#subroutineedit

[subroutine-fic]

[sneak peek of the third chapter before the end of the story. It’s a work-in-progress so it might not even make the final cut of the chapter.]

“It won’t be long now. Soon we’ll reach the portal, and your family will return to the analog world.” Quorra was all smiles.

“Provided we don’t get shot out of the sky, that’s definitely a possibility,” Jet’s tone was tactful, but his eyes expressed something else entirely. Not a desire to stay. No, Jet certainly made it clear he didn’t want to stay in the system even after liberation. Disillusionment, muted and hollowed, was the closest definition she could think of.

“You’re disappointed in Flynn,” she threw a line out into the dark, recounting the mood shift in Jet when they reunited with the Flynns.

A beat, then Jet looked away from the console, his expression questioning. “What?”

“You’re not happy to see Flynn,” Quorra rephrased. “You wish, maybe, we hadn’t found him?”

“What? No. God, no. That’s not it,” He said once his brain caught up with him.

“Then what’s bothering you? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Un-complicate it, please,” Quorra’s tone was hardly demanding, but Jet also caught the underlying caginess in her voice. She really was Mercury’s sister program.

 “Look, it’s not about Flynn, not really,” Jet sighed. “It’s a good thing we found him. I’m glad my friend has his father back. Flynn coming back–it’s a good thing for everyone.”

 “But…?” Quorra waited for him to continue.

 “I’m just not looking forward to the storm. It’s gonna kick up. When he went missing, it’s like everything just froze up, crashed, without him there,” Jet said. “The world revolved around Flynn, and everyone got sucked into this black hole I’m not sure we ever got out of.”

 Quorra’s brow furrowed. “You were jealous of the attention Flynn being gone received compared to yourself?”

 “No!”

 “You couldn’t have been any older than a small sprite then, at least, by User reckoning,” Quorra started counting backward with her fingers.

 “For your information, I was seven when he went missing, so yeah, I was pretty young,” Jet remarked.

 “So, if you’re not jealous, then what are you?”

 “Afraid, I guess,” He said. “It took a long time to get used to him not being there, y’know? I got comfortable with the misery that came with the disappearance. But I think I was the only one.”

 “How could you be used to misery? Didn’t you want him to come back?”

 “Yes. Yes, more than anything, I want Uncle Flynn to come back with us.”

“Then what’s the issue?”

 “It’s the time. Twenty-one years, you can get used to anything, even misery. You just…” He exhaled, “lose track. I don’t want to keep track again.”

 “So don’t.”

 “It’s not that simple. Losing track, it–” He shrugged. “It helped me cope. Still helps me.”

 “That’s a terrible way to live.” Quorra looked disheartened.

 Jet smiled contemptuously. “But it is a way.”

 “Flynn wasn’t your father.”

“He wasn’t. But, like I said, this really isn’t about Flynn. It’s more like his affect,” He said. When Quorra continued to stare in confusion, he tried another approach. “Look, how did you feel when your ‘mother’ turned on you and the other ISOs? What was the first impression?”

Quorra looked thoughtful when she said, “Heartbreak?”

“Okay,” He said. “Our wildly different situations aside, imagine you’re seven years old, your father tells you your godfather has gone missing, and in seven months your entire life changes. Your ship isn’t there anymore because it’s out to sea looking for a man overboard. Pretty soon that ship doesn’t come back either. Little by little, there’s a growing feeling of inadequacy as your world gets smaller and smaller until nothing is certain anymore.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve lived a splintered life, Quorra. I was born when my parents’ careers were at a high note, and neither of them was expecting me. I was the wrench in the gears, but they took it in stride, y’know. They raised me as best they could, but I’ve always felt displaced. I lived between two homes, and I don’t know how to explain this to you, but they were different sides of the world I live in. It was a constant upheaval. Neither of them wanted to let go of their careers, but I had them both with me.”

“So, you can imagine, when Flynn disappears, my parents are super determined to find him. They move heaven and earth to find him. They do their best to make sure Sam is alright–his grandparents make sure he gets therapy. Me? I rarely see my dad. I can’t go to my mother. My friend can’t deal with me. I have no extended family. My uncle is probably dead. I’m home alone, I sleep alone. I don’t know how to handle what I’m feeling, so nothing comes out right.”

“But, your parents, they didn’t mean for that to happen, I’m sure.”

“Sure, they probably didn’t,” He shrugged. “But the damage was done. I felt invisible, like a ghost. If I disappeared into some alternate timeline, would anyone really miss me? No, because Sam is there to take my place.” Jet sighed. “Look, my parents always tell me they tried their best, and I’m old enough to know they did. I know they love me. But, truth be told, I think I was too close to them. So they couldn’t see the issues beyond the surface problems, which was me being angry. I’ve never been able to shake that feeling of inadequacy. Even when my father stepped down from his job and stopped actively looking for my uncle, I could never feel comfortable. I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was waiting for the moment where I just fell out of sight, out of mind.”

