Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

FET was confused, and his circuits hummed with the stress on his system. He had been going about his usual work, successfully classifying breeds of horses in his encyclopedia programme for his user Jeffery-One, when two guards, their circuits reddish orange instead of the usual neon blue, had whisked him away.

He had asked several times where they were taking him and what they wanted, but the answer was always the same. ‘The orders have come from the Master Control Programme.’

Ah, yes. The Master Control Programme. Ever since the MCP had been installed, there had been rumours of missing programmes, glitches in systems, and an increasing presence of guards. Even the usually bright lines of the grid landscape looked duller. FET guessed that programmes maintaining grid aesthetics were not considered important enough by the MCP to be kept on duty.

As he pondered this, FET found himself being led into a corridor section, with individual holding areas, many already full of programmes sitting or pacing. One, as he passed, threw themselves at the forcefield, and was thrown back against the far wall.

‘Inside.’ One of the guards by his side gestured to the next cell, and a forcefield activated around it as soon as FET made it fully inside.

The guards stomped away and FET sat down, unsure what to do. He could not continue to fulfil his purpose stuck in here. He hoped Jeffery-One was not having too much trouble with his now inevitably malfunctioning software.

‘Ahoy there, programme!’ a voice called from the adjoining cell.

FET looked up and saw a face close to the barrier.

‘Name’s KARL,’ the voice had a thick accent, but FET did not have the ability to place it. ‘Who are you?’

‘I am FET. A classification programme. Identifying breeds of horse.’

‘Ah another one of us! I am a bird and sea-life programme of a nature website. If a user needs to name a thousand sea creatures, I can find them in a fraction of a microcycle.’ KARL sighed. ‘I see why you’ve been brought here then. No use for that kind of thing, the MCP. User educational and leisurely interests are of no use to him.’

KARL flipped a disc, around a foot in diametre and with the same circuitry that adorned his body, expertly into the air and caught it behind his back. ‘The MCP absorbs programmes he can use, anything to make himself more powerful, take more control. For now it’s the grid but who knows where he’ll stop.’

‘And those he has no use for? They’re sent here?’

‘Aye, they are. For training.’

‘Training?’ FET was already properly programmed. Why would he need further training. ‘For what?’

‘The games, of course,’ KARL replied, a grim look passed over his face. ‘Those of us he deems useless, he makes us fight until one of us is derezzed.’

Derezzed. Deresolution. A programme’s life ended.

‘Surely, he can’t, the users-’

‘The users now are our only chance,’ KARL interrupted. ‘Let’s hope they can stop this soon.’

----

‘Dickfuck, come on!’ Ed shouted at his screen, as he jammed at his keyboard. He was sat in his upstairs office above his arcade, Blackbeard’s, which nowadays doubled as his home.

He loved his arcade, and it was doing well. But still, money was tight ever since he’d been let go from the piece-of-shit corporate asshole that SEACOM had become. To no one’s surprise, big companies didn’t like being confronted when they stole employees’ programmes for their own gain. The Badmintons had practically had Ed dragged from their shared office when he had threatened to expose them to the press. Not that they were likely to take his word over a giant like SEACOM.

Which was why he had to find hard evidence. It was in SEACOM’s systems somewhere, it had to be. It may have been adapted and altered but if he could find the original code he could expose them and that would be bye-bye Badmintons.

He took a swig of his rum and coke, and glanced over to a picture on his desk. It was a group photo of him and his pals who helped run the arcade, and the one person who worked at SEACOM he could still stand. Stede had his arm thrown over Ed’s shoulder and was laughing into his neck, nose scrunched adorably. He had tried to get Stede to move over to help him at Blackbeard’s, but pressure from Father Bonnet had made sure Stede stayed in his boring cubicle designing security programmes for a company he hated. One day Stede, I’ll get you out of there, Ed smiled as he ran his finger along photo-Stede’s face.

‘Ok, Ed. You can do this.’

He had to get a move on. It was only a matter of time until someone noticed him rummaging around in there and wondered who was successfully using his old access codes.

>GROUP 7 CLEARANCE: PROGRAMME KRAKEN

Ed typed onto his black screen, and the familiar neon green words appeared.

The computer beeped and a tinny voice emerged over his head set.

‘KRAKEN programme online, please advise user Edward-One.’

>STATUS REQUEST REPORT MISSING DATA

‘Come on KRAKEN let’s get those files.’

‘Let me at ‘em!’ The tinny voice emerged again, and Ed chuckled, glad he’d added the extra communication interface.

‘That’s the spirit.’

Ed could hear KRAKEN working, numbers and figures popping up on the screen as he tried to delve deeper into SEACOM’s systems. He liked to imagine a tiny version of himself, amongst the circuit boards and wiring, hunting for his work like a pirate searching for buried treasure.

Every now and then KRAKEN’s voice would come through in short bursts to keep him updated, and Ed was optimistic this could work. He was getting close this time, he was sure of it.

After a few minutes, Ed’s screen began to break up and flash, bits of code disappearing and reappearing. He thumped the monitor, and the screen went back to normal momentarily, before he heard KRAKEN’s voice calling out.

‘I will not...help you...I work...for the users!’

He sounded in pain. Which was ridiculous. KRAKEN was made of electricity, letters and numbers.

‘Too...many of them…’ KRAKEN’s voice called out again, then there was a cry and a loudle fizzle, before Ed’s screen went black.

‘Fuck!’ Ed shouted, and put his head in his hands.

When he looked up at the screen, a message had appeared.

>ILLEGAL CODE
>KRAKEN CODE DETACHED FROM THE SYSTEM

Fucking SEACOM.

----

Across the city, amongst the high rise buildings, neon signs and endlessly lit windows, another message flashed up on an electronic office desk belonging to the SEACOM co-owners.

>GET ME THE BADMINTONS
>IMMEDIATELY

Chapter Text

‘This is bloody ridiculous…’

‘Shut up Nigel.’

Nigel rolled his eyes and dropped onto the office couch. His brother, Chauncey, sat down at their shared desk.

‘What can I do for you, Master Control?’ Addressed at seemingly no one, a screen on the desk flashed with three neon green dots.

>BADMINTON
>TEACH HAS BEEN IN MY FILES AGAIN

‘That’s impossible,’ Chauncey said, ‘his access was revoked when he was made to leave. He can’t possibly have been him.’

The desk remained dark for a few seconds.

>IT FELT LIKE TEACH
>HE IS TRYING TO ACCESS HIS OLD PROGRAMMES

‘Well that he definitely can’t do,’ Nigel smirked from his almost horizontal position on the couch. ‘We made sure those were well hidden. With your help of course, Master Control.’ Nigel gestured faux-graciously to the desk.

>IT WOULD DO US NO GOOD FOR HIM TO FIND THEM
>I CANNOT HAVE HIM STOP MY EXPANSION

The twins looked at each other, matching expressions as their faces dropped.

