#so did he bring back tron AS rinzler????

[nico-di-genova]

So Rinzler is listed as a member of team orange in light cycle run…which is meant to cannonically be set after the events of Legacy…Tron lives I guess?

[foxgloveinspace]

Little things in Tron: Legacy that fuck me up:

-Sam's bittersweet smile when Alan tells him that Kevin told him to sleep with his pager, and how the smile immediately falls off his face when Alan tells him that the page came from the arcade.

-The program* who tells Sam 'be quiet if you wanna live' is seen in End of Line later, confirming that derezzing a program isn't the same as killing them, which is why the other program jumps off into the fan when he is told he's going to the games, cause it destroyed his disc, and why he screams erase me.

-The way the sirens are hesitating when outfitting Sam, knowing they are about to change everything. They know he's not a program. The hesitation and the nod when they put the disc on his back.

-The fact the the punishment from Tron 1 has become a Roman Gladiator Sport for Clu. The fact that Clu is a mirror of Master Control, the thing that Flynn hates.

-when Clu says 'just you?' implying he was not expecting Sam, but expecting Alan, and he was expecting him like a few months ago in grid time.

-Quorra sitting on the roof alone watching the Games, having seen the Beacon, knowing Someone was there, but not knowing who. Not knowing she'd be rescuing the son of her Father figure. Probably someone who's shoes she'd been wanting to fill but not being able to.

-'There are no guests Kiddo' 'Sam...' 'You're here!' 'I'm here'

-Quorra's confused face when Kevin walks away.

-the fact that Kevin just happens to have extra rooms in his house. Why does he have so many empty rooms. Did he have hope for more ISOs?

-Tron immediately knowing Something is up when he see's Clu in orange in the flash back.

-'Tron. He fought for me.' 'why didn't you fight' 'he did'

-'I didn't send a page'

-The fact that Sam's plan would have worked if Zeus hadn't betrayed him. If Sam had gotten out on his own, he'd have deleted Clu and everything would have been fine. But Tron: Legacy is a tragedy

-the fucking. Above program * being IN THE END OF LINE CLUB. The way he looks at Sam as Sam walks by with Castor.

-Did Gem know Zeus would betray Sam? did she plan that since she met him?

-DAFT PUNK. I miss Daft Punk, and I love them in this movie for the three seconds you see them.

-'Thank you for bringing my son to me' Kevin coming to terms with his death, knowing he'll have to get Sam out and then reintegrate with Clu before Sam sees.

-The whole conversation between Kevin and Sam on the light rail, but especially knocking on the sky.

-Kevin recognizing Tron cause of the way he does a back flip and holds two discs. No one else can back flip like Tron, canon.

-'She's gonna wind up like one of them' 'Keep moving Sam' cause Kevin knows that Quorra will die, not be turned.

-'I have special plans for you' What does Clu have planned for Quorra? is he gonna SA her? He's so creepy toward her that's the vibes I get, but maybe he's just gonna torture her. This is a small thing that fucks me up cause this doesn't need to happen? Rinzler could have just taken her up to the tower without this interaction. Unnecessary plot hole right there.

-the fact that Clu's speech is an exact copy of Kevin's from the beginning of the movie.

-'I was afraid you where gonna say that' Kevin coming to terms with how Sam is gonna have to see him die.

-'radical man' 'it's all in the wrist'

-Rinzler taking himself back over 'I fight for the users'.

-'NOT WITHOUT YOU' 'it's what he wants' ‘goodbye kiddo’

-ALAN AND SAM AT THE ARCADE

-Sam and Quorra driving through Center City in the sunrise, a parallel of the sunset over Center City in the credits of the first movie.

-this one doesn’t really have a Place on the list so here works: Rinzlers purr.

[teh-kittykat]

Ficlet - Blink

I don't think this is floating around Tumblr anymore, but I found it in my stuff when I was moving computers. It's ten years old, but what the hell, I'ma repost it.

It started with a gif and a note about how there was a lack of stuff about Sam and Rinzler getting along, and, well...

Blink

The first time it happened, Sam was pretty sure his life was over.

The transition was subtle—one moment Tron was following him while he laid out some plan or another for the Grid, making little polite I’m-listening noises that somehow still managed to sound sarcastic, and the next there was a thready rumble behind him, and Tron’s epic bitchface was replaced with Rinzler’s featureless helmet. And okay, maybe Sam freaked just a little, words cutting off mid-syllable as he froze.

Rinzler just tilted his head—and it was Rinzler, circuits glowing vibrant orange—and then tilted the helmet around like he was looking for something. The really bizarre thing was that after a moment he just stopped, flinching back and hunching, tensed, until he had somehow managed to make himself shorter than Sam.

All right. So maybe instead of doing anything intelligent Sam just stood there and gaped for a good few minutes. Rinzler still didn’t go for his disks—and it was disks, since for whatever reason he’d had to sync in two of the damn things when they dragged Tron’s ass out of the Sea. If anything, the program seemed to shrink on himself further, helmet locked on in what Sam had to assume was a stare. Just when Sam was about to open his mouth to actually try and say something, Rinzler’s circuits winked out and re-lit blue-white, and then Tron was asking why Sam looked like he’d seen a data-ghost.

The second time it happened, things were a little more tense.

Gridbugs were a fact of life in a system under construction, Sam found out, and apparently even using legacy hardware for the Grid’s new physical home wasn’t going to change that fact anytime soon. It was pretty fun learning he could just blast through the damn things like something out of an anime—and so what if he grew up staying up way too late to watch bad dubs on Cartoon Network?—and it felt pretty good to stand back-to-back with Tron while they fought the nest of them. Only… when Sam turned around to check on Tron, it was Rinzler at his back instead, tearing through bugs with an acrobatic eagerness that was actually pretty amazing to watch if you weren’t the target of it. Rinzler didn’t blink out, either, when the bugs were done for, but rather he did the same flinch-and-hunch as before. It reminded Sam of catching Roy’s niece playing with his old action figures once.

“Hey… good job back there,” Sam said, feeling like an idiot because this was just inviting undivided killbot attention, but instead of the obvious attack, Rinzler actually stood up a little straighter and nodded, his rumble going deeper for a moment before Tron was back and asking for a status update.

It went like that, as Sam did the painstaking work of trying to heal what his dad and Clu had managed to break. Every once in a while Tron would just blink away and Rinzler would appear to fight bugs or peer suspiciously at Sam’s work or sometimes just to hang from the ceiling. The last even started to stop being freaky after Rinzler did it and scared the shit out of Shaddox.

Sam never said he was mature.

He tried to bring it up with Tron. The monitor had apologized profusely and practically shoved his disks in Sam’s hands and demanded to be bug-checked right there, something haunted and worried in his eyes. No amount of reassurance that it was okay, that Rinzler wasn’t hurting anyone, stopped the insistence until Sam actually did check the relevant code with Tron as a worried audience.

The funny thing? There was nothing out of the ordinary there.

No convenient color-coded section that said hey, here’s Rinzler. No remnants of Clu’s control coding, which felt like a personal victory because cleaning up the mess of agonizing restrictions had been a bitch and a half and it was probably a miracle Tron still talked to him with as much trial-and-error as it took. Not even a check from the outside, with Alan’s archival copy of Tron’s code to look from, showed any real deviation from his core command set aside from the evolution and customization that, as an AI project, Tron should have after twenty goddamn years.

Honestly, armchair psychology was a bit out of Sam’s area, and he really doubted that he could drag Tron to a therapist to figure out why Rinzler kept manifesting at odd moments.

When the transition came this time, Sam had sprawled across Tron’s lap because the program was repairing damage and insisting he was fine with a big crack in his torso. Sam glanced up from the reports he was skimming to see Rinzler—thankfully whole—peering down at him.

“Hey, Rinzler. Stay still a bit longer. Your alter ego did a number on you. Big-ass worm. You shoulda seen it,” Sam said, absently patting Rinzler’s knee as he went back to the datapad. For a while they just sat together in silence, Sam’s attention drifting back into the intricacies of power flows and information routing. Warm hands settled on Sam’s back, and a few moments later he heard an unearthly humming. It took a moment to realize it was Rinzler, whose utter contentment was flowing through the circuit-contact along Sam’s back.

Sam smiled to himself and scrolled the report. This was something he could live with.

[betasuppe]

(Same anon from yesterday that said Ram was baby.)

I thought they were going to revive him somehow, too! I kept waiting for there to be a moment where they stumble across Ram’s data somewhere and bring him back while looking for Tron after they think he’d died. I feel robbed.

Do you know what we should have gotten? We should have gotten resistance fighters Yori and Ram, fighting against Clu and looking for ways to either get Tron back from under his control, or for Flynn’s location. Or they could already be working with Flynn to keep him in the loop about Clu’s plans! No one can tell me Yori wouldn’t have adored Quorra! Why didn’t we get this!? OR WHAT ABOUT CORRUPTED YORI AS ONE OF THE SIRENS THAT DRESSES SAM IN THE ARMORY?! Double agent Ram with a new name, working in Castor’s bar and helping to keep Flynn and Quorra safe! I have so many people to bite for not giving us any of this.

