Los Angeles
Flynn's Arcade

Kevin stood looking up at the neon sign across the front of the old brick building, recalling the years when the place was in its glory days.
Back then he'd missed his old job at Encom, and he'd been yearning for justice after what Dillinger had done, but at least he'd still had the arcade. It was his, and no one could take it from him. And even if it didn't always clear him much more profit than to keep the lights on, it sure was nice having a place where everyone knew him, respected him, liked him. Even now, the fragments of those old, near-forgotten memories still flooded his mind, bringing a smile.
Then there was the one memory in particular which he recalled as though it were only yesterday...stepping off of the helicopter on the roof of Encom, his hair blowing every which way and the briefcase in his hand, running over to greet Alan and Lora...elated, triumphant, he'd captured the both of them in a hug and the three of them stood laughing, rejoicing, so carefree, so certain that the future held only bright promise for Encom and for all of them...

Little had he known it way back then, but that brightness would soon fade slowly to a darkness he'd never before experienced. And of course he hadn't seen it coming, but then again no one really ever does. Time had flown by while he was running the company, raising a son, working on the Grid, writing his books. Then there was the sudden tragedy of Jordan's accident, and just after that, his mom had fallen ill. He'd coped with the loss by immersing himself into the Grid and the miracle of the ISO's - the hope for eradication of disease, perhaps even for a way to end death, all of that was what had compelled him so, and along with his young son, the Grid had been the only thing keeping him from collapsing under the emotional weight of what had happened.
Because off-Grid, his life had suddenly become so very far from perfect, so filled with loss, so much pain he could neither face nor reconcile. The world had suddenly seemed filled with imperfect, tragic characters, and he'd become just one more of them. So had it been any wonder he'd wanted to build the perfect system on the Grid?
Of course he'd never planned on that spiraling beyond his control, but then again, he'd always been an idealist.

And now here he was, two decades later, staring up at that same old arcade sign. In some ways, it felt like he was right back at square one again.
His gaze traveled sadly down from the neon sign and he shook off the wistful memories, snapping himself back to the present he walked in through the doorway.

Alan stood talking on his cell phone, a few feet away from the Tron machine, which was pulled away from the wall and propped into position with a chair. The programmer paced back and forth while he spoke.

"Tron, I understand. I do. But, no, I don't want you to do that. And besides-" Alan paused, sighing as Flynn approached with a curious look. Then he shook his head and continued, "...look, we'll be back there soon...it's late, and there isn't much more we can do here right now anyway. So just,...you two sit tight,...and we'll discuss this more when we get there, alright?"

As Alan disconnected the call, Kevin raised a brow. "Kinda' afraid to ask, but,... what's up?"

Alan gave a wry smile, tucking the cell phone back into his pocket.

"Oh,...Tron's just,...well, mostly he's just bored,...but also, agitated. Said the same blue-gray van has driven by the house three times so far. He got the idea to run outside and use Quorra's cell phone to take a picture of it. And of course Quorra was in favor of that plan. I told him it had 'bad idea' written all over it."

"And what'd he say to that?" Kevin's brow arched in curiosity.

"Well,... he didn't quite get the slang expression. But, I rephrased and he's clear on it now..."

Alan added with a worried frown and a smirk, "...I HOPE."

Kevin nodded, trying to dismiss the disturbing thought of Tron and Quorra venturing outside the house and chasing down some mysterious van in hopes of capturing a photo of it.
...yeah, because there isn't a thing that could go wrong with that scenario...

His eyes narrowed as he looked at Alan. "Van, huh?...Same one?"

"Sounds like it could be. Blue-gray. He said it had, and I quote, 'large, rectangular fields of circuitry' on the sides."

Alan tried not to grin, but really aside from Tron's description of a panel van, this wasn't all that funny. "But...really, there are probably hundreds of vans like that around. Could be totally unrelated, just a coincidence."

Kevin returned Alan's glance with a nod, and Alan matched the nod.
Though neither of them said so, neither of them were leaning towards the 'coincidence' theory.
They both stared at the ground for a moment, thinking.

Clu emerged from the passageway behind the Tron machine, and seeing that it appeared Kevin and Alan were apparently discussing something of some seriousness, he simply walked quietly over to stand behind them. When he was about two meters away, he cleared his throat, preparing to speak.
Both men jumped and whirled around, startled.

Kevin exhaled a sigh. "Clu! Man,...h-...how many times do I gotta' ask you not to sneak up behind me and scare me like that? You spooked Alan too."

