#Defeat of the MCP

[what-bot]

Mara and Yori meeting each other during Uprising

Mara absolutely fangirls over Yori, spaceship engineer extraordinaire and fellow secret daredevil, and they (and those other two guys) go out and do the world's most insane rebel graffiti. They turn up at a wall and an hour later they've drawn the Sistine Chapel ceiling on it

[astercontrol]

You know, I have a habit of writing characters with a certain amount of self-loathing, by default.

(which I think is partly because it makes for yummy angst, and partly just 'cause it tends to be… the way characters are written, in lots and lots of fiction, and if you read a lot, it just kinda becomes a habit.)

(a habit that I made one little foray into breaking, with "A Lightcycle Built For Two," because it was a self-indulgent thing to explore a couple of very broken but highly confident and self-centered OCs instead, who have a whole different kind of angst and drama that somehow felt more relatable to me personally.)

But anyway, I haven't quite gotten out of the habit of giving the Encom programs the self-loathing kind of angst.

Which... I kinda want to, eventually?

because, as much as I like to explore that kind of emotional turmoil…

the Encom programs, going just by canon, seem to have fantastically high self-esteem.

Tron, with his "I'm also better than you!" and his "I'm gonna bust out of here, no question about that, the Users just better have their shit together enough to be there when I do"

Yori with her "it's very illegal! and I can still do it, no prob, you can always count on me!"

Ram whose reply to a compliment is basically "duh, if I wasn't awesome I'd be dead already"

and they're not mean! they're all sweethearts! but ...they love themselves and believe in themselves, wholeheartedly.

I mean, not that they don't know their limits. Ram warned Flynn and Tron that "just the three of us" wasn't enough to defeat the MCP. Clu started to express his doubts, before Flynn shut him down with "buts are for Users." Crom objected pretty fiercely at first to being drafted into the Games, since it was so far outside his purpose and he was sure he wouldn't be good at it. Dumont argued with Tron about whether overthrowing the MCP was really possible, even with the help of his I/O Tower and a connection to Alan-1.

But they also know their strengths, and have no trouble owning up to what they are good at. When they're confident, they're confident.

Interesting, though, how the villain team consists of the most confident program of all--

and also the one who, secretly, is the least.

[coupleofdays]

I have recently been thinking about the term "Artificial Intelligence", and how it might be defined in the Tron universe. What I find interesting is that most of the conscious entities in the digital world in Tron weren't intentionally created by humans to be conscious. They didn't intend for actuarial programs and security software to have thoughts and feelings. And yet, what can be called "intelligent life" somehow grew inside the ENCOM computers, unbeknownst to the humans. The same can of course be said about the ISOs, who weren't intentionally created by Kevin, but just showed up one day, again having grown out of the Grid somehow.

What's really interesting about this is that as far as I know, there are only two digital entities in the Tron universe who were created intentionally by humans to be "intelligent": The Master Control Program (created by Dillinger) and Clu (created by Flynn). And what do these two creations have in common? They're the antagonists. The bad guys. The main villains that have to be defeated, by the humans and by the unintentionally conscious programs.

I don't have any well thought out thesis about this, just some random thoughts. Is the message of Tron that life is only good if it "grows naturally" instead of being intentionally created? Are there some other interesting commonalities between the MCP and Clu that are relevant to this idea, such as the fact that they consider themselves better than their creators? Or that both Dillinger and Flynn intended for their creations to "run things" better than a human would? Is there some kind of reading to be made that could be a criticism agains the current "AI" trend?

It also makes me genuinely curious about how the upcoming third Tron film will handle the subject. Because I can't imagine that it won't be dealing with AI in some regard. Will there be an intentionally created AI in it, and if so, will it be a good guy or a bad guy?

[fights4users]

Thinking about Tron and how it is a fantasy disguised as a Sci fi. There’s been essays on this before and I think they capture it better than I could put it, but if you really think about it the movie is sold as a Technological fantasy. Imagining this fantastic digital world in the computer, a newer technology now in peoples homes used more than ever. (Seriously look back at old marketing materials and magazines even the novelization and storybook and how they talk about the film.

It’s made me think about how Tron follows one of the staple Fantasy tropes of a “Rightful king”. The throne has fallen to some great evil, a tyrant, and those who should rule are displaced or not there yet. It’s the “everything is utopian once we have the right guy on the throne”. It’s true here!

Once the MCP is defeated the users are restored to their place of “rule” within the system. (It’s more complicated than that but stay with me) and in the real world Flynn has taken his rightful place moving up in the company as he should have originally before his games were stolen. He’s one of the heads of the company post time skip (everyone likes to ignore it’s a time slip and say it was instant. We don’t know how long). The rightful king.

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

Home Sweet Home AU: Martyrdom

Thatcher gets a late night call from an unknown number, saying they have something they need to discuss.

TW: blood, mentions of/implied character death

Notes: around 3'800 words long, being the shortest HSH fic so far. I don't have much to add here, but hope you like it!

February 12th, 1995. 10:24 PM.

Thatcher was awoken that night by the sound of his cell phone ringing in his office.

He couldn’t recall falling asleep on his couch, lying on a pile of discarded papers and dirty clothes. If he had to guess, it was due to exhaustion and/or sleep deprivation, though he could barely remember anything aside from staring at the wall for an hour or so. He groggily sat up, holding his head and wincing when an all-too-familiar headache pounded in his skull. Everything felt sore, with his right shoulder feeling as if it was ripped out of socket again. He looked down at his shoulder, pulling away his shirt to see that his collar bone was still pressing against his skin awkwardly, causing a bump in his shoulder. He sighed, remembering the reason he no longer laid on his side as he tried to ignore the deep pain shooting from it.

Oh right. The phone.

Thatcher stood up, letting out a deep, somewhat annoyed groan as he made his way to his office, pushing open the door to see the phone on his desk. He stood still for a moment, pondering whether or not he should simply let it ring and go to voicemail. Despite his best efforts not to care, he sighed in defeat and answered the phone, expecting to hear the sound of one of his co-worker’s voice, telling him to come into the station for some late-night incident or something.

“Thatcher Davis, MCP—”

“I already know who you are.”

A familiar voice, though not one that felt necessarily comforting in that regard.

“Who is this?” Thatcher furrowed his brows, absentmindedly beginning to pace back and forth in his office.

“That doesn’t matter right now.” The man on the other end of the phone stated. “St. Gabriel’s Church, as soon as possible. I need to talk to you.”

Thatcher paused in place, staring at the floor before speaking quietly yet urgently. “…I won’t do that until you tell me who is speaking.”

Silence for a moment.

“You know me.” The man said. “You ruined my life.”

“…I d—”

“Meet me at the church, tonight.” The man commanded. “This is an urgent matter. I’ll be waiting in the west bell-tower.”

The caller hung up, leaving Thatcher in a confused haze as it attempted to figure out who it was, or why the voice was familiar. The man’s somewhat raspy, yet desperate-sounding voice resonated in his head, despite the concern and almost fear of taking the call. He stood in place, staring at his phone before flipping it shut and shoving it into his pants pocket. He took in a breath as he silently approached his desk, opening a drawer and seeing nothing but junk inside. He brushed it all away before he finally found what he was looking for; his pistol. He grabbed it, checking the magazine to see that it was loaded before looking back into the drawer and fishing out his gun holster. He threw the holster over his left shoulder before sliding his gun into it, deciding not to change into a better outfit aside from his worn jeans and faded, oversized shirt.

He walked back into his living room in silence, grabbing his grey, shabby trench coat before pulling it over his arms. He tried to ignore how it too was oversized, nor the fact that he had received it as a gift from a friend, despite it being a reminder of her every time he wears it. Perhaps it was a good thing to be reminded of her. He snapped out of his train of thought, realizing he stopped moving for a second before he finally walked into his kitchen, grabbing a pair of leather gloves to somewhat protect his thin hands from the cold. He let out a deep breath as he grabbed his keys and headed for the front door, pausing as he turned his head to look behind him. He looked towards the dining room table, one that had multiple chairs despite no one coming over. On it was nothing but a single police radio, resting in the middle of it. Thatcher stared at it for a moment, pondering whether he wanted to take it, just in case, before he decided against it. He shook his head, walking through the front door into the night, only hoping he wasn’t walking into another trap.

He at least had some comfort in knowing he had a weapon.

11:03 PM

Thatcher wished the radio in his car worked as he drove down the dark, damp road to the church. The sound of his barely functioning heater blowing through the vents was the only sound that even remotely replaced the music that would’ve been playing, though it wasn’t enough to drown out much of anything. Thatcher stared forward, seeing the snow-covered trees pass by on the sides of the road, along with the snow landing on his windshield. He glanced at his right hand, wishing he could just take a break and scratch where his prosthetic rubbed against his skin under his glove, though he decided that getting the call over with was better; at the very least it meant he could go to sleep earlier.

If he’d be able to go home at all.

After all, he was working off of the assumption that the man on the other end of the phone was a human; a real person that knew Thatcher in the past and genuinely wanted to talk about something important. Thatcher felt a sense of uncertainty wash over it as it turned down a gravel road, wondering if he was going to be lucky again and that if the man wasn’t who, or rather what, he claims to be, the gun pressed against its left set of ribs would be enough to scare it off. Though perhaps Thatcher was stupid to think it was capable of being lucky.

