TRON: Awakening

[Lentrax]

Prologue
Access Granted

Center City 2018.

Encom Internal Memorandum System
Form ENCOM-MS-2652

From: Office of the CEO

As a reminder to all employees, the Encom Internal Monitoring Program maintains records of every keycard, login, door opening, and file within the grounds of Encom.

The EIMP is not a child's toy, you are not to attempt to override its control.

The antics of the former CEO Sam Flynn, will not be tolerated under the new company policy.

Thank you.

[The_Admiral]

A man in a suit walks into the lobby of the Encom building, he's skinny, about five foot eight with blue eyes and brown hair.

Walking up to the secretary's desk, he flashes her a smile and his badge saying, "Hello, I'm Agent Lucas, I have an appointment with the CEO."

[Lentrax]

Encom Internal Memorandum System
Form ENCOM-MS-2652
From: EIMP.

All access to the Advanced Research Labs and to Secure Data Storage has been restricted.

Authorized persons will be notified.

End of Line.

[Lentrax]

The secretary, a middle aged woman looks up from her computer as you announce yourself.

"Of course, Agent Lucas. Here is your visitor's badge. You must wear it at all times in the Encom building. Your sidearm must be registered with security before proceeding to the elevator."

After you sign the log, the woman goes back to her computer screen, completely ignoring you.

A younger man, probablky in his twenties wearing the white uniform of Encom security guides you to the security office. He hands you what appears to be a small piece of glass, but as you take it, it turns in the light and you see it is in fact a portable monitor.

"Here are the forms for you to carry your sidearm in the buiding, Agent. Just sign the bottom, then swipe it to get to the next."

You sign your name a few dozen times, reading indemnity forms, saftey waivers, and lot of forms saying you really are a duly sworn officer of the United States Justice Department, you really are authorized to carry a sidearm, and have ben thoroughly trained in its use.

Handing the monitor back to the security guard, he directs you to the elevators.

"CEO is on twelve. Have a nice day."

[Lentrax]

Frantic

"Hey Frantic, good show out there tonight! Some of us are headed over to this happening spot, Flynn's. You coming?"

Encom Employees

Encom Internal Memorandum System
Form ENCOM-MS-2652

There will be an informal meeting for all employees in Multimedia Rooms 1,3,5, and 6. Meeting times and locations will be sent to all employees. Check your inboxes for your time!

[The_Admiral]

Thanking the security guard, James walks into the elevator taking it up to the 12'th floor. As he stands in the elevator, he pulls at his suit, unused to it.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

Somewhat gruff and unkempt, Antoine is a young man in fantastic physical shape. He is dressed in black jeans with thinned out knees, a fitted UnderArmor T-shirt, and black sneakers with soft rubber soles. As a fond practioner of parkour, he prefered clothing that allowed him freedom of movement and ones that he didn't have to worry about ruining.

"Merci, Tomas! You also outdid yourself tonight. That landing that gave you trouble in Seattle seemed to be a piece of cake for you!"

Antoine shimmied his hoodie on over his head, contemplating the offer. He shouldn't... he was exhausted from the last few days of training and the night's show. But he could see that Gabriella was going, and he thought that it might give him the opportunity he had been looking for; a chance to talk with her alone for a while.

"Oui, c'est bon. That sounds like fun.", Antoine gave Gabriella a smile. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. As they walked, he asked, "So what is this place... Flynn's?"

[Gorgon_Heap]

A blonde woman in her mid-20s enters the lobby and walks unhaltingly toward the secretary, removing her cap with automated ease.

She wears a very crisp blue Army uniform on a shapely, athletic 5'5" frame. She's a lieutenant, and on her left breast is a name plate labeled "Whitfield" and a patch bearing the insignia of the U.S. Cyber Command.

Unknowlingly, she experiences a nearly identical entry procedure as a man only moments earlier.

[Lentrax]

Frantic

"It is a barcade. Like a sports bar, but with games instead of sports."

Whitfield and Lucas.

A Ms. smythe waits for you as you each exit the elevator. You are led down the same path of corridors, each of them lined with various models of Encom toys. You see Recognizers, Laser Blasters, even an identity disk from the TRON video game.

But at the intersection to two of the corridors is the centerpiece. A full size replica of a light cycle.

As Whitfield enters the reception area outside of Mr. Howard Yanger's office, you notice a young man wearing. Suit and tie sitting uncomfortably in a very nice lounge chair. He keeps figeting with his tie, but he tries to make a good impression.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

"That sounds fantastic! What a great idea... I didn't even know this existed."

Antoine made his way over towards where Gabriella was, walking with several other girls. He called out, a little louder than was probably necessary. He didn't know Italian, but he was willing to try what he did know. "Ciao, bella Gabriella. Your rope routine with Simone was great tonight! Watching you almost made me miss my cue... ur, watching your act, I mean... I wasn't watching you..."

Merde! Way to go stupid, Antoine thought to himself as he tried to keep his blunder as nonchalant as possible.

[The_Admiral]

James sits in the room, noticing another person entering, he turns to Whitfield and says, Oh hello.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke Davis sits in his "office", brushing his right hand over his hair in frustration. He looks at his hand and wipes the bit of hair gel on his jeans. Informal my..., his thought trails off. He had gotten an intercompany e-mail telling him about an informal meeting. Zeke, like many of the others he worked with knew that informal meant you had better be there. If you weren't you'd not only have to explain why to your supervisor, but you'd also have to explain why you weren't there to your supervisor's supervisor as you were escorted off the premises. "I'm never gonna get this stupid level done." He sighs.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Lt. Whitfield notes the suited man and thinks nothing of it - wouldn't a lot of people here be wearing suits? But then it is a video game company, so maybe it's not policy... She shrugs mentally, straightens her uniform skirt and sits in the farthest available seat from the stranger.

"Good morning."

[The_Admiral]

Hello right back at you, so what are you? DOD? NSA? James grins back.

[Akata]

An unassuming man, Kyle was an average American. Not too tall, not to skinny, brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. Utterly unremakable, except for the strong muscles he had from his days in school on the boxing team. He hummed along with the music playing through his head phones as he emptied the trash cans in multimedia room 1. There was some kind of all-day series strategy/planning meeting happening, so the rooms had to be clean. He nods to the programmer in the room as he finishes up, taking his cart of cleaning supplies and walks down the hallway. It wasn't the worse job he could have had, not really any supervision or people breathing down his neck, but not a fulfilling job to say the least. The key ring jangles as he unlocks the janitorial closet, putting the cart inside. Time for food. He heads up to floor 10, intending on having breakfastn the posh executive lounge. No one would be there this time of day.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Sighing mentally, Whitfield considers that she's got nothing better to do here in the waiting room, and so goes into smalltalk mode. It happens all the time, of course - an attractive young woman in uniform gets plenty of attention - but this was just a small distraction to keep from worrying about her investigation.

"CyberCommand," she says, tapping the patch and smiling, she hopes, in that way that says 'I'm only being friendly because we're stuck here, not flirting'. "Sarah," she indicates, and then waggles a finger at his suit. "You work here?"

[The_Admiral]

Ahh, DOD. Name's James and no, I don't work here, I'm FBI, Cyber Division.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Sarah is genuinely surprised. "Yeah? Are you just here for an autograph, or do we take it as some crazy coincidence that put the two of us in the same room together?"

[Lentrax]

Encom employees:

You meetings have been scheduled for 3:25 in Multimedia Room 3.

[Lentrax]

Whitfield and Lucas

A trio of middle aged men come out of the office. They each seem subdued.

Ma. Smythe puts a finger up to her ear and purses her lips.

"Yes, sir. Yes, your three o'clock appointments are here."

A pause.

"Yes, sir." She stands up and walks over to the door, opening it.

"Mr. Yanger will see you now."

The CEOs office is spartan. No pictures on the wall, no decorations on the desk.

There did seem to be some kind of light coming from just above the desk, but it vanishes before you can see what it was.

CEO Yanger walks around his desk, and shakes both your hands as you walk in.

He gestures to chairs sitting in front of his desk as he walks back around and seats himself.

"Yes. What can I do for you today?"

[The_Admiral]

James sits in one of the chairs across the desk and says, "Mr Yanger, James Lucas FBI, I'll be brief, the FBI has tracked the IP of several acts of cyber terrorism to Encom's we would like permission from you to access Encom's servers and track the perpetrator."

[theskorpionking]

Zeke checks his watch, it was a little past 3. He let out a groan, he really hated going to meetings. He saved his work on his notebook, then shut it off. He put the notebook into a locked drawer. He stood up and stretched before he headed to mutlimedia room 3.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Entering the strangely Spartan executive office, the lieutenant is a bit put off by the directness and openness of the inquiry.

A little uncomfortably, she glances at James before speaking to Yanger.

"Good morning, sir. I'm Lt. Sarah Whitfield, U.S. CyberCommand. I'm here for the same reason as Agent Lucas, here. I'm sorry this seems kinda redundant, but this came up suddenly and we didn't coordinate our investigations."

