*Comes out of hiding* Your mobs need work, guys :P Ok, so I apologize for the last one (not! ;D) Sorry guys, it was just too much fun. To make up for it, I wrote you all a new one...And no I did not mess up on the title...I did that on purpose.

Key:

"adfasdfa" -Grid announcement

"asdfadfa"- Monitor's Sensing (Grid's voice to Her Monitors)

"adfasdfas" - thoughts/announcements/memories

I do not own any of the Tron franchise, much as I want to.

Chapter 25

ISOlated

"So what's the mission this time?" Beck asked his father as he came up beside him.

"Tesler's base, a heavily guarded impenetrable fortress of death…"

"Aren't you the cheery one," Beck snarked.

Tron shot him a look.

"There are over 20,000 soldiers on constant patrol," he continued, "Who will not hesitate to derezz you if they see you,"

He turned back to his son and jabbed at his chest.

"So make sure they don't see you,"

"Guess that near-Stray incident made you over protective," Beck hummed while Tron closed an eye, "Ok, ok, I'm shutting up,"

He turned to Tron after lowering his hands.

"Stealth…now that I can do,"

"You'll need to be quick," Tron instructed, "That data cube we're after will give us critical advantage over the Occupation,"

"Don't worry, they won't even know I'm there…"

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Beck crawled through the ventilation shaft, the crimson light turning his armor a pale, pearly red while his circuits still surged white.

He looked around…Tron said that the panel behind the cube chamber would have a grating of sort…aha!

Beck hooked his fingers in the holes before carefully lifting it away, revealing the data cube. The Child Basic snatched the cube and started out…right as an alarm blared.

"Great!" Beck growled, crawling out of the duct as fast as he could.

He kicked out a grate and hit the floor, rolling to his feet and racing towards the exit, feeling like he was flying. He looked up and saw the exit starting to close on him.

"Not gonna happen!" he thought.

He ran faster, taking out his baton and breaking it, leaping upwards as the Lightjet sketched itself into the air underneath him, solidifying and shooting upwards. He shot through the rapidly closing door right as it slammed shut behind him.

"Haha! Take that!" Beck crowed, soaring up through the Grid-sky.

"Behind you! Danger!"

Beck turned around, seeing Paige behind him in a…

"A lightchopper?" Beck snorted, "You'll never catch me me in that!"

He heard the distinct roar of a jet engine and he cringed.

"Lightjets on the other hand…" he muttered, wrenching the jet to the side as Paige started shooting at him.

He shot upwards, looking for all the world that he was trying to stall his engine…but he arced back at the last moment, coming up behind his targets.

He readied his weapons system…when Paige started shooting at him in her chopper. He banked to the left, nearly clipping Paige's chopper as he flew by.

"Users, will you ever give up?" he demanded, not that she could hear him, but it was good to get that out.

They flew towards and island, Paige shooting at him as they flew, trying to avoid the rock walls that loomed up around them.

Beck looked behind him, seeing Paige's irritated face behind him.

"Well, she's not going to like what I'm about to do…" he thought as the ribbon flashed to life, streaming behind him.

He arced around her, trying to trap her with a wall of silver-white light…when she shot out his engine. He started falling, and Beck desperately punched the return switch with his thumb.

"C'mon, c'mon!" he begged, as the jet's form flickered, turning insubstantial and then reverting to its solid form, "Now would be a good time to turn back into a baton!"

The ground came closer and closer at an alarming rate and Beck, panicking, bailed out right as the the jet smashed into the island. He landed hard on the ground, stumbling to a halt as he hid behind a rock.

"Great, that's two batons I've broke," Beck muttered as he watched the sky.

The Occupation jets arced across the sky…and left.

"Good," Beck thought as he sank down with his back to the wall, "Maybe…when they…leave…I can…find…"

His eyes fluttered shut and he fell into shutdown.

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"What are you doing?"

As soon as she asked it, Quorra almost wished she hadn't.

Kevin's ice blue gaze locked onto her without its normal mischievous gleam. It was like someone had sucked the life out of his eyes. But who could blame him?

