Tron: Deliverance

FINAL PATH OPEN

Convincing the programs of Purgos not to rip Tesler apart in a kanagroo-court execution was almost as hard as making Marv take his flea medication. Somehow the bulldog was easier to reason with. Sam didn't particularly care to save Tesler initially. He'd been trying to knock the guy's head off like twenty minutes prior. However, things -as usual- got complicated.

With the former General completely incapacitated Sam couldn't, in good conscious, let anyone kill him. Not until he'd had some kind of trial or something. Most of the programs seemed to think he was being too soft, but even the original Nazis had gotten trials at the Hague right? Besides, Beck had gone through considerable trouble not to kill the former General so an immediate execution felt pretty rude.

It was probably an hour before they were finally able to square up with the command hub itself. Getting down to the business of actually saving the Grid before setting up a computerized war crime tribunal.

The building itself almost felt like an opponent. What was worse, all the programs seemed weirdly on edge. Most of the Mods refused to go closer than about fifty feet from the door. Snobol dared to get the closest, standing just behind Sam. Her hands completely covered in frost with agitation. While the backup would be nice to have. The Mods seemed happy enough with evacuating the city. The further these programs got away from the drain the easier it would be for the team on the outside to get them out.

"I says what I says. Its too spooky feelin'. I aint making none of my Mods go in there. I'll go in to get the Boss but..." Snobol trailed off, all her brash bravado drained away to sheer terror.

It wasn't just the Mods either. Tron and Beck looked especially grim. The young mechanic rubbed the side of his head occasionally. Like he was fighting off a migraine. "Its worse than it was earlier" he muttered.

"I hate to ask man, but do you seriously not remember what's inside? Looking at it doesn't jog your memory?" Sam asked. He wasn't sure where this bone deep, or he guessed code deep, fear was coming from but it was starting to give him the willies.

Beck shook his head "I...I don't know what's happening, its like the memories are degrading. They're corrupting at the edges. I don't...I've never felt anything like this before" he stared up at the building, his whole body tense like he was about to lunge into a fight "Whatever's going on in there...its bad"

"Understatement" Tron growled. If Beck looked like he was primed to defend himself, Tron looked like he was ready to rip someone apart. He'd identified a threat, it was time to attack. Pure security monitor instinct probably.

"Uncle Roy, any idea how many hostiles we've got in the building?" Sam asked, hoping for something to keep them from going in completely blind.

"There's too much interference Sam. You're headed right into the energy drain. Its hard to describe. I guess its like trying to look into a black hole. Its pulling too much into it for me to get a real reading" he responded.

"There's no hostiles in the outer compartments of the building. My sensors can't reach beyond that" Tron supplied.

"Great. Into the event horizon I guess" Sam looked back at the rest of the group. Tron, Beck and Gem were on point with him while Quorra walked with Uncle Alan and Jet. Snobol and the three mechanics took up the rearguard. "Everyone ready?" He asked.

"At your command Cap'n" Jet mock saluted.

"Lets go before it gets any worse" Beck agreed.

With those promising sentiments Sam lead the charge, setting a brisk walking pace into the shadowy interior. Well, it was more than shadowy. It was pitch black. The only illumination was the light lines of their party.