Reviews :

Lyssdoodle : Thank you SO much friend! I appreciate your encouragement. I'm doing better, things just get rough sometimes, you know how it is haha

BanannaSammich : Thank you! Yesss, I love Wren. He's full of surprises haha


Song Listened To :

One of the Family by Henry Jackman


*Chapter 224*

With sullen eyes that rested on the King's and Queen's lovely, glossy white marble counter, Turbo could tell the golden glow in his gaze was muted by the blurry reflection staring back at him. After everything that had taken place in Arcadia, as well as the quick getaway back home, to Sugar Rush, Turbo could feel the energy in the room, the tension from all the other bodies around him, both silent and so loud, all at once. Gathered was not only Turbo and his band mates and crew, but also Tessa, Zed, Ace and Rancis. Although the television in Tessa's and Zed's spanning, gorgeous living room was on a chaotic news channel, it was muted. Proper code room holograms were lifted from the island's counter, dutifully displaying a different chaotic news channel, though this one was on a low volume. Although the sagged group of performers, about the room, were frozen with sullen dread and sorrow, frustration and muted eagerness, Zed was the only being alive with fire. Having taken the reigns to do what he could to keep the media from eating the palace alive, said phone call was on the verge of becoming hairy, something that Turbo dutifully paid all his attention to.

"No, no one was deleted, literally no one was killed," Zed's deep voice urged in fatherly dominance, it was clear to everyone that he was on the verge of becoming angry at whomever he was on the phone with. This was apparent due to just how sunken and nervous Ace and Berri looked, as if glimpses of their childhood came rushing back to them; although wonderful, it was still speckled with instances where Zed had to come down hard on his children amidst acting up. Both siblings sheepishly looked at each other as Zed paced the kitchen in slow, brooding frustration. He had one hand firmly tucked to his head, holding his phone, and the other now urgently gesturing outwards in hot irritation, to easily match his tone, "Right, oh right! Sorry, except three deleters! Three deleters were killed, three malicious, murderous killing machines were killed, so sorry to leave that out, that... That REALLY makes a dent in our population, like wow."

Berri bit her lip and softly lofted her gaze to her big brother's, once more, and though they both still sheepishly peered to each other, Ace finally broke into a small, knowing smile and shook his head, as if to express to Berri that he was thrilled he wasn't on the receiving end of Zed's anger.

"That coding is something we'll happily share with the Arcade, it's just a lot to put together," Zed pressed, his handsome, icy eyes scanned the area as he finally circled in his pacing. He faced the group and slowly moseyed in his usual path, though Tessa raised her eyebrows in soft inquiry and peered her eyes to Zed's as she remained leaned against the proper counters, along the kitchen's glossy, tiled walls. She had her arms crossed, the only sound that filled everyone's ears was the dull noise of the news station and Zed's booming argument. Zed furrowed his eyebrows and frustratingly began to rub his forehead and jaw, he carried on in an irritated grimace, "No, no... I'm not SAYING we can't do it, I'm saying it'd be a lot of work, look, I have enough coders here to run the entire freaking Arcade, it's just a lot for Sugar Rush's code room to process, the game is over twenty years old."

Tessa inhaled a readied breath, cocked an eyebrow and peered to her husband. She smiled a little, and although Zed was easily getting heated, she was well aware it wasn't all for not. She knew Zed to be a fair and friendly individual, and anyone on the other end of that line that could push Zed to frustration this quickly, easily deserved what was potentially coming. Tessa softly caught eyes with her two children, amidst the group, and nearly erupted with laughter due to the sheer look of dread written on their faces. Tessa flinched the second Zed's sharp voice clipped the air, once more.

"No, no... I'M not twenty years old, I'm only seven, are you listening to me?" Zed stabbed in whole frustration, he shut his eyes tight and shook his head, "No, NO. This isn't just something we don't have to worry about, do you know any self-made gamers? Do you? Answer the question, DO. YOU. KN-... Well, yeah! I'm in a whole ROOM full of 'em as we speak!"

Berri raised her eyebrows a little as Zed firmly whirled around and gestured to the lot of his surrounding family; nearly three fourths of the beings in the room were self made. Zed specifically dart his eyes between Berri, Ace and Tessa before he inhaled a sharp breath through his nose and grew angrier.