[Lentrax]

"I see. So, you just want to walk in here and make some crazy allegation, and demand access to our servers? Why would I do that?"

[Gorgon_Heap]

Surprised by the CEO's vehemence, Sarah again looks at the FBI agent and hopes he'll chip in with more legal-sounding authority than she can manage.

"Sir," she says hesitantly, "we haven't alleged anything. The fact is Encom - like many other companies - has a big server farm that could have been used, directly or in part, in an illicit act."

[Lentrax]

Whitfield and Lucas

"You have alleged, in fact, that my company is involved, or at most, an accomplice in these attacks."

A light starts blinking on the CEOs desk, and Yanger looks down at it, then smiles to himself.

"Unless you have a warrant, we are done here."

Encom Employees

As you enter the Multimedia Room, you see that it has been set up for a conference with the EIMP.

There are exactly four chairs in the room, sitting in front of a table.

[Akata]

About to unlock the door to the posh executive lounge, Kyle's phone vibrates, startling him. He pulls it out an looks at the ENCOM memo that he just recieved. ".....what." Irritated at having his lunch interrupted, Kyle walks down to the meeting room that he so recently cleaned. Freaking EIMP. I'm a damn janitor, what the hell is so important the need me? He ignores the chairs and leans against the wall, pulling a rolled up comic out of his bag and loses himself within its pages.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke enters the room and see someone leaning against the wall. It was the janitor who had been in his office earlier. "Hey Carl, was it?" He asked, trying to make smalltalk. Zeke look at the man's EMCOM namebadge. "Sorry, Kyle. You get called down to this informal meeting too? Do you have any idea what it's about?" Zeke said. Whenever he'd get nervous, Zeke would often strt asking questions. Something that had gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion.

[Akata]

Karl looks up at the other employee. "Ya, I was about to get my lunch too. First day shift in weeks and I've spent all day cleaning the meeting rooms." He stretchex, glancing over at the chairs. "No idea what this is about, but tthere should be two more people it looks like. Wonder who they are."

His stomach growls.

[Lentrax]

CEO's Office.

Lucas and Whitfield are taken from Yanger's office. You believe you hear a voice begin to speak as the door closes behind you. You aren't sure of what the voice is saying, but you can tell that it is not Yanger speaking.

A shorter, rather stocky man is waiting for you. His shortsleeved dress shirt clings to his frame because of his profuse sweating, and you can see his neck bulging slightly from wearing a tie.

"Lieutenant Whitfield. Agent Lucas. The EIMP has directed me to show you to Multimedia Room three."

[Lentrax]

The house sits alone in the darkness. The city is far off, barely visible through the impenetrable night.

The low pitched hum of a vehicle door sliding back into place. The sound of boots crunching on gravel.

The door of the house opens, closes, and all is quiet in the night.

Inside the house, it is brightly lit, white light emenating from nearly every surface. The main room is lavishly decorated, containing innumerable books, and notes. A man sits in one of the plush chairs, reading a book. He does not look up from his book as the second figure enters.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes. Though it will still be cycles before we can even think to begin."

"And you convinced him to join us?"

"I believe so. He promised to share his information with us when it becomes available."

"Good. Sit down, have something to eat. In a few cycles, everything will be in place." The man stands up and walks over to the window of the house that faces the city.

"The Grid will be mine."

Laughter echoes into the night.

[The_Admiral]

James follows the man asking Sarah, So, how did Cybercom get a whiff of this?

[Gorgon_Heap]

Sarah pauses to consider the situation, finally deciding the agent will get the most salient details through his own investigation. "Let's just file it under 'suspicious activity.' Video footage from unknown secure locations was leaked, and while that's really a matter for corporate ineterests, the fact that it appeared during certain other investigations and was untraceable makes it a concern.

"So I guess you're going to get that warrant? It'll make it a lot easier if you include CyberComm as an investigation partner agency. You know - in case anyone cares why we hacked Encom. Assuming anybody finds out. Could that guy Yanger have been a bigger jerk? You'd think he'd know we have all the authority we need ..."

She'd been engrossed engrossed and frustrated, but as they continue to wsalk the halls of Encom she suddenly gets curious. She asks the sweaty man, "Hey, your boss just said he doesn't want us here, so why aren't we going to the lobby?"



OOC - Admiral, did you have more to say back in the office? I know the DM wants to move this along but as the FBI guy you should really should have jumped in with some legal threats or some such.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke decides to take a seat. He sits in the chair furthest away from the door. He wants to get a look at who the others are going to be. He's not suspicious by any means, but in the business he's in it pays to know things. Zeke also had some ideas stolen recently and he wondered if maybe this was what the meeting was about. Zeke looked over to the janitor leaning against the wall. But why the janitor? how does he play into all this? Could somebody have bribed him? Zeke thought to himself.

[The_Admiral]

Yup, we're still trying to get that warrant. I'll write up you up in my report though we do need to share information. Also, expect to be asked what is it like to be working for a living oxymoron....... So what is it like? James replied, jest obvious in his voice.

OOC: I do not like Retcons, and during the office scenes, I was kinda at school. Also, Military Intelligence joke, there has to be at least one.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

Several of the guys razzed him pretty hard about his failed attempt to talk to Gabriella, making kissing noises and pretending to fawn all over one another in mock adoration.

"Allez tous vous faire foutre!", Antoine cursed at them under his breath, being careful to make sure that Gabriella could not hear. Tomas came over and put his arm around Frantic's shoulders, making an apologetic cooing noise.

"Relax, Frantic... they're just giving you hell is all. Trust me, all of them at one time or another has tried to get with Gabriella. And all of them have failed; it is jealousy that fuels their jokes at you."

Antoine looks incredulously at Tomas.

"And what about you? Have you tried to get with her?!"

"Me?! No. She is... not my type."

"Really? Then what is your type?"

Tomas looks at Frantic for a second and then pretends to start trying to kiss him. Frantic ducks out of the one-armed hug that Tomas had had around his shoulders and runs a short distance away. Tomas chases him with his arms out-stretched as they all laughed, "Come, Antoine... I have loved you all of my life! You are my moon and my stars!"

Frantic too could not help but laugh, despite continuing to fight Tomas away from him.

[Lentrax]

Whitfield and Lucas

"Hey, look. You don't argue with the EIMP. You do what she says, or you go home with a cardboard box."

[Lentrax]

Frantic:

http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/d/derezzed_flip_120610/flynn.jpg

Flynn's Arcade does seem to be happening tonight. You can see some very successful businessfolk, as well as many of your fellow performers. You note that nearly all the games have 900 credits available.

You also note that many of the games are highscored by the same person: K_F.

A older man comes up to you and introduces himself as Alan. He points out many of the features of Flynn's Arcade, and the points to a machine in the back.

"And that, is Tron. Not the remake or one of the sequels. The Original. Coded back in ohh, the mid-eighties. Did you know that the game was named ater an actual security program of the same name? Anyway, enjoy yourself. All the games tonight are on Flynn."

[Erasmas]

Frantic

Having a penchant for video games, Antoine had heard of Tron before... though he had never gotten the chance to play it. There was a lot of controversy that surrounded the game some time ago, something about the lead designer disappearing. He thanked the man named Alan, and meant it, but his eyes were fixed on that one machine.

As the others headed to the bar first, he made his way back towards the old game, standing in the back by itself... almost like a forgotten relic from an ancient time. He felt like Indiana Jones, about to rediscover it for the modern world. Frantic smiled as he hit the Start button to use a credit and reached out for the joystick, feeling that the texture of the grip had been worn almost completely smooth from decades of use.

[Lentrax]

Frantic

Tron. (http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=hz3A_vNibEI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dhz3A_vNibEI)

Everyone at Encom.

Much to the surprise of the two Encom employees already present, the door opens and you see a uniformed woman and a man in a suit enter the mutimedia room.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield, a blonde Army officer in her mid-20s, looks annoyed - she spears her sweaty escort with an impatient 'you brought us to the wrong place' glare of disapproval.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke looked up as the door opened. He knew something was up when he saw the uniforms. "This can't end well.", Zeke mutters to himself.

[theskorpionking]

It took Zeke a few seconds to realize that the blonde woman was military. The man next to her obviously was one of Encoms many department heads. He finally knew what this was about. Encom was going back to making defense programs for the government. Still unsure why the janitor was there, Zeke stood up, almost knocking over the chair. "Uh, excuse me sir? I think I know what's going on and you have the wrong guy. You want Johnson from level 3. I'm just a game programmer, he's the one with the panache for the military stuff."

[The_Admiral]

... so what are we doing here exactly? Or is the lieutenant correct in her assumption that we are in the wrong room.

[Lentrax]

"Please, seat yourselves. You will be brought to speed on things."

The voice comes from speakers on the wall. Encom employees recognize it as the voice of the EIMP.

[Gorgon_Heap]

The officer can only convey growing bafflement - first at her being in some random meeing room, then at the nervous programmer's outburt and then at the ceiling talking.

