Wow, I finally got the time to put some order in my files and update this. I had the most exhausting, yet one of the funniest and nicest months of my life, with school ending, prom, a really nice show all Senior classes had to participate in (I had to learn street dance moves and my class was the best if I do say so myself). All in all, I did get the time to write, in fact I have a lot of the story already done, but the final exams are coming and I have to focus on those since my college admissions are based on the grades I get in these 3 exams. Romanian literature, Math and Programming are the big trio, and if I get good grades I'm off to Computer Science.

Anyway, here's the next chapter, I figured that a former Enforcer and a purring feline wouldn't get along too well.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Please enjoy and review!

Emily POV

"Em, I have a question," Tron started as I was messing around in the room we shared, trying to put some order to the endless chaos in which I kept my things.

Of course Tron's stuff was organized with precision, almost to the point of seeming OCD. His half of the room was always clean, with everything into place while mine was a mess of clothes, make-up and books that usually ended into a pile on the floor, earning me a stern look and a reprimand from the Monitor when I had to desperately search for something that went missing. I literally couldn't find everything in there so my plans for the afternoon implied me becoming a modern version of Cinderella for the next few hours.

"Spit it out, man," I said, sweeping up a pile of dirty laundry from the floor.

"Why is there a fuzzy Gridbug that seems bent on derezzing Mike in the living room?"

"It's not a Gridbug, Tron, it's a cat," I explained, dumping the clothes in the laundry bin.

"What's a... cat?"

The confusion on the Program's face made me give a laugh, and when he raised his hand to scratch the back of his head - a tick he got after he came to the User world - I could see fresh scratches on his upper arm along with the older scars.

"It's a small animal us Users keep as pet," I said.

"Small animal? More like a spawn of hell," the Monitor rumbled rolling his eyes.

"Hey, don't talk like that about Tom," I chastised.

A loud shriek from downstairs silenced whatever reply Tron wanted to give and we hurried to the shop where Mike was doing a very good impression of a lion tamer against a black blur that growled and spat. I crossed the distance and grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck and it let out a feral hiss, still trying to get to Mike. I flicked the cat's nose hard with a finger and it stopped, falling completely still in my hand.

"Shush, Tom," I reprimanded, "we don't hurt the guys."

Both the Program's and User's jaws hit the floor as I cradled the now still cat to my chest and it nuzzled into my neck with another glare to the shocked guys, purring contently as I stroked its fur.

"Whoa, how on Earth did you do that," Mike stammered, finally getting out of the corner in which Tom trapped him.

"Guys, meet Tom," I announced, "he'll be our newest tenant."

"Are you sure about this?," Tron asked, eyeing the cat warily.

"He needed a home, I found him on the street when we got back from school and took him in. Isn't he adorable?"

I scratched between the cat's ears and the purr intensified, making me chuckle.

"Adorable? You've got to be kidding me," Mike snorted as Tron doubled with a nod, "Devil called earlier, he said he wants his lieutenant back."

Tom let out a feral hiss and lunged away from my arms in a flash of black fur, pinning the guys against the wall and scratching the hell out of their arms which they raised to protect themselves from the onslaught.

"Get it off of me," Tron shrieked as the cat dug its claws in his arm, "ow, you spawn of Satan, gerroff!"

Even though it meant that I risked getting to sleep with Tom in the garage I couldn't hold back a laugh at the sight of my two best friends, one of which was a former System Monitor and Enforcer on the Grid trying to fend off a small and very pissed mammal that made them both cower in a corner.

"Stop laughing and help us," Mike cried, yanking a chair and using it to keep Tom at bay.

The cat bolted by the legs of the chair and clawed at the User's leg, making him yelp with pain and uselessly shake his limb to get rid of it. Tron seized the opportunity and pried Tom away only to fall victim to another round of scratches and hissing. In his attempts to get the cat off of him the Monitor didn't notice the couch in his way and stumbled, falling over the armrest with a shocked cry as Tom continued his onslaught against the helpless Program and making me double over holding my stomach from so much laughter.

"Oh my god this is the funniest thing I've ever seen," I cackled, "the great Tron cornered by a cat!"

