Tron: Deliverance

Paths Combining

Allen Bradley was just about fed up with this Pavel character. He was persistent in the most annoying sense. Quorra and Sam had gotten creative with firing their light bolts from the back of the runner. Instead of firing directly at Pavel, who dodged all their shots, they instead fired at the ground in front of him, making shrapnel kick up in his face. Once Quorra had managed to shoot a load of energy canisters loose from a passing truck, making a flood of metal canisters come crashing down on the approaching General. Allan turned a corner and found exactly what he was looking for, a broad open space with few bystanders. It looked like it had been a sports field of some kind. Though it was deserted now.

"Hold on you two!" Alan shouted back causing Sam and Quorra to crouch down in their seats. Alan yanked on the emergency brake and fishtailed around again, spinning to a stop with his door facing Pavel. Allan stepped out of the runner, his coat flapping around him when Pavel appeared with a sudden rush of air.

"FInally done running old man? A shame. I was just getting warmed up" Pavel slowed his pace to a stroll, he was still a few yards away, shouting over the distance. Alan heard a soft hum as Sam and Quorra charged up their staffs for another barrage. Alan held up a hand to stop them.

"No, Ive got this one" Alan held on to his quiet composure, fury burned in his eyes under the shadows of his hood. He clenched his jaw and cracked his neck as he took a few steps towards Pavel. He wasn't entirely sure if this would work. But that doubt was mostly buried under his growing rage. Whoever this program was, he would not threaten his family or the kids under his care.

"Ooooooh I didn't realize you were the tough one of the bunch. What you gonna do old timer?"

"Some simple coding" Alan responded softly. Then he dropped to one knee, flattening his palm against the surface of the court.

Pavel scoffed "What are you...." He was cut off when the ground entirely collapsed beneath him. One moment it was solid, then in a flash of blue light there was an empty black hole about 30 meters across and Pavel fell screaming into the darkness. Alan waited impassively for several moments, staring down into the shadows. After a good ten seconds, a muffled thump echoed up from the darkness. Alan nodded "500 feet" he said in a pleased tone.

He turned back to Quorra and Sam, who both looked at him with wide eyes and slack jaws.

"Whats 500 feet?" Sam asked in a strangled voice.

"Pavel fell for a little over ten seconds so that means with normal gravity as a constant he fell about 500 feet. Which means that the base layer of the grid below street level is about that far down"

"I see" Sam said in the same voice. Quorra's expression had gone from shock to awe.

"Your'e a creator of the grid!" She said excitedly.

"How's that?" Alan asked in his normal easygoing tone. The shadow of his former anger had almost completely subsided.

"You're like Flynn! You can change the code of the Grid itself, not just change things on the surface" Quorra marveled.

"That's nice....wait" Alan looked back and forth, trying to pin down a beeping sound he could hear in the sudden quiet. He looked back to see a softly flashing orange light attached to the back of the runner.

"What is?..."

"Bomb!" Sam yelled, grabbing Quorra around the waist and tackling her off the runner. Allen's eyes widened and he leaped backwards, sprinting away from the bomb.

With one prolonged beep the small charge exploded, engulfing the light runner. The force of the blast knocked Alan backward. His back made contact with the hard surface of the court and all he saw was white for the barest moment.