"The building talks ..." she says, looking around and muttering about video game nerds and Star Trek fantasies.

[The_Admiral]

Is there a way to converse with whoever is telling us this? James asks the programmer.

[Lentrax]

"Yes. I hear everything in Encom Tower."

[The_Admiral]

Okay Big Brother, why did you call us here? James asks.

[Lentrax]

"Sister, actually. You are here because I need people to discover something for me. Despite my attempts at securing this facility, there have been several successful attempts at hacking the Encom mainframes. These breaches have only been minor so far, but my security algorithms indicate a 93% chance that there will be another attempt tonight. The only successful hacking attempt this system is aware of occurred more than thirty years ago. Point of Origin: Flynn's Arcade. Another attempt was made in this facility by Kevin Flynn, in Research Lab 1."

"The choice to help me or not is yours. However, it is within my power to grant a small reward for your assistance. Data, access to restricted files, monetary."

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield appears very uneasy. She examines everyone in the room and says into the air, "You're a... company AI and you have authority to supercede the CEO's orders? He just kicked us out of his office."

[Lentrax]

"There are very few limits to what my programming is capable of. In the interests of company security, I have the ability to supersede anyone in the company. My programming is infallible."

[The_Admiral]

Great, an AI with an God complex, someone call Asimov. SO if we find this hacker, you'll give us access to the servers? What do I put in my paperwork for this?

[Lentrax]

"What you do with this information is not my decision. I will not grant you free reign over the mainframe, but I can provide answers to some of the questions that brought you here."

There is a pause, and then the EIMP continues. Will you assist me?"

[Gorgon_Heap]

"As part of an ongoing investigation it sounds pretty useful," the uniformed woman tells the computer. She looks to the FBI agent. "Maybe you still want to process that warrant, though, in case the AI's permission doesn't hold up in court."

She then looks at the Encom employees. "So we're here on official business. Who are you?"

[The_Admiral]

Meh, it's already being processed. So where do we start? James replies, clapping his hands together.

[theskorpionking]

The disembodied voice isn't new to Zeke. He, like most of the other Encom employees, have heard it many times. The woman directs what Zeke takes as an accusatory question towards him and the janitor. Zeke hates rude people. "We are Encom employees." Zeke says, holding his anger in check. "Look lady, I don't care if you're military or not. That doesn't give you the right to be rude. We don't know why we were called down here. We both have lots of work that needs to be done." Zeke lets out a breath of frustration before he continued. "Sorry, it's been a long week. Well for me anyways. I'm a game programmer. I've been working on an update to Space Paranoids. Kevin Flynn created the original back in the eighties. He owned the company, or did until he disappeared. Auntie Em, why would Kevin Flynn want to hack into his own system?"

[Lentrax]

"Data unknown."

[Lentrax]

Frantic

At first things go well. You win several light cycle battles, and succeed in defeating the MCP. You second play through goes even better. You manage to come with 5000 points of the high score.

You only need to beat one more, light cycle...

Crash and burn.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

"Merde!", Antoine curses half-heartedly at the gaming station. He then realizes that he's been playing this game since he got here! Hurriedly, he makes his way over to the bar and orders a beer and looks for Gabriella.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield looks surprised by the programmer's vehemence, but doesn't get angry or insulted - he's a civilian, and obviously stressed out.

"Ok," she says slowly. "If Flynn is gone, what makes you think he's the one causing the EIMP breaches? (Auntie Em - I like that)."

[The_Admiral]

Well, that's one alternative to big brother, So where and when do we start?

[Lentrax]

"Your security badges have been cleared for access to Research Lab 1. However, you will not be able to enter until after the researchers leave at 20:00. Entering before that time would be detrimental to your health."

"Additional information may be available in Kevin Flynn's personal terminal at his arcade."

[theskorpionking]

Zeke had to admit that the idea was intriguing, but it sounded highly illegal. He wasn't a hacker, but he did know a few. He also knew that they wouldn't be stupid enough to try and hack Encom. Once they started there was no going back, that really scared him. But, Zeke knew that it would be one hell of a story to tell his friends. "Okay, I'm in. So what do we have to do, just sit and wait until everyone in the research lab goes home for the night?", Zeke then adds as a joke, "Hey Auntie Em, could you order us some pizza?"

[The_Admiral]

Okay, it's four ish in the afternoon, we have four hours, we meet up at Flynn's in an hour gives us two to poke around, and we get back here by 8 to poke around in the labs.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield checks her watch. "Works for me." To the civilian, she says, "Sarah Whitfield. What's your name?

You can get pizza on the way."

[theskorpionking]

Zeke smiles at the chance of going to Flynn's. He had heard of it, but never had the chance to go before. My name? It's Zeke, Zeke Davis. Up on the sixth floor, that's were I work, I'm know as ZeD. Don't ask." He's says sheepishly. "Could I maybe catch a ride with one of you guys? My, uh, scooter's at the shop. I had to take the bus today."

[The_Admiral]

Don't look at me, I use public transport, so see you at Flynn's, here's my number. James says, handing everyone in the room his card. Proceeding to walk out waving a casual goodbye to the group.


He picks up his laptop and checks in on the warrant before heading to Flynn's.

[Lentrax]

You call the local field office and learn that the judge is going to be sitting on this all weekend. The District Attorney's office just filed for a large number of warrants for the arrests of a drug trafficking ring, a case which takes priority over Cyber Crimes in the view of the court.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Public transport? If he didn't want to drive he could just say so, Whitfield thinks sourly.

She nods at Zeke and says, "I got a rental," and walks out quickly, not waiting for him to catch up.

[Lentrax]

Roughly an hour later, you all arrive at Flynn' s arcade. As you arrive, you see a lot of people leaving. They all seem to know each other, the end of an early party perhaps?


Frantic

As the party goes on, you notice many of the people leaving, mostly in pairs, a couple of groups of three. Your search for Gabriella reveals that she never arrived at the party.

Almost everyone else had left as four newcomers arrived. One of them is in a military uniform, another is in a suit. The other two are swearing street clothes.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield moves past the streaming crowd, accustomed to the curious or paranoid glances at her uniform, she ignorees them and examines the arcade. She's clearly unimpressed, but sees office windows on the second floor. "Think that's what we're looking for?"

[Erasmas]

Frantic

Antoine clucked his tongue to himself in disappoint at finding that Gabriella was not there. He finished his beer and paid little attention as the new group entered. He found his mind drifting back to that Tron game... he was 5,000 points away from the high score, and it wasn't even really that hard.

He decideded to give it a go, and returned to the console, hitting the button for another credit.

[theskorpionking]

As they enter the arcade, Zekes smiles. As his head turns in every direction, his smile grows wider. This was his element, this was where he felt alive. He hears Whitfield say something. He turns around to face her. Yeah, sure. Uh, why don't you guys go do your thing and I'll go do mine. That is, I'll investigate the, uh, crowd. Make sure there ain't nothing funny going on." Zeke doens't wait for a reply and makes his way around the arcade. He stops and watches someone playing the Tron game.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Zekde wanders off, muttering to himself with a happy gleam in his eyes, and Whitfield is a little put off by the negligence. "And ... there he goes." She says to James, "You're authorized to shoot him, right?"

She points toward an outdated metal staircase. "C'mon."

[The_Admiral]

... I could, know anything to put into my discharge of weaponry form? James replies, scratching his chin.

Always happy to James replies to her invitation, moving up the stairs.

[Erasmas]

Antoine barely notices the man as he approaches. When he does, between rounds of the mini-games that were being presented by the machine, the Canadian looked over his shoulder and nodded.

"Hello. Uhh... do you want a turn?"

[theskorpionking]

Zeke looks down at the floor, ashamed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to creep you out. I was never very good at this game. I always got taken out by the MCP." Zeke starts to turn away, but stops. "Look this is already weird enough, but I think I know you from somewhere."

[Erasmas]

"No, no... you did not give me the creeps, no. I merely wanted to make sure that I did not take too much time with the game; I wanted to offer you the chance to play, as you seemed interested."

Antoine extended his hand towards the programmer. "You do not look familiar to me, but perhaps you have seen the show, no? I am a performer in Cirque du Soleil... I am Antoine."

[theskorpionking]

"The Cirque?", Zeke said. "Me and my girl were supposed to be going last night, but worked had other ideas." He gestured towards the Space Paranoids game. "I'm a game desinger. They seem to think it's more important for me to finish designing the last levels of a game than spending time with my girlfriend. But anyways, it's not from the Cirque that I know you. I think I seen you on Youtube, running and jumping off walls. Stuff like that, I forget what it's called."

[Erasmas]

"Oh, oui... uhh, yes. It is called parkour. Some local film students in Montreal wanted to shoot some videos of me doing this, about... a year ago, no?"

[Lentrax]

As the Feds knock on the door, there is a sound of hurried shuffling, followed by a "Yes? Is a machine not working? I thought I checked them all before the day started. I'll be out in just a second."

