After the sparring Mara and Zed were more than worn out. Having gave it their all and pressing themselves to their limits the two now leaned on each other as they headed back upstairs to the main entrance.
It seemed they weren't the only ones to have pushed themselves. Most of the mechanics in front of them looked exhausted. Slumped over, still breathing harshly, and sweat visible on their exposed skin.
Link especially looked dead on his feet. Mara had noticed his change in character and was worried that he was going to kill himself. Seeing him as tired and drained now only helped solidify her small fear.
Bartik and Hopper had also worked up quite a sweat but looked to still have some energy. They walked close to each other but didn't need to support each other like the new couple.
Their leader stood on a platform that raised him a few feet from the ground. The new Programs Mara wanted to meet were gathered around him. Most of them looked quite calm but they were rigid in posture, no doubt from Tron's more than harsh tone and attitude. Mara counted twelve of the new characters, most of which she thought she'd seen at the club at one point or another. It was always good to see familiar faces.
"Defiance, allow these Programs to introduce themselves to you as new comrades," Tron started evenly. His arms were crossed behind his back, as he stood with his feet apart in his usual stance. Turning his head to indicate to the first Program to start.
"Boxer," the Program shouted. The next one to speak was the one to his left.
"Leam,"
"Nexos,"
"Palk,"
And thus how the introduction went. It was just names, nothing about them, where they were from, why there were here, nothing. Mara figured Tron let those things up to the Defiance to find out. As much as she loved him for saving the Grid all those gigacycles ago he never failed to irritate and frustrated her. Why couldn't he be a little more caring? Had Beck heard her thoughts he would have told her that she hadn't experienced Tron on a bad cycle.
Everyone was mingling and getting to know each other. Pearl, Ralph, and Gav gravitated back to their original group and were on the receiving end of most of the questions. While Mara had regained some of energy to satisfy her own curiosity and friendly introduction, her partner was still reluctant to meet new people he didn't see any immediate connection with, especially when he was low on juice.
"Yeah, hi," he mumbled after Ralph gave him and over excited handshake. The man was apparently over joyed to have new friends.
"Mara," he whispered when he had slide his way to her side. If he didn't know any better he'd think the new guys had taken liking to her.
"What's up Zed?" she asked back, not realizing he wanted to be a little subtler.
"We'll have all cycle tomorrow to get to know these guys, why don't we get some rest?" he tried to not sound like he was begging for her to say yes. Which in fact he was.
"You just don't want to meet new people," she teased back into his ear. Well, something's never change apparently, and he was glad she still knew that.
"Guilty as charged," he returned with a smug grin.
"Fine, we'll go. But you're talking to someone these guys tomorrow," she told him while starting to exit the crowd of guys, waving back to them.
"The things I do for," he murmured jokingly.
"This is for your own good. You'll need to know who you're fighting with,"
"I know, I know. Just want to stop with the training and get to the real deal!" he exclaimed quietly so only she could hear.
"We will. I'm sure Tron will have us do something soon," his blue haired companion reassured, while intertwining their fingers.
The two walked back into the holo room and headed straight for the section that had permanently become an area for the team's beds, washrooms, and other necessities. Neither of the two aware of the Program who had watched them the entire time, and satisfaction he felt when he saw them join hands.
Finally. Now I can focus without them bogging me down.
It was bigger than she thought it'd be. Looking around, Paige found the little hideout to be more than she expected from the two lacking mechanics she had working for her at one point. Was she happy of using Bartik or Hopper to help her try and catch the Renegade? Not in the slightest. When they had called her saying they had a full proof plan to get rid of the Renegade she had expected something from them. But just her luck, when she got to the garage she was presented with a device that blew up on itself, and it wasn't even their work. It was another mechanic's idea. Coincidentally, it was Beck's friend, Zed. Supposedly, the turret would shoot a targeting blast at a Light Ribbon, return to the source and blow it up. If it had worked, Paige would have made it an official attachment to any Occupation bike. The destructive force was almost unaccountable as almost every Program had a Light Bike and everyone who tried to escape an arrest would most likely turn on their Light Ribbon. It was a genius idea.
Shaking her head and turning her thoughts to the present, the cloaked medic made her way to the end of the small warehouse and found a few beds, a connection to the energy source, a few storage units with light bikes in them, and a couple batons. It was a perfect little hideout, and she had to give the morons credit for having it. Though, she couldn't figure out why the two would need it. They'd never have the brains or guts to have a need to hide from someone.
Placing her two belongings in one of the storage areas, she proceeded to make herself comfortable on one of the beds. She had a long day planned for tomorrow, 'planned' being a poor word choice. It was going to be long nevertheless.
