"Alan, you can make those same modifications to prevent rectification to our disks as well, but we would like for you to ask for permission for any other modifications unless it's an emergency and what you're doing to our code is to try and save our lives"

"I understand and respect that choice"

And so Alan modifies the codes of the three Renegades to ensure that they couldn't be rectified, though he also admitted that it might not actually work, but he was sure that even if it didn't completely work then at least it would be harder to rectify the person and they might have a chance at saving them via Alan knowing their code before the rectification process was used on them. Over the next few days Zed, Mara, Tron and Alan all worked on figuring out a way for Alan to make contact with the outside world while also figuring out their next plan in regards to Tesler and getting Clu to Argon so that they could finally end the fight once and for all, but during one of the times where Zed and Mara were both at the garage Alan finally decided to ask about something that had been on his mind since he was told about the Occupation and Tron's original successor

"Hey Tron, I know that this is going to be hard for you, but it's practically impossible for Zed and Mara and I want...no, I need to know something"

"What about?"

"Beck, the previous Renegade, Zed and Mara mentioned that he was gone, but I decided not to push it any further"

"You want to know more about him and why I chose him as my successor don't you?"

"Yeah, it might...it might help you heal which in turn will help those two heal, plus it might give me an idea of how to fight Tesler in the future, because while I'm currently going to stay out of the fight at some point I am joining in, no questions or arguments about it Tron. I'm here now and I'm going to fight end of story, besides we also need to figure out how to communicate with the outside world without going to the capitol and maybe hearing stories about Beck might help me out in that aspect too"

"What do you want to know about him then?"

"Anything and everything you can think of that you currently feel comfortable talking about in regards to your lost protege"

And so Tron talked about Beck and how Tron had decided to make Beck his successor, he also talked about his first Renegade Cyrus, who had helped him escape from Clu, though had to be jailed for safety reasons

"I'm just glad they never met"

"I'm sure you are, I'm glad you met Beck, though I still don't understand why you tricked him into thinking you were with Clu when you first met, especially considering that while I know you couldn't of known about Bhodi, you better than anyone know what it's like to be a prisoner of the Occupation"

"Normally I wouldn't have done it, but I needed to confirm what I saw when he did what he did to the statue, that he had the drive to actually fight when confronted with what could potentially happen to him if he continued on this path without training"

"I guess that makes a weird sort of sense, what if he'd failed your test though Tron?, what were you going to do then?, and not even successor wise"

"Keep him captive long enough to make him miss his shift and then send him back to Able with a message that Beck wouldn't have understood but Able would have that would mean to keep Beck from making any other decisions regarding the Occupation and to keep him safe"

"If that would have even worked, but I can see where you're going there"

And so Tron continued and eventually talked about the explosion that killed Beck

"Tesler says that the bomb wasn't supposed to be used but..."

"No, if he planted explosives to try and catch Beck, as the Renegade admittedly, then he intended to use those explosives, he just doesn't realize that Beck was the intended target all along, at least that's what you three think correct?"

"Yes, that's correct"

"Then hopefully that remains that ways, but in the meantime his actions have actually given him a weakness that I can exploit, what would Tesler, and more importantly Clu, do if they knew that there was a user in Argon that can be captured?"

"No Alan, I won't risk you like that"

"Easy Tron, we're not revealing my presence yet, I'm just asking what they would do with that information?"

"Capture you and try and use you for their own purposes, though what those purposes are I don't know, but they won't be good I can ensure you of that much anyways"

"Then until we're ready we won't let them know about me, but I can do things to slow them down and make them think that there's a possibility of a user finding the Grid, but not actually in said Grid, or at least a user that isn't Flynn, if he's still alive anyways"

"That...that might work, if we're careful enough anyways"

Over the next few weeks (Grid time) Zed, Mara and Tron all work to try and figure out how to get Alan the ability to contact the outside world without going to the capital but were blocked at every turn, and then one day Alan's modifications to Mara's coding that was meant to prevent rectification was put to the test and partially failed, in that she was slowly becoming one of Clu's soldiers, but she managed to get to Alan in time to allow Alan the chance to prevent her from actually being rectified and brought back to before the rectification process was begun

"So now we know that the modifications aren't quiet enough to actually prevent rectification, but they are enough to buy us enough time to get back to you and rebooted from the point that the rectification process was begun"

"But only if you escape in enough time, it was close with Mara, too close if you ask me"

"However you now have a file regarding rectification, doesn't that mean that you can truly modify our codes to make us invulnerable to rectification now?"

