Tron: Adagio
By: Shadow Chaser
Author's Notes:
This story covers the entire comic, Tron: Betrayal, and flashbacks from Tron: Legacy itself. The scenarios of the game Evolution are not mentioned in here as I did not play the game. All characters are not mine, they belong to Disney.
Story:
The Grid
"This is where I saw them last, Tron," Flynn's voice had a sort of feedback as Tron listened over his internal headset to him, mentally dampening the sound of their lightcycles to make sure his voice was loud and clear.
He looked around him nodding absently. "I can see the bugs now," he replied, a frown on his face. "So many of them. Where did they come from?" he wondered out loud as he saw the gridbugs, attacking the newer sections and those yet to be built with ruthless vigor and intensity.
"Yeah, I'm still working on that," was his friend's absent reply and Tron arched an eyebrow at the white lightcycle that was a bit ahead of him on the road. Even Flynn did not know where these...things came from? That was a cause for some worry to him. He suddenly sensed that something was wrong and glanced behind him to see that the gridbugs were advancing on their position, at a faster rate than he had thought possible. A new threat indeed.
"They're gaining on us!" he let the urgency bleed into his tone towards Flynn.
"Oh crap," was the mild reply.
Tron's eyes widened in surprise as he refocused his gaze back upon the road in front of them, "The road ahead is disintegrating too."
"We're gonna need to go off-road," Flynn replied before jerking his lightcycle in another direction.
Tron was hardpressed to keep up as Flynn weaved in and out of the disintegrating section of The Grid. He knew that his own lightcycle had the potential to go off-grid, but his power supply was limited.
"Don't worry...this is gonna be good," it was as if Flynn had read his thoughts and pulled his lightcycle up onto a collapsing building section, one of the new skyscrapers that had been recently built, the gridbugs voraciously eating at the codes and data streaming from it.
Tron followed him, gunning his engines as the two of them rode at a sheer vertical angle up towards the higher points of The Grid, trying to get to the relatively safe distance where the gridbugs dared not to go, yet. Gunning the engines at intervals, he and Flynn managed to "hop" to another skyscraper in the distance, halting with a squeal of their tires.
"You all right?" Flynn asked.
"Yeah, you?" it still amazed him that as a User, Flynn cared a lot for programs, even ones not created by him, like Tron himself. It reinforced his belief to always serve and fight for the Users, especially one as benevolent as Flynn. Though he would forever be loyal to his own Creator, Alan-One, he felt that Flynn was like a surrogate of sorts, someone he saw as a mentor of sorts, especially with all of the things he built in The Grid for the other programs.
Flynn barked out a laugh at his question, "Are you kidding? I'm having the time of my life, man."
But definitely not a perfect mentor by any means, he thought as he shook his head. Sometimes he felt that Flynn took things in The Grid a little less seriously than he should. "But the gridbugs-"
"They're a problem, but nothing you can't protect us from," Flynn got off of his lightcycle and stared out at the remnants of the tower that had fallen, the gridbug's harsh glow waning as their appetites were sated for now. "You keep The Grid safe, and Shaddox and the others will run the projects and the games."
"But your very presence is required to help bring order from the chaos," Tron protested. The Grid was still very young, very new. He knew that Shaddox and the others could handle things, but even still, it was good to have Flynn near by in case something happened – which more often than not, happened in some frequency with the infant Grid.
"Don't sell yourself short, buddy. You're doing fine," Flynn turned and grinned at him, clapping him on the shoulder. "I brought you here from the old system because you're the best security force a guy could have."
Tron appreciated the vote of confidence, especially from the Creator himself, but he was still worried. "And you?"
"I'll look further into the instabilities from the outside," Flynn let go of him and climbed back onto his lightcycle and sped off, headed towards the portal which Tron knew was somewhere deep in the Outlands. Even his own programming restrictions prevented him from going towards the portal, but he knew that Flynn would be safe on his trip there and understood that he was not to accompany him.
His programming was to ensure the security and safety of the residents of The Grid, and it was a task that he was happy to perform. The curiosities of the outside world held little interest, even when Flynn shared some of the stories of Alan-One with him. He had just filed it away and took the stories as lessons to be learned.
