Digital guardians

Digital guardians
Date of Scene:	26 December 2012
Location:	Traverse Town District 2
Synopsis:	CADUCEUS discovers an addition to one of the murals and ends up meeting TRON. Deelel shows up later.
Thanks to:	Thanks to Tron and Deelel for a great scene
Cast of Characters:	TRON, Deelel, CADUCEUS

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CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS was walking along the district, a smile on his face. He had been riding his light cycle when he came to the mural in district 1 and read the message below. He smiles and chuckles. "I knew it. He is still alive. I just need to find him, maybe we can find a way to set things right to the grid." He says more to himself then anything, seeming excited by what he had read.

TRON has posed:
"That could be arranged, CADUCEUS."

Alan steps out of an alleyway just next to the medical program, black-gloved hands folded at the small of his back. His glasses reflect the sheen of the bright lights around them, hiding his eyes, but his piercing gaze can be more felt than seen. CADUCEUS would probably recognize him as the User sitting at LEXUS and CHIEF's table the other day at the WildKat Cafe.

"But perhaps we should take such talk elsewhere." His head cants, seemingly looking at the stairs heading down to the waterways.

CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS turned and looked to the user with a curious gaze. He recognized him from the Cafe when he saw CHIEF and LEXUS and he watches him. "Probably be best. When I first came to the grid I hid myself as well." He says as he would begin to walk towards the man. "You have seen him?"

TRON has posed:
Alan turns slightly, not quite turning his back to CADUCEUS but acknowledging the Program's approach. "In a sense." He walks alongside the medic, keeping his gaze strictly ahead of them and his hands folded behind his back. "He says he has powerful enemies. He cannot walk around as openly as other Programs can. But you..." His head doesn't move, but his eye turns slightly to regard CADUCEUS, "...You are a new face. How did you get Out?"

CADUCEUS has posed:
"When the MCP hacked into the military mainframe and took programs, I was amongst the programs taken. He thought because of my military origins that I would have use...until he found out my function. I refused to integrate and so he put me to the games. Much time passed, stories of him filled several programs with the hope that eventually the grid will be a free sysem. He became more then just a program, He became a symbol. When he escaped, I was on the light cycle grid and used the chaos to get out. I wandered the grid until I came to what looked like unstable area, before I was bathed in light and awoke in Manhattan, in an arcade. I left and hid amongst the users who have been identified as homeless. I used my medical abilities to treat them and their sick and injured. I disguised myself in black shrouds and a large black helmet hiding my face. Several users began to dress like me to hide me, they felt I was worth protecting. Then the darkness came for manhattan. Me and others escaped when they began rounding people to the portals." CADUCEUS says as he looks on ahead. "I been treating the users ever since. It was only recently did I decide that hiding while others fought the hostile programs and hostile users sat wrong with me. Deelel made me realize it."

TRON has posed:
Alan is silent, listening to CADUCEUS' tale as they descend to the waterways. "I see. So you escaped the Games, wandered lost until the Darkness came to The Grid, then found yourself in Manhattan within Flynn's Arcade." It seems that has been the only way Programs had gotten through, and only raises concern. How many others could've gotten Out?

He pauses underneath a bridge, resting his back against the rocky curvature, and pins the medic with a long look. "You have met Deelel? Do you realize the risk you took in talking with LEXUS directly, even knowing what she told you?"

CADUCEUS has posed:
"I had to see him for myself. Speaking to him has given me some insight to his nature. He is worse then the MCP ever can be. Meeting him made me realize it. I just didnt expect to see CHIEF...I knew him before he was assigned to the Star Wars project. He was a targeting computer for a f-117. He could be a bit obnoxious but he meant well, he was a good program. To see him like this now and being near LEXUS's influence worries me." CADUCEUS says as he turns to look to the user. "I dont think LEXUS is in league with the MCP, the MCP isnt one to work with a program unless he had some control over it and LEXUS doesnt strike me as a program who lets anything control him."

