"It seems that you're popular around here," Heero said slowly as he peered through the darkness at the massive bridge in front of them. Harsh, red lights flashed and winked from the thick barricade that had been erected in the center by the Tron City Security Programs, assisted by the Tron System's notorious Black Guard. Heero could also make out the faint outline of two distinctive D-FILE light tanks parked in the center of the thick, seemingly impenetrable wall.
"I don't understand," Duo muttered from his crouched position beside Heero. They had taken up the high ground of a nearby cliff just outside of the city proper. Tron City had been built on a slight plateau in the center of a massive, circular canyon. The only way out of the city was over three bridges. One led to Arjia City, another to the Gaming Grid, and the third led to Argon City. Duo toyed with the end of his long braid nervously. "Why is everyone tryin' to kill me? They don't treat all Users like this, do they?"
"You're only the third User to appear on the grid. The last time one showed up chaos ensued," Trowa explained. That had been seven years ago. He looked out at the cloudless, dark sky. A gentle breeze brushed his bangs against his cheek. He reached up to move his hair out of the way. "Ground transportation is blocked, but we could leave the city by air." They would need access to a three-person light jet, not the smaller sized ones an individual could generate from a personal baton.
"Tsch, you'd think that if I was so rare and special I would be gettin' the VIP treatment, but nooooo. They wanna kill me!" Duo blurted irritably.
"Derez you," Heero corrected him casually before he turned to address Trowa. "I know where we can get a permanent construct jet for three people. We'll need to go to the Tron City Security Division motor pool and airfield. I have an idea." He could see the skepticism in the taller program's face. He watched as Trowa shifted his weight and crossed his arms tightly over his chest as he considered his proposal.
Trowa was having trouble believing that an amnesiac ex-guard could steal a jet from the Tron City Security Division, but with only two batons and three people, they were out of options. They needed the larger jet if they had any hopes of escaping together. It was also clear that the city security programs weren't planning on removing the blockades to any of the city's exits any time soon. "Alright." Trowa gave Heero the green light on his proposal.
Heero sighed and glanced over his shoulder to make sure nobody was approaching him from behind. He had left the User and his target program at the end of the white grid-lined airfield to wait for him while he acquired a jet. He hadn't explained the details of his planned acquisition to Trowa, who seemed skeptical about letting him even attempt it. He wasn't overly concerned. Getting a three-person jet was going to be the easy part. Explaining HOW he had retrieved it to the suspicious program hiding in the shadows nearby was going to be the hard part.
He followed the translucent, red force field fence to the blockaded entryway where two security programs stood on guard. They turned to face him as he approached. He immediately raised his arms up with his palms exposed to show that he was unarmed.
"You! State your handle and authorization!" one of the guards commanded as she drew her baton and activated it to form a long, red illuminated bo staff.
Heero hesitated, blinked and tried to organize his laggy thoughts before replying, "I am Security Program Heero, active member of D-FILE, p-program number D001-R," he stated plainly. He watched as the two security programs lean in to discuss his proclamation before the female guard waved her staff at him as if to beckon him to come closer. Heero complied and approached them with confidence. He knew that as a member of D-FILE he was entitled to practically unlimited access to local security division resources. He dropped his hands to his sides as he drew nearer and came to a full stop just in front of the blockade. The female security program narrowed her dark eyes on him while the male stepped behind Heero to verify his identity by scanning the disc on his back.
"It's late. Hibernation hours. What are you doing here?" the female guard asked as her counterpart performed his verification. Heero sighed and crossed his arms firmly over his black-clad chest.
"I am not required to report my directive to you," he said cooly. "I am in need of a three-person light jet. You are going to provide me one."
The female program's eyebrow twitched at his demand. Heero heard the male behind him grunt and mutter something incoherently under his breath. The large, angular figure of the male program soon stepped around Heero to flank his partner once more. "He is verified," he said, almost reluctantly. The female security program frowned and stepped to the side to allow Heero clearance to the compound.
"T-thank you," Heero muttered as he strode past them, ignoring their hissing whispers as he passed. He made his way to the right side of the compound where a massive, rectangular white jet hangar stood with its doors propped wide open and its inside brightly illuminated. He saw two black, deactivated jets parked one in front of the other, filling the cavernous space with their broad wing-spans. He quickly boarded the foremost of the two jets and climbed into the pilot's seat. He studied the controls for a moment. He was familiar with single-person jets, but he had never flown a three-person design like this one before. The basic controls appeared to be the same. He activated the engines and grabbed a firm hold of the yoke with his left hand while he pushed the throttle slider forward with his right to roll the jet out of the tightly fitted hangar. He taxied it to the far end of the glimmering runway where he had left Trowa and the User. He stopped it at the end of the line and peered out of the cockpit windows in search of his two new companions.
Soon he spotted a bold flash of blurred, cyan light from the far end of the airfield as a black and blue object arced over the force field fence. As the object grew closer he recognized it to be a light cycle. He could see two figures huddled on top of it. He watched as it slid to a stop in front of the jet. A leggy, lean figure dismounted, followed by the shorter, braided figure he recognized as the User. The light cycle vanished from existence and soon the two were running toward the underside of the jet. Heero found the button that opened the hatch to let them in. Within moments the smiling face of the User dropped down into the command seat behind him, diagonally left of the pilot's seat, followed by Trowa, who carefully took the gunner's seat directly to Heero's left.
