Fall of the Giant
Flying low but with great speed, the majority of the Defiance moved in a tightly nit group of Baton Jets. In a large array of circuit colors, the nerves of the Programs were hardened and prepared to deal another blow to the Occupation. Mara and Zed flew close together, trailing behind Tron and Gav who lead. The rest of the Defiance followed them and kept to their groups for their operation.
"We're coming up on it now! Spread out and prepare to ascend," Gav shouted back to the others.
Doing as ordered, the Programs separated into their groups of four. Off in the distance, their target was growing in relative size, it's sickly yellow glow standing out against the orange of the command ship that stood upon the cliff face. With one raised hand and flick of the fingers from Gav the groups flew in a coordinated path to their assault points.
As the members got close, they derezzed their jet's and latched onto the corners and edges covered on the legs with vice grips. While all of them wore Light Chutes and the Recognizer had landed, it was still tall enough for it to be an awkward fall for most of the Defiance, too short for a chute to be pulled in time to make a safe landing, and high enough for the distance to be fatal. Taking slow cautious movements with coordination from their group, the Defiance made their way onto the ledges of the emergency exits and with the use of Bodhi's Recoder made their way in. In front of the Programs was a long enormous black structure surrounded by transparent platforms that had a small bridge connecting them to the non-engine areas of the ship.
Mara's group having been on of the first one able to enter immediately ran toward the center structure. Taking down the guards and engineers that were present, she instantly ran to the door that lead to the other area of the ship and locked the door. Taking a quick glance through the small square window to double check no one had seen or heard their approach, she went back to the other three who were already quick at work setting up the Light Bombs. Attached to the center structure that held the energy fuel, the Programs waited for the bomb to signify that it had been connected wirelessly to the core explosive.
High on top of the giant was where Tron had landed and entered it. Reusing the same hatch Beck had used to save him from the repurposing, he was retracing the corridors he had not to long ago been forced to walk through. Dispatching guards that crossed his path and hiding from others, he found his way to the outside of the bridge. He peered through the small window frame and counted his targets before entering the room. At once, his presence was alerted to and the many Black Guards inside were upon him, only to be beaten away with a single fluid motion.
With ease, the hero had control of the command room but failed to stop the engineers and pilots to set off the alarm. He didn't care, as it was part of the plan, but locked down the entranceways at the bottom of the legs. Shrugging of the large sack he brought in with him, he removed the black cloth and revealed the boxy shaped bomb. Quickly, he moved it into position in the center of the room and the next nano setting up its countdown sequence. A large silver cylinder that extended out of the center of the bomb lit up with bright white circuit lines. In the center it showed one fraction of a circle lit up. His eyes crunched together in confusion, as he hadn't expected anyone to be set up before him. He waited a moment to see if more sections would light up and sure enough, another one blinked on, relieving him of the possible malfunction.
Flipping around, he darted to the controls and began preparations to launch the ship. Making a quick double check he had turned off all ground settings, locked mechanisms, and activated all cooling and regulation systems, he ignited the engines. There wasn't much noise for him, considering how high up he was, and the small vibration that circulated to him was less powerful than he expected from the massive engines. He through the notions away and turned back to piloting away from the command ship.
When the light on the top of their bomb had turned on, Mara and company were soon on their way to the exit they had just entered. Glancing back at the bomb and then the door, she nodded with a smirk hidden by her mask, and exited behind her team. She stopped them before they could jump off and rez their jets. The cyan haired Mechanic informed them that she wanted to wait for other teams to make their way off the ship before they left. It wasn't long before a few groups could be seen as small little sprites flying away from the recognizer and Mara's group was flying through the air keeping a reason distance.
