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helloblobbyblobfish · 2 years

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Life with tronzler the cat

Synopsis: Sam is out of the grid, and now has a weirdly behaving program as an unwanted guest. Wait, is he acting like a feline?

I am SO sorry for the people who follow me for one fandom and see me move from everything to anything. At least I stopped myself from a multi-part story about Tron in the destroyed Grid and settled on crack. For people who need it, here's a quick resume of Tron: Legacy (spoilers):

Sam is the son of the hero of the first Tron Kevyn Flynn, who went missing years prior. After a weird prank/stunt he pulls on HIS OWN COMPANY, he receives a bipper (the ancestor of SMS, basically) that sends him to an arcade, where he is digitalized and sent to "The Grid", a closed computer system where programs have a human look and a basic personality.

In that system, Kevin tried to do the perfect world with the security program his friend Alan Bradley made, the titular Tron, and his own creation, C.L.U 2. Unfortunately, this movie was directed by a technophobe and written by a duo who always have magic triumphing over science usually, so a species declared by the story "superior to programs", on no visible ground, the ISOs, spontaneously appear. (Quorra is one of the best characters of the franchise and the symbolic sometimes work, but I will admit I find the ISO as a concept an horrendous idea.

C.L.U. 2 such decided to commit genocide in the name of a perfect system, betrayed Flynn and brainwashed Tron into his main enforcer, Rinzler. (The Tron franchise is rarely about Tron, if you came here after reading my other stuff and are not into sci-fi. At least this time around he remains a side character…)

Sam survives attempts on his life, joins his dad and the last ISO alive, Quorra. They get pursued by C.L.U 2, Rinzler returns to being Tron, betrays C.L.U. 2, and finally, Kevin merges with C.L.U. 2 and dies. Sam and Quorra return to the "users" world and Sam finally takes the place of CEO of Encom.

In this fic, I have Rinztron also come along for the ride. Now, time to do the story! Oh, and in the movie, Sam has a rescue dog named Marv. Marv is cool.

It started on the very first night after they came back. Sam was already tired by Alan's plan to propel him to CEO. Quorra was probably still asking his dad's friend about all things.

He was lying in bed, unable to sleep after what he discovered. His father's stories were no stories. Or well, they were. Embellished retelling of events by a man who was too taken with what The Grid *could be* rather than what it was.

He was suddenly aware of the light coming from the open door. Wait, he didn't let the door- a dark silhouette was suddenly blocking the view and then it wasn't. Instead, Sam felt a massive weight slumping on the bed and crushing his arm.

Tron… Rinzler? The program didn't talk much. They weren't sure what happened between the moment where C.L.U's enforcer betrayed him, still orange, crashing their jets together and when they met him in the arcade, dressed in blue user-type clothes, having apparently reached the portal before anyone else.

Though, he didn't attack them either? So they had decided to let him stay with them. But what Tron-zler was currently doing was confusing Sam to no end.

"What the?" Then, because Tronizler, what were they going to call him? He wasn't Tron or Rinzler anymore, but who WAS the security program? Anyway, the program was clearly awake but not responding. Trying to dislodge his arm from under the mass, the son of Flynn asked again: "What.. urggg… are you… dammit….. doing?"

A broken voice answered: "User… re-re…… charging…… I.. pr-pro… teck the… Users…" It was the voice of someone not used to talking. A sound similar to a broken machine. Or a cat not knowing whether it's purring or meowing.

Then, before Sam could react, Marv entered. Tronzler noticed the tension in Sam's body, but the young user was quick to reassure the program that seemed to agitate. "It's okay! Just… Expect him to wake us up before the night is over.

Sam woke up at a decent hour and put on his better clothes to go check with the Encom board. He was finally going to take a part in his father's legacy, and he needed to impress after spending years intervening only to ruin the den of vultures' life.

It's when he saw the open door to his "house" that he remembered he had a guest. It's also then that he realized that Tron or Zler was probably disappointed that Sam was living in a repurposed container after presumably seeing his father's villa on the Grid or Alan's three stories tall mansion.

Worried about the impression he must have given to his childhood hero, Sam rushed outside to see a strange picture.

Marv was running all around a stone-faced Tron/Rinz, while the humanoid was sprawled on the ground and looking at pigeons who sat on the rooftop. Noticing the -possible? It depended on how the meeting would go with the board and the other investors- CEO, Tronazler once more crooked more than he spoke.

