I think I’ve finalized Ark’s backstory. I did a little editing to the previous drafts, but I think I’ve got the story in a solid place.
Since I’m trying to style it as an episode of Tron: Uprising, a lot of the episode titles are one word, so I’m calling it “Another.”
It’s split into 4 chapters and runs a little over 5,000 words.
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Rough drafts: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Second drafts: Part 1 | Part 2 version 1 | Part 2 version 2
Final draft: Combined Parts (you are here)
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01. The Encounter
With Tron healed, he had started going on missions with Beck, along with taking on some solo missions of his own.
Strangely enough, the Occupation had been subdued lately, which was cause for suspicion, so they had gone out into Argon together to see if they could pick up on any hints or information.
Things had been rather boring, right up until they got ambushed by a group of five Occupation programs.
There were four Sentries lead by an unmasked female program with a blank expression on her face.
Beck had never seen the leading program before, but Tron seemed completely surprised at who stood before them.
There was no time for questions, though, the four Sentries rushed Beck, while their leader went after Tron.
The Sentries kept Beck occupied, coordinating their attacks to keep him on the defense and distracted.
On the other hand, Tron and the new program were fighting furiously, though neither one was landing a blow on the other. Move for move, they matched each other, striking and blocking again and again.
Beck slowly managed to take out his opponents one by one, until the last one was left unconscious.
Their leader blocked Tron's attack and looked around to confirm that her crew was incapacitated.
She disengaged from the fight, fleeing the way she had come.
Tron yelled one word after her, "Ark!"
The program paused as she looked back with a gasp, her eyes widening as she showed the first scrap of emotion since she had arrived.
It lasted only an instant before she shook her head, her expression blanked out once more, and she resumed running away.
Beck, worn out from his four-on-one battle looked from Tron to where the program had left, then back again.
Tron wasn't pursuing her, though he looked somewhat shaken at the encounter.
Beck made his way over to Tron, "You know her?"
Tron didn't take his eyes off where she had gone, "I did a long time ago."
Beck raised an eyebrow, "Care to tell me about it?"
"No."
Beck was about to protest about more potentially dangerous secrets when Tron sighed and continued, "But, I'll tell you when we get back to the lair."
Tron lead the way back, while Beck's mind buzzed with questions, who was she?
Once at the lair, Beck fidgeted slightly as he waited for Tron, he knew there was no sense in pushing him, he'd do it on his own time.
Suddenly, almost without warning, Tron spoke, "Her name is Ark."
That was the one thing Beck had figured out, but, it was a start.
"You know that you're not the first to wear my circuits. She was the second."
Beck raised an eyebrow, but chose to say nothing yet.
"Don't give me that look. It's different, we knew each other way back before the Occupation took over."
Tron walked up to the display screen and tapped a few buttons, bringing up an image of Ark, this time in blue circuits, instead of the red of the Occupation.
"She was a System Monitor. She was a hard worker and we ended up working together several times. She was friendly with the ISOs, which caused some trouble, but it ultimately saved her life."
Tron activated another image, this time, one of a cloaked program with jagged sickly yellow light lines.
"Right before the coup happened, Clu used a virus to cause chaos and further his goals. There was going to be a ceremony celebrating a share of power between Basics and ISOs, but the virus interrupted, causing death and destruction.
"Ark was stationed outside, the virus had gone in a different way, so her and some of the other System Monitors had no idea anything was wrong until programs suddenly fled the ceremony.
"All of the Monitors helped calm down the crowd and got all of the programs to safety. Then, they split up to try and find out what they could about the virus.
"Ark ended up alone in the heart of the city, when an ISO pulled her into an alley. They told her that programs were being rounded up for the Games, that System Monitors were disappearing, and that I was dead. They begged her to hide, afraid that her friendliness with the ISOs would cause her death.
"She was reluctant to give up, but the more the ISO told her, the more it made sense that something bigger than she could handle was going down. She couldn't protect the system if she was dead, so she promised to hide for a short while, but if nothing happened, then she'd continue looking for answers.
"This seemed to appease the ISO, who fled to their own hiding spot and Ark never saw them again.
"As for Ark, she found a place to hide that gave her a prime vantage point to see all of the missing System Monitors march in with red circuits to take over the city. If she hadn't been warned, then she would've been rectified like the rest of them or killed for her defiance."
Beck frowns at this, "She's rectified now, though, so what happened?"
"I did." Tron replied. "She stayed hidden for a while, until things settled down and she wasn't in immediate danger. From there, she quietly snuck around and learned about the Occupation and their takeover. She didn't care much for them, so she took matters into her own hands, stopping them from bullying innocent programs and picking fights whenever she saw just a couple of them."
