User Rectified

Chapter 5: Reflections

He loved to ride along on his cycle. His work allowed him to ride. He was able to go on routine checks through out the city and outskirts while he rode and he loved chasing down those that have been branded imperfect by Clu. There were other names, rogues, corrupted, prowlers and rebels. It did not matter what the word was, they were all the same to Primal, prey. He was eager to please his master; his Clu and he loved to hunt down the enemies on his bike.

There were times when he was able to roam freely. When he was given downtime he wasn't sure what to do. When he wasn't working he would rest or reenergize or, have sex with either Clu or Rinzler, or he went under repairs that Clu deemed he needed. Sometimes he would go to End of Line, but he was even more lost there than Rinzler was. He hated the music and he did not know how to dance. He had gone to the floor where he could choose a strip dancer, but he only went in hopes to see Fara again. There was something about her. He just couldn't pinpoint why, but when he went Fara wasn't working.

Primal felt delight in just simply riding. He would cruise around just for fun. He felt his body become one with the bike. He could almost feel the surface of the road through the wheels. The glowing circuits of the city reflected, perfectly off his helmet. Everything was perfect or soon will be. Primal was perfect. Clu said he was and he would do anything to please his master.

Primal cruised around the outskirts and allowed his mind to wander. He tried to remember when he first tried to learn how to ride. Who showed him? Was it Clu, or Rinzler?

"You gotta give it a try, man."

"Are you serious? Me on that?"

"Trust me once you learn you will never want to go back to a car."

"I doubt it."

"Prove me wrong then, let me teach you."

"Fine, Flynn, just a few lessons."

That little bit of dialogue was buried beneath layers and layers of code and for some strange reason Primal remembered it and it did not cause him any pain. Why was he talking like that and why did Flynn sound like Clu. He should tell Clu about the mystery conversation. No, it was important. Primal felt it was important, too important for even Clu to know.

He slowed his bike down and stopped. What was happening to him? He glanced out towards the direction of the sea while he tried to sort his mind out. He still should speak with Clu about it, although he won't tell him about that conversation that he had remembered.

There was something cruising along the shoreline. It was a lone rider with burning white circuitry. While there were still time until curfew Primal still felt the need to pursue this one.

Primal stared the engine and rode after the mystery program, making sure to keep a distance and rode at lower level. At this angle Primal was able to get a better look at who he was riding after. The program was female. He could see that by the shape of her body and not by her face, which was completely obscured by her helmet. Her hair was not long enough to poke under the helmet. There was something familiar about her from her pale bare shoulders, to the shape of her circuitry to the way she sat in her cycle. Primal knew who she was.

"Gatecrasher," he growled the little title he had given her. It still pained and angered him how she was able to best him in battle. He would not make the same mistake again. He was a proud fighter, but he also knew that any problem that would infect Clu's system would have to be destroyed, even if it wasn't by him.

"This is Primal," he growled into the small speaker system that was set up. "I'm on pursuit of the Gatecrasher at sector 809 along the shoreline."

"This is captain Gear," the familiar voice of one of the sentry captains greeted him. "I'm sending all units out."

"Captain Spoar reporting," one of the black guard captains said. "Reflecting what Captain Gear said."

The next greeting was proceeded by static or what sounded like static. "Rinzler. I hear you, brother."

"Keep a close watch on her," Jarvis was the last to speak. "I'm sending several Recognizers your way."

"About to enter the damage lands," Primal reported. The damaged lands were a section of shoreline that was greatly destroyed by grid bugs in the past. Clu had done his best to repair the land. The cracks and broken code was repaired but the area was still uneven and the color was pale. There were large dunes and depressions within the area. It could be fun to explore but one would have to do it on foot.

Primal derezzed his bike and clipped the baton to his hip. He ran after the program, watched as she slid down the crags and climbed over the dunes. He followed after her, forcing his legs to be even faster. He had to catch her. He had to capture her for Clu. As he chased after her he imagined how pleased his master would be to see him bring in the Gatecrasher and he might be the one that receive the honor of derezzing her.

Primal climbed around another dune and could see someone else on the other side. His disk was instantly in his hand and ready to be thrown. Only it wasn't the Gatecrasher who made her way to the shoreline.

She wore a white leotard with a silver-blue skirt and ankle high boots. Her white gloves had left the last two fingers on her hands to be bare and went up to her elbow. She wore white leggings. Her blond hair was tied back into a braid and she stared at the sea with sad blue eyes.

"Fara," Primal whispered her name. Why was she out here? The area was not off limits yet and she was not breaking curfew.

