Tron: Deliverance

DIVERTING

Tron was, admittedly, in his element. Destroying threats to the system had always been his prime directive. But destroying Grid bugs had the added benefit of simplicity. What was that term that Flynn always used to use? Cathartic.

When most problems were complex, fighting bugs was not. And thus, the catharsis.

He sliced through a line of low-level bugs as they scuttled up a crumbling wall. The actual structure beginning to glow blue and fracture under their weight. He threw his second disc, shattering the rest before they could compromise the structure further.

"Tron, we could use your assistance" Gem's voice floated from an alley branching off from the one he had just purged. He turned the corner and found this alley was a dead end. Paige and Gem had boxed in four or so bugs. But these were medium threat, nearly waist high, filling the confined space with chittering growls.

He threw both discs, sending them to bounce off the walls and shatter all in their path. Paige's winged helmet turned towards him. "You got any idea how many more of these there are?"

"Not many" He grunted "Those last two swarms were about it for this area. We'll risk running into that squad of Mods if we go any deeper into the city"

"They seemed to be handling the swarm well enough" Gem commented, neatly slicing through bugs with almost rhythmic throws. 

"I recommend we get up onto the skyline so I can scan farther. just to ensure nothing is slipping past us" He said, sprinting forward to cut through the central mass of the final bug, shattering it.

Paige docked her disc and jumped to a nearby ledge, going from handhold to foothold to scale the nearest building. "Try to keep up then"

They made it to the roof. Gem straightened, her head cocked. "Im getting a transmission from Jet. Give me a moment" She shuffled herself to the edge of the roof, listening. Tron stared out at the skyline. No more bugs in their immediate area. They had cleaned up most of the swarms in the sector.

Tron fidgeted, casting his sensors out as far as they would go. It wasn't a strictly necessary response. But perhaps the nervous energy coursing through his system could be excused. Purgos was....wrong. His scans couldn't pinpoint any particular cause. But the sheer number of error messages and alerts pinging his sensors couldn't be ignored.

Back during the Uprising, he had been to Purgos on multiple occasions. It was always broken down and degrading in those days. He'd get an error message or two from faulty bits of the drive or breakdowns in the structures.

He'd mostly ignored it. It wasn't like there was anything to be done without Flynn or one of the original Architects.

But now the errors coming from the city itself just couldn't be ignored. They were pervasive. He couldn't take a step without a damage alert grating on his nerves. This place wasn't just crumbling, it was a time bomb. It was about three bits away from breaking entirely.

And that's where the uneasiness came from. Because the Users HAD to know how broken this city was, and they'd insisted on coming here. Even though it was about as safe as a truck full of explosives.

"You seem tense" Paige bludgeoned him over the head with her opinion. They watched as a squad of the modified programs cleaned up the remaining Grid bugs. Tron flattened his lips, not deigning to answer.

"I mean, you're always a stick in the mud but you've had that worried scowl since we left the safe house and it's starting to make me worried"

She emphasized the User insult, reveling in having a new way to needle him.