Greetings, Programs! Happy Tron Tuesday :D
Wow, has it been a long year for me! Summer has finally come! You guys know what that means. More time to write! Honestly, I could come up with so many excuses for not writing this sooner, that it could take up a whole novel, packed with so...much...drama. But I won't bore you guys with that. It's just not even worth going into. Anyway, here's the latest chapter. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 12 – Duty of Soldiers

Tris's POV

6 XilaCycles, 11 HiloCycles, 3 MylaCycles, 5 Cycles, 2 MilliCycles, 4 PectroCycles, 36 MicroCycles, 21 NanoCycles, and counting.

That's how long it's been since the ISO War, since anyone has heard anything regarding Alpha, and the rebels she'd rallied in her last attempt, and failure, to save the fugitive scum.

Tris clenched her fist. How stupid that Program was, not realizing how chaotic it could be to allow the ISOs to run rampant, unchecked. Too much free will meant no control, and without control, meant no perfection.

She'd heard it a million times, how only through perfection could anyone be truly free.

If freedom and perfection meant the same thing, then she was more than happy to use any means necessary to achieve such a desired goal. A few lost lives meant nothing for the greater good.

It's always the majority that will outweigh the minorities. Always.

The sooner everyone realized and accepted that fact, the better off the Grid would be.

At least she'd managed to help that along the very night that the attacks started. Tris debated with Alpha about morality, before she managed to round up a hefty number of Programs. Then there was the easiest part, when she'd decided to go to Clu about the conflict, with her followers in tow.

It wasn't long until she'd proven her loyalty that she was given her own place amongst his military's ranks as a commander of her own unit of Specials.

Her first volunteer was Jake, the rest were assigned to her group. Though Tris had vaguely known Jake before the ISO War, they never talked, not until they were part of the same group, and had no choice but to get closer for the benefit of teamwork.

Tris would gladly admit it: she has attitude problems, and is quick to burst when something isn't right. She's certain that if Jake had known that beforehand, he wouldn't have volunteered.

It doesn't matter now, though, it's too late for him to switch around, and so he has to work with what he's got.

If there was one thing that she would constantly deny though, is being a killjoy. It didn't matter whether the statement of opinion was true, or not. Everyone was entitled to their own opinion, which included their outlook, and personal definition of the term "fun."

However, duty always comes before personal enjoyment. In Tris's own opinion, "fun" meant the passion oneself had for their actions. Her passion was maintaining order and perfection for the sake of a happy System Administrator.

On one side, she also wanted nothing more than to feed her pride by battering the egos of everyone else she deemed inferior to her.

For example, Alpha and her friends; the very thought of them made her clench her fists. All of the chaos and disorder they could be causing simply from their very presence. Not to mention the Renegade wasn't any better than them.

They were all stirring up trouble, and Tris simply couldn't tolerate that.

Once it became clear that the Renegade was becoming more than a nuisance, and Alpha wasn't coming out of hiding yet, she'd practically begged on her knees in front of Clu to allow her to deal with this vigilante, but he denied her the request, reminding her that she's supposed to deal with affairs involving the Specials.

On top of that, her one and only complaint about her job would be the fact that Lieutenant Skipper was out more on the field than Tris and her teammates combined.

How is anyone to maintain order when they're not out making themselves useful nearly enough to satisfy Tris, or Clu?

So she faced the only option of gaining permission from a superior while properly filing a complaint, all the while to avoid the wrath of her great leader: she organized missions for her team with Dyson.

After enough pestering and her brilliant display of her ambition, Clu's second in command finally relented and helped her organize multiple field missions at a time that they could complete just to keep her off his back.

Of course, never mind that Jake was getting more and more irritated with Tris, as she seemed to never stop giving orders to them (even if it's not an outright command, but more of a nudge, or a hint), although he never shows it.

She still knows it's there. It's so easy for her to read everyone – they're like online data pads that don't require passcodes. Although there was one soldier in her unit that was either good at hiding true feelings, or simply wasn't irritated with her: Benedict. The young male was the kind of Program who stayed strict with the rulebook.

Ben was a very quiet guy, and only voiced his opinion when asked; otherwise, he never bothered to waste his breath.

If it was another thing Clu and Tris agreed on, it's the opinion that Benedict was the perfect soldier, an ideal asset to have, with the benefits that he was never repurposed.

