Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pavel laughed.

“Ohhhhhh nooooo!" He simpered. "Pleeeeease don't try to revolt to protect a wanted traitor! I'll guess… I'LL JUST HAVE TO KILL YOU ALL!” A hideous grin split Pavel's face and he dashed forward as if possessed by pure bloodlust. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

The line of orange soldiers marched after him, their deadly weapons raised towards the rebelling mechanics.

The rebelling mechanics with no armor, no training, no fighting experience, their only defense their disks- which wouldn't even have deresolution privileges like his. Horror twisted inside Beck.

This was going to be a massacre.

He burst into action, flying above the line of his friends, his family. He threw all his weight and momentum into Pavel's face, kicking him through the glass wall of Able’s garage. He pivoted to the nearest soldier and tackled. He couldn't let them reach the mechanics.

“Get out of our city!” Mara screamed, and to Beck's horror, began charging the soldiers.

The rest of the mechanics followed her with wordless yells.

Beck let Tron’s training take over his limbs. Pixels flew as he slashed his disk through everything he could reach. Taking down the soldiers one at a time would take too long, the best he could do was to give the mechanics the best chance he could to survive by leveling the playing field. He cut through armor, crushed staffs, and shredded riot shields into near-useless slivers.

There were so many soldiers, but if he could just-

Pain ripped through his back as a disk slid through his armor from his hip to his shoulder. Beck turned just in time to see Pavel's fist before he found himself careening through a warehouse wall.

His helmet was cracked, barely able to hold itself together. The cut on his back wasn't deep, but it was huge and rendered most of his chest plate useless. His right arm felt wrong and hot and any movement made his back scream with pain.

All in all, Beck already wasn't feeling very good about this fight as he peeled himself from the rubble-strewn floor.

“How dare you turn your back on your most dangerous enemy! I'll make you pay for underestimating me!”

Beck lurched to a standing position. Cubes dribbled lazily down the back of his now-useless armor as he moved into a defensive stance.

A scream cut through the air.

“Sounds like your pathetic little rebellion isn't faring too well against my soldiers.” Pavel sneered.

Beck lunged.

Their disks met and Pavel shrieked with laughter as he slowly overpowered Beck.

“Although, maybe you should worry less about your friends and more for yourself!”

He viciously kicked Beck into a support beam.

The beam splintered, the broken codes gouging deep into his left leg he crashed through it. Cubes sprinkled down from above as the ceiling settled.

Pavel laughed and stalked after him. “Any last words, Renegade?” He crowed as he pulled his disk back for a strike.

"Shut up!" Beck threw his disk with the rest of his strength.

It sailed past Pavel, inches away from his face.

“Wow. That was sad, I didn't even have to dodge!”

Beck's disk flew back into his hand and he dove. The warehouse groaned and shuddered. Pavel twisted at the sound, gaping at the fresh cut in the rafter. The roof could hold even if its support beam was destroyed, or its main rafter. But it couldn't hold without both.

“OH FU-”

The ceiling buckled.

Beck rolled awkwardly as chucks of roof crashed around him, but managed to escape the worst of the destruction.

Pavel's screeching indicated that he was not as lucky.

“DAMN IT! YOU CHEATER!”

He hacked at the heavy rafter trapping his leg in a blind fury.

“The second I get out of here, I'm going to start hunting down every single one of those wastes-of-pixels from that damned garage!”

Beck struggled to his feet, stumbling as a fresh wave of voxels sloughed off his injuries.

“I know all their faces, their designations! I'll hunt them down one. by. one. You can't protect them all. That is, if any of those losers are even still alive by now!” He laughed, gratingly and cruelly.

Beck turned towards Pavel and picked up his disk. Outside the warehouse was eerily quiet, no sounds of a struggle could be heard.

“I won't let you do that.” he gasped.

Pavel laughed. “Oh? How? We both know you don't derezz programs. The incident the other day was obviously some kind of imposter. You're too weak to save anyone, you just cause problems until someone else pays the price!”

The rubble pinning Pavel to the floor finally burst into pixels and he jumped- right into Beck's disk. He stepped back in shock, staring at the disk embedded deep into his code.

He looked at Beck, his eyes filled with horror. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but choked on a distorted gurgle. A few voxels spilled from his lips soundlessly.

Then… all at once, Pavel shattered into a shower of cubes.

Beck stared at the pile of broken code littering the ground in front of him. His hands shook as he grabbed his disc. He hobbled as fast as he could to the hole in the warehouse to look for survivors of the massacre outside.

His arm gave out as he climbed through the destabilized wall, slipping on a few of the stray pixels leaking from his hand.

