Beck and Tron were now positioned outside one of the southern entrances to Argon. The surrounding rocks of Outlands provided great coves to hide in and high stone formations to look down onto the entrance. The renegades were positioned next to the road in a cave that had a clear view of the entrance. It was hard to tell if were more red circuits coming from the guards or the walls of the barricade. There's a tank on each side of the barricade guarding the east and west side.

"I shouldn't have to remind you this is purely for recon, we will not fight Clu or Dyson if we get an opportunity," Tron commanded.

Come on, have a little faith in me. And do you really expect us to find Dyson or Clu out here? Beck mused as he turned to look at the entrance.

"Yes Tron, I know," he muttered softly.

"Beck, you run a distraction on the East side of the wall, I'll look for a way in while they're distracted," Tron grasped Beck's shoulder. He nodded back at his leader and turned to sprint. Beck launched a few smoke bombs at the ground near the guards but kept himself in the shadows of the canyons. The smoke exploded after the timers went off engulfing the guards and a few yards around them in think gray smoke. The tanks rotated their barrels in the direction of the smoke as guards from the west side started walking to investigate.

Tron saw his chance and bolted from his new yet much closer hiding spot. He moved like a shadow. If you blinked you would have missed him. Beck threw a stunner into the smoke hoping one of the guards that was still inside would get struck and cause a bigger incident.

"Grah!" Perfect or not so much, Beck looked back to the road to see that the tanks were now aimed at him.

Guess I should have moved.

As a tank shell flew by his head and causing the rock formation behind him to explode. Voxels showered over Beck as he instantly ducked away from the projectiles path. Beck rose to his feet and started sprinting away from the post figuring it would be better to stay alive than try to fight his way through a miniature army.

Tron started taking out guards that stayed at their post instead of investigating the disturbance, noting on Beck's position. He was afraid that he got a little carried away when the tanks starting shooting off rounds but luckily they were only shooting as a feint, they didn't really know where he was. Tron did his best to hide the bodies or at least gather them in the back corner so the other guards didn't become suspicious immediately seeing a fallen comrade.

Beck finally took a relaxing breath when he realized the tanks thought he was still back where he through his stunner. He looked back from behind his cover to see that the guards were on high alert but they didn't seem to look back at the actual barricade to notice that their friends had gone missing.

Too focused on finding the Renegade.

Beck managed to find his way back to the western side of the outpost and saw a light coming from the top of the wall. It was Tron turning on and off his helmet lights and using morse code.

'Go west, I have a rope' Beck waved back to confirm he got the message.

Beck struggled to get over some large boulders and small crevices while sticking close to the barrier that separated the city and the Outlands. Upon reaching a small clearing on top what seemed to be a small mountain but was now cut flat for some reason, Beck saw Tron's lights and saw a dark sliver that reached the ground. Beck didn't hesitate and was next to Tron before he had to think.

"Well done," Tron's pride was evident in his voice.

"You too," Beck answered in a lighter tone.

"Let's get moving," the two started heading down the large wall and upon reaching the ground immediately formed their bikes and headed toward the smoke.

"These she is, grab her," the leading guard commanded.

Two of the other guards broke from their formation and proceeded to walk to the unconscious form of Paige. Her body seemed fine aside from her minor scratches. Her hair was no longer in its usual tight bun but slowly unraveling around her on the grid floor.

Both guards grab one of Paige's arms and dragged her across the Grid back to the Recognizer that they originally came in.

"Make sure she's secure, Clu wants to deal with her personally," the leader said once more, oblivious to the two shadows moving in the black velvet of darkness.

As the guards trudged their prisoner to the ship the two moving shadows made their move. Synchronized, the two charged the remaining three guards with lightning speed.

The bigger shadow performing a large leap tightening his body so he could spin in his usual mid air roll and then extending his legs when he was close enough to his target to land an enormous kick to his enemy.

The smaller shadow was faster and reached his target before his enemy could properly raise a defense. Using the opening, the shadow sweep his target's legs from under him and while the victim was falling, the small shadow rammed his elbow into the center of the his target's chest and slammed him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Both shadows swiftly assaulted the leading guard and overpowered him in a flash.

