Oh my God, finals week is over! I was so stressed but it was worth it, the results came Monday and I got a 9,68 out of 10 average with an awesome top grade in Programming, so my next priority is getting all the admissions part ready and I'm off to college! I'm so sorry I didn't update in ages, but these exams were super-important so I didn't really get the time to get through that process of finding the final variant of the chapter, spell-check and such. I have a big part of what comes next written, though, so I might post two or three chapters in the next... well, in the next hour or so:)).

Another great thing that happened (apart from hitting 11 reviews, which is awesome; thank you Spirited Mare for being reviewer no. 10, I am so glad you liked it) is that I got a cat! His name is Loki and he is one lucky black cat.

Getting on to the part some of you had been waiting for, the story. I had intended to make a separate one-shot out of this but it actually worked as a chapter so here you are, Another week in the Madhouse. It's mostly Tron's perspective with an occasional appearance from my OC.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, blah, blah.

Please enjoy and review

Day 1- Sunday (or how to blow up a toaster)

"Trooon, wake up," a female voice whined and she shook my shoulder hard.

"It's not my patrol shift, Quorra," I growled, turning to the other side with my eyes still closed, "go pester someone else."

I found a colder spot on the pillow and hummed contently, preparing to go to sleep again when someone tried to yank the blanket off me, sending me tumbling to the floor as she did. I opened my eyes with an annoyed growl that reminded me of Rinzler and glared at the snickering User who held my blanket as her shoulders trembled with silent laughter.

"I told you to wake up," Emily grinned impishly holding out a hand.

I took it and she dragged me up, her sapphire blue eyes glinting with barely concealed amusement.

"What a way to start a morning, User," I hissed, snatching the blanket out of her hands, "I swear you could have given Clu lessons on being a jerk sometimes."

"Well, it is your turn to make breakfast today and I'm hungry," she chirped innocently.

Oh, Users, she even did the puppy dog eyes. Yori pulled that one when she really wanted me to do something and I was never able to resist it.

"Fine, I'll do it," I sighed.

"Thanksie, Tron," Emily beamed, "I'll be in the basement, just shout when you're done."

And with that she twisted on her heels and bolted to her lair, leaving me dumbfounded in the middle of the room with a blanket in my hands for a second before I went downstairs. Cooking was unexplored territory for me, ever since I had come to the User world either Emily or Mike were on kitchen duty so I had only a vague idea about what I had to do.

"Okay, this can't be so hard," I hummed for myself, making a quick list of what I needed.

Five minutes later I realized that I might have overestimated my abilities when the device Users called a toaster simply refused to do what it was programmed to do. I glared at the innocent looking appliance, seriously considering sending it on a one way trip to the scrapyard as I put in the fourth batch of bread but this time it stayed in and a small light turned on. With that out of the way I turned to the coffee maker, hoping that the Users wouldn't notice if I poured an extra mug for myself; another thing I discovered quickly after moving in with them was that both Mike and Emily were big coffee lovers, but the girl was absolutely addicted to it to the point of freaking out if she ran out of her "daily dose of zombie antidote" as she called it.

I fussed around with the rest of the things I found in the fridge for some time but at some point I caught a whiff of something burned and turned to see a thick cloud of smoke coming from the toaster.

"Stupid piece of scrap code," I snarled, grabbing a fork and attempting to remove the charred bread from the device.

It turned out to be one of my really bad ideas when the damn thing sparked and simply blew up. Luckily it missed me and most of the kitchen, making a mess on the countertop and on the floor. I somehow managed to burn my fingers and dropped the fork, cursing again as I waved away the smoke that filled the room before I stuck my singed hand under the tap.

"Ow ow ow ow," I hissed as the water came scalding before I turned the faucet to the coldest setting and let it soothe the stinging burn.

Fifteen User minutes later I managed to put up something similar to what Em used to make for breakfast, but the toaster was in such a bad condition I couldn't save it. When everything was done and I managed to get all the smoke out by opening the windows I went downstairs, plastering on my best 'please don't kill me' smile before I knocked on the door.

"Food's ready," I announced.

"Oh, great," Emily said, saving the project she was working on before she followed me upstairs.

"Hey, who blew the toaster up," Mike asked from the kitchen and I closed an eye, waiting for the reprimand.

"It was Tron's turn to play Master Chef today," Emily snickered, shooting a glance at me and I felt my ears turn hot.

