Tron Legacy: Son of Flynn

Chapter Twenty-One

Meanwhile…

Finally, Grant Marx and his partner arrived at the bunker where their boss was waiting for them to bring him the young corporation owner who not only fired the technology genius from ENCOM, but who brought his plans crashing down almost overnight and had humiliated him on more than one occasion. Tonight, everything was going to change and the son of Kevin Flynn was going to pay for crossing a man of real power and influence.

Ed walked into the main room of the bunker just as his hired thugs laid Sam Flynn down on the floor, as he was still unconscious from the attack the two men forced on him less than an hour ago. Jr. knelt down over the younger man and began to examine him upon noticing the dried blood plastered along his neck that lead from a small wound on the back of his head. It was then that another unexpected visitor walked out from the shadows of the room, a visitor that even Dillinger Jr. didn't expect to see until he arrived not long before his partners did. The newcomer didn't say a word at first, simply observed the man in charge, as well as at the younger man who was hurt so that the thugs could get him to them.

Dillinger glared at his associates as he stood up and said angrily, "I believe my instructions to you both were to bring the kid here unharmed, or at least no more harmed than the wounds you've already inflicted upon him. What about that was unclear?"

Grant raised his hands in frustration as he replied, "What can I say? The kid's tougher than he looks. He didn't really leave us much of a choice, boss."

"I don't doubt his strength, but I do doubt that you couldn't have obeyed my orders any better than you have," the genius responded coldly and then motioned for the doctor and one of his men to pick Sam up off the floor and secure him to the machine that he believed would ultimately become his greatest creation to help change the world, instead of it being a Flynn who would succeed. "The important thing is that you got him here so I won't fire you just yet, but fail to do exactly as I ask again, and you will be finished."

"Sir, you shouldn't use this technology on him so long as he's in pain, at least not from a head injury," the doctor spoke up nervously upon examining Sam, while his partner worked to strap his wrists and ankles tightly to the chair connected to the machines surrounding it. "Using this machine on anyone is bad enough, but to use it on him in this condition could cause him to have a severe brain injury or worse, it could cause death if I make a mistake."

The man who had remained silent up until now finally spoke up saying, "Well then, it's important that you don't make a mistake."

Ed glared at the older man now standing beside him as he retorted, "Thank you, Dad, but I've got this. However, my father is right, Doc. I want this experiment to proceed as planned. If you want to attend to his injuries or give him aspirin for any pain, well then by all means, but we will begin in a half hour."

"Mmm…" Sam weakly moaned as he slowly began to come around, then he opened his eyes, noticing the blurred outlines of the figures surrounding him and struggled to break free of his bonds. "What hap…? Aagh… Where am… am I?"

"Where you are is no longer of importance to you, Mr. Flynn," Dillinger Jr. answered casually as he stepped forward into his captive's line of sight, then sat down in a chair set beside the machine and leaned forward so that their faces were fairly close. "Or Sam, I should say. It's not like I work under ENCOM's largest shareholder anymore. And I don't have any ounce of respect for you or for your father."

Sam finally quit struggling and turned his head to try to concentrate on the man standing above him, finally seeing who it was in charge of whatever this was, then he replied, "You never did. Believe me, the feeling is mutual. What the hell… is going on? Was the mugging your friends gave me… not enough for you?"

Ed chortled and then responded, "I think you already know why you're here. What you really should be asking is what is it that I really want your plans for?"

"I know why," Sam answered in frustration as he started again to try to free his wrists, despite the hopelessness in succeeding.

"Actually, it's not really what you think," the tech genius stated as he sat up straighter to roam his eyes around the machine, encouraging Sam to do the same. "You think that I want to know what you're going to do to change your father's company because I want to steal your ideas and use them for myself. That may be partially true, depending on what this machine I created finds inside your head, but I really just want to know what you're planning so that I will know exactly what it is I have to beat."

Sam scoffed and replied, "So, you're jealous and afraid that you're going to be bested by another technology genius, who's younger and whose IQ probably isn't as high as yours. I'm not ashamed to admit that. Because I'm not in any way, jealous of or worried about being outdone by you. Create a machine that can change the world of technology as we know it, earn billions of dollars more than I ever could, become the most eligible bachelor in all of New Jersey… I couldn't care less. None of that is why I do the things I do. None of that, is the reason why I took back the company to try to reshape the world into something better for everyone, and not just for smug, arrogant bastards such as yourselves."

Dillinger Sr. moved forward, allowing the young man to see him for the first time, as he said, "I would like this kid, if he wasn't Kevin Flynn's son. He's smug. He was me back when I was his age."

"I'm nothing like either one of you," Sam responded angrily. "Just get on with whatever you have planned, or let me go already, but you're making a mistake. I won't help you to destroy my dad's legacy."

"I'm afraid that you won't have any choice," the tech genius answered with a sneer. "This machine you're being hooked up to, it will show me exactly what I want and you won't be able to fight against for long. Initially it was my father's idea, but he intended to build a machine simply to allow people to live their most desired dreams from their minds as if they were living them in real life. There was I bit more to it than that, but…"

Sam looked between father and son interrupting, "You mean, like virtual reality? I'm afraid that that ship has sailed. You're several years too late."

Ed chuckled as he and the neuroscientist finished hooking Sam into the machine and then continued, "Which is why I made a few changes, quite a few actually. Mine extracts thoughts, memories, secrets; the darkest of secrets from the very back of man's minds and then projects them onto the screen above you for all of us to watch; just like a good movie. I will give you one more chance to tell me all that I want to know. I am not a cruel man. If you force me to go through with this, you're going to be in for a lot of pain, Sam. I know when to show mercy, but I also know that I will do whatever I have to do to get exactly what I need to get ahead in life. That is where my own father and I are different. He's a coward, but I'm not. I have to know what secret you're hiding, mainly why you choose to pull pranks on ENCOM year after year, including last night when you leaked the OS-12 online for the world to have for free and then all of a sudden you wake up the next morning with the audacity to believe that you are capable to run a Fortune 500 company. What do you say?"