Okay, because I'm probably going to be on holiday starting tomorrow...and gone on Tron Tuesday as well, I figured I'd give this to you guys now. I'm just gonna say right now, this is the beginning of Zoe's life...I also found out a small hiccup in the storyline. I forgot about Avery...who was a member of Tron's team. I figured I should tie up loose ends with him too...eventually.

Chapter 2 – Manifestation of Friends and Enemies

Zoe's POV

She wasn't among the first groups of Specials to come out of nowhere…but definitely not the last.

Zoe opened her eyes and immediately squinted to see someone towering over her. Her fighting Programming kicked in and she sent the too-close Program sprawled on the ground while she stood over him.

He groaned and slowly sat up. "You know, I probably shouldn't have done that."

Now knowing he wasn't going to hurt her nor intended to in the first place, Zoe rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "No, I'm sorry." She said. "I was just…confused."

"Not a problem." He got to his feet. This guy was a few good inches taller than her and had bluish/white primary circuits and purple secondary colors. He held out his hand for her to shake. "Avery," He introduced himself, "I'm like you…I also happen to be one of Tron's recruits."

Avery studied her for a long moment. "You look like you'd make a great candidate for his group. Are you Programmed to fight because, well," He glanced over his shoulder to look back at where she was laying just a few nanos ago. "That was a pretty impressive move."

Zoe smiled coyly. She was so new to this and totally lacked social skills. The new Special made a mental note to work on that.

"Uh…yeah, I'm programmed for fighting. But…well, for now I'll think about the offer of joining." She looked around. "However, I think I may have to sort a few things out first."

Avery blinked and straightened up. "Oh, yeah, of course." He pulled out his baton. "You want a lift to the City? I could help you get settled and-" He looked at her back. "-Get you an identity disk."

Zoe gave him a soft, innocent smile. "I'd like that. Thank you."

…

Zoe shivered. It was dark…too dark. Impossible to even see her hand in front of her face. No light, except for the circuits on her body suit, which didn't give off more than a faint glow.

She'd only just got to the City but it was nothing like she'd thought…or what Avery told her.

After he dropped her off in the Special's District – where everyone else of her kind lived – he recommended she explored a little to get comfortable and took off.

He never warned her that there were some unfriendly Programs that inhabited the City. One moment she was walking down the streets, smiling, the next, someone roughly grabbed her and hit the back of her head hard.

She wasn't given the chance to even think about fighting back. It all happened too fast for her to comprehend. She was still new to all of this.

Then she wakes up to a dark room, tied up. It felt cold. She squeezed her eyes shut. This was not how she'd hoped to live her life. She didn't want to belong to anyone but herself.

She wanted to see light again.

Zoe couldn't help but flinch when the door opened and the silhouette of at least four blood lusted-looking men walked over to where she was.

What she learned painfully quickly was that these guys lived for other's pain. They were sadists.

Just…sick.

Zoe curled herself into a protective ball, willing herself to be somewhere other than here. She hated the torment. She wanted to choose death over this.

Quick, painless, blissful death.

Zoe squeezed her moist eyes shut. What brought her into this painful world?

After her captor left, she didn't move from her position. She hurt too much to move. Their disks inflicted so much damage that Zoe was amazed she hadn't derezzed yet.

They didn't leave anything unscathed.

Nothing.

All her limbs, her extremities, her back, the front of her torso, her face…everywhere.

Zoe kept silently asking herself, asking the darkness: Why? Why would those people want to do this? To her?

She started shaking and hiccupping sobs wracked her body. She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted out.

Zoe stiffly started unraveling from her tight position and shakily stood up. The restraints she previously wore had been taken off a long time ago so it was easier for those…men to torture every inch of her.

They never bothered to put them back on.

Zoe lifted a trembling hand and grabbed for her disk. She was amazed they didn't take that away either. They really were stupid.

But then again, she'd managed to convince them (and herself for a while) that she was too afraid to try anything. She stumbled through the dark room to try and find the exit.

Before she could even take her fourth step, however, she heard chaos erupt from outside. A bomb went off and shook the walls. Zoe lost her balance and landed on her hands and knees. She didn't lose her disk…yet.