Tron smiled wistfully, "In that way, you remind me of her. Both of you fought back despite the odds, because you didn't like what the system had become under the Occupation."
He sighed softly, "Anyway, it wasn't long before people were talking about some kind of vigilante, so I sought her out. We recognized each other immediately and she agreed to team up with me without hesitation.
"She was a good Renegade, but didn't last long. After more successful missions, there was word going around about a dangerous new weapon that the Occupation was working on nearby. The information seemed suspect, but Ark insisted on investigating it. To her, the risk of the weapon being real was too great to ignore.
"So, she went in alone. I waited at the rendezvous point for far longer than the meeting time we had agreed on, but she never came back. After that, I never saw her again. I had hoped that meant she was dead, rather than forced to be rectified, but I wasn't sure if that really was worse or better."
Tron shook his head, "With her suddenly showing up after all of these cycles, it's likely the Occupation is trying to use her to draw us into a trap. We must proceed carefully from here on out. If you see her, do not engage."
It was Beck's turn to sigh as he tried to process all of this new information, "All right, I promise. We won't jump into anything without being sure of it."
He walked over to Tron and put a hand on his shoulder, "We'll get her back, I promise. She recognized her name, she's still in there somewhere."
Tron nodded silently before replying, "Thank you."
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02. The Mistake
Even though Tron didn't know exactly what had happened to Ark, he could guess on the details. However, he had no idea of the depth of what went on after she was captured...
Ark understood Tron's concerns, but this time, her concerns had outweighed his. He knew he couldn't stop her from going, so he had suggested that they meet back up at a certain place and time, so that if she was pursued, he could give her a hand.
She had agreed to this, said her goodbyes, then took off. She had been studying the building and the guard patterns for some time now, so she knew sneaking in would be easy. After that, though, there was little information, just that somewhere in the building was a weapon that Clu could use to easily stop any programs that even thought about resisting. Tron, her, and anyone else they could recruit would be in even more danger than ever.
The lack of information gave her pause, though, and for a moment, she considered turning back around. But, her pride and stubbornness won out and she kept going. This was something she had to do, even if Tron didn't agree with it.
She wore his circuits, like she did on every mission, and they brought her some comfort. Even if he wasn't here with her, he was the best on the Grid, maybe some of his talents came along with his emblem.
Getting in was just a matter of waiting for the right time, and she had timed her approach to coincide with the Sentries' movements.
For an instant, she wondered that if this gap in the guards was purposeful, and that Tron was right. But, she shook her head, if she kept believing that she'd fail, then she would. Even if Tron was right, and it was a trap, she had gotten out of worse situations. They both had.
Once she was in, she wandered endless dark hallways empty of everything but her footsteps. Trying to walk as quietly as possible, she made her way through the building, until she entered a large room.
Sticking to the edges and finding nothing and no one there, she slowly walked towards the middle to see if she could find anything there.
What she found was an ambush.
Countless Sentries dropped down from above and went in after her.
Ark activated her staff and fought for her life. She derezzed what felt like endless amounts of Sentries, but there were still far more of them than she had energy to deal with. The longer the battle went on, the more exhausted she got, starting to falter and make mistakes. After receiving quite a few injuries, she finally collapsed and was immediately surrounded.
Two Sentries hauled her to her knees, holding her upright by grabbing her arms tightly. She felt a disc rest at the back of her neck, another reminder that she wasn't going anywhere of her own accord.
Glowing yellow circuits ominously appeared in the darkness and walked towards her as Ark realized just how much trouble she was in. The Administrator himself had set this trap and she had just walked right into it.
Clu leaned down, "Well now, what do we have here? You're clearly not Tron, but you're wearing his circuits. Let's see who you really are."
He reached up under her chin and casually pressed the button to deactivate her helmet and reveal her face.
As her helmet disappeared, Ark directed a defiant glare up at Clu.
"You? Now, isn't this interesting? Here I thought all of the System Monitors were under my control, but it seems I've been mistaken. I thought Abraxas had gotten you all those cycles ago. You're quite resilient to survive everything after all this time. Well, until now."
Clu paced in front of her, seemingly trying to make a decision, "What to do with you? Obviously, I can't let you go. You've been disrupting things and making a nuisance of yourself."
Suddenly, he's back in front of her, leaning down, "How about a deal? I could use more competent soldiers like yourself. Give me Tron's location, willingly join me, and you'll survive. I'll make sure that you're well taken care of, with all the comforts you desire. I can't imagine your vigilante lifestyle is terribly cozy. It's a more than generous offer, but, what can I say, you've caught me in a good mood."
