AN: Alright, I'm cutting Tagged into two chapters. It's one of my favorite episodes, but it has to be shortened for multiple reasons. Thanks to 2theSky for your awesome review :)

Chapter Twenty Four

She had fun fumbling around with the bits and pieces of code she had found. Tron was in the healing chamber while Beck went off to work, giving Mira time to figure out whether it was possible to create an artificial life form on the Grid. Programs could exist, and Users could live on the Grid, so why couldn't cats?

The code wasn't complex. It was just enough to create a screen that she could touch. And when she touched the screen, she was surprised to see various shapes and sizes appear. She doubted Tron was keen on the idea of having some pet running around the safehouse, but it couldn't hurt to try.

Mira grinned when she used her finger to draw a line across the screen. The screen suddenly disappeared after she finished working with the code. Mira's eyes widened when a butterfly began fluttering around the room, flapping vibrant neon green, blue and yellow wings.

"Where did that come from?" Mira nearly leaped out of her suit when she heard Beck's voice coming from behind. She whirled around to see that he was standing near the stairs, grinning like an idiot.

"Does Tron know you're here?" she muttered crossly. The butterfly had disappeared, much to her disappointment. It had been about the only vibrant object in the room.

"He just stepped out of the healing chamber," Beck replied when she stood up.

"I was... trying to make a cat," she explained after shaking off the surprise. Beck raised an eyebrow in confusion. "A cat's an animal, sort of like a User but it walks on all fours, and it has whiskers, a tail and pointy ears... and claws." She smiled as she remembered the kitten she had begged her parents to get her.

"Okay..." Beck sounded more confused than ever as he turned around.

Mira sighed in frustration as she followed him back to the main room. She wasn't surprised to see Tron looking at an image on the screen. But she was surprised to see what he was looking at.

"Looks like our fan club strikes again," she said when she saw the 'Tron Lives' symbol on the screen.

"You mean my fan club," Tron snapped.

"Hey, you made a joke!" Beck grinned when Tron glanced at him. Mira simply tilted her head to one side as she studied the codes.

The style was vibrant, bright, and obvious. Who ever had done this knew how to get Tesler's attention. Mira suddenly wished that she had thought of doing this cycles ago. She smirked as she imagined the look of disbelief on Clu's face when he saw those images.

"Have you found anything out about these programs?" Tron asked as he went on looking at the images.

Tron had sent Beck on solo missions to find out more information on the mysterious programs for the last couple of cycles. Though Mira was annoyed that he had chosen just Beck to go, she couldn't blame him. If more than one program was sent to spy on them, the ones that caused the symbols would get suspicious.

"There's nothing about them. The soldiers don't even realize that there's more than one of them," Beck replied. He exchanged a look with Mira, and she already knew where this was headed.

"So, when do we bring them in?" she asked.

"We don't." Tron's reply was cold as ice.

"But this is what we've been waiting for, they could be new recruits." Beck was trying to sound calm, but Mira could tell that he was just as eager as she was to find out who these programs were. And if they were willing to fight in the uprising.

"There's more to the uprising than acts of vandalism," Tron snapped.

"Yeah, but we didn't know that when you found us," Mira pointed out. Tron gave her an odd look, and she grinned back sheepishly.

"As long as I'm wearing the suit I should have a say in this." Beck held stared at Tron determinedly before he sighed in frustration.

"These programs need to know what they're fighting for." Tron folded his arms and glared at the two friends. Beck stood beside Mira while she rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, we'll let them know," Mira announced with a firm nod.

Tron ignored them and wandered away from the screen, clearly annoyed with their final decision. Mira was more relieved than anything else. Finally they stood up to Tron, and maybe now there would be more programs to fight in the uprising.

She followed Beck out of the safehouse, eager to get away from it all. There was still so much on her mind, like the strange code on Beck's wrist, and the large ship that Clu and Dyson had built. And she couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with Tron revealing that he was alive to Dyson.

"So you do you mind telling me where that code on your wrist came from?" Mira asked as they drove towards the city.

