Unexpected Things
"Stark." The older man says in a rough, low voice.
Stark turns his head away, "Bradley."
Bradley nods before walking past him. Bruce holds out his hand, "Bruce Banner."
Bradley pulls a hand out of his pocket and shakes Bruce's hand, "Alan Bradley. You're a doctor, yes?"
Bruce shrugs in a 'more or less' gesture. "I studied Gamma radiation."
"Really?"
"Yeah…what about you?"
Alan opens his mouth to answer but Tony cuts over.
"He's Mr. Chairman-of-the-board of the company that he almost ran to the ground."
Alan turns to Tony slightly, "I didn't run Encom to the ground. 1989 was a rough year for everyone in the company."
"Oh yes, the budding bromance. With Flynn disappearing and all. I'm surprised you didn't chase off after the Flynn_"
"You can show a little more respect when talking about Sam Flynn's father." The woman says, her piercing blue gaze burning into Tony Stark.
"I'm sorry…who are you?" The question isn't aimed to be kind, and as she tilted her chin up to level with him, its obvious she didn't take it as kind either.
"Quorra." Sam Flynn sets a hand on her shoulder. She looks to him and then down.
"If you all are done chatting." Fury gains everyone's attention as he stands near the remains of the entrance. "We can go inside."
The three newcomers exchange a look before joining Fury. Banner looks to Tony, sighs, and follows and not long after, Stark does the same.
"What caused the fire?" Sam asks as they enter the main area where many games are barely standing, burned very obviously.
"Stark said it was something electrical below the arcade_"
"Stark?" Sam turns to Tony, "What were you doing here? You didn't have permission to be on private property_"
"Chasing a lead." Tony shrugs, "Although you do have some explaining to do….like the Shiva laser in the basement."
"What?" Alan Bradley stops and so does everyone else (Fury with a silent yet frustrated sigh).
"Sam….explain."
Sam sputters, trying to explain, but Tony saves him the trouble.
"I doubt he put it in there, since he didn't seem to recognize the name. But he had to know it was there."
"How would I know_"
Tony points and Sam turns and stops in shock.
On the back wall, a game is pushed away like a door to show a large hole where the wall surrounding the game was. The game itself is almost nonexistent and the lights surrounding it have been imploded. Yet it's obvious what the words above the system say.
"TRON." Quorra whispers, a mysterious look forming on her face as she gawks at the scene.
"Just past here is where I found it."
Fury says nothing but leads the way down, pulling out a flashlight. The other follow almost silently.
Tony helps direct the way to the secret room past the door past the door with its warning of electrocution. Inside the room, the still-standing broad laser is untouched in front of the computer.
However, what catches them all off guard is that the laser is still running with a continuous electrical pulse racing out the end and forming a large space in front of the computer chair.
"What the_?" Sam starts, but shakes his head, "How is this possible?"
"What is it?" Alan asks, looking to him.
"The laser takes objects and transports them into the computer as code, right?"
Alan nods slowly, "Yes…."
"Well….it can take….people, too."
Alan gives him the most confused look, "Impossible."
"And yet here it is." Tony says sarcastically.
Alan throws him a look.
"Where does it lead now?"
"The same place it always has, I suppose." Sam says, growing close to the laser and examining it, "Inside the computer. The Grid."
Everyone else exchanges confused looks with each other.
Everyone except Quorra.
"…The what?" Fury demands, still gripping the flashlight.
"The Grid. The inside of the computer. Usually the laser only sends people in and certain people out….but something's wrong here."
"What do you mean certain people?"
"None of the inhabitants are allowed out without someone from….here."
"Inhabitants?" Bruce wipes his glasses before putting them back on.
"Yes. But now…."
"What about now?" Fury demands.
"There may be…a chance that some of the inhabitants have made it through."
"How so?"
Sam shrugs, "Hell if I know."
"There's no proof of that, then." Alan states, turning to him.
"That's not exactly true…." Tony joins them, "When I came down here, I was alone. But after the computer exploded when I was…." He glances to Fury before reluctantly saying, "…looking, there were two other people in there with me and I don't think any of you can teleport."
"Two?" Sam turns to him, "Could you see their faces? What did they look like?"
Tony shrugs, though obviously shocked that Sam was approaching, "I don't know. I couldn't see them through the smoke."
Sam is pale when Tony looks to him again.
"What?"
"That could be anyone…"
"Sam, could it be….?" Quorra looks to him and touches his arm.
"Could be."
"Who?"
"There was one program_"
"Inhabitant."
"_yes and we never saw if he survived. If he did and made it here….." Sam turns even paler than what was originally thought. "We have hell on our hands."
"Any suggestions on how to stop this?" Fury asks, crossing his arms.
"Bottleneck the laser. If we can stop the flow, we can make sure none of the other programs make it out. Then, we can track down the two that already made it out, and hope they're not hostile."
"And how do you suppose we get that track?"
"Maybe…" Bruce joins the conversation, "Maybe if they're from within the computer, they'll give off an electronic field, especially if the laser glitched during their transport."
"They may also stick out very easily." Sam shrugs, "They kind of glow."
"How….never mind. I don't want to know how you know that." Alan sighs, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Any idea how powerful they can be?" Bruce asks.
Sam shrugs, running a hand through his hair, "That all depends. Depends on who they are. If one of them is Rinzler…." Sam shudders, "we definitely will have a problem."
"We'll stop him if it is 'Rinzler'." Fury says in an odd assurance.
He turns to Bruce and Tony as the mysterious trio from Encom make their way back upstairs.
"Call Rogers and Romanoff. Tell them to assemble the team. If these programs are as big of a deal as Mr. Flynn says, then we'll need to find them now!"