"Woah! A friggin' jet! Look at this thing. Can I drive?" Duo asked playfully as he propped his feet up onto the armrests of Heero and Trowa's seats in front of him.
Heero frowned and elbowed the User's foot from his chair before closed the the hatch and sent the jet roaring down the runway.
"No," Heero said coldly. He gripped the jet's yoke control stick with his right hand and narrowed his eyes at the runway in front of him. "User," he added for emphasis.
"Would ya stop callin' me that. My name's Duo," Duo grumbled, annoyed. He snuck the toe of his boot back onto Heero's armrest and smirked.
Trowa looked over the controls on his seat, fingers running gently along the buttons as he familiarized himself. He frowned, wondering how Heero had managed to secure this jet without any known conflict. He felt the jet propel forward, speed accelerating, before they lifted off of the ground. Green eyes glanced over to his right and studied the program captaining their getaway vehicle. Once they were at a safe altitude he spoke, voice firm. "How did you do it?"
Heero bit the inside of his lip and narrowed his dark, prussian blue eyes on the black plane of sky ahead of them. He attempted to make himself appear busy by glancing down at the controls with interest. "I'm not sure what you mean," he said in a low, flat voice. "I stole it. Disabled the guards," he lied.
Duo looked from the glitchy program to Trowa, and then back again before speaking. "So what's the deal, huh? Who the hell is this guy?" he asked as he nudged the stuttery program in the side with the toe of his boot.
Heero scowled and was about to turn around and TELL this obnoxious User just who he was when the proximity alarms on the control panel blared to life, beeping and whining to get their attention. He looked down at the radar panel directly in front of him and saw three blips on the monitor. He leaned back into his seat and felt his disc click securely into place within the shallow circular indentation against the backrest to secure his body.
"Not now, Duo ," Heero grumbled said irritably. A red laser shot past their jet and illuminated the sky ahead of them as it continued on its missed trajectory. "Trowa, where am I supposed to be taking us?"
"Head for Arjia city," Trowa commanded as he gripped the control sticks on his chair. The once grand, now ruined metropolitan area would be about an hour's flight away from Tron City. His attention moved to the radar screen on the dash in front of him as the control panel continued to beep. "If you disabled the guards then why are we being followed?" Trowa booted up the two light guns in the back as well as the two in front in preparation for the incoming attack. As one of the blips started to gain on them Trowa carefully took aim and fired.
Heero saw one of the targets on the radar screen flicker and then darken as Trowa destroyed it. He sighed and tried to formulate a response to his question. His mind was processing slowly, all of the recent battle and activity having overloaded him. He tensed and squinted out the front window again. His vision began to blur and he frantically blinked his eyes to try and bring everything back into focus.
"You breached the external fence. They probably put two and two together," Heero answered as he began to key in the coordinates to Arjia City.
"Pssshhh, you really gonna believe that line of bull?" Duo asked from the back seat. He crossed his arms over his chest, bored, and tried to lean to the left to peer at Heero's control panel. "Anyone gonna answer me? Who is this guy? You guys know each other or somethin'?" He was beginning to wonder. The fight back at the End of Line Club had seemed well practiced and perfectly coordinated. Now they were going back and forth like they knew one another.
"We don't know each other," Trowa responded sharply, focusing the rear guns on the second target, his eyes never leaving the radar. The blue glow of the screen reflected on his face, bathing his skin in a calming fluorescent light. "I'm helping Heero return home." He took aim once again and shot at the second jet that followed them, nicking it on the side. Trowa bit his lip irritably at the miss.
Heero rolled the jet hard to the left. He saw Trowa shift and lock himself into his seat by the disc on his back, but Duo hadn't been so lucky. He saw the braided User roll out of his seat and land hard against the cockpit wall.
"Ow, fuck! Shit, what the hell, man? You think you coulda warned me?" Heero heard Duo complaining from the floor as he straightened the jet out and slammed his palm into the thrust control to send it careening forward into the dense darkness ahead of them. He activated the ribbon option on the menu in front of him. Two white, glowing ribbons of light began to trail behind the jet to create a diversion that forced the incoming enemy to sway and shift out of light jet's fixed ribbon wake. He began to rolled it and weave it around to create chaotic patterns of light behind them. He could see the two remaining blips on the screen separate from their formation as they twisted and turned around their jet's ribbon lines.
Heero saw that Trowa intensely was focused on his task of shooting down the rapidly moving enemy and within moments the aggressors were lessened by half. He grasped the controls, let off some of the forward thrust, and tilted the nose of the jet down. It began to curl and spin in a defensive spiral, careening towards the ground. Their attacker fell into phase behind them in hot pursuit.
"Shit! SHIT!" Duo was yelling frantically from his seat behind them. Heero didn't check to see whether the User had managed to grab onto anything before they began to dive. He saw the ground rushing up at them, but he held their course. Suddenly his vision darkened around the edges and began to drastically tunnel. He tried to blink the sensation away, only this time he couldn't shake it. His body became heavy and the hand that clutched the control stick refused to respond to his brain's sluggish signals. The ground was coming up at them at a startling speed but he couldn't bring himself to pull the nose of the jet up.
