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:

Adagio for Tron

Tron walked down the busy pathways of a heavily trafficked Sector of The Grid. This was where programs went to and fro on their business, doing what they had been created to do. He walked opposite of them, and though his face was easily recognizable and his armor design even more so, he had ran an overlaying design feature to disguise himself so that he would not be recognized. It was the same type of program he had written and given to Ophelia, but her version had been strictly modified for her own unique shielding system.

His passive systems were constantly scanning for any problems, but Tron did not expect any. Something in Theta Sector's destruction had halted all gridbug attacks for the moment, but what it was he did not know. However, he was grateful that peace had been kept for at least the last thirty-three cycles since then.

But even with the peace kept, all programs safe, he sensed that everything was changing. For once in all of his operational service, he felt he could not catch up. He felt like he was missing something vital and was watching The Grid leave him behind.

Tron sidestepped a program that was rushing in the stream of others. A quick surface scan told him that it was one of Shaddox's builders, late to work on rebuilding Theta Sector. He paused for a moment, letting the flow of traffic move past him in the opposite direction, wondering if he should alert his friend that he had an incoming builder who was running late, but decided against it and continued on his way.

A program running late was no harm done, considering that his surface scan had also shown him the origin point where the program had run from, the arena itself two Sectors away. He knew the program could have used the baton given to him when he was created, to create a lightcycle, but his path had been joined with several others, the program's friends, all of whom had origin points to the arena.

Cesta must have been putting up a great match if that particular program was running late.

A brief smile crossed Tron's face as he continued on his patrol. He had not talked to Cesta lately, having been too busy with his other duties and with the whole mess between Clu and the Isos. Even keeping up with Flynn had been taxing to his systems. Granted he had not even talked to Shaddox lately either, but hoped that the two would understand that his duties were far more important at this juncture. Perhaps he would stop by the arena in a few cycles to challenge Cesta again.

It would certainly be a wonderful distraction, he surmised, yet… Tron shook his head. He couldn't afford to let the arena distract him now, no matter how much he wanted it to. He needed to keep the peace. Tensions were too high now between the Isos and the Guards. He had even overheard derisive rumors from a few non-Iso programs and even Isos themselves that they had begun to call the Guard the Black Guard, a damning name if there ever was one.

If only…

No, he would not go there. Yori was good as derezzed to him now; Ophelia did not want anything to do with him anymore, too engrossed in the plight of her kind. Shaddox was too busy expanding The Grid, a commendable effort, and Cesta, he would not understand.

Tron suddenly stopped, nearly making a few programs collide into him as he realized that out of every single program here, there was no one that would truly understand where he was coming from. As far as he knew, he was the only one imported from the old system. Flynn had promised to bring over Dumont and the others, but after the disaster with the transfer and corruption of the files, there was no chance that those who were liberated from Sark and the MCP's influence would be able to enjoy the paradise he had worked so hard to build and keep safe.

All of the other programs in here were either created by Flynn or imported from elsewhere.

Only Flynn would understand, but after seeing the state his friend was in the last time they had met, Tron could only guess that something terrible had happened to him in the outside world. Perhaps something had happened to his son in the other world that made him so worn? It did not seem that way, but then again, Flynn did not seem as talkative or expressive as he used to be when The Grid was in its infancy.

The two of them were going through changes and trying to adjust. To him, he felt like as if The Grid one day decided that he was going to be left behind; and it was a very lonely feeling.

The sudden increase in the audio around him made Tron look up to see that most of the programs had stopped walking and were instead staring towards a particular point further up the wide pathway. He triangulated the point and had to smile a bit as he recognized Flynn's unique white lightcycle speeding down the pathway. What was surprising was that the lightcycle halted near him and the hatch open just slightly for Flynn to peer out.

"You, are not really as hard of a program to find as you think Tron," Flynn looked directly at him and Tron raised an eyebrow, knowing that his security disguise was still in effect.

Around them the murmurs of the programs grew, but they were not hostile. Instead, some where clapping while others were pointing and even giggling to programs next to them, treating Flynn's appearance as if it was a rare sight – which in retrospect, it was.

Tron stepped forward towards Flynn, letting his disguise drop and heard the sharp increase in murmurs as the programs around him realized that they had been standing right next to him and did not even noticed him.

"Easy to find?" he took his baton and activated his lightcycle as Flynn waved to the crowd before gunning the engine and speeding off, Tron following him.

"Yeah," Flynn seemed a bit happier as he led them towards the outskirts of the city and into the Outlands. Tron immediately set his cycle for an extended battery use as they went off-grid. "For a security program, you don't exactly blend well."

"The others didn't notice me," he commented mildly.

"Yes, well, they're…um…programs," though Tron could not see Flynn's face, he imagined the frown on the Creator's face, having been used to his User and human expressions all this time. "Bad example, I know. But you go against the crowd. That's way too easy to spot."

"For a User it is," he replied.

The small bark of laughter lifted Tron's spirits as he recognized where they were headed towards. Though the Sea of Simulation had shown him a vision of sorts, whether past, present, or future he did not know, he did not fear the place. Rather he welcomed it, a place where he found the calm he needed to recharge and even upgrade his own systems whenever the cacophony of noise at the End of Line club became a little too much. Zuse had upgraded the two mp3 programs with extra features so they played more up-tempo music that occasionally distracted Tron from his own thoughts.