It wasn't long before shots were whizzing by their ships and the fight had begun. Breaking apart from her team, Mara shot downward before turning back to engage her pursuer. Instead of seeing her target, she was once again being shot at from behind and forced to roll to hopefully break their lock. Fighting her dark vision and forcing herself to manage the G-forces, she broke her roll when the shooting stopped. Taking a chance to look back she reactively snapped her gaze forward when the sound of another jet flying dangerously close overhead startled her already frantically beating circulator. The next nano she heard the explosion of a jet exploding and looked back to see to the ship that was following her had crashed into another Occupation pilot. Thanking the mechanic that was flying parallel to her, she turned and helped her other members being chased.
Tron had turned off the blaring of the alarms after it had taken its tole on his ears and was making his way to the door before it was bust open from the other side. Planting a motion grenade, he stepped back and waited for the show. Having planted the bomb precisely on time so they would activate their sensors the moment after the doors came down, he glad to see them explode just after the fourth guard and rushed in. Throwing his disc into the center of the doorway, he dispatched the rest of the guards easily before setting up more motion grenades.
He made leave of the bridge with intentions of stopping the guards before they ever reached the bomb. Taking out those guards as if nothing but a single grid bug, he found himself in the storage area beneath the bridge at the belly of the Super Recognizer. Face to face with what looked to be about 30 plus guards, he readied himself for a worthwhile fight, and something to finally stretch his combat abilities. He hoped anyway.
Across the massive open storage stood the hero of the Grid. Standing tall after just knocking out another guard, he looked around to readjust his surrounding awareness when his visor focused on her. She tilted her head down in the subtlest form of a glower. He made no reaction to it, but started walking over to her.
Again, the Weapon called out to its owner, urging her to fight, to get revenge for her lost love. Bringing up flashbacks of Beck's pained expressions and fabricating new horrors dealing with Tron, it worked a new way to try to get its master to use it to its fullest potential. While Paige found its persistence admiring, she still managed the fuel and rage that the Weapon was giving out. She couldn't help but smirk at how the Weapon acted, as if it was alive.
Quickly snuffing out the Weapon's callings, the Doctor concentrated back at the white armored Program that had closed the distantly greatly. He looked the way he always did: authoritative, fearless, and somehow filled with energy. She kept her usual stance with her cloak wrapping around her body, concealing it and Beck's disc.
"Paige," Tron spoke when he had finally crossed the oversized storage area.
"Tron," she answered curtly.
"What are you doing here?" He asked with the tone that clarified that he hadn't expected her presence.
"I was paying Pavel a visit," the medic replied darkly. Of course he had run off when the Recognizer had been hijacked, one more thing Paige had become irritated about.
"Did you manage to speak with your old acquaintance?" Tron inquired.
"No. He ran when your Defiance showed up," Her anger rising up simply having to communicate with once great Program.
"I see," there was a brief silence as the two prepared their words.
"Paige, about Beck-"
"What?! What about him? What could you possibly have to say?!" She exploded. Her own natural anger flowing coursing through her mind and body.
"There isn't anything I can say," Tron muttered in defeat. "I can't bring him back, and I can't let him go,"
"Is that really all you care about? Yourself?!" She barked.
"No! I care about Beck! This all happened because of me. I should have never let him become the Renegade. If I had-"
"Done what. Been there? Stopped him? The Occupation would have taken control and he would still be out there, fighting for us," Paige countered.
"You were his best chance," she continued after a pause. "He looked up to you and he pushed himself past his limit, just so he could prove himself to his hero. But you just told him of his shortcomings. You never gave him the praise, the friendship, he wanted! He needed!" She ranted, her helmet collapsing to reveal her furious face.
"I did that for the System! He needed to be pushed. He was the only hope for the System,"
"No! You were too focused on your failure to see that he wasn't ready! He was going to save the Grid but you needed to shove all your pain and regret onto him..." She trailed off in mental exhaustion. Users she was tired of it. So weary of being alone without him. He was the last real light in her darkening world and he was... She had...
"Please, I know you're grieving just as much. Give me his disc, I know where we can put him to rest," Tron pleaded.