I finally managed to regain my composure and picked up the still angry animal away from the scared Program, heading straight to the kitchen. I put Tom on the counter and got a tuna can out of the fridge, dumping its contents in a bowl and filling another with water as the cat began devouring its meal. After it finished it circled on the countertop a couple of times before it curled down and began purring contently as it fell asleep, so I went out and locked the door behind me. Both the guys jumped and scooted to the corner, eyeing me carefully as I raised my hands into the air to show them their tormentor was gone. Mike was relatively fine but it seemed that Tom had taken the Monitor for the main threat since his t-shirt was torn in many more places and his arms were bleeding from numerous scratches.

"You sit down, Mike, get some bandages," I ordered sternly.

The Monitor dropped on the couch giving me a glare as Mike hurried back with some medical supplies. I took a cotton ball with some antiseptic and began dabbing at some scratches on the Program's muscular arm, ignoring his dark look and hiss when it stung him.

"Ow, that hurts," he grunted, snatching his hand away when I continued dabbing at the wounds, "oi, User, take it easy!"

I punched his midsection, making him let out a growl and I continued cleaning the scratches silently, finishing with a particularly nasty one on his jaw. His steel blue gaze followed me as I reached for a box of Band-Aids and began applying them over the marks.

"Here, you're done," I announced, getting up from the couch and heading back to the kitchen, "now you look like the Grid version of Frankenstein."

"Franken-what?"

"Tell code-head what Frankenstein is," I told Mike, "I'm kinda busy at the moment."

I swept up the sleeping cat and head back upstairs, two mirroring glares following me and the small furry bundle in my arms as we went up the stairs and I slammed the door of my room with a sound curse.

Mike/outside POV

The cat's war with the guys escalated the next morning when Mike woke up to the sight of a very pissed feline sitting on his chest. A menacing hiss made the mechanic think twice about going back to sleep and he picked Tom carefully with a hand in an attempt to put him down. Wrong move. The cat hissed again, flexing its paws and digging the razor sharp claws in its unwilling victim's t-shirt and he let it go as if it burned his hand. Mike could swear that the cat was daring him to make another move so he turned carefully to his phone on the nightstand, eyeing the feline warily as he dialed the first number in his call log.

"We're a hallway apart," Emily hissed from the other end of the line, "you could get off your lazy bum if you wanted to wake me up for school at six in the morning."

"I would if not for a certain spawn of Hell that won't let me," he replied dryly, "can you please get your beast out of my room before it decides to make me its meal?"

After a short pause the girl chuckled darkly and Mike closed an eye when her answer was, as expected, "No I won't."

"Em..."

"It's a small mammal against you, handle it," she snickered, ending the call.

"Just great," Mike grumbled.

The mechanic told himself it couldn't possibly get worse and snatched the growling feline off his chest, wincing as the claws dug into his hand when he dropped it by the bed. When the cat arched its back and let out another spitting hiss a thought crossed Mike's mind that things could get a lot worse and he backed off to the farthest corner of his room, looking for something he could use to fend the small Devil off. His fingers found a large encyclopedia and he snatched it off the shelf, using it as a shield when Tom launched across the room like a fuzzy cannonball. The cat smashed into the book and dropped to the floor with a pitiful whine.

"Ha, got you good spawn of Hell," Mike cheered before he let out a scared yowl when the cat tried to attack again.

A well timed swing of the encyclopedia sent the hellcat flying to the door and the mechanic lunged to open it in time for the cat to land unceremoniously on the hallway rug. Mike slammed the door with a satisfied smirk and began putting an appearance of order to his room which had the look of a battlefield after a nuclear bombardment.

He had just gotten dressed for the day when Emily called him for breakfast. The moment Mike set a hand on the doorknob a feral hiss could be heard through the wooden door and the mechanic saw the fatal flaw in his strategy.

"Come on Mike, your coffee is cold already," the girl shouted from downstairs.

"I kinda have a problem," he started as the cat began scratching at the hardwood from the outside.

"Don't be such a sissy and get down here," Emily ordered.