The next cycle had come sooner than Zed hoped, along with his meeting with the new Programs. But as usual, Mara was right, it was for his own good. And when it was said and done, he had to admit they weren't as bad as he thought they'd be, especially since they were from the same gang that gave him and Mara so much trouble.
It wasn't until later in the cycle that Tron had come to them and announced he was going to have them perform their first mission. Zed was relieved to finally have something to do other than training. But what were they going to do? Tron hadn't told them what they were going to do but he said in the morning tomorrow he would and that they should get some rest. Of course, Zed was far too excited to finally get some action and had a hard time sleeping. Luckily, he managed to calm himself down and let his tired body get some rest.
"Programs, it's time to make our first move against Clu. As you should all be aware of by now, Clu's army is flying over Argon looking for us and will stop at nothing to find and derezz and us. He's brought a lot of firepower and resources with him to get this objective done. Our first mission as the Defiance, sabotage these resources and steal them for ourselves," the room was silent as the masked Tron lectured. It was clear that it wasn't only Zed ready to get into the action.
"During your own training I've been going out and doing recon on the army's movements. Soon, you'll be doing this on your own and bringing back information for your fellow Defiers," picking up a small device, Tron pressed a button and in front of the Defiance projected by the holo room was video footage and still images of a large vessel in the middle of other support ships high above Argon.
"This is one of the many carriers Clu has brought to Argon for us. This one is the smallest and has the least amount of security, but as you can tell it is still massive in size. It houses dozens of Light Helicopters, Light Planes, Tri-Jets, bombers, tanks, and other less destructive vehicles," images of each vehicle appeared in front of the crowd as Tron raddled them off.
"We will be going in at the end of the cycle, aboard a hijacked transport ship. This transport ship heads from a side entrance to a touch down near the edge of Purgos,"
"Our mission will be infiltration, demolition, and extraction of valuable resources. There will be three teams. All three teams will enter in the same passage but will split off and do separate objectives," the screen showed a digital version of the carrier, zooming into a side entrance to it where the teams would enter.
"Demolition team, you're job is obvious, plant bombs in structural weak points of the carrier, and retrieve any Light Jets you can find," the carrier had highlighted paths blinking areas were bombs were supposed to be planted.
"Extraction team, you're job is to make way with any valuable information from the command deck as you can. I will be leading this group as it is the most dangerous part of our mission," the three dimensional projection now highlighted the path they would take to the command center in a different color as the demo team's paths.
"Last, Sabotage team. You're job is a mix of two things, sabotage any vehicles you deem fit, while at the same time stealing a certain variety of equipment and vehicles," the projection now showed a route through to the most exposed area of the carrier and showed the team simply staying in one spot.
"Once the Demolition and Extraction team have finished their objective they will rendezvous with the Sabotage team and escape with the stolen vehicles," the three teams were shown flying out the hanger.
"This is the hard part. Instead of returning to this hideout we will have to fly to Bismuth to throw Clu off our trail," this was met with some gasps of surprise.
"Wouldn't it be safer to head over the Sea? We would be covered by the fog if we went in the morning," Hopper suggested.
"There are two reasons we can't do that. One, the transport ship only returns to the carrier at night. Sadly, we have no other way to get onto a floating vessel until we complete this mission. Two, as much as the fog would help us stay hidden from any pursuers none of you are trained well enough to fly in that fog without crashing into each other,"
"Right, sorry," Hopper deflated. His friend clapped a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. Also receiving a few smiles from those around him to show he had a good idea, just not the best.
"We'll be stealing multiple Tri-Jets for the sake of this mission alone. Their forward and backward cannons make for great defense and offense, not to mention they can take quite a beating. Those pilots have the job of protecting the Light Helicopters we'll make it out with. Sadly, we won't be taking any planes. They're too big for us to store and we have no use for them besides taking tanks, which would take us too much time and likely get us derezzed. Most of Demo and Extract team will be in single fighter Light Jets to help with the defense.
"When we're far enough from the city and aren't being followed we will head north for about twenty kilometers before heading back to the outpost. Lastly, and unfortunately the hardest part, landing. While you are all inexperienced, the only place to land is the ridge a ways off. There the Sea is frozen and flat for kilometers, but it's still unformatted and the Tri-Jets will have trouble landing. Once all pilots have landed safely we will store the vehicles in caves and underpasses naturally made.
"Once we make it back to the hideout, we'll completed our first strike against Clu," there was a small pause before cheering erupted from Defiance. Tron let them have their fun for a while before having to let them down once more. Raising his hands to show he needed the attention once more, he waited until everyone had gone silent.
"This operation will take place in five cycles. I know you're all eager to get out and start the fight, but for this specific mission you all need extensive training. It'll be useful down the road as well, so it's best you learn it now," to his surprise Tron wasn't met with sighs of disapproval and it seemed that young Programs understood the gravity of the situation.