Ark's only reply was an icy glare.
"Oh. You're going to do this the hard way. Suit yourself. There's ways of getting the information I want and ways of making you work for me. They won't be any fun for you, but the programs torturing you will definitely enjoy it."
He takes a step back, "I could look at your disc and get Tron's location out of your memories, but, I want to hear you say it. I want you to give up your hero and personally betray him. I want you to know that resisting me will get you and those you care about absolutely nowhere."
Clu casually waves a hand to the programs holding her, "You know where to take her."
The two Sentries drag Ark off. She doesn't cooperate with them, but, since she's trying to save her energy, she doesn't fight them, either. She just goes limp and makes them drag her along.
When they reach the designated torture room, she uses every last scrap of energy to try and break free. She manages it for a moment, but it's a short lived freedom as they tackle her and slam her to the ground.
They pick her up and drag her to a table and strap her to it. For all the trouble she's caused, one of them hits the corner of the table, causing it to spin. When it settles, she's stuck at an angle and upside down.
It's disorienting and she's left like this for a while, until a program she doesn't recognize comes in.
She's adjusted to be back upright and the torture begins. Bursts of electricity are sent through her at different strengths and at various places.
The process is horrific, but Ark seeks refuge in her code, focusing on it instead of the pain. As a System Monitor, she's programmed to protect the Grid and do what's best for it. Giving up Tron would doom everyone, so she's secure in the knowledge that no matter how much this hurts, she's doing what has to be done.
Her screams echo down the hallway, but she never begs for it to stop, she never says anything coherent at all.
The torture is endless, all she knows is pain. Ark doesn't know how much time has passed or how much longer it'll go on. Sometimes she's left alone to recover, but the peace just makes the next torture session hurt all the worse.
Her torturer seems irritated that she won't break. At one point, she was jabbed in the side with an even higher amount of electricity and pain than usual, and after that, things never felt quite right. But, it was hard to tell much of anything around all of the pain.
Cycles pass and it's hard for Ark to know where she is any more. All she knows is that she cannot give up Tron.
Finally, things are different. She's left alone long enough for her to start being able to think. The pain is ever present, but her mind begins to clear.
"Still as resilient as ever." An all-too-familiar voice addressed her. Clu strolls up to Ark, "They say you won't give up your memories, so I'm going to make sure that you no longer have any memories at all."
He turns his attention to another program in the room, "Get her healed up, but leave the scars as a reminder as to what happens to programs that defy me."
Clu looks back to Ark, "I'll see you soon." He leaves the room and his programs to their work.
It takes a while to get Ark back in functioning shape, several different healing techniques are needed in order to repair the extensive damage done to her over many, many cycles. The outlines of the vast amount of injuries remain, though, just as Clu had ordered.
They bring her to another room where Clu was awaiting them. Two programs remove her from the table, and as soon as she's free, Ark tries to break away and escape. But, she's easily stopped by several more programs she hadn't been aware of.
Clu smirks, "A fighter right up until the very end. That's what makes you so valuable. It'd be a shame to just derezz you."
Ark's shoved into a glass chamber, which she immediately tries to break.
Clu watches her struggle for a short period of time, before signaling for the process to begin.
Ark fights until she can't any more. She struggles to resist what the machine's forcing her to do, until it finally takes over and her programming is overlaid with the Occupation's mind-controlling code.
Once the process is over, she's removed from the chamber and Clu inspects her.
"A story Flynn once mentioned comes to mind. He often spoke of an old User city called Rome. There resided someone who was called 'The God of War'. I think that's a fitting title for her, she'll help me put an end to the war for the Grid. Now, she just needs the name to go along with it." He puts a hand on her shoulder and addresses her, "We've got a lot of work to do, Mars."
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03. The Rescue
Tron and Beck kept getting ambushed by Ark. Again and again, she'd show up with a group of Sentries, instigate a fight, and then flee afterwards.
They catalogued everything about every instance, especially the location, and a pattern began to emerge.
She was slowly leading them somewhere. But, at this point in time, it was hard to tell exactly where. There were many buildings in that direction, and quite a few of them were under the Occupation's control.
If they could figure out where quickly enough, they could spring the trap before the Occupation could set it.
Most of the time, she attacked them when they were together, but on occasion, she would fight just one of them.
So, Beck and Tron made a plan to split up and track Ark. Since she knew Tron and seemed focused on him, he'd fight her, while Beck would follow her when she fled.
It took a few tries to get it right. Several times, she attacked before they split up or ended up targeting Beck instead.
But, soon, everything lined up in their favor. When she was focused on Tron, Beck was able to stay back and keep eyes on her.