Clu's eyes widened. "Well I'm sorry, Kevin! But it looked like you two were talking about something important, so I didn't want to interrupt." He crossed his arms and smirked. "What do you want me to do, signal my approach with a klaxon?"

Kevin stared at him, suddenly breaking into surprised laughter at having Clu give him an unexpected taste of his own sarcasm. He shook his head. "Well,...yeah! Or somethin'..."

Alan gave a smirky grin. "Did you need to ask us something, Clu?"

"Well, yes. But,..." Clu frowned, his voice trailing off.

Kevin raised his brows, dipping his chin. "But what, buddy?"

Clu grimaced, slightly perplexed. "It... seems I've forgotten." He stood frowning, and then sighed, looking back at Kevin, somewhat baffled by the fact that he'd forgotten the very reason he'd come upstairs to begin with. "Well, that's annoying."

Kevin just gave a wry grin. "Happens to me all the time, buddy. Usually means you're tired, or, you've got too many things on your mind. Sometimes memory's a funny th-"

"That's it!" Clu interrupted, eyebrows hitching upward as he pointed at Kevin. "Memory! The memory allotment for your system. Sam wants to know if you have any more memory he could install."

Kevin gave him a confused look. "Wh- ...memory? That machine should be maxed out already. I mean, yeah, sure,...there's probably some cards...on the shelves,...but,..."

His voice trailed off, and he stood thinking. There should be more than enough memory for that machine to do anything it needed to do, and then some. Unless, this had to do with the virus?

Clu started to turn back towards the Tron machine. "I'll tell him to look on the shelves then."

Kevin's brows furrowed. "Hold up, Clu,...I'm going with you. I wanna' see what's going on."

: : : :

An hour later...

With hardly any traffic on the freeway at that hour, Alan took advantage of the chance to set the cruise control after he'd settled into the carpool lane. The Ducati was quite a distance up ahead of them, and Alan didn't want to think of how fast his godson was driving to be that far ahead of them. So instead he just settled back in the seat, thankful for virtually empty roads.

Clu was silent in the back seat, resting his head back against the headrest with his eyes closed. Alan wasn't certain, but from the glance in the rear-view mirror, it looked like Clu was sleeping.
In the passenger's seat, Kevin sat staring off out the window at nothing in particular, thoughts brewing. After several silent moments he finally spoke.

"This memory thing just-... does not jazz me. Not at all. Nor does the fact that the machine's been altered, and that we found no trace of Master Control in the system. And man,... how likely is it that even between the four of us we couldn't isolate that damn Abraxas virus? I mean, he's not even a single entity anymore, not even close to it. Total fragmentation, replication. Like I've never seen. Not even the ISO's grew this fast."

He shook his head and he rubbed his eyes, then with a frustrated sigh he let his hand flop down onto the armrest. "You know what this means? We may have to reset the whole Grid. And if we do that,...I don't know what that's gonna' mean...for the..."

His voice trailed off. But from the look on his face, Alan knew what he was going to say, and so he said it for him.

"...for the programs."

Kevin nodded. "Beings, Alan. They're beings, with lives, as real as you and me. Maybe not alive in the same way but,...yeah, living. Real. You saw it. You were there."

Alan just nodded, his expression somber.

Kevin shook his head again. "How can I-...I mean, who,...who gives me the authority to just breeze in and reset their whole existence like that? There's no way of knowing what it would do to them."

Alan was silent a few seconds. Then he glanced over at Kevin and spoke, his voice compassionate.

"I know, Flynn. I know. But you have to realize...leaving them like that, subjected to whatever it is that's taking place on the Grid now – which, by the way, is something we have no way of knowing from the outside - in other words, just leaving them that way...it's far worse. Far more...inhumane,...for lack of a better term. By resetting the system, you may be giving them the only chance they'd have,...at any kind of life."

Kevin just looked down for long moments. Being called 'the Creator' on the Grid was one thing, but this? This was something he'd never once thought he'd have to do - decide the fate of millions.

Just then, from the back seat his own voice spoke softly. "He's right, Kevin. And, I haven't calculated the odds, but, chances are the reset would simply turn back Grid-time. It should simply eliminate Abraxas, and restore the system to it's pre-contaminated state."

Kevin nodded. "Should. But the problem is, those odds, Clu. We need to calculate 'em. Because otherwise, that's a really big iffy-looking should."