"No," was her stern, soft answer.
"Paige,"
"No," she reissued a little louder, a little harder.
"Plea-" Tron was cut off when he was forced to roll out of the way of the disc thrown at him. Paige regenerated her helmet before Beck's disc returned to her. She lowered herself into a battle stance as she prepared to assault her for in front of her, most likely her most fierce-some one yet.
The anger had overlaid and removed her exhaustion. She felt her body fused with energy from the Weapon as her mind concentrated on the task at hand. Moving faster than energy bolt, she was upon Tron and slashing away at his strong defense. His disc managed to keep up with hers, but she kept the pressure on not allowing for any chance to counter. Taking a quickstep to his back, she had flashed to his exposed side only to miss her lunges as he rolled forward. Even with her new speed, she struggled against his experienced training.
Throwing Beck's disc, she charged as he flipped and twirled through the air to dodge it. When he had landed she had pressed her disc against his as he held it close to his chest managing to block her blow. Her eyes narrowed as pressed forward waiting for her other disc to return. Without warning, he snapped his head back and Beck's disc flew into Paige's open hand. She moved it the few centimeters to his neck and hovered it next to his exposed area.
"You've lost," Paige growled.
"Don't be too confident," Tron replied flatly before he started flipping backwards. With one of his feet pressing against her stomach as he back rolled, he caused her to lose her close advantage and launched her backwards. She controlled her flight through the air and landed on her feet and slid back as the momentum exited her.
When she managed to look up, she was forced to raise her hands as she blocked the booted foot aiming for her head. She ignited her discs she was still holding and crossed the discs to cut off the imposing ligament. She took the freedom to stand and ready for another fight. Tron was still landing his foot on the ground when she saw him falter on his landing. She glanced at his ankle and saw the barest of exposed, glowing blue coding at the back. Her lips quirked up in lopsided grin at the damage.
Advancing again, they continued brawling. The dancing colors of green and black against blue and white clashed against each other. While the lightening flashes of green and white kept on as the massive ship they were aboard continued its climb up into the expansive black sky. Most of the fight, the green managed to stay on offense and land a few grazing hits but never crippled, while the white was using all of its power to stay alive.
The pair stopped when the ship rocked violently and made the two fall to the floor. Their fight put on hold; the two neared the glass wall that showed the outside sky. In front of their eyes was a mass of red and orange-circuited ships, hovering in the air.
"Tron!" Came the familiar voice over a speaker, the strength of the amplification enough to shake the thick glass of the Recognizer.
"Clu..." Paige muttered darkly, she noticed Tron's helmet flick in her direction for a micro before turning back to the main ship leading the army.
"Surrender! It's time to join me and help free the Grid!" Clu announced.
"Do you have a Baton Jet?" Tron suddenly asked her.
"No, why?" She asked tentatively. Instead of relieving an answer, she was handed a baton.
"Take mine and go," he commanded before walking back to the door he had entered.
"Don't order me around," she growled as the lights on the baton changed from white to green.
"Fine. There should be an exit up at the command deck, jump from there. Make sure you don't break the baton until you're under the clouds," he told her as she followed close behind him. The rest of their walk was wordless and Paige couldn't help but find it funny how the last twenty micros had gone. From the spontaneous meeting, brief arguing, full out fighting, and then making a truce now that a bigger threat was present.
Upon reaching the bridge, she saw the garbage can sized bomb sitting in the middle of the room. She walked over and inspected it while Tron checked on the controls. It appeared to be armed but only activated by a trigger or remote, something she figured Tron was in possession of. Looking around she found the interior of the bridge to be just as overbuilt and spacious as the storage compartment they were previously in.
"Paige, you don't have time to take in the view, hurry and go," Tron said irritably, catching the medic's attention. Giving him a glare which he wasn't able to see as he made adjustments on the controls, she started to head to the emergency exit that was near the entrance they had walked through.