TRON has posed:
"LEXUS and the MCP are similar." Alan's eyes are constantly roaming, senses on full alert. His voice has even dropped to barely above a rumble. Certainly they are more secluded here, but it is also darker. And the Darkness has very keen hearing. "Similar, but different. No, I do not believe the Virus and the Controller could work together. One would rather consume or delete the other."

He frowns. Yes, CHIEF... he'll need to find that Program later on as well. "I remember your story. He does show signs of improper User Rectification, but to that extent..." He shakes his head. "It is a wonder his processes haven't been sent into a loop, to say the least."

CADUCEUS has posed:
"I agree. I wonder if it is possible to restore him. I am capable of treating programs as well as users, my time on the grid has given me the experience to repair programs quite extensively. Between my time in the games, I would often experiment on myself to figure out how to restore any damaged data. After I was sure what I was doing I would then try and repair the damage of others." CADUCEUS says calmly, quietly like the user's before him. "This place, the worlds of the users, are unlike anything I could expect. And yet LEXUS seems to know it as well as any User. I think because of that it is best that those programs who are trying to protect the users and other programs should work together. Oldest military strategy is divide and conquer and as long as we remain apart, LEXUS will have the upper hand. I dont want to see more derezzed. There is too much of that."

TRON has posed:
Alan is silent for a long time, studying CADUCEUS from head to toe. It would probably make the medic feel very uncomfortable, as if the User is physically scanning the medic pixel-by-pixel despite no such thing actually happening. One could wonder just what Alan's angle is on all of this.

CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS did feel slightly uncomfortable but he did his best to hide this. "Even if TRON doesnt help directly, knowing he is alive is still a great benefit. I am willing to wager those hostile programs are feeling threatened knowing that he is not derezzed." He says calmly as he glances about.

TRON has posed:
Alan's gaze softens just a little, a knowing smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I'm sure they are."

He kicks off of the wall, finally turning his back to CADUCEUS and refolding his hands behind the small of his back. There appears to be a minor circular bulge between the shoulderblades underneath the turtleneck he wears, but exactly what it could be is not readily apparent.

"I do agree with you. Programs on the side of the Users do need to band together when they can. But the enemy's goal could also be to group you together and derezz you all at once." He cants his head over his shoulder slightly to look back at the medic. "Would you not agree it is better to spread out, share information, and come to each other's aid if needed?"

CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS nods. "That possibility is quite likely. There were these special communication tools the users used to converse across multiple worlds. I do not know if they are still functioning but if they do still function, with a security program's help, we could encrypt a few so that we can maintain comunication. This way we can still be spread out and relay information and come to another's aid." He says as he looks around a bit before back at the user. "I am simply worried about access to the grid. Flynn's arcade has fallen, and other then that, the only other access to the grid I would speculate would be LEXUS. Doubtful he would leave the grid completely."

TRON has posed:
Alan nods slowly, returning his gaze forwards and keeping his back to CADUCEUS. "Deelel has access to a route back to The Grid if you must return. However, I cannot advise using it. Not only does that route have strings attached, you have already seen the suffering the Users are enduring." He spins on his heel to face the medic Program once more. "Would you return home so quickly after experiencing all you have experienced?"

CADUCEUS has posed:
"No. I could not return home. I was just concerned if other programs would try and escape the grid, where they may end up. I was programed to place the welfare of others above my own function. While I have no desire to be derezzed, I cannot allow others to be injured. You tell TRON if he needs me for anything, he has my full support. I fight for the users." He says, saying what TRON had said once before many cycles ago.

TRON has posed:
Alan is silent yet again, his head canting to the side faintly and a distantly wistful look settling in his eyes behind the glasses. "Yes," he murmurs softly, closing his eyes with a faint smile gracing his mouth. "That makes perfect sense."

He nods once, almost seeming to confirm something, and his expression shifts back to calm professionalism. "There is no need for me to relay anything. You've already told him."

CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS nods though the last bit causes him to look back at TRON. "TRON...I am impressed." He says with a smile. "I am honored. That means you saw LEXUS and CHIEF first hand..." He says as he looks about the waterway which they both were at, under a bridge. "Do you think LEXUS is as powerful as the MCP?" He asks curiously now.

TRON has posed:
Alan inhales, a needless act for a Program but habitual all the same. He has gotten used to User traits by now. "Please, call me Alan for now. I do not wish to take chances."

He kneels on one knee at the waterway's edge and looks down at his own reflection. "As I said earlier, similar but different." He rests one arm on his knee, frowning mightily. "They appear to be equivical, but their motives make all the difference. The MCP wishes to control the system, however far his reach can go. LEXUS wishes to consume everything and everyone, and has already acted against the Users accordingly."

He readjusts his glasses briefly. "The MCP once escaped the Grid, but may have already returned. LEXUS can move between both freely, I am certain, and is far more active. The Virus is the greater threat at this time."

Deelel has posed:
She's some sort of nina? No Deelel isn't she's just come up on them for a moment prehaps with that they are speaking on imporant things. "He's working with users which are basically viral for this plane of exitance. I was there when Manhattan fell. The Users fought as hard as anyone could expected them to. Their Military and guardian units were some of the last ones out at the end. "I want to know how he can. The SHINRA is openly hostile to him, and there's been no attacks of the Shinra tower so ... It's logical he's got another access point somewhere. Or a method we don't know for eaching our world. Also Hello and Merrcy Chrsitmas I think the term is." Deelels a little late...

CADUCEUS has posed:
"Merry, christmas and hello." CADUCEUS says to Deelel when she shows up and nods to Alan. "Right. I do not know where LEXUS maintains his base of operations, but there is a good chance he may be using the same base as those other users, the ones who act as he does." He says calmly as he then looks to Deelel. "I met LEXUS and CHIEF...CHIEF is an old program I used to know back in the military database. He wasnt like that back then. He has been repurposed and reused by the users so many times that he has become...I guess the proper word is broken." He says with a sad tone.

TRON has posed:
Alan snaps his gaze back over to the stairs, a sharp look entering his eyes as his kneeling becomes a tense battle-ready crouch. He relaxes almost immediately upon recognizing Deelel, and carefully uncoils by rising back to stand on his feet.

"Deelel. It is good to see you again, but please do not sneak up on me like that in the future." Games-honed skill coupled with base programming are difficult to control, especially when he is already on-edge. CADUCEUS would do well to take the warning to heart himself.

He appraises the two Programs thoughtfully. It is a good start, but he still maintains it is too risky for all of them to stay together for long. "Let's do this." He takes a Ma Belle out of his pocket and tinkers with the settings, a bluish-white glow smoldering in the center of his pupils as the same light flickers in the lines and dots of his gloves. "Do either of you have a Ma Belle?"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel nods "I do and I apologise I don't think abotu such things in what's not a war zone. User space is strange like that. They tend to come down very hard on drezzing eachother most of the time from what I seen." She gets her out and she not even touching the controls as it boosts up and she's somehow imputting commands.

CADUCEUS has posed:
CADUCEUS nods as he pulls one one which was as green as he was, the settings set up with the white and green color theme. "A user gave me this one when I restored his daughter to full function. She was nearly gone before I managed to find the virus within her and destroyed it. I have only changed the color schemes." He says as he holds it out for the security program.

TRON has posed:
Alan nods once. That makes this easier. "Good. Transmitting..." He presses a button. "Now."

Both screens light up with a symbol both would recognize, a ring of light with a Tetris-like 'T' in the center. Alan nods once and pockets his own Ma Belle. "There. No matter where we go, you will be able to reach me and each other on an encrypted band that is not easily broken. I only ask that you honor my trust and guard it well."

He glances skywards, frowning faintly. "I need to get moving. I distrust Darkness that is still too long." He nods to the two Programs and smiles. "Until next we meet, be well." And with that, he runs up the stairs back up to the main roads and is gone.