Archive of Our Own ^beta

Argon used to be a quaint city. It never stormed nor did the city have any Gridbug infestations. It was far away from all the conflicts on the Grid. Mechanics, musicians, architects, artists, almost every program had a place in Argon City. When a war broke out, Purgos became the User equivalent of slums. Discs were stolen and programs were forced to stray, only to be captured by the Occupation for repurposing. When the Occupation took over Argon City, its bright blues and greens were converted to the purest of reds and oranges. With the heroic actions of the Renegade, the Occupation’s grip over the city became even tighter as Clu stepped foot in Argon. General Tesler was the first of the high ranks to fall under Clu’s hand. 

Paige was panicking. Tesler had been made an example of by Clu and now here she was with her arms restrained by a duo of black guards. With her and Pavel being a part of Tesler’s division, Paige sensed the guards were taking them both to Clu. Pavel was on the other side of her, mumbling something under his breath as the guards increased their grip. Clearly, he had failed keeping Purgos under control. They pass through a group of sentries and Paige began listening to the conversation that they were having with each other. 

“The last encounter I had with Dyson was just a few nanos ago. Clu had called him for a private meeting, and I could tell that Dyson was tense.”

“I saw him in the sky, struggling to open up a wing chute.”

“So, Clu threw him out?”

“For something along the lines of bringing the wrong Tron.”

Paige tried to lean more into their convo but was shoved forward by the guards. Pavel snickered to himself as his co-worker glared at him.

“And what do you find so humorous?”

“Oh, nothing. Just laughing at the fact that you are being nosy before we meet the end of our runtimes by our gracious Luminary.”
“Why would you assume that, Pavel?”

“Paige, Paige, my dear. There’s a reason that Clu is here in Argon and because of the Occupation’s failure of capturing that pest of a Renegade, he’s getting rid of some dead weight.”

He was right. Tesler failed and not only that, it meant that her and Pavel failed as well. Almost every cycle since they occupied Argon, both took part in getting rid of the Renegade.

“Pavel, for once I hope we don’t share the same fate.”

“Yes, perhaps we can both survive whatever His Excellency has for us.”

Paige was confused for a nano. Pavel and sympathy are a rare combination.

“I guess there is a positive for working alongside you.”

Pavel let out a chuckle.

“We’re Commanders, Paige. We have to stick together plus we have more power than these simpletons of guard to hold us down.”

He ran towards the wall, knocking out the guard to his right. 

“What the frag are you doing,” yelled Paige.

“Eliminating my captors, obviously. I don’t need to be escorted to see Clu.”

A sentry emerged from behind Pavel and stunned his wrists, causing the Commander to fall to his knees. 

“Obviously, you need more company,” sneered Paige. 

“It was a well put together idea, but it seems like I fell short.”

“Quiet,” yelled a guard. “You two will be seeing the Luminary in a few nano cycles.”

Again, the tension surged within Paige as the doors opened. Sentries were in line, parallel from each other, staffs in hand. Clu lounged on his throne, watching the Commanders being forced to approach him. Paige felt as though she could see a smile peaking through his opaque helmet.

“Commanders, it is nice to see you both again.”

Pavel lowered his head.

“It’s always an honor to see you, sir.”

“As every soldier should.” 

Clu rose from his throne, retracted his helmet and folded his arms behind his back. He had been looking forward to speaking with these two ever since Tesler was put in his place. 

“Now, I hope you weren’t intimidated by the failure of your General. His actions surely made a mockery of my vision of perfection.”

“No sir,” Paige replied. “Not at all.”

“Then this should be real quick then.” 

Clu unveiled the spheres before the two. Obviously, they were identical to the ones he shattered in front of Tesler. 

“I know you two are thinking that I might repeat the same process as Tesler with you.”

Pavel raised his head. 

“Dyson’s not here to derezz our hands, Your Excellency.” 

“Well yes, I guess there is one thing missing that can replicate your putrid general’s execution but this is my system. Did you two really think that Tesler was a great leader?”

The Commanders shook their heads. They both knew that the deceased General was nothing but full of flaws.

He let out a chuckle and his smile kept getting wider.

“That’s just too easy, in my opinion.”

Paige and Pavel looked at each other, confused. What did Clu mean by too easy? The spheres in Clu’s hand floated themselves towards the Commanders. The harsh golden circuitry that decorated the spheres began to flare.

“Don’t be alarmed by the glow, man,” continued Clu. “That’s just how these spheres function. Now.” 

The sentries began stepping back to the far side of the room, leaving Paige and Pavel by themselves with Clu. Even the guards that restrained them, stepped away as well. Paige began shaking her wrists to get rid of the tension. The Luminary approached them and that Cheshire smile of his was now very visible. His eyes, sparkling the same color as his robe.

“You two are no longer useful,” he simply stated.

“Wait, sir.”

Pavel fell to his knees.

“We were just waiting for the right time for Tesler to fail.”

“Pavel, we should have done that once he lost to the Renegade the first time?”

“First…time?”

Clu’s smile went immediately into a frown. Even with all the emotionless sentries in the room, they could tell that their great leader was infuriated. He stepped towards Pavel, taking ahold of his wrist. 

