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"Wouldn't that be something."

Alan turned to go, only to be pulled back around again by Sam's voice. "Hey, Alan?"

"Yes, Sam?" Alan asked, the faint hope that he might be asked along rising in a heart too long deprived of any reason for it.

He wasn't expecting Sam to throw the keys back, but apparently his reflexes were still good enough to catch them as they arced out of the younger man's hand.

"Oh."

Sam didn't try to give an explanation, and Alan didn't wait for one. It seemed that he'd have to go to the Arcade alone.

* * *

When Sam threw the keys back, the story took an entirely different path. It was Alan who went to the arcade, who switched on the lights and noise and eventually found himself leaning against the Tron game. It moved, unexpectedly, and when Alan went to shove it back into place, he found the door. Inevitably, he found the door to the secret office, the keys still hanging in the door. It was Alan who found himself wondering why Flynn had taken Lora's digitizing laser, and who started digging around for Flynn's notes.

Armed with Flynn's notes and his own knowledge, Alan checked not only the recent history, but the logs from further back. He spotted the pattern with the laser, and the time limit, and knew what must have happened to Flynn. Hoping that it was simply that Flynn had been trapped inside by accident, he activated the laser without digitizing himself and waited for Flynn to emerge. Nothing happened, and after ten minutes, the laser winked out again.

During the time it took for the laser to recharge, Alan took precautions. He called Lora (yes, the man owns a phone as well as a pager) and told her everything, left a note detailing what he'd discovered, and left his pager on top of the Tron machine.

Then, finally, Alan took the plunge and digitized himself into the Grid.

The first thing he did was check the digital version of Flynn's office for any notes or other data. None were apparent. The next thing he did was walk upstairs and get captured by the pair of Black Guards who were waiting for him in the arcade.

The third thing was that his captors were ambushed by the Resistance, who had been waiting outside. The Resistance hauled a protesting Alan away to a safe house on the outskirts of the city, and explained the situation. Alan was a little sceptical, but he remembered Flynn's tales of blue=good, orange=bad, and was willing to go along with it for now.

While Alan was being fitted with a Grid-suit, the Resistance contacted Quorra. Not long after Alan had been kitted out with suit and disc, Clu's forces attacked the safehouse. Alan was made to hide, and was shortly rescued by Quorra in the lightrunner. She gave him a message from Flynn, which made him believe her enough to get in the car. That, and the discs flying everywhere helped persuade him.

Quorra brought Alan back to Flynn's place for a near-tearful reunion of the two old friends. Alan, hearing the story of the ISOs and how Flynn became trapped, promptly gave Flynn a verbal smackdown about exactly what kind of idiot he'd been, and proved his point with examples. Flynn, who'd been needing that kind of take-no-bull attitude for the past thousand cycles, winced and (eventually) agreed. He put up a good argument, though.

Alan, who might not be the creative genius Flynn is, but is by far the better strategist, suggested using avatars to go visit Clu with (mostly so that Flynn could apologize to his poor neglected program) so that they could talk without endangering themselves. Flynn agreed, and between them they coded up two shells that they could control remotely. Said avatars do not have discs.

The two, leaving Quorra behind to care for their 'real' bodies, took their avatars to Tron City in the lightrunner (which they sent home afterwards on autopilot). Clu's forces found them quickly, and they were escorted into Clu's private chambers by Rinzler. He kept looking between Flynn and Alan as if he'd seen a ghost.

Flynn recognized Tron, which led to a moment of shock from Alan followed by a, "You let my program stay – what did you call it, repurposed – for over a thousand years? Did you never even try to find him?"

"I thought he was dead," was all Flynn could say to that.

"I still can't believe you never told me about this place. I could have helped, Flynn. We all could – Lora, Roy, me. Did you never even think about that?"

"I don't think this is the time, Alan."

"Actually, I think it's exactly the time. User." That last wasn't Alan, but Clu, who'd walked in. "Flynn's never appreciated the help that others give him."

Clu has, of course, noticed the digital bodies that Flynn and Alan are wearing, so deemed it useless to derez them. After some shouting back and forth, Rinzler stepped between Flynn and Clu when it seemed that the latter was about to attack Flynn. Clu ordered him away, seemed surprised when he refused, and blamed Flynn for Rinzler's insubordination. Alan leaped to Rinzler/Tron's defence, and there was more shouting. After a while, the real issues came out, and Flynn agreed to stay in the Grid to teach Clu the true meaning of perfection. Alan, meanwhile, took Quorra and Flynn's disc and – escorted by Tron, who was beginning to remember that he fought for the Users – made it to the Portal without incident, bringing Quorra into the User world and showing her a sunrise . . . albeit not from the back of a motorcycle. He also offered to bring Tron with him, but Tron decided to stay in the Grid and guard Flynn.

While Alan's universe is nowhere near as interesting as the main movieverse, and failed (at that point) to get Sam interested in Encom, it did accomplish a lot more in certain areas. Flynn got called on his I-Am-The-Creator attitude, Clu got the shouting match and hug that he needed (and later developed a conscience), Tron got to come back to himself without falling into the Sea, and Quorra still escaped to the User world. Oh, and the End of Line is still around.

This is a roleplaying journal for the purposes of playing the Tron character Alan Bradley. Both mun and muse are over 18.