"Well, I, uh..." I started sheepishly, shuffling my feet, "It wasn't working at first and then it crashed completely. I didn't mean to break it."

"Relax, at least you didn't set the kitchen on fire," Mike reassured me as he shot a meaningful glance at the other User, "Other people did worse on their first time cooking."

It was Emily's turn to gain a bright shade of scarlet and she glared daggers at her roommate.

"I didn't set the kitchen on fire, Mike, the smoke set off the fire alarm," she hissed.

"Yeah, you managed to burn the soup and I had to scrape the pot clean after," the mechanic snickered, "How on earth did you manage to burn soup? It's a liquid for God's sake!"

"Okay, Users, time to eat," I ordered quickly before Emily gave her friend one of her infamous dry replies, "that toaster and my fingers didn't get sacrificed for nothing."

Day 2 - Monday (or the flu episode)

I groaned as another wave of pain seemed to split my head in two. Ever since I got up in the morning I felt a bit under the weather, but by the time school was over I got an epic headache that was well on the way to becoming a full blown migraine. Add up the sensation of having something like gravel stuck in my throat and a lot of sore muscles and I could be declared a wreck.

"Hey, mind if I go shut down a bit," I asked Emily as we got home, "I need some rest."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged, tossing her bag on the couch.

Every step to the first floor sent a jab of pain to my already dizzy head and by the time I crashed on the couch I had the sensation that someone had strapped me in a Light Jet that was spinning out of control by the way the room was swaying. After what it felt like a couple of seconds of shut down time I woke up sweaty yet freezing as Emily came into the room. It took her one glance at me to notice that something was off and she sat down by the couch looking a bit worried.

"Sorry I woke you up," she apologized before adding, "Are you fine? You look kinds pale."

"It's nothing," I groaned, wincing as the room started spinning again, "I'm just tired, that's all."

"You don't look well at all," she deadpanned, laying a palm on my forehead, "and you're burning like a stove."

"Maybe it's a small malfunction," I croaked, breaking into a coughing fit, "Can you fix it?"

"Yup, some tea, pills and lots of rest," Emily said, and I noticed that she was sniffing too.

"You've got the same bug? Is it viral?"

"Sorta yes, it's called catching a cold. Damn, it will be a double batch of tea and blankets by the looks of it," she added after a short sneeze, "I got it too."

Day 3 - Tuesday (or why you shouldn't mess with security Programs on a pranking spree)

"You have to go to school, Emily," I said for the 45th time.

The User folded her arms and refused to budge, a nasty scowl lingering on her face.

"I told you, Tron, if I get anywhere near those two I'm going to pull a Rinzler and deliver them both to the hospital in a body bag," she growled, "I'd rather not spend my life in a jail cell for murder. I caught them making out in my deposit, can you imagine that?! They should think themselves lucky because I didn't beat them to a pulp right there!"

I let out an annoyed sigh, returning a matching glare to the User's sapphire blue one. There was no way to make Users to do something if they didn't want to, and this was a lesson learned ever since I had my first contact with Flynn. If he had an idea he considered good he would stick with it no matter what I, Anon, Clu and Quorra thought about it. Users know how many times we had to get him out of trouble because of his stubbornness, and Quorra followed right behind in my 'terror of the Grid' top at the time with her liking for dangerous pranks and her tendency to speak exactly what went through her head at the moment.

"Fine, do as you want," I grunted, "but don't blame me if you get in trouble."

"Finally some common sense," Emily sighed, turning back to the computer screen, "and now that you're done lecturing me you'd better get going, you're going to be late."

I grabbed my things and left the basement without another word to the User, already forming a plan in my head. If she's so bent on derezzing that kid and his girlfriend, maybe I should have a look at it... well, maybe more than just a look actually, I had experienced firsthand Em's reaction when she found out that he was still talking to that null-bit blonde behind her back and I was waiting to get some payback.

"Oooh, Tron's in a bit of a vengeful mood," Rinzler purred in my head.

"Shut up, virus," I growled but then I paused, getting another idea, "Actually don't shut up, I might as well use you."

"Well that's a first," the Enforcer scoffed, "what will you have me do?"

"Make some Users' life living hell;" I chuckled darkly, "that's a thing you're really good at after a thousand cycles of making my life hell."