"They're my children, they're my friends, and hey, guess what, one's my wife," Zed barked, he finally began to saunter away in the path he had practically physically paved out of the tiles, in the kitchen. He gently scuffed his feet to the tiles, put his hand on his hip and eagerly listened, though after a moment he huffed a deep grunt of dormant lava, as if to warn the person on the other end of the phone he was going to explode, "Yes, I married a self-programmed gamer and she's entirely out of my league, and if you call her a faux-code one more time..."

Tessa gently eased a humble smile and looked down to her feet. She twiddled her fingers and tried not to obnoxiously grin, though she finally looked up the second Rancis softly leaned closer and rubbed the back of her shoulder. They caught eyes in a cute whirl of understanding before Zed's quiet voice carried on, everyone nearly held their breath to listen.

"... What do you mean?" Zed mumbled, he remained frozen, as did everyone else. Zed finally looked to his side and sharply furrowed his eyebrows, his icy eyes scanned the ground in aimless searching as the conversation took a different turn, "Turbo had nothing to do with anything that took place today."

Turbo raised his eyebrows in hot surprise, shot his nervous gaze tight to Berri's and wholly frowned. Berri shook her head at him lovingly, as if to silently assure him that no one in their right mind would think this was Turbo's fault. Turbo huffed a silent guffaw of disbelief and peered his now minty eyes tight to the back of Zed's head.

"Watch your mouth, that's my son-in-law," Zed practically growled, though after a moment of gentle silence, Zed scoffed a hearty, sarcastic laugh and turned back around to face the group in the kitchen, "YES, that... Wow, you cracked it, that's exactly it. My daughter had no say, I figured if I'm King, I can just, y'know... Yank all my PAWNS around, right? Is that what you're used to, then? NO I didn't arrange the marriage, what kind of an asshole do you think I am?"

Turbo exhaled a long, shaky sigh and looked down in whole sorrow, though it was very quickly filled with loving energy rocketed his way. Berri firmly cupped her hand to Turbo's upper back and rubbed, to immediately assure to him that whatever this person was saying about him, wasn't true. Throttle stood from his seat, in the living room, and quickly came to Turbo's free, left side. He held his brotherly arm about his shoulder and gently jostled him out of love, amidst Berri's tender back rub. Throttle peered his concerned yet grateful gaze tight to Zed's disposition, a man of his word, someone who very clearly would go to the ends of Arcade for the people he loved.

"This person is from Tron... More specifically, Excitebike. His name is Aroq, and he now resides on the internet, with... User knows who else," Zed gestured his arm out and finally approached the kitchen island, though he softly lofted his gaze in Ace's direction and felt his pupils tighten, "I don't know what you're talking about... No, that's not true, both of our children were conceived in the Arcade."

Ace held his breath and felt his face turn pale; although only a very select few individuals knew he was a User, he was grateful everyone did whatever they could to protect not only his identity, but now Libby's, Mara's and Beaux's. Ace nervously caught eyes with Berri and Tessa before he eased his gaze tight into his father's, unwavering.

"No, there's no secret to be had, ALL we know is that Aroq is now coming from the internet, likely the dark web, with all of these deleters... To senselessly murder self-programmed gamers. If it weren't for Turbo's protection, half the crowd in Arcadia would be DEAD," Zed shouted into his phone, he pointed a finger down to the counter below him and glowered his gaze across his home in aimless frustration, "I don't care what you've previously heard about him, he wouldn't hurt a fly, he protected an ENTIRE game station for crying out LOUD! The largest game station in all of Litwak's! WHAT is not getting through to you?"

Zed finally stabbed his eyes to the hologram a little bit a ways from him, it was a news channel replaying footage caught on the phones of the attendees at their meet-n-greet, and though it clearly showed the dome, alongside the three deleters and the gang inside, nothing could be heard but the screaming and chatter of the crowd.

"It's clear in the footage, Turbo tried, but Aroq was a hologram," Zed put his hand on his hip and grunted a silent notion, nearly not audible to the group, "Fucking coward."

