.

If she had to say so herself, they looked a bit worse for wear, battered and scratched, the surfaces practically shredded from all the abuse they endured. Her physical examinations were cut short when she heard something that made her circuits run cold.

She heard the tittering, clicking sounds of tiny metal legs travelling quickly across the frozen rocks of the Outlands…and they seemed to be a big group. Slowly, Courtney sat up and gasped in fright.

There were indeed lots of Grid Bugs, and they were moving to surround her lone Program. She jumped to her feet and ran for the biggest opening available to her. She glanced over her shoulder and sure enough, they were giving chase.

Courtney reached into her pocket and grabbed her lightcycle baton when she noticed they started to gain on her. She twisted it apart and jumped onto the bike to escape and creepy crawly insects.

The young female Program didn't dare allow herself to even think about resting until she could shake off the Grid Bugs. Unfortunately, every time she thought she managed to lose them, more would find her and give chase. After about sixth time it happened, Courtney was beginning to wonder if it was really a wise choice to take her chances in the Outlands.

She glanced over her shoulder as she kept riding to see the bugs still on her tail, and cursed. Of course they were still chasing her. It wasn't until she felt a bump underneath her that she truly got frustrated and scared. Something damaged her lightcycle.

Courtney closed the baton and started to run again, hardly noticing that the rocks surrounding her were starting to change a little bit in size, texture, even properties. Less and less Grid Bugs seemed determined to keep chasing her as she ventured further and further into the area.

She'd glanced over her shoulder one last time and noticed how they were all crowded by what seemed like a borderline between the rock. Slowly and carefully, Courtney bent down and examined what she was standing on. Apparently it seemed to give off some sort of natural Grid Bug repellant that didn't allow them near.

Courtney smirked in triumph and looked around the area she was in. If it meant protection from Grid Bugs she could probably make this area a permanent home. After looking around, she noticed a cave nearby and decided to check it out, being careful to stay as far away from the Grid Bugs as possible.

When she got closer, Courtney examined the properties of the rock that made up the cave, seeming to have the same repellant properties, it also smelled different inside. She couldn't lay her finger on it – the smell wasn't unpleasant, but she'd be lying if she said she liked it.

Courtney bit her lips and cautiously ventured inside to check out the interior. The smell was stronger inside, which led to the assumption that it had something to do with the Grid Bug repelling properties of the rock, but she also caught the scent of something else.

An energy spring.

The young Program was starving for energy after everything she'd endured in the past several Cycles. After stepping deeper into the cave, she notices a faint light reflecting off the cave wall and she looks down to see a pure white energy spring up ahead.

She keeps walking closer until she's at the edge and she gets down on her knees to cup the liquid in her hands and take a drink. Courtney feels a tingling, warm sensation travel through her hands and she looks down to see the injuries on her hands cleaning itself, closing up, healing.

She knew little about wild energy springs, so she was unsure if wounds cleaning themselves upon direct contact was normal or not.

Regardless, Courtney started grinning so widely and started to laugh in delight, still staring at the remarkable feat that happened to her hands. She didn't care anymore whether this was normal or not. She'd hit the jackpot when it came to a stroke of luck.

She'd found a perfect little shelter to settle down in with every natural resource she needed right at her fingertips. Courtney was definitely staying here for a while. Still laughing with giddiness, Courtney cupped more energy in her hands and took a big gulp, shuddering in satisfaction as her body absorbed what she ingested and her circuits glowed brighter, a soft yellow light joining the pure white that reflected off the cave walls, the laughing like music echoing off the surfaces.

Courtney lay down next to the energy pool with a sigh, "Oh, Users," She whispered, "I cannot thank you enough."

I know...kind of a weak ending for this one. Lately I've been feeling a lack of motivation towards this particular fic (Don't worry, I'll still finish it!), during my little read-a-thon, I kind of developed an interest towards the Transformers fandom-
"WHAT?! How could you?!"
Sorry...while reading a few fanfictions under that category, I kind of got an idea of my own, so I've been writing a basic plot line to get it out of my head. Now, I don't think I'm going to pursue turning it into an actual fic (unless you guys are interested) because I'm still strongly devoted to writing Tron fanfiction (I've still got plenty ideas for it).

And of course, with my homework, speech stuff, and my apparent reading addiction, I have to say that my writing schedule's going through the shredder, so to speak. :( I'm not trying to disappoint anyone, I'll pull through with this like I managed with the last three books. It'll just take time.

Up next: It's a BIG time skip, fellas. I'll probably go into detail about Aurora's beginning and then skip more to a later date involving Jeremy and Maggie's growing resistance against Clu. Meanwhile, I'll be sharing my own little ideas regarding the upgrade weapon and how it came to be created. Again, if anyone wants me to go deeper into other areas of the timeline, you just need to speak up. TRON LIVES! Toodles.