Clu vs the Command Line

by cloudlake

AU Tron Betrayal (Clu's fall and corruption) This story is inspired by the Tron Legacy scene where Jarvis just gave a rousing speech as Clu is about to go up against Sam in the games. Clu says the speech wasn't for the crowd. Perhaps it was for Clu himself. Senario: What if Clu's needs were met , instead of being let down all the time by Flynn or being asked to do the impossible?

9. System Failure

T-5 cycles to migration:

To: Clu

From: Flynn

1 microcycle ago, 2:57 PM PDT

I'm sorry to have to let you know we can't keep the system up. It's totally bogus. But we've tried every trick we can think of. I know you didn't want to, but we have to shut down. The system is hitting a cascade failure with another memory chip down and the system disk completely full. We have the best chance to save data, if we do it now. Prepare everyone for immediate shutdown.

See you on the new system, man.

Flynn

…

Kris reads the message over Clu's shoulder and absent mindedly smooths that one persistent flyaway lock of hair at the nape of his neck.

"So we do this the hard way. Should be about 30 milicycles from now. Let's get the warning out," Clu grabs her hand and they dash to the control room.

Shaddox diverts power to the emergency broadcast system.

"This is your leader, Clu and User Kris. We just received notification from Flynn of system shutdown. I repeat system shutdown. Halt all processes and shelter in place. We expect blackout in approximately 10 milicycles, and the final shutdown in less than 20 milicycles. Take heart. After shutdown, we will be ported to the new system. See you all in our new home. Safe journey."

Sirens from the civil defense message repeaters begin to blare in the background as the warning is sent out.

Groups of friends huddle together. Dyson messages Ruby to come upstairs, so she's not alone. Shaddox is the only one who works until blackout.

When the power loss arrives and programs' circuits are the only light - it's eerily silent, except for the click of Shaddox's boots on the floor as he walks over to sit with Tron's group.

"It's been a pleasure serving with you all on this system," Clu gives his respects to his crew - his friends.

Kris puts her arms around him and tucks her head into his shoulder. He pulls her in tighter to kiss the top of her head while they wait together. As their vision goes dark and the circuits start to fade, he takes in the smell of her hair and the feel of her next to him, hoping to hold her like this again.

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Chapter End of Line