Chapter Text
Tron Rebooted
Ch 1 Lightcycles
Flynn’s initial arrival and introduction was highly unusual. Ram found Flynn didn’t answer pings or binary, which left him leading all their conversations verbally. It filled the silence, which was comforting, but it made Flynn hard to read.
When Tron was brought back to his cell, Ram pinged him to say hello, checking that the problem was with Flynn and not his own internal systems. Tron pinged him back and Ram’s relief washed through him.
“The new guy was asking about you.” He said without preamble. Tron didn’t even look up to answer.
“It’s a shame. I’ll probably never get to meet him now.”
Ram tapped his fingers against the wall as he thought about Flynn.
“He either wouldn’t, or couldn’t answer pings or binary.”
Tron looked up at this.
“He wouldn’t, or he couldn’t?”
“I couldn’t tell if he was picking up my signals or not, either way he wasn’t answering. Seemed really scrambled, whatever system he was from must have been brand new. Never seen an energy signature like that before.” Ram looked at Tron, both silently trying to figure out this puzzle before them.
It was the first unusual thing in cycles to break the monotony.
“Well, if we ever see him again, we could help him out. Maybe find someone to run a diagnostic on him.” Ram seconded the plan and they both fell into silence.
He pinged Tron, “It was nice to say everything out loud for a bit. Filled up the space. Reminded me of when I first showed up.”
Tron pinged back, understanding/agreement, and a memory link to Crom, the former occupant of their neighboring cell. Ram sighed, Crom had been a nice program. He hoped that somewhere he was alright, but knew he was probably already gone.
When Ram and Tron were both summoned for the light cycle race, they were struck with the same horrible thought that they may have to fight each other. They frantically pinged back and forth trying to rationalize a plan for escape as their captors led them closer to the game.
Before Tron could reach for his disk, they were placed next to each other on the starting docks, indicating they would be on the same team.
Relieved, they stood at attention, waiting for the third player to arrive. It took much longer than usual and Ram was about to ask the guards if something was wrong before Flynn was shoved around the corner.
“Flynn! You made it!” He brightened and pinged joy/relief at Flynn before remembering he wouldn’t answer.
“Tron, this is the guy who was asking about you.”
Flynn stopped struggling against the guards when he heard Tron’s name and looked at him for the first time. Nose scrunched up and eyebrows drawn together he said the name that no one other than Tron should know.
“Alan?”
Tron tensed and his eyes slid sideways, immediately suspicious. He didn’t make a move but Ram could tell without the guards there he would have had his disk at Flynn’s throat.
“How do you know that name?” He said quietly, the threat evident in his voice. Flynn side-eyed him back before looking around at the guards.
“My User knows Alan. I’m actually here on a mission to defeat the MCP.”
Tron straightened at this, still shaken by the news.
“My User wants that as well.”
The guards sent them into the game. Flynn was a fast learner, but nearly crashed at the beginning of the round. Once he got his bike under control they moved in sync, with Tron building a maze that Ram would lead the other team through.
Flynn fit in great, though his movements were faster and more risky than any of the other long-time players would go for.
As the second rider was defeated his bike smashed a hole through to the outside of the game grid. Flynn sped towards it and sent a message over the comms.
“This is gold three, I’m busting out of here and you’re both invited!” He shot off the grid and his trail disappeared. Ram and Tron followed after, the third rider derezzing behind them. They followed Flynn as he chose tunnels seemingly at random before entering a straight stretch filled with inoperative tanks, ready to be deployed at any moment by the MCP.
“I shouldn’t have written all those tank programs.” Flynn muttered over the comms.
They found themselves chased by both recognizers and tanks as they rode to the edge of a cliff and swerved to avoid falling.
Tron took up the lead as they sped off, a tank sliding into the chasm behind them. Several cycles later they halted, dismounting their bikes and crawling into a crack in the wall.
“This guy is a few connections sort of a circuit that’s for sure.” Ram pinged to Tron. Tron pinged back an affirmative as he led them to a relatively safe area far away from any major circuits. They soon reached a cave with a large opening near the top where they disengaged their lightcycles.
“I feel Alan_1 signaling me, I need to see where we are.” Tron climbed up the cliff and Ram followed. Flynn scrambled up behind them, hoping he could contact Alan too at this point.
“He’ll never fucking believe I was sucked into a computer and met his pet project.”