Beck suddenly slowed down, and she realized that there was more on his mind than the mysterious programs Tron mentioned.

"Look, just make sure that he doesn't find out," he muttered crossly. "I ran into an... old friend of his." Mira raised an eyebrow in confusion. She remembered what Able had said about Tron having 'friends' everywhere, and realized just how right he was. "Turns out his old friend is a sadistic killer, bent on destroying the Grid, and everyone on it."

Mira stared at Beck in disbelief. "How could Tron let someone like that live?" She thought back to the rumors she had heard about a renegade running around the Grid. Maybe this program that Beck ran into was the same program.

"I'm not sure, but he's the reason I got these codes." Beck sounded more annoyed than worried. "He built some kind of machine that was powered by two programs..." He broke off, and Mira suddenly understood what he meant by that.

"He was using you to power the machine," she whispered. Beck gave her an odd look before nodding. "What did he look like?"

An uncomfortable silence fell between them as Beck thought it over. For a moment she wondered if he really did forget. But than she guessed that a program as dangerous as the one Beck mentioned would be difficult to forget.

"He had white lines on his face, and the 'T' symbol on his arms instead of his chest," he replied.

Cyrus! Mira restrained a gasp as she recalled the program she had seen in Bismuth. Before it had been claimed by the Occupation she lived in Bismuth for a short while. She remembered seeing a program with a similar appearance. He had been wearing a cape at the time, and it had looked as though he was on the run from something, or someone.

They went on in silence as Beck led the way to Argon Square. The Square was where the programs struck most often, so it seemed like an obvious spot to find them.

Programs were wandering throughout the streets and buildings as they went to their usual jobs. More guards had been placed around the streets in order to keep an eye on suspicious programs.

Mira blinked in surprise when a female program suddenly ran over to a group lingering outside a building.

"There's a bomb inside one of the trains!" she exclaimed after catching her breath. Mira exchanged a look with Beck before following him towards the station.

She already had a feeling the bomb was connected with the programs that had left the messages all around the city.

"If we're going to catch these programs than we need to do it right," Beck muttered as he suddenly reached his disk. Mira raised an eyebrow when he changed his suit to the one Tron had used when they first met. It was the suit that Rinzler used - the mark of a black guard. With a sigh of frustration she realized that she would have to do the same.

She reached for her disk and fumbled around with the code until she found what she was looking for. A black suit with four white circuits, the one Tron used as his disguise now. Once she placed her disk on her back, her suit was ready for interrogation.

Beck led the way into an alley where Mira heard the sound of footsteps running. She peered around the corner to see that there were three programs on the run.

"I wish I could've seen their faces!" one of the programs exclaimed.

"Next time, let's stick around longer," another program huffed as he tried to catch his breath.

"That's how we get caught." Mira stiffened when the third program spoke up. They were disguising their voice, making it sound more masculine. "If we stick to my plan we can keep this up."

The three programs skidded to a halt when Beck suddenly stepped out of the alley. Mira smirked when the smaller of the three gasped in shock.

"Run!" Beck threw out a gravity grenade before they got very far. Mira watched in amusement as the programs floated in a bubble. She remembered Tron showing them how it worked. It kept the enemy program from running away.

"So now what?" she whispered as the three programs began to panic.

"We get them to that abandoned warehouse," Beck replied.

Mira wondered how they were going to do that. To her surprise Beck managed to lift the bubble without much problem. She wondered how light it was as he led the way towards the building he had mentioned.

The programs were shouting insults along the way. Mira noticed how the smaller of the three programs had calmed down slightly. She tilted her head to one side as she noticed the strange lines on their masks. The lines made it look as though the programs were grinning.

Beck dropped the bubble in the middle of the abandoned building. Mira stood back while he observed the three programs. Their faces were hidden by masks, but she could sense panic rising between them. They thought this was the end of line.

"Did you really think you could get away with what you did?" Beck demanded. He was disguising his voice as well, using a deeper, more commanding voice.

"We didn't do anything," the smaller program replied.

