Stop breaking the fourth wall Beck

[breaksthelandscape]

We are ultimately going to lose, aren't we? Even if we -- if I -- save Argon, the Grid is lost. How can I possibly hope to save it when Tron is destined to become Clu's right hand? I can hardly keep up with him now when he is near convalescing. There is no way I can beat him as Rinzler.

Besides, what kind of hero lets his mentor become the corrupted puppet of a tyrant?

Comments

[tanks4thememory]

Depends on how 'ultimately' you mean. The Grid might be lost for awhile, but that doesn't mean it can't or won't be reclaimed further down the line.

Something that looks like a failure now can sometimes open a door necessary for a future victory.

[breaksthelandscape]

That's assuming that there will be anything left to save further down the line. Good programs are losings their lives every cycle in settlements all over the Grid. Programs like Bodhi and Rilo who have done nothing wrong. By the time any sort of victory arrives how many more will have been derezzed?

[tanks4thememory]

You might be surprised. Systems and programs have a way of enduring beyond what you might expect when they need to.

But lemme try and put it another way. Do you plan on doing everything you can to fight back against my not-so-dear brother and his cronies? To use every skill and resource at your disposal to try and prevent the fate you just mentioned from befalling more innocent programs?

[breaksthelandscape]

You don't really "endure" a deresolution.

[He doesn't even have to stop and think this one over.]

Do you even have to ask? Of course I am going to fight, for as long and for as hard as I can to save as many programs as possible. But I still know what's coming and know that I can't change it.

[tanks4thememory]

[Clu is pleased by your answer and lack of hesitation to give it, Beck.]

You personally? Probably not. Wasn't much I could do against the MCP and it's goons either, but that didn't stop me from doing everything I could, even if in the end all that ammounted to was insulting it to its big, ugly bitface.

Didn't seem like much at the time. The MCP kept right on with business as usual after it derezzed me. After all, what was one more User-believer, right? But it turned out that my capture and deresolution set events into motion that eventually led to Flynn being brought into the Encom system and the MCP being taken down.

Are things gonna get worse before they get better? Most likely. The MCP came this close [measures a tiny distance between his thumb and finger] to total victory before Tron and Flynn took it out. Alot of programs were probably derezzed between the time of my capture and when when the MCP was erased. It's certainly something I regret, that I'll never know who most of them were, and that I couldn't do more to help them.

But the fact is that I couldn't help them. I didn't have the kind of resources or abilities to do what was needed on my own. Some things are just out of my control. Or yours. Or Tron's. Or even Flynn's. In the end, all anyone, Program or User can do is their best. On its own, it might not be enough to get the job done. But it might just be enough to start something, and set things in motion so that somewhere down the line, someone else can get it done.

To me, that was enough; my part in the MCP's downfall might've been a small one, but to me, what happened to me was more than worth it in the end, deresolution and all. Whether or not it would be worth it to you, if things go that way... well, that's something you'll have to decide for yourself.

[rrbando_rambo]

Sure you can win! Maybe your friend Tron is working on the inside to help you.

[breaksthelandscape]

Somehow I doubt that. Clu would not risk Tron breaking free from his control. Tron is the biggest threat to him outside of a User.

[rrbando_rambo]

Please have faith in 'im! You must know Tron as well as I do, and ever'body knows Tron fights for the User. My mentor Plato told me something, and that is to never give up! Stay strong for your friend.

[breaksthelandscape]

I do have faith in him. But it is Tron that fights for the Users, not Rinzler.

Have some more limitless optimism, Beck~

[rrbando_rambo]

Who's Rinzler? You gotta make sure your buddy Tron keeps running the race. Oh, another thing Users have, we choose who or what we become. If you have to tell Tron how you feel about this, tell him that. If he fights for the User, he'll understand.

[keyofthesky]

Even if someone brainwashes Tron, he's still in there!

[breaksthelandscape]

But can he live with what he does while under Clu's control?

[adarkfallenstar]

Sounds to me like you've already given up.

You can't win with that attitude.

[breaksthelandscape]

How do you change something that has already happened? Or will happen...

[You start by not breaking the fourth wall and learning about what happens in the future.]

[adarkfallenstar]

Well, if you know how you made your mistake, try to do things differently.

[annualprank]

Maybe it won't work out quite that way. Maybe you don't know how it'll end, not just yet.

[breaksthelandscape]

Tron becomes Rinzler and helps Clu terrorize the Grid for a thousand cycles. That is how it is going to end.

[annualprank]

Maybe, maybe not. I've seen enough programs from different versions of the Grid... maybe your future isn't pre-written the way you think it is.

Gotta keep fighting, right? There's a chance you can change things.

[lifes_short_pop]

[He looks sick on hearing that. His mun deliberately kept him in the dark about just how bad it all became, though his time here has been little but one horrible truth after another.]

"So that's what happens. I...I'm sorry. If only..." [Damn it, Uncle Kevin, why didn't you trust your friends to help?!]

[Of course, Mercury would have started tearing him a new one the instant "if only" came out of his mouth. What would she say in a case like this?]

"Maybe you can't stop what's coming, but you can try to get as many innocents out of the blast zone as possible."

[xaccessgranted]

Hmm....I had seen other entries from you. I saw an image with your helm rezzed up and it caught my attention...

[puzzled, though curious - his gruff voice is soft]

You are familiar to me. Do I know you?

[breaksthelandscape]

[Uh-oh. A familiar face - and not one who knows him as Beck. Time to try and play it smooth like he has had to do with Mara and Zed so often. Hey, he has tricked Paige in the past. Maybe it will work with this guy, too.]

Uh...no, I don't think so. You must be mistaking me for someone else.