Chauncey asked, ‘expansion? But we have reached our goal. You now control the whole of SEACOM’s enterprise. This company is worth billions.’

>EXPANSION
>SEACOM IS TOO SMALL
>THE PENTAGON WILL BE MY NEXT ACQUISITION

Nigel let out a laugh of disbelief. ‘Hah! Good luck with that. The Pentagon, can you believe?’

>YOU WILL ASSIST
>GET RID OF TEACH
>I CAN MAKE IT DIFFICULT IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY

Chauncey swallowed, and felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead. Where there had been writing on the screen, there was now incredibly realistic newspaper covers and magazine articles, each showing he and his brother’s downfall and disgrace.

>YOU WILL ASSIST

‘Of...of course, Master Control.’

>EXCELLENT
>END OF LINE

The screen went black.

----

Stede sat in his brightly decorated office cubicle, eating his usual lunch of marmalade sandwiches. He didn’t usually eat at his desk, but today was an exception. It was time, and he could hardly contain his excitement. In fact, he was so excited he’d gotten a jar of the extra fancy marmalade from the local market especially.

He finished the half of his sandwich he was eating, wiped his hands, and pushed up his glasses.

This was it. He was ready to activate his most sophisticated programme yet, one he had been working tirelessly on for what felt like aeons. It was named Security Taskware Electronic Defence Entity, or STEDE for short, and he was admittedly rather proud of the name.

Trying hard not to bounce with excitement, Stede took a deep breath, and pushed the button. This was a momentous moment in his career, for computer software everywhere, for-

>ACCESS DENIED GROUP 7 RESTRICTED

Stede frowned, but only with his eyebrows. He was not letting his smile go, not just yet.

He pressed again. The same message.

Stede felt tears of frustration well up in his eyes as he ate the rest of his sandwich, at a loss as what to do.

With the zesty willpower of his special marmalade, he made the brave decision that the Badmintons must be behind this, and it was them he should speak to, and he should go now to avoid changing his mind.

Stede pushed enthusiastically out of his chair, grabbed his bright, patterned blazer off the back for courage, and stormed towards the lift.

----

‘Oh god, oh god, oh god,’ was all that went through Stede’s mind as he travelled up towards the Badminton’s top floor office. He closed his eyes and focussed on breathing. A ping brought him back and the door opened to his two least favourite people, possibly on the entire planet, staring at him with absolute mockery (Nigel) and utter contempt (Chauncey).

‘Baby Bonnet, to what do we owe the pleasure?’ Nigel teased as Stede approached their desk, somehow still finding the school nickname entertaining.

Stede cleared his throat. ‘I, uh, I tried to activate my new security programme today, and I was denied access.’

‘Yes,’ Chauncey said dismissively, ‘there has been some issues with outside sabotage, attempted file theft and the like, so we have had to shut down group 7 and above access.’

‘Well, I was really, very much looking forward to launching my programme today, I have been working extremely hard this past year and-’

‘Oh Baby Bonnet do stop whining, it’s only for a day or two. Your silly programme isn’t going anywhere.’

A smirk grew on Nigel’s face. ‘What was this programme called again?’

‘Security Taskware Electronic Defence Entity. And I really believe that-’

‘STEDE?’ Chauncey and Nigel started to laugh. ‘You name a programme after yourself?’ The laughter got louder and Stede shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling his face grow red and the familiar prickle in his eyes.

‘Oh Baby Bonnet you do tickle me.’ Nigel was wiping away tears of his own.

Chauncey on the other hand had recovered like he had not been laughing at all, and looked Stede directly. ‘Listen, Bonnet. You’re only here because of our respect for your Father. We couldn’t care less what silly little ideas you come up with as long as you sit quietly in your cubicle and leave the business to the adults, yes?’

Stede nodded and rushed out of the office. He reached the lift before he broke down into tears of shame and anger. How he hated them. And how he hated his father for making him work here. He had been a fool to think this programme would finally gain him some respect.

It was moments like this that he missed Ed the most. Ed had always been kind to him, always accepted him for who he was. Even after Ed was drummed out of SEACOM he was still Stede’s biggest supporter, and his friend always lifted his spirits. Stede really wished he was there.

Chapter Text

When Stede was feeling particularly down but could not leave work, he liked to go and visit Jim and Oluwande in the research bay. The pair of them seemed to tolerate his presence and questions about their work, Oluwande perhaps more so, but he had been assured that Jim’s glares were not to be taken personally. He also got the feeling Oluwande understood he needed the distraction.

The pair had been working on a type of laser that could digitise an object’s molecular structure, taking it from their world and placing it into a computer. Stede didn’t understand the ins and outs, but Oluwande had tried to explain it the best he could.

The research lab still had a little bit of autonomy, Stede suspected the Badmintons were a little afraid of Jim after the staff axe-throwing night out, and pretty much left them be within reason. Oluwande and Jim could come and go as they pleased, and often worked together well into the night.

As Stede clunked down the metal stairs, the pair were huddled together around a work station, Jim’s hand resting on the small of Oluwande’s back. Stede’s thoughts immediately went back to Ed, and how he wanted to work that closely again. He missed a step, distracted, and sent a loud, clanging sound around the warehouse.

Jim and Oluwande looked up, Jim rolled their eyes as Oluwande beckoned Stede over.

‘Just in time man, we’re about to do the big test!’

‘Oh?’

‘Yeah Jim reckons we’re there with the calculations, and for once I don’t think they’re just being impatient.’

‘I heard that,’ Jim’s voice came from behind the wall of computer processors, before they reappeared holding an orange up like a prized possession.

‘This gets to be our lucky test subject.’

They placed the orange in front of the machine they’d been working on, and got to work adjusting the settings on the laser that pointed towards it.

‘Here,’ Oluwande handed Stede some safety goggles, ‘just in case, you know.’

Stede trusted the pair implicitly but put them on anyway. ‘This is so exciting, real science in action!’ He grinned, and followed Oluwande and Jim to the safety area.

‘Ready?’ Oluwande asked Jim, who nodded, and muttered an uncharacteristically nervous ‘si,’ and Stede noticed the two of them link hands as Oluwande flipped the switch.

Stede flinched as a piercing, high pitched sound filled the air, but couldn’t bring himself to look away, as a bright light emitted from the laser surrounding the orange with some sort of white matrix. After a few seconds, each vector disappeared one by one until the orange was gone and the noise dimmed.

‘Woah.’ Oluwande broke the stunned silence, as Jim took some hesitant steps towards where the orange had been.

‘Holy shit, it worked! It actually worked.’ Jim pointed at the screen next to the laser machine, before running back and kissing Oluwande hard on the lips.

Stede stepped towards the screen, and indeed, there was an image of the orange. ‘Incredible.’

----

In celebration, it was decided that the three of them should go to Blackbeard’s Arcade. Stede was very happy with the choice of venue, as it meant he could see Ed that day after all.