"Alright. I'll start by naming off those for the teams. Next you will all do flying training. After that I will sort you into pilot positions,"
It was going to be a hard few cycles but with the promise of action, the freedom fighters were willing to push themselves. This was their first mission, their first true fight against Clu. They were going to show him they were a force to reckon with.
The past couple of cycles had been hard on everyone, especially Tron. He hadn't been able to get a good night's rest ever since Beck's death and often stayed up replaying training sessions he had with him in his private room on the upper story of the hideout. He'd been careful to not let Mara or Zed see, knowing if they saw him awake in the middle of the night it would only worry them. The last thing the Defiance needed was a sign of weakness from their leader.
But why couldn't he sleep? He'd seen Flynn get thrown into exile, the destruction and genocide of the ISOs, the loss of his teammates, friends, and love. He was the only one left in his own life. Why did he keep going? Because the Grid needed to be saved again. That was easy to see. But why did one Program he had barely come to know stop his sleeping? When Cyrus had turned insane, he was able to manage. When Able had confronted him about pushing and using Beck, he felt troubled but managed. When Yori was reported missing… he managed… Was Beck right about him? That he truly didn't care about anyone beside himself? Was his programming to keep guard and watch of the Grid so great that he couldn't even have true friends? Only Flynn would know.
Tron wondered what Beck thought of him, the opinions he didn't vocalize. If he had his disc still would he have searched through his memories and found out? Invading the thoughts of a dead man. What right did he have? Then he realized something. He never had Beck's disc in the first place. Paige had it! Tron thought about that fact for a while, pondering where she could be and what she could be doing with it? Was she entering his mind? Seeing what he thought? Obviously, she didn't turn it in. Otherwise Clu would have come straight to the hideout and taken Tron to be reprogrammed. Then one last thought occurred to him. Did she have the right to look into his memories? Yes, she did. Even though they were enemies, he trusted her in a way Tron would never have the luxury of receiving. In time, he would have surely revealed himself to her, most likely ending the Uprising but relieving him of the mounting stress of lying to her. At least she had broken his heart before that happened.
What was it about Paige that Beck was so familiar and comfortable with? Tron figured it was something in his coding, something new that even the savior of the Grid didn't have nor could he even comprehend. Putting aside his curiosity, he felt his body relax more and his eyelids closing. He knew he had a new objective, other than saving the Grid. He had to get Beck's disc back and put it to rest along with the others.
Users, maybe he'd be able to see Lux and Bodhi once it was done. With that thought, the greatest Program fell into a peaceful slumber, filled with dreams of a young Program talking and enjoying himself with two others.
"Sir, it appears to be another attack from the Renegade's rebellion," Pavel stated the obvious, looking at the derezzed bodies of a group of sentries guarding a stationed off energy building, one of the many the Occupation owned and kept to themselves.
"Yes, I can see that Pavel," Dyson said obviously annoyed. He motioned his hand to signal the Black Guards to check out the storage units. The lead guard entered his code, causing the doors to open. Containers and canisters filled the room in a mass of destroyed heaps of metal and spoiled energy spilling out all over the floors.
"What is this?" Dyson walked by the Black Guards went to the center of the room.
"Who could have done this?" Pavel inquired with his usual ear bleeding voice.
Dyson ignored the underling as he picked up one of the Sentry's disc and proceeded to run through the last stored memories.
-disc memory-
"Hey, do you know when we get to hang out with some of Clu's guards?" the guard who's memory was being accessed said to another program.
"Users if I know, I heard that 31 was stationed with a few of them by Argon Square,"
"Yeah?"
"Apparently, they're really tough at first,"
"Tough?"
"You know follow orders to the pixel, but 31 got through to them apparently. Guess they're just like us,"
"Hmm, so why are they-" Footsteps could be heard around the corner of the barrier that was only a few feet in front of them.
"Halt! Who's there?"
Both guards entered their stances with their staffs at the ready. A Program with a long drape covering most of their body came around the corner. Their footsteps were that of hardened boots.
"Halt Program! This is a restricted area!"
The Program proceeded to walk towards the Sentries.
"This is your last-" The other Sentry never finished his sentence as a disc exploded his chest. His body collapsed into a pile of voxels and spilled around the area where he used to stand.
The rest of the guards covering the other entrances came to assist the remaining guard. The assaulting Program snatched the disc from the air as it returned to them. Still ignited, the Program threw the disc towards the sentries and charged forward. The sound of the Program's boots clashing with the Grid was the only sound as the sentries dodged the flying blade and readied themselves for the new threat.
"75, get around the Renegade and close off the gates," one of the sentries commanded to another.
While the one named 75 ran around to the gate, the six remaining guards surrounded the masked Program as they once again caught their disc.