Thatcher slowed to a stop when it saw the tall steel gate that led into the church property, barely seeing the church behind it through the trees and snow. Light from the lamp-posts bled into the gravel lane as Thatcher exited its car, looking around before approaching the gate and pushing it open, happy to see it was unlocked. After he swung the gates to the side, hearing the shrill squeaking coming from its hinges, he jogged back to his car, hopping inside and slamming the door shut. He glanced into his rearview mirror, checking that his back seat was vacant before he drove through the gate, finally driving onto asphalt as he pulled into the large parking lot.

He parked in one of the spaces, seeing a short fence between him and the church in front of his car. He exited his car, locking it before shoving his keys in his pocket and staring up at the towering cathedral before him. It had two large wooden doors at its entrance, along with a giant circular, stained-glass window above it, with many smaller circles surrounding it. A large, metal cross was to the left side of the entrance, seemingly rusted despite the church still being active from what Thatcher remembered. He looked up towards the slanted roof, seeing two giant bell towers, with one to the right, and one to the left, reaching towards the pitch-black sky. Thatcher couldn’t help but notice the pit in his gut he felt looking up at the giant building; it almost felt like vertigo, despite not looking down. He shook his head, letting out a breath as he turned to the right, following the fence towards concrete staircase that led down to the entrance. As he walked, a figure stared at him from the west bell tower, watching him as Thatcher walked towards the entrance, pushing the heavy doors open and walking inside.

The first thing Thatcher noticed aside from the deafening silence was the vastness of the inside of the church. It had a domed roof, with painted patterns on the walls. He looked forward, his shoes clacking against the marble floors as he looked around. Lines of pews ran down both sides of him, all facing a stage to the front of the room, one with a large organ front and center.

“Hello?” Thatcher called, his voice echoing off of the tall walls. “Thatcher Davis, MCPD. You called me here?”

No answer aside from his own voice reflecting back at him. He looked to his left, seeing a few archways that led to other parts of the church, deciding it was the best place to start looking for a way into the west tower, like the man had said to meet him. He walked in between pews and walked through one of the archways, being met with a hall that led into a few smaller rooms. However, when he looked to the left, he saw a stairwell, one he presumed to lead into the tower. He paused, thinking of the inevitable pain his knees were going to feel before beginning to scale the stairs.

He walked, further and further up into the dimly lit tower as he pushed his trench coat to the side, exposing his holster and firearm in preparation in case something other than a human was up there. He could smell dust and an overall musty smell as he pushed open the small door above him that led into the belfry, poking his head into the room to see a small electric lantern in the corner, lighting up the room. Thatcher huffed, pushing the door to the side, letting it clatter off of the floor as he hoisted himself up into the room. The belfry was larger than he expected it would be, with one large, brass bell hanging in the middle of the room. He looked around, seeing a large, arched window in front of him, with the cool wind hitting his face as he approached it.

“You actually came.”

Thatcher turned around quickly, the voice startling him enough to instinctively hold his hand close to his firearm. He turned towards one of the corners, seeing a man leaned against the wall, holding his arms close to his torso, clearly cold despite wearing a thick, turtleneck sweater. Thatcher looked up at the man’s face, his intense stare and low brows feeling familiar, though it took a few moments for Thatcher’s mind to finally connect the dots.

Arthur.

“Mr. Heathcliff.” Thatcher stated, almost surprised to see the man after so long.

Arthur’s eyes had dark rings around him, and his blank, yet irritated stare didn’t wane. “Lieutenant.” He responded, as if saying the word was some sort of profanity.

“Why did you call me here?” Thatcher questioned as Arthur stepped away from the wall, approaching Thatcher yet keeping his distance.

“I needed to…talk about some things.” Arthur said. “With you.”

“How did you even get my number?”

“Asked around.”

Thatcher remained silent, not super confident that who he was looking at was human like it seemed.

“…It’s…quiet tonight, isn’t it?” Arthur stated, looking through the window, past the parking lot and towards the lights in the distance from the town.

“What are you even doing up here?” Thatcher questioned, standing beside Arthur as he stares at the priest with a look of mild annoyance.

“It has the best view.” Arthur stated simply. “I come up here to…get my mind off of things, y’know?”

Thatcher gazed out into the distance through the window; Arthur was right about the view being nice at least, though it was hard to make out anything outside of the light from the lamp-posts.

“Though tonight, I couldn’t help but think.” Arthur continued, turning to face Thatcher with the same, almost angry look in his eyes he’s had the entire time. “…It’s been…what, nearly 3 years now?”

“…Since what?”

��…Since Mark went missing.”

The mention of the Mark Heathcliff case sent a shock to Thatcher’s system, making him skip a breath. He couldn’t respond, with an all-too familiar feeling of dread and guilt beginning to creep up inside of him.

“I’ve…been thinking about it…nonstop lately.” Arthur explained. “And I just…is he…dead, or not?”

Thatcher remained silent, staring at Arthur with a tinge of sadness added to his tired stare.

“…Well?” Arthur appeared impatient. “Is he?”

“We did all we could.” Thatcher stated, trying to cover up the uncertainty in his voice. “We…never found anything.”

“…Of course.” Arthur said under his breath, barely audible enough for Thatcher to hear.

Thatcher felt the weight of the thick air of guilt and anger around him, with the silence making it feel heavier than ever. Arthur crossed his arms, looking through the window as he thought to himself.

“…God teaches to…forgive and forget.” Arthur said quietly. “To love thy neighbor…to forgive thine enemies.” Arthur turned towards Thatcher, his face barely lit by the light outside and the light from the lantern. “But for some reason I can’t bring myself to forgive you.”

“I’m not asking to be forgiven.” Thatcher responded plainly. “…I understand what—”

“No, you don’t.” Arthur glared at Thatcher, lowering his arms as he faced the lieutenant. “Do you know how much I’ve lost? Mark runs off, and because of that, I lose the only people in my life that matter.” Arthur paused, taking in a deep breath. “…Leah and Sarah moved to Bythorne recently, you know that? Left me here…to just…rot. To try and figure out how to…fix all this.”

“I tried to help you and your family the best I could,” Thatcher responded. “I’ve done all I possibly could to try and solve this case, but I’ve already told you, we found nothing.”

“Right.” Arthur nodded, though it didn’t feel genuine. “So you ignoring the many disappearances in this town and brushing everything under the rug is you giving your all?”

Thatcher couldn’t even get a word in as Arthur continued.

“I’ve tried to forget about this; to move on and just live my life the way the Lord above wants me to,” Arthur stepped towards Thatcher, who backed away a few steps. “But it keep coming back to me, ALL of this. I’m trying to keep up a sense that I’m alright even though everything in my life is falling apart, all because you couldn’t do your God damned job.”

“You don’t think I’ve given everything to solving this case?” Thatcher snapped back.

“You failed to find him, Davis.” Arthur accused. “You barely did anything to help aside from twiddle your thumbs and take some of Mark’s junk. At least the other cop tried to help Leah as she went through the worst event of her life; but what did you do?”

“Arthur, you don’t understa—”

“I’ve lost more than you could ever know due to your negligence,” Arthur interrupted, standing in front of the window, the light from outside hitting his back. “I lost Leah, and now I won’t even be able to see my own daughter grow up. All because you didn’t do anything to he—”

“Ruth is dead because of this case.”

Thatcher felt the words leave his mouth, his tone sour and hateful. Arthur appeared to pause for a moment, at least giving Thatcher time to speak. “At least…that’s what everyone else thinks. She…I lost her, and…I don’t know where she went. I tried my fucking hardest to fix things, but now only more people are gone because of it. Arthur, I know what it’s like to lose what’s closest to you because I’ve gone through the same thing.”

Silence fell between the two, leaving them to stare at each other in a hateful silence. At least, until Arthur started speaking again.

 “…All I want is to have my family back, yet you won’t even help me with that.” Arthur continued. “If you find Mark…then maybe I’d be able to have it back—”

“You talk about Mark like he’s a burden.” Thatcher stated. “Like he’s just a prop that will fix everything in your life. Do you truly even care about him?”

Arthur stood in shocked silence, staring at Thatcher with an appalled stare for a tad too long for comfort.

“Do you?” Thatcher questioned. “Or did you just want to make another you.”

“I did.” Arthur claimed. “I…I did love him. He was my son; you think I didn’t love my own flesh and blood?”

“I never got the impression that you did.”

“God damn you, Davis.” Arthur said quietly. “I hope God will have mercy on your soul.”

“I’m not religious.”

“You bastard.” Arthur said, his tone hateful as he clenched his fists. “I’ve tried all I could, and I can only hope God will forgive me for having the hate I feel towards you. This town is in shambles because of you! All because you refuse to help those you claim to protect!”

Arthur stepped towards Thatcher, who stood his ground as he grew closer.

“If you won’t do anything, I will.” Arthur claimed. “And I know that God will reign by the end of this! I know that these ‘alternates’ will cower away from his light! And by the end you will be left alone, all because of your own mistakes!”

