CHAPTER 16 — AMIGOS

THE GRID – TIME UNKNOWN

OUTSKIRTS OF ARGON

After several futile attempts at opening up eyeballs, Sam was finally able to at least bat eyelids at a rapid pace, resembling REM movement of eyeballs while in deep sleep. Though he could continue to bat his eyelids only a few more times, the rapid pace is getting the better of him, hurting the eyelids themselves due to the heat generated by the speed. All he could see in between those opening and closing moments was the elaborate decoration and designation of various tools filling the room. Luckily these tools posed zero to no danger to him and Quorra, given their shapes resemble that of mechanical ones rather than lethal weaponry, which he would confirm later with his improved condition. Another improvement to add to his belt is that he could confirm Quorra is safe, both by the response, affirmed positive both by the nerves of her hand affectionately providing him intricate pulses of life intact as well as the sight of her beautiful and lively face, one which remained unscathed despite their fall and her beautiful exhalation of an air of optimism, almost as if convincing him they are safe under this stranger, who possibly could've saved them.

A few minutes later, Sam woke up with a fair share of green liquid-like patches on his arms, torso, and legs, and sat on the bench they were made to rest upon, as Quorra slowly regained her consciousness. As Sam checked his Disc isn't on his back, she saw him confirm the fact beside her and watch him scan the whole room they are in, she couldn't help but ask how they could've landed there and where it could possibly be located. She then slowly followed his suit and sat on the bench beside Sam. Although shielded by Sam during the landslide, she couldn't escape a few injuries on her back, which were also covered by the same patches as Sam though the affected area was negligible to none. This meant that her speed and immunity get compromised with the radius and depth of the injury, the technical reason being that unlike Users(humans), ISOs, or any other two-legged species in the Grid cannot regenerate their voxels, limbs, or any other part of their body as their inner voxel structure is similar to Lego Block structures: remove one piece and the whole thing falls down. Surprisingly Quorra could neither feel any voxels oozing out nor her pain increasing step by step, an anomaly probably caused by the magical patch on her back. Even Sam couldn't help but watch her band-aid with childlike curiosity, as the patch glowed like a Morse Code, sparkling as if Quorra's inner spirit resembled that of a Blue Morpho. Meanwhile, Sam confirmed that even Quorra has her Disc missing and had a mini-tour of the fully decorated mechanic shed, which is an eerily marble-white, crystal-clear area of any germs and dirt visible to the naked eye, a rarity for a blue-collared workforce. His attempts at breaking open the door were futile though, leaving them with no other option than to wait for what fate has in store for them.

After some frantic running throughout the room, Sam and Quorra bent their knees forward and bodies backward, channeling the old Roman Cavalry front-foot stance within their bodies, with Sam's right hand facing in the forward direction above his shoulder and struggling hard to maintain the grip of the vigorous vibrations of the wireless Grinder and Quorra standing behind Sam, her right hand on his shoulder while her left hand firmly grabbing the sharp knife in her fist. With bated breath and cautious steps, they planted themselves at the entrance, and armed to the teeth, they left their lives to fate and their fighting spirit. And then, their call to action arrived with the clicking sound of the door knob. Backing off a little from the door, the warrior duo prepared to land their first blow. As the door lay a few degrees away from its right-angle position, revealing what lay outside of their sandbox garage, the duo didn't have time to wait and watch putting their lives at risk and launched their full-frontal assault on the target. As they approached their supposed captor at their peak speeds at mid-air, their bodies and minds paused a few inches from the lady's eyes and her abdomen after her helpless body let out a shriek of fear, shielding herself with her bare upper limbs, like a pangolin practicing volvation against its predator. The whole situation posed imagery of a lightning strike frozen in mid-air, stuck at crossroads as to whether spare the rod or spoil the child. The sudden shock of the events sent her into tears, as she cocooned into a crying butterfly, shielding her sorrow from her attackers.

As the poor damsel in distress got immersed in her tear-induced immolation, the duo couldn't believe they were just a few inches away from sending an innocent Basic into a merciless deresolution path down the Grid in their gut instinct. Quorra immediately rushed into the scene, bending near her and doing a little bit of convincing and cheering up, which Sam is hesitant to do as he couldn't discern the real tears from fake ones, the reason being that he has never been in such a sensitive issue before. As Sam tried to lend his ears and eyes to the situation at hand, Quorra did her consoling duty with utmost sincerity and innocence. Her patience and childlike qualities are in full display here, which took time but showed its impact, unlike anything that Quorra had done before. Returning back to her normal self, she then started making acquaintances with the people she gave shelter to. She started off by accepting Sam's apology with a graceful smile and introduced herself: Mara.

