-
Tron tried to ignore the laughing as he looked over at his friends and allies. Those that were still alive were battered and weary, but looked like they still could fight. Dean and his brother were still arguing about the pistol. Quorra and Flynn were going over each other’s possible injuries and assuring each other that they were fine. Yori had some of her hair out of place but she looked like she still could take on ten MCP’s.
Several programs were confused. They were looking at each other and talking and pointing at each other. The source of the confusion was because of Sark’s former troops. Those that only turned against their master when he became a monster looked lost and unsure of what to do next. The others were wondering what to do with them. Those that were loyal to Kruz were walking over to their commander.
Kruz was kneeling in front of the sleeping Users with his arms out. He along with Slash and the User that was Castiel’s vessel used themselves as shields to protect the Users from attack.
“Kruz,” Tron walked to the former commander. “You were protecting them.”
“Had to,” Kruz said after he had opened his eyes. “After what has been done to them.” He looked at the Users in sympathy. “After how I helped him.” He sighed. “He said he was going to make the system better for the Users. He was going to make it perfect and I believed him.”
“You wish to help the Users?” Tron asked him. “Do you want to help your User?”
“I do,” Kruz said as he stood up. “I want to redeem myself.” His circuits flickered rapidly while the color lightened from red-orange to a pale pink and then white before it took on a familiar blue color.
“Listen everyone,” Tron shouted and continued when he got everyone’s attention. “We are going to fight this demon together.”
“Demon?” Kruz repeated. “Those don’t exist.”
“They do,” Tron told him and turned back to the others. “If you do not wish to fight then please stay here and watch over the Users.”
Those that still had red circuitry argued and talked amongst themselves for a few nanos before they turned back to him. All of their circuit’s turned blue.
“Now as my friend Dean would say, lets put this bitch in the ground.” Tron received a few cheers from the others and a big grin from Dean.
“Now look here, Tron,” Kruz said in an appalled tone. “I know you are seasoned fighter and a veteran but everyone here looks up to you and we can’t have you swearing like…like a-“
“User?” Tron raised an eyebrow.
“Exactly. We have to set a good example for everyone.”
“What are we doing just standing around?” Dean asked. “Let’s go.”
They ran towards the direction of the core. Tron wasn’t sure what he was going to expect. He kept looking up and down and around as he ran in case something flew or crawled at him. He did not expect the ground to change. Dips and small hills appeared on the surface. Tron was able to jump over most of them. The still ground then moved like waves of the sea towards him. Tron took care not to trip on anything as he ran.
He could see what was in the core. It was the same orange-red stretched out face on a glowing cylinder as before. The only difference was the eyes. They were black with glowing red dots in the center.
“So you have come at last, my little program,” Luduserus greeted with the same booming voice of the MCP.
Tron held up his disks. He stared at the one with new encoding and threw it in the direction of the core.
“You will have to do better than that.” Luduserus grinned as a panel shot up and blocked the attack, sending the disk back to Tron.
“Still playing that old game?” Tron asked. He wasn’t sure which voice he hated more, this one or the one with the cackling laugh.
“You can never go wrong with a classic,” Luduserus said.
“I was told you were more creative than this.”
“Correct. I am more creative than you could imagine.”
The ground shook and large hands ending in curved black claws tore through the ground and reached for Tron.
Tron rolled away from the grasp one of the hands and wished he hadn’t said anything. He threw the disk with out the special code at one of the hand’s and broke off a claw.
Another hand reached for him.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” Sam Flynn said as he plunged the blade into the hand’s palm.
Yori threw her disk at a different hand before she helped Tron back to his feet. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” Tron said as he watched as several more of their allies were fighting against the hands. “He’s going to keep throwing various creatures at us.”
“Until we destroy him,” Yori agreed.
“He needs to get his disk inside,” Quorra said as she blocked the claws of a different hand from grabbing at them. “You covered us, Tron. We are all covering you.”
“I know you can do this,” Yori said before she kissed him. “I’ll be fine.”