It was unexpectedly entertaining to set up all those traps for the two kids, and also unexpectedly easy. Okay, my System Monitor training helped but still, they were so distracted I could have done even more than I did. I let Rinzler to the front, sometimes even letting him take control for a short span while we prepared the makeshift revenge and I could feel devious pleasure bleeding from the Enforcer from time to time.

"Okay, everything's in place," I growled playfully, "now it's your turn. Remember..."

"No killing, maiming or serious injuries, no purr, no Grid references, act like you," Rinzler recited, "I've got it. Now sit back and enjoy the show."

I backed off and let Rinzler take the reins, still watching from behind as the Enforcer took his place obediently in the class, waiting for our targets to come in. The guy, Liam, came in first and sat down at his desk directly on the almost invisible glue on his chair.

"One down," I cheered, giving my evil twin a mental high five as the guy fussed around on his phone, oblivious to the fact that he had been owned, "now we have to wait for the rest."

Emily POV

I knew my timetable well and Tron was half an hour late. I tried calling him but the voicemail answered every time which was very odd for the usually punctual Program so after some time of fuming and pacing in the basement I decided to go see in what trouble he had gotten himself into.

"And I damn told him to keep that damn phone with him... Oi, Mike, I'm going to get code-head from school," I called through the garage door.

"Isn't he here already, I mean class is over for half an hour."

"That's what worries me," I growled, going upstairs and rummaging through my closet for some clean clothes.

I had only snatched a pair of jeans and a tank top when my IPhone rang, and I hurried to pick up after a quick look at the call ID.

"Where the hell are you," I snarled.

"Uh, I'm still at school," came Tron's answer.

"And why are you there?"

"You see, I... "

"Well?"

"I kinda got that detention thing," he said sheepishly, "I swear I didn't mean to break that dude's arm, he tried to..."

"Wait, wait, wait," I stopped him, already gaining a really bad feeling, "why did you get that detention again?"

"Well, I might or might have not pulled some pranks today..."

"Enunciate, Program," I ordered in my 'drill sergeant' voice, "what pranks?"

"Well, that Liam guy and Jean were getting on my nerves and... wait a sec, principal's here, gotta go."

"Tron, when you get here you're cubes," I yelled in the phone but the line already went dead.

Tron POV

When I maneuvered the car on the driveway I could already spot a very angry Emily stalking towards the parking lot.

"Uh-oh," Rinzler said, "she's pissed."

"I've seen Clu calmer after Anon pulled a prank on him," I agreed, "but today was worth the meltdown."

"If she derezzes us, I'm blaming you."

"That's most unhelpful, Rinzler," I groaned.

"What on earth did you do to get a detention, null-bit," the User snapped when I got out of the car, "and what was that about pranks?"

"If you saw it you'd have been laughing your ass off," I told her, "it was better payback than you killing them anyway."

Her hard gaze softened a bit and she raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, Program, I'm giving you another chance," she hummed, "if those pranks were really that good I'll keep the lecture for another time, but trust me, they'd better be worth that detention or you won't like what follows."

"Well, we pulled the superglue chair on Liam, spilled paint all over his locker and messed the contacts in his phone but that isn't the masterpiece," I explained, "Did you know that Jean washes her hair after cheerleading practice?"

"Yes I do," Emily frowned, having no idea what I was talking about.

"Well, I can tell you that she won't be blonde anymore after today," I snickered, "Rinzler and I put some bright green dye we found in the art supplies drawer in her shampoo. I took some pictures of it too if you want to see."

I pulled out my phone and showed her some snapshots of a very green haired Jean after she had fallen right into my trap. Too bad that neither Rinzler nor I could keep our composure and our combined amusement turned into a fit of hysterical laughter on both sides which gave us up and ended me in the principal's office.

"You also said something about breaking someone's hand," Emily said after she stopped laughing, wiping away tears of mirth from her face.

"Oh, that wasn't my fault," I growled, "that guy was trying to kick me down in basketball but he hurt himself instead, the teacher saw it and sent him to the hospital."

"Okay, I have to admit it was worth it," Emily said, clapping my back a bit too hard, "that's what you get when you mess with the best security Program there is and his evil twin. You get away this time, but don't get another detention."

