-
Dean wasn’t sure if he passed out or not during the flight. All he remembered was holding Nyrii close to him while he had his eyes closed and felt the jet move. He kept trying to convince himself it was something along the lines of a roller-coaster but he could hear Yori and Gabe mention flying, their friends in flight and various enemy jets. It just wasn’t working. He could hear the sound of his own heart beating in rapid succession and wondered if it would be best if he just fainted.
The only thing that kept him awake was their prisoner sans rescue. Dean could also hear Nyrii’s heart beat. It was a smooth and steady rhythm. She was calm, but that made sense since she was out. He had opened one eye to look at her and he could see how peaceful she looked. Her dark hair was out of place and fell across her face. Nyrii’s eyelids twitched now again and Dean wondered what kind of dreams she had and if the dream was a battle for dominance in her subconscious.
“Dean,” Yori’s words reached him. “Tron said your brother was here.”
“Sammy?” Dean blinked and looked up. He saw another carrier was in front of them and flying the craft was the girl who brought them down to the game department. Next to her was Sam who was staring at him with concern and behind them was Cas. “Sam and Cas are here?”
“Both our little brothers are here,” Gabe said.
“I’m giving them the coordinates,” Yori said. “Now let’s get to that port.”
“Yeah,” Dean grunted as he closed his eyes. “Peachy.” He sucked in his breath and tried to think of another calming technique.
World turns black and white.
Pictures in an empty room.
Your love starts falling down.
Time to change the tune.
The words appeared in his head and he could hear the music. It was all he could hear.
Yeah, you reach for the golden
ring.
Reach for the sky.
Baby, just spread your wings.
He hummed along with the music in his head and after a few more lines he sang along.
-
Dean was halfway through with the song when he felt the carrier come in for a landing. The music in his head faded and he opened his eyes. He watched Nyrii stir in his sleep before he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder.
“Are you feeling all right?” Yori asked him.
“Better now that we landed.” He glanced around him and watched as the smaller jets landed around them. “We are in a safe area?”
“A very safe area,” Yori said in a confidant tone.
Dean hefted Nyrii back up into his arms and followed Yori out of the aircraft. He glanced back over his shoulder and watched as Gabe followed behind. Looking around he could see they were in some open airport. There were several jets and Recognizers docked in front of a large building. He looked around and could see Lia, and Tron as they exited their jets.
“Yori,” Tron called out as he ran up to them. He threw his arms around his girlfriend and pulled her close. “I was so afraid I was about to lose you.”
“But you didn’t,” Yori said as she nuzzled against his jaw. “Thanks to friends of yours.”
“Where are-“ Dean didn’t get to finish his sentence when he felt strong and familiar arms embrace him from the side. “Careful, don’t want to crush the cargo.”
“Sorry,” Sam told him. “I was worried.”
“I know,” Dean said as he handed Nyrii to Tron to hold. He had to give his brother a proper hug. “Pretty cool place, huh?”
“Cool place?” Sam asked once their embrace ended. “We could have gotten killed back there.” His gaze seemed fixated on something. “What happened to your ears?”
“Oh these?” Dean asked as he fingered the pointed tip of his right ear. “I borrowed a character from the game and got pulled in. The character was an elf.”
“So you’re now an elf? Dean, why didn’t you wait?”
“We needed some way to get inside.” Dean studied his brother’s new outfit. He had similar glowing circuits as the other programs in the system. “How did you get in?”
“There was a laser lab.” Sam explained as he pointed to both Ms Keys and her companion, a young man close to Sam’s age with tousled amber colored hair and also decked out in a black suit with glowing circuits. “Sam Flynn and Quorra brought me and Cas in through that way.”
“Where is Cas?” Dean asked. He turned around and could see his angel friend, dressed in the same suit he always wore but with glowing lapels, cuffs and single thick circuit on each pant leg. He was standing in front of Gabe.
“Hello little bro,” Gabe said to the other angel.
“Hello, Gabriel,” Cas said back to him. “I have been informed of your resurrection. I did not know where you were sent.”
“No chance of you restoring me to my usual handsome self?”
Cas shook his head. “You have to earn that on your own.”
“Gabriel?” Sam asked and pointed at the chinchilla. “That’s Gabriel? He’s back as Skip?”
“Hey Sammy,” Gabe said weakly and covered his crotch with his hands.