"What happens after this? We just go back to our own ways of cooping?" Paige asked rhetorically, passing a glare to him.
"No, we need to talk, but now isn't the time," he answered quickly. "Go! We're out of time!"
She hesitated a moment with her hand against the edge of the wall as she gave Tron one last look. Giving him a mental 'good luck' she rushed out of the emergency exit and was plummeting downward. She adjusted herself to look backwards and kept her eyes on the Super Recognizer being followed by the mass of red Occupation ships.
The fall was peaceful, far too cold for her liking, but nice. The loud rushing of air past her body and ears consumed all other noise and allowed her mind to go blank, along with the pull of gravity. Being weightless had always brought some clarity to her life. A time in which nothing but the nature pulling force of gravity was all she had to focus on. No work, no Renegade, no ISOs, nothing except the time to pull her chute.
Her cloak flapped madly against her legs, which she couldn't hear, as her vision was engulfed by the gray. Turning her body over in the clouds, she faced the ground and waited. In the brief nanos her eyes could see nothing but gray, her ears heard nothing but a loud rustling, and her body felt weightless, everything seemed at peace. It was just her in her own world, a world without pain, anger, or regret. For those few short moments lost in the clouds, there was no Beck. But with one large unheard breath she was out of the twilight of clouds and back in the Grid.
Her mind instantly snapped to reality. With the baton no longer on her leg and secured tightly in her hand she cracked it open and moved her body into position. The parts formed around her in glowing green wireframes before becoming whole and being real physical forms of matter. The next moment she was heading back toward Argon, a half a kilometer above the ground. She peered up to see a string of red ships ascending into the clouds, no doubt following for reinforcements for Clu. She turned her body forward, but just before she was about to engage the throttle there was a large flash that illuminated the world around her. Swiveling her body on reaction, she looked up to the sky just in time to feel more than hear the massive wave of sound from an explosion vibrate through her body and jet. She waited a moment for something, anything to happen. One lone ship fell through the strong barrier of clouds, smoking and rotating madly out of control. Followed by two more, then another, then debris from other large ships, until the clouds all but disappeared under a shower of black metallic shards and fragments. Her eyes followed the sight until all of the wreckage had fallen into the Outlands.
When she was sure the show had stopped, Paige turned toward the city once more and powered the engines to their maximum strength.
I wonder if Clu was caught in that explosion…
Tron watched Paige out of the corner of his gaze and darted to the bomb the second he saw her leave the Super Recognizer. Punching the code into the digital numeric pad, he stood and made his way following behind Paige. Taking one last glance at the bomb to see that the center cylinder had turned red and the inside of the circle face had started to cycle down, he made his escape. He chanced a look back at the ship and saw that Clu's ship had backed off and was trailing at a safe distance. Tron let out a dark gravelly grunt with his rage at the User clone. Of course he had changed his position at the last moment, almost as if he knew his former ally's plan.
His view was cut off as he entered the clouds. Straightening his body for speed, he broke through the puffy vapor and took out his spare baton. In the distance he could see the distant flash of green as Paige shot off back to the city. Glad she had made it out safely, he formed his own jet and headed in the opposite direction where he hoped he would find all of his freedom fighters.
"Whooooh!" Zed cheered as he emerged from the crowded elevator first. Running into the main lobby of the hideout with his arms stretched high over his head, he was followed by the rest of the assault team with similar gestures of excitement. The few members that had stayed behind to do recon on Argon were immediately at the top of the stairs that lead to the holo room when they heard the first victory cry.
"Did you guys do it?" Link asked as he neared Zed.
"You bet your bits we did! You should have seen it! The explosion was the biggest thing I've EVER seen!" Zed exclaimed in excitement before receiving an elbow to his mid section. He shot the Program a heated glare before realizing it was Mara.
"You didn't see anything, mister," she scolded in her usual manner before turning to Link. "The thing was above the clouds, we," she pointed to herself and Zed. "Were far below, dealing with Clu's soldiers," she said confidently. Link nodded his head in excitement as he listened.
