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Tron made his way to the armory dome as fast as he could. He had no idea if Alan-One was still there or they were holding him somewhere else. He only knew that he had to find him and assist both his User and Janelle back to the Real World.
Janelle had no trouble keeping up with him, although Tron wasn’t sure if she was running or actually gliding. She was an odd User, but then not all of them were the same, although he had only come across two, and he tried to kill them. He fought against the Users, he nearly killed the son of Flynn in the Disk Arena and when he fought against the sentries, trying to rescue Janelle, he felt a part of Rinzler trying to return to him.
He would not think of that right now.
“Uh Tron,” Janelle spoke up after being quiet for a few nanos. “How did you know I was human?”
“I watched you from several feet above you,” Tron answered. He wondered if she were going to ask him about how he knew.
“You were stalking me?” She sounded somewhat surprised and annoyed.
“No, I was resting and observing my surroundings.” It was true he was doing that and a little bit more. Mostly he was thinking about what had happened to the ENCOM’S system and should he get involved. There was a time when he would have gladly and proudly taken up the call to fight a corruption and free the system so the programs could speak with their Users. That was before he was defeated and repurposed. He was defeated before and altered into something he detested.
He also thought about Flynn. What would he do? What would he want Tron to do? He thought about the friends he had lost, all the ISO’s and he thought about Yori. He had wondered if he should try and find her. Was she still alive? Was she waiting for him? What if she had been captured and repurposed? He was able to snap her out of mind control before but that was mild compared to what was done to him.
“And you saw me come along?” Janelle asked.
Tron nodded. “I noticed how you were dressed, your lack of an Identity Disk and the way you were looking around like you were both lost and were amazed.”
“That’s my second question.” She held out her arms. “What is this place?”
“You have been digitized and brought into ENCOM’S system.”
“System?” She blinked. “Like inside a computer?”
“Several to be exact. All computer systems that are connected to ENCOM’S LAN.”
“I’m in cyberspace?”
“Yes.” Several of the bits answered at once.
“Oh my god.” She rubbed her eyes. “We need to find Alan so we both can take the red pill.”
“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”
“Never mind.” She shook her head. “Cyberspace, the Matrix.” She spun around and looked at everything up and down. “I remember hearing stories when I was a child about this world. There was a variety of virus and digital demons and they were always taken down by-“ She stopped and turned to him. Her eyes widened with recognition. “You. You are that Tron. You were that hero right?”
“It is the main protocol of all Security Programs to take down viruses.” Maybe he was a hero at one time.
“But you were the one that fought and took down the dark master boss program.”
“Master Control Program,” Tron corrected. How did she know about that unless Flynn told her. “You knew Flynn?”
“Mr. Flynn told great stories. I had a three inch figure of you on my shelf. I had a plush doll of you. You were the reason why I was so good with a Frisbee. I practiced so I could be as good as you one day. I guess I still have a lot of training.”
“I’m flattered that I was an inspiration.” Tron felt himself smile but lost it almost as quickly as it formed. He was no longer the same hero. “We need to get moving.” He increased his gait as they continued on their way to the armory.
“No,” one of the bits said as they neared it.
The front doors were surrounded by several guards. Tron glared at them and then back at the Bits. They were too noisy. The enemy would know their location.
“Keep your Bits quiet,” Tron said as he turned to face Janelle.
“What?” She asked in an offended tone. “My Bits?”
“I did not mean to offend,” Tron said in a softer tone. Being a User, she might not know what he was talking about. “Those things that are floating above you. They are called Bits.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “Like gaming systems, first they were eight bit, then sixteen, then thirty two and then sixty four.” She turned around and brought her finger to her mouth. “Guys keep quiet. I know you can do this as a team. You were great when you combined into that arrow.”
The Bits bobbed in the air before they floated away into a corner where they seemed to have squeezed together.
“Thank you,” Tron said and turned back to the dome. There were seven guards. He could easily take them out but he was going to need a distraction.
“I need you to do something for me, Janelle.” He turned to look at her. “I need you to distract those guards.”
“I can do that,” she said and smiled. It was a pretty smile and yet a bit creepy. That wasn’t the only thing that was off about her. She had yet to dry. In fact she looked like she had been immediately hauled out of the Sea of Simulation.
Tron crawled closer to the dome while he kept low to the ground beneath it. His helmet reformed and he removed his disk and divided it into two. He just had to wait for Janelle to do her part.
He did not have to wait long. Janelle stepped out from the wall of the building next to the dome, actually stepped through it as if it wasn’t there. She appeared even more drenched than before, something he couldn’t think was possible. As soon as she stepped out she fell to her hands and knees and crawled through.
“Program, identify yourself.” One of the guards said as he and the others took a step towards her.