The two guards bringing Paige to the Recognizer looked back and dropped their prisoner upon seeing the Renegade and a new masked vigilante. The soldiers looked at each other and as if a mental agreement had been reached the two bolted for their escape on the ship.

The two sentries figured Clu would give them a second chance if they told him of the sighting of the Renegade instead of engaging and killing him, thus they flew off in the Recognizer.

Beck ran over to Paige and checked her vitals.

"We have to take her with us," Beck stated calmly.

"Beck, we've had this discussion, she is not one of us," Tron bit back fiercely.

"Well I can't just leave her to be derezzed by the Occupation!" Beck shouted in defense.

"She'll be a liability! Your liability!" Tron continued on.

"She'll be dead if I don't, I'll happily make her a liability than a bunch of voxels!"

"And how are you going to bring her back exactly?" Tron interrogated.

"I'll figure it out, first we have to make sure she'll be safe," Beck looked around for a relatively safe area to hid Paige in. Beck points to an area in the distance.

"That's probably our best bet. It's far and away from center of all the other units," Beck placed his arm under Paige's back and knees and carried her bridal style over the place he had just pointed out. Tron lagged behind keeping an eye out.

"Beck, don't forget, we're not alone out here," Tron warned his apprentice.

"I know," Beck answered as he peered down at Paige.

What are you doing out here Paige?

Beck started to enter the maze of storage units and let himself get lost.

"Will you remember where you put her?" Tron tested.

"Yes… why wouldn't I?" Beck replied unevenly.

"Because we went in a circle twice now," Tron's unimpressed tone cut deep into Beck, causing him to sigh.

"I just want to make sure she'll be-"

"Safe, I know," Tron sighed, "You're still letting your feelings for her cloud your judgement,"

"I know, but even it wasn't her I'd still help the Program, I care for Programs," Beck looked back at Tron, his insinuation towards Tron didn't go unnoticed.

"I care for Programs too, it's trust I have problems with,"

"Right… Well you sure can show Programs how much you 'care' for them," Beck mumbled.

"Put her here, we're far enough in that the Occupation won't find her but it'll be easy enough for us to get her,"

"Okay," Beck laid Paige against the storage unit and turned to Tron. "Let's go,"

"Do you have a plan for her?"

"We'll steal a Recognizer,"

"And let Clu's army follow us to the Outlands?" Tron raised his voice.

"I didn't say we'd be flying it back to the Outlands," Beck felt a smirk growing on his lips.

Tron looked over to his apprentice with question. Beck started to move through the maze of shipping crates, beckoning Tron to follow.

"We're going to steal one and fly to the Garage. Instead of landing, I'll jump out with Paige and take a bike back to the hideout," Beck explained. Tron briefly thought over Beck's plan.

"How will you get past the guards?"

"Zed was working on a third bike. It'll outrun most of the Occupation's ships and bikes,"

"Most?"

"Let's just hope they don't have any Light Jets," Beck said lightheartedly.

As the two went to a clearing, they were greeted by two Light Tanks and a dozen soldiers. Beck and Tron pulled out their discs as two dozen more troops came out from hiding spots around the storage units and completely surrounded the two. Both Renegades went back to back and prepared themselves for their first major battle against Clu's army.

"You ready for this, Beck?" Tron said as he prepared to launched his body towards the tanks to disable them.

"More than you know," Beck said with a hardened voice as he tensed himself to fight off the guards.

"Now!"

Tron launched himself forward as the tanks aimed their barrels to his future path line. Beck flung his disc into the encircling Black Guards to break their formation. As predicted, the guards dodged out of the way allowing Beck to leap through the gap.

Shooting their payloads, the tanks missed their target as he barrel rolled his body through the air. Landing on the tanks, Tron cut up to the turret and planted a small sticky grenade to the end of the cut he just made. Jumping off and landing on a sentry, his disc still ran, it's low growl was hard to hear as the guards completely surrounded him. He looked up from his low crouched position at the guards. There was hesitation from all the guards, fear and anxiety taking hold of their legs. The hesitation was all Tron needed, letting his grenade go off.

