user_CODE:flynn] @cody-flynn - Tumblr Blog

Thumbing the message into his phone, he hit send as he picked his mug up off the counter, sipping the coffee and wincing at the bitterness.

//: I don't understand, what do you want? //: How did you contact me, how did you get my number?

Flynn Lives fanatics have gotten a hold of his number before, it wouldn't surprise him if this was yet another stalking incident.

Cody dumped a second teaspoon of sugar into his coffee, seemingly too much. Eugh. But he had bigger problems other than a too sweet cup of coffee.

down-low-too-slow

START OF LINE

..-. .-.. -.-- -. -. / .-.. .. …- . …

> L I T H > Grid in duress | Users in danger > ISO City Ruins

..-. .-.. -.-- -. -. / .-.. .. …- . …

END OF LINE

Cody was stood at his counter, coffee in hand, when his phone buzzed again.

"What the heck?" he muttered, reading the message once, and then again.

The first part might have been a code name, and he understood the second. Some grid wasn't doing too hot and the Users were either captured or dying or something.

What's an ISO??

Cody closed the chat temporarily as he went to Alan's profile.

//: Hey Alan? Is everything doing alright there at ENCOM? Any viruses crop up?

It took a while, but Cody knew the older man was probably in his office, despite the ungodly thought of working on the weekends.

Alan_The_One: No? What do you mean, Cody? //: Like, has Tron or Dyn called you? About anything? Alan_The_One: No. Alan_The_One: Cody, is something happening? Alan_The_One: Are you okay?

Cody switched back to the unknown number.

//: I don't understand, what do you want? //: How did you contact me, how did you get my number?

As he sent the last message a new text from Alan came in.

Alan_The_One: Call me right now. //: Not yet.

INCOMING LINE

..-. .-.. -.-- -. -. / .-.. .. …- . …

>Hey...how'd you get out? I need some help. > @down-low-too-slow

..-. .-.. -.-- -. -. / .-.. .. …- . …

END OF LINE

Cody had been half asleep on a Saturday, fully intending to sleep in for a bit longer, when his phone rang.

He didn't recognize the number, it certainly wasn't Alan or Roy, ABSOLUTELY wasn't Lora.

Maybe Sam or Jet got into some trouble and had to use someone's phone? No, they'd say "Hey Codes, is <name>, I got arrested or kidnapped or something, can you come pick me up?"

Not Sam or jet then...

Who?

//: Who is this? //: How did you get my number.?

He typed out a text and walked out of his room, fully intending to make some really strong coffee, strong enough to possibly make even Roy cry. He felt like he'd need it.

#tron rp #Code:flynn

(set a few years before the events of Legacy) They really shouldn't have gone into that basement. When Alan gave him the keys to go hideout in the Arcade for a little while he intended to try playing the arcade games there to pass the time. He did NOT intend to notice the scratch marks on the floor in front of the Tron machine, He did not intend to discover said game was actually a hidden door to a secret basement. Most importantly, he did NOT intend to discover the computer lab under the Arcade.

Then, he made the mistake of turning on the keyboard instead of calling Alan. His curiosity got the better of him as he dusted the nearby chair and sat down, dusting off the screen in front of him. Sure, it had been a while since he had coded anything or done anything with code in general. Just because he was a Flynn by name didn't mean he was cooking up algorithms in his basement on a daily basis.

"All I'm missing is a cup of cold black coffee and some stale pizza rolls," he mused as he typed on the keyboard, trying to find something, anything really.

It was when he typed in # 𝚋𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 that a string of messages appeared. 𝙻𝙻𝙻𝚂𝙳𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚛𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕 was the last thing on there. Kevin's been stuck in this brick hasn't he? It was here that he left the keyboard alone… it should have been fine, but then that whirring sound started up as he pulled out his phone from his pocket to call Alan.

𝙰𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛? [< 𝚈𝚎𝚜 >] < 𝙽𝚘 >

That's…. not right, the laser isn't supposed to power up on its own! He didn't get the chance to stop it or leap out of the way, he vanished in an instant as his phone clattered to floor, the call that was dialing being answered from the other end…

"Cody? Are you there? Cody??"

-----

He suddenly materialized in the basement… a clean, darker version of the basement. The movement of him trying to get out the chair moments before the laser fired carried into the digital world, sending him sprawling onto the floor. When he looked down at himself, his User clothing had not translated here. He was dressed in a black grid suit adorned with a black trench coat, the dark material sparsely decorated with jade green light lines.

He jumped to his feet and ran outside and rezzed his helmet over his head. He burst onto the street, almost bumping into a couple of pedestrians as he looked around. The surroundings being a futuristic version of the city he'd just been in less than an hour ago.

He was here, Kevin Flynn's grid that he had told Sam and Alan about up until he disappeared… He was here, and somewhere, so was Flynn.

// @cody-flynn //

Eve's head snapped up as the beacon ignited. Someone used Yori's laser.

