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:
Outlands
The Outlands were a deserted wasteland of jagged rocks, boulders, mountains that would soon be eclipsed by the ever expanding city within The Grid. Tron had no idea what Flynn had in mind for the wastelands when he first designed The Grid, but he supposed the glittering cityscape would soon take over the bleakness of the scenery. However that was not the case as he noticed that when the city grew so did the Outlands. Flynn had offered no explanation, except for a shrug and said something about chalking it up to expansion.
It was here that Tron felt somewhat at home now, away from the glittering confines of the city and of the recent events that he did not want to process. Ever since he had given Clu the data received by Ophelia, the Isos had been more resistant to the Guard's attempts to keep the peace in the area. Clu had eliminated most of the Guards patrolling the Isos' perimeter, but Tron had noticed one or two of them stayed.
The Isos themselves had started growing a bit more rowdy and taunted the guards that stayed. Once or twice he had personally gone in and tried to keep the tension down, but it had been hard. Then there were the mysterious attacks on the infrastructure of The Grid itself. At first it seemed like harmless pranks, but more and more the incidents had gotten serious to the point where even Tron was gravely concerned. There had been no proof that the Isos were to blame, but Clu had already begun calling it terrorist attacks. Surprisingly, the Isos had not even denied it which made him worry all the more.
He wished he could talk to Ophelia, but respected her wishes that he not appear before her again, their relationship cooled to the point where they acknowledged each other as formalities whenever within the vicinity. He had thrown himself deeper into the games, finding some solace and distraction on the cycles where the petty disputes and power grabs by Clu were more of an annoyance than an actual problem.
He still felt confident that his abilities to safeguard The Grid and safeguard this growing paradise was the best, but he couldn't help but feel deeply frustrated whenever Clu or even the Isos tried to undermine all that he had done. More than once, he wished he could sit the two groups into one room and knock a few heads together to try to get them to see things his way.
Perhaps when Flynn returned, things would calm down. Flynn usually knew what to do...
"Massive gridbug infrastructure attack, Theta Sector," the electronic tinged voice of one of the Guards spoke in his ear and he tapped back.
"Evacuation plans?"
"In place sir," was the swift reply.
"How many contingents?"
"Three."
"For a whole Sector?"
"Clu deemed it not necessary to current efforts, citing that Theta Sector is still being built," was the emotionless reply.
"Dammit," Tron gritted his teeth as he gunned his lightcycle to go faster. "Prioritize the evacuation of programs. Set up shielding to the energy recyclers in the area. We can't lose them."
"Yes sir, transmitting orders now. Shall I input an emergency override?"
"Negative, upload the latest HUD display," he completely understood why Clu wanted to allow Theta Sector to fall to the latest appetite of the gridbugs. The energy recyclers were an Iso idea, put forth to Flynn many cycles ago and construction by Shaddox and his team had only recently begun, albeit after the other programs of The Grid heard about the new initiative.
"Transmitting now sir. Good luck sir," was the reply before a slight click echoed in Tron's ear.
He brought up the display on his helmet's visor and saw that indeed the dots that were all programs, including the Isos living there were being evacuated into the safety of Epsilon Sector next to Theta. Even before he entered Theta Sector he already saw the waves of gridbugs voraciously eating every single structure in there. The brightly lit shields dispersed in few places told him that the three contingents of Guards that had been sent there were doing as he ordered, but the rest of the Sector looked like a complete mess.
His HUD pinged with the distress calls of two signals that were surrounded by converging red dots a few levels above him. Two programs had been trapped, probably stragglers who had tried to save whatever possessions they had with them. He rode hard and fast to the designated point, ignoring the warnings his own security systems were giving off and saw the two figures, one of which was supporting the other, a female program.
"Both of you hold on! I got you!" he shouted as he grabbed the two of them and revved the engine, speeding off the collapsing bridge and landing on top of one of the shielded energy recyclers, skidding to a halt with a screech of his wheels.
Releasing them he stepped off of his lightcycle and turned to face them. "Are you all right?" he asked the female program first.
"Yes, I think," she sounded breathless and scared, but seemed to be recovering her composure fast.
"Sir," he turned to the other program, "are you-"
The program gave a very tired sigh and pushed back his hood, "Tron, it's me."
