Chapter Text
Clu spent a fair chunk of the time where Sam was gone viewing the information on Rinzler’s disc. It was his only source of more data on Users currently, though it was confusing and he didn’t think he was learning much. He’d ended up in some section about art being a good way to ‘foster creativity.’ He was pretty sure he’d gotten lost in the flood of data and had no idea how to prioritize it. But if there was nothing front and center, nothing had to be that important, right?
He sent orders along the channels for Sentries and programs stationed in the SysAdmin Tower, though he didn’t give details. The information of a new User would leak out eventually, in fact it had to, so that Flynn would hear. But Clu wanted to wait at least until he could take Sam for the light cycle ride he had promised.
The Black Guards escorting Sam pinged him when they were on their way. It had taken a bit longer than a typical visit to the Sirens, but Sam’s odd size obviously required modifications to a standard grid suit so Clu wasn’t surprised.
According to Rinzler’s disc, User guardians provided physical protection, education, emotional support, supplied basic needs, and a dozen other things. He’d processed as much from it as he could, enough to feel confident by the time of Sam’s arrival.
Clu returned Rinzler’s disc to him just a few nanos before the Black Guards returned with Sam, and then the Security Monitor was back in his place by the throne, awaiting his next task.
Clu was waiting, and smiled as Sam walked in. “Sam! You’re back already. See, I told you it wouldn’t take long.”
Like before, Sam broke into a run and came at Clu, grabbing his lower body in a hug. Clu was more prepared for it this time; he placed his hands on Sam’s shoulders and gave a friendly squeeze.
“It was alright, but I still missed you,” Sam said, beaming up at Clu.
Clu knew from Rinzler’s disc that children couldn’t be separated from their guardians for too long, but it hadn’t said how long. So, that would take some trial and error.
“What do you think of your grid suit?” Clu asked, having already thought of a neutral subject to begin.
“I like them! They feel cool!” Sam let go of Clu and turned in a circle, looking down at his clothes as if he hadn’t really examined them despite wearing them. “I also like the thing they put on my back, the disc, right?”
“A memory disc, yes,” Clu supplied.
Sam nodded. “Yeah, that’s what they called it.”
Clu highly doubted the Sirens had given a faulty disc, but the lack of memory made it a bit concerning.
Sam returned his attention from his outfit back to Clu. “So why do you call them Sirens? They’re not like mermaids at all.”
Clu didn’t know the answer to the question nor what a mermaid was, so he simply gave the role description of Sirens and hoped it would be enough. “Sirens handle the vital task of disc management. Discs handle the memories and identity of programs, as well as physical body composition, capabilities, directives, and more. Only a Siren can create, reset, and reassign discs. Their role is essential to the Grid, hence why they work in central locations. Without them, any program who lost their disc would lose their identity permanently. Sirens call these lost beings back to who they are.”
Sam’s face looked thoughtful for a moment, before he said, “I guess that makes sense.”
Clu breathed an internal sigh of relief and smiled again.
Sam went on, talking excitedly as he looked up at Clu. “They were so cool – this whole place is so cool! All these people, this whole building, I mean—look!” Sam waved haphazardly towards the view of the city that the throne room overlooked. Dozens of buildings overlapping along the horizon. “It’s massive. I wish you’d shown me sooner! I love it!”
An old memory file came to mind, one Clu could practically feel the dust on. During the planning of the coup, Clu had fantasized about breaking through to the User world and confronting the ‘Sam’ that Flynn always talked about. He had dreamed about seeing the one whom Flynn had chosen over the Grid, and proving that he was better, stronger, more perfect than his rival. Clu had been waiting for it.
That vision had fallen to the back of his processor when Flynn had escaped and burrowed into the deepest recesses of the Grid, where Clu had no trail to follow or hope of finding him. And now, looking at Sam’s short stature and naïve behavior, it seemed a little ridiculous.
Clu just gave a lopsided smile. “I’ve had a lot of time to work on it all.”
“I wanna see it more!” Sam begged, pressing his hands together. “Can we go ride a light cycle now?”
Clu had been waiting for Sam to say as much, and allowed his grin to grow genuinely. “Of course. Let’s go.”
Clu took Sam’s hand, as Rinzler had done, and started walking, Rinzler falling into step on Clu’s other side and several Black Guards trailing behind. Sam glanced back at them in curious confusion, but Clu ignored them. He was used to it, and soon Sam would be too. Hopefully.