"Could be for a User, but you probably want to try Alan's randomized pattern upgrades so the others don't catch on," Flynn stopped his lightcycle near the edges of the Sea and got out, Tron doing the same. He wondered why Flynn had brought them here.

"You certainly do look better than the last time I saw you," he smiled as Flynn turned to face him, shaking his hand in greeting. The distant glow of the open portal shined across the Sea, a welcoming beacon. "Are you leaving so soon after you arrived?"

"I have to. I just came in to give you a message," Flynn looked reluctant, but shrugged.

"Message?"

"Yeah," his friend handed him a small disc, half the size of his palm, "figured you could use this."

"What is-"

"Just, you know," Flynn shrugged again, "look at it." He clambered back onto his lightcycle and sped off without another word, headed towards the path that would take him to the portal once more. Tron did not follow; staring down at the small disc he had been given.

He did not need to scan it to know that it was safe; after all, it was from Flynn and ran the command line through to activate it.

"Hello Tron," the small image of his User, Alan-One popped up on the holographic display. Tron blinked in surprise as he stared at his User. He looked a bit older than he had imagined, and with funny round things perched on his nose too. But Tron could see where he was made in the image of his User, right down to the same smile they both had.

"Flynn told me that you've been doing wonderful things in the new system he's built. I don't know exactly what, but the stories he tells are pretty interesting at times," Alan-One clasped his hands behind his back, adopting a posture that Tron occasionally used himself, "to me, you're just a program, lines of ones and zeroes with a purpose that I've built into you, but Flynn tells me you're more than that and I believe it. The last time we communicated was when you needed information on how to defeat the MCP."

Alan-One grinned, pushing the round things up his noise a bit, "I think that's when I believed that you have the ability to grow and learn more and more than even I can imagine. Flynn's stories about your heroism, your efforts to make sure peace came to the system and to the other programs inside seem like wild tales, but I guess I do believe in them which is why I wrote your upgrades and gave you the best that I could think of…"

"And I truly appreciate them, Alan-One," Tron whispered as he felt the corners of his lips turn up in a smile.

"…So Flynn was telling me that the last time he saw you, you seemed a bit distracted and frustrated," his User continued without hearing him and Tron realized that it was a recording, not an actual conversation between him and his User. "He didn't know what to do to help you, so he enlisted me to say something. I…uh…I don't know exactly what to say, but I know you are doing the best with your abilities. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if things are confusing and frustrating, just take a step back, think, process, whatever it is you programs do and know that you will make the right choice in the end.

"I know you have the gift to make things right, Tron. You were created in my image and I am very good at what I do. You have the resources around you to maintain the peace and stability of this new system that you are in," Alan-One suddenly looked thoughtful and serious, "don't ever give up. The first thing I was taught was never to start a fight, but always finish it. Do what you feel is right and know that I will always approve of it. Know that Flynn will always have your back and know that you are doing the right thing."

The recording ended, leaving Tron to stare at the small disc for a few nanocycles before he looked towards the horizon where the portal's light was fading away, Flynn having successfully returned to the outside world. After all of his concern and reassurance for Flynn when they had last met, the Creator had turned the tables on him and had tried to ease his frustration.

He shook his head wordlessly, amazed at the ingenuity and depth that he did not know Flynn had. Users would always surprise him. The next time Flynn was in The Grid he would have to thank him for the uplifting message. It was just what he needed and it served to reinforce his commitment to his duties and to keeping the peace.

Securing his disc in a very safe place under his armor, he reactivated his lightcycle and sped off, headed back to The Grid; his first stop, to try to talk to Ophelia one more time and resolve this conflict.

Thank you, Alan-One.

Author's Notes:

I'm of the school that believes that Alan knows where the hell Flynn is going when he goes off-grid. I'm pretty sure Flynn would have told Alan and even Lora about his adventure defeating the MCP and stuff as soon as he was back in the real world. I also believe that while Alan knows where Flynn is going, he does not know exactly where the machine is immediately located. I think Alan has led himself to believe that Flynn is creating programs and stuff, but just using his computer and communicating with the programs that way. But being actually in The Grid itself is farfetched (at least in his opinion) and probably does not quite believe that the digital laser actually sends Flynn into The Grid itself. Its speculation, but come on, if I ended up in an adventure like that, I definitely would start babbling to my good friend and partner in crime about it.

That's how I see the conversation that Alan recorded for Flynn for his "program" Tron. He doesn't quite believe that they're human-like, but won't say no either. The musical queue in this is Track 10's violins, I was hoping they conveyed the loneliness that Tron feels, not the flashback scene we all know that's in Legacy (even though that was the coolest scene in the movie in my opinion).

Oh yeah, another sort of geek moment – the quote "don't start a fight, but always finish it" is paraphrased from another one of Bruce Boxleitner's characters, Captain John J. Sheridan from Babylon 5. I couldn't resist…I needed another Sheridan moment.