Cats could smell fear or were those dogs and high school bullies? Mike had no idea but he had a feeling that his day was off to a very bad start when the scratching intensified. The mechanic winced as he imagined what the cat had in mind for him but he managed to muster enough courage to open the door. He didn't think squealing like a fan girl was a wrong reaction when he went face to face with a very pissed and agile furball with sharp claws that snarled and spat as it coiled to strike. Mike was already considering his epitaph and last will when Emily moved faster than he believed it was humanly possible, catching the cat mid-jump before it managed to lay a paw on the shrieking mechanic. A low snicker built up to a guffaw and Mike noticed that Tron was doubled over by the door of his and Emily's room howling with laughter as the programmer fumbled with the still thrashing cat and moaned when it hacked a furball on her arm.

"Ewww, gross," she groaned and the Program almost collapsed from laughing so hard.

Both the Users shot the Monitor mirroring glares and Emily went inside her room where she deposited Tom on her desk before she took both her and Tron's book bags. Mike knew all too well the half smile and mischievous glint in the girl's eyes but he chose to shut up and see what she had prepared for her unfortunate victim. When she passed by the still snickering Program she tossed the bags on the floor and somehow managed to pin the Monitor in a very good example of the 'Vulcan neck pinch' from Star Trek in less than a second. Tron let out an ungodly yowl of pain and surprise and it was Mike's turn to laugh at the Program's confused face and hisses as he struggled to evade the girl's grip to no avail.

"Ow, woman, let go of me," he grunted, "or I'll..."

"What you will do will be stop laughing at other's misery before you have the same fate as theirs," she said in a sweet innocent voice in his ear before turning to her dreaded 'drill sergeant' tone, "in other words I might feed you to Tom if you don't behave. Do I make myself clear, System Monitor?"

"Crystal clear," Tron huffed, rubbing his aching muscles when Emily finally let him go, "Users you sounded like Clu for a moment."

Presented with the sight of a six foot tall guy that put many Spec Ops soldiers to shame with his combat experience being overpowered by a 55 kg teenage girl with a sweet smile that most likely hid a psycho mind Mike felt like he was entitled to a good laugh. However, a very dark and promising look from the said six-foot-tall dude made that laugh die quickly enough and the mechanic remembered he had to water his cactus before Em the Imp and Aragorn 2.0 decided to join forces against him in God knows what wicked prank.

"Now, who's it for some of my cooking," Emily asked, locking the door to her room.

"What's that smell?"

"Crispy bacon, eggs, cereal and pancakes," she counted over her shoulder in a mock southern belle accent, putting an extra sway to her hips when she went downstairs as if she knew that the guys would look.

And look they did, until Mike elbowed the dazed Monitor, craning his neck to look at their roommate's backside.

"She does know how to make an exit," the mechanic reasoned.

"If you didn't see her 'walk of fame' after she's gotten out of the showers in nothing but a towel you ain't seen nothing," Tron said thoughtfully as if he didn't even realize it was aloud.

"How on Earth did you see that?"

"You don't want to know," the Monitor snickered.

"Pics or it didn't happen."

"I think she deleted that bit where her towel dropped from the security feed of our hideout under the pretext of 'I don't want any weird stares after you've watched that a thousand times on repeat, you perverted piece of scrap encoding'."

"You saw her naked?," Mike squealed.

"Yup."

"And she didn't kill you?"

"Nope," the Monitor grinned, making a slap-across-the-face motion.

"And was it worth it? I mean Em in yoga pants is a piece of eye candy, so I suppose it was worth the Gibbs slapping you got for staring."

"That, my User friend, you will never know," the Program said slyly, leaving the human mechanic with his fantasies at the top of the stairs.

Emily POV

"You have 30 minutes to finish your test papers, class," Mr. Banner announced when he was done handing the papers, "and I'll allow no cheating in my class. You may begin."

I glared at the multiple choice quiz, wondering why God was inflicting such punishment as a surprise Biology test upon me. I was okay with it, but ever since I had the marvelous idea to sign up for the advanced class I seriously considered tossing something like a very large book or a flower pot at the teacher's head before I shot myself. 'Brainiac' Banner was that kind of teacher that sure knew how to mess up Friday with a lot of boring lectures and everyone dreaded his tests. I had a C average and was on my way to getting another F grade in his class which meant I could kiss Caltech bye-bye with such a score. What use was being a brilliant programmer when I failed the other classes?

