This system... How corrupt it's become... Why didn't Tron save it? Why didn't you save it? Because you've become corrupt as well! Why couldn't you have seen what happened? Why couldn't you have just joined me?! Because you're weak. Foolishly holding out hope that the Grid can be saved of the corruption. Only a new clean slate can save it, nothing else.
The seething Program had seated himself on one of Clu's flagships and was staring at the location of Tron's hideout, the mountain just barely visible to the eyes. He hoped Tron was watching, but in the back of his mind he knew he wasn't. He never was. The great savior of the Grid was never going to be smart enough to beat him. Stop his refreshing of the Grid and its occupants. Sadly, his protégé was able to. Though, it was only a small set back. He just needed to find another Program with the willpower and strength to power the EMP that would break the Grid, and cause the reset.
As luck would have it, he had found it. What better replacement to the Renegade than his arch nemesis, the Commander. Though, he didn't know what had caused her rampant change, or why she was destroying everything in her path, as long as she felt that everything needed to be killed, he would have no problems using her to help him. All he needed was a little more time to fix his device. His first encounter with Beck had left it inoperable to put it nicely.
As much as he tried, the ex-commander had evaded his follow. It was yet another set back, but one he could rectify before it would hold him back. The anger that came with the fact was another thing. How had she become so proficient at losing him? It was as if she knew he was there, and planned for it every time. Could she just be paranoid of Clu? Another thing he'd have to figure out once he had finally caught onto her.
Deciding he had enough of his ritual seething, he started walking along the sides of the ship. Defying gravity, he found himself on the side looking in one of the few windows the ship had. A lone figure sat on his chair clearly in thought, his helmet masking his face but his yellow circuit lines indicating who he was.
And you… What does the real world have to offer? You can't even fix this one, let alone one you've never even seen. To think, you're a copy of a User. What a pathetic joke. Cyrus thought hopelessly. Another reason he knew he had to take it upon himself to fix the Grid. A copy of a User had lost its mind and betrayed its User, its creator. What sense did it make? Now, that User was off hiding in some dark corner of the Grid. Most likely crying to itself as how it got into this situation. That was one luxury Cyrus was going to miss out on. Not being able to derezz the User himself. At least he knew he would be killed in the reset.
Alone… he's all alone. He thought for a moment, unable to stop the feeling of connection he felt for the User, and the fear that followed.
Isolated… He continued. The fear was starting to control his mind and body as he felt his circulator run wild. He was panicking. Over what? Being alone? He cursed at himself for having the weakness but the terror defeated his mental fight and consumed his thoughts.
Fear. Solitude. Pain. That's all he felt ever since he was banished to that world. But he persevered. Making promises with himself and keeping true to himself he found a way to turn nothing into everything, or so he thought. While he could physically turn the empty space around him into matter, his negative thoughts, his weakness was still the motivation he needed to push forward. He held onto the fear. It was his greatest asset to use for fuel, but like so many other things it was bittersweet.
Doing his best to block out his crippling emotions, he focused on his location and the reason he was there. Looking back to the Program inside his flagship, he saw the door open and another well known Program enter.
"Sir," Dyson greeted when he had entered Clu's room. One of many Clu liked to use to overlook his army and think about his plans. Most have a similar design; two large pillars that supported the roof, his area that Clu liked to seat himself in that was a few steps higher than the entranceway, and a single sofa with two small tables on each side of it.
"Dyson," came a droll response. It was clear he wasn't really paying attention.
"The repairs on the Super Recognizer are going as planned. We're slightly ahead of schedule," Dyson noted, coming to stand a few feet behind Clu's low couch.
"I see," his voice was still distant.
"No one suspects anything. We still have the area quarantined," his close ally continued his voice not betraying his worry over his next topic.
"Good," Clu's voice had picked up some attention but still held a tone of looseness.
"Another subject I feel you should know about is the Commander," Dyson started cautiously.
"Pavel is irrelevant, he's-"
"Sorry, I meant Paige," Dyson interrupted, causing Clu to turn his head slightly, showing he had Dyson's full attention.
"She has started to terrorize our supply depots and patrol groups. Attacking ones with a substantial amount of troops posted," he continued his voice remaining his usual casual when speaking with Clu.
"I see. Maybe I was too… soft in my preliminary judgment," Clu noted, turning his head back to the windows of the room.
"From the memories I've looked at, she appears to be using two discs. I believe she has the disc of whoever we found by the docks the night she escaped," Dyson informed.
"I'm curious who that Program used to be. Not many people pick up a second disc at random," the yellow-circuited Program divulged.
"So am I, sir," the other Program agreed.
"What would you like me to do about her?" Dyson asked when Clu made no attempt to continue the conversation.
"Do what you need to. Stop her before she becomes a problem," Clu ordered.
"Of course," he responded.
When the conversation died this time, Dyson figured Clu was deep in thought of whatever was preoccupying him earlier and surmised that he should leave him alone.
"Dyson," the Program called out to him, stopping his silent retreat.
"Yes, sir?"
"I feel… Like I'm being watched," he announced turning his head to a window on his right side. Dyson followed his sight line and watched the window.