Day 4 - Wednesday (or 'leave for tomorrow what you're not in the mood for doing today')

The last note on the User's assignment board was a bit ominous for me: the science fare was tomorrow and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do, let alone how in the Grid I was going to make it in two User days. Emily had said something about the project being half of the Science grade so it meant that if I blew it I would fail the class, a prospect I wasn't too happy about. However, designing stuff and engineering weren't in my programming to begin with; Yori was the one who did it, she was a simulations Program, and also Beck, who was mechanic before I met him, while I took care of the fighting part.

"Someone's troubled," I heard Emily say from behind me, "what's bugging you?"

"That science project, I have no idea what to do for it and it's due tomorrow."

"If it helps I didn't do mine either," she said, sitting on the carpet.

I had a sketchbook open on the floor and she flipped the pages, looking at the drawings that graced the pages before she stopped on one of the first: an image of Beck as the Renegade from the Uprising in Argon.

"He was a mechanic just like Mike, wasn't he," Emily asked.

"Yes he was, but he also had the skill of a System Monitor," I said, recalling how I first met him: he had beheaded Clu's statue and ended up being chased by the occupation soldiers.

"I think I know what we can do for that project," the User hummed as she flipped the page to a drawing of my first Light Cycle and tapped a finger on it, "it's going to be a big one so we'll do it as a team and it's going to be as good here as it will be on the Grid for our little incidents with the Rogues."

"A Light Cycle? How in the Grid are we going to rezz one here?"

"Not the full vehicle, just the plans and presentation," she explained, "and then we'll rezz it in the Grid to test it."

"We have eight hours to design a Light Cycle," I deadpanned, "we won't have the time to do it."

"On the contrary, we have all the time we need," she countered with a lopsided grin, "nobody said that we're going to do it here."

"Ookay, now for the finishing touches," Emily growled as her fingers flew over the keyboard, "'Project name... nah, Light Cycle is too close to the ENCOM games... okay, I've got it. Authors... Emily Grant and Tim Anderson... And save, and it's done."

"And it's 5 AM," I added, stifling a yawn.

"If you count the actual time of making this from scratch it took us two days of working around the clock," the User said, pulling out the storage device, "if we don't get an A I'll feed the teacher to a swarm of Gridbugs."

Day 5 - Thursday (or parasites and malfunctions)

"Alright, Tron, now it would be good to stay still and relax," Emily instructed as she began operating on my Disks.

The last patrol we went on ended up in a huge fiasco after a brief encounter with some Black Guards who took me as Rinzler. That wouldn't have been a problem for either of us usually, more so since the User's ability to Sense the Grid was developing at a fast pace and she picked the Programs out before I did, but I glitched for unknown reasons and almost got us both derezzed. The User had confined me to base despite my protests and insisted to check if there was something wrong, so I ended up on a berth looking at her running diagnostics on my Disks.

"Okay, I think I need another point of view," she muttered, conjuring a menu on both my Black Guard Disk and in the air.

She typed in a few commands and a holographic image of Rinzler appeared.

"Whoa, I did not expect that," the Enforcer snorted, shooting a glance at me, "what did you do to end up in the repair bay?"

"What did you do to make me glitch in the middle of a fight," I growled, getting up from the berth.

"Shut it Programs," Emily snapped as Rinzler's hologram opened his mouth to reply something I could bet my Disks it wouldn't have been nice, "if you glitch again at the wrong moment the three of us will end up in cubes on the floor so shut-the-hell-up and let me fix you."

The authority all Users had bled through her command and made Rinzler's jaw snap shut and me drop back on the berth, exchanging a sympathetic glance with the virus as Em went back to checking and rechecking the data.

"She sure is bossy," Rinzler mused in a low voice.

"Heard that," the User hissed.

"And a stick in the mud apparently."

"Heard that one too."

"And a... a... User," the Enforcer grumbled as if it were an insult, "a young one too."

"It's either shut up or shut down, Rinzler," the said User scoffed without looking up from her work, "pick one, I'm cool with either."

"Can't you just delete the glitch?," I asked in an innocent tone only to meet two eerily similar glares, one sapphire blue and the other a dead amber-orange.

"Not without killing you in the process, null-bit," both Enforcer and User deadpanned in one voice before they paused and glared at each other for speaking in unison.

"Okay, I can't do anything with you two arguing like this," Em growled, opening another menu which I recognized this time, "it's shut down time for both of you."

"No," both Rinzler and I shouted as her fingers hovered over the command, "we'll behave!"