She had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't intentional, but the damn thing had been on the fritz ever since... whichever Clu was endemic to this Grid had tried messing with it. She'd lost track of how many Clus Flynn had made - more than he should have, cared for far less than they needed.

Either way, someone new was on the Grid. And that someone was definitely in danger. She didn't know what Clu had planned for any User he could get his hands on, but... probably nothing good.

Eve scrambled for a lightjet - she'd have to apologise to Titan later, but nothing short of the heavily customised aircraft would be fast enough. The heart of Tron City was no place for anyone who could safely leave the Grid. Especially with no Tron to defend or guide them, no matter how promising that lead out near Argon seemed.

So Eve would have to do.

Her own lightcycle hummed on her hip, her backup heavy next to her disc. Something told her she'd need them.

Please don't let me be too late.

Tron City was as stifling as ever. Bad enough before Clu seized power, and now with the Reds on the streets? Eve hated it.

But she'd made it in, and there was no furor or announcement outside of the automated alert saying anyone who turned over the User was going to be rewarded. With rectification, knowing their methods. Now just to find... whoever didn't belong.

Glitch she hoped they stayed out of trouble long enough for her to find them first.

"Woah," Cody muttered as he stepped out. In a way it reminded him of Tokyo at night, though this city lacked the ambient drain of being in a city that he felt most User world cities possessed. It was mainly homesickness, though the fact Bismuth was a city in a digital world should alleviate most of that.

"It's beautiful," he mused as a few programs passed them. Briefly a small spark of panic ignited in his chest, bringing his hands up to his face only for them to be stopped by visor. Oh, right, he did snap his helmet back on.

/* closed starter for @cody-flynn */

The week following Ed's fateful meeting with Cody was much the same as every previous week since Sam--Cody's brother took over the company: more meetings, more confusion as policies that had been in place for the last decade were dismantled and replaced, more chaos, and more scrutiny.

And the scrutiny from the top only seemed to to have gotten worse, and suddenly everyone was giving him odd looks, including Sam.

And in the chaos of it all, Ed hadn't had a chance to think again about the Flynn Lives stranger and the photo.

It just happened that that day, one week later, was one of Ed's worst. He was stuck in meetings back to back, and everyone seemed to want something to do with him with every spare moment he had. And so, it was at two in the afternoon, when, Ed found himself clutching the last of his social spoons with all of his might but blessedly not the epicenter of someone's attention for a few seconds, in an act of desperation, Ed made his escape.

He marched briskly to the elevator, with a determined look like he had somewhere critical to be, and then found his way to the laser lab.

With luck, nobody would think to find him here...

"We will escort you to the area where data is translated back into analog form." Yori stated, "The laser inputs and outputs have to be kept separate to avoid any possible accidents in the event analog objects get digitized too fast before the previous one can be removed."

The simulations program gestured back the way she and Dyn had arrived, with the uploading platform all the way on the other side of the laser complex. It wasn't far, possibly just a fifteen minute walk from where they were now.

shakespeare's tragedies aesthetics: Ed

repost and bold what applies to your muse

HAMLET : losing oneself to revenge, the ghosts of the past, the sting of betrayal, a poisoned blade, drowning in sorrows, confusing belief with reality, rash actions in anger

MACBETH : a stain that never washes out, doomed by prophecy, inescapable fate, a desperate grasp for power, unchecked ambition, violence for cruelty's sake, morals wavering, a cackling laugh

ROMEO AND JULIET : youthful impulsiveness, long grudges, doomed and fleeting love, drops of poison on the tongue, the thrill of new love, following another even to death, a long feud ended, loud declarations of devotion, a final kiss

OTHELLO : burning jealousy, seeds of distrust sown, faithfulness, lies whispered in ears, secrecy protected through death, the innocent disbelieved, union torn apart by deception, a dropped handkerchief

KING LEAR : empty flattery, banished in disgrace, an inflated ego, an unwarranted falling from grace, honesty punished, siblings pitted against each other, tearful repentance in the final moment, letters carefully penned

shakespeare's tragedies aesthetics: Thanatos

repost and bold what applies to your muse

HAMLET : losing oneself to revenge, the ghosts of the past, the sting of betrayal, a poisoned blade, drowning in sorrows, confusing belief with reality, rash actions in anger

MACBETH : a stain that never washes out, doomed by prophecy, inescapable fate, a desperate grasp for power, unchecked ambition, violence for cruelty's sake, morals wavering, a cackling laugh

ROMEO AND JULIET : youthful impulsiveness, long grudges, doomed and fleeting love, drops of poison on the tongue, the thrill of new love, following another even to death, a long feud ended, loud declarations of devotion, a final kiss

OTHELLO : burning jealousy, seeds of distrust sown, faithfulness, lies whispered in ears, secrecy protected through death, the innocent disbelieved, union torn apart by deception, a dropped handkerchief

KING LEAR : empty flattery, banished in disgrace, an inflated ego, an unwarranted falling from grace, honesty punished, siblings pitted against each other, tearful repentance in the final moment, letters carefully penned

tagged by: stole it!

tagging: (no pressure if you don't feel like it!) @the-haunted-office, @computerwarrior @cody-flynn, @evecolourshock, @nytehavyn-circle and anyone else who wants to do it!