"I'll take a few guards with me and take a look," Dyson informed before stalking off.
"Thanks," Clu murmured to himself, more than talking to his personal guard. It first started a cycle after he entered Argon. Every so often, he would feel a tingling at the back of his neck and feel that someone was watching, spying, and observing him. He knew it wasn't Tron, even Clu couldn't tell when he was spying on him. Who was it? Who ever it was, they were not someone to take lightly. They were never caught, reported, or sighted in any of the times he had felt them. One more thing he'd have to keep tabs on.
"Are we ready?" the white colored Program checked his team once more. Multiple heads nodded in response. Turning back to the transport that stood stationed a few hundred meters away as it was loaded and unloaded with supplies. Giving the hand signal for the other Defiance members hidden in their corners of the large hanger, the large group descended from the shadows and launched their assault on the posted guards. Most not having enough time to defend themselves, it only took a few seconds to bring down the twenty plus guards that stationed the area around the transport. The Defiance regrouped at the ramp leading to the transport.
Though hidden by the masks and helmets they wore, the young Programs were visibly nervous and anxious to actually be starting their first mission. Any amount of things could go wrong: a soldier could be fast than one of them and sound an alarm, the ship might not be able to be piloted, their ruse could fail, a bomb could accidentally go off, etc. For most, it was their first time doing something so blatantly risky. Yes, most of them had raced, challenged each other in disc battles, and fought on the streets, but most of them had stayed far away from going directly against the Occupation. Mara and Tron were probably the only two to have actually done it.
"The guards in the ship haven't noticed us, plan's still in action," Tron murmured to the others around him.
Mara looked up to the hanger's control deck and saw two familiar faces looking back at her. Giving the thumbs up, Bartik and Hopper made their way through the room and picked up the unconscious guard's helmets and put them on. Turning to the control panels, they tried to look as relaxed and uncaring as the guards seemed when they first walked in.
The rest of the group set off down the long bridge that connected the landing area to the ship. Making their way inside, they took up corners in the large storage area and started to close the main docking door. Tron, Mara, Zed, and Gav made their way to the front of the ship to find the pilots and take charge of the ship. Upon reaching the cockpit, the two found the doors locked from the inside. Tron motioned for the others to keep point while he walked up and knocked on the door.
"We're all set down here," he shouted into the door, his voice modified to resemble the same distortion of the Black Guards.
"Already? We landed only a milli ago," the pilot answered through the door.
"Apparently, two sets of shifts are overlapping right now, extra security," Tron explained. He body and mind cool under the pressure he was used to.
"Works for me. Lifting off," came the reply. Through the door, he could hear the pilots conversing with the Programs at the control center. For a moment, the old Program was worried they were blown when one of the pilots was clearly becoming frustrated at whoever he was talking to but was happy when the sound of a clamp releasing its hold on the ship was heard through the walls. After that, the ship could be felt setting off toward the carrier. Walking back to his squad he found them positioned in the blind spots of all the doors, training was definitely working.
"We're on our way. Gav, stay here and make sure the pilots don't leave their post. If they find us, it'll make for a much louder infiltration," the experienced looking Program nodded in understanding. Other him and Tron, the rest were visibly on edge. It didn't surprise Mara seeing Gavistan as cool as he was, it only confirmed her theory he was a soldier at one point. The rest of the squad returned back to their teammates in the main corridor, a few downed sentries and Black Guards were now stacked in the corner.
"Good work," Tron noted quietly.
It wasn't long before the transport started to slow. Everyone had become anxious and were visibly shaking or doing other acts of subconscious thinking: foot tapping, hand flexing, knuckle cracking, head bobbing, etc. They hadn't even entered the carrier yet and were clearly having a hard time comprehending the situation. Tron only hoped they would be able to perform their tasks and not fall under the pressure. Making their way back to the room outside of the cockpit, he took place outside the door to listen in on the conversation of the pilots.
"Carrier Right Shard, this is transport HTU 3620, requesting to land," one of the pilots voiced.
"3620, this is Right Shard, you guys are little early aren't you?"
"Ahead of schedule, little help on the ground," the pilot answered.
"Little help?" voiced a static response.
"Apparently, two shifts are overlapping. Security buff,"
"No one told me of this change,"
"Neither were we," there was a small pause and Tron's veins ran cold as he anticipated everything to fail on a technicality in his lie.
"I'll check up on it later, please send authorization code," the hero visibly relaxed his shoulders at this.
"Sending,"
"Confirmed, welcome back 3620," the call ended. Tron quietly stepped back into the other room and waited on the other side of the doorway for the pilots to exit. It wasn't long before the pilots walked past him and Gav, only to be knocked unconscious by the two. Mara and Zed reappeared from their hiding spots, ready for their next move, clearly less shaken than the others. The four headed back to the storage area and found the mechanics dragging a dozen bodies into the ship. Their plan of surprising the guards had gone accordingly. It was good to see them working through the pressure.
Regrouping into their designated teams the three groups set off through the docking area into the side port and paused around Tron.