We were cheated out of Grid Ram and Grid Yori and I am MAD about it!

-Ram anon

Ram anon, I feel equal parts very glad you must've seen my message before I deleted it for being to rambly, but also part embaressed as hell for doing so in the first place at that! x000000

But yes YES you & I are on the same wavelength! I was so hopeful we'd see copy/transferred versions of Ram & Yori both appear in Uprising or Legacy & it's still such a huge L that they never brought either of these beautiful programs back into the fray 😭😭😭

Like god damn, just imagining them as secret agents working undercover in Flynn's name as two of his closest allies during the fight against the MCP. Why did we not get this, I seriously do not understand!!!! By all means, Tron should've convinced Flynn to rezz Ram back to life & transfer him & Yori over because also????

Tron leaving his beloved behind???? Even if he's a copy or a clone, I don't care!!! Yori meant the world to him & it still kills me that they were otherwise completely forgotten.

But listen, for you & when I get some free time lol, I'm drawing both Grid Ram & Yori hugging the hell out of Rinzler, whether he likes it or not [hint: he doooooo...]. Because this is a hill I've been standing on for years & I will GLADLY join side by side with you in making it our own canon 😤😤😤😤😤

[quorras]

RIGHT SO. BACK IN APRIL 2021. I MADE A TRON ROLLER DERBY AU????? FOR SOME REASON???? AND I NEVER POSTED ABOUT IT?? SO HERE’S THAT.

These are all super super rough doodles I did during a class I think so excuse inaccuracies. My knowledge on roller derbies is still very limited but here were my thoughts. Tron, Ram, and Flynn were on one team together, with Tron as their team jammer (thus the star on his helmet). I shifted around their canon injuries n stuff to make it a result of some derby thing, like Tron’s scar. Ram’s probably always got some bandaid on his person at all time, though he’s also the only one who remembers to bring the first aid kit lol

I had initially wanted to write a fic about it, but the doc for it stays empty to this very day lol. The plot was about Tron’s team (the ‘Firewall Fliers’ or something, it was probably something much much cooler) being the regional champions for a couple years in a row and their team just lived for chaos. Every year there’s the regional championship tournament—the MCP Cup— hosted in their home rink (the MCP rink—named for the owner, McPhee, who used to get so enthusiastic during derbies that he’d turn red cheering). 

Tron is total MVP as the team jammer, and one day, he gets a really strange threat offer to join a new team that’s just joined the tournament—‘Wrath of Repurposers’ or something, I’m not the best at names lmao. Turns out someone named Clu absolutely refuses to let the Firewall Fliers win the MCP cup again so… ok I don’t really remember, but basically oh BOY something happens for Tron to get brainwashed into a mysterious newcomer named Rinzler as part of the Repurposers. When Tron doesn’t show up to one of the early games in the tournament, Flynn has to fill in for jammer but the their gets absolutely owned by the Repurposers’ new jammer. Ram and Flynn convince Yori, Lora, Crom, and Alan (who is reluctant) to join their team when the rest of the Fliers quit, thinking they’re done for when Tron’s seemingly disappeared. It’s a violent, colourful, fun little escapade to defeat Clu’s team in the final game!! As all roller derbies are. I never took this au very seriously but hey it’s fun!! I might draw out Clu’s team one day too, they’ve got their faces covered and its metal as heck :)) 

And of course, what would a roller derby au be without the weird hair. I would never pass up a reason to poke fun at Tron’s badger hair :3

[systemadministratorclu]

[From this meme: 'My muse is dead. Tell me how yours is dealing with it.' I got carried away with the angst so bring tissues for this one]

Tron didn't even know how it happened. He should've been able to protect the one he loved and yet he was only there to see the golden voxels spilled. At first he felt numb. He didn't know how long he'd spent just standing there staring at them.

He would've gladly derezzed right there, letting himself starve beside his sunshine. The light of his life. The only thing he had left that made life on this damned Grid bearable. Clutching the golden disc in his hands and desperately trying to become a God - trying to bring his love back.

He was just a security monitor, and the voxels stayed voxels.

A sense of rational thought came through, he wasn't sure how, but it did. He gently picked up Radia's disc so his love could be with her again. He knew that's what he would've wanted.

He had to come home, even if he was willing to rot here. He still had Rinzler. Rinzler knew something was wrong. Of course Rinzler knew. Of course he had to ask why Clu hadn't come home.

Why are you holding Clu's disc?

That was when he felt his first emotions in cycles, and they were not gentle. He was enraged, he was heartbroken, he was confused and he hated himself. He hated everything and yet he mourned for someone he loved.

He couldn't take them out on Rinzler, so instead he pushed the poor thing away and retreated to his room. His room was salt in the wound, seeing everything Clu made hanging with pride - Tron had insisted upon it. Tron's breath hitched, and he dragged his leaded feet towards his bed. Gently, he set Clu's disc on his side of the bed, and collapsed onto his own side. He clutched Clu's pillow to his face, screaming into it as his sobs forced their way out of his throat.

The cycles of mourning after had Tron often holing himself up and seeking comfort in Clu's old cloaks or blankets. They still smelled like him. Rinzler still wore that one cloak he stole a long while ago, though now he pretended it was Clu hugging him.

Tron knew he had to be strong for Rinzler, and he was used to that. So he was. But they only grew more distant the more Tron bottled up his emotions. It got bad enough that he had to get Alan to babysit so he could let everything out in a healthy manner.

He spent his cycles wondering if he was destined to have every good thing torn away from him.

//this is beautiful. I'm going to do one later for you. Can't do much here, since Clu is dead and by the end of the ask has been for a while. I know Tes and Hal probably help out some, but they too are mourning here.//

[invincibleinck]

Rose Thorns

More Beclawed!Rinzler. Fic below the break. AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31470140

Rinzler dragged himself to shore, waterlogged and shivering. He slumped into the sand, left hand twitching, claws plunging through the grains. For a while he just laid in the surf, wheezing on water and on the verge of shut down mode. His helmet split open and he gasped his first free breath in cycles.

When he'd finally mustered the strength to lift his head, he saw the portal looming above him, half floating in the gloom. It was dimmed, indicating that the gateway was closed. He could only hope that the other User had made it out beforehand.

It was too late for the older Flynn.

With a great, trembling effort, he heaved himself to his feet, his one hand leaving deep gashes in the ground. He looked at the shape in the pixels, then at the hand that'd caused it, and finally, at the deadened portal. Though the surrounding Grid had been decimated by the explosion, the island itself remained relatively intact. Flawed, somehow, but intact. Like someone had clumsily copied it, atomized it, and then reassembled everything from the pieces.

It struck him that this was a monument to a bygone era. Never again would Users grace the Grid with their presence. Or, at least, not in the same way. Certainly not Flynn. He'd felt the force of Reintegration beneath the waves, had known in an instant that his friend was gone.

How fitting that he'd end up here, too late to help him.

...

Cycles passed without incident. Rinzler settled near the portal, camping in caves and ranging the island during the day-cycle. He nursed his wounds and suckled energy in quiet corners. It was a monotonous, lonely existence.

Still, there were worse locations to land.

The islet had a little spring of energy and plenty of places to shelter. It was a pretty place, with sweeping structures, graceful arches, and shimmering walkways. There were flying buttresses, twisting colonnades, and hollow, hexagonal facades, all lined with light. Best of all, it was isolated from the rest of the Grid, ideal for avoiding his fellow programs.

The only downside was the memories.

It was a problem with which Rinzler frequently grappled. The portal was both his sanctuary and his hell. Every light line evoked Flynn's voice, whether that be witty remarks or sincere farewells. He was plagued by memories that were not entirely his. It felt like it'd all happened to some other person, like his life was divided into two halves—pre-rectification and post-rectification, Tron and Rinzler.

But which half was he in now? Who was he now?

More often than not, he found himself in the shadow of a crumbling edifice, cradling his claws in contemplation.

Perhaps it was for the best that Flynn couldn't see him now. Not like this.

...

A beam of blinding light broke his solitude.

In defiance of all expectations, the portal was lit once more. He'd been huddling in an antre at the time, but upon seeing it, he scrambled to the top shelf of the alcove.

Two figures emerged from its rays. Usually Flynn rezzed at the Arcade entrance in the city, but not these two. They must've found him from the Outside, then reprogrammed the portal to send them here, where he was closest.

He recognized them immediately.

"I'm Quorra, and this is Sam," said the first figure.

"We've met," Sam-Flynn said tersely.

Guarding his expression, Tron regarded the two visitants. Sam still bore his father's face and still carried the wounds from their last encounter. Tron's eyes traced the deep nicks along his cheek and jaw, like a mirror to the scars on Tron's left. An uncomfortable guilt began to claw at his insides.

The woman, on the other hand, was more puzzling. He'd seen her once before, but she was different now. Her shorn hair was a little longer, though no less uneven. Her light lines seemed brighter and her face shone with newfound confidence. There was something else as well, something that Tron couldn't quite classify.