“Jet…”

“What I’m saying here is that my parents were my world, but I wasn’t really theirs. That was Flynn. That was Sam. I’m the ghost in the machine.”

“But that can change, can’t it? It won’t be the same as last time.”

“No, it won’t, I’m not a kid anymore. By necessity, things are different,” Jet said, wiping his face. “Like I said, I’m glad Sam’s got his father back. Everyone gets what they want because Kevin Flynn comes back.”

“And you?”

“I have to change. This helplessness has informed every single facet of my life since Flynn disappeared,” he said. “And the only way that’ll happen is if I put some distance between myself and the people I love.”

The only way to describe the look on Quorra’s face was pity, but Jet didn’t care. “I love ‘em to death, I wanna be with them, I do. But, I can’t do that. Not until I can deal with not being important. That can’t happen if I’m with them.”

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE aesthetics: [3/8]: The Protomen

Our heroes fail us Without the veil of night

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE - CHAPTER XIV

"I think we're on the Grid," Sam stated.

"The Grid's a game space, not a system, genius. And anyway, that's impossible. I'd sooner believe we got bombed with chloroform," Jet huffed, turning in a half-circle. The crowd had moved toward the other end of the street, their eyes were still on them, watching them like a pair of aliens. Feeling petty, Jet stuck his tongue out at them, they flinched.

"Last I checked, chloroform didn't come in lasers, so how would you explain this place? We can't possibly be experiencing a shared dream," Sam argued.

"Well, who says it's a shared dream? I could still be in my bed sleeping, talking to my subconscious, which has taken the convenient form of my friend," Jethro answered.

"Who says this is your dream if we're going with that argument?" Sam shot back, in no mood to humor Jet's denial.

"Because, if this was your dream you wouldn't know about Uncle Flynn's secret basement," Jet returned.

Sam opened his mouth then closed it again. Jet had him there.

[FFNET]

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE - CHAPTER XVI

Lora felt her stomach twisting in knots. "The computer was talking to them?"

"Yes! I know it sounds mad-"

"No, no, it's not," Lora assured her. It was only what Kevin told her repeatedly in confidence. Something that, for the longest time she tried to convince herself was his way of processing the story he built around his "TRON" merchandise. But, if it weren't for the data logs the computer kept for the laser, Lora would've dismissed him outright the more he insisted it happened. Kevin Flynn had inadvertently become the first human subject of the Shiva project, and survived the process coming and going, all digits accounted for.

He'd voluntarily gone to see a therapist shortly after confiding in her, but a great deal of his transition from programmer to the head of a major company was spent with her, trying to verbalize what he'd inadvertently discovered: A living ecosystem within a computer. Everything tied to that statement was as ludicrous as it was amazing.

[FFNET]

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE - CHAPTER XVII

They called in reinforcements? For a fight they were barely scraping through? Was Mercury worse than Rinzler, or was this their plan all along to have Rinzler soften them up for another mook to knock them down entirely?

"If you have any other ideas, I'm primed to hear them, User," Quorra remarked.

Acting on second nature, Jet reached down and grabbed both batons from the holsters fastened on his right and left side. "I still think we can use the bridges."

"How? The bridges are controlled by the arena."

"User power," Jet insisted. "Flynn used to talk about it all the time."

Quorra blanched. "That's your plan?"

[FFNET]

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE - CHAPTER XV, PART 2

"If I'm right, the Sirens should have upgraded your disc with a current version containing the necessary data to participate in the games," Yori's voice startled him out of his train of thought, Jet reached behind him, his fingers gripped the inner edge of the disc. "Jeez, you mind letting me know when you're gonna do that?!" He hissed, heart pounding against the hand pressed against his chest. "What's a Siren?"

"A resource hog. They like to eat the processing data of other programs and tend to make most sectors run at a snail's pace," Yori answered. "Nice to look at, but no real function to speak of. They're usually never seen outside the Sunleth sector though."

"Where we were caught?"

"Correct."

"Why are those babes the exception?"

"They're not. Most of what's done in the armory was done by the players themselves. I couldn't tell you why or how resource hogs got inside of it," Yori said, ending that conversation.

[FFNET]

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE - CHAPTER XV, PART 1

"And how do you plead to the charges against you?"

Jet and Sam shared a look for a brief second, and then replied, "Not guilty," in simultaneous agreement.

"Very well," The Kernel leaned back and slammed his hand down onto the podium once more. "I hereby announce your fate is deresolution, for the good of the system."

"You can't do that!" Sam cried. "That's not how the justice system works."