Programs bowed to Clu as he strolled down the halls with his entourage. He only glanced at them to ensure they were averting their eyes from Sam at his side. Rinzler likewise glared down anyone they passed, even more protective than normal.
When they reached the hanger, an assistant program was already waiting with a case of batons. She bowed deeply and held out the case, and Clu plucked out two batons. The container was a bit too high for Sam.
Clu turned and held out the second baton, and Sam started to reach for it curiously, but before the User could touch it, it was snatched out of Clu’s hand.
Clu froze, for a moment filled with cold fury at who would dare, and he looked up at Rinzler, who held the baton far away from Sam.
They stared at each other, Clu wondering if he’d miscalculated how much the new code in Rinzler would override his own commands.
“Childcare Protocol,” Rinzler said suddenly, “Child may not operate any vehicles or weapons under any circumstances. For their own safety and the safety of others, this must be avoided at all costs. Children may be passengers in vehicles driven by adults.”
Clu blinked. Rinzler’s choice of words told him this was a rather firm and severe rule. But how were they supposed to ride together if Sam couldn’t drive a light cycle?
Sam spoke before Clu could voice that question aloud.
“Hey, is that that stick-thing you used to make your motorcycle appear?” Sam said, leaning to the side to look at where Rinzler was holding the baton away. “Can I see it? Please?”
Sam reached for the baton and Rinzler quickly held it at maximum height. “No,” Rinzler said firmly.
Sam’s reaching hands flopped down in disappointment. “Awww…”
Clu tilted his head, and said casually, “So you rode in front of Rinzler last time?”
Sam perked up a bit and nodded. “Yeah, we had a lot of fun!” Rinzler slowly started to relax, lowering the baton but still keeping a firm grip on it. Sam didn’t seem to notice, his focus now entirely on Clu. “But I want to ride with you, Dad!”
Two riders on a light cycle was possible but not common, since there were plenty of cycle batons to go around amongst programs. Most programs had more than one; Flynn had been overly fond of making them. But with children apparently being forbidden from piloting their own vehicles, Clu supposed that meant Sam would always have to ride with him or a trusted officer.
With a silent sigh, Clu plastered on a smile. “You will, Sam. Step in front of me, okay?”
Sam jumped to follow Clu’s instructions - literally, almost faceplanting into Clu’s stomach - and Clu put his hands on Sam’s shoulders to guide him around. When it was good enough, Clu put the baton in front of Sam’s face and broke it in two, rezzing the cycle beneath them.
“Whoa!” Sam cried as the light lines pressed past them, forcing them into a seated position, guiding them with the outline of the bike before materializing into a full cycle. When it was done, Clu’s arms boxed Sam in so he could reach the controls, the child seated in front of him. A helmet automatically flicked around Sam’s head, and Sam reached up to trace the helmet curiously and then extended his hand to poke the smooth black frame of the cycle. It purred with ready energy. “That’s amazing.”
Clu knew that Users didn’t have vehicles through batons, though he wasn’t sure what other way they could have. Perhaps he could glean an answer from Sam, but now was not the time.
“Ready?” Clu asked. He’d kept his own helmet down for the ride, knowing he needed every advantage he could get for maintaining his lies, and his face was his best one.
Sam’s head leaned all the way back to look at Clu, a huge smile taking up half his face. “Ready!”
Clu revved the engine, the light cycle growling for a moment, before they took off. Usually he leapt into the air to rezz his cycle, to take off with maximum speed, but this was fine, and it was probably better to play it safe with Sam. The Caretaker Protocol bits Clu had read made it seem like children were made of poorly stacked voxels, ready to crumble at any impact.
Rinzler and the Black Guards took up formation behind Clu as he swerved through the garage area, passing by tanks and light choppers and recognizers. The moment they exited the garage, the red of the SysAdmin Tower fell away into the typical blue of the Grid, the wide road rolling open in front of them.
Clu figured he would do a basic patrol of the internal city, avoiding the more troublesome parts of town. Maybe they’d stop by the arena; it wasn’t active this millicycle, and it had plenty of space for light cycle runs.
He crested the arc of the road, sweeping down into the city, the Grid alighting to his presence and making the roads automatically block off other programs ahead to keep his way clear. His entourage followed him in an arrowhead formation, easily keeping up with his lax pace, swerving with him as he twisted and turned down the roads, a synchronized squad of gold and red.
Sam nestled back against Clu’s chest, still gripping his arms but not as tightly.