#all fan based stuff has been a pain to keep up wit lately #Have to stay in bed because of a health issue and my back is KILLING ME #I can barely keep it together long enough to write for anything other than school atm

I'll try to do this with some of my OCs and Ram!

Not entirely sure of these, but I'll give it my best shot!

Cody

HAMLET : losing oneself to revenge, the ghosts of the past, the sting of betrayal, a poisoned blade, drowning in sorrows, confusing belief with reality, rash actions in anger . MACBETH : a stain that never washes out, doomed by prophecy, inescapable fate, a desperate grasp for power, unchecked ambition, violence for cruelty's sake, morals wavering, a cackling laugh . ROMEO AND JULIET : youthful impulsiveness, long grudges, doomed and fleeting love, drops of poison on the tongue, the thrill of new love, following another even to death, a long feud ended, loud declarations of devotion, a final kiss . OTHELLO : burning jealousy, seeds of distrust sown, faithfulness, lies whispered in ears, secrecy protected through death, the innocent disbelieved, union torn apart by deception, a dropped handkerchief . KING LEAR : empty flattery, banished in disgrace, an inflated ego, an unwarranted falling from grace, honesty punished, siblings pitted against each other, tearful repentance in the final moment, letters carefully penned

|

Artemis

HAMLET : losing oneself to revenge, the ghosts of the past, the sting of betrayal, a poisoned blade, drowning in sorrows, confusing belief with reality, rash actions in anger . MACBETH : a stain that never washes out, doomed by prophecy, inescapable fate, a desperate grasp for power, unchecked ambition, violence for cruelty's sake, morals wavering, a cackling laugh . ROMEO AND JULIET :youthful impulsiveness, long grudges, doomed and fleeting love, drops of poison on the tongue, the thrill of new love, following another even to death, a long feud ended, loud declarations of devotion, a final kiss . OTHELLO : burning jealousy, seeds of distrust sown, faithfulness, lies whispered in ears, secrecy protected through death, the innocent disbelieved, union torn apart by deception, a dropped handkerchief . KING LEAR : empty flattery, banished in disgrace, an inflated ego, an unwarranted falling from grace, honesty punished, siblings pitted against each other, tearful repentance in the final moment, letters carefully penned

|

Dyn

HAMLET : losing oneself to revenge, the ghosts of the past, the sting of betrayal, a poisoned blade, drowning in sorrows, confusing belief with reality, rash actions in anger . MACBETH : a stain that never washes out, doomed by prophecy, inescapable fate, a desperate grasp for power, unchecked ambition, violence for cruelty's sake, morals wavering, a cackling laugh . ROMEO AND JULIET :youthful impulsiveness, long grudges, doomed and fleeting love, drops of poison on the tongue, the thrill of new love, following another even to death, a long feud ended, loud declarations of devotion, a final kiss . OTHELLO : burning jealousy, seeds of distrust sown, faithfulness, lies whispered in ears, secrecy protected through death, the innocent disbelieved, union torn apart by deception, a dropped handkerchief . KING LEAR : empty flattery, banished in disgrace, an inflated ego, an unwarranted falling from grace, honesty punished, siblings pitted against each other, tearful repentance in the final moment, letters carefully penned

|

Ram

HAMLET : losing oneself to revenge, the ghosts of the past, the sting of betrayal, a poisoned blade, drowning in sorrows, confusing belief with reality, rash actions in anger . MACBETH : a stain that never washes out, doomed by prophecy, inescapable fate, a desperate grasp for power, unchecked ambition, violence for cruelty's sake, morals wavering, a cackling laugh . ROMEO AND JULIET :youthful impulsiveness, long grudges, doomed and fleeting love, drops of poison on the tongue, the thrill of new love, following another even to death, a long feud ended, loud declarations of devotion, a final kiss . OTHELLO : burning jealousy, seeds of distrust sown, faithfulness, lies whispered in ears, secrecy protected through death, the innocent disbelieved, union torn apart by deception, a dropped handkerchief . KING LEAR : empty flattery, banished in disgrace, an inflated ego, an unwarranted falling from grace, honesty punished, siblings pitted against each other, tearful repentance in the final moment, letters carefully penned

Damn, Ram seems to be the best off of these guys ;-;

@evecolourshock

@locitawritings-blog1

@superciput

@aesira-of-orion

/* closed starter for @cody-flynn */

The week following Ed's fateful meeting with Cody was much the same as every previous week since Sam--Cody's brother took over the company: more meetings, more confusion as policies that had been in place for the last decade were dismantled and replaced, more chaos, and more scrutiny.