The strange thing is, Benedict was almost as old as Clu himself (though he didn't look it), and no one was sure of why he was there to serve as a member of the military.

So like any "rational" Program, Tris decided to ask him. The answer she received wasn't anything like she expected. In fact, it was so simple that the whole reasoning was absurd.

It was because he favored the color orange. If that didn't clue anyone in that he's bonkers, Tris didn't know what would. But when she asked him if he had other reason, he paused, and replied that other than his simple claim, he had no reason to go against Clu's forces.

Furthermore, like Tris, he wasn't the kind of Program to stand by on the sidelines and let things happen without his involvement. His life had been quiet enough in an energy purifying station, and sparring in his free time that he had the desire to do something to make a difference.

Though the most interesting aspect of Benedict's personality that caught the most of Tris's attention, was the tiny fact that he never had a true friend. As such, turned him into an introversive, hardened Program that spent his free time designing simulation sequences for his personal use of sparring, and talking to himself occasionally in the absence of company.

However, none of that would be paid any additional attention than necessary. What counted was his effort towards the cause. The only thing that Tris needed to do was watch out for Ben and make sure he didn't have any reason to go against Clu.

As long as he's working for her, who cares if it's because orange is his favorite color?

If anything, the teammate she had to watch out for was Jake. While he seemed loyal enough towards Clu, he seemed a bit too emotional, and required more discipline to keep himself in check.

Users only knew what he was capable of if he had a personal goal in mind set by his feelings towards someone or something.

Well, that, and his manipulative charm towards others. Jake's naturally excellent choice of words and his good looks could make nearly anything easier for him to control, even in the slightest.

All the more reason that Tris needed to tighten the reign over her squadron while out on the field. Their duty at the moment was to track down Specials and report their location, and identity, if possible. The next step would be to play any necessary part in their capture. Upon any sightings of ISOs, were to find the nearest guards watching over the city, and immediately notify those authorities the locations of such anomalies.

First, they were to visit Beryllium, move on to Arsenic, jump over to Xenon, Indium, Radium, Silicon, and save Barium for last.

While she knew deep down that her thoughts weren't the most realistic, she hoped to run into some traitor Specials she knew. Tris enjoyed turning personal turmoil against her enemies, it helped to batter their pride before they're locked up forever.

Maybe if she's lucky, she could find Alpha, give her a piece of her mind, and show that wretched Program just how wrong she was about everything.

Or perhaps, she could find Ace or Courtney instead. After all, that cocky male could bring his ego down a few notches.

Tris clenched her fists. Courtney, oh that Program was so naïve, so incredibly stupid and trusting of others that it was less realistic than her own daydreams. She needs a reality check, big time.

She smirked, already planning on how she could get it.

…

Dash's POV

He may just be a Basic, thus, not a candidate for the adaptation procedure designed for Specials, but he could still make himself useful for the benefit of the revolution coming.

Of course, he was only supposed to travel to the Capitol for deliveries, and exchange them by picking up necessary parts and supplies at the Garage.

However, he was smart enough to know the difference between right and wrong.

And a little bird, as Users would say, may have allowed him to overhear at the 0001001 Club about an organization in Tron City with a special project as their secret weapon against the tyrant.

It wasn't the project that caught his attention in the beginning (though he was curious about that too); it was the part about their own revolution separate from the Resistance Movement he'd vaguely heard about in Bismuth.

In truth, he probably would have aligned himself with the closer revolutionaries…if he hadn't discovered through his own research about how the Programs were practically ragtag Basics and refugee Specials posing as professional military wannabees.

To him, it sounded like the rebels near Tron City had more materials, and man power available to them. After all, they couldn't have a secret weapon without a science/medical division of their own to create it.

The Resistance Movement in comparison, only spoke of using sheer force to dethrone Clu, but talked less of the means and strategy behind it. They thought it was more important to work on publicity. However, the revolutionaries in the Capitol were trying to keep themselves under the radar, and stay as secretive as possible, most likely to take the Occupation by surprise.

The way Dash saw things, it looked more like the Programs in Tron City had a better idea of what they were doing, and he wanted to make himself useful in the process of freeing the Grid in Tron's absence.

Who cares if he's young? What matters more is his intelligence and strength. Dash excelled more when he used his cunning and quick thinking, of course, under the façade of being a careless, laid back guy who tried to slack off work whenever possible.