Tron stared at the coded disk. The sigils were glowing even brighter than before. He gripped it tightly in his left hand as he ran back to Luduserus.
“Back for more?” The demon asked him.
Tron threw his disk at the core and gritted his teeth when it bounced back. He caught it and stared at the moving ring of panels. Just like before there was only one gap. He just had to time it right. He threw again. His timing was off.
Something slender and black shot straight into the core. The arrow struck the panel before both of them were erased.
“Trying to make this a bit more easy,” Gabriel said as he fired another arrow and took out another panel.
“Tricky one,” Luduserus growled.
“Hi Luddy, remember me?” Gabriel asked as he waved at the demon.
“What is your game, Trickster?”
“No game and I’m kind of out of the Trickster business. Went back to the family, at least the ones I can get along with.”
“Where is Castiel?” Luduserus demanded. “He was close. I can still smell him.”
Gabriel shrugged. “There was a sale of angel food cake at Whole Foods. He flew off to get some.”
Luduserus growled as another hand snatched the angel up.
“Gabriel,” Tron said before he turned back to the demon. His angel friend had given him a bit of an advantage.
“Good job, Gabe,” Dean said as he ran up to them. “Looks like we both have a better shot.” He aimed the pistol at the core and fired.
The bullet stuck another panel both were derezzed.
“Where did you get that?” Luduserus asked.
“My brother,” Dean answered as he fired again.
“What are you doing?” Tron asked him. “Sam told you not to waste the bullets.”
“I’m not,” Dean answered as he took out two more panels before the gun clicked. “I’m just making it easier for you.”
“Outside help?” Luduserus asked as his voice shifted back to the smooth tone. “That’s cheating.”
“You are an expert on that subject,” Dean said.
Tron kept his eye on the core. There were many gaps for him to throw the disk. This time his timing will be just right. He inhaled and let the coded disk fly. He watched as it went past the barrier and into the center of the core.
Luduserus screamed as his eyes glowed. His face contorted and thrashed around. Smoke wafted up from the top. He was still smoking when his eyes opened into glowing red slits. He opened his mouth and fired a blast of energy.
The blast of energy was the last thing that Tron saw before he was knocked out.
-
“Tron!” Dean cried out for his friend when the former program was struck. As soon as the blast had ended he ran to where Tron was lying.
Tron had his gloves burned away and looked like he had first and a few second degree burns on his hands. There was also scorch marks on the side of his armor. His chest was rising and falling..
“How is he?” Yori called out as Dean placed his hand on Tron’s chest.
“Alive,” Dean answered after he felt the heartbeat.
“Thank my User,” Yori gasped. She was in a cage made by two stone hands holding her and several more programs together.
All of the hands and arms had turned to stone. Some were in pieces on the ground. Others had formed prisons that trapped several programs. Dean’s brother and Quorra were trapped under a large hand that stood up on it’s fingers. Gabriel was held by another.
Several programs were scattered on the ground around them. A few of them were slowly derezzing. The rest were just merely unconscious. A few were running around treating the others. Other programs were just sitting there or crawling.
Sam Flynn was also crawling. His leg was sticking out at an odd angle.
“Sam,” Quorra cried out while she reached out between the stone fingers.
Dean ran to the young CEO and crouched down next to him.
“I think I broke my leg,” Sam said in a weak tone of voice. “How is Quorra?”
“Fine just trapped,” Dean answered. “Don’t try to move.”
“You should listen to him,” Lia said as she approached the two of them. “I’m almost out.” She handed Flynn a half vial of energy.
“Thanks.” Flynn took a swig and handed it to Dean.
“I don’t need any,” Dean said as he stared at the vial. “Tron does.”
“Uh Dean?” Gabe spoke up.
“We’ll get you out of there as soon as we try to treat everyone the best we can,” Dean said as he made his way back to Tron.
“That’s not what I want to talk to you about,” Gabe said as he wiggled around.
“If it’s not important you can tell me later.” Dean propped up Tron’s head and placed the vial into his mouth. He made sure the former program drank down the last drop before he set his head down.
