-
Tron felt his face pressed against the craggy, dark and dank ground. The same ground his hands had dug deep into. He could hear the sound of water lapping against the surface. His legs from the knees down were immersed in it. He had no idea where he was. He opened one eye and could see the cloud filled sky. He raised his head and could see the edges of mountains and more dirt.
He was at the shore of the Sea of Simulation. He pulled himself out and rolled over. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was falling in the sea after Clu defeated him a second time.
“Flynn?” His throat felt dry and the words came out in gruff sound that was what Flynn had called a cough. Tron remembered the few times he heard Flynn cough. Where was his friend? Where was the boy, the Son of Flynn and the ISO girl?
He looked over towards the direction of the city and winced. Half the buildings were obliterated and what was left were broken and or covered in cracks. Did Clu cause that? Did Flynn and the others make it through the portal?
Tron rubbed his face as he remembered and wished the memories did not return. He had fought against those he was close to. He fought against his friends, Users and Flynn. He was something else, something he hated. He bowed before Clu and answered to the name of Rinzler.
Tron cried out in disgust of what he had done. He had derezzed many innocent programs. He could remember the frightened faces of each one. He helped Clu in the elimination of the ISO’s. What had he done? What had he become?
“I am sorry,” a deep voice said from behind him. “I know you are in pain. I’ve been told you can feel pain.”
“The pain that I suffer cannot be healed,” Tron said as he drew up his knees. He wrapped his arms around them and placed his face down.
“You are going to need this, Tron,” the mystery program addressed him and pressed something against Tron’s head.
Tron raised his head and could see a small glass cup filled with energy being held out before him. With shaking hands he accepted the cup and gulped down the liquid. He did feel a little better, physically.
“Thank you.” Tron held out the cup to the mystery program and looked up at him.
“Your welcome,” the program said as he accepted the cup back. He had dark hair cut short and tousled. He stared at Tron with inquisitive blue eyes. He wore a plain white shirt, dark slacks and shoes. There was no sign of any circuitry, none on his tan long coat or that blue scrap of cloth that hung from his neck. He remembered Flynn referring to them as ties.
“How did you know my name?” Tron asked. He had never seen this program before. “Were you just written by Flynn or his son and sent here?”
“No human wrote me.” He tilted his head slightly as he stared at Tron.
“But that means…” Tron blinked before he stood up. “That’s impossible. The sea has been poisoned. You can’t be an ISO.”
“A what?” The program asked.
“Not an ISO. What kind of program are you?”
“I’m not a program.”
“You’re a User?” Tron had no idea how another User had come through the portal unless Flynn or his son brought a friend over. He had no idea how many cycles he had been out.
“What’s a User?”
“Those who wrote us. You also call yourselves humans.”
“I’m not a human.”
“If you are not a program, and you are not a User. Then what are you?”
“I’m an angel of the lord.”
“Angel?” Tron repeated, making sure the stranger did not mispronounce angle. Something resurfaced in his mind. It was something that Flynn had once told him. “Angels watch over the Users.”
“We do that at times. Ramiel was with your friend. He held him, kept him safe when he jumped into Voroziel the Consumer.”
“I am not familiar with that name.” Tron rubbed his head. “What does an angel want with me?”
“We are going to need your help.”
“Help? You do not know what I was or what I had done.” He pointed to the city. “I had caused that. I have caused pain.” He closed his eyes. “I was a monster.”
“Do you believe in redemption, Tron?”
“I do, but I doubt whatever task you have for me to perform will not absolve all that I have done.”
“I know you fight for the humans, Ramiel told me about you.”
“Ramiel,” Tron repeated the name. “What is your designation?”
“If you mean my name, I am called Castiel.”
“Your friend was right. I do fight for the Users.”
“There are several that need you,” Castiel said as he held out his hand. “They need your help. If you seek redemption, if you truly fight for the Users then come with me.”
Tron sighed. He stared down at the shore where he washed up, then he looked up at the broken city and finally at Castiel. He nodded and took the angel’s hand.
-
“I’m pretty sure we can handle things on our end, Bobby,” Dean said into his cell phone.
“I know you can,” Bobby answered. “But where you are located had the largest group of kids disappear yet.”
“Five in one night,” Dean confirmed. All over the nation people had been disappeared. The strangest detail was that they all disappeared while they were in their own bedrooms. It was usually two or three or even four at most, but here it was a group of five teenagers.
“Just saying you boys might be close to what is causing it.”
“We’ll be fine,” Dean assured him. “If we do feel like we are over our heads we will give you a call.”
“Take care, Dean.” Bobby said and hung up on his end.
Dean closed his phone and placed it into his pocket. “Save some water for the plants.” He directed his voice to the bathroom door of their hotel where Sam had gone to take a shower.
“Pretty much done, Dean,” Sam answered.
