Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello (insert your name. Yeah, YOU)! I'm glad to know that you picked my fic out of a bunch that honestly, are probably better than mine. I am new to AO3 as a writer so please bear with me. I hope I get better, but only time will tell. Updates will not be very often. Please, no negative comments. This fic will be pretty descriptive, but there's not really a way to get graphically violent with this universe. Feel free to share your thoughts about each chapter in the comments. Hope You enjoy it! Bye!

Chapter Text

"The revolution has begun." The words of Beck's newly healed mentor rang out in his mind as he looked toward the crowd of mechanics at the bottom of the wreckage, the same ones who had just stood up to the Occupation forces he had been fighting for over a cycle now. Everything he had worked for, every punch thrown, every friend lost, and every grueling mission had finally paid off. There were a few things Beck wanted to be different, but this moment was as good as it could be. They had won this battle. But his mental celebration was short lived as he saw Tron turn his attention to the Sea of Simulation.

Beck listened closely, but couldn't tell what had drawn his mentor's attention. As he was about to dismiss it, he heard it. The familiar thrum of a Recognizer. It was muffled, but grew louder far faster than it should have. 'Recognizers don't move that fast.' Beck thought, but then the sound became warped by other similar sounds, but just different enough to throw him off.

The cause of these events came into view shortly after that, and the sight was enough to cause even Tron to take a step back in a mix of fear and horror. Clu's flagship was the first thing to appear out of the fog followed by at least five command ships like the kind Tesler has positioned over the city, a dozen diamond ships similar to the one Dyson showed up in half a cycle ago, and over a hundred Recognizers.

Shouting down to the crowd of mechanics to find cover, both Beck and Tron activated lightcycles and sped off toward the mountain hideout so that they could plan the next step. If there was a next step...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What is that monstrosity doing in my city?" Tesler asked to whoever would listen as the heat from his gloves made the room almost unbearable to the surrounding Black Guards, who all took a step back, not wanting to deal with their general's anger, "I want answers, and I want them now!" He was staring at the wreckage of the Super Recognizer, almost burning a hole through the window he was looking through.

Paige, the only one in the room brave enough to do so, took a step forward holding a data pad, "I don't know, sir, but if I had to guess..." she trailed off as Tesler grabbed the tablet faster than she could blink, an image forming on it. His anger never wavering for a second as the image resolution began to clear up. Once it was completely cleared up, Tesler's anger morphed into fear. "Clu." the general said as he looked toward the massive fleet coming in over the docks. He spun on his heel, handing the pad back to his second in command, "Double every patrol in the city. Get three squads of guards dedicated solely to hunting the Renegade."

Paige made mental notes of these as Tesler walked out of the room, stopping him just as he walked through the doorway, "And what will you do, sir?" Tesler stopped, barely looking over his shoulder. "Find some reason for Clu not to de-rezz me." At that, the door closed and Paige was left alone with her own concerns about the situation, most of them centering around a certain mechanic. Although she had been the one to break off the relationship, she felt concern for him, and hoped wherever he was, that he was safe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We are approaching Argon now, sir." Dyson said from behind him. Clu's smile grew ever wider at the news. "Good." "Is there anything else I can do, sir?" Clu waved his lieutenant out of the room, leaving the perfectionist with only his thoughts, most of which dwelled on Tron, whom he had long thought dead. 'I underestimated him once. Now, I will personally be the instrument of his destruction.' He thought as he continued to watch the city below, now stained with the various shades of yellow and orange light coming off his fleet of ships. 'Wherever you are, I'll find you, old friend.'

Chapter Text

As Clu's flagship touched down in the hanger of his ship, Paige noticed that Tesler had one of his more plastic smiles on, but tainted with a little bit of fear. As the stairs dropped dramatically, Paige looked around for Pavel, thinking that he would jump at the chance to humiliate his general in an attempt to usurp his power, but the snake-like program was nowhere to bee seen. 'That's less than comforting.' she thought

"Tesler!" a booming voice came from the top of the staircase. Slowly his boots thumped against each stair as he made his way to the bottom. There standing before the now stick-sraight Paige and her commanding officer was their leader. Dressed head to toe in all black except for the yellow highlights on his suit, the only program on the Grid who had them, this figure commanded respect. Upon retracting his helmet, Paige was shocked, because lighting up Clu's face, was the friendliest smile you'd ever see. Similar to the one Beck would give her every time she saw him, even as she was walking out of the bar when she dumped him. That program never quit.