Then there was fighting. She recognized a few voices, most of them coming from the bloodlusty men that hurt her but she knew one…

Her eyes widened.

Someone else is here. To rescue her? She hoped…

Zoe wanted to open her mouth and shout for help but she couldn't. She'd screamed so much earlier that her vocals were damaged. She would be lucky to be able to make a coherent whisper now.

She got back up on her feet and activated her disk before looking for a door. It helped to follow the noise to its source. And as fast as the fighting started, it stopped. Everything went quiet.

Zoe then tripped on something that was lying on the ground. And her fall was embarrassingly noisy. She let out a weak gasp and then groaned in pain when she hit the ground yet again.

She was hurt so badly.

Zoe lifted her head quickly when there were audible footsteps and the muffled sound of talking from behind the door. She had no idea if it was the bad men that won the fight or the strangers so she squeezed her eyes shut in fear.

The door opened up and a little bit of light spilled into the room. It was so blinding that Zoe lifted her hand – the one clutching her disk tightly – to shade her eyes.

Zoe was breathing in ragged gasps and could barely keep herself under control. She was shaking so hard now. The 3 Programs in the other room were utterly silent and the closest one to her, the one that opened the door, approached her.

The Program, distinctly male, was holding his own disk. Zoe's eyes widened a fraction and she swung hers at him. His circuits were red – the color of one of her tormenters.

Zoe was injured though so her swing wasn't very good. He dodged easily enough and managed to grab an uninjured part of her wrist to pull her disk away. Then he pulled her closer.

Zoe twisted in his grip and did something that would've surprised herself on any other cycle…because she usually would despise doing it.

She bit him.

He let out a high pitched yelp that she didn't think a guy was capable of and backed away from her, shaking his injured hand and glancing back at his comrades.

"Avery, she bit me!" Zoe froze up at the name. Avery…

A quiet sigh from a Program that walked over to them carefully. "Could you really blame her?" Zoe slowly turned to the second Program and stared.

He stared back. Avery instantly recognized her through the hundreds of injuries riddling her body. "A-Are you okay?" He clutched at her shoulders that weren't too messed up. "Gosh, I didn't think you'd fall victim to gangsters so quickly. I'm sorry."

Zoe glanced over at the Program she'd bitten. There was another burly male standing next to him now. They both had white Primary circuits but the guy she attacked had red secondary circuits while his friend had yellow.

Avery grabbed Zoe's disk and reattached it to her before carefully picking her up and carrying her out of the building.

She'd lost consciousness after that but later woke up to a white ceiling, white walls, white everything. Zoe lifted her head and looked around. There were medics walking past her bed in various directions to go about their business. One of them actually turned and smiled at her before continuing with her job.

Zoe slowly sat up and examined herself. Whoever repaired her code was clearly an expert because there wasn't a flaw on her skin now. Like that nightmare of events never happened. But Zoe remembered perfectly. She knew she'd be mentally scarred for a long time from now.

She felt eyes on her and looked at the medic that smiled at her just earlier. The Program picked up Zoe's disk and looked at the code. "The Creator came by to visit Tron earlier." She spoke with a soft, light voice. "Just at that moment, you arrived." She glanced at Zoe. "You know, I don't think anyone's ever really attacked a Special like that before. It caused a real panic."

Nonetheless, the medic was still smiling. "Flynn himself insisted on healing your code the moment you were set down." She deactivated Zoe's disk and placed it on her back. "You were lucky. You were in critical condition when you were brought in. Now," Her smile got broader. "You're flawless." She paused. "Tron wants to visit you, by the way."

Zoe nodded and stood up. Her stronger, steadier feet carried her to the exit of the medical bay and after walking out the door, found herself face to face with Avery.

She blinked in surprise and took a step back. Avery seemed just as surprised from her sudden exit. "Uh," He started. "I've been waiting out here, for you." He seemed just as awkward as her now. "I'm supposed to take you to Tron."

Zoe nodded and followed him down the hall. She hadn't spoken a word.