"My god, a five-year-old has more common sense than the two of you combined," Emily teased, fighting back a smile when I and my evil half engaged in a murder glare contest, "now you, Tron, lay back on that damn berth and stay there and you, Rinzler, keep that big mouth of yours shut. I get that you didn't speak for a thousand cycles and you have lots of personality issues, but still, if you mess my focus God knows what I can mess in your Disks."

"But..."

"That's up for you too, System Monitor," she warned, cutting my protest short, "I have to focus here so you don't end up derezzed... Or worse."

She returned to fiddling with my code as Rinzler began humming my adagio as his hologram paced around the room idly, looking at all the tech that was racked around the other berths.

"This is really nicely done," the Enforcer hummed as his immaterial hand ghosted over one of the devices, "one can take care of almost all malfunctions a Program can get with all these gears."

"But not repurposement," I said bitterly, bringing an unexpectedly sad smile on my evil half's lips.

"Not repurposement," he agreed, turning back to me, "Face it, Tron, you'll never be rid of me now that you resemble a User more than anything. We're in this together until we derezz."

"Don't expect me to like it," I growled softly.

"I wouldn't expect any less from you," he said slyly, "but we both have to live with it."

"I found the source," Emily announced abruptly, "the change affected some of your subroutines and they're clashing. I'll try and fix it."

She tugged at the code gently and a wave of pain hit my systems, tearing a shout out of my lips as my circuits flickered. I immediately knew that something was terribly wrong and the emergency shutdown protocols kicked in.

"You're losing him," Rinzler cried as I came back online.

"No I'm not," Emily's voice snarled, strained with intense concentration, "I've almost got it..."

Rinzler and I shrieked with pain at the same time and then it all faded away, allowing me to fully come back online. The Enforcer's hologram was on its hands and knees, panting hard and looking about as shaken as I felt, his image flickering before it settled back.

"What the hell happened," I demanded, getting up on wobbly feet only to get pushed back by the User.

"Turn around," she ordered, snapping the Disks back to the port, "That was one nasty glitch you had, but now it should feel a lot better."

"You say so?," Rinzler snarled, getting up, "Clu's testing hurt less than that thing."

"Would you rather derezz, 'cause I'd be happy to oblige if it wouldn't mean I lose him too," Emily growled before adding, "it would have spread if I didn't fix it in this early state, and you would have ended as a Stray."

"Okay, I take back my previous statement," Rinzler said quickly.

The Enforcer seemed to try to say something but it wouldn't get out. After a couple more nanos of chewing his words thoroughly he grumbled something too quiet to be heard.

"What was that," Em demanded.

"Um, uh... Thank you User," the Enforcer mumbled.

A surprise smile painted itself on the User's face and she bowed her head gracefully, blushing slightly. Well that was a first, I thought, Rinzler thanking a User for helping us. Hell had probably frozen somewhere as we were speaking.

Day 6 - Friday (of foul-mouthed Users and traffic idiots)

"I didn't go have some teenager fun in a while," Emily mused, tapping a slender finger on the steering wheel with a thoughtful look on her face, "We've been invited to a rager tonight night and I'l be damned if I miss this one, it's going to be epic."

"What's a rager," I asked confusedly.

"It's the wildest sort of house party..."

Another car bolted from a side street, crossing our path and the User hit the brakes with a sound curse that made even my worst choices of vocabulary seem tame. I jerked forwards against the seatbelt with the momentum and it forced out the air from my lungs.

"...Damn idiot, mind the crossroads you blockheaded jerk," she yelled out the window, making a very rude gesture at the other driver.

"Emily," I gasped as the User propped a palm against the horn of the car and held it there for a good 30 seconds.

"What, the fu..."

"EMILY!"

"..er didn't even look when he passed," she finished angrily, "He deserved worse than just calling him a son of a..."

I shot the User a stern look I kept for the times she misbehaved during a mission and she chuckled nervously, shrinking back into her seat.

"Damn it, User, that's one bad choice of vocabulary for a woman, be it User or Program," I chastised.

"Eep, he turned around," she squealed, cowering behind the steering wheel.

I evaluated the guy and didn't quite like the way he looked since he was easily twice my weight and almost as tall as me, wielding a dangerous looking baseball bat.

"I'd suggest embracing the oldest and noblest of pirate traditions," Emily chirped.

