Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Mercury 2.0 ❯ DEFRAG ( Chapter 4 )

Ami crouched behind a data cache with a Mesh rifle held in her hands. She wasn’t very comfortable with the weapon, but in the last few hours she had come to recognize its necessity in the digital world. Across the way from her was the blue hued warrior, Mercury, who had once more drawn her endlessly useful Rod weapons and snapped them together to form a long rifle construct.

Quietly the program took aim down the corridor and fired. The shot seemed loud in the confined spaces of the transport, but it was necessary to drop the guard that stood watch over the transport platform, and a data cache that held their true objective.

The algorithms needed to return Ami to the real world.

In a flash the blue hared girl ran down the hall, her eyes moving quickly to make sure that there were no other threats as Mercury covered her from afar. Skidding to a halt, Ami reached out and touched the glowing crate, accessing it as Mercury had taught her.

In seconds she found the file she was looking for and pulled the small blue orb out of the cache and placed it on her waist where it disappeared into her belt, stored in memory for now.

But as she pulled out the data alarms began to sound and Mercury moved quickly to join Ami by the transport pad. The taller program let experienced hands glide over the control bits of the attached console as Ami trained her weapon on the entrance. She was unsure of her actions, but resolved to see the coming battle through.

“It’s ready,” Mercury called and moved onto the transmission disk, her LOL rifle swinging to cover Ami as the User joined her. A flash of purple armor appeared in the doorway, and Mercury took her shot. A lance of blue energy crossed the distance instantly and the guard was gone. A second program tried to enter, and Mercury’s weapon was recharging, but before it was done a spray of bolts from Ami impacted against their foe and he faded into digital oblivion.

Ami caught her breath and said softly, “I’m still not used to doing this without my powers or the others…”

“Don’t worry,” the blue armored warrior next to her answered, “We’re almost free.”

And with that a beam of pure white light shot upwards, engulfing the two of them and shooting off into the electronic night.


Mercury 2.0
A TRON/Sailor Moon story
By Seth
Part 4: DEFRAG

Note: Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and licensed by DiC in the U.S. while TRON is owned by the Disney Corporation. I claim ownership of neither, but use them in this humble tale for the enjoyment of the readers and fans. Everybody, do the Monkey.


///ROUTE AMI.MERCURY ver. 2.3///
///ROUTE MERCURY ver 8.7///
///FILE TRANSFER COMPLETE///

The commander of the transport read the display with a frown. Turning, he looked at the purple hued program that had just delivered the news of Nemesis’ defeat and let out a low growl.

“I want that transmission traced, null unit,” he said slowly. “Then I want a directory of every asset we have in the area. I will not have a pair of conscripts making me look a fool.” The guard snapped a sharp salute and quickly left the commanders presence.

Almost in a whisper the tall, imposing red warrior said, “Never again.”

Far away the white beam finished its journey, settling Ami and Mercury onto a transmission platform in the center of a bustling plaza. Ami had to fight the urge to once more look around in wonder at the digital realm. People, programs, were gathered and moving around the large square. Pairs and groups often stopped to speak with each other and the bustle and calls of code vendors reminded her of Shinjuku. A boxy transport even rode an energy beam high above the city as a computer analog of the Tokyo Loop Line.

“Are you all right Ami One,” Mercury asked her User companion when she saw the smaller female hanging back.

Quickly the displaced girl pulled her eyes off the sights of the city and refocused on her guide, “Yes, just a little awed by all this. I still can’t believe that all this is inside a computer. Everything I know has been changed by this trip.”

Mercury walked back and placed a hand on Ami’s shoulder, “Not unlike what you have done to me. To think there are things beyond the Users. It’s amazing, and frightening at the same time.”

Ami nodded. To the programs inside the machine the Users were all powerful. And nothing can disturb a faithful entity like the knowledge that there are even greater powers then those they believe to be gods.

It was humbling to Ami, even though she considered herself above average, to have someone strong and skilled like Mercury treat her as a deity.

Pushing that aside for the moment, Ami looked at Mercury and asked, “So where are we going now?’

“We may have gotten away for the moment,” Ami’s digital counterpart answered, “but they will be after us fairly quickly. We have to get you and the correction algorithms back to the ENCOM mobile server as quickly as we can so you can return to the real world. Our best bet is to lose any pursuit in the commercial sectors. And I know just the place to start getting lost.”