“You mean to tell me that he’s failed to get this false Tron more than once? Are you two really Commanders of the Occupation or just puppets that carry on with Tesler’s plans?”

“We…” 

Paige paused, taking the take to get the right words out. She had trusted Tesler as a friend ever since he saved her from the ISOs. She worked herself through the ranks to get where she was now. A fearless Commander of the Occupation, yet here she was, struggling to speak to the system administrator. 

“Go ahead, Commander Paige. I’m all ears.”

He started to get impatient as Clu continued to increase his grip on Pavel, causing him to whine. Paige began to realize what Pavel meant by dead weight. Clu had been spot on with his description of her and Pavel. They did follow Tesler’s orders blind but had they reported his failure earlier, they wouldn’t be in this scenario right now.  

“You’re right, sir. Pavel and I take full responsibility.”

“Paige, what are you doing?”

“I believed what you meant by Clu getting rid of the dead weight. Clearly you and I, Pavel, failed our leader. We fight for Clu, don’t you remember.”

Clu began to laugh. 

“Well spoken, Paige. Finally, someone willing to accept how imperfect they are. Some programs like to fight back but man, can’t they just accept that they are nothing but a mess of imperfection. It’s that simple, man.”

Clu took the time to regain his composure. He wasn’t done just yet with these two. 

“Originally, I was planning to repurpose you both but there are some things in the Occupation that I have a zero tolerance for. I can’t allow an imperfect soldier to tarnish my plans, let alone two of them.”

Clu released his grip on Pavel, stepping back. He snapped his fingers and the spheres began to release a set of tentacles. Its circuity began to transform to match Clu’s helmet. The sphere closest to Pavel latched on to his face and it began puncturing through his skin. A harsh scream emerged from Pavel’s throat as the sphere did its work. Paige watched as her co-worker’s voxels began spilling to the floor. Clu began walking closer to Paige, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“I do have to thank Gorn for this idea. These little guys are just like code worms but more on the lethal side.”

Paige felt a chill down her processors as she began to remember the code worm that infected her memories. Never again did she want to re-experience that horror. Pavel’s screams started to fade as he began falling apart. The more Paige watched, the more she realized how lethal these spheres were. There were major holes filled with already decaying voxels that the sphere left on Pavel’s body. It was tearing him down, cube by cube. This was a more painful deresolution than a typical disc or staff puncture. Clu leaned and whispered into Paige’s ear.

“I could have used my disc but that would be too easy. You two are just the perfect test subjects for my little Drillbots. In the Occupation, there are worse things than being derezzed by a disc, my dear.”

Clu looked at her with sad eyes. If his programming didn’t override his preferences, Clu would have kept Paige alive. She would have been a better fit than Dyson. Then again, the perfect system was his main priority. As the Drillbot emerged from Pavel’s chest, he let out his final cry as the rest of him became part of the voxel puddle next to Paige.

“Pavel…”

She closed her eyes. As much as she despised Pavel for framing her and abandoning her on an island with the Renegade, Paige felt bad. He had been by her side throughout their time in Argon. If Tesler was in a foul mood, she would run to Pavel and listen to his rants for entertainment. Paige fell to her knees and grabbed a handful of Pavel’s voxels. 

“I understand how you feel, Paige. It’s hard losing a friend and I have lost a few myself.”

It immediately went to her mind that Clu was talking about Tron and Flynn. It was because of those two that he liberated the Grid from the Users. Paige shifted her attention to the two little spheres, their tentacles primed and ready to begin their next execution. The Drillbot, even the one that dealt with Pavel, edged closer to Paige. She knew that she was just nanos away from her end. No time to fight, no time to speak in defense and even if she did, Paige would have lost regardless. She dropped the pile and glared at Clu.

“I have failed you, Your Excellency and I’m afraid that Pavel and I won’t be the only ones to suffer this fate. Permission for this to be my final report.”

Clu motioned the Drillbots to begin their work as he folded his hand behind his back once again. He rezzed his helmet, making way back to his throne. Paige watched as he took a seat. He definitely had a front row seat for this last execution. Although Paige couldn’t see it, Clu had a wide smile behind his helmet. 

“Permission granted.”

The Drillbots begin puncturing through Paige’s arms, causing her to scream. She began thinking of the mechanic she met on the train to Bismuth. Paige was willing to give him another shot but she would have to be alive for it to happen. She thought of her time as a medic, reminiscing the memories of her friends. Then there was Pavel, that smug maniacal program always being a bother. 

Paige had lived a great runtime and she was able to see it all. She didn’t care how high her screams were as the Drillbots ripped out more of her voxels. Error after error appeared in her eyes as she fell apart next to Pavel. The Drillbots returned back to Clu once their task was complete, immediately retracting to their respective ball forms. The Luminary began twirling them around. To him, there were to be no more failures in the Occupation. If Dyson failed to capture the real Tron, Clu knew exactly what he would do. If none of his best soldiers succeed in capturing Tron, then Clu might as well have to do it himself. Soon Tron would understand his vision. 

Clu yelled at a group of sentries to clean up the mess as he rested back on his throne. In his eyes, perfection is freedom. Insubordination will not be tolerated in the Occupation.