“Whatever it is you are doing, hurry it up. I’m starving.” He flopped back onto his bed and stretched his arms. Tomorrow they will speak with parents of some of the kids, but right now they were going to get some food and there was place close by that served burgers, fries, beer and pie.
Dean sat up when he heard a knock at the door. “Bro, did you order any room service?”
“No,” Sam answered. ”Why?”
“Who else can be knocking?”
“Maid service?”
“At six thirty in the evening?” Dean rose to his feet. He had no idea who could be knocking. He opened the door and blinked.
“Hello, Dean,” Castiel greeted him.
“Since when did you knock?” Dean asked. Usually when the angel came calling he would just teleport behind him.
“I’m traveling with someone who wished to see the sunset.” Castiel pointed at the man who stood several feet away with his back to them. He was dressed in black pants, a long sleeved black turtle neck shirt, black boots and gloves.
“I take it he’s also not an angel?”
“No.”
“Why are you two here?”
“There’s a demon on the Internet.”
“Wow,” Dean gasped. He couldn’t believe Cas was able to pronounce it properly.
“It does sound pretty hard to believe.”
“No the fact that you actually said Internet,” Dean chuckled. “I figured you would have called it the Interwebs or the Intertubes.” He paused when Cas gave him a look. “Right, what kind of demon are we looking at?”
“I have no idea.”
“You have no idea what kind of demon but you know it’s on the Internet?” Dean folded his arms as he stared at his angel friend.
The other man laughed.
“I’m glad we are amusing you,” Dean said as he looked over to him.
“You Users already know,” the other man said as he stretched out his arms. “But I didn’t know how beautiful it is, or how warm it feels.” He walked over to a small bush that was on the corner of the walkway. “I have heard so much about these.” He pet it as if it were a dog. “It’s amazing that I’m here. I’m really here.” He removed one of his gloves and stroked the leaves.
“Cas?” Dean asked in a wary tone. “Where did you find this guy?”
“Inside a safeguard computer system that was completely separate from all systems.”
“Come again?”
“I went inside the computer system to the Grid,” Cas answered in his usual serious tone.
“The Grid? What kind of mental hospital is that?”
“It’s not a hospital, Dean. I went inside the digital world. Humans don’t know about it but inside the computer systems there is this digital world and I was there.”
“You.” Dean pointed at him with both fingers. “You were in Cyberspace.” He pointed at the other man. “And so was he?”
“He was created in this Cyberspace as you call it, not the one that I visited but a different one. He’s a security program.”
“Like an antivirus?”
“Exactly.”
Dean rubbed his head. “Right.” He had no idea what Cas was on and he didn’t want to share any of it and he certainly didn’t want to share any of what the other guy was on. “Better get him inside before people start asking questions.” He turned to the other man who was now petting the grass. “Hey, uh-“
“Tron,” Cas told him.
“Tron?” Dean looked at his friend. “Sounds about right, a good robot name.”
“He’s not a robot.”
“No, because that would be ridiculous.” He had no idea if Cas could sense the sarcasm in his voice. “Tron, come over here.”
Tron sighed and rose to his feet. “It just feels so nice.”
“I’m sure it does,” Dean gave him a weak smile. “Come on in to our room.” He pointed to the open door.
“Yes this is what the angel called a temporary quarter for Users,” Tron said as he entered the room.
“You doubt me,” Cas said as he took a step inside. “And you doubt what he is.”
“Because it’s impossible,” Dean said as he followed Cas inside.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked as Dean closed the door. “Why is Cas here, and who is this?” He pointed at Tron.
“Cas says there is a demon on the Internet,” Dean explained as Tron wandered around the room, looking at everything with his eyes filled with wonder. “And he says he went into Cyberspace and pulled out an humanized security program.”
“What?” Sam blinked.
“We are going to need his help,” Cas said.
“You went into a digital domain and fed this guy the red pill?” Sam asked.
“He’s on some kind of pill all right,” Dean said as he sat down at the corner of the bed.
“There is a demon there,” Cas said. “We are going to need Tron’s help in fighting it.”
“I understand but you went into there?” Sam stared at him. “You need help figuring out how to work a watch.”
“Wait.” Dean held up a hand. “You believe what Cas is saying.”
“Not sure about him accessing something this technical, but everything else? Yeah.”
“You believe we got a sentient program walking around this room?” Dean looked up and noticed Tron was gone. “Where is he?”
“In the bathroom,” Cas answered.
“Do programs use the bathroom?” Dean asked as he tilted his head. He could see Tron standing in front of the sink and staring in the mirror. “Hey Tron, come here.” He pulled out his phone and held it up. “Look, it’s shiny.”
“Dean,” Sam groaned. “He’s a program not a cat.”
“I don’t know what I’m dealing with,” Dean answered and turned around, only to bump into Tron. “Sorry about that.” He was real close to Tron’s face. The other man, or program was about the same height as Dean and there was something off about his eyes.