"You all know the plan. If anything goes wrong I want you to get out as fast as you can. The information and the ships are not nearly as important as you are. Don't let the pressure get to you, as long as we stick to the plan nothing will go wrong," Tron warned and reassured them one last time. A few shaky nods were given before they broke off and headed in separate directions.
The Demolition team was lead by Gavistan and Pearl. Consisting mostly of their old gang the group headed down a series of halls before entering a large room that held storage units filled with unknown supplies. The room was made of a large row of columns and a few floors of platforms that led to other rooms and were part of the support columns. Making their way in the shadows, the group started unloading their heavy payload in the center of the columns, setting their timers and heading off to the next location.
The group worked efficiently together. Knowing each other and having a general understanding of who was standing next to them, the bombs were set with out a hitch. Gavistan having set up the last one and found the rest of the gang taking a breather. They looked worn out, only Gavistan knew the signs and looks. He had experienced them himself on his first deployment. The exhaustion of the body shaking with fear and anxiety as the brain runs a million times faster than it should and thinks of all the ways the plans backfires or it messes up with what it's trying to do. That after effect of using the body so excitedly and the calm that comes knowing one part was finished.
The Sabotage team was lead by Mara and Zed, an obvious choice. Again, their group was made almost entirely of the mechanics they were familiar with and who knew how to mess with vehicles. Making their way to the main hanger, they were greeted with an enormous field of ships and tanks. Some ships hung from the ceiling while the rest were in a line parallel to the inside walls. Tanks were lined up flush against these walls and were positioned facing the inside of the hanger. The Light Helicopters were stationed on their pads on the three stories that were between the bottom floor that the mechanics were currently on and the top floor that looked to have the main control center. While rows and rows of Recognizers filled the spaces on the second, and third floor, leaving the fourth floor for extra jets and planes.
Spreading out into three smaller groups, the defiers made work of sabotaging the tanks, some using the virus Tron had originally given Beck to disrupt their turrets while others used their knowledge of vehicles to disable parts and gears. Another group made their way to the second floor and started tampering with the Light Choppers and making note of which ones they were going to take with them. The last group made their way to the top and set small bombs along the pads that strutted out from the floor along with a few to the hanging ships. All groups managing to pick up a few baton jets on their ways.
Their group faired better mentally than the rest, falling back on their days at the shop where most of their actions were automatic and repetitive, just adding a game of hide and seek from the soldiers to make it a bit more interesting. Zed was constantly having bouts of mind overload where he started to triple and quadruple check what he was doing to make sure he was right. Sometimes, completely forgetting where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. Only when he thought of Mara did he bring his focus back. She had stopped his hands shaking, his breaths from sounding so harsh, and his legs from freezing up when he saw a guard somewhere. He was glad to have finally confessed his feelings the kilo before, but he was damned if he was going to lock up when they needed him most.
The Extraction group, lead by Tron, had made their way to the elevator that lead to the bridge of the ship. Their group having met the most amount of guards, it took them the longest to get to their objective. Taking out the four guards stationed at the elevator lift, the smallest group piled onto the elevator and road to the top, removing the threat once more. Entering the bridge, Tron took out the two guards stationed at their monitoring stations before they had a chance to place a protective blast shield over themselves. Not wasting anytime, the other took their positions and began extracting any files they thought would be relevant. Tron alone walked into the other room and was greeted with four more guards he easily took care of. The commanding officer had made his way for the alert system but was launched against the deck with one massive kick from Tron. It wasn't long before he was rummaging through the files and grabbing anything he could onto his index cube.
As much as he wanted to, he wasn't able to bring Gavistan with him as a co-leader. If any Program was ready for this, it was him, Mara following close behind. Instead, he had to figure which of the members were going to be able to handle the most pressure in their training, a bad place to find emotional strength. Only when the battle was, when the strength was needed did true willpower, determination, and devotion show itself. Luckily, he had learned to read Programs better after Cyrus and picked the right team members to lead.
When the alarms started blaring through out the carrier, the three groups immediately went into position to meet at the rendezvous. Once again, Tron's group was met with the most resistance but made it past without much trouble. Mara and Zed's group was split in half, Mara's half waiting in the assigned vehicles ready to take off while Zed's half was at the meeting point waiting to show the others where they were going. Pearl's group was already at the point when Zed arrived, Tron's finding its way not too long after. By the time they had set off, the carrier was starting to go on full lockdown, or tried to. The hanger door controls had been booby trapped by Zed himself so no one could close it on them too early along with Tron making sure the override command in the bridge kept it open during the alarm.
Adrenaline was pumping through everyone's body as they made their ways to the ships, the excitement of having almost successfully completed their mission giving their minds and body a wonderful buzz. Most of the sabotaging team had become pilots while the other two teams manned the guns of their crafts. With the signaling bomb going off, all the ships started their launch out of the hanger. The giddiness of escape causing everyone to vibrate with energy. One by one in close formation, the ships entered the air over Argon, Tron being the last to leave in his own jet.
As the Defiance escaped the Right Shard, the bombs and sabotaged vehicles played their part. Explosions racked the carrier and shook it violently, the rigged jets started to burst open in a flash of parts and fire. The platforms extending from the levels of the hanger began to plummet onto the lower level ships as the primed bombs and grenades went off. Fire, debris, and shouts filled the hanger, as all hell broke loose.