Janelle crawled towards them and stood back up, but her soaking hair was hanging down, covering her face.
Tron snuck up behind the guards. He held out his disks, ready to strike.
Janelle reached up to her hair and pulled it back. Her face was distorted as if a virus had overtaken her system, except Users didn’t get viruses the same way that Programs and systems did and she did not seem infected. There were dark shadows under her clouded eyes. There were dark splotches on her face and parts of it were shriveled while other sections were puffed. There was a bit of foam dribbling out of the corner of her mouth.
The effect was enough to unnerve the guards. One of them was frightened to the point where he dropped his staff.
Tron threw his disks. They both met their target and derezzed the guards, leaving five. He caught one disk before they had time to react and grabbed the other when three of them pulled theirs from their back.
Two of the disks flew at him and he dodged both with grace while he threw his again. One guard dodged successfully but the other wasn’t so lucky. The other disk was able to derezz another guard.
A fourth guard derezzed as another disk sliced through him. It wasn’t one of Tron’s disk’s. It flew back to Janelle who caught it. Her face had returned to normal.
Tron nodded at her and threw his disks again while she threw hers. They were able to kill two more guards.
They were about to go for the third when something charged across the floor and into the guard. The thing continued until it had knocked the seventh guard off the edge.
Tron wasn’t sure what it was. It was as tall as a program or User and silver in color with soft flowing blue fissures. It even has a face. It looked like the way the programs use to appear back when ENCOM’s LAN and systems were new. The only difference was that this thing was more cubed shaped in head, body and limbs and its glowing eyes were a solid color.
Tron wasn’t certain if he liked it or not, or if he could trust it. He slowly approached it and growled.
“Easy big guy,” Janelle said as she stepped in between them. “He might be a friend.”
“Yes,” the thing said. It’s voice sounded like several voices at once. “We are friends. I am friend. We are friend to Janelle.”
“Who are you?” Janelle asked.
“What are you?” Tron asked the more important question.
“We are the bits. We have become one. I am now one.”
“What, how and why?” The User asked.
“Janelle asked me too. She said sixty-four bits. We could work together. We did, I did. I am now one.”
“Has this happened before?” Janelle asked.
“Rarely,” Tron said. It had been several megacycles since he had last come across a Sentient Bit Mass.
“Do you have a name?”
The being shook its head. “Bits never have name, not a single one. I have no name.”
“Users name programs,” Tron said as he nodded towards Janelle.
“I am responsible for his existence.” She stared at him and chewed her lip. “The most fitting name I can think for you is Legion.”
“Legion,” the being repeated and nodded.
“Do you like it?”
“Legion likes his new name.”
“He speaks better than a bit but not as well as us,” Tron said as he turned away. “He is no longer our concern.”
“Tron, wait,” Janelle said. “Legion can help.”
“I doubt it,” Tron growled.
“Legion, wants to help.” He followed them into the dome.
“Stand guard,” Tron ordered. “Make sure no one comes in here. You see anything suspicious then let us know.”
“Mr. Bradley?” Janelle said softly as she and Tron looked around the inside the building. There was no sign of Alan-One.
“Keep looking,” Tron said as pressed a few panels on some of the tables. There had to be something, a clue of where they had taken Alan-One.
A screen on the wall in front of him flickered and flashed. The face of an unknown program appeared. He had sharp features and dark hair tied into a ponytail.
“It’s that creep from before,” Janelle said.
“I knew you would return here,” the program said. “I am Regor.”
“Where is Alan-One?” Tron demanded.
“Who is this?” Regor asked. “You look similar to my prisoner. Perhaps you are a back up program?”
“Where is he?” Tron questioned.
“Safe for now,” Regor said. “But his safety depends on you. I will give you the coordinates for the Game Grid. You and the girl will show up and if you are willing to play in his stead then I shall release him.”
“We will be there,” Janelle said.
“My master is counting on it,” Regor said as his face flickered out.
Tron focused on the coordinates that Regor provided on the table. Once he had them locked onto his memory he turned to Janelle. “You need to lose that dress.”
The User looked offended at first but she nodded. “Suit up like you.”
“Correct. You are also going to need your own Identity Disk. You can keep the one you have been using as a second weapon, but the Grid will not accept a program, or in your case, a User borrowing someone else’s.”
“Don’t know how that is going to work,” Janelle said.
“It’s not too difficult.” He went to the wall. “Similar to Flynn’s system, but the games were just that. They were played for fun. The Sirens were used to suit the players up in the old days of Flynn’s Grid before the corruption and they were kept on.”
“Were there Sirens here?” Janelle asked as she followed him.
“I don’t think so. Before Flynn created the Sirens there was a wall similar to this. I asked them what was the purpose of the Sirens and he told me because they would be fun.” He shook his head. “He also told me to relax and enjoy it.”