Mercury pointed up ahead and Ami looked up to see a two story block building nestled into the cityscape. It was tall, and stood on a small jetty on what could almost pass for an electrically glowing bay. Its glowing lines pulsed with many colors as a low beat came from within, and two bulky light blue programs stood at the door, arms crossed and eyes sharp. Above the guards a sign proudly named the establishment.

The Progress Bar.

Inside Ami found a strange parallel to her own world. It was a club, plain and simple. Over the years with her friends she had been dragged into a multitude of similar establishments, often against her will. The pulse of music, the neon lights and the mingling programs were somewhat reassuring to the girl as Mercury led the way to the counter.

“Hey, Apple,” she called out when she reached the bar, “seen any good patches lately. We had a peripheral give out on us.”

The scraggily looking bartender put two containers of glowing liquid in front of Ami and Mercury and contemplated the request.

“Try upstairs, that bunch tends to gather in the com pit.”

Mercury nodded and tipped back her drink, motioning Ami to do likewise.

“What is it?”

Mercury smiled at the smaller blue girl and answered, “Power. Not very pure, and not directly from a source, but after the cycle we’ve had I think we could both use a little pick-me-up.”

Ami took a tentative sip, and felt an almost electric feeling as the liquid passed her lips. Instead of pain, however, she felt refreshed and allowed herself to drink slowly as Mercury led the way to the upper level.

As the music and light pulsed downstairs, the murmur of dozens of conversations filled the balcony like area above. Ami saw displays of raw code, pulses of light in artistic patterns, and a monitor showing a strange bike race of some kind. Finally the two of them stopped by an I/O node identical to the one Ami had used when she first arrived. Clustered around it were three young looking programs that were fiddling with a cube of code that seemed almost like a puzzle cube of some kind.

“Glitch,” called out Mercury as she approached the node. One of the concentrating programs looked up and his face took on a panicked look. Grabbing the cube quickly, he made a break away from the other programs. Mercury sighed and took chase as Ami stood there, confused for a moment, and then darted off after the chase.

Soon, the program called Glitch found there was no more room to run away on the upper level of the club, and the only path down was behind his pursuer. He stopped, his back to a wall as Mercury stalked towards him, holding up his hands in a warding gesture.

“I swear by DOS,” he yelled, “I haven’t been anywhere near ENCOM in a long time! I don’t even use their subroutines any more! Why are you after me!?”

Mercury sighed again, “Calm down, Glitch. I’m not after you this time.” Waiting for him to calm somewhat, she gestured back to Ami, who had caught up. “I have a job for you that may help mitigate some of what you used to do against my User. My new partner has a little problem, and a code bot like you may be able to help.”

“Ami looked at the nervous young program and asked, “And why does he think you are after him?”

“His User swiped a batch of trash files related to game development a while ago. His User then had him work them out into a copy of one of our beta tests. Glitch got really good at figuring out why code wasn’t working right, didn’t you?”

Glitch nervously nodded, “How could I know that he had stolen from ENCOM. I was just doing my job when you came in and almost off lined me. My User hasn’t contacted me since, I swear.”

“Do you really think he can help,” Ami asked, “Its not like my problem is everyday in this wor…system.”

Glitch seemed to take offence at this and forgot his situation as he answered, “There’s no code I can’t crack, no bug I can’t fix. I’m the best there is, Pro.

“Maybe,” Mercury replied, “but I would have taken any high level patch. You just lucked out, little bit.”

Glitch grumbled, but Mercury’s hand twitched towards her Rod weapon at her hip and his complaining stopped dead. With a confident smile Mercury turned to Ami and gestured towards the sufficiently cowed program.

“Let him see your pen.”

Keeping her eye on the now curious male, Ami reached behind her back and brought out her Mercury wand. It still was dark, the light it once had absent as she passed the mystic artifact over to the wide eyed program who began examining it closely.

“I’ve never seen code this compact before,” he mumbled as he turned the item about in his hands. “It’s layered like a full up program, but it’s almost like it needs more code to activate. What’s its executable?”

“I am,” Ami said simply.

Glitch blinked, looking at the young blue female, and instantly saw an almost invisible code tag between her and the item. Forcing himself not to gape, he turned back to the small tapered cylinder and continued his study.

“OK, I think I have something for you. It’s out of power. Not just out, but drained past the point where it should have de-rezed. If it weren’t for that odd tie to you, it would have gone bye bye.”

Mercury looked down at Ami and asked, “How do you recharge it back in your…system?”