"Pull up! Hey! HEY!" The User lunged out of his seat reached across the center of the two control stations at the forefront of the cockpit. He grabbed the control stick, his hand crushing Heero's, and yanked it back. The jet groaned as it reluctantly shifted its nose up. For a moment it appeared as if they were going to strike the ground head-on, but at the last minute they tipped upward to become parallel with the ground. The enemy wasn't so lucky and soon their pursuer's blip vanished from the radar.
"Hey! HEY! Are you out of your fuckin' mind!?" Duo yelled into the glitchy program's face. "You almost killed us! What were you thinkin?!"
Heero tried to keep his eyes open and summon enough energy to scowl at the cocky User, but he couldn't gain command of any part of his body. Everything was shutting down. He could no longer think. Any thoughts he attempted to have froze and failed to fully form. His eyelids slid closed and his body went limp as he overloaded and went into automatic hibernation mode, his memory banks congested and his mind unable to process any further.
"Are you kiddin' me?! You've gotta be jokin', this guy is just gonna sleep?! He tried to kamikaze us, and now he's gonna take a nap!" Duo was thoroughly freaked out. He managed to get the jet to cruising altitude and after a few moments he had figured out how to set the autopilot to the coordinates that Heero had assigned to resume their heading before the attack.
"That's it, this guy's done. I'm takin' this shit over," Duo said hurriedly. He found the button that released Heero's identity disc from the back of the from the seat, grabbed him by his limp shoulders and shoved him hard into the rear commander station before plopping down into the pilot's chair. He forced his identity disc into his seat with a click. "I know you're the big guy in charge, Trowa, but THAT guy's a fuckin' liability," he said angrily as he jerked a thumb in the direction of the unconscious, glitchy program slumped in the seat behind them.
"He's in system overload. He needs a reset." Trowa looked over his shoulder and frowned. Heero was slumped over in the rear command seat with his eyes closed, his body limp like a ragdoll. It was always a sad sight when a program went into automatic hibernation mode; they became lifeless and unable to fend for themselves. Trowa found that he could relate with Heero because he, too, had his own issues with resetting. For reasons unknown Trowa wasn't able to achieve a full, hard reset on his own. It had been a week since his last, and he was starting to feel the harsh fingers of lag slowly crawl into his system. He'd need to reset soon. They needed to get to Elios.
As soon as Duo had the jet at cruising altitude, Trowa unlatched himself from his seat and got up to check on the glitchy program. He put his hands on Heero's shoulders and gently pushed him back against the seat so that his identity disc clicked into place. He then grabbed the seat belt and fastened it over Heero's shoulder and across his chest to secure him. "He'll be in hibernation mode for a while… probably the next couple of hours," he observed, bending down at the knees so he could be on eye level with the passed out program.
A sudden wave of unquelled curiosity surged through Trowa's system. Unable to still the urge, he brought his hand up to Heero's face and brushed a few strands of hair aside with the back of his knuckles. When he realized what he was doing Trowa quickly pulled his hand away, as if he had been shocked by static electricity, and stared at the skin he had just touched, a puzzled expression on his features. I don't know this program, so why do I feel myself being pulled towards him?
Heero was dead to the world, all of his systems suspended in hibernation.
Duo peered over his shoulder at Trowa with a raised eyebrow and noticed the careful consideration that he seemed to use when handling the dysfunctional program.
Nicer to him than he is to me, and I'm the damn legendary User, Duo thought with a frown before he turned back to the controls. He thoroughly admired the beautiful piece of technology in front of him. He hadn't piloted a jet in the real world before, but he had flown a few flight simulators in his lifetime so he felt that he had the jist of it. There didn't seem to be any real turbulence in the air, and just as he began to wonder whether The Grid experienced weather at all a bright flash of violet light filled the front windows of the cockpit. He squinted through the panes and saw rolling, glowing grey and purple wall of flickering clouds towering ahead of them.
"Shit, looks like a storm or somethin'. You guys have rain here?" Duo asked curiously. He couldn't recall there being any mention of that in Flynn's notes. "So like.. I get the discharge, but what comes down to the ground? Water? Or… wait, is it like a plasma? You know, like that shit were drinkin' in the bar?"
The jet shook as another flash of lightning filled the cockpit with temporary blinding light, only this time it seemed to have activated the radar screens. Duo gawked down at the monitor. "What the hell? Five bogies comin' up on our six!"
Trowa stood up and deftly moved back to his seat, ignoring the questions about the weather. He locked himself back into place and took up his controls. "Where did they come from…" His eyes watched the 5 blips move across the screen in their direction. Could they be more D-FILE fighter jets? Since this was one of their vehicles it was probably easily tracked. We shouldn't have stolen it. "How well can you pilot?" Trowa looked over at Duo. The User wasn't having any problems thus far. Maybe he had experience flying. Duo smiled confidently and shrugged both shoulders in a nonchalant, casual gesture.
"Never piloted a REAL jet or anything before, but I used to play a lot of Strike Fighters II!" He enthusiastically deactivated the autopilot and gave Trowa a playful wink. "You just shoot 'em down, I'll take care of the rest, huh? ' Good flying never killed an enemy yet! ' Anyway what button makes the ribbon thing, again?" His left finger made little circle motions in the air over the control panel before he jabbed hard at the prompt on the control panel. "There it is…"
Two parallel ribbons burst from the wings of the jet to once again materialize long, force field pitfalls for the enemy to avoid as they pursued them. He rolled and dove the jet erratically, pushing the throttle as far as it would go in an attempt to outrun them. The five incoming jets were fast, much faster than the Tron System Security Division jets that had tailed them earlier.
