theatrical_muse - 161 - The Morning After
Yori found Tron on the roof of her domain, staring out across the horizon. She went to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "There you are. They're waiting for you, Tron."
Tron turned, his jaw set. His expression was unreadable, as it always was when he was worried or thoughtful. Yori sighed. She liked his smiles. They made him glow.
"Who is, Yori?"
"All of them. The free programs. They need a leader, now that the MCP is gone, now that - "
Tron lifted his arm and cut her off. "I can't lead them, Yori. Maybe it should be Dumont. Or…" he shook his head and retrieved his disc from his back, presenting it to her. "I'm a warrior. I've been fighting since I was first executed. I don't know how to exist peacefully." He shook his head.
"Alan One programmed you to keep an eye on the system, Tron. What better way than to lead the system in its first steps towards true freedom?" Yori took his disc and wrapped her arms around him. She glanced at his face. Still unreadable.
"Programs like me have no place in this new system." He sighed. "I've got them this far, Yori. The rest is up to them. I won't be another MCP."
Yori blinked, confused. "No one thinks that you'll be like him, Tron."
"No one thought that he'd be like him, either."
She shook her head. "I don't understand."
Finally, Tron smiled. It was a sad smile, and seemed out of place with the words that followed. "Yori, the MCP was a chess program and look at what he did. Imagine what I could do with his power? I could take this system and anything else in the ENCOM network. He was planning to take the Kremlin and Pentagon. Did you know that? I could have done it without a thought. Alan One programmed me to be the perfect watchdog: watch, learn, destroy. But he programmed me with an ethical sub-routine. I can't lead, Yori. Not free programs."
"Why are you smiling?" Yori shook her head and stepped away from him. "Never mind, I don't want to know. I don't understand, Tron, but I accept. I have faith -"
"Have faith in the users, Yori. I'm just a program."
Now it was Yori's turn to smile. "So was Flynn."
Tron blinked, startled. Yori left the roof and descended to the domain root, to address the crowd that had gathered. She went to speak with Dumont first, though.
A microcycle later, Tron stepped out of the domain. He glanced at Yori and Dumont and nodded, before approaching the crowd, the first hints of a smile on his face. To Yori, he was already glowing. "Greetings, programs."
Muse : Tron
Fandom : Tron
Word Count : 547