Tron: Deliverance

...REWRITING...

Tron lay there for several microcycles, watching Alan-One flick through his code. The user worked alarmingly fast, rebuilding the white lines of data with efficient swipes. It was strange. He had watched Flynn work on his own programs, give them upgrades and augmentations. Fix them where he could at times. But he had never had the experience of his own creator, his own user holding his code. Before he would have assumed it would be an invasive experience. Uncomfortable. But he found himself more at ease than he had been in a very long time. He did not know how long in fact.

Jet fed him a few more vials of energy, reviving him and allowing more of his processes to come online. He slowly started to piece together his fragmented memories from before his fall into the ocean.

"Do you know what happened? After I went offline?" He asked his creator. Almost scared to know the truth. He was not blind to the fact that while they were in Flynn's sanctuary. No matter how Tron pressed his passive scanners, Flynn's signature was no where in the vicinity.

Alan-One sighed.

"I only heard the story from Sam.

After Rin-er you I suppose, crashed your light jet into CLU's, they managed to make it to the IO port" Tron nodded, waiting for the user to continue.

"CLU caught up to them though. He left his whole fleet behind and chased Flynn down by himself. He cornered Flynn. Or at least he thought he did. Really, Flynn had given his disc to Quorra. Her and Sam used it to escape. Then, Flynn forcibly reintegrated with CLU. The blast from it destroyed them both" Alan-One did look older than Tron. But with those words he seemed ancient, burdened by sadness and loss.

Tron swallowed hard, feeling that same loss. It lanced through his chest and left him speechless"

"Then CLU?" Tron croaked.

"Gone. It's over Tron. CLUs reign is done. The reintegration sunk his whole fleet. All that's left of his forces is the few he left behind in the cities"

Tron gasped. It was over. Finally. After more cycles than he even knew. After all he had fought and sacrificed. CLU was finally gone.

The news left him elated and hollow at the same time. His burning drive, to purge the Grid of the threat that was CLU. That drive that had sustained him for so long was suddenly absent.

But also all the programs that had lost their lives to CLU. Every ISO, finally avenged.

But the cost.

"Flynn is really gone" Tron's voice was low, but so empty.

Alan-One nodded, Trons pain mirrored exactly in the face of his creator. In that moment, Tron felt that he understood Alan-One perfectly.

They lapsed into silence. Mourning their shared loss. Jet sniffed, then stood up quickly to fetch some more energy. Wiping at his eyes as he went.

They sat in silence for a while longer. Sadness and loss heavy in the air.

"So, Tron. I got a question" Jet broke the silence softly, seeming unable to bear the weight of it any longer.

"Why did Flynn ask for my dad to pull you from the old system into this one?"

Tron blinked, surprised at the question. He chewed on his answer for a moment. "I'm not sure if I could really tell you Flynn's motives. He was....hard to read"

Alan-One laughed gruffly. "No kidding" he chuffed.

Jet pressed on "I mean he had to have given you some kind of reason. He built every other program himself. Why go through the trouble of pulling you from a whole other system? I'm sure it took some adjustment to move you over" Jet prattled on.