Strong arms caught him just as he was about to slam face-first into the ground.

“Renegade!” Tron's voice sounded oddly far away. “Are you alright?”

“The mechanics!” Beck gasped. He clung to Tron's steady arms like a life raft in a storm.

“They’re safe. I was able to save most of them.”

Beck burst into tears. “Th- thank you.”

“Of course.” He cradled Beck to his chest as gently as he could. “You need a medic.”

“I derezzed him.” Beck trembled. “I derezzed Pavel.”

“Oh B- Renegade, I'm so sorry.” Tron murmured. “I know how much that means to you.”

He helped the smaller program to his feet, keeping a steadying arm around him.

They turned to face the small group of mechanics huddled together nearby. Beck’s focus instantly shot to a bright blue pixie cut. Relief flushed the sick swirl of emotions clogging his chest as he saw Mara and Zed, injured and scared but alive. He scanned the rest of the faces, the few newest gaps in the group aching like a missing tooth.

“Programs,” Tron addressed them. “Thank you for your help today. Your actions were extremely brave.”

“Tron!” Mara’s eyes shone as she and Zed helped each other limp forward. “It's really you!”

Tron nodded with a taught smile.

“Look out for each other- if the Occupation asks what happened here, tell them that the resistance attacked and you were caught in the crossfire, don't let them find out that you helped us.” Tron instructed.

He helped Beck onto his lightbike and sat behind him.

“Wait!” Mara called. “I want help! I want to join the resistance!”

Tron opened his mouth, his eyes tight and probably about to say something unnecessarily mean. Beck placed a hand on Tron's arm. When the older program glanced down questioningly, Beck shook his head.

“I think I'm ready now.” He said quietly.

“Alright.”

Tron looked back to Mara. “It's going to be dangerous. And harder than anything you've done before. But, if you're serious, follow us to the base.”

Mara nodded and tried to disentangle her arm from Zed's shoulder.

“I'm coming too.” Zed announced. “I believe in the Renegade.”

Beck's helmet snapped to Zed's face. “But…you hate me.”

Zed locked eyes with the opaque faceplate of the armor, his eyes tracing the spidery lines of damage glowing softly across the glass. “I was wrong. You- I think you‘re the bravest person I've ever met.”

Tron smiled softly. “Let's get going.”

Three cycles raced into the outlands.

Chapter Text

It felt weird to wear the helmet inside Tron's base, and he knew that he would have to face Mara and Zed sooner rather than later. He wanted to tell them sooner rather than later. Keeping secrets from his best friends was eating him alive.

But he was also scared. Facing his friends meant facing the fact that he had lied to them. It meant facing the fact that Mara would hate him now. She would never forgive him for causing Able's death and as much as he didn't disagree, he wanted to hold on to the warm comfort of her friendship for as long he could. He wanted to hold on to the illusion that things could go back to the way they used to be for just a little bit longer.

And so, he kept the helmet on. Like a coward. A selfish coward. A selfish coward who was also a murderer now.

“So….” The voice of the person he was desperately trying to avoid right now popped into the medical room of Tron's base. “I think we should talk.”

Mara sat down heavily in a chair next to the gurney.

There was an awkward pause.

“I'm sorry.” They both said at the same time.

“What?” Asked Mara.

“Huh?” Asked Beck.

Mara sighed. “Renegade, there's nothing you need to apologize for.”

“I think that's my line.” He said with a sad laugh. “I should have figured something else out that night.”

He ran his finger along the swapinator* line currently plugged into his code.

“No,” Mara said. “Zed was right. You can't be everywhere at once- the Occupation has a whole army and you're just one guy. It wasn't your fault and it was cruel of me to blame you.”

“No, you were right. It was my fault. I asked him to save you, and… it was a trap for me. It should have been me.”

“Able was working with you?” Mara asked. “I… if you don't mind- what happened that night? Why not come yourself? You didn't let me help you after that one time with the Jolly Tricksters, but I figured you just didn't like me.”

“It's not that! And I wanted to come myself, but-” Beck wilted against the gurney, fidgeting with the line in his fingers.

“Able was helping me talk through some things I was dealing with, when we realized that Tron was in danger. We rushed over to the base, but he had been taken by the time we arrived. There was a note at the base explaining that you and Zed were strapped to a bomb on one side of the city, and Tron on the other. The trap was designed to force me to choose between saving you two and saving Tron, but he hadn't expected Able to come with me, so- so we split up to try to save you both, thinking we had outsmarted him, but-”

Beck swallowed. “I guess the trap was designed to kill me if I chose to save you, and- and so it was my fault.”

