Chapter Six

Thank you stealth suit. Natasha had reached the coordinates in no time. The stealth suit was one of SHIELD's latest inventions, giving her the protection she would need from any prying eyes. This was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

The base was in the middle of the Outlands. Cropped between two smaller cities and a vast wasteland. It was a wonder anyone had spotted it from a distance. The structure was immense. Dark red, orange and yellow lights seemed to radiate from it.

"Well, now I know why you hate those colors so much," she said to no one in particular. Both Mira and Beck had been uncomfortable around certain colors for their first few days in Stark Tower. It had taken some time to let them adjust to the fact that they were just colors in the real world. But here these colors meant danger.

She waited behind a small boulder until a group of soldiers emerged from the base. While the door was still open wide she wasted no time in getting in. No locked door had ever kept her out, but this was the safest way inside. It was likely that this Dyson character already knew she was there.

Once inside she made a point to avoid bumping into anyone. As far as they were concerned they were the only ones in this building. Long corridors stretched before her, flanking out into yet more hallways and smaller rooms. Just how much space did one program need?

Slowly but surely she made her way through the hallways, occasionally peering into the rooms to see what was going on. This base was nothing like SHIELD's HQ or the Hellicarrier. But the soldiers inside were prepping for what she assumed were future fights. Many of them already had received wounds, and piles of pixels covered the floor.

"It appears as though we have an intruder on the base," a voice suddenly announced over the com. "Take them down immediately and you will be greatly rewarded."

So much for stealth. Soldiers were racing down the halls once the announcement was made. Natasha wasted no time in knocking the first soldier out, startling the small group waiting behind him. Another soldier lunged forward with their disk activated. Dodging the disk with ease, Natasha kicked it out of his hand and sent him flying into another soldier, just before the last one standing struggled to take her down. She swung to the side and smacked him in the back of the helmet, knocking him to the floor in the process.

"Now before you lose consciousness, why don't you tell me where your boss is hiding?" Natasha grabbed the soldier by the hem of his suit, pressing the knife she kept at her waste at all times against his neck. The soldier shuddered under her gaze as he struggled to find the right words.

"I-I... I don't know!" he stammered. "We've never seen their face, only received messages and orders, I swear!" He struggled to free himself, but Natasha only sighed in frustration. She tossed him aside carelessly, knocking him out in the process.

So this wasn't Dyson's base. But maybe these soldiers could give her some kind of lead as to where he might be hiding. She continued making her way down the hallways, knocking out a few more soldiers in the process before reaching what appeared to be a suspicious room.

The door was sealed shut, meaning someone had meant to keep out any intruders. With one swift kick Natasha sent the door flying. What she saw next made her eyes widen in alarm. Scraps of files were scattered across the floor, along with desks that contained what she could only guess were the works of scientists, if the Grid had any.

"No, wait!" Before she could get a look at the files a soldier was sent flying into the room. Upon sheer instinct she whipped around, only to find an eerily familiar face looking down at her. Or mask. The damage she had caused earlier had been repaired, but that 'R' symbol on the program's chest was still there.

"Who are you?" The words slipped out, and the program paused momentarily, tilting their head to one side.

The question was left unanswered. Natasha rolled to the side as the program threw a disk, followed by a second. The program was fast, using their speed to their advantage. She caught the program's raised fist with her feet, flipping them face first onto the floor. Biding her time, she jumped as the program used their hand to flip right back on their feet. Natasha blocked the next few strike patterns, knowing full well this program was going to wear down fast if they kept it up.

She swung her leg into the programs thigh, causing them to reel back in surprise at the sudden attack. Taking the opportunity she had, she grabbed the files scattered along the floor and made a run for it.

. . .

The team had finally made up their mind. Splitting up was the best option they had in a situation like this. Mara was biting the bottom of her lip as she made her way to Gallium. Compared to the other cities she had visited Gallium was fairly small. That would make her job a bit easier.

She reached the edge of Gallium in a matter of microcycles. Already she could see programs were gathering near the outskirts of the city. The fact that communication had been cut off was probably why they were gathering. Without any means of reaching out to Tron or his team, they had no idea what was going on.

"Everyone, I need your attention now!" Mara got off her light cycle, turning it back into a baton as programs turned to look at her. After the whole incident at the garage she had practiced her speaking skills, especially in public events such as this. "We need to evacuate the city. I want everyone heading for the bunkers without panic; we can't afford to wait."