“Remember that time you got pulled over by a cop during one of our rides because of how you were swerving, but you managed to convince the cop to turn on his sirens to show me?” Sam asked suddenly.
Clu did not remember that, obviously, but it sounded like something Flynn would do. The Creator had often taken ‘joyrides,’ through the Grid, disobeying his own written traffic laws for no real reason. Sentries had been more unwilling to pursue him than the apparent ‘cop.’
“Yes,” Clu lied.
Sam leaned along with one of the turns they made, dipping to the side. At least the child seemed experienced in balancing on a light cycle, he wasn’t too much of a hamper on their movements. “He still gave you a ticket. It’s kind of funny now, because you’re the cop – kind of.”
“I’m a bit more than a cop,” Clu said neutrally. He turned the bike to drive onto a higher road, one suspended along the buildings on either side.
“Well, yeah,” Sam said. He was smiling as he looked side to side. “It’s like you designed this whole city with your love of motorcycles in mind.”
That might be closer to the truth than Sam’s teasing tone suggested.
Still, Clu had designed most of the Grid himself, though he did often base it off what he thought Flynn would like, and it was a bit more than an exciting light cycle course. “There are other things too,” he said, almost absentmindedly, more focused on the path ahead and the best way to get to the arena.
“Of course!” Sam said suddenly, throwing his head back to look up, quick enough to startle Clu a little. “Dad, this is amazing. I can’t believe you did all of this, it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I loved all the stories you told me, but I’m older now and – and people would say this is impossible! You built a city from the ground up, and you filled it with people, made a whole society. I can’t imagine all the detail that went into this. You’re incredible.”
Clu’s grip was tightening on the handles of the cycle. His whole body was tense and he couldn’t seem to get ahold of himself for a moment.
He means Kevin Flynn. He’s not praising you. He thinks you’re Kevin Flynn, Clu told himself.
But it’s the creator of the city that he loves, another traitorous voice whispered back. You designed most of it, not Flynn. He’s admiring you, even if he doesn’t know it. He thinks you’re incredible.
Clu berated himself internally, confounded as to why he was so affected by the boy’s praise. Clu was flattered by other programs all the time, both by those under his command and by un-rectified programs as well. It had never pierced through his chest like this before. He had thought he was above sycophants. Perhaps it was because Sam was a User. Perhaps because he was the child of Flynn, and these words were the thing Clu had craved so desperately from his creator.
Clu didn’t want to deal with this. He stuffed the emotions of relief and contentment away, focusing on the situation in front of him.
“Glad you like it,” Clu muttered distractedly, and turned the cycle down the entry road of the arena.
When they passed through the arena gates, most of the guards fanned out, splitting off to check the perimeter of the seats, while Clu and Rinzler headed for the center stage. The arena synced to their cycles, creating multiple levels for them to explore. Great panels and bridges emerged from the ground, and Clu heard Sam’s soft gasp of amazement.
“It’s like – it’s like a toy train track, but life-sized!” Sam shouted giddily.
Well, if he liked this…
Clu jerked their cycle to the side to take one of the ramps to an upper level. The arrows on the ground gave them a burst of speed, and they were briefly airborne before landing on the wide-open top level.
Sam gave a great peel of laughter, his voice high and joyous. So delighted and carefree. Not even Flynn had gotten quite this excited about anything, and he had always seemed happy. Well, until the end.
“Can we do that one?” Sam asked, gripping Clu’s arm with one hand and pointing to a circular ramp with the other.
Clu obligingly turned the cycle towards it, sliding down onto the tilted path. The cycle accelerated them, G-forces pushing them down, whirling around before they ended up back on the lower level, Sam laughing yet again.
Clu was considering where to go next, with suddenly Rinzler dropped down on his own cycle from above. Rinzler zigzagged in front of them, his turns so sharp his cycle was practically sideways. After a brief display of complex moves, Rinzler streaked off to their left, towards another ramp, whirling around and shooting up it. He gained so much speed that his cycle flew far above the top level, and then he directed it down into a different opening to come back to their level before shooting off again.
“Wow!” Sam said.
Clu, however, narrowed his eyes and frowned deeply. Rinzler was showing off. While Rinzler often added some flare when serving in the Games, there was no real audience now, so Rinzler should be stoic and indifferent, as Clu had programmed him. Clu hadn’t seen this much pointless showbusiness in the Security Monitor since he had been Tron.
