Sam was exhausted. He had been going over his father's notes for hours now. Although he had gotten a better grasp on Tron's programming, he needed to take a break to think.

Not to mention that Sam wasn't exactly sure when the portal was going to close. His sense of time on the Grid sucked.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Sam rose from his place at the desk. "Ok Tron, I'm going back Outside now. I'll continue to work on the Grid, as well as figure out how I'm going to fix you. I'll make sure to come back as soon as I can."

Tron looked away from a small holo-screen he had in his lap. "Very well. Beta will escort you to the I/O Tower."

Sam frowned. "I'll be ok, you don't need to get her for that."

"It's fine. I'm already here." Two sets of eyes shot over to the doorway where the new program stood. "I have finished my patrol and everything is in order. There should be no problems getting to the Tower."

Tron nodded and Sam sighed. "Ok then. Let's get going. I'll be seeing you Tron." Sam said with a wave of his hand.

"As will I… Sam." Tron nodded from his place on the couch.

-failsafe-

By the time Sam had made it downstairs and outside to the streets of Tron City, Beta was already on her lightcycle waiting for him. Sam frowned a little, but wordlessly conjured his own bike. Within seconds they were off.

Beta took the lead, zooming through the now deserted streets.

The drive was uneventful, but Sam could still see a difference in the city. It was calmer.

He stared ahead at the lightcycle in front of him. It was a standard bike, nothing special. She maintained a quick but leisurely speed. They would reach their destination soon.

-failsafe-

They had finally made it to the base of the I/O Tower. After Sam had made his way back into the Grid, he had reconstructed the Tower.

Now, it was literally a tower and not just a floating platform in the sky. The average program couldn't enter though, not without certain pass codes. Plus, there was just no elevator.

In order to get to the top, one had to enter a password onto a secret terminal. From there, a tow line would drop from the top of the tower. Of course he could still fly to the top if he had wanted, but he would have to go through a web of security.

Sam had decided he wanted to a little more creative with the entry to the Tower. To this day he didn't understand why he had chosen this particular design.

Entering the code, two cables fell. Sam and Beta stepped into the looped ends, held tight, and were off to the top.

In no time Sam was standing before the beam of light that radiated from the Tower.

"Thanks for the escort… I guess I'll be seeing you." Sam gave Beta a small wave that she returned with a nod. Frowning slightly, Sam made his way down the path to the beam.

"User—Sam." Beta's voice stopped Sam when he was only a few feet away from the portal. Slowly, he turned to look at her. Their eyes locked, Beta's visor pulled up from her eyes. "You can fix him, right?"

The sincerity in her question made Sam's eyes widen in surprise. Seeing this, Beta averted her gaze.

"Yeah. I'll fix him up and he'll be as good as new." At this, Beta's eyes met with his once again.

"Thank you." And Sam stepped into the portal.

Sam nodded, feeling the corner of his mouth tug up into a small smile.

-failsafe-

"So how was it?" Sam blinked and found Quorra sitting in a chair, a magazine in her lap and her eyes staring straight into his.

"It was him. He's alive." Sam leaned back against the terminal and brought a hand to his temple. "He's really beat up though… I'm going to fix him."

Quorra bit her lip.

"And… Rinzler?"

Sam let the question hang in the air for a moment.

"I think he's gone. When I was looking through Tron's disc I didn't see anything that looked like malicious segments of code… just broken pieces of data that I need to fix."

Quorra seemed thoughtful.

"And the Grid?"

Sam blinked.

"Well, it is actually better since the last time I was there. The programs, they're actually behaving. The city is calmer." At this, Quorra raised an eyebrow.

"Tron brought order back into the city?" she asked in surprise. "In the state he's in?"

"No. As it turns out that my dad has this, this backup program. Tron activated it. She's been patrolling the city."

Quorra stood up and the magazine fell to the ground.

"You're not talking about Her are you?"

-failsafe-

Sam's eye widened at Quorra's outburst.

"'Her'?" He repeated.

Quorra bit her lip and looked away.

"I can't believe it… she's functional?" Sam nodded in response.

"Quorra. Tell me what this is all about." Sam demanded as Quorra fell back into her chair.

"That program. It's the one your father created right? The one that's an Add-On to Tron?"

Sam nodded.

Quorra bit her lip again.

"…He told me about her." Quorra started, twiddling her thumbs. "He said that she probably could've helped us fight CLU."

Sam raised an eyebrow at this and took a seat against a wall. "Why didn't you guys activate her then?"

"It isn't like I didn't suggest that. You father…. He built her very specifically. He said she was meant to function under Tron, and Tron only. She is supposed to follow his orders, work for him, and help him. He said that in her state, if we were to activate her… she would've been useless. He said that she was nothing without Tron."

The light bulb in Sam's head flickered on.

That could explain why Beta had asked about Tron's recovery. She would cease to function without him, especially since she was still in an incomplete beta form. It was just survival. But then just what was that sincerity in her eyes?

"Of course, we thought Tron had been derezzed by Clu. She wouldn't have been able to help us. In the end, your father had decided that breaking into the city to activate her was too much trouble. He would've had to re-write a lot of her programming for her to function. There was no way to get in, secure her, and get out in a feasible amount of time." Quorra paused. "It might have been a good thing too… since Tron was Rinzler…"

"My head hurts," was Sam's exasperated reply. "I need to just sit and think. I've been studying Tron's code for repair and that data alone makes me see numbers every time I blink."

He stood from his seat on the floor.

"Let's just go home for now."

-failsafe-

"Did you get the schematics for the building?"

"Of course. What do you take me for?" a snorted reply.

"An idiot." A snarky response.

"Shut up." An 'original' reply.

"Whatever, how does it look?"

An irritated sigh. "Encom doesn't play around when it comes to security. It looks like all those years of the Flynn kid breaking in taught them a few good lessons. And that's just according to last year's plans."

A shuffle of paper.

"Since the kid decided to take over the company… well just have a look for yourself."

A moment of silence.

"This kid is just a little shit isn't he?"

"You bet. Getting the old papers was ridiculous. Getting the new ones was even worse."

"Either way, we'll get in."

"Of course."

-failsafe-

tbc

Sorry guys. I'm late with this chapter… and this is all I have to show for it. Urgh. School is kicking my butt.

Anyway, I hope that last section wasn't too confusing to read. But hey, you didn't think I would forget about the villains who are supposed to be breaking in did you? This IS a crossover.

As always, review, alert, fave. 3