Tron rolled to the ground, grabbing the sentry under him and covering himself with his body. The explosion blasted the tank into bits and pieces, the shrapnel flew in all directions taking out a few unlucky soldiers. The body protecting Tron made a small grunt, fulfilling it's purpose. He heaved the body off and stood to engage any opponents. All the enemies he previously faced had been knocked down, a few had been reduced to voxels.

A painful sounding gear churning could be heard from behind. Turning his head, Tron found that second tank now had a large fraction of the destroyed tank's lower hull sticking out from its body. Sparks and digital tearing were now pronounced around the stabbing of the tank's body. Tron smirked at his work.

It's good to be back.

Beck flew through the storage units. The sound of boots charging after him were making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned to see the guards a few feet away from him, where he wanted them. Now that all the guards had been gathered together and weren't spread out, Beck had a much better chance of taking them down.

Leaping into a flashy flip, Beck reached to his disc and flung it back midair. The first few rows of guards had managed to avoid the bright disc, unfortunately for the ones in the back, they couldn't see what was happening in front of them and had no time to react.

When Beck landed, the guards had started to surround him in standard formation. Catching his disc, he stood fiercely in his trained stance. The sentries looked to each other, nervous and weary to fight the Renegade, knowing his skills.

"Come on, I take on Black Sentries for warm up," a smirk played on Beck's face as he taunted the guards. He knew he could handle the sentries, but he'd have to be quick before more of Clu's soldiers showed up.

One sentry took a small step forward but instantly shot back in fear. Still the guards fidgeted, no one having enough courage to strike first.

"Fine, you guys are no fun," Beck dropped a smoke bomb which exploded on impact. With their batons held with intense grips, the sentries backed up, trying to gain vision.

Quickly, the guards began to be taken down to the ground and decommissioned. Kicking out their feet and elbowing them to the ground, launching them into a wall or another sentry, or simply hitting them at the top of the spine with his disc, the Renegade was making easy work of the sentries.

Unfortunately, some had mad it out of the smoke and were now regrouping towards the area they came from. The sounds of the sentries still lost in the smoke was the only thing heard as they were continually defeated.

"Should we help them?" one of the sentries asked as two painful grunts echoed from the smoke.

"How?" another questioned.

"We need reinforcements,"

"I'll go," one of the sentries quickly stated before anyone else could volunteer. To run away.

"Go, I don't want to end up like the others,"

The volunteering sentry immediately ran back to the direction they came. The smoke coming from the original ambush point in the distance didn't help to ease his nerves.

"We should hide and try to get the jump on him," the other sentries nodded in agreement and immediately separated into the corners of the cargo units.

By now the smoke bomb had started to thin out, Beck had just finished off the last three soldiers with a round house kick to one that sent him and the other two barreling into a storage container. He looked around and found that he had only managed to down about half of their team.

Come on. I don't have time for this!

Beck looked around to try to gain his bearing, his eyes widening in fear as he realized he wasn't to far from Paige's location.

Thinking of her safety, he started back to the where he left Tron. Deciding to save his energy and hopefully draw out some of the straggling sentries away from Paige. He began a brisk walk with some amount of noise to help gain attention.

It wasn't long before Beck felt his senses go on alert and heard a small ting come from the storage container to his left. Slowing his walk, he kept his eyes to his left, waiting for moment. Even though he had more than enough confidence, he didn't become lax, not letting his pride and arrogance get to him. The sound of running boots alerted Beck that there was someone coming from behind. Spinning as fast as he could, he saw a sentry mid air coming from the top of a storage unit. With a sidestep, he dodged the swing of the baton with a few inches to spare and kicked the sentry right in his exposed stomach.