Clu’s hands tightened on the controls again. Little signs in Rinzler were popping up, things that could be nothing, or could be warnings. He couldn’t afford to lose his hold on the Users’ most powerful and loyal servant. He’d have to—
“Come on, Dad!” Sam nudged Clu with his elbow, jolting him out of his thoughts. “We can’t let him show us up like that! Go for that ramp!” Sam pointed to their right, to one of the more gentle slopes of field. It had an opening to the second level, but the slope itself didn’t ascend that high.
Clu narrowed his eyes skeptically. “I can’t do a move like his with that.”
Sam gently wacked Clu’s arm with eagerness and Clu looked at him with confusion. “If you accelerate enough, you can use it to launch us to the next level. And there’s a spin-y one not far from that—could you do a trick there?”
Clu took a moment to track what Sam meant, and actually, that could work. With a mental shrug, he turned their cycle towards the little ramp, upping the acceleration. Sam clutched Clu’s arms tighter as they went faster, before they hit the ramp and it launched them into the air.
For a moment, they were zooming above the arena at a remarkable speed, but the low slope of the ramp gave them a wide arc and a smooth landing. Sam whooped in triumph. Clu sharply turned his cycle in the direction of the rotating ramp, zipping down it.
“Drift!” Sam called as they got started. “Remember? Like this!” Sam didn’t touch the cycle’s controls, but he briefly raised his arms to imitate tilting them at a sharp angle. He had to grab Clu’s arms again immediately to keep himself secure, but it was enough for Clu to vaguely remember an old move Flynn had performed on occasion. Clu had never figured it out.
If he messed it up it could send the pair of them flying, but in the speed of the moment, Clu decided to try. He jerked the handles in opposite directions, and the cycle flung sideways, but the momentum of their turn let them continue despite sliding against the course of the wheel. Sam leaned his weight to balance along with their new method, and Clu followed his example.
When they reached the end of the turn and Clu swung the cycle forward again, he had more control over their speed.
Sam let out a loud, wordless shout of delight, something Flynn had done on occasion, seeming for no other reason than to vocalize his joy.
“We did it!” Sam said eagerly, as Clu turned the cycle in a slower run along the arena’s walls.
Clu was slightly tempted to correct the User that he had been the one to do it, but Sam provided advice, so perhaps he deserved some credit after all.
Rinzler zipped his cycle towards them, rising up from the lower level to ride at their side. Clu eyed his second-in-command thoughtfully, sizing him up, but Rinzler displayed nothing out of the ordinary.
“Rinzler!” Sam called, straining his head to look over Clu’s arm. “Didja see us? Were we cool?”
Rinzler’s black mask just stared at Sam for a moment, and Clu found himself smiling a little. At least Rinzler seemed occasionally off-footed with Sam, despite the expansive Childcare Protocol. It wasn’t just Clu who got confused.
Rinzler didn’t respond verbally, but after an unsure pause, he gave a nod.
Sam seemed satisfied with that answer, returning his attention to Clu. “We should play some kind of game!”
Sam wasn’t looking to see, but Clu saw Rinzler hurriedly shaking his head several times to say No. Yes, Disc Wars or a Light Cycle Battle would probably be too dangerous and intense for the young User. Those were the most popular games, but there were others on the Grid, less well-known. Flynn had scrapped many ideas during the Grid’s early creation, but Clu had been around long enough to remember them.
As they turned at one of the corners of the arena, Clu reached out an arm towards the wall, his gloved fingers brushing against its speeding surface. His SysAdmin privileges made the code come to life under his touch. He didn’t need to do anything complex, just activate one of the already-present settings.
There was a great clunk about the arena, and then the entire lower level rose to merge into the upper one. New ramps and platforms grew from the ground, in the center of the arena, leaving the outer edges, where Clu, Sam, and Rinzler were riding, untouched. The pathways of the field twisted and turned in a vaguely pyramid shape, a maze of every direction, the white lights of the black roads overlapping in a confusing way.
Both Rinzler and Sam watched the change closely, the former with caution and the latter with awe. Clu flicked his wrist and a Bit appeared in his palm, silvery and trembling in his hand. Clu tossed it, and the twitchy thing zipped upwards, leaving a tail of sparkling stray energy, and situated itself at the top of the pyramid, glowing brighter to showcase itself as it settled down.
“First to reach the Bit wins. Ready?” Clu asked.