Turbo raised an eyebrow and allowed his chest to gently blurt a silent chuckle, both him and Zed caught eyes.

"OH, yeah, okay, so NOW you want to talk about the guy that effortlessly slayed all three deleters with nothing but swords? You wanna talk about him now? We down the list already? Here's a fun fact," Zed's pupils nearly shrank to mere specks as he finally yanked the phone away from his ear, held it out before him, and took a sharp breath before bellowing, "HE'S SELF MADE."

Zed softly tapped the 'end' button on the call and haphazardly sloshed his phone to the marble island underneath. Without missing a single beat, Zed cued his burning, silver coding, brought up a proper display of the inner workings of the code room and began to diligently tab through a few options. Once he came upon a bigger, open text box, clearly his emails, he began furiously typing away. Turbo scoffed a gentle noise of a chuckle and kindly eyed Ace and Berri.

"So, you, uh... Wanna tell us a little bit about your guys' childhood?" Turbo playfully mumbled, to which everyone finally erupted with laughter, though Zed remained tight-lipped.

"It wasn't the big blue baddy we had to worry about, believe it or not," Ace muttered, he side-eyed his mother with a cheeky smile to which she rolled her eyes and attempted to swat at Ace's shoulder.

"Yeah, mom was the silent killer, dad just would get loud," Berri blurt a giggle and covered her mouth, though she softened and peered to her father.

A stoic man, clearly someone she would've loved to have known in his younger more silly and carefree days. Properly built, as sharp as they come, Berri knew it wasn't just anything that got Zed heated. Usually so level headed and warm, Berri was well aware that whatever was said on that phone call, wasn't anything that Zed would stand for. His icy eyes dart about his email with rushed fervor, his fingers typed away, the glistening wedding ring on his finger had Berri holding her breath. She softly looked down at the gorgeous ring on her own finger, carved from the same exact tree, and with this special notion laid on her heart, she was well aware that nothing got to Zed, except for his only kryptonite; his family, old and new.

"Dad," Berri's voice gently lilted, though he eased a simple 'hmm' to prove that he was potentially listening, Berri stood and rounded the island. Upon budging into Zed's bubble, he softened, stopped his typing and peered his conflicted, confused gaze tight to his beautiful daughter. She furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, "Dad, you know we're going to get through this... It doesn't matter what the Board of Game Central have to say about any of us, we all know what's true."

"It feels like someone in the higher ups is equally concerned about all the self-made gamers," Zed mumbled as he finally turned to goo the second Berri lovingly slipped her hand into his.

"WHY would they make Academies and ENCOURAGE us to make babies, to GO to these Academies... But then hate us," Tessa urgently wondered, she gestured her arm out and shook her head, "It makes no sense."

"I'm sure the people that created Academy didn't have any ill intent," Turbo mumbled, to which Throttle nodded.

"It's the people that wormed their way in," Throttle agreed quietly, he eyed Zed and bobbed a nod, "There are a few bad eggs at End of Line Academy... Got jobs deeper in administration so to avoid being around the self-made students."

"We're NO different," Berri suddenly urged in irritation, to which Zed bobbed a tired, understanding nod and softly allowed his hand to sink to Berri's bare shoulder.

"You're superior, I'm not just saying that," Turbo eased seriously as everyone honed their eyes to him, "I've never swapped with a self-made gamer, prior, but... I think any of us here, in the same boat as me, can agree, it's a HUGE power up."

"It is," Zed nodded in agreeing as he lofted his gaze to Tessa in soft earnest, to which Throttle also nodded in agreeing.

"It's true, I didn't think my coding could expand anymore," Throttle added, he lofted his gaze to Wren's, across the way.

"They're SCARED of you guys," Turbo concluded with a nod.

"WHO though?" Berri urged in defeated desperation, to which Turbo shrugged.

"I don't know... You guys are a kick stronger, they don't want any of you guys figuring that out and, I don't know... Going to the internet?" Turbo suggested with a shrug, to which Zed shook his head and looked off.

"But... Everyone's a User, on the internet," Zed mumbled in soft confusion, "It's so much different, than here... You have more ability, everything comes easier. It's like a higher plane."