User? ISO? His scans kept sending back conflicting information.

She approached him with an arm stretched out, not to ward him away, but in invitation. The act threw him completely off-kilter. No one ever wanted to touch him, and when they did, it was usually because he'd done something wrong. Touch meant pain.

A horrible growl tore from Rinzler's ruined throat. At the same time, his circuits flashed crimson. His eyes measured the distance between them and he took two steps back to compensate for the loss. The distance made him feel safer, if only slightly.

"Quorra-" Fast as sparks, Sam put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's just go. It's not worth it."

Reluctantly, Quorra rolled back on her heels, and Rinzler's snarls died down. Her eyes softened but Rinzler balked at the sadness inside them. He didn't need anyone's sympathy, nor did he want it.

"Another time, maybe," she ventured, allowing Sam to steer her away.

"Another time," Sam agreed.

Neither one of them turned their backs until they were almost directly under the code stream. Tron watched as each loosened their discs and held them into the beam.

Over her shoulder, Quorra said, "I'm sorry if I startled you-!" The words were only half out of her mouth before she was swept up through the funnel. One nano there was a body, and the next there was nothing. Only light was left behind.

Sam-Flynn also paused just before passing into the portal's light. The relief building in Tron at their departure stuttered in his chest. Unbidden, he felt the hackles rising along his neck. Sam seemed to sense his unease, because his gaze never quite moved above Tron's neck and his heels scuffed against the plateau.

"For the record, that thing I said earlier- it didn't come out right." Eyes flashing, he drew himself up and set his shoulders. In that moment, he'd never looked more like a Flynn. "You are worth it... Maybe not the scratches, though. Those hurt like a bitch."

...

The second time Sam-Flynn and Quorra visited, they brought gifts.

"It's called a rose," said Quorra, extending the flower like it was a peace offering. "They grow in the User world, and Users keep them around because they're pretty.

Tron stood like a statue, flummoxed by this otherworldly bloom. Despite his attempts at aloofness, a prickle of interest coursed through his code. He cocked his head to the side but did not approach. Quorra took the gesture as an invitation and moved boldly forward, heedless to Sam sputtering behind her. Step by step, she closed the expanse between them.

At last, Tron's curiosity got the better of him. He met Quorra halfway and stretched forth his dominant hand. Out of reflex, the claws came out, and he held back for fear of cutting her. He swallowed, counting the nanos until the prongs retracted, hyper-aware of the woman's patient scrutiny.

He gripped the 'rose' by its stem, just under the bud, and balanced it precariously between the pads of two fingers. Somewhere in the background Sam made a noise and Rinzler reacted without thinking. He tore back his hand like it'd been scalded, taking the rose with him. Quorra didn't flinch.

Gently, Tron examined his new prize. He brushed the bulb with an index claw before plucking a single petal, marvelling at its colour. Red, like his old circuits. Red, like the blood shed by Sam-Flynn in that arena.

His finger moved downward, dislodging the petal in the process. It fluttered to the floor as he caressed the spiked stalk. Every movement was met with a bump as his nail travelled over tiny thorns embedded in the stem. Barbs, so much like the talons gracing his left hand. Next to the rose, they almost looked... elegant, more like an adornment than a disfigurement.

So many pretty things in the User World...

Over time his growl softened into a sort of chirring. He cradled the small sprig to his chest, oblivious to the thorns plucking at his circuits or the stares from his guests. Sam's forced verve vanished in the face of a genuine smile, which was mirrored tenfold by his companion.

Quorra spoke softly, "If you'd like, we can come back and bring some more...? Would you like that?"

Rinzler's silence was all the assent she needed.

[zulikbuka]

I think it's just so sad that we see Tron as this, cool, sweet, loyal, and strong program. He's never selfish, and he always puts others first before him. People love and admire him SO much that every single program knows him, Tron is a living legend and hero for the programs in the Grid. When they see him, they know that nothing could possibly go wrong when he's around. He was loved SO much that when programs thought he died they all grieved and lost hope.

He's so sweet and amazing that programs can't help but feel swoon and admire him. His people skills aren't amazing, and he's not one to talk about his feelings, but he's still so sweet and is still willing to lend a hand. He loved EVERY program, he treated them all with respect and not once did he belittle anybody or even use his status as an advantage. He was fair, forgiving, kind, helpful, and loyal.

And it breaks my heart whenever I watch Legacy to see Rinzler as this total opposite. Sure he's loyal and strong still, but he's only loyal to Clu and strong against the people. Rinzler is loved by the public, sure, but not in the sense Tron was. In the scene where Rinzler fights Sam, people are cheering him. They love him because they were brainwashed and manipulated to think that derezzing programs was okay, and that the strongest program (Rinzler) is someone they think they can trust. The new program is just an empty shell where Tron used to be, where the Hero of the Grid used to be.

This trope reminds me of the, "Die early as a hero, or live long enough to see yourself turn into the villain." Kinda thing. The problem though, is that Tron didn't willing turn into an uncaring program. He was FORCED to turn into Rinzler, he was forced to kill programs and turn against the people. It was his job to love and protect, but Clu made him hate and derezz.

And of course, the line, "I fight for the Users." Always, ALWAYS makes me sad and gives me goosebumps. Those were Tron's first words AS HIMSELF FOR THE PAST 30,000 CYCLES. He finally broke free from his internal prison and realized who he was, and who he protects. That, scene will always break my heart. And I HATE the pain Tron went through after he protected Flynn.

And the saddest thing is that Tron never blamed Flynn for anything. He never raised his voice or argued with him when he scarcely showed up, he never doubted Flynn and never thought he was abandoned, he never blamed him for his cycles of torment/lost/pain. He had not once blamed Flynn for anything, he just saved him and hoped. Tron believed that it was Clu's fault for everything (because he didn't know that Flynn passed his narrow mind to Clu, or that Flynn made Clu's job as a system administrator impossible), he only blamed Clu or himself.

Idk, moral of the story: Legacy had no right or business in making Tron's redemption arc and death so fucking sad and I won't forgive them for that. And I swear, if they don't somehow bring Yori or Tron (DEFINITELY TRON) back, I'm going to angry cry when Ares (maybe) releases. YOU CAN'T HAVE A FRANCHISE WITH A CHARACTER'S NAME AND NOT HAVE THE CHARACTER APPEAR.

[sky-blaze]

Restart And Try Again

Summary:

Sam has found Rinzler, and is trying to turn him back into Tron, but thirty-year-old code requires an expert touch. Enter Alan Bradley, who ends up unexpectedly attached to his creation.

---

“I need your help.”

Alan turned to see Sam in the doorway of his office at ENCOM. His godson looked unusually agitated, despite the faux-casual pose he had assumed, leaning against the doorframe, the way his leg jiggled with barely-suppressed nervous energy gave the game away.

“Hello Sam,” Alan greeted with exaggerated formality, “Nice to see you.”

There was the barest twitch of guilt that he was abandoning politeness, but even Alan’s subtle admonishment didn’t deter him, “It’s… Dad’s… uh… project. I need your help with something.” Sam blurted, the words coming all in a rush, making him sound like the awkward teenager Alan remembered with a mixed amount of fondness. The words, however, made Alan raise an eyebrow.

“I was under the impression,” Alan said slowly, “That you and Quorra were handling that.”

“We are… mostly. But there’s one thing that needs your...uh...personal touch.” Sam said, his eyes darted around warily, and Alan understood that this was not something Sam was comfortable discussing in the ENCOM officers, where just anyone could listen in.

After only a moment of hesitation, Alan grabbed his keys of his desk, “Lead on, then. I can’t promise anything, but I can take a look.”

Sam’s answering smile was full of relief.

-

Neither Kevin nor Sam had revealed the full details on Kevin Flynn’s ‘project’. The closed system hidden in the basement of the arcade was still largely a mystery to him, Lora and Roy, but Sam had at least told him about Kevin’s ultimate fate; saving the system, The Grid, by reintegrating himself with his rogue program, CLU. Alan was torn between being impressed at what his old friend had accomplished and wanting to raise him from the dead so he could strangle him for being so reckless.

A prickle of apprehension crawled up Alan’s spine when he saw the digitising laser; so familiar from those early days at ENCOM. It looked so incredibly incongruous sat there in front of a workstation terminal. Alan took a deep breath of the dry, stale basement air and looked at Sam, who shuffled uncomfortably.

“Would you care to explain?” Alan asked carefully.

Sam looked at his shoes for a moment, taking his own deep, fortifying breath, “You gave a copy of your security program to Dad for his project, right?” Sam began.

Alan frowned, “Tron. Yes, I did. What does this have…” Alan’s eyes widened, “Is he still..?” Alan had often found it difficult to reconcile the work he did every day - coding, compiling and upgrading software - with the ideas that Kevin had espoused about programs being like real people, living within the machine, but Tron had always been… different. Special. There was a connection there that Alan had never been able to explain. Thinking Tron was… gone had been unexpectedly and inexplicably painful.