Jim, of course, was a master at arcade games, and held a record amount of high scores. They wandered off to play a few rounds, while Stede and Oluwande got the drinks in.

‘Stede!’ A voice rang out, instantly recognisable, and Stede couldn’t help the warmth that filled him or the grin that spread across his face.

He just had time to reply ‘Ed!’ before being wrapped in a bear hug.

‘Awww mate, is it great to see you.’

Stede beamed as Ed held his shoulders and stared at him like he hung the sun, as if he wasn’t responsible for that himself.

‘You getting the drinks in?’

‘Yes!’ Stede said, ‘Oluwande and Jim had an amazing break through tonight. We’re here celebrating!’

‘That’s amazing, well done,’ Ed slapped Oluwande on the back, who raised his glass in thanks. Quieter Ed added to Stede, ‘And here I thought you’d come to visit me.’

Stede blushed immediately, as Ed probably knew he would. ‘Oh! I mean, I wanted to! See you that is-’

‘Relax Stede, I was just kidding.’

‘Oh. Yes I knew that.’ Way to play it cool Bonnet.

Oluwande went to find Jim, leaving Stede and Ed to catch up.

‘Come on,’ Ed said, ‘I’ve got something better upstairs we can share.’

In his office, Ed poured them both some of his fancy rum, and the pair lounged on beanbags.

‘So how’s it going?’

‘Honestly?’ Stede said, ‘Today was really awful.’

Ed nodded at him to carry on, eyes full of concern.

‘I was supposed to launch my programme today, for testing, I worked so hard Ed. I was so excited.’

‘What happened?’ Was it Stede’s imagination or had Ed shuffled closer?

‘My access got restricted. Well, not just mine. All group 7 and above. Seems to have been some sort of incident and we’ve been locked out.’

After a beat, Ed looked sheepish and said ‘Ah. I may know why that is.’

‘What?’ How on earth could Ed know what had happened at SEACOM. Surely this was the first he was hearing about it. The only people who knew were him, the Badmintons, the hack- ‘Edward you did not!’

‘Hmmm may have. Just a smidge.’

‘A smidge!’ Stede found his voice doing the thing where it was attempting to reach levels only heard by dogs.

‘Look mate, I need to find it ok! They have used me, and you for that matter, long enough and I can’t fucking stand it any longer!’ Ed got up and began pacing. ‘If I can just find my original code I can bring the company down and those bastard Badmintons along with it!’

Stede couldn’t really find it in himself to be genuinely angry after that. Ed was right. He wished more than anything for Ed to be successful.

‘I wish there was a way Ed, I really do.’

Ed sighed and slumped back down onto a bean bag. He looked tired, but as beautiful as ever, his hair grown even longer, tied up in a messy bun with strands around his face. Stede wanted desperately to kiss him better. As he was contemplating this reckless thought, something else occurred to Stede.

‘If you could access the system from inside SEACOM do you think you could find it? I could probably reprogramme STEDE to assist in the search if I could just switch it on. Maybe you could do that too.’

‘I mean, yeah reckon I could. It would be much quicker, I wouldn’t have to get past other security programmes before I can even start looking. That’s what always alerts them. Your...other STEDE would know how to handle them I’m guessing.’

Stede nodded confidently, and looked extremely pleased with himself as another thought came to him.

‘I may also happen to know some people who have twenty-four seven access to the research lab. Would a computer in there do?’

Ed’s eyes lit up with hope and Stede wanted him to look like that forever.

‘Any computer as long as it’s connected to the internal network.’ Ed considered a moment. ‘The main problem is getting in with your access group restricted.’

The two of them thought hard, before both their heads snapped up at once and they said in unison, ‘we need a group 6 access!’

‘That’s perfect,’ Ed continued, ‘higher levels can’t access the system, but lower personnel should have no trouble.’

Ed grinned, and placed a hand on Stede’s should. ‘Thank you.’

‘Well don’t thank me yet. I have to convince Jim and Oluwande to let us in first.’

‘Do you think they will?’

‘Do I think Jim will want to help you fuck over SEACOM?’ Stede laughed.

‘Oh I think they will.’

Chapter Text

Jim took unsurprisingly little persuasion to help them. Oluwande, after voicing his valid concerns for their safety, couldn’t say no either.

Ed was giddy. They were doing this. The four of them arrived at SEACOM and were waved through by security, obviously used to see Jim and Oluwande at all hours.

Once Oluwande had checked the area for anyone else, he ushered them over to the research lab door, and Jim swiped their card and entered their access code.

Ed didn’t know if it was nerves or the danger they could be in, but the door, that must have been at least 4 foot thick, seemed to take an age to open.

Stede had obviously thought the same, ‘God, why’s that door so big?’

Ed snorted, and they were shushed by Jim, who could squeeze through the gap first and lead the way to the lab.

They reached the corridor where Stede would have to branch off to head to his cubicle to set up STEDE ready for Ed.

Ed smiled at him. ‘We can do this Stede.’

‘We can,’ Stede looked nervous but determined. ‘Good luck.’

‘And to you.’

They looked at each other and Ed could have sworn he felt Stede lean in slightly, and was about to follow suit, when Jim cleared their throat.

‘Guys, we don’t have all night.’

‘Right! See you later Ed!’ Stede pealed off up a side stairwell, and Ed ran to catch up to the others.

As much as they were in a hurry, Ed couldn’t help but marvel at the size of the research lab. It had certainly grown since his time there, and though he was glad for Jim and Oluwande being able to work pretty much unhindered, he worried about what SEACOM could ultimately cook up there.

Floor to ceiling of the warehouse was filled with monitors, screens, dials, all surrounded by white, metal grated staircases. Ed felt like he was about to board a rocket to the moon.

They reached a terminal set up next to a scary looking laser. Ed whistled, impressed, and leant in closer to inspect it.

‘Don’t worry,’ Oluwande said, as he clicked away at the keyboard, entering his group 6 access codes. ‘That’s one of ours.’ He straightened up. ‘Right you’re in, we’ll go and let Stede know you’re almost ready, and you should able to access his programme once you start. Good luck.’

He patted Ed on the shoulder, and Jim nodded, before they were both off again to head to the offices.

----

The Badmintons, up in their office had been getting ready to leave when the screen in their desk beeped.

>HE IS HERE
>TEACH IS HERE
>IT IS TIME

‘What is it?’ Nigel asked, seeing Chauncey’s look of concern.

Chauncey ignored him and addressed the screen.

‘Then shut him out. You have the power.’

>NO
>HE WILL TRY AGAIN
>I HAVE A BETTER PLAN TO RID US OF TEACH ONCE AND FOR ALL
>END OF LINE

----

Ed was making good headway not having to pass all the security measures he usually faced right away when trying to access the SEACOM systems from home.

