A Clu without a clue...
Who: Clu here, and anyone who happens to stumble across him
Where: A random alleyway, somewhere in Tron City
When: Sometime post-Legacy mostly, but I'm flexible :)
Warnings: Shouldn't be any, unless people start cussing Clu out for stuff his future counterpart did
( Not the most auspcious way to start the millicycle... )
His face, however, despite its excess of color, was very familiar. It was the same face Clu saw whenever he looked into a reflective surface. Another program created by Flynn? It had to be; he'd met a few others in his home sector, and they too shared his appearance, aside from their circuit patterns.
He smiled. This was perfect! If this program knew his name, then it was highly likely he'd been looking for Clu. Though if Flynn had had time to create what was obviously some new design of program in order to locate him, he must have been offline for longer than thought. Yes, that had to be it. And even on the offchance that this program wasn't looking for him specifically, and simply chanced upon him, he would still likely be willing to direct Clu to the nearest I/O Tower. Though that didn't explain the odd sense he felt of being drawn to this program, almost, but not quite, like being summoned to an I/O Tower, but Clu tried to ignore it for now, putting it down to remnants of his glitch reacting to seeing another of Flynn's programs.
He approached the other program, nodding in confirmation of his identity. "Yes, I'm Clu", he said. "Is Flynn your User as well? Did he send you to find me? I appologize for wandering off task; I believe I must've suffered some sort of glitch..." He frowned slightly at that thought, again recalling his last memory. Yes, it had to be a glitch; what other explanation could there be?
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'Oh, the name thing. You might want to know that, mighten you?,' he laughed softly. 'I'm not a program, Clu. I AM Flynn. Kevin Flynn, your User,' he let the words sink in slowly as he watched the program's face. 'It's ok, don't get worried. Nothing bad can happen as I'm standing here. I've come to fix you up inside of here. The Grid,' he motioned to the vast expanse of digital world around him.
'You're safe now. No more glitches for you, man. I'll patch you up AND find you a new tank. How does that sound, huh? Keep that tank rollin,' he made grin and laughed softly.
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At the comment about him looking in bad shape, Clu followed the other's gaze, looking himself over. He didn't think he looked too bad. He was a bit low on energy, true, and his armor was its usual scuffed and battered self, but that was just what happened when you spent your time alternately fighting with and hiding from recognizers and scrambling around in narrow memory channels. Given that it was just him and Bit most of the time, Clu had never spared much processing power to worry about his appearance. However, he supposed that relative to the other program's much neater and more pristine appearance, Clu supposed he did look a little rough. Still, he'd always considered it something of a badge of honor, a symbol of how hard he worked in the service of his User.
At the comment about fixing him, Clu nodded again, a bit more confusedly this time. Was this other a diagnostic program as well as a search program? Clu had never heard of such a thing, but if it was true, he wasn't going to question it. A diagnostic sounded pretty good right then. However, the next part, he did comment on, "I thought I was up and running." He certainly seemed functional, aside from his memory glitch, of course. Still, the other man gave the impression of knowing more than he was letting on, so perhaps he had some information that Clu didn't...? Then, just as Clu was starting to wonder what sort of information that might be, the rest of Clu's mental processes came to a screeching halt when the other gained his undivided attention as he saw fit to introduce himself as Flynn, Clu's User.
Clu's initial reaction was same as anyone would have if someone that they had just met claimed to be a deity, namely, he looked at the other man as if he was the one who was glitched. Then his expression shifted to one of mixed annoyance and offence; if the other was playing a joke on him, he found it to be in very poor taste, given his situation, and not funny at all. But then, realization began to dawn on Clu as he thought about the other's strange appearance, the way he'd felt drawn to him, almost as if being summoned to an I/O Tower, the inherent sense of rightness and safety that simply being in the other's presence provoked in him... Clu's eyes went wide, his face breaking into a broad grin as he whispered reverently, "My User..."
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Clu found himself nodding enthusiastically to Flynn's reassurances, a giddy sort of awe dancing through his code. Of course nothing could hurt him with his User standing right there! "Yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir!", he blurted out happily, hardly daring to believe his own good fortune. Then, however, a thought occurred to him: if his User was here, perhaps his last memories weren't faulty after all! Perhaps his User had seen fit to rerezz him as a reward for his dedicated service? "Sir? You... did you rerezz me here?"
