Tron: Deliverance

ACCESSING ARCHIVE DATA: MOD ATTACK

He managed to get his eyes to focus to see Link's worried face.

"Link? Mara gave you night shift huh?" Zed slurred.

"Yeah, I broke the lift again. What happened to you?" He squawked.

"Paige, need Paige" he gasped. While Mara would be a greater comfort in this situation, Paige was a medic.

"Zed!" Mara's yell hit Zed's audio sounding pretty far away.

"Mara! Hes hurt! He needs Paige right now!" Link called back. Mara's running footsteps came closer but Zed never saw her. The Grid went black.

...........

The next thing he knew, Paige's voice floated to him, muffled and flanged.

"That should stabilize him till we get there"

He felt a jolt as some changes made to his disc synced with his frame. His eyes flew open when the patch settled into place.

"What? Where?" He muttered. They were in a dim, enclosed space. A soft hand rested on his forehead and Mara's signature pinged comfort. His intakes slowed. He was still in pain sure, but he wasn't in any immediate danger.

"Zed, can you hear me?" Mara asked. He realized he was lying down in the back of some kind of vehicle. His head on Mara's lap. He recognized the vehicle code of Link's roadster. They were weaving in and out of traffic at breakneck speed.

"Yeah, where are we going?" Zed slurred a bit.

"We're taking you to an old medic I know. He's wanted by the occupation since he got into disc hacking. He's just who we need to get you treated with an injury we don't want the occupation to know about. Violent injuries have to be reported after all" Paige's clipped tones came from the front seat.

"Right, back alley doctor. Love those" Zed grunted.

"What happened to you Zed? Paige said she'd never seen an injury like this" Mara's worried tone nearly filled the car. Zed reached up clumsily and grabbed her hand. Pinging comfort as best he could with his scrambled processes.

"Its nothing Mara. Those programs I was supposed to be tailing said they had modified themselves using a hacking software. Its supposed to break the firewalls down on discs. They tagged me with it" He was struggling to get his words in order so he was quite proud of how linear and logical that explanation sounded.

"That is not nothing Zed!" Mara snapped.

"That explains it then. I was struggling to keep up with the speed your code was breaking down. That hacking software started with your firewalls, then when it ran out it started pulling apart your base code. I slowed it down but I just don't have the applications to do more"

"I thought you were a medic?" Mara asked icily.

Paige looked into the back, an equal amount of ice in her eyes "I was, but last I checked not all medics do the same thing and I wasn't programed for deep code reconstruction. Which is why we're taking him to someone who is"

"Its fine Mara. Its gonna be ok" Zed slurred. His tongue weirdly numb even as his chest throbbed.

Apparently his counterpart didn't buy his words of comfort. Mara's eyes were deep wells of anguish. She looked up to the drivers seat "Step on it Link. Isn't this supposed to be the fastest roadster ever built?"

"Hold on" Link said and pushed to car so fast Zed could only see the faint blurs of other vehicles as they passed.

...........

Zed placed his feet carefully as Mara and Link held most of his weight. He couldn't really feel them anymore. The hack had gotten to the sync between his limbs a few minutes prior so he couldn't feel anything except the pain in his chest. He only knew where his feet were moving by looking at them.

"Bring him inside quick you two. Patrols out and about" A scratchy voice came from the darkened junk store.

They hauled him indoors and managed to dump his mostly limp frame onto a table. The hunched form of the disc-hacking doctor moved forward. He had enormous bulging eyes and long twitching fingers. Not exactly a comforting face to give a doctor. Sometimes Zed had to wonder what Flynn was thinking when he designed some programs. The doctor yanked off Zed's disc and started flicking through his code.

"Hmm. Hmmm. Very bad. That's not good at all"

"Can you fix him?" Paige's severe voice came from somewhere to the left. Or maybe it was the right? Directions were hard to process right now.

"Hmmmm maybe. Maybe. Its gonna be expensive though. I'm going to have to do a re-sync here and rebuild from there. Hmm that will wipe out my stock of stabilizers"

"You have to save him" Mara said tightly.

"Hmmmm very expensive" The program snapped his fingers "So, I can stabilize him for free but all these breakdowns are going to be costly for me to fix. Ill need compensation. How about that roadster you came here in? I can find a buyer for it and keep my operation going for cycles"

"You're kidding" Paige said in disgust "This is a program's life we're taking about and you want to haggle pricing before you render aid? What kind of..."

Mara cut her off "Please sir, cant you just.."

Then a squeaky voice cut Mara off too.

"Here sir, take it"

Zed blinked and rolled his head over to see Link offering the doctor the extended baton that held the roadster. His jaw set and eyes fierce.

"But Link! You love that car" Zed slurred from the table.

"We shouldn't pay him anything!" Paige seethed.

Link waved off their words "You're my friend Zed. The garage needs you. We all need you. I'm happy to give this up if it helps" He handed the baton over. The doctor took it swiftly and perused it briefly. A greedy look on his face.

"Oh this is lovely! Yes my buyer will be thrilled"

"His treatment?" Mara asked desperately.

"Of course" The doctor stowed the roadster out of sight and started rummaging through cabinets and containers. His scratchy voice dipping into a mumble.

Zed blinked harder and realized that it wasn't helping clear his vision.

"Mara?!" He gasped, hardly able to get the sound past his teeth.

Even though he couldn't feel her hand anymore he still felt her signature ping up and down his frame.

"I'm here Zed. You're gonna be....."

Darkness.

..........

Zed and Link had both finished their shifts a little while ago. But Link had started on another project as soon as his day shift ended.

"I'm sorry about the roadster man. Just wait! Ill build you a cycle just like mine. It'll be the fastest on the Grid. Faster than any of the gen fives!" Zed promised. He sat on the edge of the lift as Link tinkered with it. Mara had been grateful enough to Link to free him of all his additional night shifts. But she was still making him fix the lift he broke. Zed was dropping him pointers here and there to speed the process.

Link pulled his head out from the inner workings of the lift to give Zed a smile.

"Hey, you don't have to do that. You really don't owe me anything anyway. What are friends for?"

Zed shook his head violently "Nuh uh, Im gonna make you a light cycle. We're mechanics! Vehicles are in our code! Giving up the roadster must have felt like tearing off your arm" Link snorted and dived back inside the lift.

"Ok, but make my cycle blue. All the cycles you make end up with green lines. Its not really my color"

Zed laughed "Ok buddy. It'll be the fastest blue cycle on the Grid"

They worked like that for most of their time off. Until the lights of the city dimmed for their night-cycle.