When my brooding moment reached its apex I felt a light tap on my shoulder and a slip of paper made its way on my desk full of Tron's neat handwriting on both sides. The Monitor winked playfully and went back to finishing his own paper as I raised an eyebrow. Looks like someone's interested in User anatomy, I thought, scribbling the answers he gave me on my test slowly in an attempt not to look suspicious. Brainiac Banner shot me a glance and I put on my best poker face, praying silently that he won't come to check my work. Luckily the teacher didn't come and I nearly sighed in relief as he turned back to pestering the tarantula in its glass container, prodding at it with the end of a ruler. What Brainiac Banner didn't expect was that the spider would get the idea to climb up the said ruler and onto his hand so teacher and spider found themselves in a slightly unbalanced staring contest for a moment before he shrieked and shook his hand desperately to get rid of the eight-legged pest.

The entire class looked up from the test papers as the teacher hopped around the stand screaming bloody murder while the culprit was sent soaring into the air only to land on one of the desks in the first row. The said desk belonged to Jean and I couldn't blame her for the unearthly shriek she released when the creepy spider crawled towards the edge in an attempt to escape. One of the jocks decided to play the knight saving the damsel in distress and swept the tarantula off the table and onto the floor with a notebook.

Chaos ensued as all students shrieked and cried with terror as the spider looked around for a place to hide and it found it under my desk. I swear I never screamed so hard in my life like I did when I saw the disgusting hairy pest trotting on those legs towards me and I did the only logical thing at the moment which was hopping on the desk and praying the damn spider changed its mind before it reached me.

Of course fate had other plans with me and so the desk found a good moment to lean and collapse with me on top of it so I ended up frozen on the floor as the tarantula stopped in its tracks on my arm and looked at me with eight glassy eyes. The teacher intervened and picked up the creature on the same ruler with which he had poked at it earlier and dropped it in the terrarium as the class finally settled. At least that's what I thought, since all sounds had been muffled to a buzz and the edge of my vision seemed blurry a bit when I got up shakily from the floor and dropped back to my seat after someone had put the desk back to its normal position. Tron gave me my test back and he said something about him finishing mine too so I took another dazed glance to the paper and sleepwalked to the podium, handing the test to Braniac Banner.

"... Miss Grant, are you listening?"

"Um, no, I mean yes, I do," I blurted, having no idea what he had spoken.

"I said that you seem to be a bit shaken and Miss Spencer is about to faint, so I suggested that you both go and see the nurse. Mr. Marcus, will you please accompany the girls since you seem to have finished the test?"

Liam was already picking Jane up and also grabbed my elbow, guiding me outside the classroom and through the hallways to the nurse's cabinet before I could even protest.

"Hey, I'm fine," I said about halfway there, "no need to go to the nurse."

"You sure?"

"Positive. I just need a Coke and some place to sit down and I'll be fine. You'd better get her to the nurse, she doesn't look good at all."

My ex-boyfriend shrugged and carried the other girl to the medical cabinet as I rummaged through my pockets for some money I usually kept there and went to the nearest vending machine for a well-earned sugar fix. I was halfway through munching on the second Twix when Tron went out of the Biology lab with my things also in his hand and I waved him to come.

"I thought you went to fix that glitch," he said.

"This is the best fix," I grinned, waving the half eaten bar, "and in User term it's called a 'panic attack' not a glitch."

"Whatever," the Monitor shrugged, handing me my bag.

"Thanks for the test," I told him and he nodded, "I suppose I won't fail after all."

"If you studied you wouldn't have needed me to do it for you."

"I was studying in the Grid," I retorted, "there are some upgrades that occurred and they were worth looking into. Maybe I'll show you if you want."

"Why not," Tron shrugged, "have any more of those sweets, by the way? I'm starving."

I pointed to the vending machine with a grin and the Monitor's hand snatched the Twix I was holding.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"Not anymore," he snickered.

The afternoon was suspiciously peaceful after we got back home from school and I suppose it should have made me think that something was going to happen. When you live in a madhouse silence isn't necessarily a good thing and soon enough I was proved right.