That single question seemed to open the floodgates. "Where's Bit?", Clu asked, looking around them as if expecting the little companion program to appear. "Was it alright? Did you bring it here as well, Sir? How long was I offline?" He paused, the grin which had seemingly become a permanent part of his face vanishing for a moment as he looked contrite. "I... I'm sorry that Bit and I couldn't find your file for you, Sir." On some level, Clu was aware that he was babbling a bit and probably not making a great deal of sense, quite in contrast to his usual nature, but hey, meeting one's User and Creator could throw any program a bit off kilter.
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'I need to get those scratches and armour pixilations fixed, man. How about you come back to my apartment so I can fix you up? It's not far. Just a few miles north-east of here,' he smiled. 'I know you're asking if I rezzed you here, I can honestly say that I didn't. The portal must have somehow brought you back. Even I can't explain that. Strange things have been happening all over the Grid. Users being transported here. Programs who were derezzed, suddenly rezzed again,' he shook his head, smiling.
'I'm not sure where Bit or your tank is so.....I can code you another Bit and tank. I've been here a few cycles now, so I know a thing or two about coding things,' he shot Clu a knowing look. 'Right now, the priority is to fix you up, buddy. You're in a bit of a state. Can you ride a light cycle?,' this was a question that even Flynn wasn't sure about.
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The grin finally faded from Clu's face (for the most part) when Flynn mentioned coding him a new tank and bit. The tank he didn't mind, and in fact, would love to have. His tank had really been more of a home to him than the small personal residence he'd had in his home sector, but still, it was only a thing and could be replaced. But Bit... how could he just replace Bit? Bit was his friend, his only constant companion for over 50 cycles. He couldn't just replace it! But he also couldn't deny his User's wishes, especially not when he was being so kind to him.
"I would love to have the new tank, Sir," he said. He almost continued with a 'but', but caught himself, remembering. 'No "buts" Clu, that's for Users.' Clu tried to pick his next words carefully. "Bit, though... Bit is my friend. I... I would like to try and find it, if that's alright, Sir, though if you wish to create me another as well, I will accept both." There, not a 'but' in sight.
When asked if he could ride a lightcycle, Clu tilted his head slightly to one side slightly, processing. He'd never had to before, but if conscripts with sub-standard training could do it, he supposed it couldn't be that hard. Right? "I can try, Sir," he replied.
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He was pleased at finding Clu again and the enthusiasm he showed for his User. 'I know how much Bit meant to you so I'll help you in your search. But first, let's get you back home, huh? Riding a light cycle is a piece of cake, man. You can do it if you can pilot a tank,' he pulled out a spare baton from his pocket and passed it to Clu.
'All you do is take a run up and hold the baton out in front of you like this,' Flynn showed Clu the motions in what he was describing. 'You jump on then control the bike with the handle bars and your feet. Just stay behind me because I know the way back home. Do you have any questions, man?,' he watched Clu silently.
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And speaking of which, Flynn was talking about lightcycles again. He simply nodded, though he privately didn't quite understand that logic, as the controls of a lightcycle had to be very different than those of a tank. Not to mention that a tank sat solidly on two sets of light-tracks while a lightcycle required significantly more balance.
Still, he told himself again as he accepted the spare baton, it couldn't be that difficult. Also, his User wished it, so he would do his best to comply. He listened carefully to Flynn's instructions, then shook his head when asked if he had any questions. "No Sir, I think I've got it." It wasn't like they'd be racing or anything, after all, just going back to where Flynn was staying. Clu looked down at the softly glowing yellow baton his hand, smirking slightly. This would be interesting.
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He dodged around some rocks on the way and loved speeding along with his program. This was a new feeling, having Clu back. It felt so good.
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Clu watched his User's actions carefully as Flynn rezzed up his lightcycle. OK! He could totally do this! Taking a running start, he copied what Flynn had done with his baton, and a yellow-circuited light-cycle rezzed into existence beneath him. He landed rather awkwardly, the cycle wobbling alarmingly for a moment, but he quickly regained his balance and followed his User.
He would definately need more practice at this if he planned to do it very often; controling a lightcycle was indeed much different than controling a tank, and required a great deal more concentration, especially on the issue of balance. Still, Clu was doing pretty well for a first-timer, and was managing to keep up with his User while maintaining control of the cycle.
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He looked behind him as he saw Clu following behind. He was alright after all. Flynn knew that his program would adapt and he was doing well for his first time on the bike. He turned a corner as he could see the outline of his apartment come into view very slowly.
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Ah well, that could come later he supposed. Right now, he had to concentrate on what he was doing and on staying with his User. He'd promised Flynn that he'd be able to keep up and he had no intention of disappointing.
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