The five blips on the monitor spread out and formed a wide U-Shape. The exact altitude of the enemy jets couldn't be discerned from the radar screen, but from the way they were dispersed it was clear that some were moving up and over the light ribbons while others were dropping below them. He looked to his left and saw Trowa huddled over his control panel, his eyes narrowed and his posture stiff as he focused on the monitor in front of him with his long fingers wrapped firmly around his gunner controls. He looked natural in that position, and Duo began to wonder whether he had done this before.
"I need you to deactivate the ribbons on my three count, maintain current heading," Trowa instructed in a cool voice. Duo nodded and heeded his orders. He deactivated the ribbon, he assumed so that Trowa could take a shot without it blocking the laser's trajectory, and held his course and waited for the gunner to take his shot. He watched the focused program aim and fire. The second most blip on the left vanished from the radar.
The jet shook as neon green light erupted from the front of it's nose. Duo cursed and yanked the controls right to roll the jet over for a 180 degree turn before sending it into a reckless nosedive. He reactivated the ribbons to try and make a swirling protective wall in their wake before yanking the jet's nose up to climb in altitude once again.
"Readying shot," Trowa reported plainly. Duo nodded.
"Okay, which one are you going for?"
"The one on four," Trowa replied.
"Alright, gotcha…" Duo straightened the jet out and let his finger hover over the ribbon activation controls and waited for Trowa to let him know when he was ready to fire. He didn't have to wait long.
"Now," Trowa said calmly, his face placid and borderline uninterested. Duo, on the other had, was trembling with stored energy and excitement. He poke hard at the control and watched as Trowa took his shot to expertly dispatch the second enemy. That left three remaining jets clung on in close pursuit.
Duo reactivated the light ribbons and decided to try a maneuver he had done in his simulator a few times before. He abruptly decreased the throttle, yanked the altitude controls back, pushed the throttle slider to full thrust and sent the jet shooting straight up. The two of the three remaining enemies, surprised at his sudden slow and change of direction, passed right by him. The third broke off from the two before they passed and shot off to the right and was beginning a long, curved banking turn to double back and come in front behind them. He tilted the jet back and let it freefall down to the ground nose-first before yanking back on the controls to straighten it out once again so that they were now in pursuit of the two jets in front of him.
"Damn, this shit is easy!" Duo exclaimed happily, practically bouncing in his seat. "I shoulda gave up hacking and became a damn fighter pilot!"
Trowa didn't seem to hear him. He was busying himself with locking onto the enemies in front of them. Duo kept their jet in line to facilitate the gunner's aim as Trowa blasted a homing missile at them.
The left jet of the pair they were chasing burst into shimmering green light and vanished. Duo narrowed his eyes on the remaining jet in front of them. Now that he had visuals on it he could see that they were nothing like the jet they had taken from that airfield. The jets glowed a luminous green and appeared to have a molten, soft texturizing on them as opposed to the sleek, glossy black of their own jet.
"Who are these guys?" Duo asked as he lined up another shot for Trowa. A rain of red laser fire was falling upon them from the year, where the final attacker was attempting to shoot them down before they made their shot on its ally.
"Outlanders," Trowa said plainly as he took his shot on the enemy in front of them. The forward jet rolled out of the way before the laser could connect with it's fuselage, and instead took the hit to one of the wings. Sparking green and white light flickered from the wing as it tottered in the air, attempting to regain control. Their own jet was being pummeled by laser attack from their rear.
"Can't you do something about that guy?!" Duo yelled as he tried to use the laser ribbon to cut the laser attack off, but the rear jet skillfully darted in and out of their trap lines and continued to lob precise laser fire upon them. Trowa leaned down and shifted his focus to the rear guns and tried to lock onto the enemy, who was now using their ribbon wake to its advantage and began ducking and weaving through it to keep Trowa from getting a decent lock.
"This guy's good," Trowa muttered as he continued to trail the enemy's path. "Deactivate the ribbon. Now!"
"Yeah, okay!" Duo punched the control panel and the light ribbons that had been streaming out from the wings of their jet died away. Trowa had a lock and he took his shot. It hit. The rear jet burst into a cloud of light and electrified green and black pixels.
"Hell yeah! Good shot!" Duo exclaimed happily. "Wait a sec… where's the-"
SLAM!
Something rammed into the top of them and it was soon obvious that their enemy jet was flying just overhead with the bottom of its fuselage pressing hard into the top of their jet, forcing it downward.
"What the hell?! How… how is this possible?!" Duo attempted to right their jet but the added weight and opposing thrust from the enemy forced their vehicle into a chaotic corkscrew spin.
"Aw, fuck! Hang on, we're goin' down!" Duo yelled as he yanked and tugged at the controls. It was no use. They were inevitably going to crash.
Trowa and Duo both braced themselves for impact. The black, grid-lined ground rushed toward them and within moments both their jet and the attached enemy vehicle slammed belly-down into the ground. Dark shards of grid matter burst forth and parted to form a deep gash as their jet created a deep, jagged gash in its surface. Everything inside the jet lost power and they were plunged into darkness. After the violent shaking had stopped all fell quiet and only the occasional distant flash of lightning illuminated the inside of the cockpit.
