A KIND OF MAGIC
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Tron: Legacy. They belong to their rightful owners; but this story is mine.
Summary: Clu is a little wiser, and what is this? A little Not User on the Grid? The game – and the future changed because one small green-eyed waif.
Shout Out: Okay. Tron madness is continuing. Meaning, you are getting a treat, because this little plotdragon won't leave me alone to write out my previous one /pouts/. Besides, I already have a small hill of prompts on this story alone so…/kicks common sense to the curb and revives it/ Enjoy!
By the way, this works on the thesis that the theory about electricity and magic not working together is one Big Fat Lie. Both electricity and magic are energy, only in different matters; and Flynn's SHIVA matter converter basically lines them along because it writes magic in the right code for a computer to digest it and not have any problems with it meanwhile or afterwards.
Warnings: AU-verse and really, I need to lay off from late night bunny-hopping. Excuse me, plotdragon-hopping. So this veers off the cannon in both 'verses, meaning OOC for characters and as for pairing… I proudly present you with Harry Potter/Clu 2. (Yes, that means this lovely black clad and yellow stripped baddie leader. No, it's not a bumblebee!)
It's a kind of magic
One dream one soul, one prize
One goal, one golden glance of what should be
It's a kind of magic
('A Kind Of Magic', by Queen)
"Clu, you arrogant son of a bitch!"
Clu cocked his head mockingly. He had had his fair share of disagreements with Flynn – his User, but with Flynn breaking their little… agreement, he just called the User by his name. Never, ever would he be under the command of his harebrained Creator and his foolish whims.
However, right now, Flynn was apoplectic.
The reason?
Clu's terms of exit. Either Flynn left Harry here and exited the Grid, or he didn't and he would be derezzed.
He sneaked another glance at the small Not-User that watched the altercation with huge green eyes.
"Takes one to know one, Flynn." He replied back sardonically while perversely enjoying Flynn's useless struggles in Rinzler's grasp.
The User snarled, a deep, guttural sound, like a wild, desperate animal, Clu noted idly, as he remembered from his – Flynn's - memories. User's memories were really very... helpful. In fact, if not for them, he wouldn't have rebelled so very successfully.
"Why, Clu? Why are you doing this?" The man's voice turned desperate, and Clu frowned.
Users and their attachments.
A year ago, real-time wise, Clu had wised up and staged a rebellion against his User. He had heeded all of Flynn's wishes, trying and succeeding in making the System as perfect and efficient as it could get, and then, those User-damned ISO's appeared.
He and Flynn were discussing some of the perimeters for expanding the Grid, when they came.
Like little flames, the harbingers of destruction to come. Of course, Flynn just had to get that excited shine in his eyes and flit around them, exclaiming over them, that they were oh so perfect and 'Clu, look at that, they are so intelligent, like humans! This is radical, man, just radical.'
Clu felt a kind of dread in his chest at that proclamation, but he still hoped Flynn would get back to their project, because it was at critical point right now, because some information hubs had to be –
Never mind.
First time, he could accept. Second time, okay. Third time, he made the needed alterations as he thought they should have been done, without Flynn's input, and when he attempted to explain them to Flynn, he was waved away absentmindedly 'Yeah, yeah, Clu, good job, man. Now, do you suppose you have any place for the ISO's to bunk?'
Clu twitched with annoyance. He was not programmed to take this kind of bullshit. Still, he helped shelter the annoying bugs, resolutely listening to Flynn's excited chatter about them being 'radical' and a 'miracle' and he just wished he could turn back time, when it was only him, Flynn and Tron.
No such chance.
He was done with miracles. If Flynn couldn't see that ISO's were the error in the system, and do something about it, then he would. And so, he began. In secrecy, he learned, reviewed, guided and moved, updating Flynn on the basic things, but those that were truly important, he omitted.
Outwardly, the programs were behaving as usual. There were Recognizers, black guards and so on, all working in perfect order and seemingly awaiting their User's commands.
However, truth be told, their first priority concerning giving orders, was Clu.
It took time, cunning, persuasion and some Repurposing to get the things done, and even more caution, because he was working right under Tron's inquisitive nose, and that was feat in and of itself, but finally, 100 cycles later, the trap was set.
He just needed the user's…permission to create and maintain the perfect system.