‘I’ve got you now you bastards. Just you wait, you won’t know what’s hit you.’

Then the screen flashed a message.

>TEACH YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED
>I AM TOO POWERFUL
>I HAVE THE CONTROL OF THE WHOLE SYSTEM

‘Ah so we finally meet, you must be the one hiding my files?’

>OWNERSHIP OF THE FILES IS IRRELEVANT
>ALL THAT MATTERS IS MY EXPANSION

‘Well that’s some kinda scary sci-fi shit mate, I don’t think we want you doing that.’

Ed continued to type, so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn’t hear the laser beside him whirring around to point at him.

The last thing he saw before it went black was a white grid-like light appear round his hands, and then darkness.

Chapter Text

At first, Ed felt like he was falling through darkness. Then slowly, lights began to pass him, like freight trains shooting through underground stations. He tried to dodge out the way but they simply went through him. Eventually there were so many that Ed felt like he was surrounded by a web of neon.

Ed jolted upright, and found himself sitting on a plain dark surface, but surrounded by the same lights. He could see now that they formed the straight lines of structures, and roads. The place glowed and hummed, and seemed to go on forever in each direction.

People meandered around talking or working, mostly wearing white, fitted one-piece suits with various luminous colours all over their bodies. Ed looked down at himself, to find he too was wearing a white all on one, with some kind of sash-come-loincloth, and was covered in blue circuitry. He gave himself a once over to check he had no injured, and discovered he was also wearing a helmet, which he took off and found to be covered in the same blue.

Ed thought, God what an awful fucking outfit, and aloud muttered to himself, ‘what the fuck is going on?’

He stood up and his footsteps felt echoey, like the ground was a plastic board.

He was unharmed, it seemed. He could also breathe so if this was some kind of alien abduction at least he had that going for him.

He heard shouting in the distance, and it wasn’t until he saw a group of similarly dressed individuals but with orange-red circuits heading in his direction, that he realised they were yelling at him.

‘You! Programme!’

Programme? What-

‘You will come with us.’

‘Hang on mate, where the fuck am I? You can’t just-ow!’

One of the guards grabbed Ed by the arm and began marching him off towards a large arena-looking structure. As they got nearer he was shoved into a line of other people also being forced into the building, where they were made to stand in lines before a large podium.

‘Greetings Programmes.’ A loud voice boomed from above them. Ed looked up and just when he thought his day couldn’t get any stranger it somehow managed to.

The man addressing them was dressed in the same white and reddish circuitry as the guards, but with an elaborate helmet that made it clear he was some kind of high-level dickhead. The thing that was most strange about him though, was the fact that he was identical to the Badmintons, as if they were triplets and not twins. What the everloving fuck?

‘You have been brought here to renounce your loyalty to the users.’ Users? Ed guessed he must be a user, the people who write and use the programmes. Would make sense.

‘Master Control is now fully in charge of the grid and expects complete compliance. Until you pledge your allegiance to our supreme Master Control and rid yourselves of any devotion you have for the users, you will be kept here and made to fight in our arena as punishment. Join us, or face certain deresolution.’

Great, so it seemed Ed had somehow ended up transported onto an actual computer grid, and instead of having time to take in everything and marvel at how incredible this was that it was actually happening, he was going to have to be some kind of electronic gladiator for this Badminton lookalike. He couldn’t even kick up a fuss about not being a programme. He had the feeling that outing himself as a user to the wrong people would get him swiftly killed.

‘You each have an identity disc. Those without will be given one.’ Not-Badminton gestured with his own. ‘This stores all your information, but you are also to use these in combat when necessary. My advice is learn how to use them well.’

With that, Faux-Badminton swished away so much dramatic gusto Ed had to hold back a laugh. The guards led the group away from the arena floor and into a corridor of cells. Ed was shoved into the first empty one they came across, and he discovered that the forcefield around it really fucking hurt when he tried to touch it.

‘Ow, fuck me!’ He tried to shake the stinging pins and needles out of his hand.

‘Ahoy there, programme!’ came a thick Scottish accent from the adjoining cell.

Ed looked up and grimaced. ‘Alright mate? How’s it going?’

‘Oh terribly, I’ve been here 500 microcycles, today was my 20th game. Yet, still here I am.’

He stood up and moved nearer to Ed’s cell.

‘Name’s KARL, classification and identification programme. This is FET.’ He gestured to the cell behind him where a man sitting down, waved shyly at him.

‘Yeah, good to meet you both. Ed.’

‘Hello Ed. So what kind of programme are you?’

‘Ummm,’ Ed was unsure whether he could trust this guy. Refusing to yield to Master Control after 20 games was impressive, but Ed didn’t want to risk giving anything away.

‘I can’t remember. I think something got lost in my transfer over her.’

‘Aye, it can be damaging to some circuits. It may be best you do not remember, make it easier for you to not know.’

A cheery thought. ‘So what exactly are these games? Who was that boss looking guy?’

‘Oh you mean CEY? Yes, he does all the MCP’s, Master Control’s I should say, bidding for him. Runs the games to get rid of unwanted or uncooperative programmes. Makes you compete until one of you gets derezzed.’

CEY, huh? Ed wasn’t surprised that Chauncey had been the one to get part of his name in there. He thought of how they had mercilessly bullied Stede over his programme’s name and hated them even more than he thought was possible.

----

A while later, guards appeared again, removed Ed and FET from their holding cells, and led them to what Ed guessed was their gaming arena. The floor was pitch black, so dark he wasn’t sure if there was a surface between their playing areas at all. There were two large sets of concentric rings, lit up in neon. Ed was led over to one, and FET to another. One of the guards bought a disc and fitted it to Ed’s back, presumably connected to him by his all-over circuitry.

There was a steady set of beeps followed by a ‘begin!’

FET immediately grabbed his disc from his back and threw it full pelt at Ed. Luckily, FET didn’t have the best shot and it bounced off one of the rings a couple of feet away from his feet before returning to its owner.

Ok, so they were being expected to play some kind of frisbee boomerang game. Ed could do that.

As he stepped forward to have a go, his foot fell, and Ed realised that only every other ring was a solid surface. That was moderately terrifying.

As he digested this information, FET’s disc flew past his head, closer this time, causing him to leap to the next ring he could safely land on.

‘Mate a bit of warning next time!’

‘Sorry,’ FET called, actually sounding it too.

They threw their discs back and forth, and Ed got used to hopping over gaps, and making sure he wasn’t on a ring FET’s disc struck. That had given him a painful zap.

On Ed’s seventh throw, he struck FET square in the chest, and sent him stumbling backwards. FET lost his footing and slipped through a gap, clawing desperately at the smooth surface to try and stay on.

Ed’s disc landed back in his hands when CEY’s voice cried ‘finish him!’

Ed’s chest heaved from the exertion. ‘I will not! Help him he’s going to fall.’