And the scrutiny from the top only seemed to to have gotten worse, and suddenly everyone was giving him odd looks, including Sam.

And in the chaos of it all, Ed hadn't had a chance to think again about the Flynn Lives stranger and the photo.

It just happened that that day, one week later, was one of Ed's worst. He was stuck in meetings back to back, and everyone seemed to want something to do with him with every spare moment he had. And so, it was at two in the afternoon, when, Ed found himself clutching the last of his social spoons with all of his might but blessedly not the epicenter of someone's attention for a few seconds, in an act of desperation, Ed made his escape.

He marched briskly to the elevator, with a determined look like he had somewhere critical to be, and then found his way to the laser lab.

With luck, nobody would think to find him here...

The day had gone on as normal as it could be, classes went smoother than usual though but Cody wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Teenagers were rowdy enough so when they weren't disruptive it saved him a TON of stress.

Though... he could tell when there was particularly juicy gossip sifting through the masses. And he also could tell when people were talking about him so....

His phone buzzed a couple times on the table while Cody was at the tail end of his lecture for the class, a brief look at the screen while it was lit up showed that they were all messages from Sam in the family groupchat.

Strange, he knows I'm still on the clock right now?? Cody wondered.

//Favorite Child: Cody what the fuck //Favorite Child: When were you going to tell me about this

As soon as the bell rung Cody made sure to shout a bit over the cacophony of bags and ruffling papers to remind his class about the next exam as he reached for his phone.

//: What are you talking about? And I was still in class, dude.

Cody threw his stuff into his messenger bag and walked out of the class room.

//Favorite Child: YOU'RE DATING SOMEONE AND DIDN'T TELL ME

Cody raised an eyebrow at that.

//: No I'm not???? //Q: You //: Hi Quorra Favorite Child sent a photo

Cody's heart might as well have dropped right out of his body.

//: Call a goddamn ambulance but not for me

Miraculously, Ed made it down to the laser bay without incident. In theory, he shouldn't know about this place. Shouldn't know about a project that was both military funded and contracted from when he was far too young to have security clearance for something of that level, but-- well, it was hard not to, when his father was convinced it had to do with how Flynn found him out...

Though Ed supposed at this point it was a moot point, since the laser hadn't been in development since. Or, it was. He suspected Sam might be trying to do something with it since he took over, but Ed didn't care, and didn't particularly want to know, either.

Either way, he gave neither the computer nor laser any thought as he slunk silently into the room, taking care to ensure the door closed and locked behind him.

He sat down heavily in the nearest chair, relieved and hoping for some undisturbed quiet, if only for a few minutes.

He almost didn't hear the whine of the laser coming to life over the background hum of all the other machinery, but by the time he realized what it was, it was too late...

The next thing he knew, the world around him flared with blinding light, and an instant later, dissolved into nothingness.

The connection to the internet had hardly changed much in the ENCOM system. Most buildings, landscapes and program designs remained the same, with the exceptions of new programs with new directives and updates to data storage and security.

Dyn… wasn't really fond of the sleeker designs. Sure the minimized circuits were welcome, lower energy signatures, better stealth, but also it meant he couldn't ventilate heat that well. Which meant getting worked up over a photo that Jadis had found circulating on the internet was all too easy.

The security monitor ran a hand through his hair, very much agitated considering the identity of the man sitting across from Cody as well as Cody's history in interacting with Users in the world beyond. Sure, Sam, Jet, Alan, Lora and Roy were good. It was obvious from what he'd seen from Spectre, Mars, Tron, Yori and Ram. Good hearted Users create good hearted programs. And had this man been anyone else, Dyn would let it go.

But Dillinger…

Dyn's eyes narrowed at the other man in the photo, memories of red circuits and threats being too vivid despite the passage of time. Cycles passed, with the photo getting spread all over the internet like wildfire and Dyn's core stung. Cody must be going insane right about now…

Then the cycle came that Dyn sped to the simulation district when Yori had pinged him on an emergency in the User World laser bay, and upon going over the data, which registered a User other than Cody, Alan or Roy- it was Dillinger. THE Dillinger from the photo.

"No, Dyson." Yori spoke, her eyes narrowed at the security monitor.

Dyn ground his teeth together, at this point everyone was calling him by the nickname Cody had come up with, so when someone actually used his full name… "I didn't say anything." he said.

"I've heard about the photo," she stated, "there are already bets on how upset you and Ram will be and I think that Tron's having a hard time hiding it from Ram."

"I just want to talk to him." Dyn said calmly. Yori didn't seem convinced.

Dyn opened his mouth to say something else when she cut him off, "I won't do it, and you have nothing to blackmail me with." She pointed out.

"What did you call me here for?!" Dyn snapped.

"I don't have permissions to lock the laser computer, only security monitors can do that, and the others are too far away at the moment. Plus it needs two programs anyway." Yori said. "I share your suspicions about this User, but Cody can take care of himself. Please."