"And what might that be?"

"Run away as fast as we can," she squeaked, putting the car in gear.

"Then what are you waiting for," I growled as the guy came closer, "Punch it!"

The User obliged and stomped on the gas pedal all the way to the floor, speeding away from the angry driver with the sound of mistreated tires and leaving him in a cloud of dust as she cheered happily.

"Eat that, sucker," she hooted, pumping a fist in the air as she glanced in the rearview mirror, "Owned you, you idiot!"

Note to self: I have to wash the User's mouth with lots of soap. Lots and lots of soap.

"Why won't it staaaaart," Emily whined, aiming a well-placed kick at the Light Jet's hull, "glitching piece of shit, start already!"

"Hitting it won't help," I told her in a matter of fact tone.

"I'm sending this f..."

"LANGUAGE!," I snapped.

"...Frigging piece of scrap to the junkyard," she amended, glaring at me, "Seriously, Tron, it's annoying."

"Your choice of language is appalling," I shot back.

"I think I'm entitled to swear sometimes," she replied defensively.

"That's not an excuse for doing it all the time," I deadpanned.

"Oh, quit being such a stick in the mud and help me start this f..."

I unhooked my spare baton from its strap and gave her a hard rap to the head with it, leaping back when she lunged towards me with a growl.

"That damn hurt, idiot," Emily snapped, rubbing her head where I hit her.

"It was supposed to," I retorted smugly, twirling the baton between my fingers, "and I'll keep doing it until you stop using the f-word as a punctuation sign."

"You think that's bad, then take this" she spat, letting out a long stream of curses.

This time I swept her feet off the ground and sent her tumbling to meet with Mr. Floor.

"Don't push me," I chuckled evilly as she scrambled to her feet, "I trained you, remember? I can beat you to a pulp anytime."

If that murder glare was deadly indeed, I'd have been derezzed for a long time before the User hissed like a very pissed cat and lunged towards me. I simply stepped out of her way and let her crash to the floor again with yet another sound curse before I gave her another rap with the baton.

"Fine, I'll cut it out," she grumbled from the ground, "it was fun while it was."

"That's what I wanted to hear," I hummed contently, helping her get up.

I should have known that it wasn't over when her eyes glinted mischievously and she let out another swear before she bolted outside the garage as if Clu was chasing her with a bright grin on her face.

Day 7 - Saturday (family problems or problem families?)

"Take the next exit to the right and then it's the fourth house up the street," Emily indicated, groaning as her headache spiked again.

The party we went last evening was, lacking a better term to describe it, one of the wildest sort there is and Emily had a bit too many vodka and Red Bull shooters. Hell, who was I kidding, she had way too many shooters for her own good and now she had a massive hangover. I doubted that she could even remember half of the party and by the way she turned even paler and greener at the same time she had a hard time keeping her breakfast where it should be even though she insisted that she was fine, so I insisted on driving to her aunt's place instead of letting her do it. Going at her aunt's place wasn't exactly the User's idea of a fun way for spending the weekend but from what I had picked up from a very heated phone call she had no choice but to join the family meeting so she decided to spice it up by making me tag along.

"Is that it?," I asked, pointing to a brick house with three other cars parked on the driveway.

"Great, we're here already," Emily grumbled darkly, "Let's say hi and get going, that sounds like a good idea to me."

"Is it that bad? I thought that Users liked family reunions."

"Not with my family," she bellowed as we went out of the car, "you don't know my..."

"Emily, you're here," a high pitched voice squealed with delight, "I'm so glad you came!"

"...cousins," the User finished with a sigh as a pale blonde blur shot out of the front porch and nearly tackled Emily in a cloud of giggles and other happy sounds.

"I haven't seen you in ages," the other girl shrieked, "How are you? Did you finish high school? I'm going to Texas University, where are you going to college? Maybe we'll be at the same school. Do you have a boyfriend? Did you get a dress for prom yet?"

Okay, so there is someone worse than Quorra on one of her extra curious moments. The newcomer was skinny to the point of giving me the impression that a gush of wind would put her flat on her back, with a mane of bleach blonde hair and what seemed like an exaggerated love for everything purple by the color of her barely-there tank top and shorts. When Emily's answer was yet another pitiful groan as she attempted to regain her balance after the very… interesting welcome the girl turned to me, inspecting me carefully before she spilled another wave of questions.

