A/N: I haven't updated this fic since July 23rd. Oh the huge manatee, D:

If you haven't done it recently, I highly recommend rereading the fic before starting the new chapter, especially because this won't be the last update for another couple months.

I Owe You A Love Song

25 - The Rectifier

"Radia? It's me."

"Come in."

The door slides open and Sam glances around before stepping into Radia's room, Marvin at his heels. He looks around the room reflexively and sees a mannequin wearing a beautiful asymmetrical gown in a corner.

"What do you think?" she asks, setting a data pad on her lap.

"It's... lovely." What a way to remind her of what's happening in a few days. "What about you?"

She presses her lips tightly, making the circuit on her bottom lip flare. "It's nice." She leans over to stroke Marvin's head. "What is it? What happened?"

Sam rocks back and forth on his feet, replaying the conversation in his head. "She -Mom wants me to leave the city."

"She wants you to leave?"

He nods. "Even offered to have Shaddox escort me out. Said once I become an official member of the family I'll live with a lot of fear and attention for the rest of my life." He sits on the floor next to her chair. "Something's going to happen and she knows it. She's trying to save me."

"I know."

He jerks his head up. "What?"

"Not all the details," she says. "But it's Clu and the less we know, the better."

Of course it's Clu. It's always Clu. He draws his knees up to his chest and bangs his forehead against them. "It's always him."

Her laugh is empty. "I know."

"So should I leave?"

"It's up to you."

He can tell Jordan he's leaving before the celebrations begin, have Shaddox take him through the Silicon Valley to the border. He can vanish for good.

"Come with me?"

When she doesn't answer he lifts his head. She stares at the floor, gripping the armrest too tightly. "I can't."

"Why? Whatever Clu's planning has to have something to do with you, right? If you stay-"

"If I leave," she interrupts, "they'll hunt for me. The Grid doesn't need you, but it needs me. If there's a small chance that nothing happens then I become one more obstacle between Clu and the throne. Whatever's happening with Bostrum... I can't let it become another war, Sam. I have to stay."

He gapes at her; this isn't what he expected from someone who described herself as a caged bird. He can't bring himself to convince her otherwise, because she's right.

"Then I'm staying," he blurts out.

"Sam-"

"I'm not leaving you here with him." He reaches up and places his hand over hers. "I have your back."

She turns her hand over and squeezes his. "And I have yours."

He wants to say so many things but they all end in "I'm sorry it has to end this way", and the last thing he needs is Clu discovering the one last trick up his sleeve. He can't even call it a trick; it's just something the perfectionist overlooked, something that he of all Basics should've included in his calculations.

Half-Basic, Kevin reminds himself. Hard to remember that they're even related.

"Shouldn't you be in the city?" he says carefully. "Celebrations start in, what, two days? And with rumors that Bostrum-"

"I'll leave when my asset is ready," Clu says, checking the restraints holding Tron down. "I don't have all day."

"Never had to re-rectify a glitched Basic before. I don't want to break anything during the process." He bites back a retort to just chill, because Clu's patience is thin and he just wants this over with.

He glances over the interface at Tron; the Basic watches him, expression resigned but determined. He wishes now that he never agreed to take Tron with him when he left the city. This isn't how he wanted to fail his friends and yet here he is, at the heart of the machine he tried to destroy with their son's life in his forced hands.

Clu doesn't make small talk, just waits for the Rectifier to give them the go-ahead.

Kevin can't stall anymore. Now or never. "It's ready."

"Do it."

Clu steps back from Tron as the Rectifier hums and energy hurls through the circuits on the floor towards the platform the Basic is locked into.

"I'm sorry," Kevin whispers and types in the command.

The first time he rectified Tron he had nightmares for weeks. He couldn't stop hearing the screams, couldn't stop seeing the angry red of rectification overtake blue circuits. Now the screams ring in his ears again and even Clu flinches away as the Rectifier tries to rip apart Tron's code. Kevin keeps his head turned away from the center of the room. He spots Jarvis turning and fleeing the scene.

It won't be long now. He just needs to wait a little longer, resist shutting the Rectifier down before the system overloads-

The scream cuts off and the Rectifier shudders violently before going dark.

"What happened?"

Kevin pretends to frantically check the interfaces. "I - I don't know. I checked, I double-checked everything, but-"

"But what?"

"It's not working." It really isn't. "Something happened - must be the glitch. I - I told you to fix him before attempting the process-"

"You think I had time for that?" Clu snaps. Kevin backs away as the yellow-lit Basic storms towards him. "You said you could do it, you said the Rectifier could overwrite its own errors. What happened? Did your little User brain overlook some small, crucial detail?"

"This 'little User brain' is what made the Rectifier work in the first place, Clu," he replies. "He was the unknown factor, not the Rectifier. Not me. I told you but you insisted, and now he's dead and the Rectifier's broken. Because you-"

A hand wraps around his throat above the collar and squeezes. "Don't. Dispose of the body and get the Rectifier running again. I expect it to work perfectly after the celebrations are over."

Clu lets him go and heads for the exit. "Either way, you're never seeing Sam again."