Dyn thought about it for a moment before relenting. He and Yori went to different work stations, since this needed two programs to initiate. However, in the middle of the process, alarms went off as a beam of light shot down from the sky to the place Alan had dubbed the "Entry theater".

Yori rushed over to Dyn's work station, where the security monitor had suspiciously not moved. "What happened?!" she snapped as she came up next to him. Dyn said nothing. "DYSON WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Payback for the time you stole my bike…" Dyn said out of the corner of his mouth, feeling the simulations program glaring into the side of his head.

An instant or an eternity later, Ed came to in a world of light and color unlike anything he had ever seen before. Or, at least he didn't remember ever seeing this place—inside Encom's server, he realized, slowly putting together what happened—except for the odd feeling that he knew this place.

Blindng white, a kolidascope of color, his father's voice, somehow more sinister, like the voice of Kronos resonating from the depths of Tartarus echoing through the room.

An old and familiar nightmare.

Fuck.

Master Control had digitized Kevin Flynn. His father knew about that, had found the security footage and the logs showing it intended for Flynn to die on the server and become obsessed with the digitization laser and his attention to recreate it.

Logically, Ed knew that the version of the program that had digitized Flynn had been destroyed. His father had been furious at its loss. But who else would have the motivation or capabilities digitize him?

There were at least two backup copies of the cursed program that Ed was aware of:

The first was his father's prized possession, kept in the family's fire safe along with every other important document. The Dillinger patriarch often talked about trying to rewrite the program but never touched it for fear both that he couldn't restore it to its former capabilities, and that he could. Ed was certain that part of the reason his father desperately wanted him to work for fCon was the hope that Ed could restore the program, and that if anything went wrong, Ed would take the fall.

The second was the copy Ed had found tucked away in the back of a storage closet at Encom, and now sat in the bottom of a locked drawer of his desk—Ed was not foolish enough to dare put it back on his own personal computer, let alone the Encom server.

If there were two, who was to say there weren't more, that his father hadn't uploaded of the backup copy onto some hidden directory of the server like a ticking time bomb out of spite during his last moments at Encom, or that one of the attacks Ed was certain came from fCon during his early days hadn't planted the code somewhere on the system?

Ed's breath caught in his throat, the rapid beat of his heart sounded loud in his head and pounded painfully in his chest like it was trying to beat its way out of his ribcage.

His worst nightmare had come to life.

He'd walked straight into Master Control's clutches.

Master control was going to blackmail him or kill him.

He reached into his pocket, and rubbed his thumb against the cool metal of a flashdrive that contained a copy of the code that had destroyed the original MCP like a lucky charm or talisman that would protect him.

It was only then, as he was desperately trying to pull himself together that he realized he wasn't alone.

The change was automatic and withing the span of a single stuttering breath. His posture straightened: spine stiffened, shoulders squared, chin up. He schooled his expression into something neutral and aloof. The 'mask' of the Boardroom Bastard sliped comfortably into place with the ease that only a decade of practice allowed.

The version of Ed that Dyn and and Yori were about to meet was not the version that Cody had met a week prior.

The family group chat ended up becoming a chiming choir with how many messages were getting sent. Cody put his phone down on the park bench as he massaged his temples against the headache that was coming on.

It didn't take much to explain, since it was simply a friendly conversation that a stranger decided to barge in on. Alan stated that he and Roy were going to look into who posted the photo while Sam and Quorra worked on getting off the net and stamping down any rumors. In the meantime, Cody should take time to lay low. Cody huffed, shoving his phone into his pocket as he got up and walked out of the park, catching a bus to head to ENCOM.

Dyn had long since discovered that some viruses and grid bug blooms happened like clockwork, something to do with the Independents (Cody made a note to ask Quorra more about the ISOs, if she was comfortable about it) and today was the date that another wave would spawn. Well, tearing apart grid bugs and viruses did count as form of stress relief for him so…

"Stay here," Dyn spoke as he moved away from the console to walk to the Entry Theater.

Yori instead stood in the security program's way. Dyn glared up at her, the height difference almost comical if it weren't for the current circumstances. "Would you promise to not kill him?"

Dyn crossed his arms, "Only fools make such promises."

"So I will have to come along," Yori stated, scooping up a datapad and walking ahead of Dyn towards the theater.

The security monitor glowered, but trudged along anyways.

The walk to the theater wasn't long, it didn't even seem as long as it would usually seem, but Dyn was immediately on guard the moment they entered the courtyard. His fingers twitched, itching to grab the package slung across his back. But there was no threat yet, and he had learned that acting like there was a threat when there wasn't would quickly turn anything into a threat.

So when he and Yori turned into the main area of the Entry Theater, Dyn forced himself to take on a blank look, letting Yori take the reins if she really did want to. Until Dillinger made his move, Dyn was simply just another sentry, not a program who had chased another User into the bowels of the Dark Web and barely came back alive.