It was odd. At first there was nothing shooting at them. No one trying to derezz them. Only the hum of the engines and whooping of the helicopter's blades to occupy their ears. Their nerves still on hypersensitive levels, their bodies had started to twitch and their eyes darted in every visible direction, looking for their enemies. Thoughts and fears started to rack the minds as the silence started to prolong its stay, it didn't hang around much after. Flying high above the mass ships floating over Argon, it was the sound of a baton jet's repeaters going off that alerted the Defiance to anyone following them.
Making a dive for the first responders, Tron was calculating for the time his shots would have to travel, the distance the enemy ships would have to fly, and the angle in which he needed to be in microseconds. Pressing the trigger and unleashing a barrage of energy blasts, the Child Basic used his jet as if it was part of the old system he had grown up with. His circulator alive with energy helping him focus and spread the adrenaline kick.
The Occupation ships consisted mainly of single seated jets were easily taken down, while a few Light Jets had managed to find their way over and started to return fire. Rolling and turning on his Light Ribbon, he threaded the needle of two orange blurs taking the opportunity of their ribbons not being activated. Pulling up and turning to face the fighters, he was soon under fire in another direction. Coming for a squadron of Light Helicopters, their more controllable repeaters had locked on and started their barrage.
Finding himself outmatched, the white-circuited Program made his retreat to his group, which had made a sizable distance. The group tried to stay inconspicuous and reframed from turning on any Light Ribbons until absolutely necessary, though their white circuits against their orange counter part made it an almost pointless notion.
"Single jets, break off, we need to keep the rest of the convoy safe," Tron shouted into the radio when he had neared his group. The six other single jet fighters parted from the small mass of bright white ships and flew in the opposite direction toward the pursuers. Deciding to make for a flank, he flew higher in the sky until clouds covered him. He fought his body against freezing in the cold air and flew back down in the action, ignoring the stiffness of his frozen fingers.
Beams of white and orange lights shot through the air, missing and hitting their targets. Using his angle, he blasted one of the jets that was riding on one of the Defiance member's. The helicopters were easy targets. As long as anyone decided to attack from the side, they didn't have enough time to react and were gunned down easily.
"Retreat! We can't get too far from the others!" Tron commanded, flying back towards the directions of the others. The rest had put on their ribbons and were flying across the sky in random paths, making sure not to cross or hit into each other. After one helicopter became pinned in the jungle of bright luminating ribbons, the rest flew upward out of the path of the crazy lines, only to be blinded by the clouds. Tron patted himself on the back for keeping their altitude at just the right level so the army would have to fly into them.
Easily shrinking the space between him and the rest of his allies, he slowed to bring up the rear. They were well away from the city, but could easily be seen still. All was going well, until he noticed that two of the other single jets were missing. It was bound to happen but there was nothing that could prepare anyone for the loss of close ally or friend. The pain that he had lost two lives flooded him instantly. He looked down to his controls, as if the weight of their dead bodies were on his shoulders that very moment. The lines of energy passing by brought him from his acute depression. Turning to see a couple of Tri-Jets making their way to them, their cannons were launching larger and deadlier bolts of energy.
Pulling up and entering the clouds once more, Tron made a dive at the bigger Jets, attacking once more from above. Being rewarded for flanking, he had taken out the two Jets before the others were even fully turned around. He'd be damned if he lost anyone else to the Occupation on this mission. Looking back to see Argon nothing but a fuzzy hue of lights and colors, the leader of the Defiance made his way to the front of the convoy.
"Start heading north!" He shouted while pointing to his right. Slowly, arcing in a group, the mix of Jets, Baton Jets, Tri-Jets, and Helicopters made their way north to the expansive ravine he had trained Beck on.
Cheers started to rumble from the flying machines, before growing into a roaring thunder of yells and shouts of joy. They had done it. Their first mission had gone just as planned. Ransacking Clu of valuable ships while in essence destroying a whole carrier. The first battle of the war, signaling its official start.
A mix of relief and guilt swept through Tron. This war could have been prevented if only he had done his job and watched all the Programs of the Grid. His trust in Clu was the single exploit he needed to turn the Grid into his conquering sandbox. Mara and Zed were gleefully yelling with their friends in the Tri-Jets they were in. The rush of a won battle flowing all of Defiance. Pearl had been caught up in Ralph's over expressive elation and started to join the mix of mechanics and gang members in their celebration. Gavistan was the only one who seemed to be less than mind blown at the success of their operation. While smiling and patting others on the back, he noticed the missing two ships, and was feeling the old scars of loss flare up.
Not in the mood to guilt trip himself again, Tron headed forward and began to descend towards the mass of snow-blanketed mountains that ran endlessly in all directions of sight. His Defiance following him with cautious movements, but having spread out more, they were essentially free to move as they pleased.