"Ugh… man… " Duo's identity disc that had been set into the back of his seat had kept him from flying out of it. He lifted his head, rubbed the side of his face with a palm and groaned in pain. His head ached from all of the hard jolts from the crash. He couldn't see a thing. He peered into the darkness to his left and after a few seconds a bolt of lightning connected to the ground with a deafening crack nearby. It's radiance provided enough light for Duo to see Trowa sitting limply in his seat.
"Hey… Trowa? Tro? Hey? You alive? Shit, please tell me you're not dead, otherwise I'm stuck in this fuckin' place forever, man… hey!" He reached over to prod the unmoving program's shoulder with his index finger.
Trowa suddenly came to, opening his eyes as he jolted up straight in his seat. He gasped and put a hand to his head, cringing in pain. When the jet hit the ground Trowa's body had jerked to the side, head slamming against the cabin. The blow had knocked him out momentarily.
"Is…is... everyone ok?" He asked, a slight glitch to his voice. Trowa looked over to his right and saw Duo who nodded, and then quickly looked over his shoulder to check on Heero. The other program was still passed out in his seat. Good thing he'd been strapped in.
They needed to get out of the damaged, now nonfunctional jet. It was smoking and Trowa could hear the buzz of malfunctioning circuits humming in the air as they shut down. Soon it would derez, and the resulting explosion that often accompanied vehicle derezzing could potentially take them out with it.
Trowa unfastened his seatbelt and pressed the button on his armrest that released his disc. He stumbled from his seat, gripping the side of his head again as pain coursed through his skull. If his calculations were right, they had crashed just outside Arjia city. He knew of a safe house within the ruined city walls, and he needed to get everyone there quickly so they could recover and reset.
"Du...Duo… let's go." Trowa made his way to the rear seat and started to unstrap Heero. Once free, he scooped the unmoving program up into his arms so he could carry him to safety. Heero's limbs hung limply at his sides as Trowa hoisted him up against his chest.
Duo blinked and watched with concern as Trowa fished the smaller program out of the seat and picked him up. He had caught the hesitation in his voice. From the weary look on his face and the sluggish way Trowa was moving Duo could only assume that he had sustained some sort of damage in the crash. He peeled himself out of his own seat and followed Trowa through the tilted fuselage of the jet. They both stumbled out of a gaping tear in its side. As they climbed over the mounds of displaced grid matter the tumultuous clouds overhead tore open, dropping thick sheets of blue, luminescent rain.
"GREAT! Just great! Fuck this fuckin' place. Seriously, I'm so done! It's just been one thing after a goddamn 'nother! First it was almost gettin' mowed down by traffic, and then I've got a buncha crazy cyberpunk weirdos tryin' to rip me apart… why is everyone tryin' to kill me?" Duo whined to nobody in particular as he stumbled away from their crashed, twisted jet. He could see Trowa picking his way through the rubble behind him while he held that dysfunctional jerk who almost killed them with his spontaneous bout of narcolepsy. "Now the jet is ruined, and rain! Let's have some rain! Why not? It can't get any more miserable than thi-"
A bolt of green energy shot past his face to cut his sentence short. He reflexively backpedaled and searched around frantically for its source. To his right a dark, haggard figure emerged from over a jagged outcropping that had been formed by the enemy jet as it had plunged into The Grid. It was the enemy pilot. He was doubled over - clearly injured - with a rifle clutched in both hands pointed right at him.
"USER! You're coming with me!" the man growled as he hobbled forward at him. Duo tensed and felt white-hot anger begin to boil up from his stomach to sear the center of his chest. His fists clenched and his shoulders began to shake as his rage swept across his mind and dulled any other thought or sensation.
"You want me? COME AND FUCKIN' GET ME!" Duo screamed. He grabbed his disc from his back and, fueled by frustration and fury, ran at him.
"Duo!" he heard Trowa call after him as he bolted.
As he neared the enemy Duo could make out more details in the darkness. The haggard figure seemed pieced together, everything about him mismatched. He wore a grungy white light suit beneath a variety of strangely colored and shaped panels of makeshift armor. Unlike the sleek, black style of the Tron City programs this guy seemed roguish and rough, wild and uncultured.
The enemy didn't shoot. Duo knew that he wouldn't. They wanted something he had, and he knew that if they derezzed him whatever that was would be lost. As he got within attacking range he wound his arm back and swung. The rough program caught his disc with the stock of his rifle and parried him. He tried to plant a kick at his torso but Duo managed to duck the attack, sidestepped and swung again. Dodge, parry, deflect. They danced around one another, Duo swinging wildly at his opponent while the program tried to fend off his flurry of attacks.
"GAAAAHHH!" Duo screamed, pulled back and with a furious swing he managed to connect his glowing blue and white disc. He slammed it into the top of the enemy's shoulder and sliced down towards the center of his chest. The program's scream was cut off by the resolution of derez and Duo soon found himself alone, standing atop a mound of black grid matter, twitching as his energy continued to flux. He dropped to his knees and stared down at the radiant white and blue disc in his hands. He had never killed anyone in his life and, despite the fact that these constructs weren't exactly 'alive', he found himself sliding uncontrollably into a swelling wave of shock.