He kept a safe distance from Ark, making sure that she didn't know she was being followed. After they traveled several blocks, finally, she entered a large building.
Memorizing everything he thought was useful, he met back up with Tron to give him the information.
Thanks to being a System Monitor and his close association with Flynn, Tron had access to schematics of all the buildings in the city. The Occupation would've modified the building to their needs, but they had enough to work with.
Based off the blueprints and their experience with the Occupation, there were a couple places that they were likely to be holding Ark.
One of the sides of the building had a loading area, so, when Occupation members were busy unloading a truck, Beck and Tron slipped right past them.
They silently headed up the stairs, the first two floors they tried didn't look like holding areas, but the third was lined with cells.
The floor was dark, and only one cell had an active barrier and an occupant. As they crept closer, it was clear that Ark was in the cell. She was standing there with the blank expression on her face that she always had.
It didn't take long for them to deactivate the barrier and set her free. Tron darted in and quickly stunned her with a low-power pulse, just enough to knock her out for a short while.
Tron scooped up Ark to carry her in his arms and followed behind Beck as they left faster than they had come in.
Things continue going smoothly until they reach the loading area and are greeted by a group of Sentries.
With Tron's hands full, all the fighting came down to Beck, while Tron dodged discs left and right.
They weren't trying to win, just make a path to freedom. As soon as there was an opportunity, they ran for it, though Beck still had to knock down a few opponents.
Paige arrived on the scene just in time to see the two Renegades escape with a captive Occupation member.
Tron and Beck had set up a temporary base in the city, so they secured Ark and hid there while the Occupation searched the city for them.
Once they rested up from their frantic flight, they started investigating Ark's disc. Ark herself had woken up and was just staring blankly off into space.
The Occupation code seemed to be overlaid over her original code, though there were a few older memories that were mixed in and easily accessible.
A quick check of the memories revealed her repeated torture at the hands of the Occupation. There was nothing else before or after that of Ark's memories, the torture suddenly stopped, there was a gap of time, and then her memories of being with the Occupation began.
Since Ark had seemed to respond to Tron's voice before, they tried it again. Tron stood in view of her and said her name.
Like before, her eyes widened and she gasped softly, before returning back to her empty gaze.
Beck had been monitoring her disc, when she recognized Tron, a memory had briefly bubbled to the surface and he had managed to activate it.
It was a short memory, and the timestamp indicated that it was from some time before the Occupation took over.
There was no context to it, it just consisted of Ark standing there in her System Monitor armor, while Tron praised her for a job well done.
Beck looked to Tron, "Looks like she really thought a lot of you."
Tron nodded quietly, and with a heavy sigh, he went back to looking at Ark's disc, "There has to be something else we can use to bring her back."
Beck thought this over, "I'm just a mechanic, but, my wrench works with a lot of things, lemme try it."
He took the disc from Tron and attached his wrench to it. More information popped up and he started scouring the data.
The layer of Occupation code was straightforward, except for one section, where it seemed to go around and bypass something. The more he looked into it, it was clear that something was wrong, but he had no idea what it could possibly be.
"Hey, look at this. Something's off here, but I don't know what."
Tron gave it a look, "I'm not sure, either. We need a medic to figure it out."
Beck sighed, "I only know one medic, and I don't think she's too interested in helping us."
Tron looked at Beck resolutely, "We'll figure something out." They weren't on a time crunch now, so they had time to look into different options.
With nothing more they could do right now, they both took a much-needed rest.
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04. The Return
As time rolled on, both Tron and Beck investigated Ark's disc, but came to no new conclusions. Time passing also lessened the search against them, so much so, that they decided to take turns going out into the city. Maybe a change of pace would help, and maybe they could find a medic willing to assist the Renegades.
Their brief jaunts into the city were unmemorable for the most part, right up until Paige found Beck.
He had continued to wear the Renegade armor and helmet, in the hopes that someone sympathetic and loyal to the cause would offer their help, but, this time, he got slammed to the ground instead.
"Where is she?!" Paige yelled, "What did you do with her?!"
Beck saw the opportunity this presented, and the many problems that came with it, and took a leap of faith.
"She's safe, but she needs help."
Paige hissed, "She needs help because you kidnapped her."
Beck shook his head the best he could, "It's more than that. There's something wrong with her disc."
Paige growled, "She could get the proper care with the Occupation, instead of a couple of vigilantes."
Beck sighed, "Look, I'll make you a deal."
Paige interrupted, "I don't make deals with kidnappers."
"Just hear me out. If you can fix her, you can take her back to the Occupation, no trouble. I just ask that you watch her memories and make sure that you think that going back to the Occupation is the right thing for her."