Mara then went on to explain how she spotted them lying unconscious and holding each other in their arms tightly as if to protect themselves even in sleep. She also expressed her shock and disbelief as to how the couple survived one of the largest cliffs and had a successful crash landing, that is until she treated Sam and had her fears come true. She then carefully peeled off one of the green patches from Sam's arm and showed the thick yet moist blood stain on the other side to him, "This is how both of you got alive. You had blood all over yourself and she has that ISO mark on her. So, I wonder, since when did Users and ISOs start dating each other?". Both Sam and Quorra, still in their defensive selves, maintained silence so as to avert any further danger upon themselves and those beside them. Mara was able to catch their reasonable silence and began to reassure them: "I know you guys wouldn't want to trust anyone in the whole Grid, especially Basics like me, after what happened in the Purge. But we here in Able's Garage treat damaged vehicles and living beings with equal adulation and care. Moreover, TRON's Followers are trying their best to propagate his thoughts that ISOs and Users are our friends and that we cannot afford to betray them for their past sins. I just want to help you, please?".

Sam gave a deep thought about what he just heard right now. Unsure of the truth in her pleas, Sam couldn't find any evidence to the contrary. He turned his glance to Quorra, who seemed to share his dilemma, albeit a tad less though. A few telepathic arguments later, Quorra seems to have convinced Sam, wherein he left his skeptic thoughts aside and chose his words carefully with Mara:

- We both came to search for our relative. Those Recognizers mistook us for someone and chased us like rabid dogs. And the next thing, we're here in front of you.

- Where do you come from?

- Purgos

- (Suspicious) Purgos? That is a living hell. Tell me you didn't choose the place by choice?

- Long story, Identity Discs, please?

- Yeah sure, all your stuff is stashed inside, please come in.

Mara led them to a secluded storeroom and turned on the lights, where the room filled with cobwebs and creaking attics welcomed them. Their stuff was heaped and left in the middle of the room, untouched and far away from the otherwise empty room. "I thought you two are the best judge with these items, although if you'd take my word for it, nothing is valuable. Take your time and I'll be right back with your Discs". As Mara left the room, Sam and Quorra had a good time separating the heap into discernable items. The clothes, cheaper ones from the start, now became useless for disguises post their crash. All the arms and explosives they'd carry with them went up in ashes following their crash. The only non-essential things they're now left with are a pair of short wires, malfunctioned scorpion bug, a pair of burnt wrist shockers, and a pair of techno goggles, whose function is yet to be tested and known, as all of these are hastily taken away from their crooked pawnbrokers. Sam chose the scorpion and kept his pair of goggles inside whereas Quorra kept her goggle pair inside and toyed with her wrist shockers with a foot-long handle, the kind of fist weapon she can kill others even in her sleep. Mara entered the room just in time and handed over their Discs, saying:

- Didn't I tell you they belong to scrap? What took you so long?

(Sam and Quorra silently avoid the question)

- Identity Discs are the only thing you keep in this Grid always, like forever. Anyways, you can have a free tour of our garage or rest in the guest room for a while. Your call.

- No thank you, we need to get going. We're getting late every second.

- Wait, you mean outside? You do know many Basics in this Grid hate Users and ISOs, right? Moreover, General's sentries are on regular patrols and random, frequent arrests are common nowadays.

- We can disguise ourselves well, won't be an issue.

- Like how those Recogs came after you? (sarcastically)A great disguise indeed.

- Disguises change, Mara. This is not my first time in this Grid, and surely Quorra has many friends up here. (Turning head towards her)

§ Sam! I used to have, but not here! We need to better take her help for this.

- It's not safe for anyone's friends out there, guys. Didn't your friends here tell you about the attacks on General's men?

- No. What's your point?

- TRON's soldiers attacked General's small bandwagon, I mean, a hundred soldiers with a fat leader, around one TronCycle back. Since then, Argon has been under curfew, and hence the routine arrests and spot deresolution of the suspected.

- Is your garage closed as well?

- No, we're lucky because we're the only go-to garage in Argon for all their four-legged giants and birds. Light Tanks to Light Jets, you name it, we fix it. Moreover, this is a suburban area, which makes the General partially blind toward us.

