for sudo_run_clu: Execute Program

[tonyf_ingstark]

It was a whim, really. The old arcade up on the market probably would have escaped his notice if not for the tiny details a little semi-automatic research flagged up. The place had been closed for years, but still drawing power from the city grid. Far more power, actually, than could be accounted for, unless something or somebody was living or

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[sudo_run_clu]

The Rinzler flipped easily out of the way of the blast then returned fire, and the security programs ducked the others, several hurling their discs in retaliation as Clu neatly sidestepped as he reprogrammed the other soldiers.

Soon there were many suits of armor pursuing Stark.

[tonyf_ingstark]

Shit. Tony activated the jets, shooting out of range of the discs and up, aiming high-energy bursts at his pursuers whenever there was an opportunity- but one thing was becoming rapidly clear. He was hideously outnumbered.
Somehow, he had to lose them. He'd fought duplicates before- it was a case of relying on your originality to surprise them. Unfortunately this time, there was literally nowhere to hide. The grid was Clu's.

[sudo_run_clu]

A few programs were caught by the blasts and derezzed with a scream as they fell, but Tony was eventually herded into a narrow area with an arched ceiling. Then a black and yellow suit of armor appeared before the tunnel exit--Clu. He held up his hands before him, one palm up, then other down -- he flipped them suddenly and the entire building tilted on its axis.

[tonyf_ingstark]

There wasn't time. The laws of gravity simply reversed while the suit was executing a sharp turn, trying to break through the growing crowd of similarly armoured programs- and he smashed into the ceiling turned floor with blindingly fast velocity.

He attempted a recovery, but the suit- even a programmed copy of it, had limits- and when his opponents could literally control the force with which he impacted, there was little to no chance of success. The pain was immediate, real as if he'd just endured a few rounds with the latest armoured villain to come after him, and his control was fading. The yellow-black suited Programmer advanced and Tony made one last effort to get his failing suit to respond to commands.

[sudo_run_clu]

Clu landed beside the crashed User, the helmet retracting to reveal his smirk as he walked over and pushed Stark onto his back with his boot.

"That was a clever trick, User, but you must be removed to protect the Grid."

There was a sudden vacuum of noise and power--like the sea pulling back from the beach. The energy crashed back in with a rush, blowing the programs and their Programmer back against the walls hard enough to leave them dazed.

There were new hands grasping at Tony now, trying to pull him up as a voice said urgently, "Hey man! Get up, c'mon, we gotta go!"

[tonyf_ingstark]

How exactly Tony worked his way back onto his feet was a little hazy- but somehow he was upright, ready to follow instruction. If Clu was the regulator, perhaps this new element was his counterpart. Either way, going with him seemed a better idea than lying on his back and letting the program try to 'remove' him.

"Go?"

[sudo_run_clu]

"Yeah man, Clu's not going to listen to anybody right now -- Gotta get you out of here."

It was an older bearded man, that Tony would recognize once he truly looked -- those blue eyes were unmistakable. The man watched as the security programs got to their feet, starting to pursue, but every time he held up a hand there was another wave of power which knocked them back. He hustled Tony onto the back of a white motorcycle, then climbed onto the front -- the top ratcheted up and enclosed them.

Clu was staggering to his feet, his face twisted into a mask of absolute rage and pain. He held up an arm and fired several blasts at the bike as it began to pull away while he screamed, "FLYNN!!"

Soon they were racing out of the city, and Kevin Flynn gave a low chuckle, "Woo, I don't who you are, man, but you really got Clu into a twist."

[tonyf_ingstark]

"Yeah, he's not particularly friendly, is he?"

Tony's suit melted back under his skin, his wounds having healed- Extremis worked fast. He flexed his fingers and watched his saviour thoughtfully.

"And you are?"

[sudo_run_clu]

The older man shivered and laughed as Tony's armor slipped away.

"Kevin Flynn, welcome to my playground...what's left of it at least." They left the city and started heading through the rocky areas of the outlands. "So how in the heck did you get in here?"

[tonyf_ingstark]

Tony frowned slightly. "You're not a program," he said, eyes flicking over Flynn's form, the world outside, and back to the man who'd rescued him. "That's not possible."

[sudo_run_clu]

He laughed again, "You got that right; I'm Kevin Flynn, dude, in the flesh. Say-- how'd you get in the arcade? It should have stayed with Alan..."

[tonyf_ingstark]

"Bought it."

There was a slight hint of awe in his voice- not that Tony Stark was well known for his reverence, but if Kevin Flynn made this whole system?

"I have questions. This system- it's so far ahead of its time. How."

[sudo_run_clu]

The bike pulled into a house, and Flynn pulled up onto a platform that began to rise into the house proper. Flynn sat up and stretched when the enclosure of the bike pulled back.

"How? Well you must of seen some of the code if you somehow got in through the sub-routines -- made quite the entrance I have to say, by the way, my ears are still ringing!"

[tonyf_ingstark]

Tony grinned slightly at the compliment- being told you've made an entrance is a compliment, in Tony's mind.

"I- the code is one thing, and getting in isn't hard. This- the virtual representation interface, though- I've never seen anything like it."

[sudo_run_clu]

Flynn climbed off the bike and walked in to the darkened house, lights turning on to follow him.

"Well that's where it all gets kind of fuzzy; it started with the Digitizer technology -- somehow it pulled me into the system and lo and behold I found a whole world in there! So I brought the grid to my arcade and started to experiment. Me and Tron and Clu -- it was beautiful stuff, man."

[tonyf_ingstark]

"You found it?"

Tony followed him, now indulging in open wonder. The system had created the interface, then. Or it wasn't an interface at all, not in the traditional sense. It hadn't been created for the user to visualise the code. It was... perception. Whose, he wasn't sure.

"Tron I haven't met. Clu's your evil twin, right?"