“Why are you doing that?” Sam asked him.
“You are not going to kick me there?”
“No, just because you hit me there doesn’t mean I’m going to strike you.”
“You should,” Dean said. “I gave him a good kick.”
“Why did you do that?”
“He broke your nuts. I’m not going to let anyone get away with someone hurting my little brother in the nuts.”
Sam just shook his head and turned to his companions. “I should introduce you guys. Dean this is Sam Flynn and Quorra.”
“Hi,” Dean said as he held out his hand. “I’m Dean. I believe Quorra and I already met.”
“Nice to meet you,” the other Sam said as he grabbed onto Dean’s hand.
“I’m glad you are safe,” Quorra said to him.
“Thank you,” Dean said. “We didn’t mean to give you a scare.”
“I was a little afraid and the fact you were with Rinzler.”
“You mean Tron?” Dean asked and pointed to his program friend. Tron was speaking with Yori and Jolt about something.
“Your brother convinced us he has been restored,” Flynn said. His eyebrows raised when he looked past Dean. “How does an angel know Skip and why is Skip here?”
“First of all it seems game sprite programs arrive here a lot,” Dean said. “And secondly that’s Gabriel.”
“As in the archangel?” Flynn asked.
“Another angel,” Quorra said. “And a famous one.”
“The very same,” Dean said. He decided it would be best not to tell them about Gabe’s trickster past.
“Dean,” Lia called out to them. “This way.”
“I wonder where we are going,” Cas said as they followed behind the programs.
“I wonder where we are,” Dean said. “Uh, Yori, what is this place and how is it is safe? What was that port?”
“That port was for access to the web,” Yori explained. “We traveled across it and into the laptop of my User. It’s safe here.”
“Ah,” Dean said as he glanced around. The system was probably not as big as the one he had entered, but it still seemed large to him and it was still pretty amazing.
-
Kruz was not looking forward to meeting with Master Control. He had them all. He had the security program that had destroyed the previous master control, the game player elf that accompanied him as well as the game sprite. Kruz could understand why Master Control would be interested in Tron, but he had no idea why the other two interested him so much. It should not have mattered. He was not one to question the wants or needs of his glorious leader. He had them in his prison.
The term he focused on was had. They escaped from their cells somehow and that baffled him. There was no way any of those programs knew the code that was needed to unlock their cells, but one of them did and they managed to escape. One of his soldiers had mentioned they somehow found a way to disguise themselves, changed their circuitry to reflect those of the soldiers.
Kruz remembered how pleased Master Control was with the news of their capture. He would have received a promotion, granted he was one of the highest ranking soldiers in the system and there was nothing higher than captain, but perhaps Master Control would create a title just for him and he would have been the only one to use it. Now he wasn’t sure if he would live once their conversation was over.
The worst was the fact they took his favorite lieutenant. They had managed to subdue Nyrii and take her with them. He could remember the cycle when Master Control rezzed her in. She was ready to defend the system for their master and she felt the need to fight, to make the kill. Kruz had lost count of the amount of times he had come to a situation that was too late for him to take action because Nyrii was surrounded by the remains of derezzed programs. Nyrii took pride in her work. She loved it and the way she killed and enjoyed it had both frightened Kruz and filled him with pride.
Kruz harnessed his fear as he placed his hands on the controls. “Accessing Master Control. This is Captain Kruz.”
“Greeting Kruz,” Master Control greeted. “Are those three programs ready to be presented to me?”
“I’m afraid not, sir,” Kruz said and he felt his tongue freeze.
“Why not?”
“One of those programs has a bit of a talent,” Kruz said. “He was able to escape and free his friends and they took Nyrii.” His words came out in rapid succession and nearly fell over on themselves.
“They escaped. How could you have allowed this to happened?”
“I am sorry, Master, but as I have said one of those programs was able to figure out the code to derezz their doors to the cells. No one informed me that one of them was a sharp little mite and could figure out such code.”
“Are you saying this is my fault? Don’t you even think about laying the blame on me, you little insignificant scrap of data. The blames falls in it’s entirety on you.”
“I’m sorry Master. I should have placed more guards.” Kruz had never heard the program use such words before and knew he had to be that enraged.
“That’s more like it.” His circuits fluxed with energy.
Kruz felt a burning surge flow through his hands and fill his circuits. The power was too great and his hands burned from pain. Another charge came through and Kruz felt himself being thrown back away from the podium.
