-
Commander Kruz walked down the long pathway created by several newly repurposed programs that were now part of his military. They were his to command. He was not going to think they are his and Sark’s. These soldiers were part of his battalion and he was going to feel like they are his and his alone. He did not want to think of the idea of the new captain going over his head, overriding his commands and ordering his soldiers.
Kruz could understand why Master Control had demoted him. He did deserve it after all, but he could not understand why he rerezzed such an outdated program. Sark was a legend. He was a powerful program who oversaw the game grid and personally served the original Master Control Program. The updated Sark did not overstep his boundary. He had yet to belittle Kruz. He also said little to him other than giving him a few commands. Kruz could be over thinking things and worrying about nothing.
“I want you to keep all of your visuals open, boys and girls,” Kruz instructed. “Our query may be off the radar for now, but they will return. Master Control wants the player Elf known as Trillident. I have also gone over the records stating that he likes to go by Dean. There are two more programs that also need to be apprehended. The first is a game sprite program that looks like Skip Chinchilla. Master Control has said he is tricky so take extra caution. The third is a security program named Tron. He’s a bit of a classic character, clever, strong, a fierce fighter. He will be the hardest one.”
“Sir, what if they are not alone, sir?” One of the soldiers asked.
“The others will be left to your own interpretation,” Kruz said. “Take them down, derezz them, imprison them. It’s all up to you, but the Master Control wants those three that I have listed alive. Subdue them, but do not go in for the kill and try not to damage them. If I see any fragment lines on any of them then it is recycle bin duty for the next three millicycles.”
“Sir, yes sir,” all of the soldiers shouted.
Kruz was about to give them the order to move out when he felt a presence behind his back. He turned around and was face to face with Sark.
“Captain,” Kruz said and gave the other program the salute. He hoped he did not betray his feelings and allow his irritation to show through his voice.
“At ease,” Sark said as he eyeballed the troops. “I have been given new orders from Master Control.”
“You spoke with him?” Kruz asked. He was one of the few to be able to speak with the powerful program. Now that he was no longer captain he lost that privilege.
“Recently,” Sark said. There was no emotion to his voice or mannerisms. He was cold and nearly automatic. “Several rogue programs have made their presence in the system.”
“So they have returned,” Kruz said.
Sark nodded. “They are approaching the thirty fourth sector.”
“Then we will make our move,” Kruz turned to face his soldiers. “New orders. We have received word the enemy is near the thirty fourth sector. Move out.”
“Sir, yes sir,” the soldiers shouted as they half marched, half ran.
“Commander,” Sark spoke in an irritated clip. “Are you aware of your rank?”
“I am,” Kruz said.
“When I’m in the presence of our men and women I am the one to be giving the order to move out, do I make my self clear?”
“Extremely.”
“Good, now move out with your platoon.”
“Sir, yes sir,” Kruz said in a dry and bitter tone.
-
The ride was almost perfect. They were able to maintain a level on the road and that road led them through the World Wide Web and back into the ENCOM system. The digital Impala drove almost exactly the same as Dean’s baby. She did not feel quite as right, but she was close and Dean was thankful that Sam and Lia were able to develop such a light car for him to use. It even had a great music system. All of Dean’s favorite bands were built into the dashboard media players as Lia had called them. There were a few of Sam’s favorites as well, including the Smashing Pumpkins.
“Sorry about that,” Sam said when Cherub Rock started to play.
“Hey you made this,” Dean said. “I can tolerate some of your bands, as long as it’s not that country crap, or that indie pop.”
“You need to broaden your tastes,” Sam said as he bopped his head to the music.
“The only thing I’m interested in broadening is my wallet.”
“This is one of Sam’s bands?” Tron asked from the back.
“Yeah,” Sam said. “I love this song.”
“I thought it would only be fair if Sam had some songs that he liked,” Lia said. “He did help me make the light car.”
“It is fair,” Dean said. A lyric he did recognize was about to come up. “Beware angels with their wings glued on.” He sang along with Sam.
“I thought you weren’t a big fan,” his brother said.
Dean shrugged. “I remembered you listening to them before you went to college. That one line has a whole new meaning now.”
“Good advice to all?” Tron asked.
“Very,” Dean confirmed.
The song ended and “You Could Be Mine.” Blasted through the speakers. Dean grinned when he heard the familiar vocal chords from Axel, Slash, Duff and the rest of the band belt out the tune.
“I know that voice,” Tron said. “This is one of the bands we listened to on the User roads.”
“See?” Dean asked. “I taught him well.”
“Just watch the guy in front of you,” Sam said as he pointed to the road ahead. “You are trailing behind.”
“I see him.” Dean pressed down on the accelerator. They were catching up when a large chunk of a digital building fell down in front of them. Dean stomped down on the brakes and swerved the car to keep from crashing.