And Flynn, naïve little User – naïve little human user he was – gave it without hesitation.
Tron was the only thing that stopped him from getting absolute power – but with some deresolution and Repurposing, the trouble was solved easily, and Clu now had his little pet executioner, Rinzler, at his feet.
The mightiest protector, now the greatest murderer.
Oh, the irony.
And then, one cycle later, the little Not User stumbled into the Grid.
The change was so subtle even Clu almost missed it.
Almost.
It was unlike any User signature – not Flynn's, not Alan-1's and the ISO's were buzzing with excitement for some reason.
It had been pure dumb luck that he managed to stumble upon the little Not User, the boy's circuits shining a gentle jade and white in the darkness of the Grid, intriguing him, drawing him in, and yet, all the other programs disregarded the boy as if it was normal to have such strange colored circuits. Normally, the ISO's didn't really trust the programs but they treated the boy kindly, and Clu watched the boy laugh happily as he played with that girl, Quorra. And for some reason, he wished he had been the one the boy was smiling so happily at and laughing carefree around.
The raid was successful in a sense that they laid waste to the ISO colony, and a failure, because they didn't manage to capture the User, but that could be remedied – the User knew about the existence of the little Not User and he would try to get the boy out of Clu's clutches.
Clu's prediction was right. And even if Flynn had been a User and as such had power over the Grid in a sense Clu couldn't even imagine – he was a Creator, after all – he held Flynn's surrender in the palm of his hand.
Little Not User.
Clu could demand so much more. User's – Flynn's disc, absolute control, everything, and he would be given it, if the little Not User – he really had to find the boy's name - remained unharmed.
Not that Clu had any intentions of harming the boy, but Flynn didn't need to know that.
When he had first touched the boy – only a hand on that slender, too fragile shoulder – he was swept within the feeling of energy, power, possibilities – was that how the Users felt when they were free to manipulate everything? Disregarding allthe laws of physics as if they didn't exist, it was like a Sea of Simulations, and yet, it had some kind of order within this nexus of chaotic power that just waited to be unleashed and used. It was like electricity and yet, it was more than it.
"Flynn." Malicious blue eyes looked into desperate ones of the identical color in the half-darkness calculatingly."I don't need to offer you anything. In fact, I could order Rinzler to derezz you right there and now, take your disc and take on the world. Instead of that, I gave you an offer – get out of the Grid and leave the boy here. And if you try anything foolish from the outside…" He paused, making Flynn gulp with dread as two identical faces stared at other – one with helpless fury andthe other with calm arrogance.
"The boy gets it." Clu finished, leaning back casually.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the boy flinch and immediately, he regretted his words, but it was too late.
"Clu, he s just a boy. A human boy at that." Flynn whispered desperately. "Living in a Grid is not something I would subject him to. He's too young; he doesn't know anything about programming –"
"You would leave Sam alone?" Clu interrupted the frantic User smoothly, his bland voice bored. "Didn't you promise him to take him to see the Grid?"
Flynn winced guiltily, blue eyes dimming. Clu smirked slightly at the man's ashamed face and slumped shoulders. The man's scatterbrained chattering about his family finally came in use. He may not be able guilt trip Flynn into perfecting the Grid, but he would have to be derezzed first before he would allow the irresponsible berk take away his boy.
"But –" He tried to protest, even if both he and Clu knew that the deal was just too tempting to pass.
"Harry, you don't need to, not for me. You're still a kid." He whispered, choking out the words with difficulty.
Solemn green eyes stared at Flynn, so different from his son's. Green like leaves in summer, like deepest emeralds and yet older, wiser and more understanding.
"I am alone, Mister." The boy told him solemnly. "I don't have parents, even if I wish I had, but they are dead. Sam still has his father." The young voice was small but everyone heard it.
Flynn didn't want to hear it. It was his worst nightmare, not being able to save the little boy that somehow found his way in his old, weary heart. It was true what he told Clu – the Grid was very taxing on the human psyche, and even if biologically looking, he was only 32 years old, chronologically he was 2000 years old and he wasn't even sure he even had all the faculties in his brain in order.
Fact was, he wanted OUT. Sometimes, it really didn't pay to be a genius, especially not when his own creations turned against him, and just because he wanted to studythe ISO's a little bit more.
