(A/N Sorry for such a long wait. Weekly updates will now continue. Thanks so much for being there, constant reader (to borrow a Stephen King phrase). The end is in sight! )

NEW FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES

Cyphen woke up in a small room. He realized it must be a quarantine facility. He saw another program sitting in the cell across from him. They were separated by a pane of what looked like digital plexiglass.

"Oh hey. You're awake." The other program stood up and moved towards the glass. "Name's Rev, what's yours?" He had a slight east coast accent, though Cyphen wouldn't have identified it as such.

"Cyphen." He touched the wound on his shoulder and winced.

"Looks like a bad scratch you've got there! Wow, how'd you get it? Looks viral to me." Rev seemed excited. When a few moments passed and Cyphen didn't respond, he continued. "I see, you don't talk much. Well that's ok. I understand. Strong, silent type. Gotcha."

Cyphen was concerned about his wound, but in a strange way, he was also glad to have someone to talk to.

"It's ok. I don't mind." He tried turning his head to get a better look at the gash. It was about four inches long but very deep. It felt like there was some kind of acid slowly eating away at his outer code. He started feeling light-headed.

"Woah there," Rev said. "You sure you're ok?"

"It's just a scratch."

"That's no ordinary scratch. Were you fighting someone?"

"A virus attacked my partner and me. I was injured."

"Wow. I've been here so long I've forgotten what a virus looks like." He sighed and went to sit down again.

"How did you get in here?" Cyphen asked. He thought conversation might be a good distraction from the pain he was feeling.

"Oh me? I'm a spyware program. I'm proud to say, I got deep into some files and they couldn't get me out without destroying part of the system. So they just keep me in here. There's not a lot they can do with me."

"I see."

"Yeah I've been here a while. And other programs come and go. So most of the time I have someone else to talk to. So you're a system monitor, I take it then. Fighting viruses. Wow. Hey, didja fight in the war against CLU?"

"I did. Somewhat anyhow. I was actually Kevin Flynn's bodyguard, so I didn't get to fight much."

"You mean the creator? You knew the creator?" Rev was amazed. He had only heard stories about the creator, and most of them felt like fairy tales or legends.

"Yes."

"Is it true what they say about him then? That he's dead now?"

"Yes. He died to save all of us."

"No way!" Surprisingly, this seemed to cause Rev to sober up. He sat there in silence for a few minutes before continuing. "I never thought it would happen. First Tron and now this." Suddenly, Rev looked up.

"Well no good being down in the dumps. I guess he lived a long life. Really long in cycles. I have a feeling he'll be back. One way or another."

"Why do you say that?" Cyphen was curious. This program seemed extremely religious. Cyphen's beliefs about users were of course different.

He remembered sitting with Flynn on the deck outside Flynn's safe house. It was a quiet night. and the two of them looked out over the outlands back towards Tron City. Flynn didn't turn to Cyphen. He sat there looking out, as though he were searching for something or someone. He said, "You know something Cyphen."

"What is it, sir?" Cyphen knew that sometimes the creator just liked to share his thoughts with others. Cyphen was a good listener.

"Users aren't perfect. You can see that can't you?"

"What do you mean?" Cyphen was concerned. Flynn looked so sad.

"I screwed up. I ruined this place. All because I thought it could be perfect. You know Cyphen, there is no such thing. Not even users are perfect." Cyphen thought about that. He used to think of users as the people pulling the strings, invisible hands that guided programs. After being with Flynn for so long he knew differently.

"Sir..." he said and trailed off. Now wasn't the time for discussion. They went back to sitting there. Cyphen watched as the corners of his user's eyes crinkled up. There were almost tears there. Then Cyphen said, "Sir if its any consolation, you did what you thought was right. Sometimes you just have to believe that." Flynn turned to Cyphen, surprised at the sincerity of his words. Surprised that a program knew how to comfort him at a time like this.

"You know what, you're right. Thank you." And they went back to looking at the city, silently watching as the rain began to fall.

Cyphen didn't think Rev would understand his view of users. Most programs wouldn't. Rev seemed like the kind of religious fanatic that was common on the grid these days. Cyphen merely said,

"There's a lot more to users than we could ever know about."

"Yeah."

"But why do you think he's coming back?" Cyphen moved a bit closer to the plexiglass wall. He found he could hear Rev better. He also wanted to see the expression on his face.

"I just know it. It's like I feel him out there somewhere. Maybe he even left something behind. I've heard stories going around about The Keys of Flynn. He had to have left something. Otherwise we wouldn't be here, right?"

Cyphen wasn't so sure about Rev's logic. Even without Flynn, the Grid would still exist. Without users, the grid would go on.

"What do you know about the keys?" Cyphen asked.

"Just bits and pieces. They're supposed to be artifacts that open up the universe, things unlike anything any program's ever seen before. Magic spheres that programs can use to enhance their powers. Stuff like that. Why what do you know about them." Cyphen strangely found himself wanting to open up to this program. He had just met him, but what harm would there be in telling him? He was stuck here indefinitely. Even if he escaped, nobody would believe him anyhow.

"My group and I have seen the keys first hand. We know that Flynn left them behind for his son Sam. Other than that, your guess is probably as good as mine as to what they actually do. Whatever they are, they're powerful."