Tron blinked in surprise at how haggard and worn Flynn looked. "Flynn? Goodness, you look..."
Flynn snorted, "That bad huh?"
Tron waved one of the Guards over who took the other program away before turning to Flynn. He had not seen the portal light over the east side, but then again the towers of The Grid obscured some of the view and he hadn't been the most vigilant. "Listen, Flynn, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but things have gotten worst. The tensions between Clu and the Isos are..."
He stopped talking as the two of them turned to hear the whine of multiple lightcycles coming towards them, Clu's lightcycle in the lead followed by a contingent of Guards.
"Speak of the devil," Flynn murmured, the corner of his lips twitching.
"I came as soon as I heard. Are you okay?" Clu asked as he stopped his lightcycle in front of them. Tron resisted the urge to say something sarcastic in response. "Was it another attack by the Isos?"
"We don't know that they're behind it," Tron replied, "all we know is that it's a gridbug attack." The information he had provided to Clu did not clearly define whether or not the Isos were the originating point of the gridbug attack, but Clu had used it to reinforce the patrols and random checks of Isos in parts of The Grid other than Sector 105.
"Are you really so blind Tron? You know as well as I do, the system was working," Clu gave him a steely look, "then they came along."
Tron bristled, but it was Flynn who spoke up his voice quiet and thoughtful, "Coincidence isn't proof, Clu. How do you know the Isos are behind any of the problems here?" Granted it was an Iso's plan to build recyclers and it would help manage the electrical output and currents within The Grid itself, but this gridbug attack was neither planned nor deliberate. Tron was mostly certain that Ophelia's people would not do something like what Clu insisted on implying that they were.
"Look around you," Clu got off of his lightcycle and gestured to the city, "they are the only thing here you didn't make, and they're spreading throughout The Grid. The problems of The Grid gravitate to them. What is it you always say?" The program tilted his head, "If there's smoke, there's fire, right?"
"Now you're trying to talk like him?" Tron could not believe what he was hearing. It was one thing for Clu to look like Flynn at times, but wholly a different one to start using his User euphemisms like he was the Creator himself.
"Clu," Flynn sounded exhausted and caused some concern to Tron as he saw his friend run a hand over his face, scrubbing his stubble, "things aren't always neat and tidy."
"No," Clu said, "no, they aren't." That admission got Tron's attention as he stared at Clu, "Sometimes things have to be excised to make room for perfection. You asked me to build the perfect system." Clu gestured to the decaying remnants of Theta Sector, the gridbugs appetite finally sated as they disappeared, "Does this look like perfection to you?"
It was later that Tron and Flynn were on their lightcycles, headed into Sector 105. Tron did not want to return, but nonetheless was obligated to follow and protect Flynn as he made his way deep into the heart of the Sector.
"What do you hope to accomplish, Flynn?" he asked over the hum of their lightcycles.
"I have to listen to Clu," Flynn sounded resigned, "I should have paid more attention to the Isos from day one. It's been too long since I've been to one of their cities."
Tron had to admit that his friend did have a point. Even Ophelia had commented on Flynn's absence, ever wistful and curious. Clu had made his presence known, but he hoped that the Isos did not alienate Flynn just by the fact that Clu looked like him. He looked up at the bridges and walkways where hundreds of Isos were going about their lives. Some had stopped and stared at them as they rode by, but more than one had frowns or angry expressions on their faces.
"I don't think they're happy to see us," he muttered mostly to himself.
"What do you expect? It's like we're from different planets. Well, I guess we are," Flynn replied.
"That's just it. They want to be independent. They want their own little world," he sort of understood what the Isos were going through and Ophelia's anger when he had asked her to consider letting him scan her code. They wanted a world away from Clu, it seemed, away from the restrictions he was trying to put on them. "They want to split away from the rest of The Grid," he continued, looking up at the towering spires and unique building patterns the Isos were always trying out, "in a way, they have."
"I'm happy to let them develop independently, but we need to help Clu find some balance between their needs and his," Flynn pointed out and Tron had to agree with him. At this rate if the two sides were to continue to bicker and argue his job would become that much harder and the innocent programs of the other Sectors would be affected.
They arrived at the tower that Ophelia resided in and Tron was surprised to see her and Giles waiting for them outside. "They're waiting for us?"