Ed turned toward the two approaching--programs, he presumes. He recognized one, but not the other. The first looked much like Alan's wife, Lora. He avoided talking to her as much as he did Alan, though from reputation alone, if her program was anything like herself, then she was the one in charge here.

So, maybe not the MCP, though Ed wasn't about to rule that it wasn't behind this just yet.

He took both hands out of his pockets, and held them by at his sides--in view, though it takes considerable effort to keep them still and not pull out his cleaning cloth to rub at his glasses.

He studied both of them with the same neutral, aloof expression. He raised an eyebrow, and waited, holding perfectly still.

Well?

They--or whoever they were working for-- brought him here, they could start with the introductions or make the first move. Ed wasn't going to say anything until they did.

"Greetings, User. Welcome to the ENCOM system!" Yori spoke, trying to act as the friendly greeting program. She pinged Dyn to keep silent until they could get Ed to the exit, since Cody and Alan had moved it to an alternate location to keep curious programs and rowdy Independents from rezzing themselves into the User World.

"I am Yori, I am the program in charge of analyzing the Shiva laser's data." She said, bowing her head forward a bit, "I do apologize for this inconvenience, there was an error while we were attempting to lock the laser from the outside."

Dyn almost flinched at the barely sheltered annoyance thrown his way by the simulations program, but stamped down his reaction well. He simply regarded the User in front of him, trying to look as harmless as he could... as if the folded up digital rifle across his back helped that...

A moment of silence passed and Dyn realized that Yori had given him the opportunity to introduce himself. He ignored it.

"This is Dyn," Yori supplied when it became clear that the security program was more interested in passively glaring at the User, "He is one of the Security Monitors of this sector and was helping me in our attempt to lock the laser."

(set a few years before the events of Legacy) They really shouldn't have gone into that basement. When Alan gave him the keys to go hideout in the Arcade for a little while he intended to try playing the arcade games there to pass the time. He did NOT intend to notice the scratch marks on the floor in front of the Tron machine, He did not intend to discover said game was actually a hidden door to a secret basement. Most importantly, he did NOT intend to discover the computer lab under the Arcade.

Then, he made the mistake of turning on the keyboard instead of calling Alan. His curiosity got the better of him as he dusted the nearby chair and sat down, dusting off the screen in front of him. Sure, it had been a while since he had coded anything or done anything with code in general. Just because he was a Flynn by name didn't mean he was cooking up algorithms in his basement on a daily basis.

"All I'm missing is a cup of cold black coffee and some stale pizza rolls," he mused as he typed on the keyboard, trying to find something, anything really.

It was when he typed in # 𝚋𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 that a string of messages appeared. 𝙻𝙻𝙻𝚂𝙳𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚛𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕 was the last thing on there. Kevin's been stuck in this brick hasn't he? It was here that he left the keyboard alone… it should have been fine, but then that whirring sound started up as he pulled out his phone from his pocket to call Alan.

𝙰𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙲𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛? [< 𝚈𝚎𝚜 >] < 𝙽𝚘 >

That's…. not right, the laser isn't supposed to power up on its own! He didn't get the chance to stop it or leap out of the way, he vanished in an instant as his phone clattered to floor, the call that was dialing being answered from the other end…

"Cody? Are you there? Cody??"

-----

He suddenly materialized in the basement… a clean, darker version of the basement. The movement of him trying to get out the chair moments before the laser fired carried into the digital world, sending him sprawling onto the floor. When he looked down at himself, his User clothing had not translated here. He was dressed in a black grid suit adorned with a black trench coat, the dark material sparsely decorated with jade green light lines.

He jumped to his feet and ran outside and rezzed his helmet over his head. He burst onto the street, almost bumping into a couple of pedestrians as he looked around. The surroundings being a futuristic version of the city he'd just been in less than an hour ago.

He was here, Kevin Flynn's grid that he had told Sam and Alan about up until he disappeared… He was here, and somewhere, so was Flynn.

// @cody-flynn //

Eve's head snapped up as the beacon ignited. Someone used Yori's laser.

She had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't intentional, but the damn thing had been on the fritz ever since... whichever Clu was endemic to this Grid had tried messing with it. She'd lost track of how many Clus Flynn had made - more than he should have, cared for far less than they needed.

Either way, someone new was on the Grid. And that someone was definitely in danger. She didn't know what Clu had planned for any User he could get his hands on, but... probably nothing good.

Eve scrambled for a lightjet - she'd have to apologise to Titan later, but nothing short of the heavily customised aircraft would be fast enough. The heart of Tron City was no place for anyone who could safely leave the Grid. Especially with no Tron to defend or guide them, no matter how promising that lead out near Argon seemed.

So Eve would have to do.

Her own lightcycle hummed on her hip, her backup heavy next to her disc. Something told her she'd need them.

Please don't let me be too late.

Tron City was as stifling as ever. Bad enough before Clu seized power, and now with the Reds on the streets? Eve hated it.