Sam looked uncomfortable again, “Sort of. CLU got to him. He… repurposed him. Turned him into an attack dog, renamed him Rinzler. I don’t know how, but something in him must have… fought back. Towards then end, before the reintegration, Rinzler turned on CLU - tried to attack him.”

Alan frowned, his brows drawing tightly together as apprehension congealed into worry, “But you found him?”

Sam nodded, “Yeah but… his code is a total mess. I’ve tried to help him, but some of his core kernal is… well, its beyond me.”

Alan blinked, “And you think I can help?”

“He’s your program.” Sam said softly.

“Sam, in case you forgot, I wrote it – him – in the eighties. Its been a while.” Alan replied, anxiety rising in his chest, tension making his shoulders ache as he stared at the laser and the darkened terminal.

“You’re his best shot,” Sam insisted, “You’re his user. He’s… well, he’s been asking for you.”

Alan couldn’t help but stare, “Asking for me?”

Sam sighed, “He’s not completely conscious, but whenever I try to work on his code, he pushes me away and says ‘Alan1’ over and over.”

“My old username at ENCOM.” Alan said faintly. He sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose, “All right. You’ve convinced me. I’ll give it a shot. What do I need to do?”

Sam nodded at the seat in front of the terminal – the one with the laser pointed ominously at it, “Sit right there. I’ll handle the rest. Oh, and don’t worry when you get there, I’ll be right behind you.”

For the first time since Sam had arrived at Alan’s office, Sam flashed one of his bright smiles. Alan wasn’t sure if it was meant to be reassuring, but since that same smile was often on the face of both father and son right before some of their more outrageous stunts, Alan decided he was correct to be concerned.

–

Arriving in the Grid was just as disorienting as Alan had feared. He materialised – for lack of a better term – to almost total blackness. The only faint white light in the small, closed-off room was… himself. His shirt glowed with a faint white radiance, while his suit pants and jacket had gone from dark grey to jet black. His face felt… odd. He reached up to touch his glasses, but once his fingers made contact with the frames, there was a spark of white across the lenses and his vision suddenly came alive with a host of information, scrolling across like a military-style heads-up display.

“Huh.” He said.

A column of light coalesced beside him, and in moments Sam had arrived, wearing some of sort of… armoured black suit covered in glowing white circuitry patterns.

“Nice outfit.” Alan commented dryly when Sam had fully materialised.

Sam grinned back, “Nice glasses.”

“I appear to have come equipped with an augmented reality display.” Alan said, “I can’t say I don’t appreciate the upgrade.”

“Advantages of being a User in a computer, I guess.” Sam shrugged.

“Apparently.” Alan’s gaze sharpened as it fixed on Sam, trying to ignore the little pop-ups of information on the heads-up display, which described Sams’s clock speed, code integrity and power level, “Where is he?” Alan asked softly.

“This way.” Sam said, leading Alan out of the darkened room and into the city streets.

The city was something of a revelation for Alan, who was almost mesmerised by the colour, the angles, the beauty of it all, especially with his glasses providing him with helpful information on each point of interest, right down to its code composition, if he so chose. Getting control of the flow of information was a challenge; Alan was a programmer, and the beauty of this place, not just on a physical level, but on the level of pure code, was almost too much to resist. Only the knowledge that someone – that Tron – needed his help, let him keep his focus.

Sam led him through the neon-laced streets, up into a glowing tower. Quorra greeted them at the door, the usually perky ISO oddly subdued. The room Alan was guided into was comfortable, decorated in muted shades of white and pale blue. It almost like a high-end hotel, except with more glowing parts.

A figure lay motionless on the plush-looking bed. Dressed entirely in black, an opaque helmet covering his face, the glowing circuitry lines were strangely truncated, pulsing an ominous dark orange. The most distinctive marking was the set of small squares near his throat, set in a T shape.

“Tron.” Alan breathed. The figure on the bed twitched, and made a rattling moan. It was a ragged, pained sound, like a fan with a worn bearing, or a failing hard drive. Either way, the noise worried him.

“Here.” Sam said, handing him… a disk? It looked like a hollow Frisbee, its edges its edges pulsing the same malevolent, fiery orange as Tron’s circuitry. Alan’s glasses promptly displayed information telling him how to bring up a code overview from the disk. Helpful. He was starting to wish he had something like it in the real world.

He sat down on a sinfully comfortable chair and watched as the code spiralled up from the disk, appearing in a splay of holographic light. He examined it for a few long moments, turning it this way and that, marvelling at the 3-D representation that revealed data structures, variable arrays and other things that Alan usually had to keep track of in his head, all presented clearly but… something wasn’t right. He dug further, finally finding something familiar. He wasn’t usually one to blow his own trumpet about his programming prowess, but the core of the original code he had written looked remarkably elegant next to what appeared to be hastily hacked-in patches with more recent timestamps.

After further investigation, Alan sat back with a scowl, “Who wrote this additional code?”

Sam looked up from where he had sprawled on a sofa, “Uh...why?” he asked.

Alan scowled harder, “Because I’d like to punch them in the mouth.”

“It was probably CLU,” Quorra said, almost making Alan jump. She’d been so still and quiet he’d almost forgotten she was there, “Well, either CLU or Dyson.” She continued, “They’re both… gone now.”

“Hmph.” Was Alan’s only reply. He spent another few moments staring at the butchery that had been made of his creation, trying to fight down anger on Tron’s behalf at what had been done to him. The new blocks of code emphasised obedience, and violence. To have this done to Tron, who was created to be self-sufficient, to protect, not attack, it felt like nothing so much as torture and brainwashing.

“I think I can fix this.” He said finally, “But it’s not going to be quick. I’ll need time, and access to my usual suite of programming tools.” He gestured to the swirling holographic code, “This is lovely, but its not what I’m used to. It’ll be quicker and easier for me to use a normal workstation.”

Sam nodded, “Yeah, I get it. Programming in the Grid is… different.”

A thought occurred to Alan, “Is it even possible to transfer data to this system? I didn’t see any ports, except the I/O and display port, and the operating system is bound to be completely unique.”

Sam nodded again, more slowly this time, and Alan heard Quorra take a sudden, sharp breath, “It… is…”

“I hear a ‘but’ at the end of this sentence.” Alan said.

Sam gave a slightly forced chuckle, “Yeah, okay. It is possible, but you kinda need to use yourself as the data storage medium.”

Alan blinked, “What?”

Sam chuckled, sounding far more natural this time, “It’s okay. I’ll show you when we get back.”

Alan’s gaze went back to the figure lying so still on the bed, seeming almost lifeless if not for the dull pulsing of the circuitry, and the scrolling information on Alan’s heads-up display. “Will he be all right?” he asked.

“Quorra’s staying with him.” Sam replied. Alan caught the look that flickered between Quorra and Sam, suddenly understanding that it wasn't just a case of keeping Tron company; it was making sure that that awful ‘Rinzler’ code-butchery didn’t cause him to hurt himself or anyone else. Quorra was more guard than nurse. The thought made his stomach knot up. 

Without thinking, Alan reached over to pat Tron on the arm, “I’ll be back, and I promise I’ll help you.”

Tron made a noise, that odd grinding sound, but softer this time, sounding almost like a purr, and then, a barely audible rasp, “Aaalaan onnneee…”

“I’ll be back.” Alan reassured again, feeling a lump in his throat. He forced himself to let go, ignoring the odd look Sam gave him as he marched out of the room and heading back towards where the laser had dropped them, not really knowing why he felt like crying.

–

Less than a week later, Alan found himself back in the basement beneath Flynn’s Arcade. True to his word, Sam had taught him how to port code to and from the Grid. It was something of an involved process, and needed one of the obscure ‘floptical’ storage systems to interface with Flynn’s ageing, custom-built computer system. It had taken almost as long to find the right storage system as it had to actually rebuild Tron’s code.

Now, he loaded the disk caddy into the semi-hidden drive slot and loaded his own ‘profile’ on the workstation and hit ‘import’. Sam then took over and loaded the laser digitisation program.

“Ready?” Sam asked.

Alan shifted, feeling both impatient and anxious, “Yeah, let’s go.”

The dizzying sensation overtook him and he once again found himself in that darkened room inside the Grid. This time, however, there was significantly more light – still coming from himself. The sensible suit he had worn before was replaced by a long black overcoat, decorated with glowing white circuitry lines. His shirt was still softly glowing white, but he could feel the weight of an ID disk on his back.

“That’s new.” Sam said, frowning, “You okay Alan?”

“Yeah,” Alan smiled, “I think it’s due to the extra data I had to import into my profile so I could help Tron.”

Sam chuckled, “Looks good on you. No fair you get a cooler outfit than mine, though.”

Alan couldn’t help but smirk, “And the cool glasses.”

“Yeah, rub it in why don’t ya?” Sam lightly smacked his godfather on the arm, and once again led Alan through the twisting streets to where Tron lay.

It looked like Tron had barely moved, but when Alan stepped through the door, Tron made that painful-sounding grinding noise, his arms twitching. “How has he been?” Alan asked Quorra.