Ami knew of course. The magic drew mana fuel form her link to the planet Mercury. The volcanic world so close to the Sun allowed her to draw heat away, forming an elemental power over ice and cold water. The trouble was how she would explain such things to the program working on her pen that she wouldn’t give away more secrets.

“It’s complicated,” was what she decided on.

Glitch shrugged, “Well, your best bet is a long soak in some power. Let it regain a charge. The problem is it needs to be tuned to the algorithm that this code bundle uses. I have no idea how to do that, short of drowning its counterpart here in a fresh source.”

Ami took the wand back and looked up at Mercury. The taller program nodded and walked away from the relieved looking Glitch and headed off to a less crowded part of the bar. Ami followed her and joined her as she sat down on one of the couches.

After a long silence mercury sighed and said, “I’m sorry Ami One. I guess I had my hopes up too high that I would be able to restore your upgrade form.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ami answered and put her hand on Mercury’s shoulder reassuringly. “Now that we have the digitization algorithm I’ll be able to return to my world. Once I’m there I’m sure I’ll be able to get my power back.”

Mercury couldn’t help but smile at her cheerful counterpart and nodded. “I just hope we don’t run into any more trouble. Once I make contact with Jet it will be a race to make it back to the ENCOM server. If the com lines aren’t tapped, we won’t have any resistance.”

“Then we should get going,” Ami said. She lifted the last of her drink up, ready to finish it off. As the electric liquid touched her lips, she paused and wondered. Water had been her friend for so long, even before she became a warrior for love and justice. She was an avid swimmer for most of her youth, and the gaining of her powers made her seem more at home then ever in a liquid environment. Her dear friend Makoto had even once called her a mermaid.

Her musing was interrupted as Mercury stood and made her way back to the com area. Ami quickly followed, her train of thought pushed aside for the moment as her digital partner activated one of the free I/O nodes and entered a code.

///Meanwhile in the Real World///

“Yes!”

Jet’s shout grabbed the attention of Usagi and Makoto and they perked up behind him as his fingers danced across the keyboard.

Eagerly, Makoto asked, “What is it?”

Jet smiled, “The program I sent to find your friend has finally checked in. And according to this, Ms. Mizuno is doing fine.” Jet’s smile remained as he heard the two girls sigh in relief behind him. “Care to hear from her?”

The answer was a loud stereo, “Yes!”

Touching a switch, Jet routed the translated digital audio to the terminal speakers, and Makoto and Usagi almost wept at what came out of them.

/“It always looked so easy on the other side of the screen”/

“Ami,” Usagi shouted in joy, “Are you all right? What is it like in there? Is it all chippy and wirey? Are you OK? When are you getting back?”

Jet raised an eyebrow and looked back at the girls, “Chippy and wirey?”

Makoto smirked, “That’s our Usagi for you.”

/“I’m all right, Usagi,”/ Ami’s distorted voice responded, /”And you wouldn’t believe what it’s like in here. We’re getting ready to make our way back to you now, but Mercury thinks we may have trouble between here and there.”/

Makoto looked at the speaker, fighting down a reaction, “Mercury? Um, who’s that?”

Ami answered, /”She’s a program from inside the machine world. She’s a blue tinted warrior that reminds me a lot of you, Makoto. She’s tough, strong, and ready for anything. She’s been keeping me safe in here.”/

Another voice cut in, /”I know that you want to talk to your friends, but we need to move soon, Ami One.”/

/“Right. That was her. Anyway, she told me that Jet needs to get the laser ready to receive the algorithms, and that Ma3a should set up some defenses for the server because we may have company when we arrive.”/

“I’ll be ready for you, Ami,” Jet said as he resumed his place at the terminal. “The lights are on, and the door is open.”

“Good luck Ami,” Usagi said to her missing friend.

Ami’s voice answered before being cut off, /“I think I have a little left.”/

Jet, Usagi and Makoto shared a look, and the technician resumed his typing.

“All right, Ma3a. Let’s get ready for them.”

Back inside the machine world the I/O node went dark and Ami gave a sigh at only hearing her friends for a few moments. She then saw that Mercury had gone stiff next to her and was glancing over the rail to the open floor below. Turning as the club’s music suddenly cut off, she saw a large group of purple guards marching in and taking up positions in the bar.

The programs were led by a tall, imposing figure of glowing red who marched into the center of the quickly vacated dance floor and spoke with an authoritative voice.