"What the hell… what the HELL!" he yelled down at the disc. "Ugh… I just wanna go home… fuck this."
Trowa watched the dramatic scene unfold from nearby as he stood within the lightning and heavy rain. He was about to set Heero's lifeless body down so he could run to Duo's aid, but the User ended the fight almost as quickly as it had started. Now he watched the other bend over with his hands and knees on the ground, disc clutched between his hands.
It was clear that Duo was in a state of shock. While Trowa knew he should go over and comfort the stunned User, they couldn't linger out there for long. There might be more Outlanders lurking nearby and it was dangerous to stand out in the open like this. The area surrounding Arjia city wasn't safe after The Purge. "W...we have to go. Follow me."
The rain fell in heavy sheets, soaking them through their clothes and making their hair stick to their faces in a miserable way. Trowa hadn't been caught in a storm of this magnitude in a long while. He kept quiet for the most part and trudged on, noticing the dull headache from the crash was starting to dissipate and his speech was slowly going back to normal.
More than once Duo asked why they didn't just use their batons to summon their light cycles and just ride into the city rather than walk, and Trowa had to patiently explain that he couldn't put Heero on a light bike in his current state. The other wouldn't be able to hold on. Also the brightly colored lights and the noises from the bikes would draw unwanted attention. So the small group trudged through puddles of rain covering slippery rocks and made their way slowly to the ruined city.
Arjia City was nothing like how Duo had envisioned it. Kevin Flynn had written about the legendary city at length in a few of his works. He knew it to have been a place where Isomorphic Algorithms and basic programs had once lived together peacefully, and where the quasi-religious sects of Radia followers had once erected their great temples.
Duo had always been fascinated by the lore that centered around the ISOs and the Alpha-class religious and political leaders who operated out of Arjia City. According to Flynn, Radia (formerly known as Ophelia) had been one of the first Isometric Algorithms to spring to life from The Grid. She was said to have changed her own name, and to have chosen her own directive by becoming the leader of the Arjian ISOs.
Duo frowned as he walked slowly behind Trowa, his widened violet eyes took in the dark, craggy remains of what had once been a spiraling, shining and peaceful city. Because the focus of The Purge had been a genocidal act against the ISOs the city of Arjia had fallen victim as well. ISOs were the lifeblood of the city and much of the population had consisted of ISOs and ISO-sympathizers. Clu found them to be a threat to his system, made the citizens of Arjia City his primary target and destroyed them.
Now nothing seemed to be left except the gaping, hollow grey and black skeletons of a formerly prosperous city. Duo wondered what it had been like back then. Were the programs and ISOs who lived there as cold and aloof as those he had encountered in Tron City?
The hideout was located on the outskirts of the eastern side of the city. Trowa had used the small space several times whenever stopping to rest in Arjia city. As far as he could tell, no one else knew about the spot. It was always just as he had last left it. Trowa guided Duo and the hibernating program in his arms towards a three story abandoned building hidden behind the remains of a tall skyscraper. They entered through the back and crept around in the dark until they found the room on the second floor.
Trowa pushed the door open and carried Heero inside, Duo following not far behind. He reached out in the dark and let his fingertips feel against the cool wall until he located the switch. A few seconds later the room was bathed in a dim, pale light. The hideout was small, but clean and dry. There was a makeshift full-sized bed in the corner and a large window on the far facing wall with its glass still intact. It was sparse in furnishings, but it was safe and they'd be able to sleep here tonight.
Trowa carried Heero over to a chair and set him down, his arms glad to be free from the burden of carrying extra weight. He slipped his wet jacket off and draped it over the back of the chair. Everyone was soaking wet and they needed to dry off and put on fresh clothes. "There should be some towels in the cabinet over there." Trowa gestured towards the opposite end of the room and waited for Duo to retrieve them.
He stood over Heero's limp form and careful removed his disc and set it on the top of an empty dresser. Next he began to remove the wet clothes that were stuck to Heero's body, starting with the black tank top. The hibernating program was unable to hold his own weight up, so when Trowa yanked the tank top off Heero slumped heavily forward. The taller program had to quickly grasp his bare shoulders to steady him. It was then that Trowa noticed a rather large scar that ran diagonally across the back of Heero's left shoulder blade. He let the other program rest the side of his face against his abdomen while he surveyed his exposed back, frowning as his hand reached out and trailed his fingers over the intense scar.
Duo returned with an armful of folded towels in hand. "How did you find this place huh? It's got everything. I mean, there was mouthwash in the bathroom. It's funny, you guys don't have any toilets. I guess if you don't eat ya don't really need 'em…" Duo rambled as he passed through the door. He stopped when he saw Trowa inspecting the unconscious program's exposed back. He raised an eyebrow at him as he walked up to the bed and dropped the pile of towels down before he snatched one up and rubbed at the top of his rain-soaked head and shoulders to dry them.
"That's a pretty weird lookin' scar," he observed casually as he peered at the diagonal gouge in the other program's back. It appeared to be deep, and unlike scarring he had seen in his own world, this scar was grey-blue with small pixelated flecks lining its edges. It appeared to be slightly faded which made it seem as it if were very old.