His best friend…almost a brother…had disappeared out of the blue and had been gone for a year.

"Kevin? Please, you have to talk sometime," she begged, putting a hand on her son's shoulder, caressing the ISO glyph on his upper arm with her thumb.

He carefully took his arm away from her, settling back at his computer and working.

"Kevin?"

"Working,"

Quorra jumped at the unexpected sound. She waited for him to speak again, but Kevin didn't continue.

"Working on what?"

"Finding Tron,"

"Kevin…the plane…"

"I KNOW THAT!" Kevin snapped, whirling around, "But I'm not giving up, even if you all have. I can't…he wouldn't give up on me…I'm not giving up on him,"

He turned back to his computer and Quorra closed her eyes, getting up and walking out of her son's room.

As soon as she left, Kevin closed his eyes and leaned his head against his palm.

"Where are you, Beck?"

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"Where are you, Beck?"

Beck's eyes flashed open.

Someone had called his name…but as far as he knew, he was the only one here…right? He got up, slowly and painfully, his arm especially.

He ignored it though and picked up a piece of wreckage, trying to figure out how to fix it…and failing miserably.

"Flynn himself couldn't fix this mess," he muttered, throwing away the wing piece in disgust.

He heard a cracking, crumbling noise and he whirled around just to see a piece of the island derezzing and falling into the Sea.

"Whoa…" he breathed, racing up on top of a ridge and watching as more and more of the island fell away.

This was not good.

He heard someone yelling and he whipped around, rezzing the mask over his features.

"Hey!" he yelled as the figure straightened up…revealing Paige's slender form.

"Aw, great," Beck thought miserably, "Stuck here on an island with her!?"

"Huh," she started, her Disk humming as she ran towards him, derezzment clearly her intent, "You're a hard Program to derezz. But you know what? I like a challenge!"

She hurled her Disk and Beck leaped over it, letting the deadly orange edge slash where his feet had been.

"We've got a problem!" Beck tried as he landed and got back up…

Just in time for Paige to land a kick at his face, forcing him to fall to the ground.

"No, you've got a problem!" Paige snarled, catching her Disk as Beck scrambled to get up.

She tried to hit him but Beck blocked her as she kept trying to hit him.

"Hold on!" Beck pleaded, "I've gotta show you something!"

"You think I'm that gullible!?" Paige demanded, throwing a punch at him again but he blocked her.

She launched herself into a powerful roundhouse kick, slamming into the side of Beck's neck and sending him flying.

Beck groaned as he hit the ground, the data cube flying out of his hand. Paige's honey colored eyes lit up and she ran for the cube. Beck saw where she was going and tried to get to get to it first…but Paige snatched it up right as Beck's hand clipped it.

She danced out of the way as Beck stood up.

"You probably thought I forgot about this?" she sneered.

And the island shook, making the both of them stumble. Paige's high heeled boots weren't suited very well for earthquakes on stone…and she started to fall of the bridge. Beck lunged forwards as Paige caught the side. He leaned over and offered his hand.

"Now will you listen?" he asked, jumping back as Paige tried to take off his hand, "Will you just stop!?"

He pointed at a derezzing part of the island.

"Look what's happening!" he ordered.

"It's disintegrating," Paige breathed.

"The shock from my crash destabilized the code of the island," he explained, "It's derezzing and there's no way to stop it. Pretty soon, the whole island is going to fall apart,"

He reached out his hand.

"Still want to keep fighting?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Paige growled, but she gave a sigh, "But I guess it'll have to wait,"

She took his hand and he hauled her up.

He looked behind her at the crashed chopper.

"No way that'll ever fly again," he stated.

"It doesn't have to fly," Paige corrected, "Just float,"

"Look around," Beck told her, "There's no armies out here, no soldiers, just us. If we wanna live, we have to work together,"

"I am the army," Paige replied stubbornly, "And I'm getting off this rock alone!"

And she ran off towards the wreckage.

"If there was an award for stubbornness, she'd win it," Beck growled to himself, watching as she took a piece of the chopper and shoved it towards the water, jumping on and paddling towards Argon.