“This partition has been annexed. If you are cooperative then we will let you go on about your business. However, if you chose to interfere then you will suffer the consequences.” He paused and slowly turned about the room, taking in its occupants before continuing, “There will be no security coming for some time and I assure you my conscripts are well trained, as one here most likely knows.”

He spread his arms out, gesturing to encompass the bar as several of the purple troops began moving through the crowd, “One among you is not what they seem. A connection was established here only moments ago, and was made by fugitives from our system. If these null units are not turned over to me I will be most…displeased.”

“Not very subtle, is he,” Ami whispered to her friend.

Mercury could only nod, “He must be a rouge security program, or…oh no.”

Another program moved out of the crowd and slowly approached the towering red warrior, wringing his hands. Ami and Mercury couldn’t hear his words, but they didn’t need to.

Glitch had just told the red warrior they were here.

Instantly the warrior turned to his troops and barked a short order for them to check upstairs and a dozen of the guards moved to obey. Ami saw that the way down would be blocked and quickly looked around for another avenue of escape.

Mercury, meanwhile, was figuring the odds of success in combat. Though she and Ami had been able to win against groups of the purple programs before, it had been with the aid of Ami’s other worldly powers. In addition the red warrior below was a new factor. His coding appeared older, but he moved like a seasoned fighter. She had seen it often in her days on the game grid; this one knew how to end a program’s existence.

“We need to get out of here,” both blue women stated at the same time.

Mercury grasped the rail, “Jump.”

Ami looked at her in surprise, “What?”

“We have an element of surprise here. We can use it to make a break for the exit while their numbers are divided. We need to move quickly,” Mercury said as she allowed a viral ball grenade to form in her hand.

Ami gulped, tentatively grasping the rail beside her partner. It was Sailor Mercury, not Ami, who would vault over the enemy and save the day. Now the schoolgirl was once more being pressed into service. But magic powers or not, Ami knew that she had a job to finish. She had to get home so that she could hold her friends once more, and tell Usagi that her heart could carry her through after all.

Now she steeled her heart and followed Mercury over the rail, jumping to the level below.

Two blue streaks fell from the upper level and began a hard run towards the door. A flash shot out from the taller of the two and blasted into the chest of one of the guards in their way. As the purple warrior vanished in a burst of pixilated light Ami took the lead and threw her disk hard catching his partner.

The rush of the attack caught many of the programs in the bar flat footed, but the red warrior in the center turned and smoothly drew his own disk, throwing it in the same motion. The red construct shot out, blazing ahead of the two runaway blue forms, and ricocheting off the closed door ahead of them.

Ami recovered her own disk barely in time to block the onrushing attack. Its impact shook her arms and knocked her off her feet. Swift as her name, Mercury caught the smaller female and cushioned her fall, but they were slowed. By the time they recovered their footing the red disk had already flashed back to the waiting hand of the red warrior and the remaining purple guards had surrounded them. Mercury’s hands flashed to her hips, pulling her Rods free and snapping them together to form a staff, but the weapon was knocked away just as swiftly from a second strike by the red warrior.

“Brave,” he commented with a sneer in his voice, “but utterly futile. The two of you were finished as soon as you escaped my witless subordinate. I must thank you for eliminating him as it saves me the energy. Now surrender, or will you show the same level of incompetence?”

Mercury sighed, once more pushed into a corner with few avenues of escape. This time, however, her captor seemed to share encoding similar to ENCOM’s own security, and couldn’t be taken as lightly. His troops were different as well; they seemed to move with more purpose and efficiency. Then Mercury saw it in their eyes.

They were terrified of this red warrior.

Collecting herself, Mercury looked over at Ami and saw that the girl had managed to get control of herself at this turn of events. She couldn’t help but smile at the User who seemed to surprise at every turn.

Ami nodded to her friend and spoke to the warrior, “We will come peacefully now. But I must ask, your are different from those you command, and Nemesis before you. Who are you?”

“Sark,” was the warriors answer.

Mercury stiffened and whispered in a small voice, “That’s not possible. Tron destroyed you and the MCP at the dawn of the new Golden Age.”

Sark barked a mirthless laugh, “That slave never understood how things work. Plans can be broken, but new plans can be built on the remains. Did you think my time was over? All the systems of the world will be mine thanks to the resources I’ve been given over time. ENCOM will fall, sooner or later. And the power of this accursed User will guarantee it.”