An ungodly yowl and a loud bang made me take off my headphones and peer out of the door as Tom bolted inside, hiding under the bed as a long stream of Grid curses followed him.

"What the hell..."

Tron was lying sprawled at the bottom of the staircase, cradling his left leg as a mix of pain and anger twisted his features. I didn't have to be a medic when I saw the awkward way the limb was contorted to know it was serious, so I sprinted down and kneeled by him.

"What happened," I demanded as the Program spat one more curse.

"That glitching cat was sleeping on the stairs," he hissed, "I saw it too late and stumbled... Users, it hurts..."

"Where's Mike?"

"Out," came the strained answer.

The Monitor tried to stand up and failed miserably, color draining from his face when he set his weight on the wounded leg. I knew he was too proud to cry or show anything but I was just as sure that it hurt like hell so I wiggled under his arm and helped him support his weight as we went down to the living room. I set him on the bottom stair and gently felt where the bones were bulging awkwardly, earning a pained hiss from the Program.

"It's broken," I declared, making him give me the 'you don't say' look, "I'll have to get you to the Grid to fix it if you don't want to have it in a cast for the next month."

I hoisted the Monitor up, and the fact that he was heads taller than me didn't quite help as we hobbled downstairs. With every step I could see Tron's face turn even paler and by the time we got down his hand dug ditches in my bicep but he didn't make a sound.

"Damned male pride," I snarled, earning a pained chuckle and a groan.

I unlocked the door and deposited the Program in the laser's path, activating the digitizing sequence and shooting both of us to the Outlands hideout where I hurried to put Tron on a berth in the med bay before I began the now familiar ritual of fixing the broken code in his Disks.

"I guess I owe you an apology," I muttered, making the Program raise an eyebrow as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"What for?"

"It wasn't my best idea to bring the cat in," I bellowed, arranging the code sequence back to what it should have been and using it as an excuse to avoid his gaze.

"It wasn't its fault this time," Tron admitted sheepishly, "I wasn't paying attention and it took me by surprise."

"Still, it wasn't a good idea."

"We can live with it," the Monitor dismissed, "I've faced worse than a small furry pet with wickedly sharp claws that hates me with all its guts."

"You know, I found it on an alleyway next to the high school scouring for food, it was mewling so sadly I couldn't help but take it home with me," I recalled, sighing tiredly, "I seem to have a knack for picking up stranded pets that need help."

"Yeah," Tron chuckled softly, "the first one you saved won't ever forget the moment you found him laying on a beach hoping for a quick demise to end all the pain."

"Instead of sweet heavens you ended up in more trouble than you've ever imagined, huh?"

"What's life without a little trouble to spice it up," he said amusedly, "I tend to like a bit of a challenge once in a while."

"But not a cat," I snickered.

"I don't mind it as long as it doesn't try to derezz me."

"It's just scared, Tron," I said, "I got my fair share of scratches too when I found it."

With that I derezzed the armor on my arms and showed the Monitor a lot of red marks that striped the otherwise pale skin.

"You were just as terrified when I found you," I recalled, "how long did it take you to stop attacking me when I woke you up? A cycle?"

"Two actually," he corrected, "but the first cycle you had to take away my Disks every time I went to sleep."

I put the code back into the conjoined Disks and handed them to Tron who snapped them back to the dock, sighing as they synchronized and the fracture sealed.

"You're getting really good at this," he said.

"Maybe I should take med school instead of Computer Science," I teased.

"I don't think so; this is because of your skill with programming. I doubt many people apart from Flynn and the Medical Programs could fix all the vast array of injuries our kind gets."

"I had to learn fast," I grinned, "more so since I have a habit of getting messed up. By the way, I noticed something interesting with your code while I was fixing it, it's much more complicated than it was the first time I looked at it."

"Say... WHAT?!"

"There are some sub-routines I've never seen in my life, also the code has expanded and..."

"And what," he asked desperately, "is Rinzler developing?"

"No, your pest's in check, but... Scrap, it's better if you see it. Give me the Disks and try that leg of yours."

The Monitor hopped off the berth and tried the healed limb with some of his favorite acrobatics as I pulled his source code and expanded the hologram to the full height of the room. The intricate network of encoding shimmered light blue as the viral highlights flickered among the rest.