Clu simply nodded, then sat very quietly for a long time, thinking.

After a few moments, rapidly approaching headlights in the rear view mirror caught Alan's attention.
Then he sighed, raising an eyebrow and grumbling under his breath. "Of all the-...there's two cars on the whole road. What, like you can't go around me?..."

"What?" Kevin looked over at him.

"Nothing. Just- ... this guy's just going to ride my bumper until I ditch the carpool lane, I guess. Which, I suppose I will,...just to keep him from crawling up my tail-pipe. "

Giving an irked sigh, he tapped the brakes gently, feeling the car decelerate as the cruise control deactivated. Then he signaled and changed lanes, watching as the black town-car with tinted windows sped up and passed them. But oddly, after it passed them, the driver slowly changed lanes, veering the car over to the right lane, where it then stayed, tracking along at the same speed with them.
Alan slowed slightly, and the car slowed. When he sped up again, the car did the same.

He finally veered back into the carpool lane, and glanced at Kevin with a suspicious smirk. "You're seeing this, right?"

Eyes narrowed, Kevin glanced casually over at the mysterious black car. "Mm-hm. Sure am."

Alan gave another smirk, murmuring quietly as he flipped on the radar detector at his visor. He pressed the accelerator again. "Well,... let's just find out what this is about, shall we?"

When the speedometer passed 80 mph, Kevin raised his eyebrow.
When it hit 85, he looked at Alan curiously. "Man,... what're you doin'? I mean, besides 85 miles an hour that is. You tryin' to get us pulled over?"

"No." Alan gave a smirk. "I'm trying to figure out how committed this guy is to tracking us. Really high-end black municipal vehicle. If he was a cop, or a Fed, he would have either stopped us by now or stayed behind us in pursuit."

Kevin looked at him incredulously. "So,...what- you're gonna' drag race with him?"

This got Clu's attention. With a click he released his seat-belt and leaned forward in the back seat, looking at the two of them as he leaned over the center console.

"Is this going to be like 'The Fast And Furious' thing we saw on television?"

Kevin looked at Clu, slightly confused. Alan just chuckled, and answered in a calm voice. "No, Clu. And that was HBO. A movie, not regular television. Sit back and re-fasten your safety belt for me, please. Okay?"

Clu frowned, seeming disappointed, but then settled back into the seat, clicking the seat-belt back onto position.
Kevin watched as they began to slowly catch up with Sam's bike which was in the lane up ahead. He glanced over at the speedometer which now verged on 90 mph, and then he just looked at Alan, chuckling.

"Man,...first the kung fu,...now this. You're just full of surprises, Alan."

The programmer gave a wry, smirky grin, "I have my moments."

At 93 mph, the car in the far right lane finally slowed and dropped out of parallel with them, just as the next freeway exit sign loomed ahead. A few seconds later, Alan watched in the rear-view mirror as the car put on its turn signal and suddenly merged onto the exit ramp, leaving the freeway.

Up ahead of them, Sam's tail lights flashed twice, and then he put on his left turn signal.

Kevin looked over at Alan. "There's no exit from this lane. What's Sam doing?"

Alan shook his head ever so slightly. "Not sure. But there's a left-exit up ahead soon to change freeways. I think he's been watching what's going on. Maybe he wants us to take an alternate route home."

Kevin's eyes narrowed as he watched Sam continuing into the freeway connector lane, and then he nodded, murmuring softly. "Good call, kiddo."

: : :

The traffic on the 110 freeway was significantly heavier. After a couple of miles, Sam's bike slowed up ahead, and he put on his right turn signal, pointing his gloved hand to the right as he veered into the next lane.

Alan tilted his head, slowing down and signaling to follow Sam. "Wait- where's he going now?"

Kevin's eyes narrowed, and he looked at the exit sign up ahead. "Think I know. Used to take him riding on back of the bike when he was just a boy. Surface streets around here. Winding roads, low speed limits, residential, mostly. He may want to make sure we're not being followed."

Alan's brow quirked as he followed Sam down the exit ramp. "Well,...that's certainly a way to do it I guess. I'm not sure where the heck we are."

Kevin shrugged. "I know. Well,...I think I know. I used to. 'Lot's changed though, I'm sure."

Alan gave him a skeptical look, flipping on the other small device which was attached to his visor. "And, that's why we have GPS."

"GPS?" Kevin looked up quizzically as the device illuminated. This was one of those times when he felt like a mere tot in the new world of technology.