A solid brunt of force hit Beck on the side of his head causing his eyes to see bright sparks of light in front of his vision. Anger rising, Beck blindly retaliated by thrusting his elbow in the direction of where he was hit. The impact of his elbow into the helmet of the sentry surprised Beck but he felt relief that he wasn't vulnerable to another attack. Hearing more foot steps Beck looked up to the fading sparks and saw two more soldiers charging at him, their batons raised above their heads. Beck dodged out of the way of the first swing only to be struck by the second. Luckily training and muscle memory had forced his arms up in defense. As the flare of pain spread through his arms, Beck grabbed the baton and instantly turned it against his opponent, ripping it from the soldier's grasp and completing a 360 with the momentum still left from his pull and knocking his legs out but hitting the knees. Before Beck could knock the sentry unconscious another baton had come down in front of him. He quickly back stepped and jabbed the butt of his baton at his enemy. The gasp of air that left the target confirmed he was my prepared for such a quick counter. Beck wasted no time in returning the burning pain that still captured his head, using an anger filled swing to knock the soldier out. Looking back to the other downed sentry only to find he had slowly started crawling away. A large sigh escaped Beck, walking over and doing the same treatment but with less force to resolve the nuisance of a guard.

Bright blue had captured Beck's eye before he started walking back. The knees of the guard had been badly damaged that his coding was about to burst open and become exposed. A sliver of shame started to ball up in his gut, realizing his anger filled him more than he liked. He'd have to talk to Tron about it.

Back on track but with new bumps and bruises, he was just starting his way back to the ambush point. His legs were now gaining a strain from use, a familiar uncomfortable feeling he was all too weary of. The muted thud of his feet weren't enough to bounce off the hall like formation of storage units but were the only thing to fill his ears, until a distant but menacing rumble of stomps started to flow down the hall.

Slowing to another stop, Beck squinted his eyes hoping to make out the new blob of faded red he saw in the distance, though he already had an idea of what it was, reinforcements. His head slumped down in defeat.

It's probably better just to hide and think I ran off.

He turned around to the direction he was previously walking from, but froze in place when he saw five Black Guards had the rest of the passage blocked off. Gritting his teeth and letting the frustration simmer down, the Renegade decided he could still run off after taking the guards down in front of him. Without another thought, he bolted and punched the middle guard. His head was snapped to a highly displeasing angle as he flew a few feet back.

That was easier than expected.

The sound of discs being ignited didn't assist with Beck's satisfied mood. The adrenaline from his earlier fight still lingered in his next moves. Throwing his disc at the Black Guard to his right, causing him to back flip out of the way of it, Beck shot to the spot the trained soldier would land and kicked him in his center. The Black guard behind him had jumped out of the way of his ally and chased after the Renegade as he turned toward the other guards who had started to close in.

Beck could tell they weren't in the mood to take prisoners. Their slashes and swings were aimed to kill and nothing was held back. At full speed and power, Beck still found it easy to dodge and stop the attacks that came down on him. Dodging two attacks at once, he looked back to see that one of the discs had cut straight through their teammates wrist. The other disc fell to the ground with an audible clack and ringing noise as it rolled on its edge but stayed in the same place. Beck shook his head at the sight.

Can't even work together. What a joke.

Beck looked down the way and found the reinforcements were too close for him to run away. It was a pipe dream for him to think he could have taken out five Black Guards so quickly. Squeezing his disc that had returned to him right after he engaged the second guard. He was still acutely aware that Paige was still nearby. He made sure to keep the fear that she may have already been found and taken to Clu at the back of his mind, it wouldn't matter if he let himself get derezzed in the up coming battle.

Shutting out all thoughts of Paige, he let his mind focus on the problem to his front. Another large group of soldiers had come to fight the Renegade this time, only this time it was made of a majority of Black Guards with a few sentries sprinkled in. The orange of their circuit lines stained the slightly reflective surface of the storage units they stood next to. An ignition of a disc would constantly come for the sizable group as one by one they prepared to eliminate their most notorious enemy.

The fact that none of them had faces always made it a little easier for Beck. It made them seem less… Program and more… Clu. He raised his disc in an defensive stance. The hum of his disc sending a small amount of reassurance through his body.

Here goes…

For the Users,

For the Grid,

For the Programs,

For freedom!

AN: Alright so my confidence for writing fighting is zero. I'd love some constructive criticism on it, and tips would be appreciated. I hope you enjoyed.

-Rose's Requiem