“Well it is important. Luduserus is still alive.”
“What?” Dean asked. He looked at the core and saw that it was empty. “Are you certain?”
“About this sort of thing?” Gabe gave him a look. “Of course, dumbass.”
“Then where?” Dean looked all around and saw nothing. “Is he?” A worrying thought entered his head. What if Luduserus went inside Tron’s body? He stared down at his friend.
“Do you think I’m inside him?” A disembodied voice asked and followed the question with laughter. “Oh believe me, boy. I have tried when I first arrived, but these walking talking pieces of data make horrible meat suits. Then I realized I didn’t need one.”
“Where are you?” Dean asked.
“Why I happen to be…” a large cloud of black smoke slithered from the core and towards Dean before it rose up and took on the shape of a human male. “Right here.” The shadow’s dispersed and a man in his forties and dressed in a white zoot suit, complete with a fedora stood before him. He glanced back to a still struggling Gabe. “Don’t think I forgot about you Gabriel. I will speak with you soon.”
“You son of a bitch,” Dean growled and aimed the pistol at him. The damn hammer was still jammed.
“Is this about pulling you in?” Luduserus asked and took off the sunglasses from his face, revealing black eyes with red glowing irisis. His ears had grown pointed. His fingernails were long. He had black horns sprout through his fedora and a long tail, ending in a point tear through his pants.
“It’s about what you did to those kids.” Dean tried jimmying the hammer with his finger.
“The rules were simple.” Luduserus held up three fingers. “You have to keep winning. Lose three games and your souls are mine.” Two of the fingers went down but he kept his index finger up as he placed a cigarette in his mouth. A single flame shot from his finger tip and he brought it to the end of his cigarette.
“Getting off on your own power.” Dean threw the gun down in disgust.
“It’s amazing what I can do here. I have so many wonderful new abilities.” He pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket. “Do you know what my reaction was when I came here?” He folded the deck in his hands in a sleek manner that made the cards seem like they were flying back and forth.
“No.”
“Have you ever seen that movie with the skeleton that wanted to be Santa Claus?”
“Yeah.” Dean tried to picture Luduserus bouncing around and singing about the discoveries of the digital world. “How did you come across that movie?”
“World Wide Web. There is so much information out there.”
“And you are going to use it to take over the world, all the worlds.” Dean noticed movement behind the demon and he could see Gabe shrinking and shifting.
“Not all the worlds,” Luduserus shook his head. “The others can have their Heaven and Hell, but this world.” He flexed out his arms. “And your world. That shall be mine.”
“You are over confident,” Dean said.
“That’s because I have practically won. Your allies are weak, dead and captured.”
“You have also been weakened.”
“There is that,” Luduserus shrugged as his tail flicked back and forth. “But the thing is I’m still far stronger than any program here. I can still change their reality. I’m even stronger than any User.” He chuckled. “I’m still using their lingo. I would end all of my orders with End of Line.” He blinked. “End of Line, what was that?”
“I have no idea.” Dean kept his eyes on Gabe.
“Voroziel was here. He started doing that. I guess I’m just keeping up his legacy.”
“You don’t think I’ll be able to stop you?”
“Hmmm.” Luduserus placed a finger against his chin. “You do seem the plucky hero type. The one that is pulled into another world that his kind helped to create. You are not a programmer are you?”
“No.” Dean heard someone walking behind him.
The demon pursed his lips. “You don’t seem like the types that works with computers. You seem the more outdoors type. Did you know this world existed? I don’t think you did. All of you humans have no idea about this place.”
“I will stop you.” He crouched down and picked up the dropped gun. He watched Gabe as the angel crept around. He turned around and saw that Jimmy was approaching them with a determined look on his face.
“Ah yes the plucky hero, who will have to do it all on his own.” Luduserus walked over to where Tron was. “I won’t kill you just yet. I still need to know where Castiel is. The other angel isn’t talking.” He looked down at the former program. “The legendary hero. That special disk did a bit of a job on me.” His smile slowly faded. “Why does he reek of humanity? It’s not on him. It’s coming from him.” He grabbed Tron by the collar and held him up.