Quarra shrugged, “About the same. He twitches sometimes, and calls out for you. If anyone else tries to touch him, though, he tries to get away, despite how damaged he is.”

The bluntly spoken assessment chilled Alan, and he took a deep breath, reaching over to the program laying motionless against the plush blue bedcovers, “Tron? It’s me, Alan. I’m here to help you, but I need your ID disk. Is that okay?”

The grinding noise grew louder, and Tron’s body twitched almost violently, “aaaa...aaaa.” Tron rasped, trying again to move. It took Alan a few moments to realise that Tron was trying to roll over, to expose his ID disk at his User’s request. The display of trust made something in Alan’s chest twist.

Reaching down, Alan helped his program to roll onto his side, noting almost absently as he did so that where he touched Tron’s circuits, the orange faded into bright blue, just for a second, before it bled back to orange.

As gently as he could, Alan disengaged Tron’s disk from the port, and reached to his own back to pull off his own disk. Praying silently to whatever gods looked after programmers, he slowly brought the two disks into contact.

Holding his breath, Alan watched as the white light of his disk slowly melted into the orange, and wherever it touched, the light changed, transforming from deep orange into blue. When the process finally completed, Alan felt like he could breathe again, but the knot in his stomach still remained, a reminder that it wasn’t quite over.

Carefully pulling the two disks apart, Alan clicked his own back into place before leaning down and carefully, almost reverentially, placing Tron’s disk back in its port.

The change was immediate. The blue light flowed like water from the disk port, spreading across the circuitry lines. When it reached Tron’s neck, the mask dissolved, revealing a face that looked precisely like Alan himself had thirty years ago. Tron’s eyelids fluttered and he blinked open his eyes, looking unerringly at his User, eyes full of wonder and joy.

“Alan1.” Tron said, his voice almost...worshipful, which was deeply embarrassing, but at least it was at last free of the awful grinding growl.

Alan felt tears in his eyes, “Welcome back, Tron.” he said, reaching out to take his creation’s hand.

Tron frowned, “I… so much has happened.” Sorrow filled the program’s face, “I...I failed. I did terrible things. I’m so sorry, Alan1.”

“Shhh,” Alan soothed, perching next to Tron on the edge of the bed, unable to tear his gaze away from his creation, “It’s all right. You did everything you could. You fought back against CLU. I couldn’t be any prouder of you.”

The awestruck wonder was back in Tron’s face, his fingers curling tightly around Alan’s own, apparently totally unwilling to let go. Alan gently touched the circuitry on Tron’s arm, marvelling at the colour – it wasn’t quite the electric blue of Quorra’s lines, it was paler - closer to ice blue, and Alan wondered at the reason for that difference, if it had any particular significance.

The sound of someone clearing their throat startled them both, both Tron and Alan apparently forgetting that Sam and Quorra were in the room. Sam looked somewhat embarrassed, “Uh, so yeah. Me and Quorra have… stuff to take care of. We’re gonna head out, okay?”

Alan rubbed at the back of his neck with his free hand, feeling his own embarrassment climb up his cheeks, “Uh, sure.”

Tron tugged on his hand, “You’ll stay with me, Alan1?” his face and voice full of hope.

Alan couldn’t help but smile, “Of course, Tron.” he said, and Tron shuffled over on the bed to make room, not once letting go of his User’s hand.

Alan lay down next to his creation, the security program he had coded with his own hands, trying not to melt under said program’s adoring gaze. Without really thinking about it, Alan brought Tron’s hand up to kiss his knuckles, wondering exactly how this had become his life.

Once he turned to see the joy shining in Tron’s face, free of the pain he had suffered, Alan couldn’t bring himself to mind.

End of Line.

[issamhysa]

Being an ISO and helping Sam Flynn would include...

A/N: Listen, we’re in quarantine. I’ve watched Tron: Legacy like 9 times this week, so, naturally, I had to.

You’re so glad you decided to go watch the games that day

Because if you hadn’t, Sam Flynn would most likely be dead

You’re in the city as an informant

Your job? To spend as much time on the inside as you can, gather information and relay it back to Kevin Flynn

A pretty easy job, you think

And then he arrives

You don’t recognize him, not really

It’s not until he announces his name that you realize

That’s Sam Flynn

The Creator’s son

Immediately, you leave the arena and return to Kevin

As you enter, you find your big sister waiting for you, looking confused as to why you look so startled

“Y/N? What happened?”

“The son of Flynn is here, Quorra. CLU is probably taking him to the light cycle arena.” You say

The two of you stare at each other for a second, as if silently communicating your thoughts

You nod at your sister and set a hand on her shoulder

“Go, and be careful.”

And with that, you wait

A few hours later, as you’re sitting by the pool in the balcony, you see a familiar set of headlights crossing the outlands at an incredible speed

Quorra enters, and you turn to look at your sister and the man standing on the platform

Slowly, as to not disturb Kevin’s meditating, you make your way inside and stand by your sister, not so subtly looking at Sam

He’s handsome, for a user

One look shared with Quorra, and you know she’s thinking the same thing

Father and son reunite, and you’re beckoned over by Kevin

“Sam, I’d like to introduce you to Y/N.”

Sam smiles and takes your hand just as you bow your head and shake it

Words are exchanged over dinner, and you come to find that Sam isn’t really as accomplished as Kevin always said he was

A shame, really

After dinner, the four of you head into the balcony

You stand with your sister, your hand holding on to her arm and your cheek against her shoulder as you watch the tense exchange between Kevin and Sam

Sam wants to go for the portal, but Kevin is against it

You internally sympathize with Sam

He just wants his father back

But you also understand Kevin’s point of view

Going back into the city would be suicide, everybody would be trying to get their hands on Kevin’s disc, and it was something that you wouldn’t really want to risk

You’re sitting in your room when Quorra enters, looking pensive

“Quorra? What is it?” 

“I’m going to send him to Zuse.”

You stand up and shake your head

“No, Quorra. It’s too risky right now.”

“I know, Y/N, but Zuse is a friend.”

You sigh and run a hand through your white hair

You and your sister are different in many ways

Your hair is white, hers is black

Her suit is black, yours is white

Your circuitry is white, hers is blue

And while Quorra has limited understanding of emotions and motives, you have a very large understanding of the concept

Which is why you think this is a terrible idea

“Quorra, as soon as Zuse gets his hands on Sam, he’ll just turn him in.”

Your sister hesitates, but relents and nods her head

“Alright, I won’t.”

Of course, when Kevin calls you and Quorra to the balcony, and Sam is nowhere to be seen, you know exactly what happened

Kevin tells you you’re going to town, and you simply nod your head

You know better than to argue

However, as soon as he leaves, you and Quorra turn to each other

To say you were upset would be an understatement

“Y/N,” your sister starts, but you hold up a hand and shake your head firmly

“No, Quorra. You lied to me! Sisters don’t lie to one another.”

You both accompany Kevin to the End of Line Club, and you and Quorra immediately jump to Sam’s aid

“You stupid boy, how did you even get in here?” You ask, pulling him down with you and narrowly avoiding getting derezzed by a flying disc

“She helped me!” Sam nods up to the balcony

And you see Zuse dancing around while Gem hangs back

Gem moves forward and smiles down at you, you sneer in return

“Of course you’d fall for her tricks.” You berate, derezzing a program that had swung at your sister

“Oh, come on!” Sam complains at your scolding, kicking a program halfway across the room

You and Sam are too focused on bickering to see the two programs gang up on your sister

And you have no time to react

As a program kicks you and Sam down, Quorra’s arm is halfway derezzed

“Quorra!”

You’re back up on your feet in seconds, charging at the two programs

Sam is right behind you, and with his help, the two of you derezz them just as Kevin arrives

In no time, you’re inside the falling elevator, tapping on the holographic screen as Sam does the same on the panel

He thinks he’s doing something

If you weren’t so upset and stressed, you’d find his lack of understanding endearing

“A little help here!” He calls out, and you roll your eyes, tapping frantically on the buttons before you

“Will you give me a second!” 

You stop the elevator seconds before it hits the ground, and sigh in relief

You lead Kevin and Sam, who’s holding Quorra, into the Solar Sailer, and sit next to her to watch Flynn work

You’ve never seen the Creator working on a disc, and it’s pretty impressive

Sam looks at you and holds back the urge to chuckle

You’re so focused

Your eyes are wide as you stare in awe, your mouth slightly agape

“She’s an ISO.” Sam points out after seeing the code on your sister’s arm

“They both are, man. They’re the miracles.”

And now it’s Sam’s turn to look at you in awe

This time, you can’t help but smile at his wonder

Kevin says Quorra will be stable, and you sit down with her until she reboots

You can’t help but overhear their conversation, and noticing this, Kevin smiles

You sit with Sam and Quorra a bit later, talking about how Kevin found you

“Everyone we knew disappeared during The Purge.” Quorra explains

“Then they came for us, so we ran. Your father, he saved us.”

