Happy Tron...Thursday. School is officially over for the Summer. Whoop whoop! XD
Also a note: NEVER use axe bombs as a senior prank. Things go bad very quickly...I also hate fragrances of all kinds :P blah

I should also bring up. I posted 2 chapters on Tuesday. So if you didn't check out 12 or 13, you might wanna do that.

Chapter 14 – Never Learns

Courtney's POV

"I want to go with Ally too." She said. "For the sake of not being stuck in a facility all the time." She looked at Maggie. "Besides, I'm not up for being adapted."

Aurora spoke up. "WHEREVER YOU GO, I GO."

Ally exhaled slowly through her nose. "Okay, let's go."

"Ally," Liz called. Ally turned her head in acknowledgment. "You're going to meet us at the End of Line Club in 2 cycles, right?"

Ally nodded curtly.

Maggie pinched her lips together. Noticing her behavior, Jeremy added. "Just make sure you've checked whoever you decide to recruit. We run tight security."

"Yeah, whatever." Ally said as she walked out of the room.

Knowing Ally would hear, Jeremy said one last thing. "By the way, your hair is fantastic."

Sure enough, Courtney saw Ally reach her hand up and touch her hair. She looked at herself through the reflective wall and noticed her hair was still pink.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her disk to change her hair back to sandy brown and her eyes to the neon green glow.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Courtney looked at her own reflection as she followed Alpha and Beck down the hall. Her wavy, reddish hair had grown since the battle of Argon. It now almost reached her waist. Her lips and fingers looked a lot better since she somehow broke the habit of chewing on herself and other things.

She ran her tongue along the crowns of her teeth. They were still miraculously in good shape, despite the fact she'd chewed on a lot of rocks before.

Courtney smirked at the memory that now seemed funny to her.

Then she felt Beck's eyes on her. She looked at him. "Hey," She said.

Beck furrowed his brows. "Hey, Ally told me a little about the incident in Argon." He said quietly.

"When?" She asked.

"The moment Ally got back and found out you were in custody." He replied.

"Oh." Courtney frowned at the floor when they got to the exit.

Beck nudged her shoulder. "Relax; I know what it's like to lose memories. Besides, why do you think I blew up Clu's statue?" She didn't answer. "Because I was demonstrating my reactions to what Clu had done."

"Then you later learned that what happened in the very beginning was just the tip of the iceberg." Courtney said.

"But I had warning." Beck said. "I knew the consequences of getting involved and I was partially aware of what I'd be getting into."

"Well, I was so innocent and naïve in the beginning." Courtney said. "I had no warning."

"But that's okay." Beck said as they stepped outside. "Nobody warned me that my disk would get stolen." He shrugged. "It happened anyway."

"You know this won't relieve me of my burden of guilt." Courtney stated matter of factly.

"But it's helping, right?"

Beck was right; it lessened the weight a bit. But still, she killed an entire group of Specials. "Maybe a little." She admitted. "But I'm still responsible for what happened."

"Do you know how Cutler died?" Beck asked her.

Courtney pinched her lips together. She'd heard of Cutler from Ally, Beck, and Ace. "Not exactly." She answered. "How?"

"Clu had him caught and repurposed, then sent him back to Argon to delete me and repurpose Tron." Beck started. "But he wound up dangling off of an edge; a bomb in one hand, and me clutching his other." His voice cracked a little. "I believed I could save him but…when he let out a maniacal laugh, I knew that wasn't possible."

"So what happened?" She asked quietly.

Beck blinked and looked at the ground. "I let go of him."

Courtney thought about what Beck said as they kept walking in a random direction. "Do you feel guilty?" She asked.

Beck shrugged. "A little. But I couldn't have done anything to help him at that time. There were no other options unless I wanted to end up dead." He looked at Courtney with a small, sad smile. "But deep down, I knew how dedicated he was to the revolution. He probably would've preferred death than to be a mindless puppet serving under Clu."

"Doesn't justify what I did to those Specials." She commented.

"Not entirely, but we've both done some guilty things in the past." Beck explained. "And we went through similar problems."