"Then, what would happen if I went?" Ace dared, he shrugged as everyone lofted their gaze to their one resident User, "I'm already a User... What would happen to me if I went to the internet? Where everything is heightened and more accessible?"

"God-tier," Rancis mumbled, Tessa choked a small laugh of agreeing.

"We need to find a way to either... CLOAK the entire Arcade in this protection, put it over the entrance of the router, or..." Zed shook his head and lulled his eyes closed in defeat, "A much... Costlier, scarier route would be to dive into the internet and find this bastard."

"He kept mentioning Game Over a lot," Turbo mumbled in a pique of gentle curiosity, to which Tessa quickly stamped out his fire.

"Oh, then that rules out THAT plan. You know what those winners secretly go through? It's not pretty," Tessa stabbed, "If he's hanging around a crew of Game Over WINNERS? Yeah... Those are some tricked out badass gamers that NONE of us would be able to take. Like hell we're going to just go marching right into the lion's den."

"This is home," Berri urged gently, Zed finally eased his eyes to hers and frowned, "We belong here. We need to protect it... We can't protect it by diving into the internet."

"... Berri's right," Zed sighed, he lofted his gaze to Tessa and gave her an assuring nod, "Alongside Tess's sharp intuition."

"I'll... Up the protection, I'll have to make one for every station, for every game," Turbo mumbled in an already drowning show of exhaustion as he grappled his hair, he shook his head and nervously carried on, "If I work on it for a month straight, I can-"

"What you're going to do is take your crew and go to Sugar Sun Island," Zed firmly directed, Turbo froze in confusion and wondered just where to go from here. Although Zed seemed as if he was still adamant on giving Turbo a break, he shook his head and lulled his eyes closed, "It's for the better that... You guys just quietly slink away for a week or two. Just... Enjoy your time on the island, we'll put a cloak over the resort houses you're staying in, your job is to just... Stay under the radar."

"But... The devices," Turbo started in soft desperation, to which Ace raised his hand.

"User at your service," Ace chimed gently, he gave Turbo a kind smile and nodded, "You've been beaten up enough. Even though this is for the better that you guys go quiet, Turbo, you deserve that break. Truly."

"You've been at it for almost a year and a half straight, nonstop work," Tessa included, "We have two resident Users with two Users in training. We'll be okay while you're gone, your job is just to... Well..."

"Sleep," Berri huffed with a nod, though she peered to her mom and Ace and gestured, "Also, I invited Mara on our trip. So, you'll have Beaux."

"Oh, news to me," Ace chimed kindly, though he nodded and shrugged, "We'll be okay."

"Probably for the better you're bringing a User anyways, what with all this bullshit and with Lash going with you guys," Zed mumbled, Turbo and Berri nodded in tired agreeing.

"Same thought process," Berri quietly agreed, though Zed inhaled a readied breath and looked about the group.

"All trouble aside... I'm... INSANELY proud of you six, and how you handled that. Especially you, Turbo," Zed stated to Turbo in a loving show of pride, to which Turbo nodded and looked down in humble cuteness. Zed finally expanded his gaze to a certain white-haired blondie. Once he caught gazes with Wren, he cheekily side-eyed him and grinned, "Wren Eddie, who the hell taught you to use your swords like that?"

"Yeah, you were incredible," Throttle quickly urged, to which Theo and Tatum largely began to add their giddy, cute show of fawning.

"Some guy named dad," Wren's voice lilted in cute, curious innocence as he largely shrugged, "I don't know him too well, but I heard dad really knows his shit."

Rancis grinned and looked down to his feet as everyone near him cutely began to pat Rancis's shoulders and arms, as if to kindly prove to him that he did a job well done. Rancis finally lofted his proud gaze tight to Wren's, across the way, and bobbed him a nod.

"You did everything flawlessly... I'm pretty sure that was the first time actually using an enemy as a target, and you followed through with such grace," Rancis ushered kindly, the lilt of pride in his tone and demeanor was palpable, "I'm incredibly proud of you."

"Well you know what I said about dads," Wren started with a sweet smile as everyone marinated in the warmth to finally be had, Wren cutely sighed his conclusion, "They make the best teachers."