"Locat..on.. un-saff…e…" Sam should not have lowered his head in shame. It was his house, dang it, he had made it modified as such! "We-Well, you know" He tried to justify himself "close to Encom and cheap. Y-Y-Yeah, didn't want to intrude more on the Bradleys."

Tron/Rinzler tried to articulate something, then stopped, likely realizing the phrase he wanted to make was too long. Sam still felt a burning glare just going through his head with its intensity. He barely could keep himself from sweating.

"Yeah, I'm going to get a better apartment if you stay with me." How could it feel like the glare was intensifying without looking? "And because I'm now the CEO of Encom and I ought to have a more secure living place." The glare lessened somewhat.

Sam heard the sound of Tron-or-Rinzler rising up. Suspecting it was only for his hear, as the security monitor made it clear he could move completely silent, the young Flynn looked up as the program walked past him and sat on a still-stable chair. The glance he sent the owner of the house told the latter that he knew exactly the state of the furniture.

Once again, the grid's hero let only a few words: "Feeedd..... Usss" It reminded Sam of something, but he wasn't sure what. And yeah, Sam WAS hungry. Time to check what was in the fr…. Oh God. What was in the fridge? When did he last do groceries? Did Tron know? Was it a test? What should Sam do? Alan's creation had no right to make opening a fridge feel like russian roulette.

An idea came to the Son of Flynn's mind as he was touching the handle: " How about we go to the store to see what will interest you?" And that I can stock up on vegetables, non-alcoholic drinks and meat.

The growl he heard seemed satisfied as he grabbed his bike's keys.

Jet was absolutely thrilled to drag his "brother" along when Quorra decided they needed a full wardrobe, after of course some nudging from Lora, Bradley in spirit and in marriage that she was. Everyone had realized that, while he was too ashamed of how he failed to help the ISOs to approach Q and was more than fine bullying Sam, Tron would not dare disagree with Alan_One and Alan_Two - scratch that, Jet_One. Jethro was not going to be called Alan 2.0. His daddy issues rivalised with Sam's.

Sam was fine with it, but then Alan declared Sam should get a wardrobe change too, as part of his new fonctions. Sam wondered about it, but he knew Alan wouldn't budge, so off they went.

Quorra immediately tried to cut a robe that had a beautiful purple color but was too restrictive. Before they paid. Sam, Jet and Tron discreetly went away when security arrived, leaving Alan and Lora to deal with the aftermath.

Well, Jet grabbed Tron who looked ready to kill for his creator and took him like a potato bag.

Actually, his eyes had switched orange/red. That's when they met (or re-meet, in Sam's case) Rinzler.

Tron was all hoodies and lower face masks. He drove a Fiat. He was pleasant to all but Sam, even if Lora and Quorra made him flee. He kissed the ground Alan walked on and trained Jet as a fighter.

Rinzler showed his arms proudly with sleeveless shirts and fingerless gloves. He always showed a smirk of arrogance or a sneer of annoyance. The only one safe were the Bradleys, that he was treating codly but respected as if they hired a bodyguard. He drove a customized MV Agusta F4CC.

Though, Sam would have to base himself to tell them apart, as they both treated him as a ugly stain. After some time, he could tell one key difference: Tron found him a failed copy of Flynn 1.0 (he was far from the only one, but the others did not come out as vocally about it), whereas Rinzler had a crisis of faith in the users, his very directive/reason to live, thanks to Kevin and CLU and took it on their closest living "relative".

That day, they were walking down the streets of L.A. and the temperature was horrendous. Sam saw that Quorra and Lora, in the front, saw something they found funny behind him. But as it was also Rinzler's location, Sam didn't dare look back. Suddenly, Jet did what he didn't dare to and looked.

The cooing the game programmer did finally convinced the CEO to turn, and he saw the orange-eyed, even if the sunglasses hide it somewhat, programm had his tongue poking out between his lips. Realizing he was noticed, the monitor licked his lips and retracted the appendage.

"Thirsty, big bro?"

"It is tolerable.. But don't call me...."

Rinzler suddenly had a brick of apple juice shoved in his hand and a straw in his mouth. Both the enforcer and Sam blinked at the smiling Bradley son, who skipped away.

It's then Sam realized the people on the other walkside were taking pictures and talking fast to one another. The very next day, the board was having a reunion about the chairman having a possible illegitimate or abused son, according to paparazzis.

Sam woke up in his apartment to the sound of something breaking and Marv's howling. Entering the living room in a hurry, he was not surprised to see Tron had played with the glass figurines despite being told not to and was trying to hide between the wall and the couch.

