Chapter Eleven
Cold walls surrounded Beck as he finally woke up. The pain he felt from earlier returned, making him wince as he struggled to sit up. He was laying in a small room, a prison from what it looked like. And around him were faces he had become familiar with over the past few cycles.
"Beck, I'm glad to see you're awake," Tron said once Beck registered what was going on.
"What happened?" He was still groggy, and the pounding in the back of his head wasn't helping.
Than his eyes widened as memories of the fight against Dyson returned. That was why his head was pounding. Mira... somehow Dyson had gotten his hands on her.
"If I ever get out of this damned place I'll personally cut his head off!" Beck winced again at the curses Clint was shouting. The cuffs binding his wrists together made it more difficult to get comfortable, though Beck doubted he could ever feel that way here.
"Clint, calm down. At this rate we'll lose our hearing," Natasha muttered with a roll of her eyes.
"How can you stay calm? That son of bitch brainwashed our daughter!" This time Natasha pursed her lips and glared at Clint, eyes cold as ice.
"Of course I can't stay calm, but letting my anger out isn't going to get us anywhere," she snapped.
"Are you two done yet?" Tron's voice rose above the shouting, making Beck suddenly wish that he had earplugs. The silence that followed was almost deafening. "Beck, do you still have that tool Bodhi made?"
His only response was a nod, followed by confused looks from Natasha and Clint. The cuffs weren't tight enough that he couldn't wriggle around his wrists. Like the time Tron had caught him in the Outlands, this situation was somewhat similar to that.
The tool was small enough that he kept it on him at all times. And not for the last time he was grateful Bodhi had designed it. Carefully he typed in the code once it was latched onto the cuffs. In nanocycles that cuffs were undone. Once his hands were available he helped free the others.
Beck wasted no time in breaking the door open. Finding the right code for that was easy. It was a good thing Dyson hadn't thought this through.
"Finding Dyson won't be so difficult," Natasha announced as they passed the now empty throne room. It was likely that Dyson had left long before any of them recovered from being knocked out.
"You put a tracer on him, didn't you?" Once the throbbing went away, Beck was more determined than ever to stop Dyson, and save Mira.
"Obviously," she replied. "He isn't far from here."
The four of them headed down yet another extensive hallway. Beck was getting tired of seeing these endless tunnels. Once this was over he might actually consider staying in the User world for a few cycles. Getting some fresh air would be nice.
Sure enough Natasha was right about Dyson. Beck's eyes narrowed with outrage when he spotted Mira standing beside the general. If he could he would derezz Dyson right than and there. Unfortunately it was never that easy.
"I was wondering how long it would take for you to find me," Dyson sneered.
He moved to the side as Clint fired an arrow (how many of those things had he gone through already?), dodging it with ease. Just as he did so Mira sent the arrow flying towards them. Beck jumped out of the way once the arrow exploded, the others doing the same.
"Dyson, enough of this! It's over!" Tron threw his disk at Dyson, who blocked it with his own disk. Glancing back at Natasha and Clint, Beck noticed that they were holding their own against Mira. He was torn between who he should join.
"It's not over until I say it is!" Dyson snapped. He twisted around and threw his disk, knocking Tron's out of his hand.
With a shake of his head, Beck joined in on the fight. Dyson threw out a leg and he flipped back, landing on his hand before throwing his own leg to sweep Dyson off his feet. Dyson cursed under his breath as Beck flipped back again, this time throwing a fist into his chin. Dyson was thrown off guard, reeling back in pain.
Tron suddenly grabbed Dyson by the wrist as he prepared to throw another punch. The program's eyes widened in disbelief as Tron flipped Dyson onto his back, pinning him to the floor. Wariness suddenly washed over Beck. He knew that he was ready for what would happen next. He had been telling himself that this was the right thing. But still something held him back.
"Time to end this." With a disk raised and activated, Tron threw it down. Beck braced himself for the scream of agony that would follow.