“Get away from me.” Thatcher growled as Arthur continued to step closer.

“By God, I’ll show everyone just how much of a coward you are!” Arthur yelled. “You failed to help the vulnerable, and now you will suffer the consequences of your actions!”

“Step BACK!” Thatcher shoved Arthur away with one of his arms before turning away. He went to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of a surprised yell behind him. He swung around, seeing that Arthur was gone, leaving only an empty, cold room behind. He heard screaming outside of the window, fading away for a second before he heard the sound of a sickening crack that sent a chill up Thatcher’s spine.

Its wide eyes stared at the open arched window in silence. Its face was a shade paler, with its eyes unblinking and its jaw slack. He couldn’t even believe just what happened, wondering if it was just a dream or nightmare. It went to fast for him to even process the events that transpired, with all that was left being a feeling of pure shock and a rapidly beating heart.

Thatcher couldn’t even bring himself to move as he stared at the open window, with the silence feeling all encompassing, choking out whatever words Thatcher could possibly say. He stumbled backwards, looking down to see the trapdoor leading into the stairwell before he silently, yet hesitantly, began stepping down the stairs, shutting the trapdoor above him.

As he frantically descended the stairwell, only one thought ran through his head, over and over like a skipping record: “No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” He couldn’t even process what he was feeling as he entered the auditorium, running into the middle aisle before rushing towards the front doors. He froze when he reached them, staring at the wood before he pressed down his sudden pensiveness and pushed open the door.

He walked out of the church in silence, staring at the pavement, feeling as if he couldn’t even force himself to look to his right in fear of what he’d see when he did. It continued to stare at its feet before forcing itself to look up and forward, his eyes not blinking once despite the growing stinging feeling from the cold. He turned to his left, walking up the stairs to get to the parking lot, staring at the ground as he walked to his car. He unlocked the driver’s side door, opening it and stepping into his car as he silently stared at nothing in particular. He started the vehicle, finally looking out his windshield, staring towards the bottom of the west tower. He froze, staring at the crimson blood dripping onto the pure white snow from above. He quickly looked away, hands trembling as he grasped the steering wheel. He drove out of the parking lot the fastest he could. He knew the guilt of what happened was going to take hold of him later on, but at that moment, he thought of nothing more than going home and trying to grasp the situation.

All he knew was he wasn’t going to sleep any time soon.

February 13th, 7:16 AM.

Thatcher blankly stared forward, his mouth covered by his hand as the light from the television reflected off of his wide open, bloodshot eyes. He sat in a dark living room, all the curtains pulled over the windows and the lights off. He watched, not blinking once as the news program played in front of his face.

“—Right now we are following the breaking news at the St. Gabriel’s church, where the priest of aforementioned church, Arthur Heathcliff was found dead on the property just this morning. Our reporters are at the scene now, with the most up-to-date news on the situation.”

The camera changed to shots of the church from a distance as another broadcaster spoke over the footage.

“We are currently at the St. Gabriel’s church, right on the border of Werksha and Mandela county, where a nearby home-owner reported that they heard screaming at around 11:45 last night. The scene is closed to the public until further notice, with the circumstances of the death remaining unkno—”

Click.

Thatcher shut off the Television, delving the room into near complete darkness. He stared at the black screen, his breath quiet and his mind blank. He was going to be called about this as soon as he went to work; he knew it. He didn’t move from his spot on the couch, instead hunching over and clasping his hair with his hands. He thought to himself, wondering how many more people were going to die due to his own mistakes; how many more people were going to suffer while he was on the force. The image of Arthur’s body, hanging from where it was impaled on a metal cross was burned in Thatcher’s mind, refusing to leave no matter how hard he tried to get it out. He hadn’t slept the previous night, remembering the hauntingly vacant stare and look of horror on the body’s face.

He couldn’t. He just couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t handle being the cause of more and more pain and death. The next time he went to work would be his last. Thatcher was a coward, and now, he knew it, so the only option he felt would help people, was to quit. He was sorry; so deeply sorry for everything he did, and everything he failed to do. He just hoped the next lieutenant would be better than he was.

He was no lieutenant, just a scared boy with a gun.

How ironic.

[toomanyfanficsnotimetowriteem]

Yet another alt character:

CLO (Original Encom-suit and Grid-suit varient)

Clo (Flynn-appointed Admin of the Encom system after the MCP's defeat) loses her way after Flynn's disappearance. Fed up with the way Encom is being run in Flynn's absence, she decides to take over. And why stop at Encom when she can rule the world, bending everything to Flynn's (really her own) image?

Either Flynn finds his way out of the Grid or sneaks out when Clu breaks out, only to find an unfamiliar dystopia ruled by another one of his creations.

(No other program stops her because this universe sees Clo eventually ruling an Encom system with many of its older programs stripped away, either by the company "retiring" them or Flynn taking his chosen few to the Grid. Clo couldn't leave or be deleted because she's tied to the heart of the system.)

Design inspired by Abraxas from Tron Evolution (though CLO is not a virus per se)

[snkts]

Charles interlaced his fingers, leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowed as he regarded the ongoing simulation in the Danger Room below. It's a deep focus, thoughts turning over each other, that furrows his brow. He glances, briefly, at Logan where he leans against the center console and stares through the glass of the window. Charles can see the tension in the other man's posture and the thin line of his mouth. He couldn't read Logan's thoughts but he could imagine them.

Misaka Mikoto was fifteen years old and the prodigal product of the MCP, a brutalistic program created by Academy City in Japan to train mutant children. Unlike any other program in the world, the MCP used a calculation based training. According to the studies that Charles had read about Mikoto, she was capable of producing electric charges as fine as miliamperes - with high precision. She knew how many columbs were in each of her shocks, could see and estimate the power of her fields, was actively solving high level equations in her head midst combat. Charles hadn't believed it. Hadn't believed a human mind, even with that level of training, would be capable of that level of precision. Until, he saw Mikoto for himself.

She had been at the Institute for three days, time enough for her to adjust from the time change and the jet lag, as well as acclimate to the new surroundings. Charles had hesitated, given her history, to run a full assessment of her but acquiesced when Scott pointed out that if she was going to be on the team - they would need to know what she was capable of. Every new student that hoped to start combat training underwent the entrance program: ten levels of increasing difficulty until failure. Mikoto had agreed and so, later in the afternoon, they ran the simulation.

She fought through a non-descript series of hallways, a maze populated by of drones and robots that worked as combatants. All of the 'enemies' were non-human, non-descript, winking out of existence as soon as they were defeated. A constant reminder that the fight wasn't real. It wasn't meant to be stressful or frightening, and to Charles increasing curiosity, Mikoto treated it as such. She ran through the levels, barely pausing to electrocute the hostiles before proceeding to the goal. She completed Levels 1-6 without breaking pace, or a sweat; so on they went, to more complex AIs, more durable and stronger enemies, and more difficult simulations. Charles wasn't sure what he was looking, or waiting, for. Yes, she had to slow down as the difficulty ramped-up, show strategic thinking instead of a blind charge but her reaction was functional and level headed. New students, even ones with combat experience, often panicked or became exhausted in their first Danger Room session. It was different, the constant escalation, the increasing demand on their powers and abilities, they reached breaking points quickly. Most did not pass Level 3 or 4. Mikoto however thrived and Charles knew why.

She was used to assessment.

What were they doing here? Waiting for her to reach some line of exertion and challenge, like every single student who had ever gone through this simulation had? Reaching Level 10 was supposed to be a graduation test. Except, Mikoto was not like their previous students, and this 'test' was feeling more like a formality the longer it went. Charles supposed they did need to know her upward limits, needed to know what would challenge her, to help her improve. Yet, this was far beyond what he'd expect of a student. He could see signs of exertion in Mikoto's form but she wasn't falling apart. She was working hard but not at her limit. Nowhere close.

"She's well trained," was Charles summation to Logan. Said with all the weight those words carried. She completed Level 9 and the Danger Room reconfigured for Level 10. "Dare I say, I think she's even having fun."

Level 10 was an intense simulation, a concentration of enemies using a variety of weaponry including rifles; using advanced and real tactics; and included aerial and ground drones. All of which were shock, impact, and heat resistant. She responded by ripping up sheets of metal to cleave them in half. Then, pulling coins from her shorts pockets to fire - streaks of gold and teeth shaking power - through the largest targets and clearing an entire hallway. She reached the end of the simulation and the planes of light faded into pale glimmers. Back in the plain space of the Danger Room, Mikoto gathered her hair off her sweat slicked neck, and rolled out her shoulders. Except for a couple scrapes, she looked as though she'd gone on a pleasant jog.

"Well, she's passed the student course with flying colors and in record time," Charles said to Logan. "I think you're going to have your hands full. Don't you agree?"

New students were always a challenge. Each one was something different. Some were homesick. Some were stubborn. Some wanted to make a splash day one.

Then there was her. Misaka Mikoto. The Railgun. She was different, and she knew it. Not just different in that she was better trained than any of her peers. Not just because she was an Omega level.

But because of what she'd been put through to get there.

