Chapter 9

"You alright?"

Gasping slightly, she looked up to see Roy was watching her.

"Yeah." She readjusted her position in her chair, "Just out of it."

He shook his head, "Alright. Just make sure you finish that project before you go home."

"Alright."

He nodded and walked off. Sighing, Nico turned back to her computer. She was almost done, but she had spaced out at some point. She went over the code and made sure she didn't make any mistakes. Once certain the code was correct, she continued typing.

The thoughts of her last encounter on the newly dubbed Grid had been consuming her thoughts often the past few days. She had made herself keep her distance from that digital world, but everyday her longing was getting harder to restrain.

She finished and went over her work one more time before saving it to the database.

She looked up as someone walked in. She expected it to be Roy, but it wasn't. A man, with dark hair and glasses framing his eyes entered, his eyes scanning the room. He turned and they met gaze. So she quickly averted her gaze to her keyboard. She felt his gaze on her just a moment longer, but then the door opened, and Roy entered. Instantly, the man went over to Roy and she heard him refer to the unfamiliar man by his name.

Dillenger….

She remembered now; he's on the board.

They talked for a moment longer before Roy led him into his office. She watched them go and once the door was closed, she logged off and stood. Something then made her formulate a snap-decision. She opened the door and went down the hall, back to the doorway, and into the seat in front of the computer holding the Grid.

My god, you've gotten yourself addicted to something dangerous this time.

That was her only thought before she went into the Grid.

She stepped out of the portal and into the snow quickly. Something about this, despite her possible status here, made her relax; comfortable.

Maybe they think I'm gone for good. Maybe they gave up.

It seemed unlikely to her, but she decided to walk to the city.

There, she quickly made her way through the abandoned outskirts from her last encounter and quickly blended into the population of the inner city. The streets were somewhat crowded, so it was easier. She followed the stream of programs, taking the opportunity to take in her surroundings.

It really is beautiful.

Sighing, she pushed her way out of the crowd and onto a sidewalk, having grown tired of the little space. She leaned against the wall and looked around.

Just up the street, a familiar program was talking to a group of similarly circuited programs. He was smiling, even laughing, at something one of the others said. However, he was only listening, his eyes scanning the crowd. He turned his head as he was speaking and his gaze met hers, making him stop mid-sentence.

She realized she was staring and quickly dropped her gaze before turning to quickly walk away.

"WAIT!"

At this, she broke into a run, thus alerting everyone around her of her presence. Programs parted as she ran through.

Stupid idea stupid stupid stupid…

She dodged a group that was too slow to part and she heard the captain run into the group, causing them to mutter in slight anger. She kept running, her lungs protesting the prolonged action.

Finally, she made it out of the inner city and was running through the abandoned area. She sighed as she began to slow.

She came to a complete stop, though, when in a blur, the captain landed in front of her.

Whoa.

Parkour, much?

She turned around to run when suddenly she was on the ground. She had landed rather painfully, pinned down under the weight of the captain. She tried to twist and squirm out but he held her arms steady. Grunting, she turned slightly and kicked. He winced and his grip loosened enough for her to get out from under him. However, he had been able to cuff her hands before so she was left to push herself to a sitting position and scoot away from him. He had bent over, hissing through his teeth.

"Users" he grunted in pain.

When he looked up, she had her back to a rubble pile, trying to stand. She kept her eyes on him as her cuffed hands searched the pile for something to put her at some sort of advantage.

"Careful!" He said suddenly.

Too late.

She let out a yell of pain as she had cut her hand open again on a sharp piece of what must have been glass. She felt it begin to bleed but she couldn't do anything but turn her head to see the line in her hand turn scarlet. Hissing, she tried to wipe it against her other hand with little success.

"Let me see."

She jumped and looked up to see him standing above her. He pulled her to her feet and went behind her, checking her hand and she felt his hand trace the cut.

Suddenly, the bind was gone and the captain was staring at her hand with interest. He turned and quickly picked up a piece of glass, the edge red from her blood. She saw something piece together in his mind.

"User…."

"Yes."

He looked up to her, "You're a User?"

"Yes. I am."

"No wonder…" He examined her hand before he stopped himself and let go of her hand. He pulled something off his waist, a bandage of some sort, and wrapped it around her hand.

"There."

"Thank you."

She could tell he was thinking. Finally, he looked up again.

"I won't cuff you again."

She rolled her eyes, "Why? Because you know I'm a User?"

"No." He seemed truthful. "Because I know you'll come willingly with me."

"A User?"

"Yes, she has a cut on her hand to prove_"

"A simple cannot prove whether she is a User or not."

"Why not?" The captain snapped back without much anger, "It did last time."

Everyone went silent for a long moment.

Nico looked between all of them, "What happened last time?"

"It doesn't matter." The older program said coldly, "Last time, we were under the duress of CLU, you of any of us should remember that part well."

The captain lifted his head higher, "I do. I was there. The User has the same….what's it called?"

"Blood?" Nico suggested.

"That. At least, the same color. I remember someone saying that. Her blood," he enunciated the word carefully, "is red, like the last User's."

When the older program doesn't say anything, the captain continued, "It also explained the reason she doesn't have a disc and the display just last time_"

"Enough!" The older program said.

"David." The captain softly said, "All the evidence points to her being a User."

"And? What do you want me to do about that?"

"Maybe, we should clear her of charges."

"Why?"

"Well, her only charge of assault of an officer could be reasoned with stress and the fact that we were taking her against her will, which would automatically cancel out her charge there. Then resisting arrest is no longer a problem."

David thought about it for a long moment as the other programs muttered to him in delegation. Finally, he sighed, "Cleared of charges. You're free to go…"

"Nico." She said.

"Right."

The captain nodded to her and began to walk out. However, she followed him.

"Thank you. For getting out of that mess."

"No problem." He said, not looking back to her. "So, everything you said was true?"

"Yes." She moved to walk next to him. Programs that passed them didn't say anything as they glanced at the two.

"Interesting. So are all Users programmers?"

"Well…no, not exactly."

"Then what?"

"Some are accountants, policemen, all sorts of jobs."

"So like here?"

"Yes, like here."

"Ah."

They had reached the edge of the city and they stopped.

"I'm guessing you'll be coming back now that you know you won't be chased by the law?"

She smirked, "Maybe."

He sighed and shook his head with a small smile, "Alright. I have a feeling today was just a sample of what the rest of the cycles will be like."

She laughed, "Please, I'm not that bad. I just get bored."

"Right. Like that's any better."

"Hey! You don't have to play babysitter!"

"I have a feeling I will anyways." He smirked, rolling his eyes.

"Well, my dear self-appointed babysitter, what should I call you other than 'Captain'?"

He met her gaze, "My name is Beck."

She held out her hand, "Well, it's good to finally learn your name, Beck."

Beck gave a small chuckle and hesitantly took her hand. She shook it, making him stop laughing in surprise. Apparently, a handshake isn't a program gesture.

She let go and grinned, "See you around, Beck."

He nodded and she ran off towards the portal.