Walking toward Tesler slowly with outstretched arms, Clu's smile grew even bigger, "How. Have. You. Been, man? It's been so long!" Clu said as he pulled the general into a hug, which only served to further confuse Paige. Surely he had heard about the Renegade and Tesler's failed attempts to catch him, hadn't he? "So how are things?" He said, walking with one arm slung over Tesler's shoulder towards the halls of the ship, "I hope this city is treating you alright."

"It's fine, sir. A little rough around the edges, but we are working to ensure that-" Tesler stopped as he heard Clu began to chuckle.

"C'mon man, why so serious? Lighten up, I wanna know how you are. Business can wait. I heard you've been put through quite the wringer, what with that Renegade and all. Heard you keep losing those hands in particular, but it seems as though they're good as new now."

"Yes, well, Paige here is a top notch medic. She has been more help than you would believe, sir."

"Huh... so Paige can just fix you right up if she wants to?" Paige began to stiffen again.

"Yes, sir."

"Alright, let's see if she wants to then." At that, a disk flew right past Paige's head and into Clu's hand, which he then used to cut off Tesler's hands, causing him to drop to his knees in pain. Clu looked at Paige, who took a step back defensively, only for Clu to slide the disk over to her. Upon lifting it she realized it was Tesler's disk, and why she was being given his disk was beyond her, but with a look to Clu, he gestured in a way that told her to look, so she pulled up his memories.

"Did you ever wonder, why it was that I assigned Tesler to this backwater corner of the Grid? Not so long ago, he betrayed the trust I had in him. I should have demoted him too, but I figured this would be a fitting punishment for wiping out an entire hospital based on the rumor that there was an ISO being treated there. That's it. He had no proof, and went against everything we stand for." Tears began to form in her eyes as she watched the destruction of she and her friends' lifelong dream come, not of the ISOs as she'd been told, but rather at the hands of the person she trusted most. She continued scrolling back until she saw a picture of her friends. She never cried. She thought any show of emotion she considered a weakness, but she didn't care at this point as she tapped on the picture knowing full well what was going to happen, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she wanted Clu to be lying. She wanted Tesler to be innocent. But as the playback began, she had already lost faith in that belief.

-"You've done the right thing." Tesler said, turning his attention to the guards standing behind them as he walked towards the Recognizer, "Tear this place apart, erase any trace of their presence, and round up every program that's been exposed to the ISOs and have them de-rezzed immediately." Looking over his shoulder to further punctuate his point.

"What?!" Rox said.

"Collaborating with traitors must be punished as an example to anyone else who might consider helping them. I'm afraid that includes you." He resumed walking back towards the Recognizer, the screams of the programs ringing out into the city...-

Paige looked to the one person she had trusted, her cheeks stained with tears and dropped the disk. Clu backed away, smiling, knowing full well what was about to transpire. Tesler slowly rose back to full height and began to walk towards Paige.

"I know what you must be thinking... and you're right. But I realize now that I made a mistake that day... I never finished destroying that hospital. Not to worry, I'm going to finish what I started." he fell onto his back, his disk clicking back into place, causing his hands to regenerate almost immediately. She silently cursed Pavel's upgrades as she dodged out of the way of his hands he had shot at her and grabbed her disk from her back, cutting one of the hands off. He grunted in pain, but quickly recovered and rolled out of the way as Paige brought her disk down in the exact place his head had been. Clu was chuckling watching the whole exchange, Dyson standing next to him.

"Sir, why have them fight? Why not just kill him yourself? Would it not be faster?" Clu smiled.

"C'mon man! Have some fun! I need to find a good replacement, and I get rid of the old one with a bang! Dinner and a show!"

"But couldn't she still lose?"

"Nah, I don't think she will... anger is a great motivator..." While they were talking, Paige had managed to gain the upper hand, cutting off his other hand, making cuts on his stomach, shoulder, leg, and now had him pinned to the floor. She put her disk back on it's base and kicked Tesler over, removing his disk.