‘You will finish him and obey Master Control.’

Ed threw his disc down. ‘I will not.’

It was only a second later that FET screamed as the ring he was holding onto emitted a loud and bright burst of energy which sparked and fizzled his circuits, before he disappeared into a bunch of falling pixels.

Ed stood there in stunned silence for what felt like an age, before a guard grabbed him and marched him back into the direction of the cells.

Ed couldn’t believe this place. He always thought a computer world full of programmes and lights and technology would be idyllic. But this place was certainly not that. Even if programmes couldn’t feel what humans – users – felt, and even that he now wasn’t sure of, he had just been involved in ones destruction. He was more determined that ever to bring down SEACOM and the MCP with it.

They passed what looked like a training area that had been empty on their way past earlier, where a very skilled programme was taking on five separate guards and easily winning. He was graceful the way he threw his disc, the way he bounced off surfaces, leapt and dodged. Finally when the fifth guard was derezzed, the programme lifted their disc into the air as if in thanks.

‘I fight for the users!’ they called, and Ed’s heart almost stopped.

He got a closer look as the programme was led to the cells next to him, and there he was.

He looked just like Stede, except that Stede never only wore two colours. He wore the same white and blue ensemble and helmet as Ed with neon squares forming an S shape on his chest. Ed couldn’t see if he had Stede’s blond waves underneath.

His face also looked the same but somehow felt completely different. Less expressive, less lines, not like it would break out into that beautiful smile at any moment. Very serious, and very much how Ed would imagine a security programme to be.

This was STEDE.

Chapter Text

STEDE, as it happens, is placed in the cell across from Ed and KARL. Ed couldn’t stop staring at him, but STEDE just sat still, a determined look on his set face.

Ok Ed, you gotta do it. This is weird as fuck but you need this guy, Ed thought to himself. He had to get him in contact with his Stede somehow. Only Stede could programme him with the correct software to destroy Master Control, and once Stede’s programme could work as intended, Ed could get his proof.

‘Psst, STEDE?’

STEDE’s head turned towards him.

‘You’re STEDE right?’

‘I am,’ he replied. ‘I am a Security Taskware Electronic Defence Entity and I fight for the users.’

Ed guessed it made sense that a user designed security programme would be this stubborn in face of a threat. Even without the proper access from his creator, he was still a capable with just his basic coding.

‘Ok so,’ Ed took a deep breath. ‘I need your help STEDE. My name is Ed. I am a user. I have been transported here onto the grid and you’re the only one who can help me.’

STEDE’s eyes showed rare surprise, and in that moment he looked more like his creator. Ed missed him. He wondered if time was passing as long in the real world as in here. He hoped Stede hadn’t had the time to worry about him yet.

KARL also heard his confession, and laughed. ‘A user here! Not very likely!’

‘It’s true!’ Ed had to convince them. ‘Look, I know the guy who made you.’ He gestured at STEDE, who abruptly stood up.

‘You know Stede-One?’ STEDE’s face actually looked awestruck, and Ed knew he had hit a nerve. Well, a circuit.

‘Uh, yeah Stede-One, that’s him. I have been sent here on a very important mission to help the users, and get rid of this Master Control asshole. I need to get you in touch with Stede, Stede-One I mean, so he can activate you fully and download some special software into you that will allow us to delete Master Control and have complete access to the system. Do you think we could do that?’

STEDE stood still for a moment, and then nodded resolutely. ‘A mission for Stede-One and the users would be my absolute honour.’ He thought for a moment.

‘There is an input/output tower that would allow me to contact Stede-One, but I do not know how we can get away from here. I can fight but I am no match for a forcefield.’

‘Quiet, the pair of ye!’ KARL hissed, and moments later they could hear the tell-tale stomp of guards heading through the cells.

‘These three, and these three.’ A guard gestured to Ed, STEDE, and KARL, as well as three more prisoners further down the corridor.

Yet again they were dragged towards the arena, and Ed really hoped he wasn’t going to have to fight against STEDE, or this would be over in an instant. He couldn’t bare to think of Stede’s guilt if he ever found out his own programme had killed him, no matter how much it wasn’t actually his fault.

Much to Ed’s momentary relief – he was still going to have a life and death battle after all – he, STEDE and KARL were placed into one team, and the other three programmes into another. They were all handed small batons, around a foot long. Ed’s team’s glowed blue, and the other glowed orange.

‘Lightships,’ KARL said.

Before Ed could ask what the fuck that meant, the others all immediately spaced themselves out before activating a jetski like shape around themselves and whizzing off to the marked starting points. Well. Ok then. Lightships.

Ed inspected his baton and saw a finger tip shaped indent on one end. He pressed it and was immediately swallowed up like the others.

Ed had never been so glad that he knew how to ride a motorcycle. The idea was similar, except this seemed to run almost on instinct, detecting his minute movements. It also felt like he was floating, and there was none of the usual weight from machinery or drag.

Once he joined the others at their starting positions, a countdown appeared inside his lightship, and before he knew it the others were all zooming around leaving either blue or orange light trails in their wake.

Ed followed suit, and realised one of the orange team was headed straight at him. He turned left and then right, but they kept on his tail. He swerved around again, circling the opponent with his blue trail, hoping the translucent light might give him momentary cover.

As it turned out, the trails from their vehicles were not merely light, but as solid as they were. Ed’s opponent had nowhere to go and could not stop in time to avoid it. They crashed into it at top speed, at first shattering the lightship, throwing the programme clean from it, before derezzing into pixels on the ground below.

Ed didn’t have time to feel guilty, whipping around to see that STEDE was in the process of taking out another one of their opponents. The third and final one was chasing KARL, so Ed sped off to assist.

‘What do you say we box them in Ed?’ KARL’s voice suddenly appeared loud and clear inside his lightship.

‘Oh, thanks for only just telling me we can talk to each other. Not bloody optimal mate, when I’ve no clue what I’m fucking doing!’ Ed shouted back.

KARL just chuckled, ‘aye, sorry about that. You seem to be managing well. Honestly keep forgetting you’re not like us. Anyway, no time for this, you take one side, I’ll take the other. We’ll run him into the far wall.’

The pair closed in on each side of the final opponent, blocking them in between their trails. The poor programme had no time to slow down and couldn’t turn away, and crashed straight into the arena wall.

When the pixels settled, Ed could see that the crash had caused some of the wall to crumble away, leaving a gap big enough for them to get through.

Well shit. This was the chance they’d been waiting for.

‘Are you with me?’ He asked.

‘Aye!’ KARL immediately replied.

‘I fight for the users!’ STEDE said.

‘Fuck yeah! Now follow me!’

Chapter Text

The three of them drove as fast as they could knowing it was only a matter of time before CEY sent guards after them. They had to get as far away as they could and regroup to sort out a plan to get to the I/O tower and contact Stede.