When Sam is describing the sunset to the two of you, you wrap your hand around your sister’s arm and set your cheek against her shoulder

A gesture that lets her know that you’re there

You bashfully smile when Sam looks at the two of you and utters the word “beautiful”

Aww, okay

You figure he’s not as much of a disappointment

You all end up getting caught in a checkpoint, and as you’re hiding from Rinzler, Quorra turns to you and gives you her disc

“Quorra-”

“Promise me you’ll get them to the portal.” She says

You can’t do much but nod and press your forehead against his

Sam objects, but before he can do anything, you’re left horrified as Rinzler takes your sister away

“You just let her go?”

“She’s my sister, Sam. I trust her judgment, and I know she’ll be alright. Now, move!”

At some point, Sam leaves you with Kevin, but before he does, you make him promise to bring your sister back

He’s gone in an instant, and while Kevin trusts him, you’re still freaking out

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-”

“Y/N!” Kevin reprimands, making you cringe slightly

“Shit, sorry.”

Sam does make it back, and you’re relieved to see he has your sister

So you board the Light Fighter and head to the portal

“Here they come.” Quorra says, eyeing the approaching enemies

Sam mans the turrets, and you pilot the Light Fighter with Quorra

In a second, Rinzler is right on you, and you make eye contact as he flies over your Fighter

“Tron.” You whisper, a frown on your face

Something seems to happen as he sees you

He seems to recognize you

Just as CLU is about to finish you, Rinzler rams his Fighter straight into CLU, sacrificing himself

Quorra, Sam and Kevin celebrate the defeat, but you can’t help but feel you’re not done yet

You know better

You arrive at the portal to find CLU waiting for you all

“Go.” Kevin tells you and Quorra, but while Quorra runs to protect Sam, you stay behind

“Y/N, what are you doing?” Kevin asks as you stand between him and CLU

“I’m doing what you’ve done for us all these cycles. Protecting you.”

“Y/N!” Quorra cries out, and you jump across the bridge to stop CLU from reaching them

“Go, see the sunset for me.” You say, your hand on your big sister’s cheek

You turn to Sam and smile

“I wish we could’ve met under different circumstances, Sam Flynn. But for what it’s worth, you’re not that bad.”

Sam wants to protest

To take your hand and pull you out of the Grid, but he has no time to react as you shove him into the portal

CLU swats you to the side just as Sam and Quorra disappear

And then, the Grid is gone

And you, Kevin and CLU go with it

[mewtwowarrior]

I saw a writing prompt for either “getting dressed to kill” or “dressing to kill” and I thought it would make for a good prompt in the Tron world.

I need to canon review for sure, so this is playing pretty fast and loose with canon.

Also, it features my OC, who I’m still working on.

And, it’s inspired by awesome Tron discussions I’ve been having with @infiniteviking.

-

Ark coldly brushed off the Sirens' offer to help her change into her combat suit for the Games. In the past, her rejections had been kinder, but she wasn't feeling very polite right now.

She had known that her luck wouldn't hold, with her history and being in the resistance, but it still stung.

After Clu took over, she had been pretty high up on his hit list. After all, a System Monitor that had been friendly with the ISOs didn't exactly match up to the dictator's ideas of a perfect system.

She had survived for a while, between her skills and the help of her friends, she had fought back until she slipped up and got captured.

Thank goodness nobody else had gotten captured with her. That was some, but very little comfort.

Unlike some of the other Programs that had been grabbed, she had been taken straight to the top. Clu spent a short while deliberating her fate. It was tempting to brainwash and corrupt her, to force her to turn against everything she had stood for.

But, there was another option that would be much more interesting.

Clu decided to send her to the Games. He had faith that she'd fight her way to the end, and there, well, an old friend would be waiting for her.

He had sent her off with a flick of his wrist as the guards took her to the Arena.

Now, she's here getting ready to fight for her life.

Ark's done this before, back before things got bad. Back then, the Games were for fun. She had a decent record, she never could beat Tron, but then again, nobody could.

Switching out her clothes was an easy process, but this time, it felt tougher. She was removing her personal circuits, her identity, in exchange for the same armor that everyone sentenced to the Games did.

Her armor fit her well, it was at once comforting and terrifying. She was used to wearing it, but, she knew that once it was completely on, that she'd likely never take it off again.

As she finished pulling it on, the standard blue circuits snapped on and hummed to life.

She glanced over at her personal clothes one last time, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm ready."

The Sirens escorted her to her position, she had a fleeting thought of trying to escape. But, if she could, where would she go?

But, this was her fate, and she was going to face it head on.

Ark stood in the middle of her elevator, waiting patiently and trying to keep her composure. If she wavered, if she faltered, that would only amuse Clu even more, and she wasn't about to let that happen.

She stared blankly out of the glass as it lifted her to her fate.

Ark didn't remember much of the game. She didn't want to think about the fact that she was fighting other Programs, ones she had been programmed to protect, maybe even ones that she knew.

One after one, she struck her opponents down, gaining victory after victory.

Breathing heavily, she stood alone in the final round.

From the comfort of his seat, Clu clapped slowly, "Congratulations, you made it. I knew you would. Now there's just one opponent left. Win this, and maybe you'll earn your freedom." He gestured to a Program by his side, "Bring in Rinzler."

Ark responded only with a glare. She'd made it this far, she was starting to wear down, but she could keep going. There wasn't many Programs who had been able to beat her in the past, and, most of them were already derezzed by now. She doubted that he'd give her her freedom, of course, but she was going to fight for it with everything she had.

Her confidence faded though, once her opponent stalked into view.

They were a different color, but she'd know those distinctive T-shaped circuits anywhere.

Her opponent was Tron.

Fighting back panic, she readied herself, trying to remember every time that had fought in the Arena and fought side by side. She knew Tron's moves, and he knew hers in turn, he was the best.

Her confidence ebbed even more when she saw him activate a second disc. She'd never seen that before, not from anyone. Whatever she knew about his fighting style wouldn't hold up much against this change.

When they were signaled to begin, Ark cautiously held back, trying to get as much information about her opponent as she could.

Rinzler had no hesitation, though, with almost a blinding speed, he charged forward, immediately putting her on the defensive.

It was hard to keep up with double the weapons, but she managed. For a little while, at least.

Focused only on survival, it was easy to forget that she was fighting against Tron. Even so, with blocking two discs, she wasn't able to get a blow in.

Ark made another mistake that day, one that would prove to be her last. Now, her disc had slid across the floor, and between her and it stood Rinzler.

Exhausted and with no room to maneuver, all she could do was watch as he prowled towards her.

When he pulled back his arm to strike the final blow, Ark, out of options, did the only thing she could think of and whispered his name, "Tron..."

Rinzler hesitated for an instant.

Angered at the pause, Clu yelled to his warrior, "Finish her!"

Rinzler obeyed.

He struck Ark with a single, decisive blow and she shattered into a million tiny cubes, landing into a scattered pile on the Arena floor.

Rinzler tilted his head, looking down at what had been his opponent.

Clu glared at the nearest guard, "Bring him here now. He needs to be reformatted." He had lost count of the number of times that he had written over Tron's code, but again and again, there had been potential signs of rebellion. That would never do.

He watched as Rinzler was rectified once more. This time, there would be no more resistance.

[nico-di-genova]

Honestly, if Rinzler still is Tron in lightcycle run it just poses so many questions for me. Why would Sam rebuild the grid, the whole world from the ground up, and then keep one of his dad’s best friends as the mindless attack dog that Clu was using Tron as? Were the remnants of Tron’s code so broken down by Clu that Rinzler was the only version of him he could bring back at all? Was he just craving the chance to finally go head to head against Rinzler on a lightcycle just to see if he could win? Or did he just conveniently forget to reprogram Tron into the grid? I don’t see how Sam, grieving his father’s death and rebuilding the grid in his memory, would have forgotten to fix Tron in the process, but I also don’t see why he would have intentionally kept Rinzler. The whole thing is incredibly confusing to me. And yeah, it’s a dorky little rollercoaster, but they intentionally included Rinzler instead of Tron and I want to know why.

[cellard0ors]

Drabble: End Of Line

I, honest to god, have about a million other things I need to write...but this won’t let me go. So! Just a little fun! Shyan!Tron!AU (Mood Music Tron: Legacy - Rinzler Theme)

This can’t be real and he can’t be here.

Ryan knows this and yet…and yet here he is – watching in stunned horror as what appears to be a person – a person – standing next to him shatters into a million pieces. 

This is not a euphemism. 

They shatter like glass, glittering shards spilling down to the dark, glossy black ground – spreading out like a sea of diamonds. And he knows what they are…bits. It’s bits and coding and…the person wasn’t a person.

They were a Program.

A Program…he’s on The Grid. 

A space, a whole world, inside interlinked mainframes. Waves of data and microprocessors and an entirely different universe. Ghosts? That he can handle – being in another technological dimension?

Yeah, not so much and oh – yes, best not to forget that the person (correction: the Program) next to him was just destroyed thanks to what should pass for a fucking frisbee.

But he knows that’s not what it is. It’s an identity disc. He has one. It was strapped to his back before he was shoved out here into this goddamn arena, where a bunch of flipping ninjas are fighting and oh shit! 