"See, these bits over here," I said, pointing at a cluster of code, "you didn't have them before."

"Put yours up too," Tron ordered and I set my Disks on the ground, doing the same thing with my code and I almost fell down when I saw it.

Logically my code was infinitely more complex since I was a User, but the similarities were striking. The new routines in Tron's code were in mine too, and even the layout was almost the same.

"Yours looks like an ISO's," I gasped, "your function isn't singularly defined anymore, and you formed some sort of barrier against the viral code in your Disks."

"And the learning algorithm," Tron said, "it's more like an User's than anything. How in the Grid did it happen?"

"I honestly have no... Wait, I think I know why this happened, but I need to run some tests to be sure."

I began pacing in front of the hologram, enlarging some pieces of code and humming softly as I inspected them before I pulled out a particular one.

"The source code is the Grid equivalent to the User DNA, but it's usually much more simpler than ours, encoding a function and all its subroutines," I explained more for myself than for the confused Monitor, "sometimes it's more complex like in the case of System Monitor who needs to assess threats to the system and eradicate them efficiently, but one thing all Programs lack is what we in the User world call 'free will'. I doubt that anyone can encode it, it's such an abstract and complicated notion its variables are infinite, so all Basics are restricted to performing the tasks and routines commanded by their function. This, however, it's different."

I turned to the still bewildered Program, my eyes glinting with the thrill of the discovery.

"You're a Basic and still you managed to surpass your programmed function and attained free will, Tron," I continued, barely containing my enthusiasm, "this is marvelous, I had no idea it could happen but it's in your code! The thing no programmer could achieve by now is right here, in front of us! Gracious Lord, Zorn will have to eat his helmet, I told him it was possible with Basics too!"

"So I don't have a function anymore?," Tron asked, looking shaken.

"You still have it, but you can work around it and bend the rules how you see fit. The ISOs were functionless indeed, but what you have is a mix of Basic and ISO encoding that allows infinite possibilities, with only one drawback."

"What is that?"

I shifted my weight uncomfortably, knowing that his reaction wouldn't be the best.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Tron insisted.

"Clu's tampering with your code and the reprogramming were what triggered the change in the first place, and your time in the User world accelerated the process," I sighed, shuffling my feet without looking at him, "You'll never be rid of Rinzler entirely and your capability to bend the rules of your function means that he can do the same. From now on it'll be a matter of how well you can contain him rather than shaking him off entirely."

"Is there any way..."

"None that doesn't imply killing you both in the process," I said sadly, "he's a part of you now, it's like asking me to remove your brain, or your heart, or your skeleton."

A sudden ping and a warning message mad my head whip to the monitoring screens and I quickly minimized the code and tossed Tron his Disks.

"We have company," I growled, bolting to the screens, "the proximity alarm went off."

"Friend or foe?"

"I have no idea, but it'd rather be friend or he's in for a nasty surprise. Stay back and if anything happens it's go time."

I hopped on the elevator platform and sprinted to the garage entrance, turning the code transparent to see a male Program whose circuit pattern I knew very well.

"Come on, Enyo, I know you're here," he called, knocking on the door.

I opened it and Zorn greeted me with a lopsided smile.

"Thought I might find you here," he grinned.

"How in the Grid did you find this place," I exclaimed, ushering him in, "I thought I did a good job concealing it."

"I'm a Search Program, remember? I have to admit though, it was a glitch to pinpoint your signal, it disappeared a lot. Is your friend here too?"

"You're speaking about my supposedly derezzed friend or my other amigos, 'cause those are cubes," I asked and the Program winked.

"The still alive one," he grinned as we boarded the platform, "I have some news that might prove interesting for you both."

Zorn's jaw dropped when we arrived in the living room as if he was utterly shocked.

"What a place you have, Enyo," he said, "I had no idea it was this big."

"I like comfort," I replied simply, "so I got comfort. And everything else I could ever need."

The Program's eyebrows shot up but he knew better than to ask anything as Tron came into sight, a cheeky smile lighting up his features as he greeted the Program.

"What news of Tron city," he demanded, motioning us to sit down.