This gives Paige pause and she considers it. If this offer was valid, the Renegade would take her straight to his hideout, then she'd have the location of both Renegades and the kidnapped Occupation member. There was a chance that this was a trap, but, she knew that she could take both Renegades, or at least hold them off long enough while she called for backup.
There was no way she could lose. "Fine. Take me to her. The sooner we get this done, the sooner she'll be back where she belongs."
Paige let Beck up and he lead the way, "Do you even know who she is?"
"I don't know every member of the Occupation."
Beck looked back to her, "She was locked up in a cell. Did you ever think that maybe they didn't want you to know who she was?"
Paige didn't like this, but found a plausible reason, "If something's wrong with her, maybe she was quarantined."
Beck turned his gaze ahead, "Maybe. You'll be able to figure it out once you look at her disc."
He took her around a long path, trying to obscure the location as best he could. It might be a temporary lair, but he didn't want to just hand the Occupation an invitation.
As they entered, Beck warned Tron by saying loudly, "I brought a guest."
Out of their current line of sight, Tron activated his helmet and stood watch in the corner. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he trusted Beck.
Paige eyed the sparse room, "Nice place you got here."
Beck just shrugged, "Hey, you work with what you've got."
Paige went over to Ark and started examining her. Once she's done, she looks to Beck, "Nothing seems wrong with her physically, except for some scar remnants and the fact that she never reacted to me looking her over, did you sedate her?"
Beck shook his head, "No. All of that is the Occupation's doing."
Paige snorted, "We'll see about that."
She carefully undocked Ark's disc and started looking at the files, "Her code's a mess."
Beck gestured to Ark, "The Occupation again."
Paige rolled her eyes and got back to work. Clearly the Renegade was going to be no help to her.
She got down to the code bypass and frowned as she saw what it was going around, "Her energy processor is completely burned out, only a large amount of electricity could do that. She was unconscious when you took her, how hard did you shock her?"
Beck shook his head, "Not that hard. We didn't want to hurt her, so we used the minimum amount to knock her out."
Paige gestured angrily at him, "Then why is her processor destroyed?"
Beck gestured right back, "You'll find that answer in her memories. The older ones before the gap." He paused, then added, "You're not going to like it, though."
Paige snorted, "We'll see about that."
She confidently went to the indicated memories, sure that she'd see some sort of injustice acted upon this program by one or both of the Renegades.
Instead, she watched in absolute horror as a red-circuited Occupation program brutally tortured the program again and again.
She's about to accuse the Renegade of rewriting the memories, but she keeps looking, there's far too many matching memories for it all of them to be altered. Something on this scale would be far too dangerous for the program involved.
Paige wavered, her faith shaken. But, she quickly came back to her senses. She had a patient to take care of.
She went back to the damaged portion of the disc and went to work. She's not seen this kind of damage often and she wasn't prepared for it, so it's slow going.
After quite a while, she finally gets the energy processor fixed, but she's not done yet. Digging through the files, she sees that the messy, overlaid code is locked in as the default setting.
Paige does some experimenting, and after seeing the old memory featuring Tron, she uses it to make a backdoor around the default code. Combining the bypass with the remnants of older code from the memory, she's able to reconnect the original code. Once it's in place, she locks the original code to default and seals away the added code. With the extra code unconnected to anything, it won't cause any harm to the program, so she leaves it as is.
She double-checks her work, and once she's confident that everything's correct, she hands the disc to Beck.
"This should fix her. I have to go."
As Paige quietly leaves back out into the city, Tron looks over to Beck.
"I don't think she liked what she saw."
Beck nodded, "I think maybe her faith in the Occupation was finally shaken. I hope so, anyway."
"We can only hope."
Beck then put Ark's disc back on her dock and they waited while all the changes loaded and took place.
Tron stood in front of Ark, so that he'd be the first person she saw after coming back.
The process takes a while, but, finally, Ark's eyes light up and her expression warms from the cold look they had been accustomed to seeing. She blinks while looking around and gathering her bearings.
Finally, she realizes that Tron's there and she gasps, "Tron! You were right, it was a trap, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."
Before he can reply, more memories hit, "Wait...they...they rectified me. How did you fix me?"
Tron gave a small smile, "With the help of a friend." He gestured Beck over, "This is Beck, and he knew someone that was able to help you."
Ark smiled and nodded to Beck, "Thanks and thanks to your friend for saving me."
Beck gave her a grin, "You're welcome. And, welcome back to the Resistance."
Tron walked over and freed her from her restraints. Ark stretched out the stiffness, then gave Beck a grin of her own, "It's good to be back."
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