Sorry for the late update.

000

Sam felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude as Quorra shared her secret with them. Fingering the small flat data Sam looked up to thank Quorra but only watched as she quickly scurried away, gently closing the door behind her. Pursing his lips, Sam stood up and paced for a while.

"You're determining if you should leave me here so you can go alone aren't you?" Victoria's voice echoed in the brightly lit room ominously. Sam continued to pace as if he had not heard her. Though she did spot the pause in his step when she finished her question, she was right.

"Whatever you're thinking, I'm going with you whether you like it or not," Tori said calmly with a dangerous undertone in her voice.

Sam finally stopped pacing and glanced up at the only window of the room. He could see out onto the patio deck and right to another window. And in that room across from them, Quorra sat on her own bed thinking.

"It would be faster if I went alone Tori, you have to stay here. It's much safer here with Dad and Quorra protecting you," Sam advised as he made his way towards the door.

Quick on her feet, Victoria followed after Sam quietly.

"I can protect myself Sam, and who will be protecting you huh? You get in trouble way more than I do," Tori whispered harshly.

"I can protect myself-"

"Yeah, well so can I."

"You-" Sam shut his mouth as the smaller woman stared up at him challengingly as he wheeled around. They stood there staring at each other, daring the other to back down until Sam finally broke.

Victoria visibly twitched as Sam placed a hand on her cheek gently, his thumb stroked her scabbed scratch lightly.

"I know you can. But please do this for me," Her eyes softened as they took in Sam's concern, "Just once. I'll be out in no time and back in for you. All of you. And that won't happen if something happens to you on the way."

She let out an exasperated breath.

A smile broke out of Sam's kicked puppy-dog session.

Victoria only let out a grunt as he began pushing her back toward their room.

"You have to go to sleep, so Dad won't suspect that you knew," Sam began lecturing.

"Mmhm."

"Make sure you get Quorra to act surprised as well,"

"Mmhm. I know what to do Sam, I've done this before," Victoria rounded around and crossed her arms petulantly.

Sam stared at her rather intensely causing her to blink in surprise.

"Sam?"

"I'll be back, I promise."

They embraced each other tightly.

"I know you will. Don't forget to look after your own ass."

Sam leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek before walking out the door.

With his hand on the door, Sam turned to close the door. He caught sight of Victoria's lost look and faltered. Without a word he took a step back in and made a decision.

Victoria's heart cried out as Sam caught her on the lips for a brief moment that lasted an eternity. A blissful eternity.

Victoria could not dream but she did not mind the darkness she rested in. Her lips crooked in a silly smile even in her dream state. They did not share words after the kiss but a promise was made, an undeniable attraction that overlapped and merged with their unbreakable friendship.

Then it all came crashing down.

"Victoria!"

Hands shook her from her sleep. Eyebrows furrowed, Victoria squinted trying to blink away the blinding pain that seared through her eyeballs as her room lit up suddenly.

"Victoria, you need to wake up. Where is Sam?" Kevin Flynn asked worriedly as he grasped her shoulders firmly. Behind him, Quorra stared at her with a different kind of worry.

Victoria looked back and forth between Quorra and Kevin before Sam's father trapped her with a parental stare.

"I-"

"Victoria, this is very important. I know you realize how Sam attracts the attention of trouble everywhere he goes. I need to know. Where. He. Is."

Sam would have been lying to himself if he wasn't in awe at the whole environment of the End of the Line club. As he was ushered by Gem around the bar, he glanced uneasily at the guards lounging around casually. Strangely, they stared at him through their dark visors like hawks before turning back toward their company. He had been weary when Gem had approached him on the street. So he had been quick to try and leave until she mentioned his search. And now he was here. Looking for Zuse (not Zeus like in the myths).

The music was hypnotic as it rang into his ears.

"Thank you for bringing my son to me," Kevin Flynn said with true gratitude toward Quorra before he turned toward Victoria, "And thank you for taking care of my son. And I ask of you to please continue to do so."

Victoria nodded solemnly.

"You don't have to do this! I've sent him to someone we can trust!" Quorra cut in frantically stepping toward the grim Flynn.

"Quorra, there is no choice…I won't lose him again."

Victoria stepped up to place a hand over one of Quorra's trembling fists. Kevin smiled in an ironic fashion.

"Chaos. Good news."

The two women just watched as Kevin walked away from them.

"Thank you," Sam directed toward the white haired woman.

"Gem, my name is Gem," She replied back with a sly smile.