"I'm actually glad this happened." she said, rolling him back over to see his face, "My friends didn't even know how to fight. So now, you get to feel exactly how they felt in their last moments. Helpless." With that she brought his disk down on Tesler's chest, causing him to de-rezz, fear in his eyes right until they turned to pixels. She stood up and walked over to Clu leaving Tesler's disk lodged in the ground. She kneeled before Clu, fully expecting to be de-rezzed for her actions. Instead, Clu held something out to her, an arm band used to signify rank, similar to one she had seen on one of the Games contestants.

"Rise General Paige." She stood, allowing Dyson to clip the band to her arm, slightly confused, but figured she could ask later, seeing as how Clu had already left the hangar. She stood there for a minute looking at Tesler's disk, then hopped on a lightcycle and left, wanting to share her news with the only person she knew.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Why would we do that though?!" Beck said, his anger clear in his voice, "You saw what happened back at the crash! They stood up. Everything we worked for, every friend we lost, Bohdy, Lux, Able, everything we did and lost is finally becoming worth it! And you wanna give up now? What, cause Clu is here now?"

"You don't understand!" Tron shot back, "Last time I fought him, he nearly killed me. He had me tortured. He took all of my friends from me and made me watch! I can't let him do that again! I won't let him do that again." He looked to the ground, sadness filling his expression as the memories came flooding back. "Besides, I'm not saying we give up, just lay low until Clu leaves. Besides, maybe he'll de-rezz Tesler and leave that idiot Pavel in charge instead."

"Careful..." a voice came from the entrance of the base, one that Beck recognized almost immediately thanks to it's slimy smooth quality, "it's rude about to talk about people behind their backs." Pavel stepped into the light, eyes glowing orange and smiling wickedly. Before either of them could draw their disks, Pavel rushed forward faster than either knew possible, drawing his disk high above Beck's head. Never missing a beat, Tron glided over and blocked his disk, giving Beck time to roll to the side and kick Pavel, pushing him back a few feet. He recovered quickly and rushed forward again, dodging Tron's attack and throwing his disk at Beck, who just barely slid under it. Just as he turned to face him, Tron kicked Pavel in the face, sending him reeling, which gave Beck the opportunity to kick his knee from behind, causing Pavel to drop to the ground on his knees. Tron kicked his face again and Pavel fell completely to the ground, unconscious. Pavel's disk finally cam back and Beck caught it, bringing it down to cut off the lieutenant's hands. Tron and Beck shoved him into an improvised cell and locked it. making sure to keep his disk outside his reach.

After a couple minutes of awkward silence after that, Tron spoke, "Look, I still say we should lay low. But there have been times in the past where you knew better than me and it ended up working out. So we'll do things your way for now. We'll keep fighting, keep the Occupation forces off balance. We'll also need to make an announcement to the public to assure them that we'll keep fighting with them." As if on cue, the alert for a public announcement rang through the base. Clu's face popped up on screen, and Beck and Tron shared a concerned glance before the annoyingly cheery voice of Clu filled their ears.

"Citizens of Argon! Your general, has failed you. He imprisoned you in your homes with these patrols and this curfew! He went against everything I stand for. Freedom, for each and every one of you!" An uproar filled the plaza, while those who could see through Clu's façade, stayed quiet and watched from the shadows. "So I have appointed a new general! And let me tell you, she is quite the improvement from the last one!" Beck's circuits ran cold as he saw Paige step up to the podium, decked out in full combat gear, wearing a proud smile on her face.

"My name is Paige, and I promise that, unlike Tesler, I will catch the Renegade, and with the help of Clu's elite forces, we will rid Argon of these rebels, who insist on making your lives as difficult as possible. Thank you." With that the broadcast stopped. Beck then realized that he had been "missing" since before the Super-Recognizer appeared, and left in a hurry. Zed and Mara were gonna kill him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey!" Paige said as she jumped on Beck's shoulders from behind, who she had found at the wreckage of the Super-Recognizer, "I was looking for you earlier. Where were you?" Beck flashed his impossible to read smile and shrugged.

