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"Hey Beck," Zed approaches him with a glass of energy drink. "Glad to see you finally ditching your previous 'ditching from us' and actually hanging out with me and Mara after garage! Here!" He handed him his own glass with a light smirk.
Beck thanked him and looked around the 00010001 club. Programs were dancing and moving to the rhythm of the music. It was peacefully loud and safe — the kind of loud where you know none of Tesler's goons are going to appear there, no threat signal for the whole club or Argon City that would make him put on 'The Renegade' mask and save the day once again. It was like their cycles were normal and nothing in this place was going to hurt any programs. Beck took a sip and leaned his back against the bar's table.
"What are you thinking about now?" Zed asked, disappointed — and also regretting asking it.
"Nothing…" Beck answered.
"Aha, yeah sure, nothing…" His friend nodded in sarcasm and pulled his judgmental gaze away from him. "Since thinking about 'ohhh, I wonder when I can ditch my friends again' has been 'nothing'? Do I need a Beck's dictionary for that??"
"No, Zed, I was just… thinking about how the club… is so…" His next words slowly faded, like his mind wasn't ready for the answer, but eventually it came up with something — and regretted it halfway. "It's… so calm—" Beck cut his words off, and then his word-storm happened. "I mean— not calm calm, it's loud but also in a chill way, not in a bad way, not in a…"
"It's like an actual club and not a moment before disaster, you mean?" Zed guessed bluntly. He blinked twice and waited for his friend to answer…
"Yeah, that's what I—" Zed raised his hand and stopped Beck mid-sentence.
"Please don't jinx it. You have your own way of doing this!"
"But it won't—"
And Zed was right.
The lights of the whole club suddenly shut down, and every program disappeared — just in a blink. Even Zed wasn't next to him anymore.
All he could see now was darkness, like he was trapped in a void. Was this one of Flynn's commands, or was something about the Grid wrong?
He wasn't sure if this was the start of a short war from Tesler, or something unnatural that even their own dictators couldn't figure out — so he could've chosen whether or not to get into 'The Renegade' suit.
Everything was black, and Beck's vision was hardly processing the visible objects around him and the club. But the truth was, there were no objects, and there wasn't a club in Beck's current place anymore.
Suddenly his eyes caught something light. It was like it was flying around him — or walking. It had an organized design. It had its own shape. It looked like… it was part of someone's face.
'Oh my User,' Beck thought in terror. But the real terror was a voice — probably that face's voice — responding back to him. "Yes, your User…"
"What do you want, Cyrus??" Beck asked loudly, his voice echoing.
"What I always wanted, Beck!" Cyrus's voice was everywhere; Beck had to give up on tracking the sound. "A game — between us and the Grid!"
"Glad to break it to you, 'cause I don't like to play games!" Beck rejected his offer. "Now where are the others? Where's Zed? What have you done to the club?"
"The answers will show themselves after we finish my little quest!" Cyrus's face faded in as he got closer to him, his terrifying echo steps following. "All you have to do is obey!"
Beck immediately got into a fighting position and switched on his Renegade suit. "What part of 'I don't wanna join your stupid revolution' is unclear to you?"
"The part where I didn't say you're gonna be on my side of this game." He paused and looked at him directly. "You ARE my game." Cyrus grabbed him by the chin and pulled him closer to his face — so close that Beck could see all his bits. "Didn't you pay attention to what I said? I'm your User…"
It wasn't about Cyrus's problem with logic anymore. It was about him.
"And I wanna play a game," he whispered into his ear. "But it already started…!"
And just like that, he pushed him violently off the void, and Beck woke up screaming. He was in the club once again. Zed was approaching him. Once again!
His breathing was unusual. At first he tried to calm himself down. "It was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare, it was—"
"Hey Beck," Zed approaches him with a glass of energy drink. "Glad to see you finally ditching your previous 'ditching from us' and actually hanging out with me and Mara after garage! Here!" He handed him his own glass with a light smirk.
"Oh…" It was happening again. Was this a restart because he'd had a horrible vision? Was Cyrus coming back again after their conversation, just like the last time? Or…
"But it already started…!"
Was this part of his game?
"Hello!! From the Grid to Beck!!" Zed tapped on his friend's shoulder aggressively. "What are you thinking about?"
"I— nothing!"
"Aha, yeah sure, nothing… since thinking about 'ohhh, I wonder when can—"
"—I ditch my friends again' has been 'nothing'? Do I need a Beck's dictionary for that?? You wanted to say that, don't you?" Beck looked at him in pure curiosity.
Zed blinked a few times. "Yyeeahh???" And he moved back a little. "How did you know that?"
Unfortunately, Zed was more an action program than a thoughtful program. So he came up with something like…
"'Cause I always say these things to you…"
"Good to know you figured out how much this was annoying me!" Zed sighed and shook his head. Beck chuckled calmly — but he wasn't calm at all.
He looked at the club. Nothing unusual. For now…
Or maybe this was just the beginning.