"Why have you forsaken us, creator?" Fara asked. "Why have you left us with your reflection?" She kneeled and folded her hands. "Where are you when we need you? Please return to us, please return to us."

Primal stared at her with his head tilted to the side. He wondered what she was talking about. Clu had yet to forsake anyone. Did he just have his way with her and leave her? Primal could understand that. No one could pleasure another physically quite like Clu, except for Rinzler. He could understand why she wanted him to return to her.

"You should not be here," Primal said as he approached her.

Fara gasped when she saw him and stood up in fear. "Why are you here?" She backed away slowly. "I have not done anything wrong."

"No you haven't." Primal held out his hand in a friendly gesture. "Why have you come to the damaged lands?"

"You are not rounding up fugitives?" She stared at him with uncertainty and refused to take a step closer to him.

"Only one. We call her the Gatecrasher. She took out a recognizer a while ago. I did not expect to see you here."

"I guess you are disappointed that I'm not her."

"Yes and no for different reasons. I wanted to see you again, but the few times I went to the End of Line you were not there."

"End of Line is my place of employment. I like to do other things when I have downtime."

"And it seems we have downtime at the same time." Primal said. "What do you usually do on your downtime?"

"I go to a java port café, I see plays, I read, I attend the games, I go to boutiques and salons to change my look and I come here."

"Why do you come here?"

"I come here to pray, to be alone with my thoughts." She walked closer to the shoreline and sat down. "It's peaceful. From here I can see the sea. I look at my reflection, sometimes it can tell me more about myself."

"The reflection can show you everything about yourself?" Primal sat down next to her and looked over the edge and down at the tranquil sea below. He removed his helmet and stared at a face that was similar to Rinzler's save for a several streaks of silver in his hair and lines around his mouth and eyes.

"Tron?" Fara whispered. "T-tron is that you?"

"I am not this Tron program you speak of," Primal said. "I am Primal. I have never answered to that designation before."

"You look like him, almost exactly like him."

"I can assure you I'm not."

"Rinzler." Her eyes widened.

"What about my brother?"

"I should go." She took a step away from him.

"Fara, wait."

"No, I really have to leave." She took a few steps down away from the dune and slid a few feet before she forced herself to pause and screamed.

Primal was next to her within seconds and was face to face with the horror that frightened her.

The grid big hissed at the two of them. It had to be a grid bug even though Primal had yet to encounter one. That was the only explanation for this monstrosity, except it did not completely match the description that Primal was given. It was indeed large with a round head and multiple eyes, but the creature was low to the ground and flat. It only had four legs and the back two were longer than the front ones. It had a mouth but no sharp mandibles, just a hole that dripped a yellow green substance.

Primal pushed Fara to the ground and threw his disk at the beast, striking it in the head, but the monster did not derezz. Primal threw it again and once again it had met it's mark and once again it wasn't killed. Gritting his teeth Primal three it again. The third time was the charm. The grid bug was destroyed.

"What was that?" Fara asked.

"My guess would be a grid bug," Primal said. "A deformed grid bug."

"Is that another?" She pointed at the beam of light that crawled across the land.

Primal looked up and found the source of the light. It came from a recognizer. He had to report the monstrosity to them. He ran towards the aircraft and flapped his arms. He could hear more hissing and rattling sounds echo around him. They were accompanied by the sounds of deresoultion. The others knew and were fighting back.

"Primal," Captain Spoar greeted him from his Recognizer. "We have lost site of the Gatecrasher, but we have come upon something else."

"I know," Primal said and pointed to Fara. "We need to get this citizen to safety."

"We'll lower the platform."

Primal waited until the platform of the recognizer had lowered enough to the ground before he turned to Fara. "Take my hand."

She took his hand and practically threw herself at him. She leaned against his arm as he helped her into the platform that was occupied by Spoar and several members of the black guard.

"We'll take you to your quarters." Primal said as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.

"Thank you." She did not leave his side as they rode away together.

Primal watched as the rest of the sentries and Black Guard made short work of the remaining bugs. Each one was deformed in a different way. One was missing half it's body. Another had a flattened head and vestigial limbs grown out of it it's back. A third had two heads.

"I need to be down there," Primal said.

"No, please," Fara said as she held his arm.

Primal clenched his hands. He watched as the soldiers derezz the deformed bugs. Rinzler tumbled through the air as he used his disks to slice through the bugs and render them into nothing but piles of pixilated bits.

Seeing that he wasn't needed Primal stepped back until he was next to Fara. It was safe to relax.