True to his word, the door opens a moment later, revealing a man in his later middle age. He takes one look at the uniform, and the suit, and seems to straighten a bit.

"I suppose a machine isn't broken. Come inside, please."

As the office door shuts behind you the decibel level drops appreciatively. The interior of the office is lavishly decorated, with a reclining sectional couch around one corner, a very large desk in another, and a half assembled motorcycle in the third. The man sits himself on part of the sofa, and gestures to the portion opposite in an inviting gesture.

"Alan Bradley. What can I do for you?"

You recognize the name Alan Bradley as the creator of the very popular TRON security program, which was converted into another format and altered to be of use in federal systems the world over.

Meanwhile, the jukebox in the arcade switches over to the next track:
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjR4_CbPpQ)

[The_Admiral]

Mr Bradley, my name is James Lucas, FBI, lady next to me is Sarah Whitfield, Cyber Command, we would like access to your computers, specifically Kevin Flynn's personal terminal, we're investigating a hacking of Encom and since Kevin's the only one who has ever succeeded, well, to catch a thief as they say. James says, flashing his badge at Alan.

[Lentrax]

"What are you talking about? Kevin Flynn's been missing since the mid nineties, there's no way he could have hacked anything. His old terminal is even older than that. You really think an old Commodore 64 could defeat the encryption systems of today?"

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield thinks that's a pretty lame excuse from a very smart guy. "Systems aren't people, Mr. Bradley. A man with Flynn's skills and, uh, reputation for bucking the rules could have put a lot of backdoors in his programs."

[Lentrax]

"You probably should have done your homework, Miss. Encom rebuilt their mainframes from scratch in 2002. Ten years after Kevin Flynn disappeared. How could he have coded a back door into the system?"

[Gorgon_Heap]

"Ok," the lieutenant says contritely, "but it wouldn't be an investigation if we already had all the answers."

[theskorpionking]

"A year ago!" Zeke says. "Wow, guess I'm a little behind on some stuff. It's real fascinating stuff. Have you ever considered doing motion capture for video games?" Zeke hands Antoine one of his business cards.

[The_Admiral]

Wait, it was rebuilt in 02? May I use your WiFi? And who rebuilt it? James interjected, pulling out and booting his laptop.

[Erasmas]

Antoine took the card from the man.

"You mean where people wear those ping pong balls all over their bodies and the computers take pictures of them... like in the movies?"

[Lentrax]

"Go ahead. The arcade does not have a private network. There aren't any modern machines that require it, so we never had a need for a second network. And the Encom mainframes were built internally using Encom resources and employees. And despite my pleas, they refused to install the newest version of TRON, believeing the EIMP was a better choice for security."

[theskorpionking]

Zeke smiled, "So you've heard of it? It's really fasinating stuff. People say that they make good money doing it. I met my girlfriend that way. She and another actor were supposed to do a scene, but he was running late. So the production team had me stand in. Sorry, I'll let you get back to your game. If you're interested in doing some motion capture just give me a call and I'll set it up for you." He leaves Antoine to the game and heads up the stairs after Whitfield and Lucas. When he reaches the door he knocks.

[The_Admiral]

Internal job eh? Slightly easier. James replies tapping keys and looking for programmers who worked on the rebuild who were let go. He also runs a separated search for programmers who worked the the reboot and also make an appearance in the FBI database.

[Erasmas]

"I might. Thank you."

Antoine turned the business card over once or twice and flicked the corner of it. He nodded approvingly and put it into his pocket... and went back to playing TRON - he was determined to beat that high score.

[Lentrax]

"Yes? Who is it?" Comes the reply to Zeke's knock.

Admiral: Search check, please.
Both of you in the office, Sense Motive if you wish.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke clears his throat, "It's, uh, Zeke Davis. Um, I came her with a couple of people and I think they're in there." He slaps his forehead, That coulda went better.

[Lentrax]

"Yeah come on in."

[theskorpionking]

Zeke walked in and closed the door behind him. When he had seen who Whitfield and Lucas had been talking to, his jaw dropped. "Oh my God! It's you. Man, uh, I mean sir, I use your program for almost everything I own. Hands down, Tron is the best security program out there. It's a real honor to meet you. Man, I can't wait to tell the guys about this!" Zeke says this all very quickly, then turns his attention to Whitfield and Lucas. "There's nothing out of the ordinary going on down there. I talked to some french guy, he seems legit though. Have I missed anything?" He tries to sound like he belongs, but fails.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield raises her eyes to Zeke as if waiting for him to begin gushing again.

[The_Admiral]

How secretive was this rebuild? James asks rhetorically throwing his arms up in the air.

Well, looks like the terminal's a dead end, but can we still take a look at Flynn's terminal? Please? he continues, closing his laptop.


OOC: Fanboying seems like the only way to get a peek at it.

[Lentrax]

"Well most of the secrecy was due to the fact that this rebuild was done as Encom was shifting focus to government contracts again. I was not in on the process or, I would be able to tell you more. I can say though, that a thirty year old computer isn't going to do you any good, but if you really tink you need to its in there." Bradley points to a door, leading presumably to a closet or storage are of some kind.

At Zeke's comments, Bradley smiled. "Yeah, Tron was one of the best pieces of code I ever wrote. But you know, considering how much the program has changed since the 80s he almost isn't mine anymore."

At this point, Bradkey turns serious and turns to the CyberComm officer again.

"How much do you know about AI?"

[The_Admiral]

Getting up and packing away his laptop into a bag, James says, AI, Artificial Intelligence, attempts to replicate human thought structure in a computer. From what I've read, the ultimate ambition of any programmer working on AI is to create a program that can think like a human, capable of going Gun in a game of rock paper scissors, a program that can well, cheat... Oh sorry, you were asking her.

James goes off to the door Bradly pointed at, walking in.

[Lentrax]

Inside the small closet is a disassembled old computer. All the parts appear to be present, but you won't know if it works until you plug it in

[The_Admiral]

Okay, let's see you work James says as he starts setting up the computer.

[Gorgon_Heap]

The FBI agent cuts off any reply Whitfield was about to give, but he's not wrong, even if he does answer in a textbook fashion. "Except," she says with heavy implications, "that those programmers are keep pushing the limits on something we won't be able to outsmart any more. I'm all for faster computers but making them smarter than us undermines our control.

WHen these things get beyond us their only competition will be each other. And we'll be playing their games. And I haven't heard about anybody programming the things with the Three Rules, if you know what I mean.

I want systems I can beat like any other hacker wannabe."

[theskorpionking]

Zeke laughs, "I think I saw a movie like that once. Some super sentient machine sends out killer cyborgs to destroy humanity. AI's aren't infallible, you know." He sighs, then looks over to Alan. "Hey before we go, can I get a picture with you? The guys I work with at Encom won't believe me without proof. You know, pics or it didin't happen kinda stuff."

[Lentrax]

"That's true enough. Back in the eighties, there was an AI that evolved from a chess program. Master Control, or the MCP. He got out of hand, and began taking control of various computer resources. He was the program that Tron was originally created to eradicate. But he wasn't the only one. There are in fact no fewer than ten AI personalities in existence right now. And only one of them is chained. Two of these AI programs have decided to go rogue, and move from server to server in the Internet, following algorithms we cannot begin to calculate yet."

"Sam Flynn said he had a solution to the problem, but he vanished before he could share his work."

James sets up the old computer, and after a minute of connecting components, he presses the power switch.

Loading FlynnOS... Standby...

Current status...
Power 100%
Clu... Derezzed.
ISO 1175*E... Derezzed
Tron... Active

User Unidentified...

Password?

[The_Admiral]

Okay old computer, meet modern encryption techniques. James says, getting to work decrypting the password.

Roll
I got a 32 in the OOC thread.

[Lentrax]

User Identified.

Greetings Kevin Flynn.

C:>_

[The_Admiral]

Cracking his knuckles James mutters to himself, Okay, old system, probably custom, and types

C:>find Tron



Okay, trying to start a conversation with Tron on the old PC

[Lentrax]

C:> Tron.dir located
5 Files, 563 MB.
Tron.cab
Exec.dir
Read.wps
Training.seg
Disk.dir

[The_Admiral]

Okay, wow, you are big for your age, okay so who are you. James says running each of the programs one at a time.


He runs them in this order,
Tron.cab
Exec.dir
Read.wps
Training.seg
Disk.dir

[Lentrax]

Exec.dir turns out to be empty.

Nothing happens with the other files, until you get to disk.dir.

It expands into the following:

Combat.dr
Defense.dir
Maps.dir
Record.dir
Identity.exe
Tron.exe
Basic.exe
Appear.jpg
Mem.dir
Games.dir

[The_Admiral]

James mutters What are you, as he types

C:>Run Identity.exe

[Lentrax]

A grid starts drawing itself onto the screen, and an outline appears, roughly human in shape, but then the screen goes dark.