Logan knew better than most. She didn't like conflating their experiences, but they'd both been experiments. Lab rats made to be poked and prodded, dissected and studied. Not people. Hardly even animals. Mostly just objects, just property. They didn't feel pain, they didn't get tired, they didn't get hungry, and if they did? Well, tough shit. That's just the price of scientific advancement.

It's worth it.

And this is what happened. If anyone ever made it out, they didn't know how to be a person. Sure, Mikoto wouldn't think that way. If you ask her, she's fine. She had a great life. Everything was absolutely perfect. Her school was great, the food was Michelin star, and she was perfectly happy. She was just fine.

Which is exactly why she was doing this to herself. Sure, she was good - hell, she was great - but that's the problem. A kid her age shouldn't be this good, especially not if she'd really grown up as cushy as she said. That was one of many hints that she was more like him than she was willing to admit.

Logan stood beside Charles, his arms crossed and his jaw working against nothing in particular. He wasn't allowed to smoke in the Danger Room - especially not the observation area. Fine. A rule he had to learn to grudgingly live with. But he could really use something to chew on right now. Helped him think - and he had a lot to think about.

"No kidding." He mutters. "That may just be the best time we've ever had from a recruit." He doesn't sound happy. He glances at Charles before looking back to the arena below. Kid barely broke a sweat. Her breathing had changed, but not nearly as much as was usually expected. Same with her heartrate. He'd been listening to both throughout her run, and her physical condition was far above what was expected. Logan took another breath and wrinkled his nose. The smell of burnt metal was getting too strong to tolerate. She'd totalled the place. Logan took a few steps closer to the window, until he was standing at the edge of the glass, staring down with that same troubled, thoughtful look on his face.

"What the hell did they do to her, Charles?"

[spaceandthedigitalfrontier]

Been meaning to post this for a while, and keep thinking about it, so for your consideration: Tron Murderbot AU.

Encom is one of the numerous companies out in corporation rim.

They produce a lot of the software that runs everything from space stations and ships to robots, and constructs, and can even be found in augments for humans.

Fcon is another company in corporate rim and a direct competitor with Encom. (Potential for a war or cold war among their colonies?)

GrayCris still exists and is still trying to mine alien remnants.

Preservation Alliance also still exists as a non corporate polity because they seem cool.

The Grid is a non-corporate polity rulled by Kevin Flynn, sort of like a private island that he has as a sanctuary.

Tron '82 AU?

All the programs are constructs???? Probably? Or robots? Probably a mix of everything.

It makes a lot of sense for Tron to be a sec unit actually. Maybe a new sec unit prototype software that Alan was working on? Either way, Alan designed Tron without a governor module.

Sark is a combat unit.

Maybe the laser exists, maybe instead it's human augments to connect to the data feed... Haven't decided yet.

The MCP probably originally started off as a hub system for encoms main port or something but hacked and took over everything on Encom's main station.

It hacks everything that uses Encom's software, gains control of much of corporation rim or maybe just Encoms colonies.

Yeah gonna be real not entirely sure what happens to Flynn instead of being sucked inside a computer here... Maybe he has an augment and the MCP hacks it/pulls his consciousness entirely into the data feed?

...in which case the programs seen in Tron are how the bots perceive themselves in the data feed??? (I think I like this one, but we'll come back to it later)

Anyway same-ish deal: Dillinger steals Flynn's IP, he flees to a small (probably seedy) space station owned by an undisclosed company and tries to hack Encom for evidence that Dillinger stole his stuff.

Will develop this later, but it has a similar outcome of defeating the MCP, realising the programs are more human than they realize

Legacy:

During his reign as Encoms CEO, Flynn buys a planet/steals one from the company for his own purposes, as well as several space stations. These collectively are called the Grid.

The Grid still absolutely still has the fun glow-y effects, partly through a bio luminescent material that grows on Planet Tron.

He also buys the space station he fled to and probably turns it into a resort/casino/arcade type place for people to play videogames.

The planet is named Tron after the prototype SecUnit created by Alan Bradley.

...Which Flynn absolutely stole for his 'digital utopia'

The grid becomes a non-corporate polity lead by Flynn.

It starts out as a sanctuary for "rogue" constructs, bots, etc.

He still creates clu (organic parts cloned from his own DNA???) to govern the grid while he is in charge of Encom.

Somehow this all still remains a secret from everyone else.

Isos are constructs from alien society that used to live on Planet Tron and formed their own society. (The aliens that built them lived in the oceans, and so the isos come from there, but can live both on land and in the sea). The isos are made with the bio luminescent material.

Flynn still treats everything like it's a game, and Clu does not appreciate that.

Same thing happens, Flynn gets stranded on Planet Tron, Clu destroys the Isos and takes over the rest of the Grid.

Somehow Sam finds it, again through some hijinks involving Flynn's arcade/port/resort

Games probably include something like the ones that Murderbot describes where the humans make the SecUnits fight each other.

Not sure what disc equivalent would be here. Probably still discs because they're a cool concept.

...Thoughts about Ed Dillinger Jr in this universe (or the version that is my muse, anyway...)

Is absolutely an augmented human, though he's hacked his augment because paranoia about surveillance and his safety.

Is something of a political refugee at On Encom's main space station though not by official status.

The suspicion is still there because relations to fCon.

Purchases a SecUnit from a third company after the incident where his father tries to kidnap him.

Immediately tells the SecUnit he needs to see it's code with the intention of hacking it's governor module and making it so it can't send data back to the company. (Because he's paranoid about corporate surveillance getting back to his father. Have I mentioned Ed is paranoid about his security?)

SecUnit already hacked its governor module.

SecUnit politely refuses.

Ed refuses to say why he needs to see SecUnit's code because he is not about to let the company know what he's about to do.

Ed's stubbornness wins this round.

SecUnit waits in anxious silence while Ed goes through it's code.

Ed discovers that SecUnit's governor module is already hacked. It takes him a little while to realize SecUnit hacked its governor module.

There is a conversation. They eventually both come clean about their intentions. Ed apologizes for scaring the crap out of SecUnit, but the damage has been done.

Most of everyone else is not happy about the SecUnit following Ed around.

While there is now an understanding, trust is tenuous from both of them until SecUnit eventually saves Ed from an attack by fCon agents that nearly destroys SecUnit and results in corrupted code, and Ed painstakingly fixes their code.

The Incident eventually gets out, which Ed is not happy about. Neither is Encom, for different reasons depending on who you ask.

...Anyway... not sure where I'm going with this, but I think it would be a cool AU.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Hollow Bastion (The Showdown)

“Did it work?” Donald asks as Sora looks at the computer with crossed arms.

“Hey! These things take time, okay?” Sora snaps.

He pokes the keyboard a few times, and a window pops up.

“Woah…” a wowed Sora remarks, “It’s doing something!”

“I think it wants to know what we wanna know!”

Sora pokes a few keys and tries to ask the computer about Riku and Kairi, very clearly STILL not getting how this works.

He gets an error message.

“Even Ansem’s computer doesn’t know…” Sora laments, sulking away from the computer.

Goofy decides to give it a try, and tries to ask the computer for information about the Nobodies.

A report featuring the Nobody Emblem appears in a window on screen, followed swiftly by an error message.

“The data is corrupt,” a computerized voice (not the MCP, Sark, or Tron) announces.

Goofy tries to ask about the Organization.

“The data is corrupt.”

“Stupid computer!” Sora snaps, before mashing the Keyboard.

The others try to calm him down as multiple windows open at odd angles, until suddenly, a picture of a light skinned, blond, bearded man with amber eyes appears on screen.

“Who’s this guy?” Sora questions.

“Welp, I see ya got things workin’!” King Mickey remarks.

“Oh! Your Majesty!” Sora and Donald reply.

The King hushes them again.

“Good goin’,” he praises, “The computer should tell us the things we need to know.”

“But it keeps sayin’ the data inside’s all ker-skuffled,” Goofy replies.

“All we got is a picture of some guy we don’t know,” Sora explains.

The King, however, does know that guy, and leaps for joy.

“Ansem the Wise!” he declares, much to SDG’s confusion.

“Come on, are you teasing us again?” Sora replies.

“Did you forget what Ansem looked like, Your Majesty?” Donald asks.

“Of course I do!” the King replies, “And this is him! I’m positive!”

“Excuse me?” Sora remarks as he takes the King’s hand and drags him out of the computer room, “Could you come this way, please?”

Donald and Goofy follow after him as Hollow Bastion’s music fades out, along with the camera.

When we fade back in, they’re standing in front of the portrait of “Ansem”.

“Look, THIS is ‘Ansem’,” Sora explains, “You know, the guy we all worked reeeally hard to defeat?”

“Oh, that’s right–” the King remarks, “I never finished explaining.”

Fade to black, fade back in to a montage of “Ansem’s” scenes form the final boss and ending of KH1

“Well, the man in the picture is definitely the one who tried to take over Kingdom Hearts – the one you fellas defeated,” King Mickey explains, “But, what you guys actually fought was his Heartless.

“Ya see, he wasn’t really Ansem. He just went around telling everybody that he was.”

Fade back to Ansem’s Study.

“You mean…” Sora’s voice trails off as he shares a glance with Donald and Goofy, before all three say the exact same thing:

“Whaaaat?”

“We went through all that trouble to defeat an impostor?” Sora exclaims.