In public, he hardly made his opinion known unless he was faking pessimism. Truly, he was calculating, dissecting whatever information was available to him through observing others and their behavior.

He found Copper to be a great guy to get along with, and often found each other to be on the same page. While his friend was able to keep up in nearly any conversation they have, he wasn't exactly the kind of guy to read under the surface of appearances and words.

In fact, all that Copper really cared for in life was a job that fit his programming, gossiping and pranking others in his free time, not that Dash didn't enjoy those things. While all of that was a pleasant distraction, he sometimes felt that Copper was being quite an influence, and felt his friend's personality rubbing off on him, which did wonders to strengthen his cover.

No one really bothered to ask questions about him anyway, he seemed too carefree to truly be anybody. Oh, if only they knew.

It wasn't long after he rezzed onto the Grid that the ISO Wars started. He wasn't quite sure what the whole conflict was about at the time, but he did have a strong sense of morality, and noticed that the orange soldiers were killing a lot more defenseless Programs than the other way around.

With those facts in mind, he felt the urge to pick a side, and he did. Seeing that he lacked combat skills, because it wasn't in his programming, he found more use of himself putting his mechanical abilities to use, and sabotaged military vehicles and planting viruses in their computers whenever possible.

For a while, he'd made a pattern of those events, and jumping from City to City, repeating those actions, and then moving on so he wasn't caught.

It didn't take him long though, to figure out that his efforts weren't going to do much to stop them, so he gave up and settled down in Argon City.

But once General Tesler arrived, he was beginning to question his faith in the possibility that Clu would be satisfied with what he already has.

Then the Renegade showed up. Truthfully, he admired the Program, and was secretly rooting him on while maintaining his false identity and outright insulting the rebel, using good reasoning behind it to avoid suspicion.

Of course, he probably would have even joined the Renegade in secret…if only he knew how to fight. He could probably help him with sabotage, but the Program seemed to be doing a good enough job on his own.

Dash wasn't sure even now, but he was feeling more of an urge to check out this organization in Tron City instead of putting his efforts anywhere else, so that's what he plans to do.

As soon as he was finished with the exchange, he explored the seedier areas of Tron City, even entering a few clubs and daring to ask a few individual Programs about what they knew of a resistance movement in the City.

Eventually, he got what he was looking for when a Program actually answered his question. Of course, she made him state that he wanted to join before she shared any information with him in a more private place.

She was even courteous enough to take him to the location of their base.

The strange thing for Dash was the fact that she seemed very touchy feely for a Program. It didn't cause discomfort for him, but it was just…weird.

Once she brought him in, it seemed that every security guard was touching him for some reason, perhaps to see if he was concealing any weapons, but he had nothing on him but his lightbike.

He was later able to speak with the two Programs that originally started the organization in the first place. The more talkative one was a male named Jeremy, and his more silent companion was Maggie.

When they were eventually satisfied with the proof he held on his disk of how much he wished to help, and what he could contribute, they filled him in on their history, their intentions, and their plans.

It seemed weird though, how much they easily trusted him. Dash made sure to voice that observation, which made Maggie smile victoriously, like she's been waiting for him to say that, and went into detail about their secret weapon, a science experiment that they were test subjects for.

Jeremy explained how all history and data of it was erased from the Occupation and the duo faked their own deaths. Maggie then continued on about how the project was designed for Specials and what abilities they granted such Programs with.

Dash was able to make more sense about all the touching that went on with the other rebels, but still found it unsettling that they could practically read his mind just from brushing up against his arm or something.

The two Programs told Dash about how obvious it is to them that he wants to help them, but he's also tied down in Argon City with his job and doesn't want to leave his newfound friends behind. Eventually, he came down with the duty of communications, and gave reports to Jeff and Maggie about events going on in Argon.

That duty also included updating the status of the Renegade, and any new facts he could discover about the Program impersonating Tron. Whenever he was making deliveries, pickups, or exchanges near, or at Tron City, he checked in with Jeremy and Maggie in person, and even assisted their mechanics to fix or maintain their equipment.

In all obviousness, it wasn't much of a job, but according to the two leading Programs, he was doing much for them that they appreciated. While Dash wasn't involved much in strategy, he could feel them making progress.

He just hoped that one cycle, he'd still be around to witness the end of Clu's reign, and watch the beginning of a new, golden era.

…

Cutler's POV

"Is it true? Did Tron really survive?" a Program inquired as silently as possible in the darkness of the alley they crouched in.