“That is only one part of your punishment,” Master Control said. “I am demoting you down to commander.”
“Demoting?” Kruz asked as he crawled to his feet.
“Am I not merciful?” Master Control asked. “Are you not grateful for my mercy?”
“Yes I am.” Kruz was thankful that he wasn’t derezzed.
“You will be reporting to a new captain, one that will be new to you but not new to the system.”
“You are bringing in an outside program?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
Rings of glowing light fell from the ceiling and onto the floor. The speed of the rings had increased and glowing pieces of data was pulled into the center as more code and data was drawn in. The mass of code took on the form of a program.
The program was dressed in gray-white armor that nearly covered his entire body, save for his face and hands. He had round armor pads on his arms. His red-orange circuitry was thinner, some shorter and more numerous than what Kruz wore. Some of the circuitry and formed into similar patterns that were on the program’s chest, codpiece and on legs, resembling a V. He wore a dome like hood over his head with points of horns at the top.
“I’ve see we have gone for the retro look,” Kruz said before the program opened his eyes. He shrugged. “Who am I to say? You can’t go wrong with the ones that are oldies yet goodies.”
“Silence,” Master Control commanded.
“Master?” The new program asked. “Master Control?”
“Welcome back, Sark,” Master greeted him. “I’m afraid you have been derezzed many cycles ago as did my predecessor.”
“You are different Master Control?” Sark asked.
“Newer, faster, stronger and better. I have rerezzed you for an important purpose. You will be one of my captains. You will find and bring me three programs, one of them is the program was the cause of your derezzing.”
“Tron,” Sark spat out that name.
“Yes. He has returned. Commander Kruz will bring you up to speed but first let me give you necessary upgrades.”
Glowing energy shot from the podium and struck Sark. The program froze and his eyes were shut as his armor shifted and changed, becoming blurred pixels. The pixelation smoothed out. The armor had turned black. The suit underneath had turned to a darker shade of gray. His circuitry had changed. He still had the v shaped pattern on his chest. Underneath it was two thick lines that went down to his midsection. He had a circuit running down each leg and arm. His helmet was sleek, streamlined and black with two circuits running down the back. It retracted and Sark’s face was no longer gray and his hair dark blond in color.
“Sark, Kruz,” Master Control addressed them. “You know your orders.”
“We will capture those programs,” Sark said.
“And don’t you worry,” Kruz added. “We won’t let you down.”
“Good. End of Line.”
-
Dean wasn’t sure exactly where they were going. He had to put some trust into Yori, she was Tron’s girlfriend and he trusted her. Dean was lost in these computer systems and he had to rely on the various programs to help and show them around.
“We don’t know exactly what Luduserus’s game is,” Sam said as they walked. Dean, Tron and Gabe had tried to fill them in on everything.
“He’s pulling in Users,” Quorra said with a frown. “And repurposing or brainwashing them, but why?”
“We have powers here,” Dean said. He had no idea what the full extent of his User abilities were, but he now knew he could delete electric borders and transfer energy. “He wants us under his sway because of our powers, but he’s a demon. He has more powers than anyone.”
“He’s building an army,” Cas stated. “He’s going to want the most powerful soldiers at his command.”
“Does he want to launch an assault against Heaven?” Sam asked.
Gabe shook his head. “Never was part of his motif.”
“Yeah?” Dean stared at the angel. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“When he got transferred to Polaroid.”
“I thought it was centuries.”
“Since we last spoke to each other. I watched him when the picture was taken.”
“I know this might sound ridiculous,” Flynn spoke up. “But would he be interested in taking over the world?”
Cas and Gabe stared at each other for several seconds.
“Cas?” Dean asked hoping the angel could detect the fear and urgency in his tone.
“Not in the past,” Cas said.
“And now?” Sam asked.
“Now he has access to a new kind of power,” Cas said.
“With the web he can get connected to anything and everyone,” Gabe said. “He takes over all the systems, then Earth, then Heaven and Hell.” He rubbed his chin. “Who’s in charge of Hell now?”
“I thought it was the devil,” Quorra said. “Satan or Lucifer.” She noticed when Sam shuddered. “Did you come across him?”
“Yeah,” Sam said as he shuddered again.