"Just around. Thankfully I wasn't here when this happened though. We might not be talking now if I had been."

"Yeah, I hear it was madness around here. But I think Pavel got caught under this thing. He hasn't been seen since the crash. Not that I'm complaining." They both chuckled a little at that. "So, I assume you saw the announcement?"

"Yeah, congrats on the promotion. If you don't mind me asking though, what happened to Tesler?"

"He was dealt with." Her tone was cold.

" Who did it?"

"Me."

"Why?"

"Clu showed me something. Something Tesler had lied to me about. He killed my friends. From before I joined Clu's army."
"I'm sorry, I never knew."

She sighed, kicking a small piece of rubble. "It's not your fault. I never told you." She turned towards the wreckage, "Look, I wanted to apologize."

"About what?"

"About the way I-"

"Dumped me?" he could see her tense when he said that.

"Yeah. Listen, the way I handled that was rude and-"

"Please don't." He said, catching her off guard, "You have nothing to be sorry for. You weren't wrong. You were the fiercest warrior in Argon, but as soon as you started dating me, you lost some of your edge. I don't hold it against you if that's what you're worried about. I probably would've done the same had I been in your position." He was the most understanding and forgiving program she knew. Then again, outside of her military responsibilities, he was the only program she knew.

"Listen, I don't think I made the wrong move back then. Especially now with my promotion, but it's also because of that that I think I can allow us to at least be friends if you want. I kinda miss having a late night pool partner."

"We'll see what my schedule looks like. I'm pretty busy, but I think I can manage beating you once a week." Paige laughed at that.

"I think you might be letting pride get the better of your memory."

"I'll give credit where credit's due but more often then not, I came out on top." They both started walking through town laughing and talking, neither one of them noticing the figure following them from the shadows.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mara, Zed, and the other mechanics were hiding in the sewers, the thumps of the patrols passing echoed in the area, putting them all in a constant state of awareness. "Alright look," Zed said, stepping forward, "I know this isn't great, but we did the right thing! I don't know about the rest of you, but I wanna keep pushing back." Murmurs of agreement came from the group.

"Won't we need a leader?" Someone cried from the back, causing Mara to stand up as well.

"Yes, we will. I think we should get into contact with the Renegade. He's been doing this far longer than we have."
"And there are some who have been doing it for far longer than even the Renegade." a disguised voice came from the shadow of the tunnels, the figure to match that voice stepped forward, sporting a robotic arm and dressed almost entirely in black, very few lights decorated his suit. A pitch black mask covered his face, causing Zed and Mara to drop into a fighting stance and draw their disks. "Relax," the voice said, "if I wanted you dead you'd be de-rezzed already."

"That's supposed to make us relax?" Zed said, his stance never faltering.

"No. This is." With that, the mask dropped, and the crowd was sent into a frenzy while Mara and Zed hugged the figure tightly. "Tis is kept on the down low." His voice sounded tired, "None of us tell Beck. understood?"

"Why?!" Mara said, "It'll make him so happy!"

"We have a lot to talk about." The program said as he went to mingle with the crowd of mechanics. Zed and Mara didn't understand, but decided to obey for now. After all, he always did know best.

Chapter Text

Sorry for taking so long with the next chapter, I have a lot of stuff going on right now. I promise it is coming, just gotta wait until my life returns to a semi-normal. I can promise at lease 15 chapters for this book in total plus the pro and epilogue. Thanks to all who have read so far, hang in there. Also, if anyone has any pointers on how to use AO3(example: different text types) or you have suggestions on how I can improve my writing style, let me know in the comments. Until next time, happy writing!

- Th30n3And0nlyBlackBeetle

Chapter Text

GREETINGS PROGRAMS!

First off, I wanna thank anyone who's still waiting on the next chapter to this story for hanging on so long. It means a lot to me. Second, I'M BACK! With Tron: Ares releasing in October, I made a personal decision to binge all Tron media possible before the movie. On the day of the movie release, I will be posting a new chapter for this story!

(PS, when I post that chapter, this update and the last one will be deleted. I don't know if that will delete the comments attached to those chapters, but I hope not.)