He bit his lip to keep it from trembling. “It was my fault for falling for his stupid trap. Again.”

“Oh.” Mara said. “Oh, no, Renegade, that wasn't your fault. None of that was your fault.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I'm so sorry that I blamed you. It wasn't your fault at all.”

Beck sighed. “Anyway, that's why I didn't let you help me. Being around me- it's dangerous. Helping me is dangerous. It wasn't because I didn't like you. I was just scared I couldn't protect you and it would get you hurt, like your friends. Or worse.”

Mara hugged him gently. “Thank you for protecting us. And thank you for letting us help you now.”

“...I figured you wouldn't stop jumping into danger, and it's safer to jump into danger where Tron and I can help faster.”

Mara laughed. “Yep! You're not stopping me!”

“Figured.”

She frowned. “How did that guy who was after you capture the Tron anyway?”

“It's… not really my story to tell, but Tron was really badly injured. It's why he needed me to wear his symbol and keep hope alive for him as the Renegade in the first place. He was… dying. But he's healed now. Completely.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence for a while.

“You know, I think you'd really like my friend Beck.” Mara blurted suddenly.

“O- oh?” Beck's voice cracked. Casually.

“He's a really great guy! And he totally believes in your mission, and- and he-” Mara's face drained of color. Her eyes flicked down to the spot where his eyes hid behind opaque glass.

She stared into the Renegade’s helmet. Slowly, she pulled a shaking hand up to cover her mouth, which had dropped into a perfect “o”.

“It's- you're… Beck. Aren't you?” She was horrified.

 Horrified.

He let the silence run too long. Tears ran down her cheek. She knew. She hated him. His lies. Able. He was a murderer.

Beck panicked. He pulled out the swapinator and ran like the coward he was.

Chapter Text

Beck was hiding in a closet.

The closet opened and Zed slipped inside. He closed the door smoothly behind him and slid down the wall to sit next to Beck.

Beck sat with his arms wrapped around his legs, his face buried in his knees. His nose smooshed against the inside of his helmet. It was not a comfortable sitting position, he realized suddenly. But if he moved, Zed might notice him here and that would be even less comfortable.

“It's going to be okay, Beck.” Zed said.

Damn.

Beck raised his head from his semi-fetal position.

“Mara told you?” The question came out as more of a resigned statement than a question.

“Nah.”

Beck frowned. “Tron told you?”

Zed breathed a quiet, sad laugh. “Pfft. Nope.” He popped the p.

“Wait- you already knew? How long have you known?” Beck asked incredulously.

“Oh ye of little faith,” Zed side-eyed him with a wry smile. “I figured it out a few nanos ago when you didn't ask who Beck was.”

Beck groaned and removed the helmet. “Okay, you got me.”

“But seriously, how did you know?”

“When we went to save Mara together, I tripped and you… I never told you my name.” Zed smirked at the memory. “It took me a while to put it together after that though. It was just a suspicion, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. The strange behavior, the disappearances, how you would come in hiding injuries all the time. That dumb look you got when I found the lightcycle the Renegade stole back in my locker.”

“And then finding you hiding in a cleaning closet the same way Bodhi and I always found you when you were upset.” He finished with a significant look.

“Guess I'm not as subtle as I thought, huh.”

“Dude, you wouldn't know subtle if it hit you in the face.”

Beck laughed, then deflated.

“You were right before.” Beck whispered. “I've made everything worse.”

“No. You've made everything better.”

“You just changed your mind because we're friends.”

“No. I changed my mind because I realized that things would have gotten worse anyway. Bodhi wasn't killed because of the Renegade. The fields were already being repurposed for the Games. Argon was one of the last cities to get a stadium. It had nothing to do with the Renegade. Same with the curfew. I checked the timelines and Tessler was full of bullshit.”

“Okay… maybe I didn't make things worse but-”

“No butts.” Zed interrupted. “You saved Mara. You saved me. You never did anything but protect people. Tessler just used the Renegade as a convenient excuse for the Occupation to do what they were already planning on doing. I fell for that propaganda hook, line, and sinker until I saw the truth. And the truth is that you are the only person standing up to Tessler in public. You give people hope. You gave me hope. And you know I'm the grid's most accomplished pessimist, so that takes some doing.”

He nudged Beck. “Come on, it's stuffy in here. Let's go crack open some energy cans.”

Beck laughed. “Alright, alright. Time to stop moping.”

He opened the closet door. “Thanks, Zed. You're a really great friend.”

Zed slung an arm around Beck's shoulders. “Hey, you've pulled me out of enough pity parties, I learned from the best. And… you're welcome. You're a really great friend too.”

“Thanks.”