Chapter Eight

The plan was simple. They each check out a base and see whether or not Dyson was there. And if he was, take him down no matter the consequences. At least when Tron had explained it the plan sounded simple. But now as Beck thought about it, he realized that this was extremely dangerous.

Tron was with Clint, and Natasha and Beck were on their own. So all Beck needed to do was rely on his stealth to get through this base.

What bothered him more than anything else was how obvious the base looked. It stood out in what was left of the old Tron City.

Long story short, Tron City had been taken down because of what Clu had done to it. Tron felt as though the city was living proof of Clu's existence. Sam didn't have the heart to destroy the file, so he left it standing as a garbage heap. Similar to what was once Purgos.

The base itself was located near the center of the old city. Beck could already see the remains of recognizers and warships that Clu and his generals had used. What were once towers had become a crumbling heap of cubes.

Beck tried to keep calm as he waited for the right moment to get in. No locked building had ever kept him out. And this was no different.

"What are you doing outside the base?" Beck flinched when he heard the commanding order of a soldier. He turned to see a group of soldiers looking at him, masks covering their faces. And for once he was thankful to have a disguise on. "You're needed inside, soldier," he snapped.

Without saying anything, Beck just nodded and did as he was told. One of the benefits of being a program was that you could make a disguise for just about any situations. Just keep your mask on and play it dumb. So far none of the soldiers seemed to notice that anything was off.

"We captured this program trying to evacuate one of the cities." Again Beck had to flinch when another soldier walked past him, shoving a familiar face forward.

Copper. He didn't look pleased. A few scratches now marked his face where the soldiers likely attacked him. All the while he was shouting insults at them, struggling to break free of the cuffs now binding his wrists.

"Where is he going?" Beck tried to keep his disguised voice steady as they made their way down the corridors.

"To the repurposing chamber," the soldier replied. "He's strong, but not strong enough, yet."

Almost at once Beck froze on the spot. A repurposing chamber? What exactly did Dyson have in mind here?

He didn't get the chance to ask. The soldiers stopped beside another door, letting it slide open. Looking up at the ceiling, Beck noticed that a large machine was hovering above them. His eyes widened in horror when he noticed that the machine was holding some kind of gas mixture within it.

"Let me take care of this," Beck offered after realizing how serious this was. This was how Dyson's army had gotten so big so quickly. He couldn't let Copper get repurposed. Dash would never forgive him.

"You're not authorized to operate this machine," the soldier retorted.

Holding back a sigh of frustration, Beck could only watch as Copper was shoved into the room. Only one soldier remained as he prepared to turn the machine on. In the meantime Copper had given up his ranting, seeming to realize what was happening.

Beck suddenly rushed forward after the soldier, who's hand was on the dial to switch on the machine. The soldier let out a choking cry before Beck pinned him to the ground, knocking him out in nanocycles.

"I am now," he announced once the soldier was unresponsive.

Copper just eyed him warily as he looked up at his former coworker.

"If you're here to derezz me-" Beck cut him off with a shake of his head.

"Calm down Copper, it's me." The mechanic's eyes widened when Beck turned off his voice disguise. He pulled out the tool that Bodhi had made and took off the cuffs once Copper realized he wasn't a threat.

"Beck I... how?" Copper was at a loss for words as he searched for answers.

"Look, you have every right to hate me for what I did. Right now we need to get you out of here," Beck told him.

Copper just nodded, still at a loss for words. Beck turned his voice disguise back on, careful to make it look like he was leading Copper away to a cell. If they even had those on this base. Beck still hadn't gotten a good look at the place. He hoped that wouldn't backfire on him.

They made their way down the winding hallway, passing a few soldiers along the way. No one bothered asking what Beck was doing with the captured program. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Beck, about the program that captured me-" He sentence was cut off when an alarm sounded.

Beck suddenly grabbed Copper by the wrist and started to run. At this rate the soldiers would be on them in nanocycles, if they weren't already.

"Run now, talk later!" he ordered while running.

He didn't stop running until they reached a corner in the hallway. The door loomed ahead, and Beck tried not to groan when he realized that it was heavily guarded.

"What about that program?" he demanded in a whisper.

"Beck, I don't think that program was a program," Copper suddenly murmured. He was about to make a retort when Copper continued, "I managed to break open their suit with my disk, and when I did, red liquid came out of the cut."

"Look, even if that was possible, I doubt a User would ever work for anyone," Beck muttered under his breath. All the while his mind was reeling with this sudden news. A User might be working for Dyson. He had to wonder what sort of User would be bitbrained enough to do that. "You need to get out of here," he added more carefully.

"What about you?" Copper demanded.

"I'm staying here." Copper eyed him warily, but he didn't dare say anything else.

It didn't take long for either of them to knock out the soldiers. Most of them were pushovers, but a few had put up a good fight. Once the last one fell Copper was given a short opportunity to escape.

"Be careful," Beck warned him as he rushed out.

Already the door was closing, and Beck went back to hiding to avoid any passing soldiers. Now he was going to have to play it safe.

AN: Apologies for the short chapters. Unfortunately that's just how they turned out... But hey, at least I'm updating ;) Thanks to Panda Bear Lover 317 and 2theSky for reviewing. You guys are awesome :D (Does anyone do anything for Holy Thursday by the way? We usually dye our Easter Eggs before going to church, lots of fun!)