“No longer the king of hell,” Dean said. “I don’t know who it is now. It was Crowley b-“
“Crowley?” Gabe asked in surprise. “Pfft, that won’t last long.”
“And it didn’t,” Cas said. “ Lucifer is still pretty much in charge but he has Mephistopheles running things for him.”
Gabe let out a low whistle.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Dean said in an alarmed tone.
“Neither do I,” Flynn said.
“He has no intention of an apocalypse,” Cas said, “Nor does he wish to release Hell on Earth.”
“Then why the whistle?” Flynn asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Gabe said.
They followed Yori into a large building where several programs came to greet them. Tron laid Nyrii down on white table like bed that had a soft glow to it. As soon as he stepped away from the brainwashed girl another program walked up to her with his disk raised.
“Hold it,” Dean ran up to them with his own disk in hand. He was lucky Tron was there. The security program had slammed his disk into the others hand and knocked it out.
“Why did you do that?” the program asked. “That’s lieutenant Nyrii. She derezzed many of my friends.”
“We lost Cul and Myr on the way over here,” Jolt said as he glared at Nyrii. “Why is she worth fighting for?”
“Because she is a User,” Tron said. His response caused several gasps to come from the other programs.
“Why is she fighting for the MCP?” Another program asked.
“She doesn’t know she is a User,” Dean said softly and looked up at Cas. “Cas, can you do something?”
“I can.” The angel placed his finger on Nyrii’s forehead and whispered something in an odd language that Dean had guessed to be Enochian. “We will know when she wakes.”
“So we just wait?” Sam Flynn asked and laid his eyes on Gabe. “Maybe you can explain that whistle.”
“Love to,” Gabe said and cleared his throat. “Picture this, Sicily 1748 a poker game in an abandoned temple between a group of demons. One was Mephisto and another was Luduserus. One of the prizes was the soul of Maria Lucinda Mantonie. She may not matter to you but this gal was destined for saint hood until she sold her soul.”
“I can see why that might be a prize,” Sam said as he sat down.
“Not just her soul but also a contract that claimed the bragging rights of getting her to sign it over.” Gabe held up a finger. “And amongst demons that’s like betting on the gold of Fort Knox.”
“It means that who ever has the bragging rights means that anyone would believe that demon was the one to get her to sign it over,” Cas added. “They couldn’t help it that is how powerful it was.”
“Luduserus was the one who put her soul and bragging rights on the table,” Gabe said.
“What did the other one offer?” Quorra asked. She had also sat down along with Flynn and leaned against him.
“A few unbreakable swords and few other souls,” Gabe answered. “Small potatoes compared to what Luduserus was offering, but anyway the game was going well, everyone except Luddy and Mephisto had folded.” He pointed at himself. “I was there as the emcee.”
“Why didn’t you catch the demons and send them back to hell?” Quorra asked. “That’s what angels do.”
“I had some problems at home with family and needed to get out for a while,” Gabe explained. “No one knew what I was, now the game was good. I couldn’t tell if Luddy was cheating or not but in the end he lost.”
“That’s it?” Dean blinked. “He lost.”
“He didn’t just lose, he took a dive. You know why? He got the soul because Maria Lucinda was a nun who looked after the orphans. They were all very sick with a mysterious illness and she was willing to sell her soul so they could get well. Now here is the thing. Luddy was the reason why they were sick.”
“Entrapment,” Cas said. “She was forced to sign over under duress.”
“A big no-no among demons,” Gabe said. “Because someone, either a mortal or one of us or even something else can point out they were forced to and the contract becomes null. Now if a demon is caught with an entrapped soul they get in trouble with the others.”
“The punishment is worse than every horror that can be inflicted on the human body,” Cas continued. “It would be worse than your experience in Hell, Dean.”
Dean cringed as he remembered the pain he had received. “Meph should still be pissed at Luddy.”
“Yep,” Gabe chuckled. “What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on one of those brimstone walls when Luddy appears in front of him.”
“Sound confident that we are going to destroy Luduserus,” Sammy said.
“That’s because we are,” Dean told him. He wasn’t what the next step was going to be and hoped some of his new program friends would think of something. What he needed right now was just to rest and wait for the girl to wake up.
-
A/N: The title is what kids say when they reach the safe spot or zone in games like Hide and Seek and tag.
The song that Dean thinks of to get his mind of the flight is “Dreams” by Van Halen.