The intense atmosphere in the light buggie was suffocating, even more than before. Victoria sat in the back, which Kevin had been quick to program into the vehicle when they realized it only housed two seats. Hands wrung on her lap almost bruisingly as Victoria kept her eyes down in guilt. She could see the storm behind Kevin's calm demeanor as he drove the cycle skillfully. In front of her toward the right in the front passenger seat, Quorra remained silent as well. She too, was scolding herself in the guilt she felt. She could not help but feel wrong for giving Sam the information but at the same time, hope that she was right and Kevin's worries weren't needed. She glanced from under her eyelashes at her mentor.

She hoped Kevin would be freed from the Grid and back in his home with his son.

Sam smiled as Castor let out a chuckle, Gem had led him to Castor and Castor had led him to Zuse. Who turned up to be Castor himself.

The horizon never looked any brighter.

"After the Purge, I needed to reinvent myself. Self preservation, you understand," Zuse tapped his glass against that of Sam's. Both took a sip casually.

"Now, what can I do for you?" All the cheeriness seemed to have filtered away and Zuse's voice dropped into a lower tone.

"I need to get to the portal."

"Well, it's closing quickly as I'm sure you're aware," Zuse made his way around his mini bar, "tick-tock- tick-tock. And it's quite the journey. Beyond the far reaches of the out lands. Your father did not want any programs slipping out accidentally, did he?"

Sam joined Zuse at the barrier that served as a silencer between the private suite and the club below.

"Can you help me?"

"Of course."

Victoria stepped onto the elevator relatively quickly with Quorra as Kevin looked around cautiously before joining them. Kevin had gone ahead and quickly disposed of the guards in the elevator. Quorra reached over and tapped the highest numerical on the display panel of the elevator. And without a warning, the elevator made it's way upwards smoothly without interruption.

Victoria looked out the window and took in the sight of the city.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Kevin commented quietly from behind her.

"Like nothing on the Earth we know," Victoria whispered thoughtfully as she pressed her hand against the cold glass. Rain pelted down on the window and she could almost feel each patter.

"But nothing can ever compare, can it. To the world outside,"

"Yeah…nothing like it,"

Sam froze as he looked up at the light rod heading straight down toward his head.

"SAM!"

Flinching, Sam was in for a surprise as he was tackled to the side. Grunting he opened his eyes to see Victoria already on her feet and standing over him protectively with her disc in hand. He glanced to where he once stood and barely caught Quorra derezzing the guard that had almost killed him.

"Sam! Snap out of it!" Victoria shouted as she skidded back slightly at the force of the blow she blocked with her disc.

It was pure chaos as innocent programs were killed in cross fire. Renegades, rebels, guards, and bartenders were all killing on another in a flurry of lights. It wasn't long before the three were forced apart from one another fighting for their lives. And it was clear that they were greatly outnumbered by the skilled programs.

Victoria let out a gasp of pain as she was kicked back onto a table. She tumbled over it backwards and crashed onto the ground along with the table. She was sure she shattered her hip along with the rest of the table. But there was no time to rest as she rolled away, a light rob slamming on to the ground where she once lay.

Sam punched, blocked, and slashed with his disc forcibly against ever hand and weapon that came near him. He glowered at his foolishness for falling into the same trap his dad had warned him about. And now, as he and his friends fought for their lives, Castor stood on his private suite cackling like a maniac and shooting light bullets from his crystalline cane.

"Quorra! No!" Victoria's sudden cry had Sam turning around.

Quorra was forced on her knees, arms held apart by two guards. A third guard stood in front of her with a light rod and began arching downward.

Time slowed down as Victoria and Sam tried to make their ways toward their fallen comrade as fast as they could. From their separate points, Victoria and Sam watched in panic as the light rod avoided Quorra's head but moved to slice down on her arm. The second it touched her arm, her arm from her mid upper arm down shattered into data cubes.

Castor celebrated with Gem by his side, watching manically as Flynn's son, the female User, and Quorra fight. Then it all seemed to get better as Quorra dropped to the ground unresponsive as her arm was derezzed. The night was getting better and better and he knew he was getting closer to reaching his goal.

Pitch black darkness descending down on the whole club. Screams that echoed the walls took a higher pitch before silencing along with the music. The lights of the suits illuminated the shadows.

And the rebels took it into their advantage as they took down the surprised guards one by one.

All joy left Castor as he spotted the one figure that haunted him.

Kevin Flynn made his way toward the three.

"Let's split, man," Flynn said as he knelt down beside the two adults hovering over Quorra.

Sam tucked his arms underneath Quorra's knees and shoulder and lifted her bridal style. They quickly shuffled their way back towards the only elevator.