A sigh escaped his lips as he turned and climbed back onto his own lightcycle, gunning the engine and sped back towards the heart of The Grid. He needed to see Shaddox and report to him of the new threat in this sector of The Grid. Construction would be delayed, but until he could ensure the safety of the other programs, Shaddox and his team would have to build elsewhere. Then he would have to assemble a squad of Guards to help him sweep the area.
The only thing he disliked about the Guards that Flynn had brought in to help him was the style of suits they chose to wear. It was not the black suits, but rather the coloration of them. He thought the orange glow that identified them as different from the regular programs looked too close to the sinister red hues that dominated the old system run by the corrupt MCP and Sark. But he had acquiesced to Flynn's request, not quite understanding what the User meant by having opposite coloration for regular programs and the Guard programs.
He arrived at one of the inner guard gates about thirty milicycles later and after asking the Guard that was on duty where Shaddox was located was given his position and sped off again. Turning onto several newly constructed pathways, the soft glow of digital building blocks illuminating his path, he abruptly pulled his lightcycle to a halt and stared up, his jaw dropping in sheer wonderment at the sight before him.
It was a polyhedron shape, not quite complete, but definitely familiar. The glow of the digital building blocks had already outlined most of the diamond-shaped building and he could only imagine what was happening on the inside. He could already hear the phantom roars and cheers filling the seats. The buzz and hiss of discs flying this way and that, shattering digital glass...
"The Arena," he whispered, a sense of giddiness filling him. He never admitted it nor denied it, but he had enjoyed the disc wars arena back in the old system. The only thing he did not enjoy about it was derezzing the losing combatants. But then again, back then he did not have a choice – it was derezz them or be derezzed himself; and his instinct for survival had been greater.
"Thought you might like it," Shaddox's deep booming voice spoke up from his right and he turned to see the dark-skinned program walking towards him, mirth on his face.
Tron shut his lightcycle off and twisted his wrist ever so slightly for it to materialize it back into its baton. He stuck it on the side of his suit and held out his hand to meet Shaddox's outstretched one. "Good to see you, Shaddox," he greeted, the grin widening on his face.
"And to you, old friend," Shaddox replied. He had been one of the earlier programs created by Flynn to help in construction of the The Grid, arriving soon after Tron. A serious program who took his responsibilities and assignments from Flynn with a stern face, Tron knew that the program wasn't always so. Underneath the professional exterior the program was a bit laid back during the times he was not working.
"When did you-"
"Flynn said it was going to be a surprise for you," Shaddox shrugged, "guess he didn't anticipate you finding it so quickly."
"I'll have to thank him when he returns," Tron mused thoughtfully.
"He has left already? So soon? I thought the two of you were scheduled to do a complete patrol of the outskirts in this cycle?"
"We found gridbugs taking demolishing one of the newer towers recently built. Sector 105 by the looks of it," Tron felt all of his previous humor disappearing quickly.
Shaddox cursed, shaking his head, "That was supposed to be the new residential areas too."
"Flynn said he was going to look at the problem from the outside so there is hope yet friend," he clapped the man on the shoulder, "but I wanted to let you know to keep your workers away from that sector for now, until I give the all clear. I'm taking some of the Guards there right now to deal with the infestation."
"How long?"
"About several cycles at least," Sector 105 was big, one of the biggest residential sectors, "I'm setting up barriers to prevent any of the gridbugs from reaching the other sectors."
"All right then," Shaddox nodded once, "you take care of yourself out there old friend."
"I will," Tron replied before grabbing his baton and broke it in half, making his lightcycle appear. His helmet automatically formed itself over his head as he climbed on and with a quick wave to Shaddox, sped away from him, headed towards Central Control where he would be able to pick the Guards to accompany him to Sector 105.
Author's Notes:
If you haven't quite figured it out yet, all titles in each "chapter" is based on the 22-track soundtrack by Daft Punk from Tron: Legacy. I'm only doing the original soundtrack, not the special deluxe editions.