"Global Positioning System. Satellite tracking." Alan answered, pressing another button.

Kevin looked at Alan, his eyes widening. "Satellite tracking? You kiddin' me? And we're worried about some weird car keeping pace with us on the freeway?"

Alan frowned. "That's-...but-...well,... good point." He immediately reached up and turned off the GPS unit, then disconnected the power cable from the side of it and un-clipped it from the visor.
Kevin was still looking at the small device curiously, and so he handed it to him.

"There you go, Flynn. A digital world-atlas and a compass, all rolled into one. The size of a cellular phone."

Kevin sighed. "Yeah, still wrapping my head around the size of a cellular phone these days."

Just then, Clu spoke up from the back seat. "Kevin,...why does Alan still call you 'Flynn'?"

Kevin turned his head to look at him. "Clu,...of all the odd questions. Because, buddy,...that's...just what he's always called me."

The logic in the answer didn't set well with Clu.

"But, that's what Tron and I have always called you, too. Then you asked us to start calling you 'Kevin' instead."

Alan smirked, glancing over to see Kevin looking stymied with his mouth still open.

"W-...well,...it's-..." Kevin paused, then sighed, frustrated. "Help me out here, Alan."

Chuckling, Alan glanced in the rear view mirror, making eye contact with Clu who seemed genuinely puzzled over this odd pecking-order of names and familiarity.

"I usually call him 'Flynn' when I'm being sarcastic, joking around with him. Sometimes I call him 'Kevin' too, or, even 'Kev'...or, occasionally,...if I'm really peeved, somewhat disparaging things."

Kevin grinned at him. "You call me somewhat disparaging things?"

Alan gave a smirky grin. "Well, no, Fl-...Kevin. Not to your face."

Kevin shook his head, laughing. But when he glanced back at Clu, he could see from the frown on his doppelganger's face that he was still confused by all of this. Rightly so, because it didn't actually make much sense, but, he had a feeling he knew what Clu was getting hung-up on anyway.

"Look,...Clu,...here's the thing,..." he began, then paused, glancing over at Alan who was still smirking. He shot a smirk right back at Alan, then turned to Clu again. "When I asked you and Tron to call me 'Kevin',...there was a reason there. Because until then you'd always seen me as, well, something like,...a boss, a superior, something like that."

"As the Creator." Clu added, with a clarifying nod.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah,...that too. And,...well that's kind of my point. Up 'til then I'd been only that to you. The Creator. But, after all the cycles...I learned so much, from my mistakes, from,... everything. I decided I wanted to do things differently, that I wanted you to start seeing me as...a friend, more like equals,..teammates,...or...like,..."

"Brothers?..." Clu interrupted, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

"Yeah. Like brothers." Kevin smiled. That was pretty much the term he'd been looking for. And judging from the slight smile playing at the corners of Clu's mouth, it was just what Clu had been hoping to hear. He grinned more fully, the logic of all this clearly working itself nicely in his head.

"You're the old one, of course..." Then Clu paused, immediately sensing his faux-pas in wording, and corrected himself quickly, somewhat awkwardly. "Er. Old-er. The older one, I mean."

Still grinning, Kevin's brow quirked to a slight frown. "...yyyyeah. The older one."

Alan tried to suppress a chuckle and failed miserably at it, eventually spluttering into muffled laughter. Kevin smirked at him, eyes narrowing. "Yeah, laugh it up, Alan. You're older than me, pal."

Alan raised his eyebrows. "Yes, but I'm not the one who looks like Father Time. You know, with the beard and all."

Seeing Kevin's smirk turn towards more of an insulted glower, Alan smiled. "I'm kidding, Kevin. You don't look a day over...forty. Ish. Really."

Kevin's smirk did not lessen, nor did his frown. Instead he just raised an eyebrow, and looked back at Clu speculatively. "So. Anyway. All this. The names thing. Make more sense to you now, Clu?"

"I think so..." Clu nodded, pausing for a moment, thinking. Then he tilted his head slightly, voicing his conclusion. "So, when you're brothers, or, friends, ...you can call each other by your first name or your last name, and no loss of familiarity is implied. Because it's less about the name and more about the sentiment or, affection, behind it."

Kevin grinned, giving a slight nod. "Exactly. You pretty much got it, buddy."

Clu nodded in acknowledgment. He was about to ask if all friends bickered as much as Alan and Kevin did, and whether that was a peculiar sign of endearment, but then he realized that's exactly what he and Tron did most of the time, too. Before he could muse over it further, Alan's voice changed the subject.