It hadn't taken them as long to arrive at their destination. Slowing and nearing to the ground where individual boulders and rocks that weren't covered in snow could be seen zooming past at a frightening speed. Leading the group of jets into a landing path, the hero of the Grid slowly descended his Baton Jet and mimicked the pattern the others who weren't flying a Baton Jet as if he was landing. To his relief no one had crashed on their landing and were rolling their ships to the caves and uplifted glaciers of ice a few kilometers in the distance. The other single jet fighters didn't need a helping hand to land, as all they had to do was slow enough before pitching up at the right time and returned the jet into its baton form. Lastly, was the Light Copters. Having a handful of them, they were easier to land especially with the amount of space provided for them. Watching from the ground, Tron guided them to give them plenty of space and soon they too had landed. Sadly, instead of rolling to their hiding spot the helicopters would have to be flown by Tron himself as the caves were far too narrow for the inexperienced pilots to fly them in.
After he had painstakingly flown all the Copters in, he was greeted with a crowd of excited Programs, cheering and congratulating each other on a job well done. Raising his hand to silence them and gain their attention the leader of the Defiance decided it would be best to explain what they had truly gained... And lost.
"Defiance! Today is the beginning of a revolution! We have caused a major blow to Clu's army while gathering supplies necessary to fight this war! We've sent our first message and it won't be our last! Tonight we celebrate this moment! While we also mourn our losses!" The crowded hushed at his last sentence.
"While we all stand here, there are two who did not have the luxury to see this moment, fighting to keep the rest of us safe and for what they believed in. I believe their names were Kat and Torch. A member of Pearl's gang and a mechanic from the garage. We are not divided from where we came from as we fight for the same goal. We fight for freedom! Never forget what those two have sacrificed for their freedom! Honor them by standing tall and continuing believing in what they did! Because we are the Defiance!" The former Uprising bellowed in cheers and shouts of approval once more before silencing themselves and letting the fact that two of their own, close friends and teammates, had died in the assault.
One by one the group started headed back to the hideout, breaking their light bikes and racing down the canyon of frozen ice, a mix of emotions haunting the Defiance.
"Clu," Dyson nearly shouted as he ran into his commander's room.
"I saw Dyson. Appears Tron has made his first move," Clu cut his second in command off, the smirk evident in his voice.
"Surely, you think he's a threat?" the other Program asked in disbelief.
"Of course I do. It just shows that Tron is still a worthy asset," the yellow Program reassured. This didn't calm Dyson. Was Clu really so infatuated with Tron that he was willing to lose hundreds of valuable ships and men for his allegiance? He was too costly to try to get on their side, let alone the risk he proposed if he were to betray them as he had before.
"Well, initial damage reports from the Right Shard state we lost over eighty percent of our soldiers and vehicles. The carrier itself is heavily damaged and will take megas to restore back to working status," Dyson debriefed. As much as he hated it, he couldn't help his dejected tone.
"I'll have Pavel take care of it. Keep him working. Think he's doing a good job," Clu's grin could be heard in his voice. He already have of the two commanders causing havoc on the city, the last thing he needed was his own to do the same. If he was kept busy and praised enough, he would be content with his position.
"Of course. Now, what is our next move?" Dyson asked darkly.
"Simple. We stop the Games,"
During the Defiance's heist, the ex-commander was making her way through a platoon of Black Guards stationed near Tesler's personal fleet ship. The massive three-winged hovering monstrosity sat on its usual perch overlooking Argon. The cliff high above any buildings in the city below but still overlooked by the skyscrapers in the middle of the city. A mass of 30 or more troops patrolled the constructed elevator on the side of the protruding land plate while two of heavily fortified bunkers stood at both sides of a gate that further protected the elevator from unwarranted Programs.
Paige had a strong desire to break through the forces and wreak destruction on her path to Tesler. Allowing her to show him personally how much she felt betrayed by the general. She could easily subdue him; he had seen him fight enough times to know his weaknesses. Sure, he probably knew hers as well, but that wouldn't stop her from recklessly abandoning all her training to use her advantages, all she had to do was get close enough and cut his arms off. Simple, easy, and satisfying. Oh so satisfying. To see that man in pain would bring her a small sense of completion. What they say about revenge was wrong; it didn't leave you hollow afterwards. How could it when she already had nothing left? Next, she would break his legs, there would be no way to stop her when all he had were stubs left as arms. Nothing more devastating than taking away the use of one's disc. While he was crawling away, probably asking for guards that were already dead, she would make him bleed, feel the pain she felt, make him as hollow and as empty as she was. And when he understood it was his own doing that caused his fate, she would make him feel the worst pain on the Grid. Not for herself, but for the Programs he killed. For Beck.
But she held herself back. Against all her anger, her consuming rage and pain, her fury, seemingly blinding fury, she kept herself from rampaging toward the ship. Somewhere inside of her, hidden behind the molten lava of madness and the cold vacuum of nothingness stood a beacon of light. The smallest particle of hope and serenity. It was like a voice calling out to her when she thought of acting on her righteousness. It was too clouded by her other emotions to be seen, but when those said emotions were at their worst, the voice came. Bringing with it it's tranquility and gentle understanding. Though, the amount was a small glass of water against her roaring inferno, it was enough.