He dodges, barely avoiding the burning disc that sliced that Program in two. He might not shatter, but he sure as fuck can bleed and far across the arena is another Program.

This one garbed in all black, bright green lights illuminating his shoulders, the hollow of his throat and the sides of his sleek black helmet. The program rushes forward and Ryan – like a total spaz – falls backwards, landing roughly on his ass.

He knows he’s not fast enough to get away and sure enough, he’s on him, lunging over top of him and ready to strike. The Program has his disc raised, ready to strike down with a no doubt killing blow, only to stop, to tilt his head as if in recognition.

The Program rises up to his full height and as his helmet drops away Ryan’s jaw drops, “Shane?”

The Program – or Shane – or the Program that looks exactly like Shane, merely puts away his disc and draws back. Ryan can only blink, bewildered as he hears a very familiar voice remark dryly, “Well, well, well…looks like the download was a success.”

And on top of all the shocks today, this one has to be the greatest. Because Ryan is looking into his own face. Or more like a dark distorted mirror of his face, one he can only gap at. This Program with his features, who continues speaking, “Tried to delete me, didn’tcha? But, eh, guess that didn’t work out quite like you thought, now did it?”

Ryan’s lips feel numb even as they move, “Ricky?”

“In the gigabytes,” Ricky flashes his pearly whites and there’s an awful clarity about him, a sort of lunacy that’s more than just visible, ”Created me to run some algorithms, get some spooky data and true crime stats. The works. Then, when I wasn’t useful anymore…” he holds open his empty palms and how such a benign act can be so threatening Ryan will never know.

“RG…”

“Oh,” Ricky winces, “That’s the shortened file. I’m your program, Ryan. You wrote me and named me ‘RG’, short for your ol’ persona ‘Ricky Goldsworth’ as a laugh. A joke. Though…I suppose it coulda been worse…coulda been ‘Night Night’…”

“Ricky,” Ryan tries again, “You’re…you’re just…”

“What?” Ricky advances closer, dark eyes hot, “What am I? Just some lines of data? Just a Program?”

Ricky draws out his own disc and it blazes bright white, “I’m what you made me, Ryan. I’m you. But the better you. I’m your desires made manifest and you were just going to erase me.”

The last comes out so quietly, so viciously. Ryan can only swallow, “You’re…corrupted…”

Ricky gives him a baleful glare yet Ryan can’t stop, “…that’s what the computer told me. The-the tech guys…”

The smile that illuminates Ricky’s face is manic, “The tech guys. Yeah, ‘cause they know soooo much…” 

He advances on Ryan, who edges back even as Ricky continues to menace forward, “…what with the amounts of porn they get through backdoor procedures and info they hack, but they know a corrupted Program when they see one, huh? These the same guys who didn’t bank on me being able to find a way to digitize you? To download you? To bring you HERE!?”

He punctuates the question with his disc driving down, sparks skittering off the ground and it’s close to Ryan’s right foot. Too close. Ryan shrinks in on himself, continues to crab walk backwards even as Ricky grows more frantic, “To bring you to me?”

“Ricky…”

The unexpected interjection stops Ricky and makes Ryan’s eyes grow wider. He’d forgotten all about the Program who looks like Shane until just now. That Program comes closer, “Ricky…he’s a User…”

Ricky actually rolls his eyes, “You gonna start with that shit, Xander? What’re you? Religious?”

Xander (?) doesn’t answer. Just looks at Ryan with that same, dopey soulful look Shane gets sometimes. The thoughtful one that Ryan can’t read and hates that he can’t read. Ricky dismisses Xander with a swift shake of his head, “User, Program…doesn’t matter. He tried to derezz me, but guess what?”

He rears his arm back, disc glowing bright as a star, “He’s the one who’s going to be-!”

Ricky doesn’t get to finish. Xander whips out his own disc and slices Ricky’s raised arm off cleanly at the elbow. Bits of code and data spill on to the ground and Ricky wails, clearly not expecting such an action. 

Xander’s helmet rises to cover his face even as he charges towards Ryan, grabs the collar of his skin tight suit and draws him back, draws him up, even as he smoothly, deftly, summons his light cycle.

Xander shoves Ryan on to it, even as he climbs on behind him and then they’re off. Gone. Zooming at the speed of light down a long, swirling line of…fuck, Ryan doesn’t even know. 

His head is spinning. 

This is all happening too fast and all he can process is Xander’s soft whisper, “I fight for the Users…”

[goldenskyrose]

Tron family au

Tron and Yori had two kids, Beck and Cyrus.

Cyrus being 5 years older and wanting to follow in his father's footsteps and join the military. Yet he's impulsive and can't always seem to be able to feel empathy. He's proud and manipulative but he always had a soft spot for his baby brother Beck. He's protective in an violent way. This is of course much to the disapproval of his father... who just doesn't seem to actually love him from his perspective.

Beck is a soft and loyal boy. He loves robots and his friends and wants to be a mechanic and work with cars when he grows up. He's proud, naive (sometimes) obviously Tron's favorite and even tho Cyrus often seems to act out on him and push him aside at random times to which Beck doesn't see why, he always keeps on loving his brother knowing there is good in every human... right? Well what can he do about it?

Aren't brothers supposed to be together?

Yori is a loving mother who looks out for her boys but is also concerned with Cyrus. He's very independent from a young age and she doesn't want to lose her other boy so quickly. Rather have them being kids forever. She babies Beck but Cyrus, being full of pride as he is, doesn't like to be treated that way. (doesn't mean he wanted her to start seeing him as an adult at age 10 though) when they grow up she gets more concerned with how late Cyrus stays out and the drugs she finds in his room, the conspiracy sites he finds on the internet or the people he hangs out with at night... or that he's trying to get Beck to join him. But she will always stay head cool in every situation and is wise in ways the family needs. She doesn't let her emotions get the best of her and if she is to fight a bear, you better start praying for that poor bear.

Tron is a trying father who loves his family. He's been a soldier and while supporting of Cyrus his choice to also serve, nervous. Cyrus doesn't take orders often and lacks some serious emotions and empathy. He was harder on Cyrus as the boy insisted on it and punished him harder because no matter what he tried whenever it was sitting down and talking, a therapist or anything else, he kept breaking serious rules and bringing others into danger. He can't help but actually feel like Beck is his favorite. Why is Beck so easy? So good? He donated almost all his money to the local animal shelter, insisted on adopting a rescue cat named rinzler and always followed the rules. Sure he broke them sometimes but that was only taking a cookie when he wasn't allowed to, not doing drugs. When he would get angry at Cyrus the boy took it out on his younger brother for being 'the favorite'. He loved Cyrus, he really really does, but the older he got the more dangerous he got. Tron ties everything to keep Cyrus on the right path and his family together. He would kill and die for his family and is a proud and protective dad but isn't alway that good at guessing emotions of others.

When they were young Beck and Cyrus played often, Beck always followed his older brother his demands and looked up to him. Cyrus was the one protecting him from bullies and Beck was the one cheering the older boy up when he was sad or he brought him chocolate from his secret stash that Tron totally (did)n't know about. It was always them against the world. Beck didn't quite understand or question why sometimes Cyrus would lash out on him or push him or be angry at him.

In his teens Cyrus got to know something called the dark web, the real trouble started. He knew the government was a scheme, he knew serial killers, nazi's and their experiments. For about half a year age 13 he hated Beck, truly hated and he would show it by bullying him. For doing this Tron would get even more angry at him and favor 'Becky' even more and love him more then he could ever love Cyrus. Therefore he didn't care if he could hear Beck cry to sleep at night because of him.

Later he regretted doing this. Beck was so young and didn't understand.

Age 15 and he knew he didn't hate Beck, he hated Tron. Beck was lied too and what kind of big protective brother would let his baby brother be lied too by the government and his own father.

The young boy had one memory of being alone with his brother one night while his parents were gone for a date. Cyrus had friends over and wend into their fathers office upstairs. They were never allowed in there and his older brother came out with a file. Wait, wasn't everything locked in that room? He watched Cyrus give the papers to one of his friends. Later that evening Cyrus let Beck try something like a cigarette except it wasn't a cigarette, wow, that felt funny.

His older brother and his father yelled so often so Beck didn't question why his brother moved out after that night. Cyrus's age being late 16.

Now Beck was late 17. He missed his brother but was a good kid. He discovered he was bisexual, tried to be cool, dated girls, tries dating boys, still naive, fooling and joking around with his friends, going out, a typical teen boy. One night while trying to stupidity look cool for his crush (Cutler) he goes to a party where in a back alley he runs into someone familiar.

Cyrus now has scars and tattoos and looks so grown up aside from being 23 (soon 24). Beck is so happy to see his big brother again and honestly? Cyrus couldn't be happier to see his little brother.

Beck, still so sweet and soft and easy to manipulate. What kind of brother would he be, if he didn't try to save his little brother?

[keytextsfromkh]

Dream Drop Distance: The World That Never Was/End Game

- Look who's back with a brand spanking new theme song.