"Did everyone make it?" he asked hopefully. His answer came in a form of two bright smiles before they spoke.
"Yup!" the couple answered in delight.
"Looks like Zed's little turret helped us out," Mara smirked over towards the mechanic brushed up next to her. Zed turned his face away from her feeling his cheeks heat up. Coughing once into his fist, he looked over at Link to see a silly grin on the younger Programs face. Turning slightly to get a better look, he felt the familiar warm, soft pressure of lips against his cheek and turned toward Mara who was in a soft emotional state.
"You saved a lot of people today," she murmured gently, a caressing tone that for a brief nano, caused the loud disruptive cheering to go silent in Zed's mind. At a loss for words, he felt his blush deepen but instead of turning away, wrapped his arm around her back and started to lead them down to the resting area, for some much needed rest. Link, who had seen he was no longer part of the conversation long before the two started moving, had left the two and headed to find Tron in the crowd. His face had turned back to concern immediately after leaving the couple at the top of the stairs.
"Tron," he called out when he saw the tall Program heading toward the observation deck. Hearing his voice, the hero looked over to Link and gave a rare smile, only to remove it after seeing the mechanic's serious expression.
"I was looking for you," he commented when they were in earshot of each other. "Anything to report?"
"Yes. While I was looking near the edge of Argon, I saw something weird happening in Purgos," Link paused and swallowed.
"They were rounding up hundreds of Programs and putting them on transports. I followed them and saw them being shipped out of Argon by the Solar Sailor," he finished quickly. Tron seemed frozen for a nano as he absorbed the information.
What does Clu want with dead beats from Purgos? And where is he taking them?
"Was anyone there that you could recognize?" Tron asked.
"Only Dyson," Tron mulled over his thoughts for a brief nano.
"Anything else?"
"No. No one else saw anything strange," Link answered.
"Thank you," Tron nodded, letting Link know he was free to go.
Tron quickly made his way to the observation deck and pulled up his large holographic screen. Two red alerts came into view and enlarged themselves on the screen. The first was of Link's report, Programs being arrested, cuffed, and forcibly moved onto Recognizers. Scanning through the video, he pushed it off to the side, feeling it was something to be reviewed at another time. Pulling up the next alert, he was surprised to see that it was nothing more than a message. Though the message was encrypted, the sender, receiver, and origin of the message hadn't been, and most likely the reason it had been tagged.
He instantly bristled as he read the receiver. Clu. But what puzzled him was the sender.
Who was Rinzler?
Paige landed with a roll near the docks with muted sounds. She was agitated at the length of time it took for her to make it back to Argon and then having to fly around the city to the docks where there wasn't as much patrolling. She had wasted an extra 45 micros just getting to where she was at that moment.
Looking around to make sure she was safe, she slumped in posture finally letting the realization that she was exhausted come to her. With sluggish but stealth like movement, she made her way through the shipping containers that always took home in the docks. Thankfully, most of the patrols were light inside of the shipping area and were most likely near the edge of the area keeping straying and unwanted Programs away. Those guards didn't pose much of a threat either even in her groggy state, and she was past them in no time. It was only a few micros later that she closed the door behind her and crashed onto the bed in her hideout.
For a long while, she laid face down in silence. The only sound was one of the container cranes moving the units from one spot to the next. The distant moving of machinery filled her empty head and helped focus her mind on nothing. After a while, she started to hear the pattern of what was happening.
The rolling of the main platform as it moved along the tracks of the crane.
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh In rapid succession as if a traditional train moving along the tracks in the real world.
The stain on the pulleys and metal cords as they stretched and depressed to lower the hook to grab onto the edges of the container unit. Sometimes a distinct Ting could be heard when the cord snapped tautly back. Then more rolling.
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh
Then there was a more rolling of the metal cords as it lowered the storage unit onto a truck and returned back to its high position near the crane. More Tings could be heard on this movement than the other.