But she'd made it in, and there was no furor or announcement outside of the automated alert saying anyone who turned over the User was going to be rewarded. With rectification, knowing their methods. Now just to find... whoever didn't belong.

Glitch she hoped they stayed out of trouble long enough for her to find them first.

"Impossible questions huh?" Cody pondered tiredly, "Well, I guess I could pull something from the User world. Trying to figure out actual world peace from the chaos outside should be enough of a hassle to make that brat go into an early retirement." he shrugged. "Trust me, it's impossible as it can get. I used to think that Users are just like programs, but… they created us, we're just like them. Good and bad."

Cody sighed as they started walking again, wondering if he should flip his helmet on in case they run into anyone. "Though in all seriousness, there are some tricks I could pull… but if I ever had to do anything from in here, even from the Outlands… wouldn't Clu pick up on it? He's a System Administrator, so he's got to right?" He asked her, "Back in the ENCOM system, the SysAdmins used to hate me because I wasn't really subtle. They could pick up on whatever I'd changed really easily… Though since this place been updated in a while, maybe that would dampen what Clu can detect?"

"Users are... messy. And complicated." Eve decided. "I was lucky enough to be coded by and for good ones, but... not all of them are like that. And even the good ones can do bad things, and the bad ones do good things. Nothing is ever simple with them, and so nothing is ever simple with us despite our existence as creatures of binary code at core."

"Hard to say. He can't detect me unless I'm trying to attract his attention, but then again I can't alter anywhere near as much as a User and I'm usually trying to be subtle. He can sense Flynn changing things from anywhere if he so chooses, and can locate him easily if he's within a certain radius, that's been... more than clear for a long time. Even before he decided to do what he did. I don't know whether anyone else is able to change anything on the Grid that deeply, if there are I can't sense them, but that's not a guarantee Clu can't."

"I guess it would depend how close to Flynn's coding yours is, and whether he's paying enough attention. We haven't had anyone else with User permissions on this Grid before, but I know everyone has their own styles and some are way harder to notice than others. And he's not necessarily the most observant in the first place, so he could very well shrug off anything that isn't too obvious as just... glitchy operations on a strained Grid. There's more than enough of those."

"For instance... you made those weapons earlier. Were it not for the fact I physically saw you make them, I wouldn't have been able to tell you were doing anything. I doubt Clu noticed either. But if you were to code a- an anti-Recognizer cannon, or something similar... even if it's physically undetectable, I'm less sure about how ignorable that'll be, and not exactly keen to test it."

Cody pursed his lips in thought. I was thinking about making a gun earlier but that's starting to sound less than ideal now… wouldn't want Clu to get his hands on a bullet shooter, no siree…

"A cannon technically uses energy… What about an old school catapult?" He asked, "It's fairly primitive, and once you make the device, you don't need to craft ammo, just use large chunks of code or debris."

His eyes then widened. "What about a railgun?" he asked. "Wait, no that's a cannon- or for a more subtle approach, maybe put a floating base above the flying object limit? WAIT let's put a railgun on the floating base!"

"Make it a Death Star, because then who cares if he notices it, we have a Death Star." Eve laughed.

"In all seriousness, if you wanted to make or change something large-scale, we'd organize a big, flashy distraction somewhere else. Split his attention, at least until it's too late for him to do anything about it. And as for a floating base..."

"Technically speaking most of the cities are floating islands, a little like the Encom Spheres. It's really just the main one that has any direct connection to the deeper code. We'd have to break the connecting arches between the islands, take out the bridges and the Sailer lines, but... if you're moving the whole fragging island and all its inhabitants up past the altitude limits anyway? Won't be too hard. Couple of well-placed explosive charges, that's all. He'll notice, of course, but... what's he gonna do, shoot down an island? Not enough ammunition on the whole Grid for that one."

Cody laughed, more of the previous tension easing out of him, not leaving completely, but going down to a manageable level. "Well I wouldn't be surprised if he still tried. Many reactions from User leaders, both fictional and historical, to unconventional threats IS fire a ton of shit at it after all. Even better, Clu seems to take after User World tyrants, which could make him predictable to an extent."

He went quiet for a moment in thought before speaking again. "You know what, I think I know what would be a great way to piss him off. You said he's a perfectionist, so… maybe altering things in the background could ruffle his feathers a bit. Maybe change a few building colors a little bit off hue, maybe set the brightness in his favorite ship to painfully bright, tilt whatever building he's living in a few degrees to the West, leave a bunch of lightcyle, gridbug and Bit mini figures in places he's found to eventually find them?"

Cody shrugged, "I remember doing some stuff like that with Ram in ENCOM, sometimes if we lacked any particularly irritated victims we'd pester Dyson with them." Cody chuckled, "I don't think Dyn really minded the mini figures though, I think he's been keeping them."