"Yes, but it's going to take time Mara, time that we might not have"

"Let's hope that you succeed before we run out of time then, oh by the way I have a question Alan, would you be comfortable having Able also looking for a means of getting you the ability to make contact with the outside world from Argon? I mean...he already knows about you to a degree after all, maybe he'd be willing to help you like we are"

Alan visibly thinks about the offer and then finally nods

"You can ask for his help in that mission, but only if it can be done safely"

"Understood"

"In the meantime I'm going to work on making my modifications regarding rectification fool proof, and Tron and I will need your help to come up with a plan for something I got an idea about recently"

"Got it, for now though we have to head back to the garage and tell Able about you allowing his help regarding figuring out communication with the outside world without risking going to Tron City"

"Right, be careful though, I don't know how things will go once we implement my plan"

"Should we warn Able?"

"I...no, not yet, not until the Occupation make further moves against the garage"

"What if that makes it too late Alan?"

"There should be warning enough in regards to the garage but...if you start to get suspicious that it's getting too dangerous without Able knowing the full story you have my permission to tell him what's going on"

"Thanks"

Time would continue to pass and then Alan called an emergency meeting for all three of the Renegades

"What's up Alan?, you never call for these meetings"

"Two things, first of all I need your permission again Zed, Mara, to make more modifications because I finally cracked the code and this time you should never have to worry about rectification again, I haven't done this to Tron yet because you'll be shut down for this one and I want to ask all three of you a question first"

"What is it Alan?"

"I want training on how to fight, Zed, Mara, as you know we're making plans to trick Clu into thinking a user from the outside has found out about the Grid, allowing me to act without risking capture. But at some point that won't work anymore, either that or I'm going to have to be more active in the fighting, and as such I am asking all three of you to train me for combat"

"Okay Alan, we'll do it, and I for one say yes to the modification that will prevent rectification"

"Same here"

"I'll do each of you one at a time so that if the Renegade is needed at least one of you is available to take action"

Over the next two days the three received the updated modification and then started working on getting Alan trained for combat. The next year and a half wasn't easy but they managed to start Alan being able to trick Clu and Tesler in regards to a new user finding the Grid, but not actively being on it, they also finally with Able's help managed to figure out a way to make contact with the outside world from Argon, using Able's office to boot, with Able also being given the rectification modification and being prepared to lose the garage at any given time after an incident a few months earlier

"Able said you can come to the garage after hours tonight, thanks to the fact that Tesler hasn't instituted a curfew recently, though why that's the case we're not sure considering the actions the three of us have taken against him as the Renegade"

"Well, the Renegade and Tron, though admittedly Tesler doesn't realize he's actually fighting against Tron now does he?"

"He knows Tron's alive, but no, he doesn't realize that Tron is healed and actively fighting against him now, he admitted while I was captive that he thinks Tron's still injured and the fight was a one off incident"

"Huh, guess he's in for a shock when Tron reveals himself again"

"Yes he is indeed in for a shock when I go into action, for now though we have plans to make regarding you making contact with the outside world and figuring out how to sync the time differences so that you and Lora can coordinate better"

"Yeah, that coordination is going to be important when we're finally ready to act against Clu, and no Tron, I'm not leaving the Grid until I get answers about Kevin and deal with Clu"

Alan had added that last bit to Tron personally because Tron had started to open his mouth to speak and Alan thought it had been to argue for Alan to go back to the user world and work from there instead

"Alan, I wasn't planning on you leaving the Grid without those answers and fight against Clu since it is personal for you because of what he and Dyson did to me, what I was planning on saying is that maybe she could figure out a way of getting us into Tron City more regularly so that we can find out if there are rebels there as well. I know for a fact that Beck talked to someone who fought in the Iso wars but after that we have no further word regarding him and thus we don't know if they've been rectified or not and it's something I want to check on, for his sake"

