This story is about a boy seeking his father.

I do not own Tron : Legacy. I am using some dialogue direct from the film, but acknowledging the real writers.

This is to set up the story but further chapters will have my own words.

My Father, My Program

Chapter 1 : Prologue

Sam Flynn sat in his converted flat, looking out at the tall tower in the distance. ENCOM. The once mighty technology empire run by his father. Now it was being run without him. Kevin Flynn had vanished without a word when Sam was just a boy. His grandparents had raised him, with help from his godparents, Alan and Lora Bradley. Still, he had wanted his dad with him. He would lie in bed at night, praying, wishing, and each new day brought nothing. Kevin Flynn never returned.

As he got older, Sam realized that his father was never coming back. As a child he wondered what he had done to keep him away. As an adult, he didn't care if his dad hated him or not, for it was now Sam Flynn who hated his father.

"You know, you've got a pretty nice view here," Bradley said, interrupting Sam's thoughts. "I heard you did a triple axel off of her a few hours ago. Rough landing, huh."

Sam pulled his t-shirt over the bruises that were evidence of his latest act of defiance to the Board. "Alan, are we really going to do this again? Do I really look like I'm ready to run a Fortune 500 company?"

"No," Alan replied, feeling at this point, he had nothing left but to tell Sam the truth. "And truthfully, the company's pretty happy with where you are, kid. See, that way, they can just keep doing whatever they want."

Sam picked up a magazine, pretending not to listen to Alan prattling on, pushing, needling him. "Why are you here, Alan?"

"I was paged last night." The fact that the page came from someone Alan hadn't seen or heard from in years didn't bother him. "The page came from your Dad's office at the Arcade."

The news bothered Sam however. No one had heard from Kevin Flynn in two decades, yet Alan gets a page from his office. It wasn't Sam that was contacted, it was Alan. To hide his pain, Sam merely said, "So?"

"So? That number's been disconnected for 20 years." Alan went on about the last time he had spoken with Flynn.

While Alan talked, Sam remembered the last time he had spoken with his dad. Flynn had promised to take him to the Arcade the next day after he returned from his usual late night at ENCOM. He never showed up, and Sam cried for days. Once the crying had stopped, he decided that he would trust no one, ever again. He was on his own. And as he grew up, he realized being alone was not as bad as he had feared. He had his home, copious amounts of money from the trust fund his father had set up for him when he was born, and his loyal rescue, Marvin.

"He wouldn't have left that, Sam." Sitting next to his godson, Alan lightly punched his arm, saying, "He wouldn't have left you."

"Alan, you're the only one who still believes that. He's either dead, or chillin' in Costa Rica. Probably both. I'm sorry. I'm tired, I smell like jail. Let's just reconvene in another couple of years, whadya say?" Alan tossed him the keys to the Arcade. Why don't you just go check it out yourself, Alan, Sam thought. But he grabbed the keys anyway. There could only be two results. One, he would find his father working in the office, having lost track of time. Or two, he wouldn't find any trace of him at all. Still, curiosity compelled him to see what was up.

Little did he know that the old saying curiosity nearly killed the cat would apply to him. That is, until he found his father.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

One trip was all it took. Sam had discovered the room beneath the Arcade, accidently activated the Shiva laser, which sent him to the land of Oz, Wonderland, or one of any of the imaginary places Sam had been told about when he was a child. In this case, it was the place his father had spoken off often, the Grid. But instead of finding invisible cats, Munchkins, or witches on broomsticks, Sam found a dark world of programs and Grid warriors who fought to the death using identity disks. Sam was only able to survive because of his youth, fitness, and the ability to adapt quickly.

But he still could have been killed, if not for his admission to being human and not a program. He was unceremoniously dragged into a vessel hovering over the Games area. As he was brought into a large room, fighting all the way, he found himself standing before a man in glowing robes and a weird helmet that obscured his face. 'Freaks' Sam had said. And he meant it. If this was the Grid, his father had not described it well at all. This place was a nightmare.

Looking at the back of the man near the window, Sam asked, "Where am I?" The man turned to face Sam. "Am I on the Grid? Who are you?" The helmet, as if by magic, peeled away, revealing..."Dad."

"Sam. Look at you, man. Look at the size of you." Flynn clapped his hands on Sam's shoulders. "How did you get in here?" he asked.

"We got the message." Sam simply could not believe he was seeing his father for the first time in years.

"Ohh. So it's just you?" Flynn began to circle Sam.

Sam nodded. "Yeah." His eyes followed his dad as he came back around Sam's other side.

"Isn't this something?" Flynn said proudly.

"You look the same," Sam said, stating the obvious. He was just as Sam last remembered him. The years had not aged him at all.

"Oh, a lot's happened, Sam. More than you can imagine." For whatever reason, Flynn asked one of the programs to give him the disk that sat on Sam's back. While Sam watched, he read the boy's recent history, finding very little of interest there. So the person the message was intended for had received it, but then had informed Sam, explaining the boy's presence.

"So you were trapped in here," Sam theorized.

"That's right."

"And you're in charge," he said, again following as his dad now circled the other way.

"Ah, right again. Two for two."

"So can we just go home now?" Sam had his dad back, so his first thought was to scram from this crazy hell hole. He would let him know how angry he was...later.

"Not just yet, Sam. It's been a long time since we've been together, son, and there's so much I want to show you." Flynn turned to face Sam, a smile lighting up his visage. "Would you be willing to stay awhile? We can leave later. We have the time." Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, he said, "I'm very, very happy to see you, Sam."

Sam thought about it a moment, before nodding. "Sure, Dad. We can stay awhile." Maybe his first impressions of the Grid were wrong, and it wouldn't be so bad after all. He was unsure of his feelings anyway. His anger at being abandoned warred with his desire to be with his father again. Even if they had lost 20 years, the future still beckoned. He would give him nothing right now, but wait to see what his dad had to offer him.

A/N: Just to clarify, this fiction has to do with Sam meeting Clu, while not realizing he is not his father. Clu pretends to be Flynn, taking Sam under his wing so to speak. I wanted to imagine what might have happened if Clu had not revealed his true identity so soon in the film.