"I am not supposed to know this - he hates monkeys. Especially chimpanzees - the toys with cymbals are his worst nightmare. Finds them super creepy." Eve offered a sly smile. "And... well. Oldest prank in the book would work wonders. Number in sequence, but skip a random one. He'll drive himself up the wall trying to find it, so it can't haunt his nightmares."

"Dyson- Dyson likes birds. Little ones. Sparrows and finches and the like. Or, at least, the Dyson here does. Did." Eve stuttered a breath. Yet another name on the list of people who'd been steamrollered into compliance by Clu. Sure, Dyson maybe would have fallen in line with Clu willingly if he truly thought it was the right call, but...

Not with what Clu did to the beta Monitors. Not after that. Clu would be derezzed already if Dyson was still in his right mind.

"I can make a pretty good guess about what happened to him." She shook her head. "But that- Dyson is a different problem. Clu's arrogant to the point of blindness, dangerous but exploitable. Dyson's not. As up himself as he's become, he can more than back it up. Nitro is our best bet for matching him, at least until I can join in and catch him off guard. He's not so easily predicted, or tricked."

Cody grinned at the material he was supplied with to agitate Clu, already coming up with ideas to piss off the System Administrator to high hell when he got the first chance. I wonder if playing a segment of a song over and over like broken record would make him short circuit, Cody thought mischievously.

Dyson likes birds. Little ones. Sparrows and finches and the like. Or, at least, the Dyson here does. Did. I can make a pretty good guess about what happened to him.

Cody, growing grin, dropped at that and his thought process… went elsewhere. Considering what Eve had told him about repurposing, Cody decided that he'd rather not… encounter this grid's Dyson. His stomach twisted at the thought of having to fight Dyn, and remembering how he and Eve's fight with the train station guards went… he didn't want to go too far and possibly kill someone here…

"Yeah, Dyn's not very predictable either, me and Ram had to bribe Tron into giving up tips on how to prank him." Cody admitted, "Their User was really good at making security monitors, that's for sure."

"Dyson's a menace when he's actually putting in the effort, and no pushover even when he isn't." Eve grimaced. "I had my back end resoundingly kicked by him more times than I care count when things were still okay - more fool me for asking him to teach me how to fight in this Grid's style. I can sort of match him now, and Nitro can as well, but it's still a coin flip. My main tactic is to bribe him with free rounds at Zuse's where I can - it's a new thing since Clu got to him, but it is way too easy to get him so overcharged he can't walk. Plus, when he's that drunk, he blabs. Little chatterbox can't keep secrets very well."

"Sure hasn't lost his skill. I'm just... more willing to pull out the dirty tricks these cycles."

Cody hummed, he was... familiar with fighting dirty himself. There are a lot of characters in the world, and unfortunately many of them scoffed at fairness.

Ahead of them, Cody heard voices, and he clamped his helmet over his head out of instinct, his shoulders going a bit rigid. Even if the programs here may not hurt him thanks to Eve, he... still would rather not deal with the scrutiny. In the User world he had to deal with the Flynn legacy... In this grid he has to deal with that AND Clu...

Eve knocked her shoulder against Cody's. "It's okay. You saw Slash, right? The beta with obnoxiously green hair and circuits who escaped Medical against advice? It's just him and his friends. They might mob us, but that's mostly because of me. I've been busy through the working cycles recently, so I've missed a few of the things they put on to keep cores high, they'll want to share stories. Usually to tattle on each other's most recent embarrassing moment, or try to shut the tattler up via playful wrestling."

"Nitro's their responsible adult. Mostly. He pretends to be responsible, at least. But I know for a fact he's helping the team in charge of researching rectification right now, figuring out if Seaborn code can help reverse it somehow. If I'm understanding his rambles right, it's looking promising even with no breakthroughs yet, but takes up a lot of his time. And in the absence of Nitro, the kids' responsible adult is me."

Cody smiled under his helmet, "why does that sound like me with Sam and Jet?" he chuckled.

Though the line about Seaborn code being able to reverse Rectification stuck in his head. Artemis was a... Seaborn -honestly he preferred Seaborn to Independents, it was so far the least controversial name he'd heard yet- and the Antivirus coursing through him was also Seaborn-made. Could the antivirus help?

He had been able to stabilize and heal programs since before he became a User, though the stabilizing part had come from remnants of Script in his code. From what he knew about the antivirus, it reversed damage back to a previous version, using the viral code as fuel. Since becoming a User, he was able to heal without using the antivirus, and he wasn't in the ENCOM often enough to figure out what else he could do with it. And also experimenting with it entailed experimenting on other programs and that just put an awful taste in his mouth...

"All of them, but the twins especially, have two modes when together - unstoppable force of nature, or if they're not separated someone is going to die. Likely not be each other." Eve shook her head, grinning. "I love them all, even if I'd sometimes rather not know what they're up to."

"It's nice to be trusted. For them to trust each other. I try to give them better than what I got at their age, and- it's good for kids to be kids."