Beck shook his head.

It didn't take a mechanic to know that it wasn't going to work.

He started towards the beach, watching as Paige's makeshift life-raft sank and the commander swam back towards the island, coughing up the viral code from the Sea. The beach's code shattered underneath her and Paige yelped, throwing herself to stable sand.

Beck stood in front of her, crossing his arms.

"Still don't think you need my help?" he asked.

She got up, shoving past him and going over to a ledge, sitting down and sulking. She knew he was right…but she didn't want to admit it.

"The water's going to get even rougher as more of the island breaks up," Beck told her, "I might be able to attach the propulsion unit from your chopper to my lifeboat. Modify it to work in water,"

"Don't you need to be an engineer or mechanic to do something like that?" Paige asked suspiciously.

Beck cringed under the mask. That was an idiotic mistake. He could almost hear Tron reprimanding him about it.

"How hard could it be?" he finally said.

"It could be…impossible,"

"Luckily for you, you have a mechanic here," Beck thought with a sly smile.

"Look," he said aloud, "I can't do this alone, and neither can you. And if we don't work fast…we'll drown,"

"At least I'll have the satisfaction of seeing the end of the Renegade," Paige retorted.

"Do you really want to die here?" Beck demanded as Paige looked at another piece of the island that was derezzing, "We can do this, trust me,"

She turned towards him, her honey gaze zeroing in on his throbbing arm.

"You're injured," she stated.

Beck looked down at the wound, his code shifted inside. He hated seeing someone's open code…it always unnerved him and seeing his own made him feel slightly dizzy.

It was gaping, glowing a glaring white.

"It's nothing," he said with faux nonchalance.

Paige closed an eye and got up, pulling out a scanner and scanning Beck's arm, showing signs of viral infection.

"Without treatment you could lose the arm," Paige told him, "I'll need to access your Disk,"

Beck pulled away, closing an eye in suspicion as she grabbed at his Disk. He snatched her wrist, keeping her from going any farther, a low rumbling warning built up in his throat.

She jerked her hand back.

"I'm only doing this because I need your help," she growled.

"So…are we agreeing to a truce?" Beck started slowly, his wounded arm's hand starting to shake.

"A temporary truce," Paige corrected.

She held out her hand for his Disk and Beck warily detached it, holding onto it and jerking it out of the way when Paige latched onto it.

"You're not gonna try to derezz me again?" Beck started, "I have your word as a soldier?

"You have my word," Paige reassured him as Beck released and she pulled up his holographic portrait.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Beck asked.

"All soldiers learn how to treat battle injuries," she explained, "It's part of our training,"

Beck tensed as she worked on the injury, all she would have to do is have her fingers slip and she could see who he was, see his memories, see Tron…

She could even derezz him.

But true to her word, Paige sealed up the wound, and the biting pain was gone. He put a hand to the smooth armor.

"Huh," he started, "Feels good as new,"

She held out his Disk and he reached for it…Paige playfully jerked it back and Beck narrowed his eyes…

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"He's so quiet," Quorra murmured as Kevin walked in the door from his day at college, "And seeing as that it's Kevin, it's scary,"

"He's grieving," Yori sighed, "He thinks they're…dead…and…"

She wiped away a tear, sniffing.

"They weren't waiting for us," Yori whispered, "They weren't waiting at the Portal,"

"That only means that they're still getting Beck's memories back," Quorra told her.

"Or they are derezzed,"

Yori caressed the photo of the two graduates in her hand, both of them acting silly as the picture was taken…and then Kevin took Beck's diploma.

"Flynn! Give it back!"

"If you can catch me, Tron!"

"I worked hard on that! If anything I need yours too! Since I did all the work!"

"I wonder what he's like," Yori murmured, touching her son's face in the picture, "Has he made friends…found someone special…"

"What trouble he's gotten himself into…" Quorra added and then explained as Yori shot her a look, "Face it, he's Tron's son…that boy is going to get into some sort of trouble,"

Yori gave a sigh.

