Cypher was relieved to see the other 3 Black Guards standing before Tesler. The other poor program must have been for some other bad news. Cypher then realized that meant Tesler still didn't know.

"Glad you could finally join us, Cypher," Tesler said, his voice deep and full of anger already.

"I had to fix my helmet, sir."

"As Pref was telling me."

Cypher stood next to the others. Tesler sat on his throne-like chair. Beside him were two programs that Cypher saw a lot with Tesler: Paige and Pavel. Both of them were Tesler's second-in-command, and would do just about anything for him. They were always butting heads to gain the favor of Tesler.

"So tell me why you all are here," Tesler finally continued.

"We saw the Renegade," Pref replied.

"And...?"

"He managed to gain access to the roof. He knew we were on board the light rail," Tela added.

"We chased him up there but he disconnected the carts so only Cypher and he were together," Pref continued.

"Is that so?" Tesler asked.

Cypher nodded. "I tried to fight him, but he managed to escape as soon as we reached Argon City."

Tesler frowned. His grip on the arms of his throne tightened. "You let him escape?"

"I was focused on demobilizing him...the city just kind of appeared," Cypher explained.

Tesler's hands lit up. Cypher held his ground. Any sign of fear might have indicated he assisted the Renegade. Tesler slowly stood up. He quickly launched his arm directly at the 4th Black Guard, Reser. Reser was immediately derezzed as soon as Tesler's glowing hand touched the Black Guard. Pref and Tela jumped from the shock. Cypher remained as still as possible.

"So you don't question me...because I don't like being questioned...that comrade of yours had no say on anything. I wouldn't be surprised if he was in allegiance with the Renegade!" Tesler's voice boomed.

"Quite right, your excellency," Pavel replied.

Cypher rolled his eyes, as did Paige.

"Now, I hope you three will do better next time. Your next assignment is to escort some of my soldiers. They are gathering a few criminals to participate in the next games at the Coliseum. I do hope you will stop any interfering from the Renegade, if need be."

They nodded in reply. Tesler sat back down and waved at them to leave. The three turned and left. Cypher eyed the remains of Reser. He shook his head.

"Is there a problem, Cypher?" Tesler asked, obviously having seen his response to Reser's remains.

"No, sir. I...I just can't believe someone would be willing to work for the Renegade, is all."

"I'm doing everything in my power to make sure he doesn't poison any more programs with his toxic way of thinking."

Cypher nodded and left the room. He breathed in heavily as soon as they were outside.

"What do you think you were doing?!" Tela asked.

"Sorry...I just don't know why Reser had to be derezzed...he never was much of a talker."

"It doesn't matter now," Pref replied, "General Tesler's anger seems to be stated when he derezzes someone. Just be thankful it wasn't you, after all it should have been."

Cypher was hurt by what Pref said. He frowned.

"That's just mean," Tela said, breaking the silence. "No one should've been derezzed. It wasn't anyone's fault."

Pref didn't reply. He began walking away. "I'll see you two at the 0001001 Club."

Tela looked at Cypher. "Don't mind him. He's probably scared from seeing Tesler derez someone...it isn't a pretty sight, no matter who does it."

"It isn't a pretty sight at all..." Cypher mumbled and then said, "I'll meet you guys there. Don't wait up though. If the soldiers come by to get you, just say I was on another mission."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I've got some stuff to do," Cypher replied.

Tela chuckled and nodded. He walked away from Cypher. Cypher went the other direction. His mind was racing. He wanted to get revenge on Tesler for killing Reser, but he couldn't do that. Not on the command ship with thousands of Tesler and CLU followers to come stop him. He shook his head and decided he should head back down to the city.

Cypher didn't want to wait for a recognizer, so he decided to use his Tron chute. That's what they were called before Tron disappeared. The programs of the Grid now referred to them as wing chutes, to avoid sounding like a supporter of Tron.

He made his way through one of the many hangars and walked directly to the opening. It was raining over Argon City now. With a leap, Cypher descended towards the city. Rain tapped against his helmet. The air rushed passed him until he released his chute. His descent slowed down. He got to take in Argon City once more. He was still breath-taken at the sight of the city.

Suddenly, Cypher's chute began to malfunction. He looked over his shoulder to see the circuitry was changing between the usual reddish orange and white.

"This again?" he asked out loud.

The chute began to close and open several times, causing Cypher to fall for a few seconds and then glide for a few following. It repeated until he was nearing the ground. That's when his chute didn't open again. Cypher fell to the ground with a hard crash. He landed in the alley way of a food/drink shop street. He blacked out.

Cypher opened his eyes, feeling rain coming down on him. He looked around. He was in a dumpster. Standing up, Cypher noticed his helmet was off. He looked around to see that the protective gear that lined Black Guard's light suits had somehow come off. Even worse, his light suit circuitry was white.

"Look, over there!" a Sentry's voice yelled.

Cypher looked to see that there was several Sentries coming towards him.

"Program, you know that going through the waste of businesses is a crime, right?" the Sentry in the lead asked.

Cypher knew that, but he didn't want to seem sarcastic. "I fell and woke up here."

"That's what they all say. Grab him and bring him."

The Sentries grabbed Cypher, not noticing the malfunctioning Black Guard armor in the dumpster.

"Where are you taking me?" Cypher asked.

"To the Coliseum. You're a new volunteer criminal for the Games."