Duo draped his towel over his shoulders and grabbed a second one before he approached them. He decided to try and make himself useful and began to pat the unconscious program's back to help dry him.
"Why did he ask for your help? What's his story?" Duo didn't know the first thing about this other program aside from Trowa's previous statement about trying to help him 'get home'.
Up until this point Trowa had avoided giving Duo any information on where they were going or who he was. The User was slowly gaining his trust and Trowa felt comfortable enough to start answering his questions.
"To get you out of the System and back to where you came from, I have to take you to the Gate. It's the only way out…" Once they finished drying Heero's chest and back off Trowa gently pushed him against the chair, squatting down in front to start undoing his wet pants. Deft hands worked at pushing the fabric down Heero's narrow hips.
"I'm part of a group called Aether. My motive is to protect the Gate and the Gatekeeper, Elios. I'm also known as 'the Runner'. It's my job to escort select programs or Users to the Gate." Trowa grabbed the towel and started to dry Heero's lower half off, eyes traveling over the program's nether regions before quickly looking away. "Heero… said he used to be an Aether Guard and that he needs help finding his way back. His memory has been erased."
Duo helped him to get the deactivated program dry as best he could. He tossed the towel over Heero's head and began roughly fluffing his hair to dry it before yanking his torso back by the back of his neck to keep him from slumping forward while Trowa worked on his legs.
"I thought you said you don't know each other," Duo said as he dabbed at the dim, cyan blue lines drawn into Heero's chest with the towel. "When you guys fought earlier it was like you'd done that before. If he's an Aether guard you woulda met him before, right?"
"I don't know him." Trowa finished drying Heero off, stood up and put his hands on his hips. "I know most of the Aether guards, but not all… And I can't explain why we fought well together. It's strange…I don't know." He frowned as he thought about it, and then shook his head.
Trowa gripped the bottom of his white t-shirt and quickly pulled the fabric up and off of his body, eager to get out of the cold, wet material. Thin rivulets of water ran down his chest and over his hard abs. They traveled further south until they disappeared under the waistband of his tight black pants. Trowa unzipped his pants, and wiggled out of them until he stood there fully exposed and naked with no shame before he walked over to the bed and grabbed another towel so he could dry his body off.
"Huh," Duo studied the long, lithe body of his companion program as he stripped. Trowa was quite the looker, clad in thick, sinewy muscles and smooth, tight skin. He had noticed that the tall program has similar cyan lines as Heero, though his were significantly brighter. He assumed it was because he was activated and had energy.
Duo found the way the programs operated fascinating, though he knew very little about them. Flynn's writings had been focused on the cities and the politics of the world. He had given very little information about the programs themselves, or how they went about their daily lives. Hilde had had lines on her body similar to these two, though hers had been in a different pattern. He looked down at Heero's cyan pattern. The unconscious program's lines matched bilaterally across his entire body. They started at what appeared to be behind his ear and traveled down the sides of his neck to his collar bone, where they made a 90 degree angle and ran along his shoulders before doubling back to create a parallel line with the first. Then they dove down the center of his chest, zig-zagged and then plunged down his abdomen, traced the raised muscles over the dips in his pelvis and then finally flared outward to line his legs. He looked up at Trowa and watched him as he rubbed the rain from his body, blinked and then looked back at Heero.
The pattern on their bodies was the same. Duo thought it was unusual, but he figured maybe it was a thing all of the Aether guards had. Besides, he didn't want to admit to Trowa he had been checking him out. He smirked at the thought, tilted Heero back and made sure that he wouldn't fall out of his chair before he started to dry his own arms and legs off with the towel from around his shoulders.
"So how does this work?" Duo asked as he studied his leathery suit. "You guys take your clothes off, but what about this thing?" He gestured to his tightly fitted light suit. "How do I even take this thing off?"
"Let me show you," Trowa said as he draped his towel around his shoulders and walked over to Duo. He took the disc from the User's back and flipped it on its side and activated it so that it projected a web of blue data. He held his index finger up and ran the tip over a specific line of code. Duo's light suit instantly pixelated and dissolved from his body, leaving him standing there nude. "There." Trowa offered the disc back and tossed Duo a towel so he could dry off.
Trowa politely averted his gaze and went over to grab his own disc off the top of the dresser. His fingers tinkered with the code and Duo watched as Trowa's jacket and black pants pixelated and disappeared, as if the program had stored them in his disc. Once he was done drying off, Trowa accessed a piece of code that quickly covered his lithe body in his own light suit.
Duo hurriedly dried off before tossing his towel on the floor in the corner of the room. He picked up his disc and turned it over curiously in his hands.
"Uh… oh, wait. There it is," he muttered. He was a fast learner, and he was rather tech savvy. It didn't time him long to figure out the menus and within moments a freshly pixelated light suit skimmed across his body. He set his antique disc back on the dresser and eyed the room. It was small, and the bed was barely sufficient for two people. He raised an eyebrow at it and gestured to Heero.
"So what are we supposed to do with him? And I mean… I guess I can sleep on the floor," he said as he gestured to the bare spot beside the bed.
Trowa reached down and brushed his hand over Heero's shoulder, wondering about that strange scar again. He couldn't get the image out of his mind, unsure why he was so fixated on it. The other program's skin was ice cold to the touch. Normally programs were pretty susceptible to the cold, but Heero seemed to have fallen victim to the chilled environment's effects.