"NOW where's he going? We are officially in the boonies, folks."

The car slowed, as Alan followed Sam into an alleyway which ran parallel to the main thoroughfare they'd been on. At the end of the alley was an intersection with a small side-street, and Sam pulled the bike up to park behind the gas station on the corner. He looked around, then walked to the driver's side of the car as Alan was rolling down the window.

Alan just looked at him with curious, raised brows. He knew Sam had a plan, he just didn't have any idea what it was.

Kevin leaned across the center console, looking up at his son. "You takin' us the back way through Mexico, or what, kiddo?"

Sam gave the hint of a grin and looked around again, nodding slightly as he spoke. "Yeah, sorry,...kind of wasn't expecting that car thing. Call me paranoid but, you know, all things considered."

Kevin shook his head ever so slightly, reassuring him. "No,...no, you did the right thing kiddo. We're fine with it. Just wondering where you wanna' head from here."

Sam pointed at the side-street. "This'll lead us all the way over the canyon. Winds around, ends up just down the hill from Alan's subdivision. About three miles or so, and a couple of turns. I only stopped here 'cause I need to gas up the bike."

Kevin nodded. "I dig. Vaguely remember the way. Why don't we sit tight while you fill up, then you lead."

Sam gave a nod of his own, and stepped away towards the bike. Just then, Clu sat forward slightly, looking out the window at the convenience store which was part of the gas station. Then looking back at Kevin, he asked in almost a whisper. "Do you think they have Twix here?"

Kevin sighed, realizing they'd forgotten to stop at a store on the way to the arcade. After a pause, he rolled down his window. "Sam?..."

Sam stopped, then walked back over to the car. Kevin gave him an apologetic grin. "Mind getting a Twix?...for Clu?"

With a slight grin, Sam nodded. Then he looked at Alan and Kevin. "You two want anything?" Both men shook their heads. He turned around and headed back to the bike.

Just then, Alan's phone chirped. Pulling the cell from his jacket pocket, he was surprised to see a missed-call notification, from his house phone number.

"That's odd. It didn't ring." He looked at Kevin, then shrugged, and redialed the number. After a brief pause, he spoke. "Hello?...Tron. Yes, it's Alan. You called me?"

He paused again, listening, then frowned. "You didn't? Well. That's weird. Must have been from when you called earlier. Although,... I didn't actually miss that call-..."

Sighing, he redirected himself, glancing at his watch. "Oh well, whatever. I don't know. Anyway, we'll be back soon. Everything alright there?"

There was a much longer pause, and then he raised a wary eyebrow, looking slightly alarmed. "What...exactly ...do you mean by... 'cooking'?"

Kevin's brows raised, and he looked over at Alan, his mind suddenly filled with visualizations of Quorra and/or Tron and/or the both of them making a disastrous mess and/or causing a potential fire-hazard in the kitchen while attempting to cook.

But Alan's smile was a good sign. "I see. Well, sounds like a good snack. Alright then, we'll see you shortly."

He disconnected the call. Then he looked at Kevin with a smirk. "They're making a surplus of toast, for sandwiches. Apparently Quorra has a fascination with how the toaster operates."

Kevin grinned, chuckling under his breath. "Yep. Sounds about like Q."

Just then Sam was approaching the car, holding up the requested candy bar with a wry grin. He handed it to Kevin. "There ya' go."

Clu's eyes lit up as Kevin handed it to him. "Thank you! Yes, that's it! It looks exactly like the other ones did."

Kevin looked up at Sam, and gave a slight shrug and a grin. "Thanks, kiddo. He's been really wanting one. The vending machine stiffed him at Encom."

Sam shrugged, then looked over the seats at Clu, who was eagerly tearing open the candy wrapper. "Yeah, man, the one on the second floor? It does that to me too sometimes."

Alan looked across at Sam, starting the car again. "Okay. So. You lead, we follow?"

Nodding, Sam gave a slight mock-salute and a grin, then turned back towards the bike. Within a few moments, they were a small convoy of bike plus car, winding their way cautiously through the canyon.

After what seemed like a small forever of driving, finally Alan was pulling the car into the garage. As they all three walked up the driveway, Alan looked at his watch, then smirked at Kevin.

"Well,...no mysterious vans or cars in the neighborhood. No one chased us. The house appears to be intact. And, we actually made it home before sunrise. Things are looking up."