A silence had fallen across the bridge of the metallic brigade, of the digital frontier that extended long past this single base of operations, known primarily as the Throneship. In a row stood several guards, all in jet black - the only spark of colour on any of them was circuitry, a distinct orange that glowed slightly as it ran down the legs and sides of their legs and chest plates and on the helmet, forming circles at the bottom that made them appear as distinctly something else, certainly not human, whatever it was. Each one grasped a single long baton in their hold, as tight as one would hold onto their own lives, and all watched like predators for just about anything that didn't bear a resemblance to themselves, vigilant as anti-viruses.

And so, it was only natural that their eyes instantly caught the first two anomalies to enter the field.

What appeared down below looked to be some form of a portal - one that did not fall under the same line as the one other that was available within the Grid - had opened up, and had disappeared just as quickly, but not before two figures emerged from it. Both wore black cloaks, a distinct opposition to the armoured suits all else in the Grid wore, and their hoods were down, exposing their faces. No signs of circuitry that showed their rank, no armoured plates, nothing at all. The first of the two appeared to be some sort of youth, and the other a little bit older and bulkier in appearance, but both hardly appeared to be too old, and their shared silver hair, gold eyes and tanned skin would make most assume they had to be related, at least in some fashion. But such intricacies were of little interest to those dubbed the Black Guards; they had intruded upon CLU's Throneship and had entered it without authorisation, and likely the Grid too, judging by their lack of uniformity with other programs. And as such, that mandated a single thing.

The first of the guards approached, its purpose clear; "Identify. State your handles, programs."

Silence, and a simple stare. The youth looked to his companion, and spoke in a voice dulled of any sort of emotion, "Do you care to handle this, or shall I?"

The second of the pair's hands lowered, and his lips seemed to tip up into a small smirk. "It can fall to both of us; after all...you will be handling CLU,"

Without even another word of warning, and before the guard could even make a second order or demand of them, a streak of red had ripped through the space between the man and the guard, with what looked like lightning crackling from where the guard had been struck - what had once been their chest disintegrated into small fragments, leaving but a gaping, empty hole, leaving them to weakly collapse to the metallic floor, the rest of them disappearing shortly after. For a moment, silence rang out after the sudden twang of clashing metal, an inhumane void-like noise that emphasised the program that was no longer even pieces on the floor.

And then, the madness truly began.

Numerous guards darted forward like bullets from a firearm towards the intruders, spears at the ready. Those at the front approached steadily, but with their spears angled to protect themselves from the same fate as the first of them, while those closer behind jetted into the air, activating their grenades to pummel them into bits and bytes, and yet...their opponents still remained standing where they were. The youth had unveiled his weapon now, consisting of dual blades, bright blue and buzzing as if born from pure energy. He moved forward, and his blades swiftly clashed against the batons, once, twice, and then a breakthrough as he went for the side of the guard's neck, slamming the blade straight into it, cutting through armour like it was butter. As his opponent stumbled, his other blade went for the enemy's lower torso, which had lapsed in pain's exposure, leaving only particles that then deleted themselves in immediate succession, with him repeating the process for several others who tried to attack.

The guards in the air readied their grenades, aiming onward and straight for the two men, when the sudden spark of something from behind them turned their attention away; somehow, the strange swords that the more muscular figure had pulled seemingly from thin air had now appeared in the air and began to fire away like a mad murderer's frenzy. Several ducked downward, and chucked their grenades ahead towards the taller figure, awaiting the disease of flame that would rush forward from all sides as soon as it made contact. But yet, despite the explosion's magnitude, the smoke that wafted through the air in the aftermath, which would indicate that the figure had at least not been able to avoid the attack, the taller of them still stood as solid as a stone, emerging from the cloud that had been generated from their attempt as he joined in the clash, those same Ethereal Blades appearing from the palms of both hands, particles now exploding in front of his still ever-calm face as he ripped through what had once been a solid wall of defences, now nothing but deleted, empty, broken programs.

The next guard closest to the youth had only seconds to try and block the flurry of slashes that followed, a pale white mist swirling around the blades' edges all the while. As the guard deflected each slice, he used one hand to maintain his defence, the other reaching for his disc which he threw in a curved, impatient arc. It swerved, just barely missing the youth's head, and swung back in midair - yet, what would have been an attack that would have struck, as it practically seemed to, reaching the back of the male's hair, the youth seemed to mutter something. And in that split second, the place where he had been standing was no longer the same as before. The realisation snapped like a twig within the guard's registry of thoughts, and had only the same length of time to be processed before something...cold began to fill it from head to toe to the point that its line of vision blackened, pitch black, and all senses it had once had began to deactivate with an anticlimactic beep. Where fire had once marked the end of the guard's comrades, ice marked theirs - in a burst of icicles that then scattered into nothing. The guard's disc lowered, and then clattered down to the walkway with only a whimper to offer in its finality.