Trowa frowned. "We can all fit in the bed… it gets really cold here at night and I only have one blanket." He grabbed Heero's disc next and selected his light suit so that the other was no longer sitting there naked. Trowa was exhausted and in need of some sleep, and it was starting to show in his laggy movements and tired voice. He turned around and picked Heero up off the chair, carrying him over to the makeshift bed.
Duo grabbed Heero's legs and helped Trowa haul the smaller program up onto the center of the bed and shoved Heero over until he was lying on his back.
"Man, I'm beat…" Duo grumbled as he grabbed the unconscious program by the light suit-clad ankle and forced his feet together to make more room. He climbed over Heero's body and slumped down beside him and then stared up at the bare ceiling, yawning widely. "So tomorrow where are we goin'?" He grabbed the corner of the blanket that was folded at the foot of the bed and began tugging it up over their bodies.
"We head into the Outlands tomorrow and then we have a few more days of travel left until we reach Elios." Trowa picked the discs and batons up from the dresser and walked them into the closet to place them in a secret alcove. He hid them in the dark for extra security reasons, just incase they were attacked during the night or Heero woke up and snooped around. Trowa still didn't trust the other program.
He returned to the room and walked over to the bed after flicking the light switch off. Trowa crawled onto the empty side of the mattress and laid his long body down, tugging the covers up over himself. Duo had been right, their sleeping space was indeed tight with three people but right now he was too tired to care. Trowa pressed his form against Heero's and closed his eyes.
"Night…" He called out to the User across the mattress.
"Hmmnn… yeah, g'night," Duo mumbled and in less than a millisecond he was out like a light.
Heero reactivated to the sensation of pressure against both sides of his body. He ran his tongue across his dry lower lip and forced his eyes to crack open. He had only ever overloaded once before shortly after he had been compiled and he had no idea what D-FILE had done to restore him. As he stared up at the ceiling he still felt sluggish, his vision slightly blurred. It took him a few long moments to gather his thoughts and assess his situation.
He did a quick assessment of his body and realized that he was lying flat on his back against a comfortably soft surface. His fingers twitched and as he tried to push himself up to a sit but he was obstructed by something stretched firmly across his chest. He turned to his left and saw that his target, Trowa, was lying against his side, facing him with his lean, muscular left arm stretched straight out and resting heavily across his chest. Heero soon became very aware of the other program's long body pressed along his side. He stiffened and tilted his head to the left to study the sleeping figure beside him.
Trowa's right arm was bent and tucked under his head, his cheek nestled against his black light suit-clad forearm. Heero could only make out his left eye through his auburn hair which was softly lidded, its full, dark brown lashes flared thickly across his top edge of his cheek. He looked relaxed. The tension that normally played across his jaw and mouth were gone. Trowa's smooth face was refreshingly tranquil, and Heero couldn't stop staring at it.
He frowned. He was irritated with himself. He found Trowa attractive - that was a given - but the way he kept quietly fawning over him was getting ridiculous. Heero had seen plenty of handsome and beautiful programs on The Grid in his short life span. Like Trowa had said before at the End of Line Club; he was just a regular program. There wasn't anything special about him.
Except that was wrong, and Heero knew it. As much as he wanted to deny that there was anything unusual going on between them he had to face the facts. He and this program had an uncomfortable magnetic pull that kept drawing them together. He wasn't sure if it was just lust, or perhaps some form of unusual admiration, but he knew that if he didn't try to shake these unusual feelings soon they would get in the way of performing his directive.
I'm on a bed, he thought to himself as he took in his surroundings. He wasn't sure how they got there, how long he had been deactivated or where they were at this point. The last thing he remembered he was piloting the light jet as it fell into a daring dive. Clearly they had made it out of that situation without being derezzed, but where were they? Heero could only assume that this was Arjia City, the destination Trowa had previously mentioned.
He felt something hard digging into his right side. He slowly tilted his head in the opposite direction and saw the User lying beside him. Unlike Trowa, who was side-lying, pressed up against him and parallel to his own body, Duo was sprawled out on his back. The pressure he felt in his right side was soon identified as the User's knee. Duo was lying flat on his back with his legs bent, hips flexed up and open with his heels touching together. His left arm was extended outward and rested over Heero's head while the other was hanging off of the opposite side of the bed. He had what Heero assumed was supposed to be their shared thick, pale grey blanket balled up around himself. He could see him twitching and unlike Trowa, who appeared serene, Duo's face was tight and anxious, even in hibernation.
Heero frowned and turned his face back to the ceiling. He shifted to his left in an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure against his side from Duo's knee, only to find himself melding into Trowa's larger frame. His right hand snaked out and grabbed the edge of Duo's hoarded blanket in an attempt to gather some for himself but the User managed to hold firm. It wouldn't budge.
He blinked wearily and gave up the fight for the blanket. He closed his eyes and felt his exhaustion start to lull him into hibernation. He was cold. His hair felt damp, and as he inventoried his body again he realized that he no longer wore his casual clothes. He could feel its thick, pliable fabric of his light suit wrapped tightly around his arms and legs.
I have to destroy the Gate, he repeated over and over in his head a few times, hoping to comfort himself by reciting his directive. I have to stay focused. I can't allow these feelings to get in my way.