Tron opened his eyes and shoved his other disk into the demon’s neck.
Dean ran as fast as he could and managed to make it to the former program as Ludusers had just shoved him away. He tackled Tron back to the ground and positioned himself in front of his friend.
Luduserus pulled the disk out and let it drop to the side. He rubbed his throat until the small hole was erased. His eyes were still glowing like embers.
“How?” He demanded. “How is it possible that he is human?”
“Exposure to our world,” Dean answered.
Luduserus shook his head. “There has to be more than that. Who turned him human? Was it Castiel?”
“He only brought me out,” Tron answered.
“You know him.” Luduserus took a step towards them. He did not see Gabe standing behind him and he did not seem to care that Jimmy was closing in on him. “Where is he?”
“We don’t know where he went,” Dean answered. He felt the gun in his hand. He hoped the hammer was no longer jammed.
“I will slowly torture everyone here, both human and program. Now tell me where he is, Meatstick.”
“Even if we did know, we still wont tell you,” Tron said.
“You want to waste your new life? I will make certain it is short.”
“Luduserus you may be right about me being the hero,” Dean said. “You might also be wrong, but there is one thing you do not know about me.”
“What is that, maggot?”
“I’m a hunter.” Dean pulled out the pistol and fired. He watched as the bullet struck the demon in the chest.
Luduserus cried in pain as he staggered backwards and clawed at fresh and smoking.
Gabe was right behind him. He was ready to pounce.
Luduserus opened one eye and chanted in what was either Latin or Enochian. Whatever he said it had an effect. Gabe crumpled on the ground and was crying out in pain.
“You bastard,” Dean said as he ran at the demon with his disk. He would have made it if Luduserus hadn’t used his hand to send him flying back.
“None of you can stop me,” Luduserus said through gritted teeth as he pulled out the bullet. “Not him.” He pointed at Gabe. “Or you, or you.” He pointed at both Tron and Dean. “Or even…” He trailed off when he saw Jimmy.
“Jimmy get out of here,” Dean said. Without Castiel inside him, Jimmy would not be able to stand a chance against Luduserus.
“He has his stench on you,” Luduserus said. “You know where he is.”
“I do,” Jimmy said as he grabbed his hand. “In fact he is right-“
The byte flew back. Glowing white light shot from it’s form and straight into Jimmy.
“Here.” Jimmy said as smoke wafted up from where he held onto Luduserus. He placed his other hand on the demon’s mouth as its eyes glowed with bright gold light.
Gabe jumped to his feet. “Use Enochian on me?” He grabbed the demon’s shoulder from behind.
Jimmy, no he was Castiel again, moved his hand off the demon’s mouth.
The fiery light shot out from his mouth. More light poured out from the bullet hole in his chest and where Tron struck him in the neck. Another wound, long and in the abdomen opened up while the rest of Luduserus shriveled up like a mummy.
“Oh Luddy,” Gabe said. As Luduserus’s whole body was ignited with radiance. “You got some ‘splaining to do to Mephisto.”
The light faded, leaving behind nothing as both angels stepped back away from where Luduserus once stood.
A soft luminance took over Dean’s body. It was brief and when it was gone Dean looked down and saw that he was wearing the same suit he wore when he was first pulled in.
“Your ears,” Tron said as he pointed at his own ears.
Dean grabbed his ears. They were no longer large or pointed.
“I know you’re happy,” Gabe said. “But we still got to get everyone free. Cas has a lot of healing to do.”
“Can’t you heal?” Dean asked as Cas kneeled down next to Flynn and placed his hand on the young man’s leg.
“One of the many perks that was taken away,” Gabe said. “I will help with freeing of the others.”
Dean nodded. He glanced over to where Tron was and noticed his friend went over to break Yori free from her prison. Seeing that the former program was fine he went to help free his brother.
-
A/N: The title is from the Rolling Stone song. There are still a few more chapters left and the next one will have a bit of a surprise.