- And this is why I enjoy Gothic!Dick Roman, he's nice enough to walk us through his entire plan. There'll be no getting confused tonight.

- That move I just did there? Took hours of practice, but the look on the players face? Totally worth it.

- I don't like this Kingdom Hearts: VR experience game.

- Oh boy, looks like Sora's heart is kind of going through a breakdown.

- It's ok Sora, she's used to being forgotten.

- Hey, look who's here just for the paycheck.

- (Roxas thinking Sora is the more important of the two) And honestly, I kind of wish it was the other way around.

- (Roxas deserving his own self and identity) A sentiment that people are still rejecting to this day.

- That's right Sora, listen to the black sky, don't go chasing your dreams, wait until they come to you.

- I don't know if this game is trying to out-mindfuck the previous games but it sure is succeeding

- And in one cutscene, a good chunk of pre-2012 fanfic suddenly becomes hilarious in hindsight.

- (Why lie to the original Organization) Easy, for the lulz.

- Well at least this story is open about it's whole assimilation plot rather than trying to be vague about it like Mass Effect was.

- Oh no, you've angered Dick Roman, now you've really fucked up.

- Oh shit, he's going all Magneto on your ass.

- I would love if the game just ended there. Sora has been taken by the Darkness, his Heart has been protected by Ventus and we have to wait until the next game to see how he gets saved. It would have gone totally "Infinity War" on us and I would have been happy.

- But sadly no, now we get Riku's little journey.

- (Anti-Black Coat) And winner for creepiest fucking thing in this entire series...this guy.

- Well I guess it's better than belonging to the fattest part of my ass.

- Something tells me that Nomura saw Inception before writing the plot of this game.

- (The Dream Eaters helping Riku get to the castle) Well that just ruined the mood

- I know this place. It brings back memories.

- Organization XIII-2

- (In Mickey voice) It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!

- I guess it was kind of silly to use time powers against a Chronomancer.

- I'm starting to wonder if the Mysterious Figure we fight in Birth By Sleep wasn't /this/ version of Xehanort but a slightly older one, one who existed between this version and Ansem. Because while this Young Xehanort can use the same time powers, he's not nearly as overkill with them as he was in BBS. So maybe we fought a more experienced version of him.

- Mad Watch! There's only one way to stop a mad watch.

- Two days slow, that’s what it is.

- Old Man Xehanort, back from the dead.

- Fuck, now's not the time for a big damn heroes moment. This is all meant to end on a downer note.

- (Lea has the worst timing) Yes, the worst!

- Well, everyone else is here. Why not, let's bring these guys in too. Maybe Pence and Olette will join us in a few minutes.

- I thought it was Muriel

- Welcome to Sora's Heart, the happiest place not on this Earth.  Please be aware that in the interest of quality, your journey may be recorded  If you know your party’s Heart, please call for it now  For Roxas, press 1  For Xion, press 2  For Ventus, press 3  For Vantias, press 4  To repeat this menu at any time, press 5

- So now it comes down to this, who will win, a former asshat or one inky boi.

- I guess we'll call this one Symbiote!Sora or possibly Symbiote!Ventus, it's a bit hard to tell.

- And the winner is, the asshat.

- He is pure pureness in it's purest form.

- So does that mean that between the events of Chain of Memories, right up until the end of KH2, Ansem never knew Riku by name?

- No, it's drink your /goddamn/ tea. Get it right. You of all people should know better.

- All good questions that won't get answered I'm sure.

- Yeah Donald, why don't you just shut the fuck up for once?

- Called it

- But that wouldn't be very "Dark Rescue" of you.

- And that's probably the biggest twist in the game.

- The more I think about this game, the more I can see how it could have been greater and more sinister and unsettling, especially considering the end. The general plot seems to be about breaking Sora down mentally while lifting Riku up and showing him how much of a hero he really can be. This is sort of reflected in the stories of each world but falls short with the bosses. I think the only time they get it right is during one of the few actual Disney villain fights with Sora against Rinzler. Imagine if Traverse Town worked to show Sora that not everyone who works with him is going to help him, Hunchback could have shown him that through Frollo, not everything that's considered "morally right" is actually good. They get it right with The Grid by having both something (the world) and someone (Tron) that he developed a connection to being corrupted and twisted. Prankster's Paradise would have been the idea of Sora's child-like personality being perverted and a dark take on the concept of childish innocence. The Musketeers comes across like a breather episode when you think about it, it's not too harsh and it does drive the point home that Riku is more of a hero than he believes he is. The Fantasia world seems to be a culmination of it all and as others have pointed out, the symbolism of Sora and Riku's worlds reflect their characterization; Sora goes from being in the clouds, in a heavenly location to the ground below while Riku goes from a dark, secluded wooded area into the open, beautiful snowy night (the music helps this even more) and then they just drop all sense of subtlety and have him fight the Devil. You could even view the final bosses that Sora and Riku fight as more of this, Sora fights Xemnas (and to a lesser degree Xigbar/Braig) while Riku fights the Anti-Black Coat, Ansem, Xehanort and finally "Sora". With Sora's battle, he faces against two characters who were also corrupted by Xehanort, Terra and Braig (although how evil Braig was to begin with is up for debate) and in fighting Xemnas, Sora becomes corrupted himself (or at least is placed on the edge and saved at the last possible second) while Riku's battles are him fighting manifestations of corrupted Darkness and Xehanort himself in a series of sequences that feel like Riku is finally dealing with his inner demons. The battle with "Sora" at the end could even be seen as a reflection of the Riku fight in KH1.

[computerwarrior]

Gonna be anonymous for a little while. Nervous. But I really love Ark 🥺 can you tell me more about them? Both me and my OC would love to know

((Thanks for stopping by and for sending in the ask, I really appreciate it! Aww, thank you so much, I'm glad you like her, that really means a lot to me! 😄

Sorry it took me so long to write this up!

If there's anything specific you'd like to know about Ark, please let me know! 

She's designed to survive through Tron: Legacy, so I can play with her in any era. I also don’t mind AU-ing her!

Here's some of the basics and her backstory: -Ark was programmed to be a System Monitor after things started getting bad between the Basics and ISOs - probably somewhere around 1985.

-She was friendly with the ISOs and treated everyone fairly when disputes or problems happened.

-Ark worked hard, she took her job seriously and she looks up to Tron, so she ended up being friendly with others, but didn't have any really close friends.

-Appearance-wise, she's around 5'7" tall, has short brown hair, brown eyes, and a bulky and muscular build.

-Weapon-wise, Ark favors her staff, but she's competent with her disc. She's right-handed.

-She's decent with a light cycle and hasn't had any experience with light jets.

-Ark did fair in the Games, not good enough to win, but was usually able to play for a while. Once the Games started getting deadly, she stopped competing.

-When the virus Abraxas attacked the ceremony that was to try and bring the Basics and ISOs closer, Ark was stationed outside, so she was unaware of the chaos until the crowd ran out. Her and the surviving System Monitors help got everyone to safety.

I'm possibly going to alter the rest of her backstory, but for now, here's what I'm running with that may end up changing:

-While Ark was looking for answers, an ISO she had helped before pulled her aside and warned her that System Monitors were disappearing, programs were being rounded up for the Games, and that Tron was dead. They asked her to hide, and she reluctantly agreed to do so for a short while, but if nothing happened, she'd go back to investigating. This was good enough, and the ISO went to hide as well.

-Ark hid somewhere where she ended up seeing the army of rectified System Monitors march in. Realizing that could've been her and that she had no way of fighting that amount of troops on her own, she remained hidden until things calmed down.

-Once things settled down, Ark started sneaking around the city. Once she got a better idea of things, she started doing vigilante things and taking on small amounts of Occupation Sentries that were causing trouble.

-Word of what she was doing got to Tron, and they eventually met up. He recognized her from back before and since she was doing vigilante stuff, he asked her to join him. Ark agreed, and she became the second program to work with him.

-Ark did a good job, but it was short-lived. They got word that the Occupation was working on a new weapon. The information seemed suspect, so Tron thought it was a bad idea, but Ark insisted on going to check it out.

-Like Tron suspected, it was a trap and Ark got captured. She was tortured and later rectified.

-By the time Beck had been a Renegade for a while, the Occupation sent the rectified Ark after him and Tron to get their attention.

-After that, Ark fought them several times, but always ran away. They were able to figure out where the Occupation was keeping her, so they went in and captured her, taking her to a temporary base to figure things out.

-After some struggle, they manage to undo the rectification and bring her back. She immediately rejoins the resistance.

-Once things start falling apart and Tron gets Rinzlered, Ark still does what resistance-y things she can with whoever she can, fighting up until the end of Tron: Legacy.

-After the end of Tron: Legacy, she works with the other programs to help fix up the Grid.

I've got an information page for her on my main Tumblr with various links and things.

Here's a fanfic version of her backstory: Another

I wasn't sure what you wanted to know, so I thought I'd include everything I could think of. Sorry if it's overwhelming!

Thanks again for the ask!))