"Sorry to interrupt." Ally interjected. "But we've got other Problems." She nodded her head towards a street around a corner. It was flooded with black guards.

"So we turn around." Courtney suggested.

"You guys have been so busy talking that you failed to notice we went around the entire perimeter." Ally said. "That entire area's guarded."

"Okay, so we need a distraction." Beck said.

"I still have some pain bombs and a detonator." Courtney offered.

"That'll work." Ally said. "Old trick." She pulled one of her own paint bombs out of her bag. "I haven't used mine in a while."

"What's that one?" Beck asked her.

Ally smirked. "An old one." She peeked around the corner. "Courtney, set up your paint bombs a little behind us, so the art's just in sight when the guards peek."

Courtney nodded and she went to a back wall to synch her paint grenades to a detonator. "Ready." Courtney said, quickly grabbing Aurora and stuffing her into her satchel.

Ally tossed her own paint bomb near the guards' feet. They dove out of range the moment it was spotted so no pain would get on them. The Program's mask rolled onto her face to conceal a smirk.

It was dark enough.

Trails of neon green paint decorated the ground with the words that used to be popular during the time of the old Resistance Movement.

ALPHA WAS HERE

Just that one phrase written in large green words that glowed in the dark.

Courtney knew about those. If it was lighter, the words wouldn't have shown.

Ally turned to Courtney and gave her a nod to press the detonator. They scattered and hid in the dark as the guards ran into the alley to see Courtney's paint bombs that littered the wall with: "Haha"

While they were distracted, the three Programs snuck past and into the area of the City where there were normal living spaces. They quietly slipped into an unoccupied apartment building where they'd stay just until Curfew was over.

Courtney had said it was Jude's place. They could stay there for a long time before anyone even turned to bat an eye at them. Ally and Courtney didn't want to stay in the City though.

However, it would be curfew soon and they didn't want to risk being out in the open.

If they were just a bit closer to the Outlands, they would've made it.

Beck and Courtney agreed with Ally that it was best to remain unseen. For all anyone in the Occupation knew, Alpha was dead; defeated in Argon.

But if Jeremy and Maggie hadn't lied about insiders in their Revolution, they'd all have to be extra careful.

…

Clu's POV

Alpha was alive. He'd only recently found out; shortly after he received a report that the rebels' new Resistance Movement was going to make a bold effort to take him down here.

In his City. The Capitol of the entire Grid.

Oh, not while he had a say in matters. Clu glared out the window and focused on the smoke still rising from the rubble of what were once apartments that the resistors hid in.

He turned to glance at Jarvis. "What part of being subtle did they not understand?" He asked in an eerily calm voice.

"I-I don't know, sir." The Program stuttered. "Perhaps they needed more specific commands of how to carry out the attack."

"Are you saying I wasn't precise enough?" His tone had a hint of annoyance to it but he wasn't angry, not yet.

Annoyed? Oh, definitely.

Did he want to strangle someone? Of course!

He managed to hold his temper though.

He'd never admit to anyone, not even himself, how royally pissed he was.

His eyes narrowed and he kept looking out the window of the throne ship. Even from this distance, he could see bystanders looking at the mess from a safe distance.

The one entrance in and out of the room opened and a sentry walked in.

"This better be important." Clu said without turning around.

The guard nodded. "We just captured one of Tron's agents." He hesitated to speak the name of the once-magnificent hero of the Grid. The Program that happened to be in the same room, making that purring noise as he watched everyone intensely behind his dark mask.

The report caused Clu to turn his head slightly. "Oh?"

"She's locked in one of the cells of the ship." He added.

Clu turned around completely and walked towards the Program, smirking. "Then let's pay that Program a visit."

The sentry trailed behind his leader as they walked a short hall to a small cell that was rarely used on the ship. Sure enough, it was occupied. He had no doubts in the first place that it would be a higher-up Program under Tron but he hadn't expected this particular Program.

"Zoe." He spoke with an excited smile. "So good to see you again. It's been so long, hasn't it?"

The female Program tilted her head ever so slightly to glance at him and then looked back at the cell wall.