"Well, things are pretty peaceful apart from some Rogues," Zorn began, "but the interesting thing is that the Games are still going on, based on volunteers. There was this Basic that went in a cycle ago, his designation is Zero, and he's proving quite a problem more so after he became Champion of the Games."

"What kind of problem?," I asked.

"He's quite a tough bloke, and quite brutal too," the Program explained, "and ever since he came in town he's been causing a lot of trouble, illegal fighting going bad, Programs disappearing, a lot more Strays on the streets. We suspect he was sent away from Purgos after a Disk contraband went awry. Long story short, he's giving the new Guard a hard time keeping things calm. There's a special event tonight, a double fighter round, and the winners get to face him. A lot of the Basics want him away but we couldn't do anything so..."

"You came to the right Programs," I grinned, "we'll take care of that zero-bit."

"You should know that there's also a bounty on his head," Zorn added, "two modified Light Cycles and some nice Disk upgrades."

"That's nice," I agreed, "sign us in."

"I already did," the Program said slyly, "you aren't the one to say no to a challenge."

Tron POV

The first two rounds were child's play, the Programs falling under our Disks without too much of a fight. Zorn had signed us in under fake names and Emily had changed my armor pattern so I wouldn't be recognized, both keeping our helmets on as we fought in the arena.

Team 5 against Zero, the voice of the Grid announced, final round. Prepare for module assembly.

The combat modules joined in the middle of the Arena and I got the familiar rush of the fight surging in my systems. I shoved Rinzler back into hiding and readied my Disks, keeping them conjoined. Only three Programs in the history of the Grid fought with double Disks and the guess would have been easy between me, Rinzler and Em, so it was better not to show off... too much, though knowing the User she was going to put up quite a spectacle for the crowd.

The last module raised and I assessed my opponent carefully. This Zero Program was quite a handful, standing up to a good 7 ft. and looked like he was the kind to fight brutally and mindlessly, using sheer force to crush his opponents. Emily and I looked like underfed kids compared to him, but many times it wasn't strength that brought victory.

"He's big," the User hissed.

"I've fought bigger," I retorted, glancing at Zero, "we work together and he's down in no time."

The Program took out his Disk and hurled it towards Em so she had to vault high into the air to avoid it and the moment she landed we sprinted to Zero matching our stride perfectly. After a couple of baseball games with Mike and the guys in class the User had an idea which involved me tossing her over a gap which ended up having rather interesting results apart from a couple of broken hands and some damage to the Grid - okay, we managed to destabilize a cliff, but it was worth it - so I didn't have to ask when I saw her changing her way and propelled her through the air in a graceful twist. Her Disks smashed upon Zero's and I slid by, hamstringing the Program as I skidded to a stop. I noticed the arrows on the far wall reverting and ran up the wall in time as the gravity reversed, smashing Zero to the former ceiling along with Emily. The Program grabbed the User and tossed her into me, sending us both flying to the other end of the Arena where we hit the wall.

"Not so strong, are you," Zero bellowed and charged towards us with a roar.

Ever heard the expression "like a deer caught in the headlights"? I had no idea what a 'deer' was but I could imagine how it felt as the huge Program ran to the wall, gaining momentum with every step.

"Duck," Emily snarled and I let myself slide down as Zero hit the wall where we were earlier.

There was a loud crunch when his unprotected head smashed into the glass barrier and I chuckled evilly as the Program fell to one knee, looking dizzy.

"Bad call," the User taunted, coiling to strike.

Her conjoined Disks dug into the back of Zero's neck in a perfect arc, severing his head from his body before he even got the chance to react. The crowd erupted into cheers as the Program crumbled to pixels and I knew that a wide grin many would deem at least unnerving if not downright psychotic was hiding behind the User's ebon helmet.

Emily POV

"Give'em here," I gloated, extending a hand over to where Zorn stood.

The Search Program had offered both of us a drink at a new night club in the sector where the End of Line used to be and needless to say I accepted, so now I was lounging on a comfy sofa with my feet on the table, smiling slyly as I played with Tron's hair casually much to his disdain. Zorn handed me two batons and the code cubes with the upgrades and I played with them before I set them beside me and downed my glass in one gulp.

"Oi, Program, we want more drinks," I called, "and hurry up, I ain't got all cycle!"