"Where's Tron? Shouldn't he be the one to tell us this news?" She narrowed her eyes at the program who spoke up. A tall male program with white and blue circuits stood out in the crowd, folding his arms as he glared at her. "He is after all our supposed protector," he added in a sneer.

A few programs gathered around him began muttering to one another, sharing their own thoughts. Mara restrained the urge to punch him in the face. All he was doing was making things worse. If they didn't evacuate now they would be caught in the crossfire.

"Look, I don't know why Tron himself didn't come here to tell you, but I do know that if you don't act now, things are going to get worse," she snapped. "Which is why I'm ordering everyone to get to the bunkers, and make sure that all the buildings are cleared out."

That seemed to alleviate any of the doubt these programs had. Mara's shoulders sagged with relief as the program that spoke out reluctantly nodded in agreement. She was thankful that Able had given her the opportunity to run things in the garage for a cycle. Without that opportunity she would have never gotten this far.

She led the programs to the bunkers, which was hidden within the Outlands. It was close to the city, but far enough away that they would not know what had happened. Once opening up the new safehouse that the Son of Flynn had created, she started helping those who were only just finding out.

"What exactly is going on? Communications are down and I can't reach anyone," a female program sighed as Mara led her away. It was the second time someone had asked what was going on. And Mara was tempted with telling them the truth. But something held her back. She had a feeling that telling them would only make them panic.

"Everything will be back up and running soon," she said reassuringly, hoping that what she said was true. Argon City, the home she had pretty much lived in her entire life, was now gone. She wondered how many other cities would be destroyed until whoever was doing this was stopped.

"Are you sure?" The program looked at her warily, eyes dark with worry.

"Positive." Mara patted the program's shoulder before stepping inside.

The safehouse was bigger looking than Mara expected. It was like an underground city with halls leading to different rooms that programs had to share. Sam had made it so that the safehouse would hold enough programs for every city. And he made it so that they had enough energy to last them for a few cycles.

Once everyone was situated, Mara made sure that there was no one left behind. The few programs left outside of their rooms were inside what was now the gathering hall. Here they could meet and discuss what actions would be needed for the future.

"Keep everyone inside," she told the program that had spoken up earlier. She was surprised to put so much faith in him, but something told her that he had dealt with this kind of situation before. "Once communications are back up you should be able to leave," she added.

"Let's just hope that what you're doing is the right thing," he grumbled. Mara couldn't agree more with him. She truly hoped that this mess would be cleared up soon. If they could get communication back up than Sam would be able to fix everything else.

. . .

By the time they were finished warning the cities Natasha had returned from her mission. Beck was fumbling around with the codes on Tron's computer, trying to figure out if he could reach out to the User world. If there was any hope of reaching out to Sam or even SHIELD, maybe they could stop Dyson from the outside.

"You okay Nat?" Beck raised an eyebrow as the door to the elevator swung open, revealing a tired looking Natasha.

"Never better. Clint, you need to see this," she suddenly murmured.

The wariness Beck had felt earlier suddenly returned. Clearly something had happened at the base. And he was guessing that Dyson hadn't even been there. Taking a deep breath, he tried distracting himself while the two Users spoke in low whispers.

He hated not knowing what to do in situations like this. Being the Renegade he had always been so sure of himself because of Tron's guidance. But now with Dyson's return he felt useless. It wasn't like when General Tesler had taken over all those cycles ago. Everything was so different now.

"You mean to tell me that Dyson's been keeping files on everyone from SHIELD?" Once again Clint's voice rose to more than just worry. Now it was Beck's turn to look at them in disbelief. How would they know if Dyson was keeping track of SHIELD? Than he noticed the files that Natasha was holding on to.

"It seems that way," Natasha replied with a heavy sigh. "There was a message left from your wonderful former leader, Clu," she added to Beck, who was now watching them curiously. That got his attention.

Carefully he made his way over to them, knowing full well that any wrong move would get him killed. After what Clint had nearly done to Tron, Beck wasn't taking any chances. Last thing he wanted was the wrath of these two on his shoulders.

So he was more than surprised when he saw the message that Natasha had told him about. It was a message Clu had left for Dyson. One that he would follow until the end of his time. Which Beck was hoping would come soon.

'Finish what I started'

AN: Bahaha, I had so much fun writing this chapter :D From confusion to panic to just about everything else... yeah. Anywho, hope everyone has a wonderful Palm Sunday. Headed out for an Iron Pigs game after church to hang out with my friends ;) Thanks 2theSky and Panda Bear Lover 317 for reviewing, you guys are the best :D