A moment later, the cursor scrolls across the page, typing out the following message:

Error, Data not found. Cannot complete operation Tron.exe.

[The_Admiral]

Comeon, you hunk o junk

C:>Run Mem.dir

[Lentrax]

Allen looks over to Zeke. "Sure. How's things at Encom these days?"

On the monitor:

Personality.cab
Voice.cab
Move.cab
Diskuse.cab
Dimensions.bin

[The_Admiral]

Personality? Tron's an, AI? But it's so small it's inconceivable

C:>List data missing to complete operation Tron.exe

Please be something I can patch over or replace easily.

[Lentrax]

Data unavailable. 127 MB missing from program, details unknown.

[The_Admiral]

Okay, data missing, screw it, let's try to talk to you Tron. James says.

He tries to run Tron Lite, set up tron to run without non essential programs for conversation.

Computer use
[roll0]

[Lentrax]

The program fails to compile

[The_Admiral]

... ****, wait memory.

C:>Run Record.dir_

[theskorpionking]

"Honestly sir, I don't know. I work in the gaming department. The only time I ever see anyone else from the other departments is when we're at lunch, and no one talks about their work then. To many people who like to steal ideas." Zeke takes his phone out of his pocket and hands it to Whitfield, giving her a quick rundown on how to take a picture. He takes his phone back and smiles, "Thanks." He looks over to where Lucas had gone, "Is he finding what he needs?"

[Lentrax]

Wins.wps
Losses.wps
Derezzes.wps
Lightbike.grd
Discwar.grd

[The_Admiral]

127 megs missing, where did you go. Something's not here, what is it? What is it? James mutters to himself.

C:>find logs_


Deletion logs may not be in a format the computer can read or use, but it may be in one I can.

[Lentrax]

James

Logs exported to secondary system.

Frantic

As you beat your fists at the machine, trying so hard over the course of another half hour to beat that high score, you spend a lot of time looking around in frustration.

Slowly, you begin to realize that this section of floor is different than the rest. Newer.

[The_Admiral]

biting his lips, James types,

C:>define secondary system_


Here's to hoping I can get the name of the system.

[Lentrax]

Secondary System defined as Flynn3.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

Antoine dismissed the oddity, at first, but then it demanded more attention in his mind and he started looking around at why the floor would have been replaced in only this section. Frustrated with the machine, he abandoned it (at least temporarily) in favor of this new-found distraction.

[The_Admiral]

How big was Flynn's ego? James muttered.

And now I'm giving a running .... commentary. he continued, tapering off as if inspired at commentary.

He starts writing a program to go through the base code and flag references to names of files and he goes through the list to look for files that are not there.

He then goes through the code manually looking for commentary, anything hinting as to the nature of this Tron.

Computer use
[roll0]

Commentry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comment_%28computer_programming%29)

[Lentrax]

You've heard the stories, but you never believed Kevin Flynn was as good as anyone said... Until now.

There no notes, no commentary, anywhere in the base code. There isn't even a asign that there were any there.

Warmer.

Erasmas, search check if you are looking around.

[The_Admiral]

... I can't decide whether Flynn's a genius, or an idiot. Screw it. James says as he starts looking around for a way to transfer the files from the computer to his laptop.

[Lentrax]

The files copy over easily enough.

[Lentrax]

You spend some time fiddling with the program, and after a half hour you realize there just isn't enough of the program left to do anything with it.


Frantic

You notice the machine doesn't actually touch the ground. It looks like it should, but it doesn't.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

"Quelle est cette?*", Frantic utters as he looks around. He then lowers himself onto the ground and tries to peer underneath the machine to discern what is holding it off of the floor. If he sees nothing under it, then he assumes that some kind of bracket is attaching it to the wall and moves to the back of it to look there.

*- 'What is this?'

[Lentrax]

You can't actually tell if there is something there. If there is, it is very cleverly hidden.

[The_Admiral]

James signs in exasperation as shuts down the terminal and packs up his laptop I don't think we can do much else here Lieutenant Whitfield, we still have some time, howbout dragging out everyone working on this for dinner before getting back into Encom?

[Erasmas]

Frantic

After several seconds of trying to determine how this machine appeared to be levitating, Antoine's theatrical side was now transfixed with the 'stage trick' for how this was accomplished and set himself to finding out. He grabbed the machine and tried to move it.

[Lentrax]

For a minute nothing happens as you start pulling at the machine. Then there is a clcik from behind, and the machine starts to move. You pull it forward several inches, then it begins to turn as it glides open on silent hinges revealing a set of stairs leading down to some kind of basement.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

Antoine looked around, half-expecting someone to yell at him. When it seems like no one even noticed what he had done, curiosity grabbed hold of him once more and he descended the stairs. With one last glance over his shoulder, the Canadian performer smiled to himself; just like the Goonies!

[Lentrax]

Frantic

As you start to head down the flight of stairs, the jukebox (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gin-l4LDdXQ) changes over again.

You descend into what looks like an unused office space. A desk sits along one side of the largish room, papers and charts and diagrams covering it.

There is a large panel of something hanging on another wall, though what lays beneath is covered with a thick layer of dust. Part of the office is taken up by a large king size bed, though it too is covered with dust.

There is what appears to be a dark stain on the fabric of the bed, and a disk about a foot in diameter. The edges of the disk glow with a very faint white light so dim you almost cannot make it out.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

"Hello?", Antoine whispered as he moved into the dusty space and peeked around the corners... waiting to get caught at any minute.

When no one answered, he moved over to the strange disk with lights on it. Picking it up and dusting it off, he turned it over in his hands, trying to figure out what it could be. He also eyed the dark stain on the bed suspiciously... hoping that it wasn't blood.

[Lentrax]

As you lift the disk off the bed, an outline of the disk is left behind in the black stain.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

Antoine checks his hands in hopes that whatever it was hadn't gotten on them when he picked up the disk, "Merde..."

He then moves over to the large panel hanging on the wall and blows the dust from it, peering at the details and trying to figure out the possible purpose behind hiding this room.

[Lentrax]

As you wipe off the panel, you see it is glass. As you are wiping it off, you begin to hear a low hum. Then the glass lights up, revealing what appears to be a large computer monitor. There are windows scattered open all around the screen, some showing maps of cities.

Each map is labelled: 01, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110. Then another window winks open.

This one is a yellow and black bordered window, with the following text:

Warning: Stand Clear. Aperture opening.

Reflex Save, Erasmus.

[Lentrax]

Frantic

You stare at the warning for a moment. Then a mysterious light flashes in the room, and you leap back.

Two figures... appear... out of nowhere.

http://images.wikia.com/tron/images/5/50/Tron-black-guard-concept-600w.jpg

They turn in your direction, and a laser of some kind flashes out, sweeping you up and down. Then, one of them speaks.

"Identity unverified. Identity disk does not match parameters. You will come with us."

Upstairs.

The lights flicker, and the jukebox stops playing for a second.

Allen, looks around. "Damn. Must've blown a fuse. Excuse me." He gets up to move downstairs.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke looks around as the lights flicker. He watches Allen get up and leave. Hoping to redeem himself from his nerdgasm earlier, he says, "Hey, maybe I can help." He follows Allen.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield is surprised and a little frustrated at having been stymied by the old computer, but she loves a challenge. And she could use some food. She nods agreement with James when the lights malfunction and Zeke continues to drool on Allan's shoes.

She does her best to maintain her composure as the small group exits the office. "I think the man can handle it on his own, Zeke. I'm hungry. What are we thinking? How about Thai?"

[Erasmas]

Frantic

"Who are you?! Where in the hell did you come from?!?!", Antoine started to back away from the two men. "I'm not going anywhere with you unless you show me some kind of official identification. Maybe it's better that I just leave, no?"

The Canadian then turned to leave by way of the stairs.

[Lentrax]

As you turn to leave, the stranger says, "You will come with us, Program."

They cross their staves in front of the door, barring your path.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

"'Program'?! What in hell are you talking about? I know my rights, here; get out of my way!"

Antoine tries to move their staves out of the way and push past them.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield descends the stairs, ignoring any further protest from Zeke. Deliciously distracting thoughts of spicy noodles and chicken vanish in a puff of confusion as she passes the rear wall and notes a gaping black maw and displaced aged game machine.

"Um," she points, "Mr. Bradley, I think you've got mice."

[The_Admiral]

Are you sure they're mice, not R.O.U.S.E's? James comments.

[Erasmas]

Frantic

After seeing that the two men were intent on not letting him pass, he will back away from them holding his hands out in a feint of surrender. But the backing up was only to give him enough room. Antoine then took a running leap, trying to dive over the heads of the sentinels that stood between him and his exit.

[Lentrax]

As evryone comes out of the ofice, there is a sudden shout from downstairs, and a man emerges from the opening in the wall, yelling something in French. He is followed shortly thereafter by two men wearing black. Latex or Spandex bodysuits maybe?