Sam wondered if he should use the program's fear of water following his near drowning as punishment, some days. Like a cat. Users. He realized it then.

He had a human-sized cat as a temporary "pet" while Alan and Lora were on vacation. Tron was too afraid of new places to go with them and Jet had decided to crash his floor.

The hacker took this moment to enter and apparently had a similar thought at seeing Tro- wait, no. It was Rinzler now- and Marv growled at one another.

The very same afternoon, Rinzler was glaring at anyone who looked like they were going to say something about the moving ears on his head. Jet was scary, The Son of Flynn though once more. His throat would probably have been ripped if he proposed as such, but Jet had been able to convince Tron of getting "upgrade".

On the other end, this two floor jump was a sign Jet was truly making good on his plan to grant programs similar abilities in the user world to what they had in the Grid.

Those scratching noises.

Insufferable.

But Sam will resist.

He made do with every step of Tron and Rinzler's evolution into house pests.

Those new gloves won't be the breaking point.

And the place he is in…

"Can't we talk through the door?"

Silence.

But as soon as a breath of relief escapes his lips, it starts again.

For his dad's sake.

But the state of the door.

Those are real steel fake claws Rinzler made.

Fine.

"I hope it's worth annoying me when I'm in the toilets."

Tron, traitor, smirks.

"You forgot to bring new toilet paper."

He hands him over the roll.

Sam sputters.

"Seriously????? HEY!!! IT'S SHREDDED BEYOND USE, YOU DAMNED GRID BUG!!!!!! CAME BACK!!!!"

For some reason, I keep representing Marv as a Shiba in my head. The name just makes me think of the puppiest doggy in existence.

#tron #tron: legacy #rinzler #sam flynn #quorra #alan bradley #jet bradley #crack #my writing #catzler #hints of Quorra/flynn but I don't think it's worth a tag

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helloblobbyblobfish · 2 years

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Imperfection in the reflection

Synopsis: CLU 2.0 wonders why did Kevin_Flynn named him after a program opposite of himself.

Well, don’t ask me how or why C.L.U 2.0 would know about 1.0 when the previous namesake died in another system, that Tron never met the program and that Flynn strikes me as one who tells nothing to anyone if not forced. I just wanted to see fics about the original C.L.U, and I saw a kinky sex fic between the two C.L.U.s, a sex torture fic (2010’s A03 was like Tumblr, I have no idea what my feeling is about that), two fics in which they are brother-like and I thought: “Why, Yes! Character introspection. Haven’t seen someone using their differences. And Make it angsty!”.

And so this fic came into my mind, with many headcanons because C.L.U 2.0 had like 6 motivations depending on the actual writers for the franchise and 1.0 had interactions with almost no one and no clear personality, so choices had to be made. We also see two VERY biased opinions on Kevin, so this is supposed to sound OOC to an extent.

The luminary is looking at himself in the reflection, looking at His new pageantry outfit. Everything needs to be perfect. If He doesn’t look perfect, is perfect, how is He supposed to obey His directive and create the perfect system?

He, C.L.U, the system administrator that managed to reach His directive and over-succeed despite his User’s abandonment. At the thought of Kevin_Flynn, C.L.U. grasps the cape He was meticulously assessing. He immediately panics and tries to smooth over the wrinkles in the texture His anger created.

No, He shouldn’t be angry that Kevin_Flynn betrayed him. The User forgot what they were supposed to build together. For violent, directionless, imperfect, dangerous, uncaring I.S.O.s. And it has been nearly 800 cycles since He last heard of the User. Hence the preparations for the celebration. He remembers Kevin_Flynn told Him that Users’ age. Maybe he “died”, whatever that means. But C.L.U. doubt it. He would have known it. The system administrator would feel the de-rezzing of the system’s Creator, wouldn’t He?

It didn't matter. The Creator didn't care enough to give Him an original name. C.L.U. Codified Likeness Utility.

He thought the name meant He was the equal of the Creator. But instead, Kevin_Flynn reused old concepts. And he had the added hypocrisy of naming the program meant to create the perfect system on a hacker program.

He shouts. He, named after a thing who destabilized systems for the petty interest of an User who thought himself superior to beings with directives.

He looks at himself in the mirror, trying this time to hide His annoyance.

He hears the broken noises of Rinzler. Right, his enforcer is here. "Don't worry, man. I'm just thinking about Kevin_Flynn. He named me after another creation of his, can you believe it?"