“What the hell was that?” Sam asked when they stopped.
“Everyone okay?” Dean asked as he checked out the programs in the backseat. They look startled, but unharmed.
“We’re fine,” Yori assured him.
“They are on onto us,” Tron stated. “They cut us off from the others.”
“I’m going to kill the guy who decided to use Tetris as a road block,” Dean said. “Uh, Lia is there another way?”
“If we turn right there is a down ramp that will take us to another road,” Lia instructed.
Dean put the car in reverse and turned right. He kept his eyes opened for the ramp that Lia described and saw an incline in the road that was heading down. That should be it.
“Winchester,” the voice of Sam Flynn came in through the radio. “What happened? We lost site of you.”
“Sammy could you answer that?” Dean asked. He had no idea how to work that thing.
“I’ll try,” Sam said as he pressed a few buttons. “Can you guys hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” Flynn said.
“We’re fine,” Sam told them. “We just got cut off, Lia is giving us the directions to get around.”
“Try to meet us outside of the cell blocks,” Flynn answered.
The road became level and Dean could see lined streets with buildings again. “Okay, Lia now where do we go?”
“Turn left at the next intersection,” Lia said. That was an instruction that sounded familiar to him.
Dean turned left and continued on. The streets seemed to take on a Hollywood look to them because palm trees were lining the walkway. As he drove more and more tropical trees appeared as wells as ground foliage, colorful flowers and vines.
“How did we end up in a rainforest?” Sam asked as Dean tried to drive around the trees.
“This wasn’t here before,” Lia said.
“It’s another glitch,” Tron said. “Like that forest from before.”
“And we couldn’t drive through that either,” Dean grumbled as he stopped the car. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and struck the dashboard with his fist.
“Dean,” Sam gave him a concerned look.
“I’m fine.” Dean said after taking a deep breath. “We are going to be okay. We just have to make sure we are armed and walk fast.” He stepped out of the car and looked up. He couldn’t see through the lush canopy. “You think you got us you son of a bitch? Well keep thinking it.”
As soon as everyone had stepped out Dean tapped the vehicle in the same manner he had seen Tron touch the other car. He watched as parts of it faded leaving glowing beams of framework that was withdrawn back into the baton. He picked it up and handed it to Sam.
“I believe we can still get our light cycles through,” Tron said as he held up a different baton. “We will get there faster on cycles than just by walking.”
“We can all ride those right?” Dean asked. He had no idea if Lia or Yori was able to maneuver those bikes.
“We can,” Yori said and smiled at Tron. “I have learned a lot since you left.”
“And I’m impressed.” Tron returned the smile. “You have never failed me.”
“We can play dating sim game after we kill the demon,” Sam said.
“He’s right,” Tron sighed and stepped away form her. “We all have light cycles?”
“I don’t,” Sam said.
“I don’t either,” Dean said after patting his pockets.
“Here.” Lia handed both of them a baton. “I always carry several.”
“You are full of surprises,” Dean said and gave her a small smile which she returned.
“Uh Dean,” Sam said as he held up his cycle baton. “I don’t really know how to work one of these things.”
“Just throw it and jump. Like this.” Dean threw his baton up in the air and jumped with his arms forward. This time he did not hurt himself when he landed in the seat. “Like that.”
Sam tried to mimic his brother but Dean could see by the expression Sam’s face that his mounting was not pleasant and Sam must have experienced the same discomfort that Dean had felt when he first landed on one.
“Are you all right?” Yori asked. She and the others had already formed their bikes.
“Yeah,” Sam grunted. “Just peachy.”
“Most Users seem to have a bit of discomfort for the first time,” Tron said. Dean tried not to chuckle at that. “Son of Flynn was one of the only ones who was able to handle it.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m remembering more from my time as Rinzler.” He looked up and narrowed his eyes at Dean. “Does that amuse you?”
“No not that,” Dean said. “What you said earlier about User’s first time. It can mean something else to us.”
“Ignore my brother,” Sam shook his head. “I’m not sure if I can ride this.”
“Controls are like a real bike,” Dean said. “And also like that Lightcycle game we used to play.”
“It’s been a while.”
“It will come back to you.”
“We will help you,” Tron said before he turned to Lia. “You have the directions, Lia, lead away.”
Dean kept his guard up as he rode through the tropical terrain. He had no idea what kind of creatures would be jumping out at them from this kind of setting. He wouldn’t be surprised if they came across Predator type of beasts. He had to hand it to Luduserus if this was his doing, he got every detail down. Not only were there the sounds of various bugs, birds and what might be the shriek of a howler monkey but he could smell the various scents of the flowers. The place was also humid. It only took Dean a few second before his face was covered in sweat.
“Choo,” Tron sneezed for the third time.
“Are you all right?” Yori asked him as she rode her bike along his side. “Your eyes are watering up.”