Avery glanced at her. "I'm glad to know you're okay." He said quietly. "You…had everyone worried for a while. Not a lot of people thought you were going to survive. And-" He bit his lip. Avery clearly wasn't used to these kinds of conversations. "I'm sorry…for not warning you."

Zoe blinked and looked at him curiously. "I should've told you there were some…unfriendly Programs out there. I was really surprised to find out you'd gotten yourself stuck in a gang situation so quickly."

"They attacked me." Zoe said quietly. Her voice was different. It was raspy. Screaming really did a number on it. She thought bitterly.

Avery seemed to notice the difference too because he glanced at her again. Zoe immediately took a liking to him. She wasn't crushing on him but he was friendly. She liked how his gaze didn't hold any pity for her. But it was…admiration?

It was a possibility. Zoe was on death's door but somehow against all odds managed to survive the terrible ordeal. Now that her previous horrible experience was over with, she was proud of herself for being strong enough to make it through as well.

Avery opened a door and walked in after Zoe. Standing in a white suit with his arms folded was Tron. He wasn't alone though. There were the other two Programs from the warehouse she was kept in were sparring each other. She looked at the red-circuited Program and was relieved to see his hand was healed too.

Tron turned around to face Avery. He glanced at Zoe and noticed all her injuries were gone. He nodded to himself as if satisfied that she was better.

Zoe took a deep breath. "Tron," she murmured.

"You're feeling better." It was more of a statement than a question but Zoe replied anyway.

"Yes, Sir." Zoe had heard about the hero of the Grid in the short number of cycles she'd lived so far. She held a deep amount of respect for him.

Tron nodded again. "I understand you're Programmed for fighting."

Zoe nodded. "Yeah, but I need to work on it."

Tron unfolded his arms. "Well, I'm looking for more candidates for a team I'm putting together. From what I've come to notice, you're much stronger than I would have thought. I want to offer you a place on the team. From there, you'll be trained and given the chance to help maintain order not only here in the City but the entire Grid."

Zoe's eyes widened. When Avery first mentioned it to her, Zoe didn't think she'd even have a chance to join, that she would never be worthy. She still wasn't sure of herself but Tron clearly saw some potential.

It could be a great opportunity for her. And after the gang problem earlier, all she wants now is to make sure no other Program has to experience what she went through.

Zoe smiled. "Sir, that's all I want." She could've sworn she saw the corners of Avery's lips twitch as he suppressed a smile.

…

"Hi, I'm Alpha." A sandy-brown haired girl held out her hand to shake. She was clearly new; maybe several HiloCycles younger than Zoe. So far she's pretty nice.

Gorgeous too; with her big glowing green eyes and perfectly symmetrical slender face to that shiny aura she gives off with her uniquely colored circuits.

Zoe shook the hand offered to her. "Zoe." She had to wonder if Alpha was going to greet their neighbors the exact same way or only her. So far Zoe only knew she was the first one she greeted here.

She knew that because Flynn himself escorted her here and gave her a tour. She only just noticed Zoe right after he left. Zoe was guessing Alpha was looking for a friend.

What could the harm be? It could turn out to be fun! Zoe, for some reason, felt like she wanted to cozy up with this Program because she just seemed to be a bundle of joy. She also wanted to figure out the riddle of this Program possibly a couple HiloCycles younger than her.

Zoe pointed to the elevator. "I'm going to meet up with some friends at the End of Line Club, want to go?"

The younger Program perked up immediately. "Really? You sure?" Good golly, what has this young lady been through to lower her self-esteem?

Zoe rolled her eyes playfully. "No, I was asking you if you wanted a virus." She said with her voice dripping sarcasm. "Of course you can come with! It'll be fun!" Zoe surprised herself there. She usually wasn't so bubbly like that.

Was it something on this younger Program rubbing off on her already? She shook her head as they walked to the elevator.

…

The last few MylaCycles was grueling work. Zoe was so young and new and out of shape. She got tired very quickly and relied on her endurance to keep going.

And according to Avery, she hadn't seen anything yet.