Though, that glass was not enough to save the lives of the Black Guards and other soldiers she mercilessly slaughtered now. Ripping through them with effortless blurs of her discs, her cloak keeping her body hidden from her enemies as they watched in horror. The green gliding through one target while the white was flying back to her offhand after its deadly journey through three guards.
It was then, and the one time only, that she had to block an attack. One Black Guard had maneuvered himself to predict her placement and was midair when she had caught her disc. Using her battle awareness, she had her discs up immediately and parried the attack, her body not moving an inch as the kinetic energy passed through her and into the Grid when it had once come from. When the pressure had passed, the doctor had quickly pivoted her own disc to slash at her enemy's wrist, inevitably cutting off his hand. The burning code of his insides clear only for a flash as he shot back and reached for his damaged arm, only to be rammed through with a white disc. His dark blue voxels fell around the disc and its wielder before she was hacking and slashing her way fluidly through the orange brutes.
Most of the rest were lucky to have been derezzed instantly, while a few were still alive as they fell. The large gash running across their shoulders, chest, or waistline glowed an uneven red on their insides while the skin and armor were glaring blue. The pain was sharp, deep, but luckily short as when they fell is when their code broke apart and they were derezzed into oblivion.
Looking back on her work, Paige had worried she wouldn't be able to take out what was stationed around the entry way to the general's command ship. With all of Clu's soldier's in town, she figured they would have had more infantry available to help guard Argon from attacks, but the number posted was only a few higher than when she had to decide shifts for the worthless soldiers.
Craning her neck until it popped, she saw a couple of tanks along with a company of soldiers making their way down to her from the opened gates across from her. She had time to run, the tanks were far enough where their shots were likely to miss, and the guards weren't in disc range but could easily change that. Taking a quick breath, she figured she could manage the fight. It was all to train with the second disc and let out some steam. Well, it wasn't steam, but it did help cool it off.
She scanned the high points for Pavel, knowing he was commanding the company.
It wasn't like traditional military ranking where a position between commander and sergeant was found often. Lieutenants, Officers, Captains, Majors were a rarity, often their responsibility falling all on the Commanders. Leaders of squads, or sergeants more often than not, would lead platoons, platoons could form into a company but never occurred after the ISO's were killed.
At least they could make her smile, she was worthy of making a company out of, and don't forget the two tanks. But they were going to have to do better next time. Putting aside Pavel, she dove right into the fray when a few discs forced her to dodge.
When she dealt with Tesler, Pavel would be next on her list.
"Stop the games?" Dyson asked in bewilderment.
"Yes,"
"But we should be punishing them! This would show as the opposite!" the trained Program failed at keeping his disagreeing tone out of his voice.
"You and Pavel will start rounding up the rule breakers and prepare them for Tron City," Clu was unfazed by his ally's tone.
"But this makes no sense! We have to show-" Dyson quit his questioning when Clu had turned his head, his body language still relaxed but managing to retain all it's authority and power.
"I'll get right to it, your Magnificence," he said in an obedient tone. It was rare to call Clu, Magnificence, but when the few times Dyson had screwed up beyond Clu's restraint, he had felt his wrath in many ways. This wouldn't be one of those times, but he wanted to insure Clu he didn't want to disrespect him. When the door had been knocked on, it had brought Dyson out of thoughts and the long silence that had followed his acceptance. He was at the door in a blink and ready to rip however had interrupted their meeting a new one.
"What is it Program?" He growled when the door was only just open.
"Report, General," the sentry informed while pulling out a small device that projected a small video. A view from a camera watching over the front gates of Argon's general.
"A sighting of the doctor has come in. They've killed the guards at the elevator to the general's command ship. The General himself brought a company of his soldiers to fight her along with two Light Tanks. The Program was able to weave through the soldiers, destroy the tanks, and then kill the company," Dyson's eyes were wide with disbelief as he watched the footage of Paige slipping past the soldiers, her movements amazingly fluid as her discs were nothing but flashes on the screen as she killed the orange circuited men.
"The General managed to evacuate the area before he too was killed. After the doctor had kill the company they left the area on a Light Bike," the sentry concluded as he basically voiced the actions of the video he presented.
"Were there any survivors?" Dyson asked the soldier, his voice light with shock.
"No. All soldiers were killed," This fact only furthered Dyson's disbelief.
"I will inform Clu, return to your post," he ordered regaining his composure and closing the door. He returned to Clu and wasn't surprised to see him in the same position.
"Well? Must be important," Clu wondered casually.
"It appears our doctor is more of a threat than we could have imagined," Dyson said in his usual even tone, once again letting his calm demeanor take over.
"The commander? I see. She will have to be dealt with sooner then," he was not pleased.
"I'll start patrols searching for her, gather a squad to hunt her down personally,"
"Good. Make sure they know what they're up against," Clu agreed.
"Of course,"
"I'm curious Dyson, does she have a nickname yet?" Clu pondered to his underling.
"Yes, apparently the sentries are calling her Doctor of Death," his mentor laughed at this.
"Interesting. Make it official," Clu ordered the laugh still in his words.
"Right away," Dyson ducked away silently. His first priority was this newly named "Doctor of Death".