Rinzler gazed at Clu for a long moment, and then he revved his engine in a growl of acknowledgement before breaking off to patrol the pyramid in the opposite direction, looking for an entrance.
Clu glanced down at Sam. “Where do you think we should go?”
“Um—” Sam’s eyes scanned the pyramid. Then he pointed. “There!”
Clu curved onto the road, which winded up and down too quickly for him to calculate exactly where they were going. He could, if he wanted, use his Admin privileges to download a map to his disc, but in honesty, he wasn’t that invested. He let Sam turn his head this way and that, calling out turns and Clu obeyed.
At one point, Rinzler passed overhead, literally. He launched himself off one road and on to another, flying right over their heads. Sam gaped upwards at the red Enforcer.
“He’s amazing!” Sam said, craning his neck to watch as Rinzler zoomed off. “Did you make him, Dad?”
Clu’s lip curled in displeasure, though thankfully Sam was too distracted to see. Avoiding the question, Clu said, “Rinzler is my Prime Enforcer, my second-in-command, and the champion of the arena. He is very competent at his work.”
Sam frowned and bent his head back to look up at Clu again. “You don’t think we can beat him?”
Clu shrugged. “Not on this battlefield. Rinzler is the best there is at combat, whether with discs, cycles, or jets. He’s not the greatest planner, but he doesn’t need to be.” Can’t be, after what I did to him. “I can certainly hold my own, though.” Clu smirked a bit.
Everything he said was true. In any fair fight, Rinzler and Tron dominated easily. The only way Clu had bested Tron was by surprising and outnumbering him, and even then, Tron had taken out several Black Guards and covered Flynn’s escape.
Clu had a nano where he was blown back into a memory, advancing on Flynn as his creator laid before him, scurrying away and sniveling out his confusion, as if he’d truly been oblivious and hadn’t seen this coming. Clu wasn’t going to kill Flynn, couldn’t, Flynn was his creator, but he would keep Flynn here in the Grid as he took the User’s disc and ascended to the User world.
Then, Tron had tackled Clu from behind, having plowed through the Black Guards even faster than Clu had predicted. They’d fallen into a desperate, grappling fight, snarling and clawing at one another, both aware of every nano that passed by. Every nano with which their User got further and further away.
Finally, Clu had managed to thrust his elbow at Tron’s head, dazing him only briefly, and clambered to his feet. Tron tried to scramble up as well, but Clu kicked his leg out from under him, sending Tron floundering on his back. Clu had then advanced, raising his disc above his head and dealing the final blow, the blow that had weakened Tron ever since, and finally allowed Clu to take control.
It had occurred to Clu since then, and he had shied away from the thought, that Tron had been trying not to hurt him. Tron had tackled Clu from behind. Tron had held two discs in his hands at the time, pressing them against Clu’s stomach but keeping them from harming Clu. Tron could have very easily have killed Clu in a dozen ways in that fight, should have, because Clu was openly and blatantly trying to kill their User. Their friend. Their brother.
And Tron hadn’t.
Clu had never found out why, never listened to Tron’s furious accusations and begging for answers as Clu had rectified him. Clu hadn’t asked, because he hadn’t wanted to hear.
Clu didn’t want to kill Tron, either.
Clu tried to stamp these thoughts back, detangling them from his mind and cram them back into their box, a dusty drive in the very back of his disc. It didn’t matter, because Tron was gone.
Sam’s voice cut Clu out of his thoughts, all in the span of a breath, and Clu had never been more grateful to the child. “Rinzler’s bike seems faster than ours.”
Clu glanced at where Rinzler was skipping from road to road above their heads, making his cycle leap just how he did his backflips in his gladiator fights.
“It is,” Clu admitted. “It’s modified. Rinzler’s cycle is incredibly fast and designed for maneuverability, but it’s also temperamental and can’t take much damage. My cycle is no slouch in speed and tight corners, but it is much better at taking a hit.”
Rinzler was good at dodging attacks or leaping from his cycle before it destroyed him along with it. Still, the thing had practically no durability, and Clu found himself making Rinzler a new one every other cycle. It irritated him every time his Enforcer slouched in to request a new custom baton - sometimes two, since Rinzler, even when he had been Tron, recommended having a backup, and then occasionally he would destroy them both. Clu was almost convinced he did it on purpose and sometimes refused for a while out of irritation.
“Huh,” Sam said thoughtfully. “Then—let’s use our advantage.”