Once she got the hang of fighting techniques through private lessons with Tron and Avery, she finally got into sparring. Her first opponent happened to be the Program she bit, whose name she learned was Ken. The other Program was Con. And she became friends with them very quickly.

The first couple hundred rounds of sparring were epic failures and face plants on the ground but she still gradually progressed, studying her opponents before she struck and looking for openings. Her first victory in sparring was against Con and she was proud.

The next big thing that happened was another Special added to the group: Liz. The first thing Zoe noticed about this girl was that she was quite full of herself. Not in the spoiled bratty way, but she had a lot of high self-esteem and confidence.

Zoe actually liked that about Liz, though they were both at first in close competition in how many times they've won in sparring. Zoe, however, has been training with Tron a bit longer and was quickly escalating in skill and strength.

But if there was one thing Liz was better at doing than Zoe, it was piloting. She could fly jets, choppers, just about anything with high accuracy and skill. She was usually the driver whenever they went on missions together.

And several HiloCycles after Liz joined, Flynn wrote a search engine named Google, who became the big brain behind the missions Zoe and the rest of the team went on.

He's a nice guy and very considerate of others. Google gave enough proof of that when he didn't use big funky words that no one could understand. If a Program didn't understand what he was saying, it was most likely that they were stupid enough to not know the words. Usually Con, sadly.

And then there was the cycle when Reni and Ace walked in. Everything changed so much ever since. The team was stronger, there were more sparring opportunities, and everyone made new friends.

Zoe also noticed that she and Ace had some things in common: they were ambitious and enduring, both were determined to outdo everyone else, and they even had the same favorite drink.

It was sort of weird.

Zoe got jitters when she was around him; her stomach felt…upset, like she was standing in front of a large crowd but she wasn't.

Apparently Liz took that as a hint that she was starting to develop a crush but Zoe immediately rejected that theory, saying she probably drank energy too close to training time.

But was it a possibility? Zoe quickly shook her head. NO! It's not a smart idea to develop close ties or too personal feelings for another Program when they're working under Tron as one of his top agents. It's not right and anyone could use it against her.

Besides, it wasn't like she was letting herself develop anything towards Ace, of all Programs. He infuriated her sometimes to the point she'd like nothing more than to rip his head off! He'd laugh at things that weren't even funny (To her), he was too playful and not serious enough. To top it all off, he was cockier than Con…and that says a lot right there.

It's almost like he was pretending he was stupid even though Zoe knew for sure he wasn't…how the heck is that supposed to help him around the base if he's not working with everyone else the way he's supposed to?

And he's…messing with her? Zoe wouldn't put it as pointless flirting but he liked joking around her and challenging her every possible way he can.

He's on her last straw.

While she's busy worrying about that, unrest with the ISOs are growing and Clu was starting to act weird. Zoe could tell that Ace was noticing Clu's actions too but not going to Tron of Flynn to discuss it like she did.

Like Zoe thought to herself dozens of times before: he acts like such an idiot. And if she wasn't so focused on keeping her emotions in check, she probably would've noticed that Clu's speeches that were sparking his rise to power were starting to get to him.

She then didn't have to worry about trying not to like him…she HATED him…especially after Clu took over and she witnessed him lead several squads of black guard to execute ISOs in the streets of Beryllium.

Zoe then vowed she'd break his nose. After that she'll proceed to do other cruel things to him that she'd never once daydreamed about before. Then she'd kill him…with her bare hands.

She wanted to hold herself to that as much as possible, if not close. Ace deserved to have more than some sense knocked into him. He needed a good ass-kicking. And Zoe would be more than happy to give him the beating of a lifetime.

That is, after she tracks down her friends that went missing long ago during the Purge.

Okay, I didn't feel like going into great detail because, seriously, I'm tired of writing graphic torture scenes for Zoe. I'm sure it's safe to say she's been through a lot and I seem to be abusing her character. Enough of that.
Up next, we'll be looking into how Courtney's life started. It'll be a somewhat slow but interesting chapter, I think.

And to answer a reviewer's question from last chapter: I didn't make the cover myself. I own none of them...I wish ;P BUT, I will be drawing the cover art for the next series when I get started. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

TRON LIVES!