"Unfortunately, I have to agree,"

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Paige woke up with Disk activated as she shot to her feet, making Beck jump. He looked up from his work, shaking off the fragmented memory that came with him nearly falling into the water.

"Not bad, if I say so myself," he said, indicating the boat as he stood.

"Assuming it works," Paige snorted, deactivating her Disk and reattaching it to her back.

"My power pack is drained…" Beck apologized, "It's the only one I had,"

"My chopper has a full power pack," Paige offered, "We can use it,"

They both started towards the chopper and Paige showed him where it was. Beck used his Disk to cut the pack out of the damaged chopper and they shoved it out of the chopper. The Child Basic opened the box and started messing with the pack.

"Suppose we make it back to Argon," he started, "Then what?"

"You either give yourself up, or I derezz you. Your choice,"

"Wow, straightforward that one,"

"Hmm, some choice," Beck replied dryly, "Hand me that tail flap, we can use it as a rudder,"

"What, do I work for you now?" Paige teased.

"Danger! Run! Quick!"

The ground started shaking. And Beck saw the rock underneath Paige starting to break apart.

"PAIGE LOOK OUT!" Beck yelled getting up.

The ground shattered and sent Paige screaming off the edge.

"Paige!" Beck called, running to the edge to see Paige holding onto a ledge, her honey colored eyes wild with fear, "Paige…hang on!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Paige shrieked as Beck started back to the raft, "COME BACK!"

"Hold on, just hold on…" he begged mentally as he made it to the raft, setting the power pack in place.

"Hang, on Paige," he breathed, powering up the craft…and it failed on him, "WHAT!? C'mon!"

He slammed his fist against the controls again.

"C'MON!"

The engine started and Beck gave a cry of joy as he shoved the raft into the water, hopping on and racing towards where Paige was hanging on.

Right as he reached it, the ledge derezzed, sending the commander screaming into the water.

Beck forced the boat to stop and he dived into the water, ignoring the fear that clenched around his core.

Stunned. Warning: Shutdown Impending. Dark. Alone. Sinking. Help! Can't breathe! I am *static* Error! No! Not *static*! Error! Warning: Shutdown Impending. Poisoned waters. Whoami? *Static*. Error. Error. I. Am…Blind! Can't see! Water seeps through the crack Clu gave me, I can't breathe, water floods into my mouth, into my nose, it hurts! Can't breathe…So alone, can't think, no identity. Disks gone.

Beck shook his head violently as he saw Paige's dimly glowing red form sinking into the Sea, he nearly reached her when a claw came from above and latched around her, pulling her up.

The Child Basic swam upwards, making sure that it carried her all way way and not dropping her. He reached up and touched her hand, reassuring her that help had found her, even though he was pretty sure that she couldn't feel it.

And he surfaced, swimming towards his raft as the chopper carrying Paige took her back to Argon.

"I hope someday you realize…I'm one of the good guys," he murmured.

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"…And after all that…" Beck started, "I didn't even make it back with the data cube,"

"We'll have other chances to get our hands on Tesler's plans," Tron reassured his son, "But I'm impressed that you risked your life to try to save an enemy,"

Beck turned a sheepish smile towards his father and Tron couldn't help but feel the pride in his son overflow.

"I thought she was starting to trust me," he admitted, "Besides, I gave her my word,"

"You did the right thing, Beck," Tron smiled, putting a hand on Beck's shoulder.

He started back towards the simulation room with Beck on his heels.

"And I am so very proud of you,"

So Kevin hasn't given up and Beck still has no idea. I'm sorry for the shortness...this one was a 'Paige-centric' chapter and I wanted to so something like that but different. Since Paige had dealings with ISOs in the past (including Kev's Mom) I figured why not feature the two ISOs in Beck's life? Next up is Price of Power...little spoiler: Tron's not the only one with a dark, feral side. And this one is just as bad if not worse!

Anyway, I hope you liked it, if you did, please let me know!

Qui vállë tóquetë, ván tecë (If no review comes from y'all; no story comes from me)

Máriessë ar mára tecië

Farewell and fair writing

Elhini Prime signing off.