Yet, his conscience just didn't allow him to leave the little man here.
Finally, he sighed.
"Sorry, little man." His voice was full of remorse and guilt, but the boy smiled at him bravely.
"It's okay, Mister. Just…" He hesitated, nibbling his lip worriedly. "Play with Sam for me, will you?"
Blinking the tears away from his eyes, Flynn nodded. "I will. And I'll tell you all about it, and someday – "
The boy nodded. "Yeah." He agreed, his own voice quivering a little.
Clu watched the boy sharply – he was obviously in emotional distress, and yet, he kept calm, as if it was something usual to get through.
Hesitantly, the boy looked at him, and innocent, yet weary green eyes clashed with his cold blue ones.
"C'mere, kid." Clu commanded, his voice firm. And the boy stepped forward. One step, another – Jarvis tried to protest, but one glare from Clu's eyes silenced him.
And then, the boy was in front of him, at the reach of his arm and Clu touched him, frowning a little when the boy flinched under his hand.
He had noticed that… quirk of a boy's but when Quorra touched him, the flinch was not so pronounced. Yet, when he touched the boy – right now, it was as if the boy expected to be hit or something.
Flynn had that look of grief on his face, but Clu dismissed it as unimportant right now.
"Yes, Mister?" The boy addressed him, lifting his chin up as to maintain the eye contact.
Clu sighed. "Call me Clu, okay? None of that Mister stuff." The boy nodded. "Yes, mi – I mean, Clu."
And Clu felt a thrill spike up his spine, like when he was creating the Grid, when everything was perfect and he smiled at the boy warmly.
The boy didn't quite smile, but the energy humming under Clu's hand was like a small purring kitten cuddling up to his palm in demand of more petting, and those… unique circuits glowed with a soft, soothing jade light.
Flynn stumbled out of the Grid, his head buzzing with ideas, plans and what not. The journey back was both bitter and sweet – bitter because he had failed on entire line – he failed Clu, he failed Tron and he failed the ISO's and that little boy, Harry.
Grabbing a handful of his hair, he tugged harshly, dismissing the pain in his scalp as a deserved punishment, before he messed up the brown strands.
The price was too much. He narrowed his eyes in a thought. Just what made Clu avert from his plans of world domination? It just wasn't like Clu to let him go without taking his disc and without Repurposing him to boot. Not that Repurposing would have done him any good, but what the hell, with Clu being crazy bastard that he was, everything was possible.
And just what would stop Clu from derezzing the kid if he felt too annoyed by him?
"FUCK!" Flynn's bellow echoed in his cellar, but doing nothing except making Flynn cringe at the echo and the crude quality of sound. In the Grid, everything was clearer, sharper and more precise, even senses, so being back, with senses still attuned to the clarity of the Grid was a sharp torture to his adjusting brain,
Everything seemed wrong.
Scratch that, everything was wrong.
Since when did he have to be rescued by poor, abused orphan boys just because he was too idiotic, self-absorbed and arrogant about his abilities?
'Since now, apparently,' His subconscious mocked him, and he had to swallow spit – but he may as well be swallowing acid, so hard it was getting to term with his mistakes.
The black screen with the blue command program still running mocked him silently, and for a moment, Flynn wanted to render it into tiny, itty, bitty little pieces.
Yet, when he lifted a fist to smash it down, something stopped him.
It was Harry's little good luck charm on his wrist.
Staring at it, he mindlessly flopped down in the chair, looking at the quaint little thing – some rope and little stones, barely bigger than a grain and it was such a mundane thing and yet –
Shakily, he fingered it, a testament of happenings not too long ago and he remembered the brave little boy and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"I swear to God, Clu – treat the boy right, and if you don't I will rain fire and brimstone upon your holier-than-thou ass worse than anything you could have seen."
His threat echoed weakly in that dusty little room, because as long as Clu had Harry, Flynn couldn't in good conscience shut the system down, and the cocky son of a bitch knew that very well.
Inhaling shakily, he logged into the system to call Alan to pick him up.
Meanwhile, Harry was being curled up on a sofa – it was all soft amber and yellow shades with a dash of black and outside it was still dark and there was no sunrise or sunset – only inky dark blackness and the weak light from the pale whitish blue circuits that snaked around the tower's edges.
