Chapter 20

CLU loyalists.

Everyone could tell from a distance, with their orange circuits and yells of perfection as buildings fell and programs ran.

Beck tackled the nearest one, folding up his baton before he made contact. Tron surged forward, discs blazing blue. The mere sight was already sending fear through the closest rebels but with his power, they did not run far.

Paige joined in beside Yori and Quorra. The three of them worked as a team and went after multiple loyalists at a time. Sam ran after them, leaving Nico, Alan, and Roy. None of them were great fighters, so they tasked themselves to making sure none of the programs got caught under a falling building or anything.

Beck was tense as he fought off any oncoming rebels.

"Where are they? The council said they would be sending in reinforcements by now!"

But no one heard this comment as he punched down a program into unconsciousness, his orange circuits dimming slightly. But he could barely take a breath in before he was tackled by two opposing programs.

Paige slashed down a program, back to back with Yori and Quorra in a tight circle as they were surrounded. Tron was holding well, as cubes began to fly in instinct. Sam was on the ground, throwing punches at a rebel.

One of the programs tried to grab Nico but she quickly kicked him away, readjusting her grip on the unconscious program on her shoulder.

She gasped as a pain ran down her leg to see she had a long disc scratch. Sighing, she limped over to where Alan and Roy had already started a pile of programs that had to be pulled to safety.

"Are you alright?" Roy came up to her, looking her over.

"Yeah," she panted, "I'm good."

"LOOK OUT!" Alan called and he pulled them back as a lightcycle raced by, almost hitting them. Many others followed and a cavalry of white-circuited programs raced forward, followed by tanks.

Beck looked up at the sound as he punched the programs off him. He sighed.

Help had arrived.

With the combined forces of the Users and programs, along with Argon's police and the army, the rebels were driven out, many of them arrested.

Beck sighed as he sat down against the wall, watching as everyone gathered themselves. He was tired, covered in sweat, but opted to watch Tron and Paige meet with the commander that had led in the army. He smiled as they conversed and became acquainted.

He felt the familiar buzz in the back of his mind rise slightly to his right. He looked up and he froze in shock to see a program with faint orange circuits assembling a gun, his eye on Tron, Paige, and the commander.

No.

Beck easily climbed up the side of the wall to the fire escape. As the gunaman aimed, he grabbed the muzzle of the gun, aiming it down. The gunman growled and lifted up. His finger pulled the trigger on instinct with a BANG.

Beck gasped slightly and began to fall back, but grabbed the program as he fell, pulling him down with him.

The gunshot had drawn everyone's attention, and they turned to see Beck and the guman fall out of the fire escape and onto the ground with a sickening THUD, Beck getting the brunt of the fall.

Multiple programs gasped.

"BECK!"

Paige and Tron ran over to him. They pulled off the unconscious gunman to see Beck was panting, hand over his gut.

"Oh nonononono…." Paige cupped her hands around his face and made him look to her, "Stay with me Beck!"

But his eyes were already closing. His hand twitched over his wound and he grunted in pain one time before he was gone from the senses.

"BECK!" Paige was beginning to panic and shook his shoulders, "DON'T! NO!"

"Paige!" Tron said, "He's_"

"NO!"

She had small tears starting down her face, "No…."

She hid her face in his chest, and froze as she felt him give a short heave of a breath.

"H-He's still breathing."

"Yes." That's what Tron had been trying to say, "He's slipped into comatose. If we examine the wound, we might be able to get it out easily."

She gently pulled off his hand to see the nasty round.

"It's electromagnetic. That's…impossible to get out."

"Near impossible."

Paige looked up at Yori and so she continued.

"You have to deaden the magnet through his system. But it takes a lot of energy, much more than a program holds."

"Users hold more energy than programs." Paige said, thinking out loud, "Can one of them do it?"

"Possibly. There's a large chance it will kill them, if it does more than drain them. Who would be willing to do it, though?"

All the Users were silent. After a long moment of silence, Nico glanced at the others before stepping forward, "I will."

"Nico no!" Quorra said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "You could die!"

"So?"

"You're crazy!"

"I am. But I'm doing this for a friend. I owe him the chance."

She turned and met the program's gaze. "I'll do it."

Yori nodded. She carefully sat Beck up and took off his disc before handing it out to Nico. "Good luck."

She nodded. For a moment, she closed her eyes.

This could mean death for you. And this isn't the kind of death like in a videogame. This is a real death. You die and don't come back.

But she understood these terms, and decided to do what she could to embrace it. She sighed, opened her eyes, and took his disc.

Immediately, she felt her energy surging through his disc, leaving her suddenly. She felt herself fall to her knees but even then, everyone's cries were fading away as she fell into darkness.