Chapter 14

Once her eyes adjusted from the blinding white light of the portal, she saw the dark sky and grinned. Quickly, she stepped out to see herself in the familiar circuits.

She took in a deep breath and sighed, "It's great to be back."

She turned her head as four more figures arrived and she remembered what she was doing.

Alan and Roy were the first to come out, both in dark robes over their circuits. Quorra and Sam followed, both looking comfortable in their suits.

"…What is this?" Roy muttered.

"Welcome," Nico turned and held out her arms for emphasis, "to the Grid."

They all finally looked to the horizon and gasped at what they saw.

"This shouldn't be possible…." Alan muttered.

"And yet it is." Sam replied for Nico, "This is why I needed that computer."

"Amazing…"

Quorra pointed to the rubble, "That's the ruins of Argon."

What?

Nico gave an odd look before saying, "That's the outskirts of New Argon."

"But…" Quorra searched the horizon in confusion, "What happened to the original Argon?"

Nico shrugged, "I don't know. My friend never told me."

He didn't tell me much of anything.

"Wait, your friend?"

"Yeah." Nico looked to Roy, "Problem?"

"No, I just thought…."

"Doesn't matter." Nico said quickly, before looking back to the horizon.

"What are you waiting for?" Quorra asked, standing next to her now.

Nico squinted before pointing at an approaching light, "That."

Quorra squinted as well, then said, "That your friend?"

"Yep. He won't be pleased I brought other Users, though. He's already pushing it with the council just with me."

"What?"

"You'll see. Soon enough."

The light approached and then came to a stop in front of the portal to show it to be a lightbike. After a long moment, Beck got off, his mask on. She could hear him muttering something under his breath, so she called, "Hey!"

That snapped him out of his daze. He looked up.

"I knew you said you'd be back soon, but I didn't expect it to be this quick." He said, his voice digitized.

Nico laughed and shook her head, "Well, you know, things happen."

Beck tilted his head to see a shudder run through Sam. He said nothing about the other Users, but Nico saw him tense at the sight of Sam and Quorra.

"Who is he?" Sam asked suddenly, voice tight in fear.

"No one you have to be afraid of. He's going to escort us to Argon."

"Wait," Roy cut in, "he's your friend you were talking about?"

"How nice to know I've been the conversation topic." Beck said dryly before looking to Nico, "Who are they?"

Uh no.

We're not starting this now.

"Don't play coy with me." Nico said bluntly, turning on him.

"…what?" Beck was confused for a moment at her change in demeanor.

"You know Sam and Quorra, I know that much from your reaction." Sam and Quorra were surprised at this, though Sam became more suspicious than Quorra did, "How about taking off the goddy mask and introducing yourself, because I'm not doing it for you."

She felt Beck glare at her but she didn't care. She knew he knew he wasn't going to win this battle.

After a moment, he sighed. He let the mask flip off. Quorra gasped and Sam's suspicion changed almost immediately to shock.

"My name is Beck. I'm the Captain of Police here in New Argon."

Quorra tackled him a hug suddenly. He grunted slightly but took her in. After a long moment, she pulled away and took his face in her hands.

"Oh my goodness Beck! You're looking more and more like_"

"Don't say it." Beck said in a tense voice before smiling, "It's good to see you."

"It's good to be home."

"Home?" Nico asked.

She nodded before looking to Sam, "Sam, doesn't he look more and more like…you-know-who every cycle?"

Sam shrugged, "I guess. I never got to actually meet him. Well, at least not in a…you know…."

"Who?" Nico asked, looking to Beck for an explanation.

Beck gave her a long look before saying, "No one in particular. Now, care to introduce me to the others?"

"Um…yeah." she would have to let it go for now.

"That's…" she pointed to Roy, "Roy Klieneberg

Roy nodded as the information transformed and clicked in Beck's eyes as he nodded back.

"And this," she gestured to Alan, "is Alan Bradley."

Something clicked in Beck and his eyes widened. He got down to one knee while Alan looked surprised.

"A-Alan-one."

"How do you know that name?" Alan asked suspiciously.

Beck averted his gaze, "You're a legend here."

"Plus, Beck knew one of your programs personally." Quorra said, "It's a great respect for a program to meet a User like you."

"I wouldn't say that as much now, but to me, it's an honor." Beck said.

"Um…thanks. You can stand."

Beck obeyed and Nico caught his attention with her question.

"So…I suppose you have to take us to the New Argon council?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, but can we skip the getting arrested part this time."

Beck smirked and shook his head, "That was because you didn't explain you're a User."

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Wait…what?"

Beck and Nico both looked to Quorra. Nico grinned, "He arrested me whenever I came to the Grid. Well I mean, at first he saved me from this gang and such. Then he arrested me because everyone thought I was a delusional program."

"Once again, your fault."

"What did you guys want me to do? Come out and say I came through a portal and I'm a User?"

"Would've saved me from a kick to a sensitive spot."

"Hey! That was self-defense!"

Beck laughed along with the others before saying, "No. No arrests being made this time."

"Oh good."

"Alright. Let me see if I have enough batons handy..."

He pulled off his batons and passed them out. There was one more User than baton, so Quorra rode with Sam and passed it off to Beck. He took it and it formed a bike.

"Why do you have so many batons?" Quorra asked, "this is a new record for you."

"I didn't start until Nico started getting reckless with the bikes. One swerve and two derezzed bikes later, we had to walk back to my apartment. In the rain."

Quorra laughed. Beck smirked as he leaned forward and led the way into the city.