One of them swings a long black staff at the man shouting French curses at them. But the strike is easily dodged by the Frenchman.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Gorgon_Heap]

The young Army officer gasps in surprise - not often you see some kind of weird sci-fi duel in an arcade!

But however odd it seems the ... uniformed? ... men are serious about their attack, as one swings his weapon with brutal strength through the air. The man - Is he shouting in French? - moves with a liquid grace, however, and the blow doesn't connect.

Her years of training take over automatically, and while her thoughts are hesitant to simply strike some crazy cosplayer, her body moves with unflinching precision. She slides behind the attacker and uses her hip and an arm grab to leverage the crazy man off balance as she twists the – glowing? – weapon out of his grasp before he can hurt anybody.


Top of the round? I’m hoping for a flanking bonus. This is probably not going to work.
Using Action Point
My AC in melee is 17
Disarm attack [roll0] + [roll1]

Wow. That really doesn't work. I wish Action Points were as good in this game as in Pathfinder.


[OOC: Do we have a description of Frantic?]

[The_Admiral]

Oi! You two! Break it up! James shouts at the cosplayers, drawing his gun just in case.

Intimidate

[roll0]

[Lentrax]

The second man speaks.

"This is an apprehension of a faulty program. You will stand down."

[The_Admiral]

They actually believe... James mumbled, taking out and flashing his badge, he continues shouting How bout you stand down, you're out of your jurisdiction, I'm in charge here, FBI! gun trained on them.

[Lentrax]

Lasers sweep out from the two black-suited men and scan James.

The second one turns when the scans finished to move toward the FBI agent.

"Present your disk for scan, Program."

Skorpionking, it is your initiative. You do not recognize them.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke watches everything unfold. Questions are forming rapidly in his brain, but he knows that they won't get answered. He wasn't much of a fighter, he always preferred to talk things out. He just hoped it would work in this situation. "Hey, man. Uh, why don't you put down that, um, staff and step away from the French guy. I'm sure we could talk about this."

[The_Admiral]

We don't have discs here, now stand down, you don't have jurisdiction here.

[Lentrax]

This statement seems to confuse the two, because they stop and look at each other for a moment.

They then turn back, and without even noting Sarah's attempt at disarming them, continued their advance.

Staves upraised, they move to attack Frantic and James.

Frantic: Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

James: Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[Erasmas]

"I'm French-Canadian, but yeah..."

Antoine moves away from the two men, trying to maneuver himself into such a position as to have a straight line to the exit, even if that line was over arcade machines. Spotting Alan coming down the stairs, he recognizes that this man must be the manager of the place.

"I am sorry; I found that the machine moved and followed the stairs, thinking that maybe it would lead to a VIP Lounge, or something. When I was down there, these two sale cons* tried to trap me down there with their... sticks!"

*- 'dirty @$$holes' (a typical French equivalent to calling someone an '@$$hole'... apparently.

[The_Admiral]

James rolls out of the way of the staffs, raising his gun and opens fire on the dude closest to him.


To hit
[roll0]

damage
[roll1]

[Lentrax]

The bullet rips through the mans arm, leaving a perfect hole through the body.

Then the arm falls off, shattering into a fine black powder.

"Program. You have caused damage to this sentry. You will be taken to the grid for immediate deressolution."

[The_Admiral]

James backs off as the thing's arm shatters into small bits Guys, little help here? he says, firing another shot at the man.


To Hit
[roll0]
Damage.
[roll1]

[theskorpionking]

Zeke's jaw drops open as he sees one of the attackers arms disintegrates in front of his eyes. His hopes of talking this thing out had faded away. That's all I can do. He has no weapons nor does he know any martial arts.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Sarah's attack

Hoping for better than a 2, and that it'll be easier since the guy only has one arm.

Disarm [roll0]

[Erasmas]

When the man's arm feel into shattered fragments, Antoine shouted and looked at James' gun in complete shock.

"Please don't shoot me with that thing!"

He remained on the defensive, trying to keep either of the black-clad soldiers from hitting him with their glowing staves.

[Lentrax]

The attitude in the room chaned as the Sentries paused momentarily to take in this new information. But the they resume thier assault.

Sarah, still occupying her opponent, grabs hold of her target's staff and yanks it free. James levels his gun at his target again, but the bullet misses its target, burying itself in a Fast and Furious machine behind the Sentry.

The sentries continue thier almost comical attempts at attacking thier adversaries, but neither seems able to land a blow.
Sentry 1: [roll0], [roll1]
Sentry 2: [roll2], [roll3]

New round.

[The_Admiral]

James fires his gun again at the closest sentry, backing up a little.


[roll0]

[roll1]

[Gorgon_Heap]

Things were moving too fast for the young officer to stop and really consider everything she was seeing.

A Frenchman was attacked by two guys in glowing latex(?), who then threatened everyone else with ... what exactly? What they were saying didn't seem to make any sense.

But they sure as hell weren't friendly.

And then the FBI agent opened fire and an arm dropped to the floor and shattered. It was surreal, and she did her best to ignore it as she took advantage of the man's, er, weakness, by twisting the glowing staff from his remaining hand.

Whitfield spins the staff in a glowing blur as she ducks and twists away from the attacker. Another shot cracks through the air and she glances at James with no small amount of fear and concern.

She hops into the air and swings a bright red end in a broad arc toward a helmeted head.


Attack [roll0]
Crit [roll1]
Damage [roll2]

[Erasmas]

As the machine close to him sent sparks flying when the bullet tore through the screen, Antoine jumped away from it and covered his ears from the loud report. He then looked down at the disc he still held and noticed, for the first time, the similarities between it and the staves being used by the men (and one now being wielded by the military woman).

Steeling his nerves, he approached the still-armed thing and punched the disc towards him.


(Attack; +4 normally, -4 non-proficiency with weapon)
[roll0]
Not sure on the damage...
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Lentrax]

James shot echoes in the arcade, punching a hole in another machine.

Frantic punches at the sentry, but he ducks back and the disc goes wide.

Sarah though, with a twirl of her new staff, cracks a blow across the head of the one armed program. A shower of black bits falls to the ground, the helmet thunking down on the floor next to it.

The remaining sentry continues to assault Frantic. And continues to miss.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[The_Admiral]

James switches targets, firing a shot at the second sentry.


Attack
[roll0]

Damage
[roll1]

[Lentrax]

The shot goes wide, though Frantic can feel it buzzing past his ear.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield nearly shrieks as another shot rings out. She'd never been under fire befoer, and though she wasn't the target James seemed to be shooting through his own fear.

She's noted these ... men, move with a strange and exact grace, as if they've practiced every little movement to perfection, but she doesn't have time to mull it over.

She slides forward and takes a jab and several slow, wide swings the man easily deflects, trying to get a feel for his cadence and defensive zones. She blocks a fast blow and suddenly spins low to the ground, allowing another strike to pass overhead and she sweeps her weapon toward the man's legs ...



Attack [roll0]
Crit check [roll1]
Damage [roll2]

[Erasmas]

"Merde! I said 'don't shoot', 'don't shoot'!"

Antoine screamed as he attempted to duck out of the way long-already-past bullet. He once again tried to punch at the man with the disc in his hand.


(Attack; +4 normally, -4 non-proficiency with weapon)
[roll0]
Still not sure on the proper damage for this thing...
[roll1]
[roll2]

[theskorpionking]

Zeke ducked down as the gunfire went wild. He knew that no one would believe him, so he takes out his phone and starts recording the fight. While recording there was only one thought running through Zeke's head."This would make for one awesome video game."

[Lentrax]

Sarah's strike is blocked at the last possible instant by a blur of arms.

With a flash, you realize this thing isn't human. Then it strikes out at Sarah.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[The_Admiral]

Dammit! James shouts, holstering his gun, unable to shoot for fear of hitting Sarah, Should have put more time at the range.

[Erasmas]

Antoine jumps back away from the attacking man-with-a-stick and out of pure frustration, throws the disc at his opponent.


(Ranged Attack; +5 normally, -4 non-proficiency with weapon)
[roll0]
Still not sure on the proper damage for this thing...
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield shouts in pain as the staff thumps into her side, knocking the wind from her lungs. Her eyes tear up as she tries to regain some air and she sinks into a low guard.

The Frenchman suddenly tosses some sort of glowing circle at the man in black and she thrusts toward his midsection in that instant, hoping he's distracted enough not to block the blow...


Attack [roll0]
Crit [roll1]
Damage [roll2]


Oh, darnit! So close to a crit. That would have been sweet.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke stops filming as he see the French man throw the disc. He knows what it is, or at least knows what it's from. He swallows his fear and heads down the rest of the stairs as Whitfield attempts to strike the distracted foe.

[Lentrax]

Staff a blur, the Sentry tries to fend off Sarah's blows, but one manages to connect, shattering a part of the man off. You can see inside him. And he seems to be... hollow? Like an inflated doll, just a shell, with nothing inside.

