Tron: Deliverance

EXPERIENCING FREEZE

Snobol made her best squinting face at Tesler's big house of horrors.

It used to be some kind of energy brewing factory. From cycles back, before Purgos went kerploohey. But now it was where Tesler did his boss man schtick.

It was ugly as anything, all crumbling, with patchwork code piled on top of itself. Big too, three or four times the size of their chop shop. Tesler kept building on to it for Users knew what reason. Its not like he was making it look any better. Black Guards were orange and black specks wandering around the edges. She cast an especially critical eye on the gun turrets spaced unevenly along the tops of the walls.

"You think I could take the whole building down if I did a cyclic rate of fire on the red setting?" Grace's bonkers question made frost creep up Snobol's arm. The two Mods waited in their rigs for the Users to make their move. And Grace was getting antsy. Which made some kind of sense. She was pretty fragged on a good cycle and today wasn't close to a good cycle.

"We're trying to save the boss, not drop a building on his head. Also, Delilah would blow up before going cyclic with max laser output" Snobol snapped back. Grace's pink glow was just visible from the driver's port of her rig.

"My Delilah would not BLOW UP you frosty Grid bug" her voice came hot over their comm.

"Well we're not testin' it with the boss in the crossfire...maybe later though"

Grace brightened "Can we test it in the Outlands when we get him back? I replaced the energy coils earlier this cycle so she can handle more output"

"Its your render if you blow yourself to bits"

A voice crackled over the comm. It made Snobol flinch with its depth.

"Snobol, this is Sam. We're about to fly over. You in position?"

"Ready Mr. User Sir. These jokers are about to eat lasers"

He snorted "Two minutes, be ready"

Then the line went quiet.

"Is it just me or do those Users talk real weird? Also what's a minute?" Grace asked

"Aint just you. Their voices sound funny. Also no idea, I reckon it means soon" Snobol shot back. She couldn't quite pick out what was weird about how the Users talked. Their voices were just missing something, a bit of static maybe? It was flippin creepy when you weren't expecting it.

She stuck her head out of her rig and looked at Tia and her squad, idling in the shadows. "The Users say we're going real soon. Everyone good?"

Tia nodded once, her face tight. All the Mods not in a rig were going to fight on their upgraded light cycles.

"You really think this'll work Snobol?" Tia asked, her voice a bit garbled from the modification on her throat.

Snobol forced a smile "Ay it's a pretty crazy plan but I think its crazy enough to work"

Tia straightened and returned the smile. Mods were tough, but they weren't all that experienced in real operating like soldiers and such. And no one liked being around Tesler's command center. It just felt wrong. Wrong in the type of way that sat deep in your cubes and made a program want to say 'nuh uh' and beat feet.

Snobol pulled her head back into the rig and let out a long breath, a bit of frost forming in the air. They would get the Boss back. They had to.

Then, the User's voice sent a thrill of dread through her core. Sending her processes spinning into motion. "Snobol, we're on approach. Start your run"