"Who are you looking for exactly? I'm only asking because Mara and I had to go to Tron City a couple of times after getting Alan here, and Mara was the one who went the most recent of times, it's always garage business by the way"

"A program named Cutler, Beck suggested Cutler start spreading the word at the capital"

"Oh, okay I actually have an answer since I saw him at my last trip, which was what Alan would consider yesterday, he actually saved me from the games...again, he has a solid group around him and they're careful about their actions but they are indeed fighting Clu in the capitol"

"Mara, what's this about him saving you from the games again?"

"Well it's just...the last three times I've been to Tron City for business related to the garage, because I'm a female program Clu's soldiers think I can't be a mechanic, and thus try and send me to the games for lying about my job, that's actually getting pretty old and me on the verge of asking Able to simply send Zed from now on"

"You should have said something earlier Mara, you know I would have been glad to do the mission in that case"

"I figured after the last time that if Able added something to my code that identified my job location I would be in the clear, that modification didn't work like I'd hoped though"

"Then let's tell Able I'll take those missions from now on"

"We're going to have to, Cutler warned me this most recent time that he might not be able to rescue me again, and that there's a new enforcer which is making their job harder, he's lost two men to that enforcer actually"

"I see, then we might have to go to Tron City and bring the fight to Clu sooner than I had hoped"

"Maybe, but let's not be too hasty Zed, we need to be careful when going up against Clu"

That night Alan finally made contact with Lora again and learned that while it had been a little over year and a half for him, for her it had only been about six or so months, and so eventually they figured out a way to coordinate better if at all possible, with Lora being given the news that contact may be sporadic if things got too dangerous. Sadly things would go wrong and Zed would be captured only days later, and he wasn't seen for almost five earth years, during which time Argon City was lost and Tron, Alan, Mara, Able, who had lost the garage but was still alive, and Paige, who had joined about an earth year after Zed was lost due to having learned the truth about Tesler's lies to her, and also having learned about Beck by pure accident, had moved to Tron City and began working with Cutler, who was never told the truth about Beck being the Renegade that he'd met but knew for certain that Tron was indeed alive, and that there was more than one Renegade now. They also figured out that the name of the new enforcer that had everyone so worked up, and cost Cutler good men every time they went against Clu was called Rinzler, and he was deadly, they knew this first hand because they had fought against Rinzler a couple of times as the Renegade

(Sighs) "I'm beginning to think that we're not going to make much progress unless we actively fight against Clu and reveal you're alive Tron"

"You could be right, but we still don't know who Rinzler actually is, and we're not ready to fight in the games, especially not Alan"

"Yeah, you're right, I just...I wish we knew what happened to Zed all those cycles ago"

Alan speaks up

"I think we need to hope that he was killed and not rectified Mara, because the agreement was that as soon as rectification happens we come back to the group and let them know that it's time to work from the inside. If he hasn't done that then...if he was rectified then it means that my modifications didn't work like I'd hoped and instead made things worse"

Cutler speaks up after entering the room all of a sudden

"We need to talk you four"

"What about?"

"My men encountered a new guard, but they said that this one was different, that they were doing everything they could to avoid derezzing them or sending them to the games, it was almost like they wanted to surrender but couldn't. Maybe you four can capture them next time with one of my men with you"

"That sounds like a good idea, maybe that could be our way in"

The next day they capture the soldier that Cutler talked about and when they got back to base and a secure room that's when they found out the soldier was actually Zed

"Hey guys, uh...sorry about not sticking to the agreement but I was out cold until much later and didn't even know how to get back to the city and was never assigned there, though I heard about Argon, but the rectification didn't work I promise, I've been doing what I little I can to stop Clu this entire time"

Alan speaks up

"Disc, now"

Zed willingly gives up his disc and the group finds out that he was telling the truth, he wasn't rectified, but had also never been given the chance to return to the group to tell them that he had to now work from the inside in order to foll Clu into thinking that the rectification process had worked

"It's good to know you're still you Zed, what have you done since the last time we saw you?"