Frantic throws the disc, and it whizzes through the air. The Sentry bats it aside, and the disc flies off. It pings off of a machine, ricochets back off the ceiling, and then back towards Frantic.

At the last second though, you manage to catch the disk before it can tear you open.

The Senntry continues its assault of Sarah.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield uses the momentum from her successful strike (and tries to ignore the strangeness of the attacker) by continueing a grueling series of strikes.



Really hoping I connect again before he does ...
Attack
Crit [roll1]
Damage [roll]1d6+1

[Erasmas]

"Putain!"

Antoine swears and recoils as the disc bounces around the room, before putting his hand out in defense more than anything else. Luckily, his reflexes kicked in and he instinctively grabbed ahold of the weapon when it came back to him. Looking down at the disc, a crooked smile played at the corner of his mouth. That was... cool!, he thought to himself... before throwing the thing again.


(Ranged Attack; +5 normally, -4 non-proficiency with weapon)
[roll0]
(Damage)
[roll1]

[Lentrax]

Witha flick of his wrist, Frantic sends the disc flying. Again, it bounces around the room like a pinball before returning to him. And again, it flew wide of its target.

Sarah swings her staff at the... whatever this thing is. But her timing is off, and she can only catch air as the man moves away from the blow. But at least the move away from her attack put the sentries timing off as well, and its counterswing is a fraction of a second too late to knock her in the skull.

[roll0]
[roll1]

New round.

[Gorgon_Heap]

The man leaps lightly back, again avoiding her attack while Whitfield just managed to defend herself with a glancing blow that raised his staff over her head.

Her skirt was still confining her legs, slowing her down, and her hair was rapidly coming undone and drifting in front of her face. The blur of the glowing disc flashing about the room was still another distraction, and not one her enemy seemed to mind.

She parries two successive short strikes and swings widely, forcing the man back another step and giving her just a second to send a furious glare at the Frenchman. She then reigns her weapon in close, scoots in low and drives the butt toward the man's stomach in a lightning strike ...

Attack [roll0]
Crit [roll1]
Damage [roll2]

Sheesh. This is taking a while. The first one of us to connect is going to win. What are you guys going to do if it's him?

[Lentrax]

The staff leaves twin glowing after images in the air as Sarah whirrled it in arcing sweeps. She just manages to glance a blow off the Sentry's head, shattering it into dust. The rest of Sentry dissolves the same way, staff and helmet clattering to the floor of the arcade.

"What in the name of all that is holy were those?" Bradley, having watched the whole fight from the stairs asks as the fight ends.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Breathing heavily, loose hairs stuck to the sweat on her forehead and uniform dishevelled, Whitfield stares at the pile of metal filings and the glowing staff in her hands.

She slumps a little and looks around in a sort of exhausted perplexity. She shrugs at Alan and raises her eyebrows at the Frenchman in expectation of an answer.

[The_Admiral]

I don't know, I don't know. James says, squatting in front of a pile and grabbing a handful of the dust, letting it fall through the holes between his fingers back onto the pile.

So, know these cosplayers? he continued turning to the french dude.

[Erasmas]

Antoine looked around as the situation seemed to calm, and realized that everyone was looking at him.

"What?! No, no... I have never seen these guys before in my whole life! I... I went down the stairs and then they, just... appeared... out of nowhere! And then they starting speaking strange things about 'programs' and 'identity' something or other; and then they started attacking me!"

[Gorgon_Heap]

Still catching her breath and trembling a bit as the adrenalin bleeds off, Whitfield looks suspicious but asks, "Mr. Bradley, what's downstairs?"

[Lentrax]

"I... don't know. This is new to me. Sam never me spoke about this to me when he gave me the Arcade."

[theskorpionking]

Zeke comes down the stairs and stands next to Alan. He has a big smile on his face. It's not from witnessing an unexplainable event, but what the French-Canadian was holding. He looks at Antoine, "Hey, do you know what you got there?"

[Erasmas]

Antoine shrugged.

"Some kind of LED Frisbee, I guess? I found it downstairs, on that nasty bed."

[The_Admiral]

Well then, let's investigate James says, walking into the basement cautiously, Lieutenant, you better sit this one out with your injuries and all, I think it's safe here, I don't think anyone back at office will believe me.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke takes the disc from Antoine. "A LED Frisbee? This is an Identity Disc! You know, from the Tron game!", he said excitedly. "Or at least a prop of one. It was probably given to one of the Flynns. Depending on which one, it could be worth anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. I can't believe you were throwing it around." He gave the disc an once-over. It didn't appear to be damaged in anyway. As he held it he felt a slight tingling as the disc began to glow. The tingling was familiar, but he couldn't tell why. Zeke had begun pushing various spots on the disc as he followed the FBI agent downstairs.

[Lentrax]

You find the basement the same way Antoine left it, though the screen now reads:

Gateway locked. Key not present.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Whitfield does stay upstairs as she performs some breathing exercises and tries to make sense of things.

She also makes sure the front door is locked.

[Erasmas]

Antoine balks at Zeke's proclamation, "No! The discs from the TRON game are white Frisbees with circles painted on them... they are solid!"

The Canadian pushed his hand through the hole in the middle of this disc, as if that proved his point by itself. He then went to Sarah.

"Are you okay? I have a first aid kit in my backpack, here."

He removed his backpack and set it on the ground, kneeling beside it. He rummaged through his belongings and produced the small plastic box.

"It isn't much, je crains*... but there is antiseptic and gauze."

*- 'I'm afraid...'

[Gorgon_Heap]

Stretching this way and that, the young woman winces but feels nothing out of place. "Think I just have some bruised ribs. A wrap might help but ... who're you?"

[Erasmas]

Antoine was reaching for the uniformed woman before she asked her question, but stopped mid-movement. He blinked and then had to fight from blushing, but managed a weak smile.

"Pardonne moi, mademoiselle. I am Antoine, Antoine Deveraux... everyone usually just calls me 'Frantic'."

The performer extended a handshake.

[Gorgon_Heap]

"Yeah," she says, awkwardly taking the proffered hand. "Lt. Sarah Whitfield. Let's wait to see what they come up with. You're going to have to come with us for debriefing."

[Lentrax]

Sarah manages to calm herself down, breathing in and out as she learned to do.

The arcade is not locked, but you see there is just a simple deadbolt on the door. Turning it, there is a very satisfying click as the bolt slides home.

[Erasmas]

"Oui. So long as it can be done tonight. I need to be back to the buses before 6 tomorrow morning, because we are driving to Chicago."

Antoine watched as Whitfield locked the door, and then turned his attention towards those that had gone down the stairs.

"So... find anything else interesting?"

[The_Admiral]

Something about a missing key, let me try something. James says, sitting down and attempting to bypass the security.

Computer Use

[roll0]

[Lentrax]

As you start going at this system, it becomes apparent that this system is even more heavily secured than most DoD systems. You don't think you can circumvent this key thing.

Whatever that is.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke looks the room over, other than an outdated computer and a small bed, nothing seems to catch his eye. He's still playing with the identity disc as he waits for the FBI agent to finish his search. He thinks about what he said to Antoine and how he reacted to it. Well, technically he's right. I mean he doesn't know that there was a sequel being made. Just like he wouldn't know that it was scrapped after the conception stage. Still, pics got leaked, and the fanboys went crazy. He keeps messing with the disc, Someone must have made this and given it to Sam or Kevin.

[Lentrax]

Nothing happens as Zeke plays with the disc, though he gets an odd sense of déjà vu while holding it. Like he knows who it belongs to, but can't quite place it.

Alan walks down the stairs. As he enters the room. He looks over some of the diagrams and open windows on the computer.

"My god. He did it. He actually did it."

[The_Admiral]

Did what? What did he manage to do? James asks, turning around to face Alan, a puzzled look on his face.

[Lentrax]

"During the Nineties, Kevin talked about a 'New Frontier.' He said that the future was inside a computer. He told me..."

Alan washes his hands across his face, pushing his glasses up his forehead momentarily.

"He told me he met Tron once. He told me he was inside a computer system. That programs were like people living inside the system. And that this system, this Grid was the future for humanity. I never thought any of it was true, could be true, until today."

[The_Admiral]

Wait, then those, things, do you think they could be programs? Some sort of antibody? This 'New Frontier', lets say he met Tron, and we're taking this literally here, there must be some way of transferring between this 'Frontier' and the real world. French dude! Come down here! I think I found something, how were the things placed when you walked in and these guys appeared? I need you to recreate it exactly. James says, getting up from the chair.

[Erasmas]

Frantic came down the stairs, looking a little annoyed.

"... 'French dude'... for the last time I am not French, I am Canadian. And my name is Antoine, or Frantic... if you insist."

After he shakes off his annoyance, he turns his attention to the question posed to him.

"The disc was over here, on the bed. I picked it up and then moved over to this big glass screen and dusted it off. It had a warning, in big red letters, it said 'Stand Clear. Opening Aperture.'... or something. Then a bright light, like a camera and then the two men were standing right there. And then they tried to take me, so I ran."