‘Recognisers, three of them!’ KARL shouted, and Ed assumed he must be referring to the large floating crafts he had seen around.

They all swerved left through a narrow passage down whith the recognisers couldn’t follow, and deactivated the lightships to better manoeuvre the small tunnels and uneven surfaces.

‘A power source!’ Ed heard STEDE call. He was a little ahead of the others, making sure the coast was clear.

‘Just what we need!’ KARL had sped up then, so Ed guessed that this was a good thing to find.

As he rounded the corner, he was awe struck by the beautiful sight before him. High, sparkling walls glistened like crystals, while smaller shapes and slopes surrounded a pool full of luminescent liquid. The whole area was lit up with a serene glow and Ed was sure he could even hear the sparkles crackling.

‘Wow. What is this place?’

‘It’s an open power source,’ STEDE replied, before lying down on his front and cupping a handful of the liquid to his face to drink.

KARL was also on the floor, using his identity disc as a make shift drinking vessel.

As the pair drank from the pool, their circuits pulsed and flared, and after a few sips, seemed to grow brighter than ever.

‘Come on, Ed! Try some!’

Ed knelt down and placed a hesitant hand into the liquid. He swirled it around and could feel the buzz on his skin. It was not an unpleasant feeling but certainly an unusual one.

‘Well, why not.’ Ed scooped some to his mouth, and the effect was instant. It wasn’t like a hit of caffeine or a shot of alcohol, but rather, like every cell in his body was being restored at once.

‘Fuck me! That’s incredible.’

It must have affected STEDE in a similar way, because he laughed and rolled onto his back, looking more at rest that Ed had ever seen him. He wondered if that calm look on STEDE’s face matched the one his creator would have when he was sleeping peacefully, or relaxing on his couch after a long day at work staring at a screen.

Ed’s heart tightened at the thought of Stede, and hoped it was a face he’d get to see him make one day.

The trio were quiet as they basked in their relaxation and recharge, but soon it was time to move on.

‘We need to get moving,’ STEDE had leapt up like he hadn’t looked half asleep seconds earlier.

‘Yep, be right with you mate.’ Ed and KARL got a few more slurps of the delicious power, before they followed.

----

They found themselves in an area with long roads, surrounded by high mountain-like blocks. It felt to Ed like driving through a valley, but with no trees or wildlife.

‘We will be coming into the main centre soon,’ STEDE said. ‘Be on the look out for recognisers.’

Indeed soon enough a loud whirring noise increased and they found themselves with three recognisers hot on their tail.

‘Keep with me!’ STEDE sped up, ‘there is a turn off not far now!’

Ed and KARL’s lightships followed suit, when the ground around them began to rumble. The recognisers were shooting with full force, laser blasts and pixels erupted around them, and it became increasingly difficult to swerve out the way.

One of the recognisers flew over Ed and KARL aiming for STEDE, who managed to make a hard turn down the small path they were headed to, and the recogniser crashed into several large pieces and crumbled onto the floor.

Just as Ed and KARL were about to make the turning, an on-target shot between their lightships knocked the pair of them to the ground.

Satisfied they had hit their marks, the remaining recognisers scanned quickly for any movement, before flying off back towards the centre of the grid.

----

Ed felt really fucking dizzy. He really couldn’t deny that this trapped-in-a-computer-world was actually happening and not just a weird dream with the way his head was pounding. He shuffled his way out of the pile of pixels he was buried under, and checked himself over. Nothing seemed broken, and his suit was in on piece, albeit his helmet a little cracked. He checked his back and felt himself sigh with relief that his disc was intact.

‘KARL?’ He looked around where they had been hit. ‘KARL? Can you hear me?’

‘Aye, I can hear you Ed,’ a weak voice came from nearby.

KARL didn’t look to have fared nearly as well as he lay half buried. His circuits were dull and flashing, and there was a decent chunk out of his torso.

‘Looks like they got me, eh?’

‘Nah, come on mate, get you patched up in no time, come on!’ Ed heaved the debris off KARL’s body, and dragged him to the shelter of the crashed recogniser near where STEDE had driven down the narrow road towards the I/O tower.

The bridge of the recogniser looked just like what Ed imagined it would, all angles and buttons and levers. There were no signs of any guards on it, so perhaps they were autopiloted from Master Control. Ed hoped he wouldn’t be able to sense that they were alive on it.

‘You rest up while I see what we can do with this.’

Ed leant KARL half lying and half sitting against a metal grated ramp while he looked around. He poked arbitrarily at some buttons to no joy, when suddenly, the bridge lights flared and he felt the ship beneath his feet begin to rise up.

Ed looked out the view screen and saw the recogniser piecing itself back together as best it could, and was utterly amazed. Had he done this?

‘You really are a user then, eh?’ KARL’s voice sounded even weaker, and his circuits even more faded.

Ed knelt next to him and took his hand.

‘It… has been an honour… too meet you Ed.’

‘Hey now come on mate, I’m sure there’s som-’

‘No, it’s too late.’

Ed could see KARL himself beginning to fade, and swallowed back tears for his new, strange friend.

‘Defeat...Master Control. I...believe...in the users.’

KARL’s head drooped and in a dull pulse of light his body seemed to disintegrate through the floor, and Ed was left alone.

Chapter Text

Ed sat where KARL had been lying, head in hands.

He just wanted to get back to the real world, and for all this to be over. He wanted to get back to Stede, and tell him he had succeeded, that they could live together without the shadow of SEACOM over them.

‘Pull yourself together man,’ Ed hissed to himself, ‘you’re a fucking hacker. You’re the best programmer there is. You can do this.’

He heaved himself up to the steering mechanism of the ship, and hoped his user abilities would allow him to pilot his stolen and slightly damaged recogniser to the I/O tower to meet up with STEDE.

With a couple of false starts and a few bumps, Ed found that the ship manoeuvred relatively easily, and he could get high enough to spot the I/O tower in the distance, its beam of light continuing out of sight up into the never ending darkness of the digital sky.

Nearer the centre of the grid, the building and circuits became more closely packed, and Ed decided it would be best to continue on foot, rather than fly a ship through an area densely populated with programmes.

He left the recogniser parked behind a large group of towers on the outskirts, and crept through pathways towards the centre of the grid.

He figured there would be some kind of transport for programmes to and from the I/O tower, and if he could get aboard that, he could hide until he got there. He hoped that STEDE had a similar plan.

Lost in thought, Ed rounded a corner too quickly, and collided with something large, knocking him to the ground with an oof!

Ed opened his eyes to a staff pointed at his chest, being held by a large guard.

‘You programme. You have escaped containment and will be taken for immediate deresolution.’

As a hand reached down to pull him up, Ed rolled over and kicked the guard hard in the torso. The guard dropped his staff, and Ed grabbed it, whacking the guard across the face as he stood up. The guard lay on the floor in a daze and Ed straddled him to keep him down. As he lay his hand of the guard’s chest, he felt a weird buzzing up his arm, and looked down to see his circuits changing from blue to the same reddish orange as the guards.