Smiling, the dark skinned male replied, "I saw it with my own eyes. He saved my life multiple times and risked his coding to ensure I was freed."

"So it's really happening," a different Program spoke up, "He's trying to start a revolution?"

"I know he'll do whatever it takes to free the Grid," he told her, "It's what Tron would do."

The three Programs heard multiple pairs of footsteps approaching, and pressed themselves against the wall as sentries strolled past them, not even sparing a glance.

Letting out a breath she'd been holding, the female turned back to Cutler, "If Tron's really alive, you can count on me to stand by his side in this fight."

"Not now," Cutler responded, "It's still early, and many Programs in Argon have yet to be convinced. For now, I need you to help me spread the word, like I've asked others to do. You'll know when the time is right to help."

The male Program nodded, "I'll do what I can, you have that much from me."

"Thank you," Cutler smiled to show his graciousness, before peeking outside the alley to see if the coast was clear. "I think the soldiers are asking for a disk scanning," he reckoned, "I can draw their attention while you two sneak off."

The woman looked ready to protest, but her male companion laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "We need to get home," he whispered to her, "We can't do anything for this Program or Tron if we're caught now."

Sighing, she lowered he head, knowing they were right.

"Ready?" Cutler's voice brought them to full attention. "If I go left, I could create an opening for you on the opposite end." He turned to the male Program, "I'll signal you when the opening is clear. When I do, I want you to head right, and then turn down the third street on the left side. Your path should be clear from there."

All three Programs activated their masks and stepped closer to the entrance. Without warning, Cutler bolted from his hiding place, keeping to the left. Two NanoCycles hardly passed before he was noticed, and all guards moved to pursue him.

From what the male Program could see, Cutler's plan was so effective and the guards were so stupid, that they didn't need to be signaled. All the soldiers were moving to give chase, leaving the small group of civilians behind.

Both the male and female Programs sprinted out of the alley and turned right, following Cutler's directions and then headed left on the third street.

The Dark skinned Program spared a backward glance to ensure they got away okay, and smirked when he saw everyone giving chase, and the Programs left behind by the soldiers simply looked confused. Oh well.

It seemed that not all the guards were dumb though, as one of them had the sense to call for backup. Before he knew it, a recognizer cut off his most direct route, and three lightcycles blocked any other escape route. The sentries that chased him from behind completely lined up on the street and offered no opening.

Cutler saw that the only possibility to escape was to fight his way out. It's obvious that he's overstayed his welcome in Arsenic.

Without hesitation, the Program drew his disk and rushed to the nearest guard. He jumped high in the air and kicked the sentry in the throat, twisting around in midair while activating his disk to slash through another guard's helmet. As both opponents collapsed, everyone else rushed him.

Cutler dodged a disk aimed at his abdomen, and caught the foot of a guard that tried to kick him. He yanked the leg to knock the guard off balance, and used him to shield another disk thrown at him, which derezzed the guard instead.

He swung his disk at a guard passing by him on a lightcycle; his entire head derezzed and the body joined soon afterwards. Docking his disk, Cutler boarded the lightcycle, and high tailed it out of there.

He revved the engine a couple of times and aimed straight for the line of guards blocking the street, all of them having the sense to dive out of his way.

Unfortunately, the other bikes and the recognizer gave chase. A few black guards jumped off the hovercraft and activated their light jets to shoot at him from above.

Cursing, the rebel made a sharp right turn and pushed his bike to go faster. Gaining a bit of distance, he then turned left down a narrow road, temporarily losing the soldiers behind him. Perhaps if he made it to the Outlands, he could shake them off and move on to Beryllium, or Indium next.

He gasped in surprise when an orange lightcycle drove past his only exit with the light wall activated. There wasn't enough time to halt his lightcycle, and he ended up crashing.

Cutler rolled across the street a few times, the surface uneven with cubes made his landing even more painful. He found himself surrounded by more guards as soon as he gained his bearings.

Just as he managed to shakily get to his feet again, two guards tackled him back down to the ground and bound him with light cuffs.

They hauled him to his feet roughly, and forced him aboard the recognizer to take him to their base of operations.

Surprisingly, as soon as they removed his mask, it didn't take long to identify him as the escapee from Argon. The General in control of the City reported their findings to his superiors in the Capitol, but Cutler wasn't present long enough to hear of his fate.