"Just for the record, I don't have any idea what these programs did," the taller program tried explaining.

Mira suddenly stepped forward and turned the program around. She grabbed his disk and handed it to Beck. Beck gave her a look before picking at the latest memories the program had viewed.

"Oh, that..." The program sounded embarrassed as Beck tossed back his disk.

"We didn't do anything, it's called free code." The shorter program spoke with a strange accent, but to Mira's defense she didn't know if programs spoke in different accents. She gazed at him and noticed the strange device on his hand.

"Do you really believe that Tron is alive?" Beck asked after an uncomfortable silence fell between them.

"I let my work speak for itself," the shorter program replied.

The other two nodded in response.

Beck suddenly reached for his disk, and the three programs began to panic once more as he swung it in front of them. Mira almost laughed as she watched them struggle in their confinement. Beck placed his disk on his back once more, and the black suit was replaced by his alter ego.

The three programs stopped struggling when they realized who it was standing in front of them. Mira changed her appearance back to the suit she normally used. Once that was finished the programs were released from the gravity bubble. They landed on their feet and stared at the two renegades.

"Tron, it really is you," the shorter program gasped.

"Wait, so does this mean you're not gonna derezz us?" the taller program asked.

"Of course not, he's Tron!" the smaller program snapped. "He's here to help us, right?"

"That's right, but I'm here because I need help," Beck replied. "The renegade and I are fighting in a revolution, and we need more recruits." Mira raised an eyebrow as he looked at the three programs with what she guessed was hope. "So, are you in?"

"Absolutely," the smaller program replied almost instantly.

"Of course," the other two shrugged as though it didn't matter.

"That was easy," Mira muttered as Beck stood beside her. She folded her arms and looked at them curiously.

"If you're going to join the uprising than I need to trust you," Beck suddenly said.

The three programs exchanged wary looks. Finally the smaller one shrugged as the first two unveiled their masks.

"The name's Moog," the taller program explained with a grin. "And this is Rasket."

"It's Rasque," the shorter program muttered.

"What ever," Moog said with a roll of his eyes. "And the heart and sole of the Jolly Tricksters, our leader." He grinned as the smaller program unveiled their mask.

Mira's eyes widened when she saw a familiar pair of greenish blue eyes looking back at them.

"My name's Mara," she breathed. "Hi, again." She sounded embarrassed as she glanced at Beck and Mira.

"Wait, you three know each other?" Moog demanded.

"No-" Beck was cut off by Mara's calm but determined stare.

"Tron and the renegade saved my life, more than once," she explained sheepishly. "I wanted to thank you, and this was my way of doing so."

Beck sighed as Rasket glanced between him and Mara. Mira leaned against the wall as she waited for something to happen.

"So now what?" Moog asked.

"Get some rest," Beck replied. "Meet me here at the next cycle, and I'll have something planned." He glanced at Mira, who stood up and looked back at Moog and Rasket.

They didn't seem like programs that could fight back against Clu. But they were the ones behind the messages left in the city. Mara was their ringleader, and if she could lead them to do such things, there was no telling what else she was capable of.

"Alright, let's bounce," Moog muttered.

Mira rezzed her light cycle as soon as they were far enough away from the warehouse. It seemed strange to be cruising along the road as Beck moved in beside her.

"How in the Users did this happen?" she asked warily.

"Mara's always been more rebellious than Zed," Beck explained after sighing in annoyance. "I never expected her to actually pull something like this off though."

"She's a good friend." Mira thought back to how friendly Mara had been when they first met. It just didn't seem real that Mara was now part of the revolution, but in the end it did make sense.

Beck gave her an odd look before speeding towards the Outlands. Mira rolled her eyes and followed him. This wasn't going to be an easy alliance. Mara was one of Beck's good friends, and now she was fighting in the revolution. He worried for his friends' safety, and understandably so.

Please keep Mara safe, she silently begged.

AN: Yeah, not much else to add here. What did you think of the butterfly? I bet someone could draw it if they wanted to :)

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