"You derezz me now, and the User you care about so much will never be free." This time Tron paused in his attack, only to give Dyson enough time to kick him in the chest, knocking him aside.
There are more ways to break repurposing, Beck thought. If they had more time Cutler would have broken free of Clu's grasp. Beck had already seen it happen. The old warrior had been fighting it the whole time.
By now Mira had already taken down Clint. Natasha was still holding her own in battle, flipping back to avoid getting kicked or punched while striking out. Beck saw the chance to join in and stopped Mira from delivering a blow to Natasha in the chest.
"Mira, this isn't you!" he shouted while blocking a swift punch in the face. "The User I know wouldn't let anyone control her, especially someone like him!" A swing to the thigh caused him to lurch in pain. But this time he wasn't holding back.
"You think you can break the repurposing?" Dyson sneered. "Users are weak and easily manipulated. This just proves my theory!"
This time a scream of agony did follow his words. Clint had fired an arrow straight at Dyson. The moment it landed electricity surged through him. Beck tried not to flinch as pixels scattered across the floor. Dyson was derezzed. And now all that was left was freeing Mira from whatever repurposing he had done to her.
It was a standoff. Between the four of them and Mira, who by now had dropped one of the disks she was holding earlier. Beck had a feeling that the disk was one of the ways Dyson had controlled her. Now that he was gone it might be possible to revert the repurposing.
Just the fact that Dyson had been derezzed made him feel nervous. Despite everything Dyson had done, he still couldn't find the heart to derezz a program.
"Mira, please don't do this." The room had been eerily silent, aside from the whirring noises of their activated disks.
By now Beck's fists had tightened up as he prepared for the fight that would likely follow. From what Sam had told him Tron had fought off Clu's repurposing as well. So he knew that it was possible Mira could fight it, and had been fighting it.
And suddenly Mira dropped her other disk. The sickening orange and red lights that had lined her suit earlier began to flicker, changing to their natural color. Everything happened so quickly that it was a blur for Beck. Tron caught her as she started to fall, expression grim as he realized what was happening.
"What just... happened?" Clint had dropped his bow, suddenly looking more worried than anything.
"Her system fought the repurposing," Tron explained warily. "Once you derezzed Dyson his hold on her was gone."
"So she's going to be okay?" Beck leaned forward, feeling a sense of hope for the first time in cycles.
"It depends on your idea of 'okay'." The bitterness in Tron's voice made Beck flinch.
He suddenly remembered how they had found Tron after that battle against Pavel. The security program had been suffering from serious injuries thanks to Clu. And he had been so afraid to show his face after everything that happened.
"Bring your tired, Bring your shame, Bring your guilt, Bring your pain, Don't you know that's not you're name, You will always be much more to me, Every day I wrestle with the voices, That keep telling me I'm not right, But that's alright..."
I won't let that happen to you, he promised. If anyone blamed her for what had happened, he would personally make them suffer the consequences. None of this was her fault.
"'Cause I hear a voice and He calls me redeemed, When others say I'll never be enough, And greater is the One living inside of me, Than he who is living in the world, In the world, In the world, And greater is the One living inside of me, Than he who is living in the world..."
"It will take time for her to recover from this," Tron warned them.
"So does this mean communication is back up?" Beck raised an eyebrow when Natasha asked the question. Tron's only response was a 'yes'.
Beck couldn't look away as Tron held on to Mira, as if afraid that she might suddenly disappear on them. After these last few cycles, he wouldn't be surprised if that was what happened. Though truthfully he would have done the same. Tron just beat him to it.
AN: Yes, I had to end it there :P And hopefully this wasn't too rushed... I may end up rewriting a few chapters in the future just to make them flow more evenly. Only one more chapter left (and I am in the process of writing a bonus chapter, still debating whether or not I will post it), and this finished. After that I'll be working on Disaster :) Big thanks to Sunofaia, 2theSky and Panda Bear Lover 317 for reviewing! You guys are awesome :D
Lyrics come from the song Greater by MercyMe