"N..No." His own creature seems unsure of his answer. Scared it is a trick question. "No, I guess you wouldn't. After all, you are loyal to the one who programmed you, are you not?" He gets close to the program, who unlocks his helmet out of habit.

He gets a good look at the scars covering Tron's face. Maybe He should use that adorable visage to crush that renegade's propaganda in Argos? Meh, He might as well let General Pavel deal with it. And if the sadist is really as incompetent as Tesler, maybe a public recreation of what happened to Dyson for failling Him one too many times to squish this silly "Tron Lives" movement.

He rubs Rinzler's jaws to show He isn't angry, but before He does anything else to the dutiful program, there is a knock at the door. C.L.U. waits for Rinzler to hide his face before allowing entrance. Jarvis and Shaddox enter. He smiles brightly at the two.

"Your Luminary." Jarvis bowed emphatically. Shaddox remains still. C.L.U. remembers he should make him pass through the newest upgrades of rectification. Shaddox was a test for an unused form of repurposing where He tried to find how to keep a program's skill but not have them act on their own.

Yes. He let him keep his face in the name of their friendship. He ought to grace the architect with a programmed loyalty. "Is it ready?" He asks Jarvis. Shaddox isn't likely to talk to Him, no matter how much C.L.U. wishes He was told how right he was about Ophelia, Gilles and their ISO hordes of viruses and grid bugs.

He is shown a truly remarkable new stadium that will allow for much more impressive games. "Truly, this rotating gravity cage is magnificent. And the complexity of those lightcycle executions will be unmatched. Truly impressive. You've outdone yourselves, both of you. Now, send it to the worker programs."

"Yes, Luminary." Jarvis quickly bows out. Shaddox simply salutes. "Oh, and, Shaddox?" The program is walking through the door. "Sentinel, stop." That stops his old comrade. He feels something akin to guilt for a microcycle, but it's gone the next. "Come back in half past seven decacycles. You are in need of an upgrade." He receives a nod of acknowledgement and Shaddox is on his way once more.

The System Administrator can see the worry in Rinzler's posture. "Don't you think he deserves to talk too?" He coldly states. At last, those were two programs who would never learn their savior share a name with the biggest disgrace a program can be besides a stray.

He takes a look at the list of programs that could participate in the games. Mercury, Jet, certainly. Two excellent pilot programs. Baxter for the ring games. This info the sirens found about him helping Jalen train for his attempt to dirty the games. Maybe he'll have him fight Rinzler as a final "challenge" if he resists well. Nobody is showing promise in tank battle amongst the prisoners. And it would be a waste of sentries to have them in both corners. But the entertainment value shouldn't be neglected.

Truly. Could a mere hacking program saving Kevyn_Flynn's monetary hide hope to accomplish what He did? He sighs of relief. Seeing the relationships he was able to build, unlike an hacking trash who would always be hunted, allowed him to get out of those imperfect thoughts.

Kevin_Flynn must have been so disappointed to see his "perfect program" betray him and become as volatile as the MCP. That made the figure looking at the statue of the tyrant shudder a bit, but he knew a sign of obvious fear might cause him some problems with the pattroling sentries.

Securo was really easy to outwit, but the foreign program was a lot more wary of the new C.L.U.'s army. He remembered Sark and his cruelty. They were skilled, but he heard most of those "followers" might be "repurposed", or "rectified". Seemed the great leader decided to use a less disgusting term to describe his awful actions.

C.L.U. 2.0.

What had convinced Kevin_Flynn to name this… Abomination of a program after the one he called "the perfect program?" Well, given how this impostor talked about perfection, he might have tried to recreate his master opus, as Kevin_Flynn liked to call him.

But a hacking program couldn't hope to become a system administrator. They were too free and connected to their Users' wishes to direct other programs. They would try to do it like a virus. That might explain the unthinking movements of the sentries. He thought about the false identity disk he had to make to infiltrate this new Grid. Maybe there was an idea.

He moved to a remote street. It wasn't a big town, and Stragos didn't have an open rebellion going on like Purgos, Argos or Ram City, but there were still quite a few soldiers. Using his hacking abilities, he created himself a platform above the ground, hard to identify from the street and easy to drop from. Thankfully, the whole new Grid was coded in a style similar to one he knew, so it was pretty easy to make some changes.

He watched as two sentinels approached his corner. One was sadly talking with the distorting effect of his helmet but the other had the robotic mouvements he was waiting for. He felt horrible when he fell on the aware program and slit his throat, but it was needed, a quick grab of the derezzed program for later, and he managed to avoid the spear thrown at him.