“What do I do?” Janelle asked.
“Place your body against this wall. Keep your back straight, shoulders level. Do not slouch.”
“My body is providing food for the worms of L.A.” She stood with her body pressed against the wall. “Like this?”
“Like that.” Tron typed in the code. He only briefly stared at her to see if it is working. There was an luminescence covering her body from her neck to her toes. He went back to work on her armor. Once it was completed he glanced up at her.
She still appeared to be soaking wet. Her dark reddish brown hair was free from her half done style and hung loose were it was plastered to her back. The black material covered her torso and formed a collar at the top. It did not form slacks but rather a skirt that stopped a few centimeters above the knees. Most of her legs were clothed in boots and while her top was sleeveless she had long gloves that went up to her elbow.
“It did work,” Janelle said as she stared down at herself.
“It is a little different,” Tron said as he placed some of the armor onto her abdomen. He was careful to not offend her with his touch or be too rough for her. “I don’t want to make you upset. Do you think you can do the rest?”
“I can,” Janelle said as she placed some of her chest armor on.
Tron went back and gave the command for a new Identity Disk to be formed. After it’s display popped up from the ground he gabbed it, only pausing when a flicker of blue light jumped from his hand and struck the disk, illuminating it in a soft blue color for a few nanoseconds. He went back to the User.
“I’m surprised this actually worked,” Janelle said once the last piece snapped into place.
“Because you don’t create programs?” Tron asked. Flynn had told him that not all Users created programs. Everyone had different functions, just like the programs themselves.
“It’s not that,” Janelle said as Tron placed the disk on her back. “It’s because I’m de-“ As soon as the disk had snapped into place her whole body straightened and a buzzing electrical sound was heard.
“Janelle?” Tron asked.
Janelle did not answer. Her body jerked back and forth as the same sound was heard and rings of white light traveled up and down her body. She fell onto the ground and her body spasmed.
“Janelle!” Tron grabbed her and felt a surge through his whole body until he let go. He grabbed her twitching body again and nothing happened.
“What happened?” Legion asked as he ran inside. “What happened to Janelle?”
“I don’t know,” Tron said as he scooped her into his arms. He knew he had to take care of her before they could face against Regor and save Alan.
-
Alan fumed as he paced around in his cell. There were others like him, no, scratch that. They were actual programs. He was a human suited up similar to them. They also looked like men much younger than him, men that were more fit to play the games than he was. He could toss a Frisbee but he did not have the sharp reflexes to dodge them. He could play tennis, squash, and Jai alai but he doubt he could go one on one with these guys.
He studied his reflection in one of the glass barriers that held him. Whatever they had done to him did not remove the years from him. He was a bit impressed that he had 20/20 vision now, although he felt strange not wearing any glasses. His armor was different from the others, instead of lines he had small circular dots and dashes except for what was under his neck. It looked like an incomplete triangle pointing up and there was dash in the center. It wasn’t a triangle it was more like an oddly shaped letter “A”. There was also a short vertical line beneath the A.
“They are coming,” Regor said once he strolled up to Alan’s cell, framed by two of his guards. “Your little friend and another program. He looks like you.” He lowered his voice. “If you are a User then perhaps he is your program?”
“Tron?” Alan asked. He had created Tron nearly thirty years ago as a security program. He worked with Tron to help Kevin Flynn reveal the truth that Kevin had designed those games and remove the MCP. He hadn’t heard that name in years. Not since the last time he heard the stories that Kevin told the children. He had worked on other programs in the past, but Tron seemed more real to him, the most likely one that would appear here. Tron was also the main figure in Flynn’s stories and the fact that Kevin had called him by that name a few times.
“So that is his name.” Regor smiled. “What about the pretty one?”
“You will not lay a finger on her,” Alan snarled as he recalled a similar speech he gave to Ed Dillinger Junior at an office party where his son, Jet, Sam, Janelle and several other teens arrived. Janelle had recently turned eighteen at the time and while Ed had cast her lustful looks before she turned eighteen he started to fully hit on her at that time.
“Such protective nature over her. Are you by any chance related?”
“Her father is a friend of mine.”
“She is a lively one.”
“A bit of irony in that,” Alan said and closed his eyes. “I have no idea if she is the real one. She might be a program a compilation of files all containing info about her.”
“And why do you say that?”
“Because the real Janelle Harper died five years ago.”
“She’s dead?” Regor blinked. “How is it possible that she appeared?”
“I have no idea. She could be any number of things, an online photo album, home videos that were uploaded to Youtube, a website devoted to her, an account on one of those avatar dress up sites, but she is not the real thing.” The only way for Janelle to be real was if this was her soul. It would explain why things passed through her and she could fly away.
“Whatever she is you better hope that she and her friend arrive soon.”
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