Chapter One: Rebirth.
It had been years since Kevin Flynn had gone missing. The world had changed, becoming more cruel, greedy, and dangerous.
With its CEO literally disappearing off of the face of the earth, the Encom Company was at a loss of what do.
For a short time, Alan Bradley was put in charge, as he was the closest friend and second in command under Kevin. Unfortunately, he didn't quite have the leadership skills or influence over the board that his best friend had and was replaced quickly with someone who was more controllable and money orientated.
Encom was truly lost without their leader. And with companies like Stark Industries and Hammer industries inventing new things and becoming more popular, Encom eventually became bankrupt and tossed in the towel.
Kevin Flynn had wanted to give away their software and best tech, for free, to shape a brighter and better future. That dream had sadly died with him.
As Sam Flynn, his son and heir grew, the stockholders and even temporary CEO had hoped Sam would become the ace in the hole they needed to get back on top.
Unfortunately, on his seventeenth birthday, Sam died in a motorcycle accident.
After the first 'death' of its ceo, the Encom stock crashed by sixty percent before eventually dragging itself back up. After Sam's death, Encom went completely bankrupt and was then brought out by Stark Industries in the Early 2000s. All of Kevin Flynn's property was inspected, including his houses and personal arcade.
~ - ~
In a secret room that was not on the blueprints, Stark technicians found a private server and an advanced operating system called the 'Grid'. Much to the disappointment of the technicians, the Grid was struck with multiple system errors and viruses, and eventually had to be purged and shut down.
And with no backups or understanding on how it was created, the grid was abandoned.
However, little did anyone know that one particular user had dumped a particular program onto a USB drive, days before the Arcade was raided.
The name of said program?
*JA-307020./
According to the arcade records, a Laser system called 'Shiva' was also supposed to be stored in the arcade. But after much searching, it was nowhere to be found.
Just where had these things gone?
~ - ~
(Bradley household)
"I Already know what you're going to say Lora, but I couldn't let that self righteous son of a gun have my program or your laser system. He can have everything else, it's useless without Flynn anyway... but they will not have what we spent our lives on." Alan Bradley told his wife, having hauled the large bundles of equipment in with help from their teenage son, Beck.
"You really need to talk to me before you do things like this." Lora sighed, pinching the muscle in between her nose in annoyance.
She loved him, she really did. But he didn't half stress her out with the things he did.
"I promise I will next time, now let's see what Kevin was working on before he went...missing." Alan replied, setting up his computer before plugging in the USB he had used to download what he could.
Error codes raced across the console as Alan brought up the records of the 'grid' causing him to frown.
It was a real mess, it seemed something had gone wrong with the whole system. Flynn had tried to fix it, but this 'Clu' Program he had created not only overrode its objectives but had also created the very virus that had eventually consumed the grid.
None of the programs had survived, well, none of the programs Flynn had written. But it seemed an old, much more sophisticated program had.
"Tron..." Alan whispered, having always wondered what had happened to his firewall. He knew the old Encom system been replaced with a new one developed by Kevin, but he has been surprised when Tron wasn't located in the files.
Kevin had merely promised Alan that 'Tron' had a place in a special project he had been developing.
This grid had obviously been said special project, but it had failed.
As Alan tried to access his old program, a console popped up.
CMPTR-A1: LzR_Cntrl_1. START: Y/N?
Alan blinked. How had his computer automatically connected to the Shiva laser, He hadn't even turned it on!
Noticing a command box, he typed his answer.
Alan-One: Y.
A low humming sound filled the air as the laser came online on the other side of the room, its end glowing a soft blue light as the batteries sent power throughout the machine.
The power to the Bradley house went out as a beam of white light shot out of the machine's barrel, constructing the pixelated form of a humanoid figure. After a minute, the pixels faded away to a more realistic look and then the beam turned off.
A Fairly lean, Futuristic armoured figure stood before them. With circuit lines that glowed orange before fading into a soft blue in the darkness of the room.
"What the Hell..." Lora muttered, having run in once she heard the sound of her laser system turning on.
The figure jumped in shock, going to take the circular device that was attached to its back before freezing in place.
It had seen Alan and suddenly began to tremble. "A-Alan one?" A raspy, metallic voice murmured, obviously distorted by the black ebony helmet that covered its head.
Alan picked up the baseball bat that was on the shelf above his computer, getting up to possibly strike this figure, only for his wife to stop him.
"Wait, Alan. That four dot symbol by his throat, isn't that your logo for-" Lora pointed.
"Tron?" Alan exclaimed in shock and realisation.
"Yes...It's me. I-I think." The program replied, staggering slightly as he lowered his arms. Confusion in his tone.
"Uncle Flynn wasn't joking when he said he found a whole world down there, was he?" Beck muttered, eyes wide at what he was seeing.
He had snuck in behind Lora after the light show had died down.
Lora turned around and glared at her son, giving him a look that meant: Really? Causing her son to wince.
"Flynn?" Tron whispered, hands going to his head as his circuits flared a deep orange, causing him to yell out in agony and fall to his knees.
Memories flashed past his eyes, causing him to scream at the intensity.
"Flynn Go!" "I fight...for the users!"
The program gasped, his circuits returning to their normal blue colour as he came to from the flashback. "Oh users...what have I done." He exclaimed, bowing his head as sobs consumed his whole form.
He was a monster.
"Tron...what happened." Lora asked softly.
"I-I can't say, you'll all hate me. Especially Alan One, but my disc can show you the memories, if you truly wish to know." The program replied, taking off the circular device that was attached to his back before he handed it over to his creator.