Pavel – the sentry beside Clu opened the cell entrance. "The benevolent leader of the Grid has spoken to you. Answer!" He commanded.

Zoe turned to Pavel and smirked darkly. "Welcome to my house of pain." The look he gave her was priceless.

Clearly the sentry and this Special haven't had direct history but she somehow knew of him.

Zoe leaned back with a carefree expression – something Ace would've done if he were in the same situation. She looked at Clu. "Nice to see you, too."

"I can't quite see what amuses you." Pavel sneered.

"My imagination." Zoe answered vaguely. She smirked at Pavel's glare and pressed her hand against the bench she sat on. Colorful trails of graffiti code creeped down to the floor and made its way towards the sentry. He screamed as it started wrapping itself around his legs and tagging him with: Haha.

"That's enough." Clu said. Zoe lifted her hand off the surface and smirked at Clu.

"I've found my mysterious second Programming. Aren't you proud?" She asked playfully.

"Thrilled." Clu answered dryly. "But as interesting as that is," He gestured to the colorful code. "I'm more interested as to how you were actually caught."

Zoe looked up at the ceiling. "Ah, yes. That was a risky mission – stupid, actually. I was naïve enough to think I wouldn't be recognized when I was investigating the disappearances you happen to be responsible for." She shot a knowing look at Clu.

Clu glanced at Pavel and eyed his ruined uniform in disgust. "Leave us." He ordered.

Pavel bowed deeply and backed away until he was out of sight. But before he completely exited, he shot a death glare at Zoe.

"Hey," She said. "I won't apologize for art."

Clu smirked at her remark and stood up. "Why don't we go for a walk?" He suggested.

Zoe waved him off. "Meh, I'm pretty comfy where I am now."

Clu turned to a nearby guard and whispered to him to get Rinzler. He turned back to Zoe. "Are you intoxicated?"

She laughed. "Yeah, sure. Because I just enjoy getting drunk right before a mission." She said sarcastically. "Not like your guards are armed with drugs either. I just said I was comfortable."

Rinzler walked over and stopped a short distance behind Clu.

Clu leaned forward when the painted bandages on Zoe's forearms caught his eye. He reached out his hand and grasped her left arm. Zoe stiffened and closed her eyes.

"What happened here?" He asked curiously. Zoe tugged on her arm but Clu's grip didn't lesson, causing her to wince. Even if it's been a long time since getting the scars, they still hurt.

He unwrapped the left arm and raised an eyebrow at the crimson red gashes that covered her arm. "Gruesome." He commented, glancing at Rinzler briefly. "I wonder what caused that."

"You mean 'who.'" Zoe said, still trying to yank her arm away. "But it's none of your business."

Clu smirked. "That's where you're wrong. You are my concern because you belong to Tron and Tron clearly belongs to me now." He focused his gaze on the cuts. "I do know that happened after the Purge but before the Argon battle." He raised an eyebrow. "I wonder…"

Zoe clenched her jaw. "Cyrus."

Clu ripped his gaze from Zoe's unwrapped left arm and met her eyes briefly. "That's no surprise." He remarked. "He's dead now, right?"

"Of course," Zoe forced a smile. "No one would just let him get away with all that he's done."

"Definitely not." Clu grabbed Zoe disk and looked at her code. "It's a shame I looked at this so late. I probably could have made you perfect again."

Zoe's gaze darkened. "I don't need to be perfect." This time, she managed to pull her arm out of Clu's grasp. "This is proof that I've went through so much and got out alive-"

"But scarred." Clu interrupted. "And might I add that they're not the nicest-looking."

Zoe snatcher her disk back. "I don't want your help. I don't even need to be here."

Without warning, she threw her inactivated disk at Rinzler's mask with enough force to knock him down for a split second before she shoved Clu aside and bolted down the hall.

Rinzler got back up and gave chase while Clu picked up the bandage Zoe left behind. He looked up at the hallway both Programs disappeared into and smirked.

She never learns.

6 more chapters to go. Gosh, then this'll be over. :/ I still don't know how to think of that. I like this series and I hope you guys do too.

TRON LIVES!