By now, more guards were emerging from the upper walkway and rushing into action to try and stop what had to be an invasion of some sort - were these two serving Kevin Flynn, perhaps? Or were they from elsewhere? Regardless, they were enemies of CLU, and couldn't be permitted to continue existing within the Grid.

Of course, CLU had understood from inside the chaos that was occurring outside, even if only from sound alone. Still, his face didn't appear to fall much, even with the elimination of his personnel; after all, if they couldn't stop two intruders when there was a whole army of them outside, never mind stopping two intruders from getting here, to begin with, then they were defective.

They were imperfect, and they had no place in the system CLU sought for. Rinzler looked to him now, as if awaiting an order.

CLU raised a hand, "No. I'll look into this," he stated, before stepping out. The doors slid opposite of each other, and opened up onto the walkways in which the battle was taking place.

Just as the youth had finished using his blades to generate icicles that tore through the guards before him, he slowly rose. "I was wondering when you would finally show yourself," he spoke, his blades disappearing.

The guards were about to attack once more, but CLU gestured, and they stood down, for now at least. "I am hardly obligated to greet anyone who makes their way here, particularly without authorisation," he said. "I have to say, your skills are admirable. But let's not avoid the obvious; what is it that you want?" his eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the two potential opponents.

Which was why it took even himself off-guard, when he felt a presence appear behind him, one that hadn't previously been there. Rinzler moved into action, only to be pinned to the wall by the throat almost immediately thereafter. The youth's voice emerged once again, "We are here to offer you a proposition; a way of achieving what you desire most. A way of escaping this place, and into a world that is not simply data, one that is 'real'...that is what you were hoping to accomplish, was it not?"

Despite the tension that entered his form, CLU made an action of not moving, of remaining still, of not flinching. Regardless of what strength they had to offer, they were still ultimately outsiders, while he shared the power of the creator of this world, the creator whom he resented and no longer needed, but their shared strength was something that had its uses. In this world, he stood above all others - his role was to separate that which made a perfect system, and the flaws that tainted it into less than what it could be. After all, it could be said that the ISOs were 'powerful', but not enough to escape the results they had been dealt.

Answering, CLU said, "Yes. That's true. And just how is it you intend to offer that?"

"There is an item from where we come from, known as the Keyblade. It can open any lock, the gateways to other worlds. And it just so happens there is a boy by the name of Sora who should soon be arriving here - he has a Keyblade in his possession. Attain it, and you attain your key to leave this world." the taller one explained.

"In addition..." the youth added, now looking at him in the eye, a small glint of cruelty emerging from his gaze as he considered his next words. "It would seem that Sora is also familiar with Rinzler - he seems to be under the delusion that he is a friend of his. I don't imagine it would be false to assume this could be of some interest to you."

"Is that so..." CLU pondered to himself for a few moments. "You're correct in your assumption. But even so...you did just eliminate several of my personnel. Of course, I can replace them myself, but the point still stands - how do I know your assistance is worth taking?"

As if this situation could not grow any stranger, CLU was proven wrong in his inquiry; several strange creatures summoned around the two dark-hooded figures, resembling various sorts of animals in peculiar colours. "These are Nightmares. At the very least, they should be able to bolster your own assortment of guards." the taller of the figures stated.

"Interesting...I'll see how they fare, though I will warn; I stand for nothing but a perfect system. If these 'Nightmares' do not fall under such a distinction...well, I'm sure you're aware of what I'll make of them,"

"Of course."

"Lastly - just who are you?"

Xemnas. Xehanort.

A/N: So, this was an...interesting chapter to write. Here's a fun fact, this is also noted as an 'Interlude' chapter in my notes for this fic, kinda like the one from before the start of the La Cite Des Cloches arc, but this actually ended up a lot longer than I was expecting it, compared to the last one of its kind anyways. Having to refresh on the little details involving these two assholes was an...interesting experience! For one, when refreshing on how Xemnas' Ethereal Blades worked when they hit someone, I was looking through GIFs of him fighting as a reference, and I was coming up short, and I went and said, "Can you just fucking hit someone already?!".

The GIF of poor Riku getting hit with it came up immediately after, and I felt like a right awkward bastard. Sorry, Riku...

Anyways, I'll be back to the usual length of chapters during the next one, when Nemurin and Sora enter the Grid! Thanks again to Hekkasi, Captain Imaginat and Tsuuji for the reviews, and I'll see y'all next chapter!