when I rule the world
Who: Seriously AU Clu
Where: Grid Arcade or nearby.
When: About now. Post-labyrinth, probably.
What: It's Clu! Only...how weird, he doesn't seem to want to kill anyone.
Warnings: Angst. Violence only if your characters attack; Clu doesn't want to fight with his good suit on.
The suit collar itched, and Clu tugged at it with a grimace. He could appreciate the fondness for tradition, but this was such an irrational one. If there weren't so many other things to focus on first and if he'd had to do this any more often, he'd have found some way to make formal dress more comfortable...
And then he blinked, constricting tie abruptly forgotten.
Where was the main entry terminal, and Security's checkpoints? Where were Tron and Jalen, who never failed to meet him, or the excited young Isos always crowding about the outbound links? Where was Flynn, who'd gone in just ahead of him? The re-digitization had gone without trouble, as far as he could tell, but where was his Grid?
He seemed instead to be in some kind of old and run-down system, from the ancient code structure and the lack of proper lighting...Clu turned. The nearest building had a sign overhead. Flynn's.
An unwilling smile crooked up one corner of Clu's mouth. As a prank, this was rather inconvenient but remarkably well done. Had they coded this entire system in the old style? Built just for his benefit, or was this a ploy toward that historical display Eckert kept hinting about?
It probably would be popular, but this wasn't a place in Clu's runtime that he wanted to revisit. Where in this replica was a comm terminal...ah. There.
"This is Grid Co-Admin Clu," he said briskly, hoping the main Security channel would get through to whoever was running this little theme park. "Very clever design, but this isn't exactly a warm greeting for the Earth-born tourists. And the place had better run faster than it looks," he added, with some irritation. "I promised Jalen this trip wouldn't take long. Please get me a link back to the Primary Grid at once."