His best case scenario was a simple execution, quick and painless. Cutler kept his word to the Renegade and spread the word of Tron's return to hundreds of Programs from different Cities. Even with him gone, the rumors would spread like wildfire.

There would be no stopping the inspiration for Programs to rebel now.

Cutler was escorted to his cell, his cuffs were removed and he was shoved in right before the door sealed shut behind him, and his disk locked to his back. As he reclined on the bench, he looked at his surroundings.

The cell was different from what he quickly grew used to in Argon. Instead of force field-like walls, it was metal, impossible to see anything through it. The lack of connection to any part of the outside world seemed to make his imprisonment longer, more miserable.

Not knowing anything felt horrible, but Cutler fisted his hands, refusing to show any weakness or fear as long as he remains alive.

He accomplished his goals, and the two Programs got away okay as far as he could see, so that was enough for him.

After what felt like MylaCycles, the door to his cell opened, and was immediately flanked with guards. He didn't fight them this time, there was no point. The best he could do now was uphold his sense of pride and not make a fool of himself.

If it's the last thing he'd do, Cutler would make sure to go down with his pride still intact. The soldiers placed cuffs on his wrists and unlocked his disk before he was escorted down their maze of hallways towards a well reinforced door at the far wall.

The room inside was dimly lit, and ominous looking with all the machines inside. Cutler began to feel a bit of suspicion, and fear. Would they try to interrogate him?

If so, he knew nothing of the Renegade's identity or his exact whereabouts, so there was little he could offer them if he even wanted to talk.

He was pulled to a halt as one guard snatched his armband, examined it, and then placed it on a table nearby. The cuffs were then removed.

What were they doing? Were these soldiers so twisted that they didn't want to see him die without the futile effort to save himself?

No, the Occupation wasn't like that. They didn't play games, but were more interested in killing a Program quickly so they could move on to the next one sooner.

Then he was shoved into a transparent cylinder and sealed inside. As soon as the machines warmed up around him, Cutler began to connect the dots.

No.

They were going to repurpose him.

He fisted his hands and banged at the glass, but it didn't break.

When everything was fully operational, Cutler began to feel a buzzing sensation on the back of his head. It was distracting his train of thought.

It also seemed to pull him into a trance.

He could describe it as hypnotic, and it tempted him to simply close his eyes, and sleep.

There wasn't much time left for him to fight it, and everyone knew that fact.

Eventually, Cutler dropped his hands, and let them sag at his sides.

His disk detached from his back and rose to hover above his head.

Feeling the instinctive urge to grab his disk, to retrieve it, he raised both hands above his head, but it was just out of reach, and he didn't have the energy in him to jump.

He felt pins and needles all over his body as soon as his code was extracted from his body.

All physical feeling and emotion was lost when he felt his lost code replaced with something else.

Something what wasn't his.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

So for this one, I decided to cover the characters that I nearly forgot about. I'll be honest with you guys, I'm running on fumes for ideas on this book as far as planning goes, so if there's no more suggestions, the next chapter will be that extra bit about Ally after she wakes up at the end of the book (it could have been tagged onto the third book, but then decided to let you guys run with your imaginations a bit on that). And on top of that chapter, will include "trailers" for the next Tron fanfic I plan to write, and a Transformers book that I was convinced to publish on this site, courtesy of the support from my friends.

I know that I told you guys I'd be writing another Tron fanfic after this, and I still could, but the interests of my readers matters to me. With that said, I've put a poll on my profile page so you guys can vote on your preference. Please just keep in mind that whichever fanfiction universe you guys choose will involve diving deep into fandoms and expanding on ideas and a few plots in the later timeline straight from my head. ;D

I'll just point out that each book will include an OC of my own, of which will follow the plotlines as far as cannon goes, but I'll be adding in my own details, and eventually expanding into my own ocean of ideas. After all, cannon should only go so far, before a writer should try to add something into a book that makes it uniquely theirs...besides their inserted characters.

I figured it's just worth mentioning that whichever option on the poll wins, will be a series I'll focus entirely on, and will last longer than 5 or 6 books, indefinitely. Choose wisely. There will be romance in each, just not as horrendous as it was in this book series. In fact, it'll take a while for it to develop in each respective fanfiction, and it will be focused more on the action.

So...I hope I've explained enough to you guys, and look forward to hear from you all soon with your choices! :)
Until then, dear readers. TRON LIVES! Toodles.