A blue hologram appeared in the air, causing the User's eyes to widen at the advanced technology they now had in their hands.
Tron's face was projected before them, with symbols of different things floating around it. Such as a DNA spiral, a symbol for his disk and a symbol for his memories.
Alan bit his lip before pressing the symbol for memories.
"Its ready, Maybe put it on the floor now?" Lora suggested.
Alan did so, and once he stepped back, the room before them changed.
Life sized projections were revealed to the family, showing every key moment of Tron's recent life.
'Flynn! Am I still to create the perfect system?
'Yeah?'
Crimson flashes, screams of agony, fighting fighting, pain, HELP ALAN ONE, HELP FLYNN!
'You are Rinzler. You fight for Clu.'
'I am Rinzler...I fight for Clu.'
'Kill the Isos...they are a virus'
'PLEASE, NO!'
Programs and isos alike, young and old, fell under the dual blades of the enforcers disks. Each one derezzed with extreme prejudice.
Orange repurposed programs march across the Grid, with Clu's yellow gaze looking over everything and anything.
'Out there is a new world, out there...is our destiny!'
The virus I designed from Jalen's code, it's evolved...I can't stop it, not even Flynn can.
Yellow and black tendrils growing across the grid, consuming buildings, vehicles and innocent programs until nothing remained but Rinzler.
Now done, the projection faded away to black and nothingness, leaving the Bradley family and a weeping Tron who was curled up in the fetal position.
Overwhelmed from their worlds being turned upside down, the Bradley's didn't know what to do or say. So Alan took a deep breath before steeling himself.
"Tron...none of that is your fault. Okay, look at me, take off that damn helmet and look at me." Alan growled, walking over before kneeling down in front of his digital 'son'.
Glass and armour folded back, revealing a head of blackish brown hair and dark blue crystal like eyes, which were streaming tears. The most notable thing though...was the numerous amount of scars and cuts that littered the pale white flesh of the program.
However that's not what made them gasp. What was the fact that he seemed to be a teenager. And looked exactly like a younger Alan Bradley!
"What did that fiend do." Alan growled as he looked over the boy for any other injuries.
"What didn't he do." Tron muttered, turning his face away in shame. He had failed his objective, his reason for being. He was a failure. A defect.
"Look at me Tron. You didn't do anything wrong. That was not you, you did not fail. Clu, he corrupted you, turned you into that...thing. you are not at fault, okay?" Alan told him, urging his creation to listen to him.
Tron burst into tears again and curled up into a ball on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.
Alan kneeled down and gathered the poor boy into a warm embrace, causing him to stiffen before relaxing upon realisation of who was touching him. He then returned the hug and cried into his 'Fathers' shoulder. Eventually, after a few minutes, he passed out. Obviously exhausted from everything he had been through.
"Guess I got a baby brother huh..." Beck grinned, having always wanted a sibling.
"Technically he's older than you, I wrote him in my late teens and developed him even more in my early twenties when I got my Job at Encom." Alan smirked, causing Beck to pout.
"Eh, I'm taller and will take care of him." The boy waved off.
"Actually with what I just saw, he'll probably take care of himself. He's a very skilled fighter, I recognised a few martial arts but it looks like he knows some I don't and has also invented his own style. He's good...very good." Lora told her son.
"Yes, but mentally and emotionally he won't be. he's going to need all of us. He's been through a lot, more than any person should have. We need to be there for him." Alan stated, looking to his family while he held his new child.
They both nodded.
The Bradley family stuck together, through thick or thin. They would get past this, especially with a new member.
"Good, in the morning I will call Roy and see if he can call in a few favours, make a false ID, birth certificate and other records for Tron. He's one of us now. He's the last survivor of Flynn's Grid." Alan muttered, still trying to wrap his head around there being a whole other world inside of computers.
"I just have one question." Beck asked, getting his parents attention.
"Yes Beck, what is it?" Lora sighed.
"How are we going to get him out of the suit?" The teen gestured, causing his parents to look at Tron's still form. The armour, it seemed, was a part of him.
Alan and Lora turned to each other. Huh, what were they going to do with that?
"We'll ask him if it comes off in the morning and we'll worry about it then. Right now, let's get some rest." Lora said.
They both nodded, but once Lora had gone upstairs, Alan took his son aside.
"Beck, stay with him. If he needs anything in the night, like food or water. Get it for him, if he has any nightmares then wake us up to help. Okay?" Alan urged.
"Like I wasn't going to anyway." Beck replied with a smirk, making his father grin before going upstairs.
-The Next Day-
"Thanks Roy, we really appreciate this, I hope retirement is suiting you well Old friend." Alan asked.
"It has its ups and downs. Like for example I can wear my shirts now, while before I had to fit into that damned suit." Replied a male voice that came over the phone.
"Yeah, Encom wasn't short on stupid changes after Flynn went missing."
"Gone are the days of table racing down the stairs. Anyway, have a good day Alan, say Hi to Lora for me." Roy chuckled.
"Will do, and I hope you have a good one also. Bye." And with that, the phone call ended.
"Is it done?"
"Yes, ZackAttack came through for us. He got Tron an ID as Trevor Bradley. Born during the time we needed money and so I donated to a sperm bank. His parents died in a car crash and so we recently brought him into the family." Alan explained.
"Not a very good story, but it's better than nothing." Lora replied, glad that it was over with.
"Now let's go greet our sons."
(End of chapter one)I hope you all enjoy this new story set in one of my favourite universes, Like my other fics, I have big plans for this!