"Word gets around," Flynn stepped off of his lightcycle and Tron did the same, the two of them taking the steps up towards the entrance, "let me do the talking."
He did not protest in the least, feeling awkward to be seeing Ophelia again after she had requested for him not to see her again. But his ultimate duty was to protect and fight for the Users, and Flynn was his charge. He would go wherever Flynn went.
"It's been a long time, Flynn," Ophelia's armor had changed in the cycles since they had last talked he noticed as they stopped a few steps below her. She also now wore a headdress of sorts that brook no argument as to who was the leader of the Isos.
"Ophelia," Flynn offered up a hesitant smile, "it's good to see you again."
"Hmph," Giles stepped forward, "Flynn, the so-called Creator. You look smaller than I had imagined."
"They are both guests in our city, Giles, be nice," the rebuking tone was evident, but Tron noticed she did nothing to restrain him. He realized that she was not pleased to see either of them, but tolerated their presence for the sake of peace.
"They may be guests, but are you here to apologize for you lapdog, Clu?" Giles obviously held no such restraint and Tron narrowed his eyes. Was Giles actually speaking for her? "Ophelia doesn't want to acknowledge that things have changed. That we're better off alone."
He looked at Ophelia who avoided his gaze before back to Giles. He was presuming to speak for her! And she did nothing of the sort to stop him! What had happened to the once proud leader that he had known? "We're not here for any of that," he directed his ire towards Giles, disliking the Iso from cycle one, "we're here to talk about the terrorist attacks." If there was one program he knew that could be the source of the happenings within The Grid, excluding the gridbugs, it must be Giles. The program had so much contempt for Flynn that it angered Tron.
"You come here," the program laughed bitterly, grandly gesturing to the spires, "to insult my people? Have you no shame? Your programs have derezzed innocents, and you have the gall to come here and call my people terrorists?"
Tron opened his mouth to retort when Ophelia suddenly stepped forward, her eyes flashing a warning to Giles who looked like he wanted to continue. "Flynn," she turned to address his friend who looked so tired and saddened, "I'm sorry, Flynn. But this is a problem we need to prepare for on our own."
The dismissal was evident and when she turned to meet his gaze, he pursed his lips and nodded once. He understood that she was being kind to at least hear them out, but as far as she was concerned, she and the others had already made up their minds. He shook his head and gestured to Flynn to follow him down the stairs as they returned to where his lightcycle was parked.
"That went well," Flynn murmured as Tron activated his lightcycle and climbed up on it, Flynn doing the same with his and the two of them sped off, away from the spires and unique buildings that made up the Isos' Sector.
He let Flynn take the lead. "I'm sorry. I should have let you do the talking. I'm no diplomat."
"Neither am I," Flynn snorted lightly, "I'm still just in awe that they're actually standing there. They're amazing."
For a nanocycle, Tron thought that Flynn was talking about the Isos letting them go unharmed, but realized his friend was talking more about the fact that the Isos were something he did not create, but rather had watched The Grid itself create. The pull of a smile was on the corner of his lips. At least his friend and the Creator could still see something good out of this. Perhaps he should start emulating him a little more.
"I didn't make them," Flynn continued, "but I feel responsible for them."
There was a brief moment of silence between the two before Tron noticed something unusual about Flynn's helmet. It was as if rain was dripping down on the inside...tears. He had asked his friend about them during the early days of The Grid, noting that Yori had the same marks on her face after they had parted. Flynn was crying? But for what?
"And I forgot their birthday," he barely heard the whisper over the whine of the lightcycles, even with his audio filters on, "It wasn't supposed to be this way."
Tron wanted to reassure Flynn that everything would be fine, but could not. Even he felt that things were changing, that things were not supposed to be like this…
Author's Notes:
Sharinganavenger was kind enough to point out that they had thought the last chapter was the 2nd of the penultimate chapters. I apologize to anyone who thought that way – bad use of the word penultimate on my part. The other "penultimate" chapter if you want to call it that is much later on in this story. And most certainly is not the last chapter of this story. The story will end with Track 22, Finale which obviously is Chapter 22. ^_^ Hope this clears up any confusion!
Most of this chapter was taken word for word from the comic with Tron's POV dispersed in the dialogue.