Huh. This could be useful.

Ed got up and ran off as quickly as he could, finding a busy area bustling with programmes. Hopefully with his newly coloured circuitry, he could better blend in with the MCP’s minions, and was much less likely to be spotted.

Now he just needed a way to the I/O tower. He decided to put on his most authoritative voice and ask some passing programmes, who directed him to a port, where he could hop on a solar sailer across the sea of simulation. Ed would have to remember these names for his games. They sounded pretty cool.

Ed managed to find a solar sailer that was ready to depart. It was a long and narrow vessel, with flower like sails at one end, and was suspended on a beam of light from the port to the I/O tower. Ed snuck aboard underneath the deck, and watched in awe as the ship set off, underneath him nothing but blackness intercepted with blue grid lines. Despite some megalomaniac computer trying to kill him, this place was really rather fucking fascinating.

The journey seemed rather peaceful, until a bump of turbulence caused Ed to yelp as he was almost thrown from the ship. The surface was smooth and Ed didn’t think he could hold on for much longer. What would happen if he fell? Was there anything below or would he just keep falling and falling, like a person drowning in the deep never to resurface.

A hand suddenly grabbed his wrist, and heaved him up onto the deck. Ed landed with a thump to his head and it took him a second or two to get his bearings.

As the face in front of him came into focus, he could see the hazel eyes, long nose, and worried brow of the man he loved.

‘Stede?’ he asked, and lifted and hand to stroke the man’s cheek, before he pulled the face down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

The head pulled back.

‘Ed?’ Stede’s voice replied but it didn’t sound quite the same. ‘Are you ok?’

Oh! Yes, he was on the grid, with Stede’s programme look-a-like. And he’d just kissed him. Great.

‘Uh. Yes, mate. Sorry about that. Just a little confused is all.’

STEDE looked a bit suspicious but didn’t press the matter, so Ed changed the subject.

‘Take it we had the same plan then?’

‘Yes. I assumed correctly that if we were split up you would still want to head to the tower with me to contact Stede-One.’

STEDE turned to him quickly.

‘Where is KARL?’

Ed smiled sadly. ‘He didn’t make it I’m afraid.’

‘That is… not ideal. He was a good programme.’

Ed guessed that counted as emotion for STEDE, so he patted him on the back.

‘He was mate. The best.’

----

Stede had been sitting nervously at his desk for what seemed like an eternity, but had probably been more like ten minutes. Jim and Oluwande had informed him that Ed had got into SEACOM’s system and it was now just a case of waiting for the signal that Ed had activated the STEDE programme to allow Stede to code him with the means to get Ed’s files.

Deactivating SEACOM’s master control should do that, Stede figured, and then allow the files the company had hidden to be accessed.

Stede almost leapt from his seat as his computer beeped.

The green text on his screen read:

>THIS IS STEDE AWAITING INSTRUCTION
>ED WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU HE IS HERE

Stede frowned. Strange way for Ed to put that he’d accessed the programme, but ok.

Stede typed back that he would upload the codes to deactivate the master control into STEDE, and he would just need to manually input them into master control for them to work.

>YES STEDE-ONE
>I FIGHT FOR THE USERS

The screen went black, and Stede sat there for a moment. What a strange interaction. He would head to the lab and see what Ed meant.

----

Ed watched as STEDE stood in a circular beam of light, holding his identity disc aloft as he spoke to Stede on the other side of the computer.

‘This is STEDE awaiting instruction!’ he yelled upwards. ‘Ed would like to tell you he is here!’

Ed smiled, knowing that he may have confused Stede with that, but he had to communicate with him somehow that he was still alive. If Stede went to the lab and he wasn’t there what would he think?

There was strong pulse, before STEDE spoke again.

‘Yes Stede-One! I fight for the users.’

The beam disappeared, and STEDE headed back over to Ed.

‘I have the means to destroy the MCP. I just need to get to him with this.’ He gestured to his disc.

The pair headed back to the solar sailer, and set off to the very centre tower on the grid, where they would come face to face with Master Control.

Chapter Text

‘Master Control,’ CEY entered his command centre, and addressed the large polygon face on the screen. ‘Teach and the security programme were detected at the input/output tower moments ago. It seems they were attempting to contact a user.’

‘ATTEMPTING?’ Master Control’s voice boomed over the speakers. ‘IT SEEMS TO ME THEY SUCCEEDED.’

‘Well ye-’ CEY was suddenly frozen. His body began to hover and slowly bent backwards as far as his back in this form would allow.

‘YOU WILL STOP THEM IMMEDIATELY. I WILL NOT HAVE THEM DESTROY MY WORK. I WILL HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL.’

CEY managed a strained reply, ‘yes, Master Control. At...once.’

He collapsed to the floor and screen went blank.

CEY turned to the guards around him.‘Find them,’ he screeched, ‘and derezz them. NOW!’

----

As the solar sailer left the I/O tower, it quickly became obvious to Ed that CEY knew where they were. Their contact with someone outside the grid must have alerted him, and four recognisers were soon on their tail. STEDE was all focus, extra determined to complete the task set to him by his user. At first he was extremely adept at evading the recognisers, skipping across to new beams to confuse their navigation.

But as good as STEDE was, the vessel was still slower than the recognisers, and they were getting worryingly close.

Ed wracked his brain. They’d gotten this far, they were not going to fail now.

‘STEDE, is there any way to redirect the beams we’re using to travel and aim them at the other ships?’

STEDE looked thoughtful for a second. ‘I believe so. If repurposed it could double as -’

‘A laser, exactly!’ Ed grinned and STEDE offered a small smile in return.

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘You steer us. I will reroute the beams after we have passed.’

Ed’s idea proved perfect, and he whooped as one by one the recognisers exploded into pixels.

‘Fuck yeah!’ he shouted. ‘Gonna have to try harder to stop us mate!’

----

The solar sailer docked at the central hub, and Ed and STEDE quickly headed towards the mighty tower that held Master Control. They were so close, but Ed knew they were not going to let them just waltz in. Especially after disposing of their ships so easily.

STEDE took down the guards at the door with his disc before Ed could even acknowledge what had happened, and held the door open to let Ed through.

As they entered the central chamber, Ed was struck by the sheer size of the Master Control. It had to be several skyscrapers high, and pulsed with a level energy that Ed couldn’t even comprehend. It was easy to see now how this machine had become so powerful. It had grown and grown into a truly super computer. There was an expressionless face in the centre of the tower of light, that looked as though it was sleeping.

The lower levels of the MCP were guarded by thick metallic plates, so to get the disc inside they would either have to destroy them, or get high enough to throw it in from above.

‘I thought I would find you here.’

CEY and an entourage of guards had entered, all wielding staffs, and not looking best pleased.