"Prepare to be derezzed, Renegade," one guard growled out. The rebelling Program didn't respond verbally just simply looked over to the guard and stared him down. The guard gripped his staff tighter causing his gloves to make a noise as they tighten around the pole. He became nervous, as the Program didn't seem to be nervous but simple calm, calm and powerful. Their stance was firm and undeniably trained, evidence of a well-seasoned fighter.
The cloaked body made the first move, throwing their disc at the sentry they were starring down. He easily moved out of the way but lost sight of his opponent as he did. When he turned back to his enemy, he had no time to escape a melee attack with a second disc. As the second disc went through his helmet and before any guard to register what was happening, the taunting sentry's head was split vertically in half. His body fell back and exploded into a pile of voxels.
The other sentries stood shocked as they took in the scene that took only a second. The other Program returned their second disc to their dock under their cloak as they caught their first disc on its path back to them.
-disc memory-
Dyson stopped the memory. Understanding the necessary information of what happened, he handed the disc to Pavel.
"Bring this with you, extract any information from the memory and then destroy the disc," Dyson ordered. Pavel bowed instantly.
"Of course, sir!"
Dyson continued walking back to the idle Recognizer they had arrived in earlier. His thoughts were racing over the Program he saw. While on the outside he held his cool exterior on the inside he felt three simultaneous ideas double checking themselves.
1. The Program he just witnessed was a massive threat to the Grid. How would he go about stopping her from attacking other facilities and warehouses?
2. How much of the Occupation's secrets and information have been linked to the Defiance? Surely, she had joined forces with them and was now aiding in their fight against perfection, as Clu said she had.
3. What would he tell Clu? He specifically handed off the job to handle her and now she was going around killing guards. Instead of listening to Clu and leaving her be, he put her on the wanted list, sent patrols looking for her, and wasted valuable time when he could have been rebuilding the Super Recognizer.
None of his thoughts helped the phantom pain that had started to grow where his eye used to be. It had come on when he first came to Argon and faced Tron. Now, it was a blaring throb as it pulsed with every beat of his circulator.
Damn Program… I'll find her and derezz her myself.
Deep in the shadows of the alleys a Program watched the event of the sentries who guarded the energy storage facility. His malice and discontent not evident in his posture but in his wicked grin as he studied the Program take down her opponents without remorse. Her skill with a disc that is not her own and the obvious restraint she puts on herself so she doesn't win the fight too fast.
Interesting…
The Program stays until the very end the assault and notes all the technics, strengths, and abilities that the feral Program has. Her incredible speed and nimbleness make her deadly with precision and stealth, while still having strength in her swings and kicks to cause considerable damage without a disc. She was a force to reckon with, A new player and piece on the battlefield and in the chess game that was the Grid.
He let out a small chuckle before slipping back into the void of darkness, no one ever aware of the oddly circuited Program.
Grid… Soon you'll be free to have control once more…
AN (Big again): Just a little chapter to hold you guys over. A little early, but I fear I may take a little while to finish the next one as I can't really get it to go.
I just wanted to say thank you, for those who are reviewing, it means a lot and honestly makes me write a little faster. The feed back on Mara and Zed really got to my heart, I seem to write deep emotional romance scenes so I'm glad it went over well. Because this story is at a point where that romance is kinda not possible to talk about I've been writing other things to keep my sanity, sadly I write 3k at least on those stories a day just because it comes so naturally to me. War, strategy, and keeping tabs are my weak point. And I put myself in this situation so might as well practice and make myself better at it.
One small note I keep forgetting to mention. My time usage of cycles is technically wrong via canon. In the movie, Flynn relates the time convergence of the Grid and real world. It was too much math for me to really care (not that I'm bad at math). So I used time like this, go to Wikipedia and go to the prefixes, I just search micro. There's a table that shows what all the prefixes are. So giga is a year, mega is a month, kilo is a week, cycle is a day, deci is an hour, etc. I saw that in another fan fic (which I can't find again, sorry whoever you are! I love your idea!).
I don't know if this is even read, so I'll just say whatever I want. So Star Wars is right around the corner and I keep hearing talk about Luke and what's the story behind him. Lot of people are talking about if he's dark or light sided. My theory is, he went through the hardest of tests and temptations in the original trilogy, what in the world could make him turn dark? Mara Jade dying and his offspring turning dark? Not even. I think he's still light, primarily because of one little thing. R2-D2. He's never hung out with the dark side before. He left when Anakin when there and stuck with the Rebels through the war. I bet Luke is just going to take up Yoda's place. A master, but hidden away on a planet.
So, once again, I'd like to thank those for reading and putting your thoughts in the reviews! I hope you enjoy!
-Rose's Requiem