"Who are you? Are you Em's boyfriend? Man, you're ripped she got really lucky. Did you get that scar in a car accident? How old are you? Do you like chocolate or vanilla ice-cream?"

"To answer your questions in order: my name's Tim, no, I'm her roommate, thanks, it's a long story, I'm nineteen, and I'll pick chocolate," I said with a slight smile.

"Glad to meet you, Tim," the girl beamed, squeezing my hand in an iron grip, "I'm Angela but you can call me Angie."

"Can we get inside now, Angie," Emily intervened, rubbing her temples, "I need something for a headache."

"Right away," her cousin quipped, bolting inside and we followed.

"She talks a lot," I noted, earning a weak laugh from Emily.

"Yeah, I know, she's the perfect brainless Barbie," she said, "I swear there's nothing in that head of hers and she thinks we're best buddies or something."

"I guess the feeling isn't mutual," I rumbled.

"The award for the biggest understatement goes to Tron," the User deadpanned, "it's going to be a long day."

Dinner was an interesting experience, more so since I was seated between the two cousins. Between Angela's seemingly endless stream of questions and an increasingly annoyed Emily whose scowl deepened by the second as she stabbed the steak in her plate like it brought her a personal offence I reconsidered my opinion about Rinzler's company. I could have someone to complain to at least, but the Enforcer was just as pissed as Emily was and not in a very talkative mood.

"I'd say to pay a bit of attention to the User," he growled inside my head.

"Which one of them," I groaned.

"The one you live with, null-unit, she's going to derezz that girl if she leans over to us one more time," Rinzler deadpanned.

Angela seemed to take a liking towards me much to her cousin's dismay and for the entire day she trailed me like a squeaking and giggling hellhound, batting her eyelashes and trying to get me alone. I knew all too well what Em's reaction would be so I tried to stay away from the blonde, managing to evade her pretty well until she insisted to sit beside me at dinner under the pretext of wanting to learn more about life in 'the Big Apple'. I expected Emily to snap and shoo her away but the User stuck to brooding in silence and a lot of dirty glares towards her cousin, leaving me to nod absently at whatever the other girl said and contemplate the idea of using something from the table to shut her up before my logic systems crashed from so much babble. I glanced at Emily and saw that her hands were curling into fists and then relaxing at even intervals under the table and she pointed a glare at the food in her plate, looking anywhere but at me and her giggling cousin. I couldn't get a good view but I knew that she was so angry she made the small piece of viral encoding she had assimilated in her system flare up, bringing that eerie orange tinge to her eyes she only got when someone had the misfortune to piss her off so badly she'd send them on an one way trip to meet their maker without a second thought.

"Thanks for the tip," I told Rinzler mentally.

"Don't mention it, I'm just trying to keep our head where it should be and not in a box."

After a couple more minutes of simmering in silence as Angela continued her attempts to woo me Emily quit playing with her food and got up from her seat still ignoring my questioning glance.

"I'll go get some fresh air," she announced flatly, heading out of the dining room without another word.

"Go after her, null-unit," Rinzler scoffed.

"She went to..."

"You're really unobservant for a System Monitor sometimes," the Enforcer deadpanned.

"And why is that," I demanded.

"Users, just do it already. We need some fresh air too after feeling like we got assaulted by a thousand energized ISOs, I don't know about you but that girl drives me nuts."

"Hey, I'll go out too for a second," I told Angela, interrupting her story about her last vacation.

"Oh, I'm coming too," she chirped.

This girl's playing with fire, I thought, either that or she's stupid.

"I'd rather go alone if you don't mind," I rumbled, "I need a walk."

And I need to calm Emily down before she does something she'll probably regret sometime in the next two gigacycles, though I don't think anyone would miss all that talk.

"Oh, okay," the girl said with a slight pout, "but don't go too far away or Emily will give me a hard time for having you get lost."

She'll give you a hard time anyway, will probably use a plate instead of a Disk and use you as target practice and I'll probably get my rear end handed to me in our next training session too. Scratch that, I'll consider myself lucky if I make it out alive after tonight.

"I'm sure she will," I hummed, getting up and leaving the table.

I found Emily in the back yard with what looked like a bottle of wine pilfered from the kitchen and a handful of knives spread on the grass in front of her. She was holding one by the blade and in the blink of an eye she threw it in a perfect arc, making it dig up to the handle in a large tree she used as a target before picking up another one.