The atmosphere was kind of calm and unnatural with its perfection – the technology here was above anything Harry had ever seen outside, and it was hard to see programs as such, as they were too humanlike to just label them as programs and be done with it.
The bald man with the head shield, Jarvis, muttered and grumbled about his Master acquiring the brat, but he quickly shut up in Clu's presence, but right now, there was no Jarvis or Clu, and Harry was left alone in the room.
The door whooshed, and Harry's head snapped in its direction to see who was entering the room.
He gulped as he saw the dark masked man approach him. The orange circuits were glowing in the dimmed light like magma and fire and Harry swallowed thickly.
The T-shaped sign on his chest was a dead giveaway of the intruder's identity.
"R –Rinzler?" The boy inquired softly, earning a broken purr in return.
Harry blinked. Rinzler was purring? Just what was going on?
Meanwhile Rinzler prowled on, until he came to the edge of the sofa, making Harry tense again.
There was a smaller purr now, more questioning in a sense, sounding almost like a whimper.
Interested now, but still cautious, the boy leaned forward, until his nose was almost touching the black helmet. Mesmerized by the sound, he reached a hand and touched a side of the helmet and the purr increased, making him yelp and quickly snatch his hand away.
Only, Rinzler caught the boy's hand and put it back on the helmet, now purring in a lower and almost pleading tone.
A moment of tension and then, Harry stopped tugging his hand away, making Rinzler nuzzle it softly, like a cat.
"Aw, you are just a little kitten, aren't you?" Harry cooed, smiling. Rinzler cocked his head in question, but Harry didn't clear the program's confusion just who or what 'little kitten' was.
"You must be lonely." The boy muttered softly, stroking the plexiglass-like material, now thoughtful. The program relaxed now, usually stiff muscles loosening almost imperceptibly.
Harry frowned at the program's kneeling on the floor. "It can't be too comfortable for you to be down here," he muttered, his eyebrows scrunching in discontent. He then scooted back to the sofa and higher to the armrest, making Rinzler whine at him piteously.
"C'mon." Harry motioned to the program, gently grabbing him for the hand and tugging him up, until the program climbed on and curled against him.
The purring intensified again, making Harry laugh slightly as he idly traced the circuits, his touch light as a feather, relaxing Rinzler into a boneless heap of satisfaction.
Fifteen minutes later, both of them were sleeping; Rinzler curled protectively around his tiny charge, his purr a gentle melody that lulled Harry to dreamless sleep.
Clu was tired and annoyed. At first, Flynn's death threats were amusing, but right now, they were just tedious. He wanted some shut down – the whole capture-negotiate-release mission may have gone swimmingly, but that didn't mean he didn't have any other duties and Flynn's squawking didn't lighten his mood one bit.
He walked through the rooms until he reached one he designed for the boy…Harry, Flynn called him.
The doors swished open silently, revealing the room and its occupants.
Clu blinked blearily as at first he had seen only one big blob of black and then intertwined colors of orange and jade. He stepped closer, his footsteps noiseless, his eyes trained on the mess of limbs on the sofa.
And there he was… Harry, curled against Rinzler's chest, snoozing peacefully, his eyelashes dark under the dim amber light.
Clu felt a pang of something again – it should have been him instead of Rinzler, but he supposed this was okay as well. The edges of his mouth tilted upward at the cute picture and in a fit of mischievousness, he photographed the duo.
"Flynn, eat your heart out." He murmured, before changing the format of the picture and sending it to the recipient.
Flynn was working on the loopholes of the Grid, when his computer pinged, signifying he had mail.
Curious, he opened it, and choked on the air.
There in front of him, was a picture of Harry curled against that Rinzler monster, sleeping peacefully. But what really got his goat was the subscription to it.
"As you can see, Harry is well protected and cared for. Now stop bugging me with your unreasonable requests, otherwise I will chuck you straight to the Games the next time you dare to enter the Grid."
Flynn's eyebrow twitched.
Just for that, he would 'gift' Clu with several species of bugs.
Cracking his fingers, he got to the work, grinning like a maniac all the while.
Meanwhile, Clu felt a shudder of foreboding skitter up his spine.
"Maybe I shouldn't have teased him by sending him the picture…" He mused to himself thoughtfully, before smirking.
"Nah. He deserved it."
The Grid Wars were so on.
/The End/