“I don’t know why I keep doing that,” Tron said as he sniffled. “I’ve seen Users sneeze, but that is only something they do.”
“Maybe this place is affecting your code,” Sam suggested. “It’s trying to get programs to react to this as if they were humans, including giving them allergies.”
“That has to be it,” Tron said. He paused to rub his finger against his nostrils. “I’m not too sure if I like this allergy.”
“None of us do,” Dean said.
They rode on without saying much except a few comments of the scenery. A few things did come close to them that looked like they might be threats such as giant dragonflies and large lizards but they were easily derezzed with a toss of a disk. They were not much of a challenge or a threat.
The heat and humidity was what was getting to Dean. He was also feeling thirsty and wish he had something to drink. It didn’t have to be that liquid energy either, a simple glass of water would suffice. He had wondered if some of the tropical fruit would be full of juice. That might work.
“Hey Lia, can we stop?” Dean asked as he rode up against her. “I’m feeling a little parched.”
“Really?” Sam asked.
“I need some water,” Dean told him.
“I am pretty thirsty myself,” Sam said.
“We are not far from an energy spring,” Lia said. “We’ll stop by there, take a quick drink and continue.”
“Sounds good,” Dean said and looked over his shoulder to confirm with Tron and Yori, but they were no there. The other two programs had vanished. “Tron? Yori?”
“Where did they go?” Sam asked. “They were right behind us.”
“Tron, Yori,” Lia said as she pressed something on her bike. “This is Lia. Where are you?”
“Lia this is Tron,” the security program’s voice came in through a speaker on Lia’s bike. “We had to change course due to several fallen trees. Can you send us directions?”
“I don’t like this,” Dean grumbled
“I’m sending you the location of the nearest energy spring,” Lia said as she pressed a different button. “It will show up for you and the distance between you and the spring.”
“We will meet the—uh ah,” the sounds were followed by a deep gasp of air and another sneeze. “There. You three stay careful.”
“You take care of yourself,” Lia told them. She did not see the living coiling golden vine that was dropping down next to her. It took Dean only a few seconds to notice the scales.
“Lia, look out,” Dean shouted and retrieved his disk from his back. He threw it at the serpent as it wrapped it’s body around the female program and pulled her up. He missed by a hair. “Damn it.”
“Dean,” Sam called out.
Dean looked up as some thing large came bounding across the foliage. It was a large jungle cat with a human like face, or more like a troll like face. The beast had a segmented scorpion like tail curled over it’s back with several small barbs attached to it.
Dean threw his disk but the beast ducked at the last second. It didn’t wait for the disk to return to Dean when it pounced. Dean felt four small sharp knives strike his chest, the points pierced through his armor and clothes as the wind was knocked out of his lungs. The pain was accompanied by his back and backside striking the ground.
“Get off my brother,” Sam shouted as he held up a baton. The beams formed a shot gun.
The beast roared and shot something at Sam. One of the barbs from it’s tail was now sticking out of Sam’s leg.
-
Tron was sick and tired of sneezing and sniffling. His eyeballs itched and were constantly leaking and he was having trouble breathing through his nose. He hoped there was less of this allergy code at the spring.
“We’re almost there,” Yori said as she glanced back at him. “I can’t believe you are slowing down.”
“Just this allergy,” Tron said.
“Well soon we’ll be out of it. It is a pity this place is a hassle. It’s beautiful beyond words.”
“Probably from a different sector in the User world.”
“I’m still amazed you were there. It’s hard to believe that you walked amongst them. What all did you do?”
“I was in their neighborhood interviewing people about the missing Users,” Tron said as he recalled his time out in what was called the Real World. “I ate their food in places called restaurants. I’ve tried burgers with fries and soup, pancakes with eggs and bacon, chicken strip baskets with different kinds of dip. I’ve had pie and something called fajitas.” He remembered that one place they stopped in Arizona. “I drank coffee and soda. I slept in large beds, watched a little of their entertainment and went to there stores.”
“Stores?”
“Places where they give credits in exchange for items such as clothes, fuel for their vehicles and soda to drink.” He smiled at the memory, barely paying attention to what was going on around them. He noticed they were riding near a tall rock wall. He saw what looked like the ghostly image of a tank, but that couldn’t be there and if it was it couldn’t maneuvers it self around the terrain.
The tank was creeping along the jungle, passing through the tree’s as if it wasn’t there. The barrel of it’s weapon was aimed at Yori’s direction. It pulled back.
“Yori look out,” Tron shouted as he tried to increase his speed and hoped that if he couldn’t get there in time then someone else will as they did before in the jets.
The tank fired it’s blast, striking Yori’s bike and sending her crashing into the rocky wall, the force of the blast was enough to dislodge several more rocks to fall down on Tron.
-
A/N: Rocks fall and everyone dies. J/K.