[The_Admiral]

Okay, good, stay there, James says, as he returns to the terminal and checks if the key is still missing.

[Lentrax]

The message on the wall sized monitor remains the same.

Reminder: The monitor is a very large pane of glass, taking up most of a wall.

Also, James may make an intelligence check to determine what the key is.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke looks from the giant screen to James, then he stops on Alan. "So what you're trying to say is, that Tron is real? That all the stuff that you do in the game is real? You know things like the light cycle races, disc wars. Those are real?" He gestures towards the computer, "Or at least "real" in there."

[The_Admiral]

Well that didn't work, wait a minute, I'm an idiot. James says, slapping his forehead. Running up he goes through the site of the fight, looking for anything that survived the 'dusting' of the drones.

EDIT: Adding in actions with new information.

Gathering up all the toys, James runs back into the basement and glances at the screen, hoping that one of these objects is the key.

[Gorgon_Heap]

James' voice calls for the Frenchman from the darkened basement, and lithe fellow quickly descends.

Whitfield examines the large, empty room for a long moment before turning to follow, but she catches her reflection in a black game screen and she pauses. She tries innefectually to get a loose clump of hair back into place with her fingers, but sees her dress top is stained and untucked and her skirt is twisted sideways and gives up with a sigh.

She arrives in the basement as James is smacking himself.

[Lentrax]

James walks in with the equipment left behind by the sentries. As he sets the staff on the floor, the monitor goes black.

Key Recognized. Aperture open. Digitization commencing in 3, 2, 1.

There is a bright flash of light around you and the world is gone. Instead you have a stretching sensation in your minds eye as thought reaches out to eternity. Then a bizarre string of images passes before your eyes.

The world returns around you, but it is darker than it was before. You soon realize you are not in Flynn's arcade anymore. As you recover your senses, you note that Zeke is no longer around.

The three of you are in a small room with no windows and only one door.

There is a woman in the room with you. She is wearing some sort of skintight outfit not unlike what the sentries were wearing. In her hands is the same kind of disc as you saw Zeke holding.

[Erasmas]

Frantic blinked in astonishment, "Huh?! Quelle est cette now?!"

When he spotted the woman, Antoine lightly nudged Whitfield in the ribs, jerking his chin in the catsuit-clad female.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Sarah momentarily closes her eyes and raises her hands as if to steady herself. Whoa, woozy. Didn't think that blow to my ribs was that ba- "Ow!" she cries far too loudly in the small room.

She reopens her eyes to a confused Frenchman - what did he call himself? - who's gesturing toward another woman.

Sarah opens her mouth ... and closes it. Then looks over at James, and then for the first time around the nearly featureless room.

"Hmmn?"

[theskorpionking]

"Where are we?" Zeke asks. Then he realizes why everyone was staring at him. He wasn't him.

[The_Admiral]

James' eyes scanned the room, scraps of training going through his mind. Seeing the woman with the disc, he asks warily, where are we? ready to draw his gun at a moment's notice.

[Gorgon_Heap]

With everyone asking the same questions and no answers forthcoming, Sarah looks anxiously from one face to another and then back over her shoulder, hoping to see an exit.

"You," she says to the woman, having no idea where else to take her whirling thoughts, "you're dressed like those, uh, Tron guys. What's going on here? Somebody said the game is real and then the world turned inside out."

She's suspicious and nervous, but completely uncertain this is really happening.



OOC: What does the woman actually look like?

[theskorpionking]

Zeke starts to panic, It's me, Zeke. You gotta believe me." He takes notice of what he's wearing, then he really panics. "What happened to me? Wait, That voice. My voice....Dani?"





OCC: I can help with what she looks like.
dani (http://s1340.photobucket.com/user/theskorpionking/media/tron2_zps291518a4.jpg.html)

[Gorgon_Heap]

Putting a hand on Frantic's shoulder and looking earnestly at he and James, Sarah points at the woman in white. "That's freakin' me out." Annoyed and emphatic, she says to Zeke(?) "Stop talking to yourself! What's a Dani?"

She pales and her eyes widen in sudden shock. She looks down at herself, feeling the same disheveled service uniform (and body under it). The same loose strand of hair falls down her face as she looks up, no longer panicked but still confused.

[theskorpionking]

"Dani isn't a what, she's a who. My girlfriend to be exact. But, that's crazy. She dropped me off at work this morning. I kissed these lips." Zeke feels his lips with his free hand. He then lifts the disc up, wishing that it would give him some answers.

[Erasmas]

Antoine nods in slow agreement with Sarah talking about the woman claiming to be Zeke.

"I'm not sure what is going on here, but she looks to be a part of it. I don't trust this place... and I don't trust her. Perhaps we should ask her a question that only this Zeke guy would know? Oh... wait!"

Frantic frantically searches his pockets, until his fingers find the business card given to him by the programmer only maybe an hour before. He then turns towards the woman.

"You claim to be Zeke? Okay; then tell me what he gave me back in the arcade!"

[theskorpionking]

Zeke laughed nervously. "I, uh, gave you my business card. We talked about motion capture. I told you that was where Dani and I met. I told you that we were supposed to go to the circus you perform for."

[Erasmas]

Antoine examines Zeke in his new form closely, peering disbelievingly into his eyes as if that were going to reveal everything to him.

"And this is your girlfriend's body?"

[theskorpionking]

"Uh, yeah. I'd like to think I'd know my own girlfriends body." Zeke's cheeks reddened. "Now could you back off a little? You're kinda creeping me out."

[Erasmas]

Antoine straightened back up, slightly embarrassed himself. "Oui... and, well done, Zeke; she is a beautiful lady. Or... you are a beautiful lady..."

Frantic seemed to wrestle with his own thoughts for a moment.

"But why? Why are you a beautiful lady, er... Dani?! And why are you wearing the clothes like those men that tried to kill us?"

[Gorgon_Heap]

As Frantic and Zeke ... Dani ... Zeki? ... talk, Sarah's face looks more and more like she'd just eaten something unpleasant.

She shakes her head at the foreigner. Then she steps forward and rudely pokes Zeke in the shoulder. Real enough, she shrugs.

"He doesn't know. But it's happened, so the real question is 'what's the connection?' What does she have to do with it and what's that got to do with it?" she says, pointing at the disk.

She looks back at the doorway again. "And what the hell's outside this room?"

[Erasmas]

Frantic looks about the room once more and takes a determined breath. He then makes his way to the only exit to this room.

"Well, here is the door.", as he approaches it, Antoine looks for a way to open the thing.

[Lentrax]

Antoine finds the knob easily enough. It isn't locked.

[Erasmas]

Cautiously, Antoine opens the portal and peers out.

"Hello?"

[Lentrax]

The door opens into a darkened lobby. There is no one in sight. You realize this is not the same building you were in.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Sarah looks Zeke und down skeptically, and then, with nothing else to offer in the empty room, pulls her skirt around and her shirt the rest of the way out.

Seemingly determined to make the best of her ungainly dress uniform, she undoes the top button and makes to follow Frantic out the door.





EDIT - I never said I put down the staff. Do I still have it?

[The_Admiral]

James follows behind Sarah, gun drawn.

[theskorpionking]

Still unsure how he ended up looking like his girlfriend, Zeke follows the rest of the group out of the room.

[Lentrax]

The lobby is sparsely furnished. No signs are hanging to inform you of the name if the building or what lay inside. No art decorated the walls, and no plants provided a break in the urbanness of the room.

Through the glass facade in the front, you can see cars drive by.

Maybe they're cars. It's hard to tell. They don't look like anything you have ever seen. Sleek, white and black things with glowing blue wheels. People walk up and down the street, dressed in the same strange manner as the two programs you have seen earlier, as well as... Zeke?

[Gorgon_Heap]

Hesitating as we all look out the window, Sarah has obviously conflicting thoughts. Finally she just says, "I don't get it."

[Erasmas]

Frantic entered the lobby fully, leaving the small room behind, and looked around for someone... anyone really. If there was no one here inside, then he made his way outside and spoke with the first person he sees.

"Excuse me, where am I? What is this place?"

[Lentrax]

No one stops to answer your question. They do give you some very odd looks, however.

Spot checks please.

[Gorgon_Heap]

Seeing the overall surreal strangeness of the environment outside and the uniformly bizarre style of dress, Sarah's quite put off about going out there in her uniform. They still look like people, not faceless automotons, but it's obvious by the way they're looking at Frantic that this little group is extremely out of place.


I don't know if I want to still have the thing or not, but since it didn't occur to me to drop the staff, do you say I still have it, Lentrax?

Spot: [roll0]

[Lentrax]

Every single person on the street. Every man and woman, has a disc. Just like the one Zeke has.

And coming down the street are more sentries.

Sarah:
Yeah, she still has the staff. Standard quarterstaff. Just add 10% cooler in the special qualities section.

[theskorpionking]

Zeke stops just behind Sarah and whistles. "We're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto."
Spot check: [roll0]