Here is the next chapter, completely written on my iPhone yet again while eating lunch somewhere, lol. Seem to get most of my ideas while eating lately. 0_o

Chapter Two

Safehouse

Outside Safehouse, the Outlands

The Outlands were a dangerous and barren wasteland where no Program could survive for very long on it's own. There were many ways a derezz could happen to a wandering Basic. Infection and re-resolution into a Grid Bug, energy starvation, or simply taking a wrong step off a sheer face cliff. But for a User it was much different. A User could survive out there so long as he could digitize himself whatever he needed.

Energy would be easy to come by.

Shelter could be easily made.

And the Grid Bugs? Not a worry. Sure they could hurt a User, but that was all they could do. That didn't mean Kevin Flynn was willing to deal with one regardless. So as soon as a tiny green, luminescent one began to approach him, he tossed a digitized rock at it to send it scurrying on it's way back into the darkness of the Outlands.

Returning his attention back to his home for the last thousand cycles, Flynn watched as the Recognizer settled at the cliff base of the Safehouse and lower it's cockpit to the jagged surface. Two sentries and a red highlighted figure stepped out and entered the equivalent of a garage. He knew why they were here and what they were looking for and knew he could not stay around for very much longer. The Black Guard would only find evidence that he had been there in the form of an empty Safehouse and nothing else. If they followed their protocols they would fan out and search the immediate area for any sign of him and again they would find nothing, not even a single trace of the path he could have taken.

He intended to be long gone before that though, but his curiosity was the only thing keeping him from leaving now while they made their way into his home. A few microcycles later he caught a glimpse of the crimson figure and watched as the Program stepped out onto the balcony and scan the horizon, obviously searching for his quarry but seeing nothing in the darkness of the wasteland. Flynn was glad he had taken the precaution of deactivating the lighting on his clothing. Out here it would have been a dead give away.

He wondered which of the many lieutenant programs that Clu had under his command, the crimson figure was and wondered if it was now in charge of the System with Clu gone or if it was Clu himself. He knew Clu could not create new programs, only re-purpose existing ones and Flynn would not put it past the corrupt Program to re-purpose another for a new body. It was a matter of backing up his Disk and overwriting the code of the old program with his own, something akin to a Grid Bug.

A virus.

So was this Clu or one of his lieutenants? It did not look or behave like Clu though.

"Kevin Flynn! We know you are here and we will find you! Clu has all the cycles in the Grid to wait!" called the crimson Program. When he received no answer, not surprising, he spun on his heel and returned to searching the Safehouse. The Creator knew now was the time to move on and keep as much distance between himself and Clu's minions.

At least he now knew that the figure was not Clu.

Safehouse, the Outlands

The User was not here.

In fact there was nothing remaining of the man's furnishings and keepsakes that the files had described having been here. All that remained were the barren white walls and lights that made up the structure.

"He had been expecting us," concluded Risk out loud as he slowly walked around the empty living quarters of the Creator. "The only question now is how much of a head start does he have?"

He had tried to see if he could spot a distant light in the Outlands against the backdrop of the darkness, signifying the location of the User but there had been only the darkness and the distant lights of Tron City. There had been no sign of the User and if the man had a good start on them there was the chance that he could have made it as far as the city itself by now.

With nothing else remaining to investigate here, Risk hurried past the sentries in the room and headed for the elevator; the sentries quickly falling into step around him and riding the illuminated elevator back down. They returned to the Recognizer in silence and the lieutenant gave orders for the pilot to head for the Gateway.

Had he taken that moment to look through the transparent flooring, he would have noticed a small shadow amongst the rocks as the Recognizer flew overhead. It's own lighting providing enough illumination to the reveal things hidden in the darkness of the Outlands. But he had not and the hidden shadow went unnoticed by the Programs as they headed for the remains of the Gateway and User Portal.

Outside Safehouse, the Outlands

Kevin watched as the Recognizer flew overhead and he huddled closer to the stone outcropping in order to avoid being seen by the Programs on board. But when the machine continued on without pausing or landing, he let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding. It had been close, too close. He had expected the sentries to start searching the surrounding area instead of just boarding the Recognizer and leaving.

"Guess they figured you were long gone, Flynn," he spoke to himself and watched as the patrol ship shrank into a distant orange speck on the horizon. He noted they were heading toward the Gateway Portal over the Sea of Simulation and suspected that Clu, the new Clu, was trying to piece together what had happened his predecessor. Assuming, of course, he was right about the Program creating a backup disk of himself and uploading it into a new body.

He'll be busy for a while then. Flynn stood from his hiding place, dusted off pixels of dust from his leggings and reached down for the light staff he had stolen from a guard aboard the Rectifier before heading back here. He wished he had been at the Portal, had escaped with his son and Quorra but knew that so long as the Grid existed there was a chance that the threat it contained could break out.

That Clu could break out.

He could not let that happen. He could not let the mad program reach his world and reshape it into what he saw as the perfect system. This was his creation and he intended to take responsibility for it, and if that meant for him to continue a lonely vigil over it for the rest of his life, then he was resigned to that fate.

Thinking back on the moment he made the decision not to escape with Sam and Quorra, he realized he had another regret besides his little war with Clu never being over. He regretted making the decision not to escape. What is done is done, dwelling on past decisions will not change the past nor the future.

The Creator shook his head and started to make the long trek to relocate to somewhere else in the Outlands to live. His old home was no longer secure and it would have been unwise on his part to stay, even if Clu believed he no longer lived there.

Next chapter will reveal how Flynn survived, though I'm certain by now you've figured it out on your own. If not, well things will be cleared up soon.