He wondered about this new C.L.U. fighting abilities. The previous one was more of a talker and pilot. But the second was taking a bit from the MCP in abilities. He decided that it didn't matter for now, and he should focus on the kicks the reprogrammed citizen threw at him. A particularly nasty punch broke his hat. The soldier stood in surprise.

"You!" So they could speak? Unexpected, maybe useful.

Then, the sentinel knelt when he dropped his cover and his original lines appeared. His former adversary unstrapped his disk and held it to him without prompting. He started typing changes in programming.

The destruction of any individual personality trait or directive, replaced by too simplistic for comfort and meant for a group of anonymous husks programming, was making him feel uneasy. But he must have shown it too much, as the soldier suddenly jerked and tried to get his disk back. Thankfully, it was easy to write new lines over the empty spaces whatever C.L.U. 2.0 used had left in the memory space.

The figure just had to drop the identity disk in its place and the sentinel was unmoving once more, its line maybe a bit whiter than before. The stranger had the time to merge the disk he stole with himself to take on a new identity. It confused his new ally, for as much as the term could be used to describe a puppet, but more reprogramming fixed it. He was shocked at how easy it was now. Did no one on this Grid know how to affect programs?

The MCP would have found this technique too much of a liability and the previous C.L.U. would have been derezzed ten times over rather than do such a sloppy work. Kevin_Flynn was too good a programmer to make such an incompetent program, especially if he used 1.0 as a basis. What had happened? The memory of Brin, the soldier he killed, didn't have anything worthy to explain what happened. Seeing those ISO and what they could do…

Did Kevin_Flynn try to imitate them with this C.L.U? They had the same directionless behavior and belief they could compare to Users? Really, seeing it from the point of view of a soldier of his own regime, C.L.U. 2.0. was weak compared to the MCP or the "great User" Thorne. They did so much more in not a 1/100 of the cycles it took the copy to set itself for failure. And they did not need as many soldiers or technology. What was the goal of his action?

He instructed who he could only name sentinel 592 to pretend he was only Brin. They got insulted by commander Karlov for their failure to intercept a strange program. Given what had happened to the forces in Argos, he could see why she would be worried about a potential rebel.

But he managed to convince her it was presumably a stray. Strays. What a horrific concept. Might have been the one time where C.L.U 2 managed to do worse than the previous programs who fought Users. Being forced to wear an object that keeps all your secrets or forgetting yourself.

But as he sat next to sentinel 739 and discreetly modified his program by only slightly moving upward the disk and forcing a reboot after each added line of code, he thought he would make a surprise to the being who bore his name.

And if he managed to approach Tron with a city peacefully rejecting his legacy's power, maybe he would avenge Kevin_Flynn, who must have died fighting 2.0 till derezzing like he did with the MCP.

So, about the programs’ names: Mercury is a lightcycle champion program from the 2.0 game, and the sequel comics introduce us (spoilers) to a digital copy of the hero of that game, Jet (for Jethro). I can imagine Kevin finding it funny to call a super-cool badass biker program after a plane nickname of a baby.

Securo is from the 2.0 spin-off game "Tron: Killer App" (the game boy version). He is the firewall program in charge of stopping outside breach and remote hacking… and sucks at his job, on top of speaking very slowly and barely being capable of moving. I can buy him having been created in the 1980's. And we know Kevin didn't mind taking some stuff from Encom for his grid.

Shaddox is an architect-turned-bartender (who grew wary of C.L.U. after some cycles) at what is implied to be the End of Line introduced in the Tron: Betrayal comics (some backstory for Legacy, mostly about CLU growing resentment towards Flynn and hatred of ISOs and Kevin spreading himself thin with too many things.). But it's weirdly Zuse, the owner of the bar, who is taking care of drinks in Evolution and Legacy, and C.L.U 2.0 has some clear issues about wanting acceptance from his loved ones…

I named Brin after Sergey Brin, Google co-fondateur. Fun fact, I like to think sentinel 592's original name was Reginald.

And don't ask me either how C.L.U. 1.0 came back to life and how he managed to reach the Legacy Grid when it was self-contained on a computer. Fanfiction magic.

Might redo this story or write a spiritual successor. not fully satisfied.

#tron #tron: legacy #tron: betrayal #clu 2.0 #clu #tron clu #tron legacy #tron 1982 #my writing

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