"Sabotaged a few game trains without making look like sabotage, faked the deaths of a few programs that I knew were part of the resistance or would make good resistance members if they reached the resistance, by the way that reminds me Cutler, a few of your men are hiding out in Purgos waiting for word that you know that they're alive. They've been taking actions against Tesler while there and are annoyed with me that I have yet to make contact with you to let you know that they're alive and will be glad to hear from you again and any orders that you have for them in person, though the ones that Rinzler derezzed are truly gone I'm afraid"

"I understand, that any of my men are still alive is a miracle that I'll take"

"In any case I need to either get back to Clu soon, or my death faked, and I can't ever act as the Renegade ever again considering that I was captured in that guise"

"Understood Zed, we'll figure something out soon I promise"

"How soon though? I need to know since my capture would have been noticed by now"

"Just long enough for them to realize that you might have been interrogated and maybe even an attempt at rectification being reversed"

"And then my death will be faked, I get it, by the way Alan have you managed regular contact with Lora?"

"Yep, and I recently gave her new instructions regarding Kevin's son Sam for two different time periods depending on factors in the user world"

"That's good, so now what?"

"Now we wait"

"Great, I hate this part of the plan"

"Sorry Zed, but if you hadn't gotten assigned so far away in the first place we wouldn't be in this situation, or even if you'd managed to get someone to get a message to us that would have worked as well you know"

(Sighs) "I tried that second method actually, twice in the early days, the second time the person was brought back and derezzed in front of me and others as an example of what would happen to a program trying to escape the games I decided not to risk it any further"

"Are you sure the first person was also derezzed?"

"Yes because I saw it happen in person, they decided to try and win their freedom in the games before heading to Argon and got derezzed in the games instead, though part of that decision was partially because they were already a prisoner and felt it was better to never be picked up for the games again if they were going to go to Argon and give you guys my message"

"I see, in the meantime Zed, how do you feel about starting to make plans again with us?"

"Oh man, I've only dreamed about this day for so long basically knowing that it would never happen considering my situation"

"It's good that your dream is coming true then Zed, now then we'll fake your death soon but for now want to make plans?"

"Let's do it"

"Okay then, by the way Zed, once we fake your death and get you back into the resistance you are being watched so that you don't do anything stupid for the next bit and you're also going to have your work cut out for you in regards to the majority of the group and gaining their trust"

"I knew that would be the case if I was ever captured and reunited with you guys"

"Well for now we have work to do"

"Right"

And so the group faked Zed's death and over time he created a new identity that would allow him to leave the resistance base and fight alongside the rest of the group, he also gained their trust over time as well which was desperately needed. As time passed Alan explained that he'd given Lora instructions to tell Sam Flynn about what had happened to Kevin, and Alan either when Sam was twenty-one or twenty-seven depending on what Sam did in regards to the company and the fact that he was the largest shareholder thanks to his father

"If she waits until he's twenty-seven I gave her explicit instructions to wait until it had been twenty years to the day since Kevin disappeared"

"Why?"

"Simple Tron, Kevin left some very, very specific instructions regarding if something happened to him before Sam was a legal adult, and one of them involves if he disappeared and twenty years had passed since then. I think he took your warnings about Clu seriously, and yet wanted to try a peaceful solution and simply never found it. If he disappeared before Sam was a legal adult, which happened, and he wasn't found dead or alive after twenty years Sam would automatically become the CEO of the company, with Lora and myself as his designated guardians and teachers of the company. With that accessibility he can use whoever he feels he can trust to try and figure out a safe way of checking out the Grid and helping us from the outside while searching for his father. I gave Lora instructions regarding revealing the Grid's presence at that time, and if we have help from the outside..."

"Then we might find Flynn after all this time and end Clu once and for all"

"Exactly"

"Then we do what we can to make things easier for when that day arrives"

And so the group slowly but surely continues to free programs whenever possible and also makes sure that they can easily get into the stadium whenever the games were happening so that they could scout out the location and have the ability to act at a moment's notice once they knew what Sam Flynn was going to do either at age twenty-one or twenty-seven