“But how,” Mercury asked, “how did you get these new troops? How did you know about the algorithms?”

“The answer is so simple, my dear,” Sark replied. “My User knows well the power of the digital realm. And with the data you hold he can resume his plans, and resurrect the Data Wraths.”

Mercury exclaimed, “You’re with FCon! “

“Precisely.”

Ami looked on, unsure of the history passing between these two. The one thing she was sure of was the multitude of weapons trained on her and her friend. Sark no longer seemed to be in a talkative mood and merely gestured to his troops to escort them out. Ami could only walk beside Mercury, who seemed in shock over the revelation of the warrior’s identity.

Ami whispered to her, “Who is this Sark, and what is FCon?”

“Sark was the minion of the MCP. He’s a program that once enslaved much of the network in its early days. He was supposed to have been destroyed long before I came into existence. As for FCon, they are a company that tried to buy out ENCOM recently, and were engaged in digitization experiments to enhance hackers to control the systems of every computer in the world.”

Ami nodded her understanding and looked at the red back of their captor as he led the company back towards the entry port into this sector. She knew that if they reached the transport disk it would be all over for them as they would be once more trapped in enemy territory with a much tighter guard on them.

She saw that only a short distance separated them from the transport platform and knew that her time was up. To her right was the impossibly tall wall of the digital city and to her left was the glowing flow of energy that made up the water around this realm. The time had come to test her theory, but would the shot in the dark she came up with in the Progress Bar pan out?

Giving a reassuring smile to Mercury, Ami tightened herself, ready to spring like a coil. Her partner saw that she was getting ready to make a move and tensed herself as well.

But nothing prepared Mercury for Ami’s next action.

The Blue haired User suddenly and violently pitched herself over the edge of the walkway and dove into the charged water that flowed below. Guards moved quickly and pulses of deadly energy lanced out after her, but to no avail as she passed beneath the surface.

Mercury looked on in shock. She knew that her young friend was up to something, but the apparent suicide had taken her aback.

Sark only looked on with a cold, impassive face.

“Better, perhaps, than what I had planned for her,” he said as he turned to face Mercury, “But now I have no need for you.”

Meanwhile, below the surface, Ami let herself sink into the cold liquid. With a flick of the wrist she once more drew her transformation pen out and held it in both hands above her head as she continued her descent.

Water is my friend, she thought, I am home here, no matter where I am. In this water is power, and I can open myself to that power. I am a User and have power here. I am Sailor Mercury and have power in water. I AM THE POWER!

“Mercury Crystal Power…MAKE UP!”

Lightning arced in the water around her as her darkened pen suddenly glowed to life. The blue glow passed beyond the confines of the pen and spread across her body. The flood of energy didn’t stop there however.

Ami’s eyes shot open, beams of blue energy spilling out as her body became supercharged in the digital water. She could feel her body strain against the clash of electronic energy magic, and it was beginning to burn her out. She needed to find a way to let the powers flow together. She needed to think fast.

Fortunately, Ami was very good at thinking fast.

She remembered power flowing from her hands to heal one program, bringing him back form oblivion. She drew on her experience drawing magic to form attack spells. She pushed beyond what she knew and forged into what she hoped.

“Mercury Digital Fusion…MAKE UP!”

Above the water the procession took note of the sudden increase in activity from the water. At first it was a blue glow that illuminated the area, followed by lightning spitting out and scorching walls and ground where it struck. Then the water began to churn and swirl as a form began to rise up.

A geyser burst up and the shockwave of its eruption shook the guards. Only Mercury and Sark remained unmoved.

Mercury felt hope swell in her heart.

Sark could only snarl.

The Geyser settled, and on the surface of the water stood a shapely female form. It strode slowly towards the shore, her footsteps sending light ripples along the suddenly calm surface of the digital bay.

Her boots came up to her knees and glowed white with blue trim. Her gloves matched and held a heart symbol with a cross at its bottom on the back of her hands. Her body was covered by a translucent blue short skirt attached to a white body suit. Her chest was encased by blue crystalline armor etched with the same heart like symbol surrounded by a digital circle of pulsing circuitry. On her brow was an oval of blue that glowed with the same light that filled her eyes.

Eyes that now locked onto Sark.

“The digital realm is a place of knowledge that must be used with wisdom. Those that use it as a tool of corruption and conquest will be punished. I am Super User Sailor Mercury, and this is your end.”

///END OF SEGMENT///