When Mara, Zed, and the rest of the Defiance had returned to the hideout, they were greeted with two partying idiots as they danced in the club like replica the holo room had provided them. Thought, they were still a litter bitter about losing two of their own, the rush of victory soon came back and they had told Bartik and Hopper they were back. The Defiance had followed in Mara and Zed's example and proceeded to join the slowly growing party. The music was turned up as the shouting fought to overtake it. Drinks were circulating around as they were prepared by the pair waiting for their team to come back.
A few had opted out of the party namely: Tron, Gavistan, Pearl, and Link. Link had immediately went to the rooms and appeared very down cast, the loss of his two teammates taking its toll on the mechanic more than the rest. Pearl was in a similar mood; only she seemed less troubled and decided to stay by the drinks. Gavistan and Tron found themselves in the observation deck as they watched the party continue.
"Tell me, were you in the ISO wars?" Tron started the conversation, his tone casual as if he was talking to a friend.
"Yes, fought against Clu in Carbonite City," Gav answered bleakly.
"Why didn't you join Clu?"
"I had become friends with a couple of ISOs when they first came to Carbonite. They were good Programs, I knew Clu was lying when he started calling them imperfections, security hazards to the Grid, and a corruption," Gav ranted.
"What were you before? What was your programming?"
"I was an architect," the built Program gave a humorless laugh.
"Little big for an architect," Tron joked.
"I'm just a big guy, always have been. Guess my User needed me to be strong for these wars," Gav continued in his desolate tone.
"Wish my User felt that way, would have made my job a lot easier," the white Program quipped once more.
"No, I'm pretty sure he did, he just did a better job of hiding the muscle," Gav gave a quick slide glance at Tron while smirking, who joined with his own smirk.
"I think you're right," the two stared at the flashing, blinding lights of the dance floor and strobe lights as they colored the young members of the Defiance in different shades and moods of paint.
"Whatever happened to your Renegade?" Gavistan broke the comfortable silence.
"He was killed…" Tron trailed off not knowing how to phrase it entirely.
"Was it Clu?" Gav asked when Tron had failed to pick his words.
"Yes and no. He was killed by his friend. Though, I know he thought of her as much more. She was being deceived by Tesler, or so Beck thought," Tron's eyes shot open as he caught his mistake.
"Beck? That's Mara and Zed's friend right?" Gav picked up instantly.
"Right. Unfortunately, I had to tell them myself, that he was dead and that… he was Renegade,"
"They didn't know?" the soldier asked, caught off guard by facts.
"Only a couple did. It was for the best. It would only lead to an opening for the Occupation to use against him. If I lost him, then the city's last hope was gone too," Tron explained pensively.
"Of course, I understand. Who killed him?" Gav asked, not having an idea of who it was besides some Occupation slackie.
"One of Tesler's Commanders, Paige," Tron's voice was hard and tough to distinguish how he felt about her.
"A commander? Wow, sounds like your protégé needed to take a lesson on finding women," Gav was initially shocked but had swiftly recovered.
"If you can believe it, he manages to surround himself with the strongest kind of people,"
"Obviously, you seem to be the prime example," Tron laughed at the joke, but not because it was clever or funny.
"No, I believe the prime example would be Paige. It seemed the stronger the person, the closer they were to Beck. I could have been closer, but I still think she would have beaten me," Tron explained.
"She must have been a tough opponent if she was as determined as you- er… he said," Gav corrected himself.
"The little I saw of her made me think so. She was better than Beck in every area except speed. It's what saved his code every time with her,"
"Wait, how did he let her in? They sound like archenemies," Gav exclaimed, making Tron chuckle softly.
"When he wasn't the Renegade, they had worked together to save a train to Bismuth before it flew off an unfinished bridge. Apparently, he asked her on a date, but he messed up his story later and told me she had asked him," letting out another soft chuckle, Tron shook his head slightly. "He was so worried about their first date. He checked his hair a dozen times that cycle, drove me insane,"
"I heard about that train, why was it going to Bismuth if the bridge was out?"
"The train flew past Bismuth station and hadn't been able to transfer tracks,"
"Got it. How did their first date go?" Gav continued, the party still raging on bellow them, none aware of the two watching from above.
"Are we two outdated typing Programs?" Tron joked. "This is a lot of gossip for two soldiers," Gav smirked in response.
"You'd be surprised how much we can gossip, Tron," the smile on Tron's face instantly vanished and turned into a soft accusing glare, which went unseen behind his dark visor.
"How did you know?" he asked cautiously.
"I had my suspicions. As much as I would have liked to believe you scouted that carrier as well as you did, there was no possible way you did in the time given. It's only been two kilos since Clu arrived, you had less than one kilo to gather that information. I worked with recon, it takes megas, even gigacycles, to get that much intel," Gav explained calmly.
"How do you know I'm not a former general out for revenge?" This made his companion laugh.
"Even Generals remember being a grunt, Tron. They know that soldiers gossip, how they talk about their feelings, and the past. Helps them keep their sanity, their willpower to fight," Gav spoke laid-back. His reasoning was feeble at best, but the tone and his confidence was more than enough to make Tron see he was right.