- Good thing to hear, but you said just now that you're the military contractor of Argon. How can we believe you wouldn't trade us for safeguarding your contract or ties whatever?

- Who told you we're contractors? We repair their vehicles not out of choice, but compulsion. There's no one in Argon who can say no to the General and make it alive, except the…uhh… Renegade, I guess.

- Renegade who?

- Long story, Sam. Sorry, I overstepped a little bit, didn't I?

- It's okay, we're fine that way. So, Mara? How long do we need to stay here before we can start?

- I don't know, Sam. Maybe till the dust settles down and then I can arrange something for you. Even a single Light Cycle coming from any direction cannot escape any naked eye up here, so no worries on enemy alert.

- Okay fine. Your place, your rules.

- Please don't take it wrong. It's my job to protect those who are in my garage, be it vehicles or my guests. Until then, care to look at my small garage, will you?

- (Sam and Quorra laughing in unison) After you.

- (In a welcoming gesture) Be my guest.

THE GRID–SECOND TRONCYCLE

MARA'S CABIN

Giving her guests a long ride across the plush area of the sprawling garage, the one and only famous garage in the city of Argon, Mara escorted her guests to the open area of the Garage, facing the now-sealed mini–Disc Arena, which was a fun place for a timepass and friendly Disc Throw matches. The couple decided to have their private space, basking themselves in the landscape visuals of Argon and whatever teased their imaginations, while Mara took their leave and retired to her cabin. There, she made sure to inform her assistant that her room remains closed for some time until instructed otherwise before removing a pair of packet jammers from the secret compartment hidden inside the trick slab beneath her seat. Turning on those jammers, she then pulled out her set of Phantom Pods, a pair of top secret, end-to-end encrypted, comm link earbuds, from her sleeves. Connecting to the single dedicated channel stored in the buds' cache memory, the recipient on the other end paused for the decoding statement to his riddle:

- IS TRON ALIVE OR DEAD?

- YOUR CALL, YOUR ANSWER.

- LEADER IS ARRIVING. STAY IN LINE.

Not long after re-routing the connection, Mara was startled by the heavy, robotic voice she got connected to:

- MARA, IS THAT WOLF STILL ANGRY ABOUT YESTERDAY?

- Yes, why wouldn't he? Argon is closed, and intruders are not taken lightly. Your boys are partying there and my boys here are getting interrogated, harassed, and bullied by those orange dogs for every 140mTC.

- HAS THE WOLF SNIFFED OUT ANY FOUL SMELL IN YOUR ATTIC?

- Luckily not. As long as they never cross the operations division, nothing can go wrong.

- GOOD. ONCE CODE RED IS TURNED ON, MY MEN WILL MAKE SURE YOUR GARAGE IS SAFE AND SOUND.

- You love people in constant danger, don't you? Where is Beck? When will you give him to us?

- BECK IS SAFE. HE'S SUFFERING FROM INJURIES. ARGON WILL HAVE HIM BACK WHEN IT NEEDS HIM.

- Just please don't hurt him, Renegade. He hasn't done any wrong. If anything, all he wanted was freedom, for him and for us.

- WE ARE NOT THE WOLF. WE ARE SONS OF TRON. DO YOU HAVE THE SPIDERS WITHIN YOUR DISPOSAL?

- Yes, I do.

- TIE THEM IN YOUR CROSSHAIRS. THEY CAN BE OF USE SOON. ANY MORE UPDATES FOR THE CALL?

- Your estranged friends from Purgos are back safe and sound, Renegade. They seem no harm, just a son searching for his father inside the Grid desperately.

- COULD YOU CONFIRM THE IDENTITIES AND PURPOSE OF THE FRIENDS?

- He's full of blood and she's a free bird. Quite an unusual pair to say the least. As for purpose, I have already told you.

- WHO IS HIS FATHER? DO WE KNOW HIM?

- He doesn't say anything more on that. Probably something personal to him.

- NAMES.

- Sam and Quorra. Quorra is a weird name, though.

- (Jotting their names in a digital note) ARE THEY STILL ENJOYING THE HOSPITALITY?

- Yes, I made sure that to think the opposite is practically foolishness.

- KEEP MY FRIENDS ENTERTAINED UNTIL I AM FREE TO COME BY. MAY I HAVE YOUR WORD ON THIS?

- Yes, you do.

- GRACIAS. ADIOS, SENÕRE.