"How come that you left your new friend," she asked in a deceivingly calm tone, "I thought you had a very interesting conversation in there."

"I'd rather call it a monologue if you don't mind," I said, watching her prepare for the shot, "and it was not interesting at all."

Her arm lashed out again, burying the knife into the wood a few inches above the first one and I noticed that despite her perfect aim her hands were shaking badly as she got the rest of the blades. The third and fourth one followed the others in a straight line up the tree, but at the fifth throw she gripped the blade too tight and hissed as it cut through her hand. She threw it anyway, finishing the line of slightly shaking handles that pieced her target before she bent over to get the wine bottle and took a long sip of it.

"You shouldn't do that," I pointed, "you already had a massive hangover, do you really want another?"

"Who cares," she retorted, "it's not like I give a hell on how I feel at the moment."

"Well I care."

"Do you now," Emily said and I could hear sarcasm mixing with something else in her voice.

"If you have something to say, say it, User," I deadpanned, "leave the games for another time."

"Maybe I don't like the way my Gridbug of a cousin tries to get your attention," she growled, taking another gulp of the wine.

"Oh come on, Em, she's annoying and to be honest I have no idea how to drive her away," I admitted.

"You seemed to be okay with her company," the User retorted.

Users, did she lose what was left of her mind?!

"No, Tron, it's... Users, you've read all those books, not me, I don't know how to call it...," Rinzler gave a mental growl, trying to find the right word, "Jealous, maybe?"

Another point for the virus.

"Hey, don't get mad about it, I don't like the situation either," I told Emily.

The User shot me a glare and then looked down at her bleeding hand sighing in annoyance.

"Great," she grumbled, "I don't think there is a Band-Aid big enough to fix this."

"Let me see."

"No," Emily hissed, snatching her hand away, "it's just a cut... Okay, a big cut."

"Will you ever stop being stubborn and listen to me for once," I sighed with slight annoyance and the User finally gave in, showing me her palm, "You're fussing over nothing at all. Why do you hate that girl so much, apart from the too much talking part which I understand completely?"

"She's a dumb bimbo who changes boyfriends about as often as I change my socks," she said, "I hate the idea of her making you her next acquisition. Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning on dating you myself anytime soon, but it's like letting the big brother I never had go out with the neighborhood skank."

"So Rinzler was only half right," I mused, "you're not jealous."

"Maybe I am... just a bit," she murmured, turning a bright shade of scarlet.

"So I'm the big brother you've never had, huh? I thought that was Mike."

"Mike's the best friend," she corrected, cradling her wounded hand, "but I've been growing fond of you and... I'm getting a bit protective at times with the people I care for."

"And you gave me a hard time for not letting you get in all sorts of trouble," I teased.

"I overreact sometimes," Emily shrugged.

"Well then, little sis," I told her, slinging an arm around her shoulders as I led her to the house, "we should get you to the hospital; you've got yourself cut almost to the bone with that knife."

"Hey, Aunt Irene," Emily called, sticking her head through the dining room door, "can you drive us to the ER? I got a nasty cut."

"I'm coming too," Angela chirped from inside.

"NO YOU'RE NOT," we both shrieked.

"But..."

"Angie, come here for a bit," Emily purred, a wicked smile on her lips as she whispered something in the other girl's ear that made her go pale and run away almost in tears.

"What did you tell her," I asked in a low voice as we entered the emergency room a little later.

"Oh, that," Emily chuckled, "I told her that if she bugs you or me anymore she'll have the same fate her old bichon had after she dyed mine pink in fourth grade."

"And what is that," I asked, somehow expecting the answer to be on the nasty side.

"I shaved it naked," the User laughed evilly, "and for her I would have cranked it up like ten notches and I would have even pulled your dye prank in royal purple, not green. Just to be clear, she didn't mess with me for a long time after shaving her dog and it was worth getting grounded for a week when Mom found out."

Ten stitches and a nasty reprimand about improper use of knives later we were back at the family reunion and somehow Emily managed to turn the stiff atmosphere into what looked now like what Flynn used to describe about this kind of meetings: noisy, a tad embarrassing at times and more often than not fun. Okay, it was actually pretty embarrassing at times, and that's something if it comes from me after living with Flynn for some time.