“Yep. A fake,” King Mickey responds, “But he still had to be stopped.”

“Aw, I can’t believe it…” Donald groans.

“Uh, I’m kinda confused,” Goofy admits, “If he’s a fake, then what happened to the real Ansem?”

“Welp, that’s just what I’m trying to figure out,” King Mickey explains, “Ansem the Wise should know all about Organization XII’s plans, and what’s happening to the worlds.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll give us some help.”

Goofy scratches the side of his head.

“Don’t tell me there’s more!” Sora begs, “I’m lost enough as it is!”

“Well, let’s see,” Goofy opens, “Some feller named Ansem, who wasn’t really Ansem, became a Heartless.

“Does that mean a Nobody got created when that happened, too?”

“Yup!” King Mickey answers, “And that Nobody is the leader of the Organization!”

“Whaaaat?!?” SDG shouts.

“I know I’ve met this fake Ansem before,” the King explains, “and I’ve seen the leader of Organization XIII, too.

“Hmm, kinda felt like being around the same fella.”

“So, where did you meet this guy?” Sora asks.

King Mickey crosses his arms and closes his eyes.

“Gosh…” he comments, “I can’t remember.”

Sora, Donald, and Goofy slouch in disappointment.

“Ansem the Wise – the real Ansem – must know the imposter’s true identity,” King Mickey continues, “That’s why I’ve got to find him and ask him about it.”

Sora, meanwhile, is glaring at the portrait.

“You…!” he growls, “You started all of this! Because of you, Riku and Kairi…” Sora suddenly remembers something. “Your Majesty, do you know where Riku is?”

The King flinches.

“He’s…” he sighs, “I’m sorry… I can’t help.”

Sora looks at Mickey for a second, before pressing.

“Really, Your Majesty?” Sora asks as he walks up to the King and steps around his back and into his peripheral vision, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sorry, Sora,” the King replies as he turns his back to Sora, despondent.

“What about Kairi?” Sora asks, “Organization XIII might’ve kidnapped her.”

“Oh no!” King Mickey whirls around to face Sora, and then turns to the portrait of “Ansem”.

“Sora, Donald, Goofy,” he opens, before turning to face SDG, “I was plannin’ to go get help from Ansem the Wise. But – now I know I forgot the most important thing.

“Helping others should always come before asking others for help.

“We’re safe and sound – and free to choose! So there’s no reason we shouldn’t choose to help our friends!”

SDG nod.

“Let’s look for Riku and Kairi together,” King Mickey proposes.

BOOM!

The entire castle shakes, causing the King to briefly lose his footing until the shaking stops.

“Outside!” Sora shouts.

“Sounds like we gotta start by helpin’ out here!” King Mickey declares as Sherzo di Notte starts playing.

He dashes out into the maze-like corridors to provide his aid, and the cutscene ends.

The Battle of Hollow Bastion has begun.

The battle theme continues playing as you regain control of Sora, and Donald and Goofy are both currently NPC’s you can talk to.

There’s still that Save Point by Ansem’s Computer, and it ISN’T too late to go and finish your business in Agrabah, Halloween Town, the Pride Lands, and/or Twilight Town. You can in fact replay the summer job minigames (even if Sora won’t get paid), or play Struggle by talking to the tournament announcer. (Defeating Hayner 20 times unlocks Setzer, defeating Setzer 20 times unlocks Seifer, and Seifer is by far the easiest opponent in the entire game, even more pathetic than his simulated counterpart was during Roxas’ combat tutorial).

Regardless, exiting Ansem’s Study and going into the Corridors kickstarts the next cutscene.

Survey Robots and Armored Knights spill through a hole in the wall and flood into the Restoration Site, marching into the town and castle.

Exiting into the Corridors progresses the story.

Just outside Ansem’s Study, Maleficent and Pete are leading the Heartless in battle against the Organization’s Nobodies, with the Nobodies gradually thinning the Heartless’ numbers.

“Hear me, my Heartless!” Maleficent orders, “Attack the white husks! Sweep them away!”

“What are you nuts? We’re never gonna win!” Pete declares, “I don’t know about you, but I’m outta here, sister!”

Pete dashes down the corridor, leaving Maleficent to direct the Heartless against the Nobodies.

“You pathetic coward,” Maleficent groans.

In the manga, Pete stuck around throughout the entire battle and risked his life to save Maleficent from a crumbling tower, at which point she berated him for not doing a good enough job in SPITE of her coming out unscathed.

In the novel, she instead stumbles upon Riku’s old room from when he worked for her and starts getting nostalgic, with the implication being that she wasn’t lying when she said Riku was like a son to her. Which, honestly feels like it kinda undermines the moment where Riku stands up to his memory of her in Castle Oblivion.

She then looks back towards the battle, where most of her Heartless have fallen, and the no-longer preoccupied Nobodies have turned their attention towards her.

She also notices Sora, Donald, and Goofy dashing into the room.

She and Sora glare at each other.

With a scoff, Maleficent teleports away, then orders the Heartless to ignore the Nobodies to focus on Sora and his friends.

The Nobodies, who were only fighting off the Heartless to protect themselves, also turn their attention to Sora now that they have the freedom to.

You need to defeat all of the waves of enemies that spawn.

Another new Nobody is introduced in this battle: Dancers. They’re feminine-looking Nobodies in pink, and their swaying and pulsating is a lot more dance-like than with the other Nobodies.

Avoid them at all costs when their hands light up, as that’s an unblockable attack wherein they grab Sora, dance with him for a bit, and then throw him in the air to deal massive damage.

When fighting multiple Dancers, this can easily end in Sora getting stun-locked and killed in a matter of SECONDS.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to escape a Dancers’ grasp once it grabs Sora and starts dancing with him, meaning you are powerless to do anything but WATCH in most circumstances.

They primarily attack through kicking, however, and are weak to Magnet.

The Nobodies in the battle also ALL have more HP than the Heartless, so be aware of that.

The battle ends when there are no more Heartless or Nobodies to fight.

The Gullwings fly into the room.

“Where’s Maleficent?” Yuna asks.

“Looks like she ran away,” Sora answers.

“Well that was PRET-ty lame of her,” Rikku remarks.

“I guess we picked the wrong side,” Payne deadpans.

The Gullwings turn and whisper amongst themselves, and I have no idea what any of them say because they’re all talking simultaneously and it isn’t subtitled.

“Um, hey…” Sora cuts in, “if you’re looking to pick sides, why don’t you pick Leon’s? They can always use help.”

The Gullwings turn to face Sora.

“Does this Leon have any treasure?” Yuna asks.

“Yeah, lots of stuff!” Donald claims. (Note: I read a particularly humorous fanfic, YEARS AGO, where this claim lead to the Gullwings digging through Leon’s or Cid’s sock drawer to try and find the treasure. I sadly can’t remember the name, but it was on FFN.)

“Perfect!” Rikku declares.

“Come on,” Payne states.

“Who ARE you?” Sora asks.

“Oh, we’re nothing worth mentioning,” Yuna claims.

“Just three treasure fanatics,” Payne remarks.

“Later, taters!” Rikku shouts.

The three sparkle away.

“Did Leon… really have any treasure?” Sora asks.

Donald chuckles evilly and runs off, prompting Sora and Goofy to run after him.

In the manga, what prompts the Gullwings to ditch Maleficent is her berating Pete after he risked his life to save hers from a crumbling tower, deciding they had no interest in serving an ingrate.

The game skips straight ahead to the Postern, where SDG are met by three Dusks.

“We don’t have time for you!” Sora declares, before our Junior Heroes proceed to finish off all three in one hit each.

They dash up the ramp to the platform where they spoke with Aerith earlier, only for a beam of light to strike the ground in their path.

When the light clears, Sephiroth emerges from the spot it struck, unfurling his three wings as he rises to his feet and turns to face our Junior Heroes.

“Sora, it’s Sephiroth!” Donald shouts.

“Ain’t Sephiroth the one who’s supposed to be the dark part of Cloud’s heart?” Goofy asks.

“Did Cloud tell you that?” Sephiroth asks, “Then he must understand now.”

“Just what are you gonna do to him?” Sora asks.

“Nothing,” Sephiroth answers, “Cloud is the one who hungers for darkness.”

“He said he’s got a score to settle with you,” Sora remarks.

“I see…” Sephiroth replies, “He wants to meet me again.” He turns and walks away from SDG. “Then I should give him what he wants.” He stops walking. “That last bit of light is always the hardest to snuff out.” He rises into the air and vanishes into a dark portal of some kind before Sora can catch up to him.

Following this is a Final Mix-exclusive textbox cutscene, where the Gullwings fly overhead.

“Huh?” Sora remarks.

“They came from that hole over there,” Goofy points out.

Low and behold, there’s now a gaping hole in one of the castle’s walls, leading to a cavern that was NOT present in vanilla KH2.

“I don’t remember that being there before,” Sora admits, “I wonder where it leads.”

“We don’t have time for that now!” Donald shouts, “We have to go after the King!”

The Postern still has a Save Point, and Donald and Goofy are now NPC’s you can talk to, so no enemy spawns here.

Additionally, that hole leads to the Cavern of Remembrance, a special Bonus Dungeon created for Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix.

