(Let's see what happens if you want!)
Admittedly, Ed should have expected to find the old computer from his nightmares in the arcade basement. The Grid itself wasn't even that much of a surprise, considering Flynn's ramblings before he disappeared and how they alligned with his father's angry rants about the MCP and the digitization laser.... and the whole... DataWraith project that had thankfully been shut down just over half a decade ago.
What Ed hadn't expected--couldn't have in his wildest dreams--were the wings.
Everyone had them: giant, bio-luminescent, feathery wings folded on each of their backs. Well. Maybe not bio-luminescent, given he was on the computer, but the feathers were glowing...
And then he looked up, and noticed more programs. He'd been so in awe of them, so fascinated by the variance in wing structure, how one had wings more like a vulture, and another more like a kite, and a third--with a matching tail made of the same luminescent feathers--had the wings of a scissor tailed flycatcher, that he didn't realize they were descending toward him until nearly half a dozen glowing orange programs practically landed on top of him.
It wasn't until after that, when two of them forcefully folded his own wings against his back and a third wrapped a glowing band around his chest to restrain said wings that he realized he even had them.
Everything after that was a blur, he recalled bits and pieces, the programs grabbing him by the arms and taking off toward a building that looked like Encom Tower, and then--then some cyberharpies stripping him out of his clothes and forcing him into a skin-tight glowing suit that made Ed's skin itch--and then being prodded out of the room and forced to kneel in front of... Flynn.
Or, someone that looked much like Flynn did, twenty years ago when he disappeared.
Though whoever he was might have looked like Flynn, it didn't take long for Ed to realize that who he was talking to was another program, and not the missing CEO. It just as short a time for Ed to realize that Flynn's doppelganger--Clu, he'd been called--intended to make Ed his user pet. To control him.
Ed had enough of that from his father for a lifetime, and no intention to let anyone else do the same.
Still, he didn't have much time to do anything about the situation as two glowing orange harpies pinned him to the floor while he struggled, two more held out his wings, and Clu... Ed couldn't see much, aside from Clu's finger igniting, and him kneeling down on top of him. It wasn't until after he'd been let up and saw the feather ends--white, but no longer glowing-- that he realized Clu had clipped his wings, in much the same way Ed would have clipped his pigeons' (Clacks, Turring, Dwar Ev, and Aegius's) wings.
Ed didn't care. All he knew was he had to get out, get away from Clu, and hopefully get back to his world where all he had to worry about was Mackey firing him, and the judge agreeing to renew the restraining order against his father.
There was only one entrance--the one he'd come in through. There were most certainly more guards on the other side, and many, many more between him and the elevator to the ground floor.
Ed charged at the large window overlooking the city.
Maybe the guards hadn't expected Ed to attempt to escape that way, given they'd clipped his wings, or maybe they hadn't expected him to be able to break the glass. His fist connected with it, and for a fraction of a second, Ed could sense code beneath his fist, and then it was gone, and he was tumbling through open air toward a dark alley below. He focused, and with some concentration, managed to spread his wings. With luck, he'd have just enough to be able to glide safely...
The ground rushed up to meet him.
Ed knew his landing was going to be rough, given the conditions.
He hadn't expected to crash into another program.