Clu arched an eyebrow. “How so?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said somewhat anxiously. Clu watched as the child bit his lip, eyes trailing Rinzler. “We could…ram him.”
Clu knew that User children were supposed to be less intelligent, but he’d still expected a slightly more complex plan.
“…Ram him,” Clu repeated dully.
Sam shrugged against his back.
Well, Clu knew his cycle could take it, and it wasn’t as if they were going to win either way.
“Alright,” he said, and accelerated the cycle to get closer to Rinzler.
“That one,” Sam said, pointing to a branching ramp, and Clu followed the instructions. The path did lead upwards, and an arrow platform gave them a brief burst of speed to catch up to the panel Rinzler was on.
Clu smiled as they gained ground on the red program. “Nice,” he said to Sam.
Clu could see Rinzler’s helmet turn to look back at them, but as they were closing the distance, Rinzler streaked off the path and did one of his leaps to another road.
Clu frowned, but wasn’t surprised. “He’s a bit too slippery for us.”
“We can catch up!” Sam insisted.
With nothing else to do, Clu continued to try and chase down Rinzler. The goal of the game might have been to reach the Bit, but Clu didn’t know how to get there anyway, so taking down Rinzler seemed a slightly better option. Four times, Clu got close to Rinzler, and each time Rinzler just leapt off the path. At least it seemed to delay Rinzler from reaching the Bit, too.
Sam let out a groan of frustration on the fifth time Rinzler avoided them. It sounded ridiculous, angry but in a weak way, amusing. Unlike Clu, Sam hadn’t spent hundreds of cycles hunting down Tron already.
“Next time,” Clu just said, accelerating to take another path and catch up yet again. It was an interesting balance. Rinzler hardly ever avoided in such a way; usually he liked quick, brutal confrontation. He might go on the evasive in the arena to draw out a fight, or to tire out an opponent he wanted to capture alive, but even then, Rinzler usually preferred to get up close to his opponents. Perhaps he was just playing by the old rules of the games.
“Come on, come on,” Sam muttered as they caught up, Clu accelerating the cycle. They got closer than they had before, but then Rinzler smoothly swerved away, soaring across the air onto the other road.
“Ugh!” Sam shouted, and then—
The stage flickered.
Clu had seen the Grid undergo program changes before, but never so suddenly, never so unexpectedly, and rarely from the inside. For a moment, everything went black—utterly terrifying when they were travelling at such speeds—but a nano later, the world came back on, and Clu realized the path in front of them had changed.
Instead of rolling straightforwardly ahead like before, the suspended road made a sharp turn to the left—directly connecting to the road Rinzler had just landed on. Clu started to slow his cycle, but he still had to veer along the new path, barreling towards Rinzler who seemed just as surprised as Clu was.
Clu had a brief moment to wonder if he should change course, should stop everything and regroup with his soldiers to see what had just happened, before he decided that, after chasing Rinzler down six times now, he did want to ram his cycle into his second-in-command.
Bang!
Clu’s cycle rumbled at the impact, bright scratches smearing against the black of the front wheel, but it didn’t derez like most cycles would have.
Rinzler’s, on the other hand, did. The bike crumbled into voxels, glittering cubes dissolving away, and Rinzler kicked off his seat before it blew up beneath him. His dark form backflipped away, as Clu had to jam the brakes and spin his cycle to avoid sliding right off the road. They stopped only a foot from the edge.
Sam griped Clu’s arm in a stranglehold, but he seemed unharmed. Clu checked him over before looking over at Rinzler, who had landed just a few paces away, perfectly unharmed, of course. He looked a bit tense, though, crouched and ready to spring, like one of the cat-creatures Flynn had shown them memory files of cycles ago. Clu smirked.
“Whoa,” Sam said, looking over at the pile of voxels that had been Rinzler’s cycle. “That was…crazy.” He looked up at Clu. “Did we win?”
Clu looked over at Rinzler again, his smirk getting bigger. “Not quite yet.”
He swung the cycle around, swinging up the path. He still didn’t exactly know where he was going, but he made his best guesses and listened when Sam directed him. He ascended as much as he could, but took a few ramps going downwards as well. Soon enough, the space to drive became smaller as they got higher in the pyramid, closer to the Bit.
“Ready?” Clu asked Sam, as they crested the top level, the Bit straight ahead. Clu accelerated again, leaping across the top ramp and hurtling directly towards the Bit. Midair, Sam reached out, and with a bright spark, the Bit threw itself into his arms. Clu jerked the controls to tilt the cycle to the side as they landed, sliding to a halt.