"It's how our justice system works," The Kernel regarded the young man with contempt. "You're to be detained to the Deleted, Storage and Processing sector, your deletion date is 4-24-10, 0200 hours. Case dismissed!" Neither man had a chance to object further to the ruling. The moment their lips so much as parted, the ground beneath them opened up to swallow them whole.

[FFNET]

[subroutine-fic]

Subroutine - Chapter XI

"Why didn't you tell Sam about any of this?" Alan continued press his son, his tone teetering on the edge of loose and angry. His own patience dissolved, eroded by the stress work and his father's accusations, Jet was tempted to turn his back on his father and walk away.

"Like Sam would've cared? The best he would've done is slag their motherboards, or worse, leak their software online," Jet scoffed. "He doesn't care about his father's company, so I told somebody who did." He leveled his angry blue eyes on his father's face. "Look, I get that you're angry, but you can't pin this crap on me because who my girlfriend is-"

[FFN]

[subroutine-fic]

Subroutine - Chapter IX

Clarence didn't fight against the Countermeasure Program as it lifted him off the platform and carried him (quite literally) across the expanse of empty space, through the opening of the firewall created upon his approach, toward the entrance of the building. The interior wasn't terribly different from the exterior. Large and spacious, the lobby of the A.O. was surrounded by lifts, I/O Nodes and Data Stream bases. A literal transportation port, he realized. The ICP walked toward the Data Stream and stood on the platform.

A series large yellow dots on the wall behind came to life in quick succession, stretching above their heads until it reached the socket in the ceiling. The socket glowed at the same time the platform did, encasing them in a blinding light.

[FFN]

[subroutine-fic]

Subroutine - Chapter XIII

Sam blinked. "The arcade doesn't have a basement," He said.

"Uh, it does actually," Jet corrected, stepping toward the "TRON" game console. Sam watched his friend with a skeptical eye, fingers tracing the edges of Alan's pager. Jet knelt down and grabbed the edge of the console, with one heave he pulled the machine away from the wall to reveal the doorway to the basement.

Using his foot to keep the machine from sliding back he reached over to grab the cinderblock from earlier and propped it against the back. Jet cast a glance over his shoulder. Sam stared down at the entrance like he'd seen a ghost. "No way," He murmured. "I don't believe this."

[FFN]

[subroutine-fic]

Subroutine - Chapter XII

Approaching the computer tabletop, Jet's frown grew deeper at the sight of Alan's cell phone. "So, you were here," He said, giving the phone a once over. Scanning the area Jet's gaze didn't go very far before he spotted a small black object on the ground, nearest to the Shiva laser. Kneeling down he reached out and touched his father's pager tipped over on its edge. Unconsciously, his eyes glanced at the Shiva laser. The low light behind the skeletal structure hit him square the eyes. Turning away, his eyebrows raised as his fingers traced the faded and torn sticker on the underside. "Okay, what the hell, dad? Where are you?"

"Jethro? Amant, what is this?" Eva's voice made his heart grow still and the color drain from his face. Crap and more crap.

[FFN]

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE aesthetics: [2/8]

High School senior vs. 20something Working Stiff

[subroutine-fic]

Subroutine - Chapter X

"I win," Mercury declared in the same playful voice that ended most of their playfights. Now it was tinged with a threat and a promise to derezz.

Quorra hadn't seen Mercury in years, not since Flynn attempted to alter his appearance to match his real-time age. Aside from the upgrade in her codes, not much was different about her. She still behaved as stoic as ever, only now she worked against them, the free programs. Quorra knew better than to try and reach or reason with her, she was either repurposed or willingly working with the enemy.

[FFN]

[subroutine-fic]

SUBROUTINE aesthetics: [1/8]

Adolescent Jet Bradley

Photography (c) Annie Spratt, Trent Erwin, Startup Stock Photos

[subroutine-fic]

[March 28, 2011] - I always like the fact that TRON 2.0 characterized Jet as someone who took after the original iteration of Kevin Flynn as opposed to either one of his parents (and didn’t need to resort to extreme building diving to do that), and that it was something that just kind’ve exasperated his only surviving parent (Alan).

The idea of Jet wearing a suit is something that doesn’t quite gel with the character, and honestly would be probably something that only would happen when it was required to getting a particular type job or special occasion. It would probably be the only time he’d be an legitimate reflection of his father to some degree.

[subroutine-fic]

[March 25, 2011] - An old wallpaper I made while trying to visualize the dynamic between Jet and Sam while writing Subroutine. At the time I imagined both characters were these wild boys who did “epic shit” together, but the further long I got into my story, the two became like two guys who spent far too much time together and needed corner time away from each other.

This might also be one of my first 1366 x 367 sized wallpapers after producing so many 800 x 600 and 1027 x 768 wallpapers (and if you can’t tell, I ain’t really know what to do with all that space, lmao).