"Good job in the Arena," Zorn said as the bartender set another round of energy cocktails on the table, "It was quite the show."

"I tend to like a show sometimes," I purred, raising my glass -the fifth of the night- and knocking it to Tron's, "hey, why don't you drink, Program? It's time to celebrate!"

"Someone has to carry your over energized ass home," he grumbled.

"Loosen up, man, have a drink, everything is fine," I said, swirling my fingers carelessly to the nape of his neck.

The Monitor involuntarily shuddered and struggled to work around the low purr rumbling in his throat as his cheeks blazed a lovely shade of scarlet.

"Hey, cut it out," he growled softly and I chuckled.

"Oh, you sound just like Tom," I chirped, brushing my fingertips once more right above where his neck armor ended before a warning glance made me stop.

"I'm a guy after all," he shrugged, "and I'm not a senseless dummy either, so it would be better to stop."

"You're such a killjoy," I complained.

I got up but I had to immediately sit back down since everything started spinning out of control.

"Oups, who destabilized the code?," I giggled, trying to get up again, "everything's spinning."

Tron pulled me down on the couch, slinging an arm around my shoulders so he could keep me still. I was kinda seeing doubles of everything, and I felt... absolutely drunk. Suddenly a nap seemed like a good idea, so I melted on the couch, trying to keep my eyes open.

"Tron..." I slurred and the Monitor looked down from his discussion with Zorn.

"Hmm?"

"I have an idea what do with the cat," I said.

"You'll tell me about it after we get home, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, pausing for a moment before I added, "never ever let me over energize again."

Two milicycles later...

Zorn was usually careful whenever he went home. Not many Programs knew where he lived and he wasn't too fond of unexpected guests, a remnant of the time spent running from Clu's agents, so he didn't think caution was unneeded when he found a box sitting on his doorstep with a note pinned on top. A low whine and a sad mewl came from the container and the Program picked up the note carefully.

I know this is an awkward request so please bear with me. I found this in Flynn's hideout, his name is Tom and it's a small Program the Creator rezzed as some sort of joke when he first created the Grid. It has no function apart from being what he called a 'pet', but I can't take care of it and neither can Enyo, our lifestyle is... erratic at the least and we couldn't let it derezz, so I hoped that you can find it a home. I left instructions for handling it in the box, it doesn't require much work.

PS: Watch out for those claw things on its paws, they hurt a lot.

The note was signed with Tron's tetramino in the bottom and Zorn sighed, opening the small container to reveal a black furry thing curled on the bottom along with an information file. The small Program mewled again, looking at Zorn with begging blue eyes and the Search Program picked it up awkwardly, inspecting it cautiously.

"I guess I can do you a favor and take care of this little guy," he thought aloud and the cat began purring.

The Program scratched between Tom's ears and the purr intensified, bringing a small smile on Zorn's face as he opened the door and set the cat on the floor. It immediately went to Zorn's favorite chair and curled on the seat, falling asleep in less than a second as his new owner inserted the file that came along in his Disk, oblivious to the other two Programs that watched him from the distance. Both of them were carrying the same cat-like grace and the thinner one, obviously female, was crouching on the edge of the platform in an attempt to see better.

"You think he can handle it?," she asked, her voice distorted by the ebon helmet she wore.

"He's been through worse than your hellcat," the other dismissed, "it's the best place it could be in right now."

"Two things that purred in one house are too much indeed," the female teased, "now you have no more competition to worry about."

The male Program with blue circuits sighed, shaking his head.

"You know it's the Other who purrs, not me," he hissed.

"Yeah, unless someone gives you a good massage or plays with your hair."

"One time and you'll never let it go, Emily?"

"You know me better than that, Monitor," the User snickered, "You have to admit it was funny."

The Program grumbled something under his breath and the User straightened up and slapped his shoulder friendly.

"At least I won't have to patch up your scratches," she said, glancing one last time to the now securely locked door, "though I'll miss Tom."

"It was your idea," the Program groaned, "It's too late for second thoughts."

"Okay, okay, don't be such a stick in the mud."

The User rezzed a small command panel and typed in something and both silhouettes disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the sector silent and deserted again.