“Yes!” the Bit cheered, flashing into its diamond form.
Sam hugged the Bit close to his chest and beamed up at Clu as Clu drew his hands away from the controls in satisfaction, leaning back in his seat. “We did it!” The child wiggled around to wrap an arm around Clu’s middle.
Clu, almost automatically at this point, placed a hand on the child’s back. And he smiled. He’d done it; he’d taken Sam for a ride like he’d asked, and Sam had had a brilliant time. The boy seemed fully convinced that Clu was his ‘Dad,’ was Kevin Flynn.
Take that, Flynn, a jealous little voice muttered in Clu’s mind. Your precious little ‘Sam’ is mine now. What will you do about it, you coward?
Clu brushed that pettiness aside. He had bigger things to worry about. Mainly, what had happened with that blackout. Something had changed the code, something had tremored the whole arena, perhaps more, something had edited the stage to give Clu the means to catch up to Rinzler.
And he was fairly certain that something was Sam.
Sam hadn’t even needed to touch the roads. He hadn’t needed a terminal to gain access for complex design changes, or seemed to be aware that he had done it.
Clu had seen Flynn do incredible things, impossible things. Clu had been given Admin privileges, granted a taste of the power of Users, but it still took effort and practice to corral it. Sam Flynn apparently had it, and it was wild and rogue, and he didn’t really understand it. That could be dangerous. That could be disastrous.
And it could be great.
Movement caught Clu’s eye, and he looked up to see Rinzler slowly approaching them, stopping a short distance away. Of course, even without a cycle, Rinzler had managed to find his way up here. Nothing was beyond that program’s capabilities.
“I think that’s enough excitement for today,” Clu said softly. He did have actual responsibilities as the supreme leader. He could reassign them for a while, but he constantly felt the need to check things over and ensure the system was fulfilling its maximum potential.
Sam, however, was distracted by the Bit in his hand. He pulled away from Clu to look at it in fascination. “What are you?”
“That’s a Bit,” Clu informed him. “Basic creatures. They work as companions to programs. They can carry some navigational information and work as guides, but mostly their function is aesthetic and company.” Nowadays they were mostly just kept by collectors, though Clu could make as many as he wanted.
“Like a pet?” Sam asked, poking the shifting shape.
Clu glanced up at Rinzler, who might have some old data about what a ‘pet’ was in his drives. Perhaps like a cat? Rinzler gave a short nod, so Clu said, “Yes.”
Sam’s head swung around to Clu, smiling. “Can I keep him?”
Clu blinked. “I don’t see why not,” he said honestly. Bits were of no danger, an annoyance at worst. Clu had never bothered much with them. He’d created that Bit as part of the game, and would’ve deleted it when they were finished, but what difference did it make to him?
Sam immediately hugged the Bit to his chest. “Yes! Thanks, Dad! And all the other kids think they’re cool for getting a dog.” Sam cackled a little as the Bit cheered “Yes, yes, yes!”
Maybe this ‘parenting’ thing wouldn’t be so hard after all.
“I should name it,” Sam said thoughtfully. He pulled the Bit away from himself and looked at it thoughtfully. “How about Navi, after that Zelda videogame you like?”
Clu didn’t know what Sam was talking about, so he said, “There’s a model of Bits called NAVIS – it means Navigational Assist Vector Information.” Those Bits had been assigned to the ISOs, to try and help those viruses properly integrate into the Grid. They hadn’t worked very well, and without the ISOs, they hadn’t had a purpose. So they’d been removed with their programs.
“Oh,” Sam said, looking deeply considering even as he poked at the Bit’s ever-changing form. “Well, I still like the idea of giving a computer being a videogame name. How about Luma, then?”
“Yes!” the Bit said, and Sam laughed.
“Okay, Luma it is then!”
Perhaps this little creature would be helpful in keeping Sam company when Clu couldn’t occupy the child himself. So long as it wasn’t too distracting.
“We ought to get going then,” Clu said, leaning down to take the controls of his cycle. But Rinzler stepped up.
“Sir,” Rinzler said simply, and Clu frowned.
“What is it?” he asked, his voice cold.
Rinzler was silent for a brief moment, standing almost awkwardly, and then he admitted, “Light cycle.”
Clu stared at him.
Despite it being Clu’s own fault, Clu still felt mad at him for it.