‘You have one final chance to declare your loyalty to Master Control or face complete and utter deresolution.’

‘We’d rather eat our own faces.’ Ed replied, and a sinister smirk crossed CEY’s face.

‘Just the sort of response I hoped for.’

‘Ed.’ STEDE turned urgently to him. ‘You need to get up there.’ He pointed to the rafters above the MCP.

‘I will take care of this. When I am done I will direct the disc to you and you can throw it inside from above.’

Ed nodded, and a few of the guards began to move forward. STEDE shoved Ed towards the steps.

‘Go Ed!’

He began to run.

Chapter Text

Ed ran as fast as he could up the steps, as he heard CEY instruct the guards to follow him. Below, CEY launched his disc at STEDE, who managed to leap out of the way just in time. The giant face in the middle of the tower awoke, and a booming voice filled the room.

‘ONE PROGRAMME AND A USER ARE NO MATCH FOR ME. DESTROY THEM.’

A beam shot into CEY, making his circuits glow more powerfully. STEDE’s identity disc flew towards him and was batted aside with ease.

‘You will not succeed programme.’ CEY’s voice echoed like two people talking in unison, and his eyes glowed the same reddish colour as the rest of his circuits. ‘Surrender now.’

STEDE rolled out the way of the disc hurtling at him, and grabbed his own discarded one in the process.

‘You underestimate users like Ed,’ STEDE shouted back. ‘And I will gladly fight to deresolution against you if it means the freedom of my fellow programmes. We do not fight for Master Control. We fight for the users!’

With that STEDE launched his disc with all his might, striking CEY squarely in the face and cracking into his right eye socket. Lines of orange light spread across CEY’s shocked looking face, and slowly continued down his body until he screamed and evaporated into pixels.

‘NO!’ Master Control yelled, and began powering up even more, the tower of light spinning faster and faster.

Above in the rafters, Ed was knocked to the floor from the surge. The guards that had been chasing him caught up and pulled him to his feet.

Shit. There was no way he could get the disc STEDE wanted to throw to him with the guards holding him. Even if he could break loose he wouldn’t be able to stay still for long enough for them not to catch him again.

He could only think of one option. STEDE would have to throw the disc in from below and the only way to do that was to damage the MCP’s shield.

Ed thought that if this was it, at least it was a cool death. It had to be up there with getting massaged to death by mermaids or eaten by a tiger.

He wrenched his arms free of the guards with difficulty, but thought that perhaps his user status gave him some strength to be able to get free.

This was it. He filled his mind with Stede’s beautiful face and really hoped this would work. He had to return home to him. With thoughts of his love, he climbed the rail around the platform he and the guards were on, and leapt.

----

STEDE watched as Ed threw himself into the MCP’s tower and disappeared into the light.

A mighty roar emitted from Master Control’s spinning face, as power surges shot in all directions.

STEDE has to shut his eyes and shield his face a moment, but when he looked back he could see that Ed’s damage had created a gap in the tower’s casing. That must have been his plan, and STEDE wasn’t going to waste his sacrifice.

STEDE picked his disc up off the floor where it had landed, and threw it into the gap, straight into the core of Master Control.

The effects were instantaneous. The tower slowed to a stop and seemed to vibrate before exploding in a gigantic burst of light.

With he power now diverted from Master Control, everything around STEDE seemed to ripple and shined much brighter – buildings glistened, the sky sparkled, and everywhere glowed with contentment.

STEDE allowed a grin across his face, and held his disc above his head. Wherever Ed was, he hoped he knew they had succeeded.

----

Stede entered the research lab and called out for Ed.

‘Ed, I just had the strangest interaction with my progr- oh.’

The chair Ed should have been in at Jim and Oluwande’s work station was empty.

‘Edward?’ Stede called, but there was no response.

He walked over to look at the screen, which left him with even more confusion.

>YOU UNDERESTIMATE USERS LIKE ED

Ed? Why on earth was this programme mentioning Ed? Again!

> AND I WILL GLADLY FIGHT TO DERESOLUTION AGAINST YOU IF IT MEANS THE FREEDOM OF MY FELLOW PROGRAMMES
>WE DO NOT FIGHT FOR MASTER CONTROL. WE FIGHT FOR THE USERS.

>NOOoooooooekj43y35u4s4jdd

The rest was just more jumbled letters and numbers. This was really rather strange.

‘Ed?’ Stede called again, just in case he hadn’t been heard.

Nothing.

Stede jumped as the printer next to the computer began printing page after page. Stede began to read it, and realised it was all of Ed’s work. All of his work with the date he designed it, and properly credited to Edward Teach, Wherever Ed was, he had succeeded. The Badmintons and SEACOM would surely be finished.

Stede was about to leave to see if Ed had gone to find him instead to give him the good news, when the laser Jim and Oluwande had been working on earlier started to hum. It got louder and louder until suddenly, Ed materialised into the chair like he had been dropped there from a great height.

With an oof he slid to the floor, and Stede rushed over to him.

‘Ed, are you ok? You came back!’

Ed was panting but cracked one eye open to look at Stede and smiled. ‘Never left.’

Chapter Text

Stede sat at the bar in Blackbeard’s Arcade, and chuckled to himself as he watched Jim and Oluwande play a spectacularly competitive game of air hockey.

A hand made its way around his waist, and he felt a kiss pressed against his temple.

‘Hello my darling, how did it all go?’

Ed sat on the stool beside him, and let out a big sigh. ‘It’s… going, that’s for sure. The Badmintons are going to be tried for fraud, copyright infringement, and who knows what else. I kinda switched off, the list was long.’

Stede laughed and swatted Ed’s arm.

‘But yeah, as of today you are looking at the new head of SEACOM. Gonna change that name for a start.’

Stede gasped. ‘Ed! That’s...wow, are you sure that’s what you want?’

‘I guess so. I mean, I think with the resources there we can pretty much create a new company from scratch. One that’s going to really help people. Not one solely based on profits and power. What do you reckon?’

‘I reckon you can change the world, my love.’

Ed looked embarrassed but flattered. ‘Yeah?’

‘Mhmm.’

Ed took a sip of the drink waiting for him. ‘And if it’s ok with you, I’d like your help. If you wanna stay.’

‘I’d be honoured.’ Stede looked a bit teary as he spoke, but beamed with pride. ‘God, I love you so much.’

‘I love you too.’

Stede leaned up to kiss him, and they heard a groan, as Jim and Oluwande returned to the table.

‘Happy for you and all,’ Jim said, ‘but you wanna get a room?’

‘Like you and Oluwande aren’t making out at every opportunity,’ Ed grumbled.

‘Yeah, we are.’ Jim smiled and kissed Oluwande to prove it.

‘Well,’ Stede said, raising his glass. ‘To new beginnings, and a better future!’

‘And to the users!’ Ed added, and winked.

‘To the users.’

>END OF LINE