Once all of them were in, Victoria turned around to push the button with the lowest numerical value. However her fingers froze before they could push the button as a guard in black shot something at Kevin's back. Before she could utter a word and just as Kevin turned to see what hit him, his disc was taken away and the doors closed on them automatically.

"The disc!" Tori yelled as she pushed on the button to reopen the doors.

"No, wait!" Kevin shouted as the doors began opening again.

A violent shock shook all the passengers and sent Victoria back to crash against the glass wall of the elevator. Her pained groans fell to deaf ears as all their ears rung from the explosion.

"Whoa,whoa,whoa,whoah!"

The elevator was descending at an incredible speed and was picking up more as they free-fell.

Sam began pushing all the buttons on the directory hoping that the elevator would stop at one of them before they crashed into anything.

"A little help here maybe?" Sam shouted panicking as his father stood there. Abandoning his plan, Sam turned and watched as his dad touched one of the glass walls and began accessing the system. The first gate was fast approaching and the elevator they were in showed no signs of slowing. Then whatever Flynn seemed to be doing worked as each gate after gate opened just in time to let them through.

Finally, the shock absorber on the bottom of the elevator fired out to slow their momentum down to a stop.

With Quorra safely laid out on the ground, Sam moved to help Victoria to sit up. He examined her face and was relieved to find her relatively unharmed beside the bump on her head. He hoped that she did not sustain a concussion or worse.

"I-I'm fine," Victoria stuttered with a grimace, she could barely make out Sam's blue eyes as her own eyes teared up the slightest.

"You sure? You might have a slight concussion," Sam took Tori's nod with slight hesitance before turning toward his dad.

"The disc, g-gone," Tori said as she pointed at Kevin's back.

Sam looked and guilt filled him to his very pores.

"Dad. Your disc, it's gone," Sam said.

"It is."

Kevin walked out to survey if there were any guards or people around.

"I'm sorry. I know I messed up," Sam said as he glared at the ground, Kevin barely made a sound of acknowledgement.

"We can go back," Sam offered, "I can go back."

"No-" Victoria interrupted.

"We stay together," Kevin finished.

"Dad, I can do this," The younger Flynn said with a little more strength.

"You've done enough already!" Kevin exploded suddenly, a storm of emotions flashing in his eyes and posture. Both conscious adults flinched back in surprise and fear.

Kevin pursed his lips and forced himself to calm down as he took in their reaction.

"Sam, you're really…"

Kevin moved to kneal beside Quorra, "You're really messing with my Zen thing, man."

Kevin examined Quorra critically, "She's stable."

Kevin then turned to Victoria, touched below one of her eyes and moved her head back and forth. He took her wince into consideration but knew she would be fine as well.

"That was a hard knock on the head, but you'll be fine."

He then stood back up and walked out of the compartment.

Sam took this chance to speak up again.

"So what do we do now?"

"I don't know. Nothing," There was frustration in his tone and everyone heard it, "We do nothing…be still…wait."

Sam turned away and stared between at the space between Quorra and Victoria.

Seeing the struggle, Victoria raised a hand and gently stroked his face from his cheek to his chin.

"It'll be alright, we'll think of something," She whispered into his ear and placed a kiss on his furrowed forehead, "have faith."

"You ever jump a freight train?" Kevin suddenly cut in just as Sam opened his mouth to speak.

That caught their attention so they stared at Kevin's back confused.

"Huh?" Sam noised.

"We do it your way. Full on sprint towards the portal," Kevin turned around and moved to help Victoria onto her feat, "If we beat CLU there, then we have a chance."

"Let's get her out of here," Kevin was careful to support Victoria as she faltered as vertigo hit her hard. Behind them, Sam picked up Quorra and made after them.

They made their way up from the side stairs, Kevin helping Sam pull Quorra up, and up the ramp toward the top of the train. They made their way toward the front of the train to settle at the balcony-like ramp there.

Victoria aided Sam in lowering Quorra onto her back on the floor. And once they passed the

first gate, Kevin was beside them. However seeing as they had no idea what to do, Victoria and Sam watched Kevin work his magic.

Victoria gently brushed Quorra's hair from her pale face and could not help but mourn at the blank dead look in her friend's eyes. So all she could do was brush the program's hair back into place with a motherly-care.

Sam peaked from the corner of his eyes to catch Victoria touch Quorra's cheek. He knew the blame was on him, and even though Kevin assured them that she was stable. Sam knew that stable was not the same as being fine or even being able to wake up. He turned away from them as Victoria turned to look at him. He chose to watch his father, his fingers twitched to touch the globe of data that his dad pulled up. However instead, he kept his hands firmly on the ground.

He did not want to make things worse than it already was.