Even if you can survive the super powerful Heartless that call the cave home, you CANNOT reach the end until you’ve maxed out all of your Growth Abilities, so don’t even BOTHER going in now.

Instead, progress to the Restoration Site for the next cutscene, where Sora, Donald, and Goofy find Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith battling the Heartless.

“We’ll help!” Sora calls to them.

Aerith turns around.

“Sora! Behind you!” she warns, sounding genuinely worried.

Our heroes turn around to find a bunch of Dancers creeping up behind them.

Welcome to one of the WORST fights in the whole game!

These gals will JUGGLE YOU TO DEATH if you slip up even ONCE!

I struggled HARD on this battle back when I played KH2, and it’s the ENTIRE reason I DESPISE fighting Dancers!

They REALLY needed a Reaction Command or SOMETHING to turn that devastating attack back on them!

After the last Dancer FINALLY falls, Aerith and Yuffie run ahead while Leon tells Sora that the King is in the bailey.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy run straight there during the cutscene.

Upon arrival, our Junior Heroes spot a massive hole in the wall that leads beyond the borders of the town, explaining what the explosion they heard earlier was.

Sora looks out over the battlefield.

An army of Armored Knights and Sentry Robots is advancing through the Great Maw, the LARGEST Heartless army depicted yet in the series.

More Heartless approach from the outcroppings above the valley and jump down to join the assault.

There are enough Heartless that the ground shakes as they advance.

Yuffie catches her shuriken and falls over from exhaustion as the army rushes past her, until Aerith gets her back on her feet with a Curaga, and the two rejoin the fray.

Stitch leaps into action, dual wielding his blasters as he guns down Heartless after Heartless.

Payne lures an Armored Knight to a cliff, allowing Yuna and Riku to kick it over the edge, at which point reinforcements force them to retreat.

Cloud and Leon stand back-to-back on a cliffside path, Heartless advancing from all directions.

“Think you can handle this many?” Leon asks.

“Well…” Cloud replies, “Might be tough if one more shows up.”

Leon chuckles.

“Then that’ll have to be the one I take care of,” he snarks.

“What, you’re fighting too?” Cloud jokes.

Leon chuckles again, and the two leap towards the armies advancing on them, cutting down Heartless after Heartless.

Fade to black.

When it fades back in, Cloud is surrounded by armored knights, when Sephiroth cuts down a dozen in one swing of his sword, Villain’s Vale just barely visible on the horizon as the music fades out.

The camera zooms up to Sephiroth’s face, making Villain’s Vale and the entire crevasse outside of Hollow Bastion look downright miniscule compared to him.

“Sephiroth!” Cloud shouts as he brandishes his weapon, and the Heartless scatter.

Sephiroth takes a handful of steps towards Cloud and points his sword at him.

“I understand that you’ve been looking for me,” the SOLDIER states as he raises his sword.

“Yeah,” Cloud replies, “Once I get rid of you, the darkness will go away.”

“Can you do it?” Sephiroth asks, “That darkness comes from your own dark memories. Do you think you can erase your past?”

“Shut up!” Cloud snaps.

“Face it – you turn your back on the present and live in the past,” Sephiroth states, “Because the light of the present is too much!”

“You don’t know me!” Cloud insists.

“Cloud!” Tifa calls.

A bright flash covers the screen as Cloud shields his eyes.

Sephiroth grins.

“I know. Because… I am you.”

He teleports away, leaving black feathers to flutter away on the wind.

Cloud glances around, then runs off.

“Cloud! Wait!” Tifa calls as she runs after him.

Some Armored Knights make the mistake of blocking her way and surrounding her, prompting her to punch and kick them all to death.

Fade to black as she glares at the nearest Heartless.

We return to Sora’s POV.

“Leon, everybody – hang in there!”

The battle theme restarts. Proceed through the hole in the wall to the warzone outside of town to continue the story.

However, before they can advance to the battlefield, the King spins/rolls through the air and lands on the ground in front of them, albeit facing towards the battlefield instead of towards our Junior Heroes.

“Okay, fellas,” he starts as he spreads his arms out, “you’ve gotta go find Riku and Kairi!”

“But Leon and the others are friends too!” Sora protests.

“Don’t worry,” the King replies, “There’s already lotsa help here.” He briefly glances over his shoulder back at them. “We’ll take care of this fight.”

“But… I promised Leon!”

Donald and Goofy give Sora a sympathetic look.

“Donald! Goofy!” the King orders, prompting both to stand at attention, “Take Sora and get goin’!”

The music fades out as the camera focuses on Sora.

“Riku, Kairi…” he opens, “give me a little time, okay?”

Donald and Goofy share a glance, and nod.

“Your Majesty!” Donald calls as he looks up in the air AWAY from his King and moves rather stiffly.

“We understand,” Goofy continues, doing the same, “We’ll go search for Riku and Kairi!”

“Right. Watch for danger!” the King directs, not even turning to face them.

“You be careful too!” Donald replies, not taking a step to take Sora anywhere.

“Wait, you guys!” Sora protests.

The King continues surveying the battlefield.

“Sora, do as you’re told!” Donald replies.

“You’re comin’ with us whether you want to or not!” Goofy adds.

“C’mon Sora! You gotta be good!” Donald adds, before winking at Sora.

Sora catches on to what they’re doing.

“Gotcha,” he says with a smile.

“Well then, skedaddle!” Goofy orders.

Sora mouths a thank you.

“Let’s go!” Donald declares, and the trio rushes right past King Mickey, jumping over the edge onto the lower outcropping, catching the King off guard.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty!” Sora calls, before leaping down into the battle.

Donald and Goofy salute.

“Hope you can forgive us!” Goofy calls as Donald jumps after Sora, before jumping after them himself.

The King watches them go, sighs, but still smiles sadly.

Cue a Final Mix exclusive cutscene where a security camera scans Ansem’s computer room and spots the Unknown

It zooms in on him, fails to identify him (even calling him “Unknown”), and is swiftly destroyed by one of the Unknown’s signature energy attacks.

The Unknown slides a disk into the computer, which prompts it to load a password window.

The Unknown types in “ANOTHER” and the computer brings up six more password prompts.

The Unknown types in six passwords, and while all six are shown as asterisks, we can infer what they are from later Secret Ansem Reports.

The computer starts the system and ejects the disk, at which point the Unknown walks out the other end of the computer room and goes down to the room that’s visible from Ansem’s study but you have yet to visit.

Upon reaching the floor, it opens up, and a ramp materializes. He walks down the ramp, which dematerializes as the door closes behind him.

This leads to a spiraling ramp that leads even DEEPER below the castle, as the Unknown has an audio-only flashback about a moment that we’ll see in a couple of cutscenes, ruining the impact of said scenes by dropping the big reveal NOW instead of then.

Once he reaches the bottom, he steps into an eerily pristine and well-lit hallway, full of empty cells where his original self had experimented on Hollow Bastion’s residents. For maximum eeriness, the camera follows him from INSIDE the cells, giving the perspective the false Ansem’s victims would’ve seen all those years ago as he walks past the unlit cells, until he reaches the doorway at the other end of the hall.

He steps through, to a small room with a throne at the center, it’s back to the door.

He sits down in the throne, and the chain-patterns on the floors and walls light up, revealing a battered, blue armor on the floor.

“It has been far too long,” he comments, “’friend.’”

The camera cuts to a view of the armor and zooms out, revealing a thin, blue Keyblade leaning against the wall near the helmet.

Flashback to the Organization’s headquarters, to a few years ago, as Zexion walks  across a glass platform in a large, empty room.

“Zexion! Zexion!” Vexen calls

“Right here,” a clearly annoyed Zexion replies as Vexen dashes down the stairs towards him, “What is it?”

“Where is Lord Xemnas?” Vexen questions.

“His usual spot,” Zexion answers.

Vexen scowls.

“The Chamber of Repose?” he questions.

“Yes,” Zexion answered, “Go and see for yourself.”

“That isn’t funny,” Vexen snaps back, “I suppose I have no choice but to wait. But the clock is ticking. Time is running out. What to do?” Vexen stomps off down the stairs past Zexion. “Why is he never around when I need him? It’s almost as if he knows I’m looking for him.”

Zexion tries to make his way up the stairs.

“You know, I don’t like that place either,“ II replies from offscreen.

Zexion looks up to the pipes where his colleague is sitting.

“What about you, Zexion?” II asks from his perch, “What do you think?”

“I think eavesdropping is intrusive,” Zexion replies, “Why are you even here? You and Xaldin were tasked to recruit new members.” II jumps down as Zexion continues. “Have you forgotten, or were you procrastinating?”

“As if! I’m doing my job,” II answers, “I’ll have you know, I found one just yesterday. ‘Mar’ something. That puts the Organization’s count at 11.

“And since I’ve been working so hard, I had Lexaeus take my place for today.

“I want to rest up for tomorrow, so I can wake up feeling nice and refreshed.”

“Is that so?” Zexion questions, “Well, then, I’ll leave you to it. I have work to catch up on. Good day.”

Zexion tries to walk off, only for II to run after him.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” II remarks as he throws an arm around Zexion’s shoulders, “Come on. Stay and talk.