Rev almost jumped out of his seat. He moved close to the glass. Clearly he was a religious fanatic. "Is he here now, looking for them?"

"He's here. He and Tron went to the outlands to look for the next key in the old grid. Nobody knows how many there are, but we plan to find them all." Cyphen hardly ever spoke this much. But somehow he liked this program, enough to have told him more than what he normally would have.

Two black guards entered the holding area and approached their cells. One removed Rev and the other grabbed Cyphen and forced him out into the hall. They put a rectangular cuff on his hands and pinned them behind his back. Cyphen winced as the program grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him forward, nearly knocking him off balance.

"Well I guess this is it," Rev said. "I still can't believe you knew the Creator. He must have been a wonderful guy."

"Yeah," Cyphen said sadly. "Yes he was." The wound of losing his user was still fresh after all these cycles. Cyphen decided he had been around users too long and that it had made him too emotional as a program. It was something Flynn had warned against, but also, in his own way, encouraged. The guard pushed him again.

"Dillinger and Zuse want to see you. Both."

Rev arched back and slammed his head into the guard standing behind him. His head must have been pretty hard because the guard crumpled and fell to the floor. "Run," he yelled to Cyphen. Cyphen took advantage of the guard's distraction and turned on him, smashing him across the face with his cuffed hands.

Rev had somehow managed to slip his cuffs and undid Cyphen's. He rubbed his sore wrists and smiled a goofy smile. He was happy to be out and free again, ready for mayhem. "We have to get out of here. Give me a few seconds and I should be able to access an escape route. His eyes flashed yellow and he drew up a plan of the base. The three-dimensional model floated in the air between the two programs. Rev's eyes flashed again and a red dot appeared in the center of the simulation. "That's where we are," Rev explained. Then a series of dashes pointed them towards an exit. "Right here. If we take this hallway and access the maintenance shaft, we'll be out of here in no time."

Rev raced ahead. Cyphen followed behind. He tried as best as he could too keep up, but he found himself lagging behind. He began to free run, jumping over objects in his path gaining speed and momentum. When they arrived at the shaft, Rev stopped and looked up. 'Can you get me up there?" he asked Cyphen.

"I think so," Cyphen said.

"Then give me a boost!" Cyphen linked his fingers and placed them above his knee. Rev stepped up and Cyphen boosted him up into the open shaft. Rev put out his arm and Cyphen sprung up to meet him. They crawled through the shaft and quickly arrived at the street.

Rev stood and dusted himself off. "Well that was fun!" he said with a grin.

Cyphen checked around the street. Strangely, and lucky for the two of them, there were no guards. Cyphen started to get ready to leave. He pushed a button on his communicator and sent a message to K12 and the others. He was alive and they needed to get to Tron quickly.

Before he could say anything, Rev was at his side.

"I was wondering. if it's not too much trouble, could I go with you? Anyone who knew the creator is ok in my book. And I'm fast! And you can see I'm good at getting out of tough situations." He was speaking so fast Cyphen could barely understand him. But what he did understand was that Rev was a good guy. He had saved him and Cyphen felt like he owed him one.

"I also know a good doctor. One who can get rid of that virus for you." Cyphen looked at his shoulder. The rush of escape had made it so he hadn't noticed.

"Ok. Let's go. I don't think I have a lot of time." Rev took Cyphen through the underworld of the grid, to a small building with a front door and staircase. This was odd in a place like the grid where most buildings were high rises with massive elevators. This looked more like a brownstone, a walk up.

Rev knocked three times on the door and a buzzer went off letting the two programs in. "Doctor Tenma are you here?" A shuffling sound to the left of them startled Cyphen. It was a grid rat. Another shuffling sound came from what appeared to be a kitchen. Cyphen had never seen anything like this place.

"Rev is that you?" a voice yelled from the other room.

"It's me old man. I gotta favor to ask you." A program staggered out of the kitchen with a massive pile of books and folders.

"Hey gimme a hand with this." Rev grabbed nearly half the books and quickly put them on the floor in the living room. Tenma walked out and saw Cyphen. He was immediately impressed.

"A system monitor! Wow. You sure we can trust this guy, Rev?"

"You can trust him. We just escaped the clutches of the mighty Edward Dillinger. He told me he knows the creator, or knew the creator" The old program seemed incredulous. " The creator eh? Well if he's a friend of yours he's a friend of mine. Now let's get to work." The old program took a look at the infected spot.

"Ooh that's a pretty nasty virus you got there. But don't worry. I have just the trick." He went to the refrigerator in the kitchen and pulled out a small vial of black liquid. He poured it into the crack where the virus had eaten away at Cyphen's suit.

"There! That should do it."

"Thank you," Cyphen said.

"No problem. Any friend of Rev is a friend of mine." He turned to Rev and said, "Now get out of here before I split you a new one." Rev laughed and was half way down the stairs before Cyphen could catch up with him.

"You didn't have to do that." Cyphen looked down at his shoulder and it was as good as new.

"Yeah well, what are friends for right?" Cyphen looked around making sure they weren't followed. "Now where to?"

"We're going to the Outlands to find Sam. He needs to know that his friend Edward betrayed him."

Rev pulled out his light cycle baton.

"Alright then! Let's get to it." And they raced into the night sky. Heading off to the edge of the grid and the old system where a key would be waiting for them.