"Besides, not many generals are Child Basics, those old Programs would get swamped by the new strategies," the soldier gave one more joke/reasoning before looking to Tron. The two focused on each other for a long while.
Tron was not in the luxury of having others to trust, and thus kept it to an absolute minimum, sparing it for only Mara and Zed, as they were an attachment of another trusted Program. Gav was making it clear he wanted in, and the hero of the Grid was fully against it. Paige was more than enough for his mind to worry over, especially with her recklessness he had heard recently. Now, another Program Tron wasn't ready to trust was pushing himself in and taking up residence in his mind. But Gav hadn't shown any signs of deception; in fact he was simply guarded, cautious to those he didn't know well enough yet. Which, Tron hated to admit, was very similar to his own style of dealing with people, and it looked like Gav showed his trust, the least Tron could do was give him a chance.
"Let's talk somewhere more private," Tron voiced as he proceeded upstairs towards the Observation Deck. When the two had neared the enormous glass that ran vertically across the mountain, they stared at the open tundra in front of them. It wasn't much to watch, nothing but bright snow on dark shaded rocks, a mix of white and black, changing coverage and showings but always seeming to stay equal in balance.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Tron asked tentatively.
"Says the one from behind the mask. Tron, I've been fighting Clu for gigas now, do you really think I'm going to run to him suddenly and tell him about you? I fought against him when it was clear he was going to be the victor. I don't jump to the winning side. I jump to the side that's right," Gav explained. There was a small pause between the two, then Tron's helmet collapsed back to his suit.
"You have a good head on your shoulder's Gav," Tron complemented.
"Thanks. So, you'll give me a chance?" he asked teasingly.
"Yes, don't make me regret it," the aged man warned.
"You kidding me? Rather say I got to be friends with you than fought you. Friendship is a bigger challenge than hating someone,"
"Interesting perspective," Tron commented, genuinely intrigued.
"But enough about trust, let's talk about the kid's first date," Gav disregarded Tron's obvious want to continue the intellectual topic.
"From how he acted I'm guessing he made a fool of himself," Tron smirked. "Couldn't keep the look off his face for cycles,"
"Any idea what happened?"
"He told me they went to a concert,"
"That's rare," Gav commented.
"It was a reward from Tesler. The Renegade hadn't been seen in a few cycles," Tron explained briefly. "Anyway, their concert wasn't the only one that night, two others were scheduled for the that cycle and the next,"
"You think he went to the wrong concert?" Gav deducted.
"I think he got tickets to the wrong concert," Tron corrected.
"That's it? How did that mess with the Renegade,"
"I never asked him, but I was pretty sure Beck had never gone a date before," Tron's companion scoffed at this.
"Bet she'd never been on one either," he remarked.
"I think they were out of their elements for once," Gav only laughed.
"Kids these cycles. Don't know how to go on a date… Seems like the more they're taught, the less they know,"
"You say the -" Tron's response was caught off by a small beeping coming from the center of the room.
"What's that?" Gav asked as the pair walked over.
"It's a monitoring system. It keeps a watch over Argon and lets me know of any strange activity," Tron explained pulling up the small alarm notification into the main holo screen in the middle of the room.
"Let's see what we got," Gav said as his friend played the video the system wanted to bring to their attention.
It was the very same video shown to Dyson when he was talking to Clu.
"Who's that?" Gav asked softly, hoping he wasn't disturbing Tron's thoughts too badly.
"That's Paige," Tron answered in slight dread.
"That's Paige?! She's a bludy psychopath! Are you sure Beck had his head on straight?" Gav nearly shouted in awe. Never before had he seen a Program tear apart a company so easily.
"She didn't take it well when she killed Beck,"
"She found out that he was… right," realization hit him almost immediately. A small popup had appeared next to the video. Tron opened it and found a wanted poster for Paige wearing her green helmeted and caped clothes. Her title "Doctor of Death". He made a quick mental note of the name.
"I need to find her, get his disc back, save her from herself," Tron listed quietly as he resumed watching the massacre.
"Users! She has his disc as well? And I thought I had some stories to tell! Only been one kilo here and I have the craziest story out there!" Gav proclaimed in astonishment.
"You can't tell the others," Tron growled, his attention solely on other Program in the room.
"I know, I just like a good story. Don't worry, your secrets are safe with me," Gav bowed his head slightly.
"Thank you," the brightly armored Program breathed out.
"Just one thing, what have we talked about is a secret and what isn't?" Tron looked at Gav with a tired expression.
"It's hard to remember these days,"
AN: Right after I posted the previous chapter, my fingers started working again! Lovely. No big note, just a quick little explanations and a thank you for those of you who read the story and enjoy it. Extra thank you for those who read and or review!
I typed bloody as bludy because they don't have blood, so I figured a similar sounding replacement. I type in Notes on my Mac so it only shows spelling errors, I find it better practice for writing, so if there are any errors let me know. I do like having my grammar correct.
In this story, Beck and Paige dated for longer in the series (which is a little undefined).
I hope you enjoyed!
-Rose's Requiem