“Isn’t it time you told me about Xemnas’s secret?”

II releases Zexion’s shoulder and walks ahead a bit.

“How long ago was it?” II asks, “When a bunch of warriors wielding key-shaped swords appeared and unleashed a spectacular battle. And when it was all over, all that was left was a man lying unconscious without his memories. Xemnas… er,” II says the imposter’s real name, “was found by Ansem right around then, wasn’t he?”

“Your point?” Zexion asks.

“The Chamber of Repose,” Xigbar answers, “If you recall, that’s where we spent our time researching the darkness that resides within people’s hearts. It’s a graveyard that was sealed by order of Ansem the Wise.

“The first thing Xemnas did once he got rid of him was to undo the seal and build a room in the back. Ever since then, he holes himself in that room when he can, and he talks to someone.

“But who? For all I know, he’s the only one in that room.”

“Need I repeat myself about eavesdropping?” Zexion asks as II approaches him.

“Not eavesdropping,” II insists, “Couldn’t hear what they were saying. Dying to find out what it was though.

“You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you?”

“I know I would very much like to focus on my own duties,” Zexion replies, before continuing past II and up the stairs, “As you should with yours. For we need to prepare the new facility immediately, but there are only 11 of us in the organization. We’re going to need a few more hands on deck.” Zexion continues walking.

“What new facility?” II asks, “Oh! You mean Castle Oblivion?

“What does Xemnas plan on doing with that place, anyway?”

“He already shared his intentions with us,” Zexion remarks as he keeps walking.

“But did you know there’s something he DIDN’T share?” II asks, prompting Zexion to pause once more.

Silence falls over the room.

“The Chamber of Repose is part of a pair,” II explains, “The Chamber of Waking is the other.

“Another graveyard, if you want to call it that.

“It was constructed by someone other than Xemnas himself. And that’s’ where he’ll find it.

“That’s where he’ll find his other ‘friend.’”

Zexion stares at II as the cutscene fades to black.

Hollow Bastion’s battle theme starts playing again as we return to scenes from the base game.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive at the Castle Gates, where Demyx emerges from a Corridor of Darkness as the music fades out once more, an awkard bit of editing brought on by the point the new scenes were added in.

“Hey, you guys are looking lively,” Demyx greets.

“Scram!” Donald shouts.

“Didn’t we catch you messing around in the Underworld?” Sora asks, “How’d a wimp like you get into Organization XIII?”

Demyx flinches and recoils.

“I bet you can’t even fight,” Sora taunts.

“Yeah, but we can!” Donald adds.

“You shouldn’t judge anyone by appearance,” Demyx scolds.

Our Junior Heroes summon their weapons.

Demyx flinches and turns away.

“I told them they were sending the wrong guy,” he grumbles.

“Who is this kook?” Sora questions.

“Remember, the Organization’s made up of Nobodies,” Goofy reminds him.

“Right – no hearts!” Sora remarks.

“Oh, we do to have hearts!” Demyx claims, “Don’t be mad…”

“You can’t trick us!” Donald snaps.

“Silence, traitor,” Demyx coldly replies as he points at Sora.

All of the required Organization XIII battles so far have used either The 13th Struggle or Tension Rising.

For the first time ever, The 13th Dilema starts playing as Demyx forms a dome of water over himself, and summons his sitar to his hand, forming it out of the water.

Cue Demyx’s ACTUAL boss battle.

Demyx opens the battle by shouting “Dance Water, Dance!” and summoning a bunch of clones.

Destroy them all within the time limit, or you’ll get the “minigame/mission failed” game over screen, with Sora looking disappointed.

No in-universe explanation is provided for why failing to destroy all the water clones in time does this, but whatever.

When the water clones are turned into music notes, Sora can use “Wild Dance” to take a lot of them out at once. Be warned that the Water Clone you initiate “Wild Dance” with will not count as defeated until the end of the Wild Dance, meaning that time can run out while the only water clone left is one that you’re spinning around as a flail, and it’ll still count as a failure.

Fire and Limit Form are also good to use, thanks to Demyx and his Water Clones counting as Blizzard enemies.

As soon as the last water clone falls, the fight with Demyx begins proper.

He attacks by summoning jets and waves of water to strike you with, leaping around the arena and calling up geysers behind him as he goes.

He can do this even when knocked into the air by aerial combos.

He’ll even summon blobs of water from above to dump on Sora. He’ll also summon several water spheres around himself and detonate them.

Occasionally, you’ll get the “Show Stealer” Reaction Command. Hitting it will cause Sora to interrupt Demyx’s sitar strumming to stun him.

Failing to hit it will result in a cutscene where Demyx slams his sitar into Sora’s face.

He’ll occasionally repeat his “Dance Water, Dance!” attack, such as when his health drops below half, so try to be quick.

And as you’re outside the town’s limits, the defense system can’t help you.

Wisdom Form, Fire Magic, and Thunder are the best strategies here.

Many people consider this to be one of the most frustrating bosses in the series.

Kinda appropriate when you realize that the Dancers work for him.

Defeating Demyx awards Sora with an Armor Slot and Blizzard Element (boosting Blizzard to Blizzara), Donald with Blizzard Boost, and Goofy with +4 Max HP.

In the post-fight cutscene, Demyx’s sitar dissipates back into water, and Demyx himself wails in despair as he fades from existence, vanishing into a pillar of water.

“Anyone from the Organization who’d like to be next?” Sora asks.

“Hey Sora!” Donald shouts, “Don’t antagonize them!”

“Yeah, we gotta go help our friends out first,” Goofy adds.

“Oh. Sorry,” Sora sheepishly replies.

“Then lets go!” Donald shouts.

He and Goofy take a step forward.

“Aha! There you are!” the King shouts.

He stomps up to the trio and crosses his arms.

The trio have the decency to look guilty, but the King drops the act pretty quickly.

“You sure have lotsa friends to help,” he remarks, “So, I guess we better all pull together and finish this battle for good!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” SDG chorus.

King Mickey walks towards the trio, unaware of the battle between a Survey Robot and a Dusk on the cliff above his head.

BOOM!

Goofy notices that some of the debris is heading straight for the King.

“Look out!” he shouts, shoving the King out of the way.

The boulder hits Goofy square in the head, sending him sliding across the ground and hitting a rock wall.

“Goofy!” Sora shouts as he, Donald, and the King rush over to him.

“No…” Mickey mutters as he realizes Goofy isn’t getting up.

Sora and Donald run right up to his side.

“Hey! You’re the King’s captain! You gotta get up!” Donald shouts.

“C’mon, wake up!” Sora begs.

“I’m sorry about the ice cream!” Donald adds.

“Goofy…?” Mickey begs.

No response.

“Goofy…” Donald weeps into his friend’s chest.

“This is not happening…” Sora tells himself, “It can’t be happening… It can’t…”

The King’s fingers curl into a fist as his eyes harden into a glare.

“They’ll pay for this.”

He tears off his black coat to reveal his Kingdom Hearts II outfit, summons the Kingdom Key D, and rushes towards the battle.

Donald’s grief turns to rage as he brandishes his staff and charges into battle.

Sora spares Goofy one last look before rushing after him.

The camera lingers on Goofy’s unmoving body for a few seconds, before cutting to Sora running further into the battlefield as the cutscene fades to black.

-

GOD this is tragic and epic and lore-filled and Goofy fuckign DIES but also I’m laughing because the Final Fantasy Characters /REALLY/ seem to just be doing their own thing with no fucking context why are they here lmao

[solar-siren]

Angstpril Day Eight: Mind Games

“You might as well give up,” Dyson says, scrolling through Tron’s code. “You’re only making this harder than it needs to be.”

“Traitor,” Tron hisses. He tries to arch off the board he’s bound to, but the restraints hold. His lightlines flicker between orange and blue. Despite severe energy loss and a virus running rampant through his code, he’s still too stubborn to turn.

“No,” Dyson says, almost gently. “I’m not your enemy. You’re just confused.”

Another program steps out of the shadows behind him, washing the room in golden light.

“We’re going to help you,” the Luminary smiles. Tron glares at them both despite the fear he feels. He knows what happens next. He’s been through this before. 

Most of it.

He braces himself as best he can, tries to shield himself with truths and important memories. Important people. 

With Clu standing before him, the first that comes to mind is Flynn.

Flynn was his friend, one of the first he ever had. Flynn saved him, fought beside him on the ENCOM system. He risked his life to help Tron defeat the MCP—

And stole him away from his home. Dropped him on a system where his function was moot. Separated him from his User. Left him to fight battles he wasn’t designed for, always waiting for a Creator who rarely deigned to appear. Tron had given his life for Flynn, and Flynn ran, left him there to   die alone—

“Lies,” Tron says.

“Really?” Clu frowns, stepping closer. “Which part?

“Did the two of you have some kind of reunion I don’t know about? Did he aid your little rebellion? Did he even look for you after you bought him time to escape?” Tron stares at a circuit line on the wall. “No? I didn’t think so,” Clu says. He sighs as he steps back. “There’s no point in fighting, Tron. Everyone you care about either died or left you behind.” 