“You do not need to apologize, User,” Tron said.
“User?” Sam asked. “Like in a user name or user account?”
“That is what they call humans,” Cas said.
“I’m Dean. You can call me that and my brother is Sam.”
“Sam?” Tron blinked. “The son of Flynn.”
“Sam Flynn,” Sam repeated. “The new CEO of ENCOM. There are many who have the same first name as me.”
“There are a lot of Deans?” Tron asked.
“Yeah.” Dean stared deep into the blues of Tron’s eyes. Instead of the speckles and dots that everyone has there were lines instead. There were small thin black lines, not like veins, but more like circuits. “Cas may have something. Do you eat?”
“I have consumed food like substances that Flynn had created from energy,” Tron answered.
“Can he eat our food?” Sam asked.
“He’s going to have to,” Cas answered.
“We’ll go get some food, discuss sleeping arrangements and figure out what we are going to do tomorrow,” Dean said. “But first we have to change your clothes, program man.”
“Why?” Tron asked as he looked down at himself. “What is wrong with what I’m wearing?”
“No offense,” Sam said as he looked Tron up and down. “But dude, you look like a mime.”
-
“Isn’t this great?” Dean asked as he took another sip from his beer. He glanced down at his double bacon cheeseburger, fries and Caesar salad. He just need to load it up with proper condiments and then chow down.
“Yes,” Cas agreed as he stared at the plate that was set down before him. Cas had ordered the double cheeseburger with onion rings and a regular salad. He didn’t need to eat and only did it for taste. He has stated that sometimes Jimmy’s craving would surface.
“Not quite talking to you,” Dean said. “I already know your opinion on the all mighty hamburger. I mean our guest here.” He nodded at Tron.
“This is wonderful,” Tron said as his plate was set down. He ordered a simple cheeseburger, fries and soup. “Thank you.”
“I hope you all enjoy your food,” their waitress said. She was a pretty woman in her mid twenties and she seemed to save most of her smiles for Tron. Dean thought that was amusing. He had no idea if female programs existed or not.
“What are the plans for tomorrow?” Sam asked as he sprinkled some pepper onto his fries. He also had soup but instead of a burger he ordered a grilled chicken sandwich.
“Divide into teams of two,” Dean said as he watched the two other worldly ones eat. Castiel was plowing through his burger while Tron picked up a fry, stared at it and then took a bite. The program’s eyes widened as he chewed.
“We will cover more ground that way,” Dean agreed and leaned in to whisper to his brother. “Figure out who goes with who.”
“We will do that in the morning. We should get Tron some essentials.”
“You don’t mind a little shopping trip when we are done?” Dean asked. “There is a twenty four hour Walmart not too far from here. We can get Tron some clothes of his own.”
“I don’t deserve this,” Tron whispered. “Being here. Your food is so delicious and you want to buy me clothes, User clothes of my very own?”
“It’s no problem,” Sam said.
“We do have to work on your dialogue a little,” Dean said and grabbed one of his own fries. “You can’t be calling everyone User. We don’t call each other that.”
“I should address them as humans?” Tron asked.
“No, you call people, people.”
“People,” Tron repeated. “I calculate I can do that.”
“We’ll work on it,” Sam said.
“Can you interview people?” Dean asked. “Ask them questions.”
“Investigate to find the source of the trouble?” Tron asked. “I have done that before.”
“Good, cause that is what we are doing tomorrow.”
“Is there a connection between the missing kids and this Internet demon?” Sam asked.
Cas nodded. “We have a few suspicions but not enough facts.”
“Tomorrow is a big day so eat up, drink up and save some room for pie.” Dean popped the fry into his mouth and chewed.
“Pi, 3.14159265-“ Tron rattled off.
“Not that kind of pie.” Dean pointed at him. “I’m talking about the fun kind. The one that everyone enjoys. As long as you are here we are going to show you all of the perks of human life.”
“You are not taking him to one of your inequity dens,” Castiel said. He had already eaten about half of his burger.
“What?” Dean asked. He glanced over at his brother and at Tron. “Oh come on. He needs to know how to l-“
“No Dean,” Sammy said and gave him that stare. The one that told Dean he better not even think about it.
“What’s an inequity den?” Tron asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Dean told him and picked up his burger. “Besides, good looking program like you probably has a girl waiting for him back in the circuits.”
“Yori,” Tron gasped. A soft smile appeared on his face before it faded. “It’s been so long and after what I’ve done.”
“Easy,” Dean told him. “I’m going to go put some quarters in for the jukebox. I got a hankering for some Journey.”
“We are going on a journey?” Tron asked.
“It’s the name of a band.” Dean stood up and checked his pockets. He had plenty of coins. He and Sam were going to have their work cut out for them, trying to make this Tron program pass off as human.
-