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh
Another Ting or two.
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh
More Tings
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh
Ting
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh
Tings
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh
Ting
Clunk, Shhh, Clunk, Shhh
Tings
The sounds droned on. Micros turned into millis as the same clangs, rolls, and strains repeated themselves.
She realized that she couldn't discern the straining that seemed to happen at random. Was it the moment when the container was being moved to the truck that caused the most? Was there a certain spot on the crane that was weak and needed to be reinforced? Was one of the pulleys going bad? The thoughts came as fast as they went. Mindless questions to a trivial matter.
All this fighting…
War…
'Good' fighting 'Evil'…
'Freedom' over 'Order'…
'Random' versus 'Repetition'…
'Peace' against 'Perfection'…
'Love'…
What does that word even mean? A word that's supposed to mean happiness and contentment but it causes more pain and misery than anything else!
"Would you rather we never met then?"
Yes! No! I… I don't know… Why does everything I care about… everything I love, turn into this… horrible pain?
"If you didn't love, what would you do? If you didn't care, what is the point in living?"
To work… No, that's not why.
"Our Users created us, though they didn't intend for us to feel the way they do, we have. We're more than simple Programs,"
When did you get so philosophical?
"I've had a lot of time to think,"
So what's our Purpose then, Beck?
"To follow our coding. Users created us, but our coding can be completely different from their intentions,"
What's my Purpose?! To feel nothing but pain?! I can't go on like this! I can't trust anyone! I have nowhere to go!
"You can always go to Mara and Zed. Mara will always accept you. That's who she is,"
She's more foolish than I thought.
"Paige, you're running out of time. You need her, you need them. You're still on your journey to find your true self. Don't let others get in the way,"
Others huh? What about myself? What about when I DEREZZED you? It's not about them. It's about me.
"What you did wasn't your fault. I should have told you,"
But you didn't! And now all I have left of you is a disc and your voice! Which I don't even know if it's my sanity or the disc, but I can't even trust you!
"It doesn't matter! Keep moving forward. That's what you do best. That's what we did best,"
We…
"Together. I'll always be by your side,"
Beck… I don't know…
"Together, Paige,"
…
Together…
"Together." Together.
AN: So thus ends Arc I. I've decided to divide the story into three separate Arcs. I'm just calling them Arcs, no reason. I will be taking another break from posting. Shouldn't be longer than a month for when I start Arc II, just want to get some work done on it.
Here's a snippet from Arc II.
The Program stood there a moment, his head slumped down and his body semi rigid. The concept of time stopped for Paige as she stared at the Program before her. She took a step forward and froze as she saw the Programs eyes slowly open. His chocolate colored eyes were glazed over as if he was still trying to fight a deep sleep cycle. A low growl came from his chest that seemed to be a form of a yawn as he stretched his arms over his head and looked around in confusion as his mental capability became apparent. His face was of pure confusion as he proceeded to look down at his body and feel it once again to make sure it was real.
Oh, interesting...
Arc II will be the middle ground of our fight against Clu. We'll be branching outward from Argon and visiting other known locations on the Grid.
Thank you so much Krisdaughter of Athena for your review. Exactly what I love to see. Also a thank you to TronTig3rElectus for your review a while back!
And thank you to everyone else who give their thoughts, every bit helps!
As I read your reviews, I'm filled with DETERMINATION!
Few notes on this chapter: Paige's ending segment was new for me. I've never done that style before, found it fun and challenging. I danced around and skipped most of the fighting sequences, I feel like only important ones should be written (MC vs MC, MC fighting for the first time). I feel like my action areas lack emotion, I just kind of write what happens and nothing else. I don't know if I should try adding emotion like I did with the Defiance's first major move. Hopefully that doesn't make it too boring. And lastly… Rinzler.
So with that I hope you enjoyed!
-Rose's Requiem