“No.” He knows that isn’t true. Beck and Yori escaped. They ran like he told them to.

And they almost made it, but he was faster. The corruption had already set in by the time he warned them. Their backs were turned when he threw the first disc. The beta didn’t even have time to scream before he crumbled to cubes. Yori stopped running, turned to look at him with such horror in her eyes—   

“That’s not real,” Tron says. His voice is mostly level.

He knows that’s a false memory. He  remembers Beck and Yori getting away. Remembers the satisfaction that came with the pain, knowing he would never see them again but that they would be far beyond Clu’s grasp.

“Who are you trying to convince?” the Admin asks. “It’s understandable that you’d be in denial. But you have to face the truth at some point.” He smiles blithely. “I’m sure they would forgive you.”

Yori had said as much, hadn’t she? When he backed her against a wall, his disc at her throat. When begging didn’t work (“Tron, please. Come back to me. Don’t do this. Please"), and she knew she was going to die, she somehow managed to smile and say she forgave him. And then he pressed in closer and she screamed—

“Stop!”

He thrashes, unaware that he’s doing it. If he had his disc he’d shut his audio inputs off. That sound is the most terrible thing he’s ever heard, and it keeps getting louder, Yori screaming in agony he caused— 

It stops. Tron gasps for air, shaking. The sound is gone for now but he remembers—will never be rid of the memory. Clu watches him with something like pity. Dyson’s hand still hovers over the interface of his disc.

“I didn’t,” Tron says, but already the certainty is gone. Clu frowns.

“Why would I lie to you?” he asks. Tron blinks. The question seems genuine enough.

“Because–” he starts, but the thought is gone before he can finish it. What is  wrong with him?  

“You’re broken, Tron,” Clu says gently. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt Yori. It isn’t your fault. I only want to help you before you hurt anyone else.”

“Flynn,” Tron says. Flynn could bring Yori back. Flynn could fix him. Flynn should be here.

“Flynn left us.” For a nano Clu’s eyes glint, but then he’s smiling again. “You don’t need him. You have me now.

“And I’m going to make you perfect.”  

[evroncia]

Today the Parliamentary elections have taken place with the exit poll just being released by the Office of Data, they said that while it cannot be confirmed 100% these will be the %s of the election.

For the benefit of our international readers we will put M for if the party is monarchist, A for Abolitionist and N for Neither.

The Revolutionary Party (A) 34%

The Crown Party (M) 35%

The Party of Evroncia (M) 11%

Party of Grenan Science (N) 5%

Party of Theocratic Concerns (N) 7%

Party of Republicanism (A) 8%

This has been an unexpected defeat from the Party of Evroncia, with their leader resigning from their post. The Evroncia Supporters seemed to have lost their faith after local MCPs were caught in a scandal of bribery in the departments they had ran.

The Revolutionary Party has come out with an unexpected second place after commitments were made by the Revolutionary Party to make TWO new colonies for the Grenan people. The Leader of the RP has said that democracy is one step closer to becoming real.

In non election news, the Royal Society of Rocks has found a new type of gas reserve on local planets in the area with some local lords using colourful gases as makeshift lava lamps, a primitive decoration.

[coupleofdays]

In the original Tron film, the Identity Disc is introduced as an object given to the gladiators forcibly conscripted by the Master Control Program, containing their identity and personal information, also to be used as a weapon. What's notable is that not all Programs in the film carry these Discs, they seem to be only used by MCP conscripts and underlings. Tron later has his Disc modified in some way by Alan-One, so that it can be used to defeat both Sark and the MCP. To me, this seems like the story of an opressed person turning the weapon given to him by his opressors, intended by them to be used to fight for them, against them instead. For all we know, after the events of the film, Tron might have gotten rid of his Disc, since apparently Programs in the ENCOM system doesn't need them.

In Tron Legacy, however, every Program, opressed or otherwise, apparently carries Discs, and Tron Uprising suggests that these are an integral part of each Program, with those Programs who lose their Disc risking losing their minds as well (though I recently rewatched the Uprising episode "Identity", and I think there are some small hints in it that even after losing their Disc, a Program's most important personality traits and emotions still remains to some extent). Which really makes me wonder, was it Flynn who decided to build his new system this way? Did he think Identity Discs was a convenient way to perhaps access and modify his Programs, perhaps forgetting that they were originally a tool of opression? Or maybe he was aware of the opressive connotations, and that was why he gave himself a Disc as well, as if to say "I'm not above you"? Or maybe he just remembered how much fun it was throwing them around? The fact that the ISOs are also apparently "born" with Discs might suggest otherwise, but I choose to see it as ISOs, though spontaneously appearing, still reflecting some aspects of the created Programs.

These thoughts are what makes me really interested in the upcoming Tron Identity, since the plot apparently focuses on Identity Discs. I wonder if the game will end with something like the Programs realizing that "the identity was inside you all along", and finding a way to live without these obviously quite deadly weapons (ooh, a message about gun culture, perhaps?). Though at the same time, I wonder if Disney would allow that, considering how iconic the Discs are for the Tron franchise. It would be like having a Star Wars story where the Jedi decide that lightsabers are too violent for a supposedly peacekeeping religious order. Thematically very interesting, but how are we going to sell laser-sword toys then?

[coupleofdays]

Imagine Tron having to get past this monster to defeat the MCP.

ya’ll i am fucking sobbing at these photos of a horse catching a frisbee 

valid to eat frisbees

[fights4users]

Additional lore from the novel

Now not everyone considers novelization’s cannon, which is a real shame as they add on a ton to the film. Especially ones made back in the day as they’re A lot closer to the script etc.

Here’s a bunch of stuff from the novelization I either shared (or haven’t) that made me lose my mind. Between lore, world building and extra bits of characterization. I love learning more about this world and oh boy does the book do that

Tron is a hope symbol and champion long before he’s free or defeats the MCP. He has managed to survive in the games for so long without breaking - he hasn’t lost and never gave up his faith. This program is that little bit of hope for all the user-believers captured or otherwise.

Encom is already a mega corporation in 1982- like the MCP takes systems, it gobbles up smaller tech companies. It’s actually hard to pinpoint what they actually *do* there besides “everything”

Tron has a slew of trauma from his time in captivity, both from being worked into a killing machine and from the isolation the cells can bring (it’s also made clear that the schedules of working them through the games lead to socialization, both being in cells to talk is very little)

The MCP controls the color of circuits and how a program presents them. The spectrum is limited to Blue user believers and Red elite. As well as the patterns being much more natural and flowy, but made so harsh under his regime.

The novel shows us a lot about power , the transfer of it as both an act of love and a life Source. By restricting it to such an extent half the population is essentially zombie worker drones without much function- they move and communicate but there’s no thought behind any of it. With warriors there’s just enough given to them to keep going, to fight but not much else there either. It also goes into how it can be transferred to save another’s life or… uhhhhh other reasons. (These two acts are different and very specialized, you have to have intent so transfer is not inherently sexual)

Circuits are described by Flynn to look almost like acupuncture lines… sensitive circuits confirmed? (There you go nsfw tronblr lmao)

Circuits are moodrings! But they’re also a show of power level. As when we first see Yori as an automated worker she’s extremely dim.

Yori was a premier design coordinator before the takeover, like Lora she’s high ranked and undisplayable at her job.

Like Alan, Tron hates waste

Tron and Yori have an apartment together. It is important you know this.

Confirmed! Game grid is not part of the main computer and is in “another domain” considering how the Crom/Flynn match showed up on a bus station’s game machine. It is a massive area. (Opens the potential of games across the country being used in the gladitorial style)

[opmun24crisis]

Hostile Takeover!!

1 March 1965

The Alliance Party saw a massive defeat. The Malaysian Communist Party (MCP) and the Barisan Socialis (BS) have forecfully taken over the state legislation of Kedah and Selangor respectively. The people support their rule as the federal government's imposition of martial law is undemocratic and their takeover is legimate due to popular support. This is because the states felt the federal government has been poorly handling the economy and ruled with an iron fist. Both state legislatures refuse to pay their state taxes citing government incompetency.

[not-that-dillinger]

🗑️ for a scrapped element of the blog.

/* Back when I first started writing Ed, I forgot about that bit in The Next Day where he's talking to the MCP and it shows his username is EDJ_0431, and there's a few early threads where his username is ED_JR. I still have a headcanon that after the MCP was defeated, the Encom System essentially said 'never again' and any username with 'Dillinger' immediately gets blocked. He kept having to make a new account, and IT was completely clueless as to why it kept happening. On a hunch, he made a bunch of throw away accounts with the name 'Dillinger' to test that theory. Regardless, his canon username still fits the heacanon.

Another: some time ago I decided he needed an emotional support animal, and gave him a parrotlet.... The parrotlet has since been replaced with somewhere between four and six pigeons.

When I first started writing him, I decided Ed was very much a punch clock villain. First thought was 'ah yes, this man has a very healthy, work-life balance. He leaves work at work.... as it turns out, 'leaves work at work' is true. Healthy work-life balance... not so much, because he stays way later than is healthy or in some cases just. Does not go home.

And I say punch clock villain because he was supposed to be written closer to what the original creators intended in canon, but apparently I cannot write villains. At all. */