(no subject)
“Alan.” Sam smiled, just a little, as Alan turned to face him, pager in hand like it was still 1985. This was all as he’d planned it, of course, but there was an unexpected thrill in it all the same, both what he knew he was going to say and the look of surprise on Alan’s face. It all made sense now, everything he’d put off for so long. While the way it had ended back at the portal, what felt like a lifetime ago when it was only a few minutes, left him - well, he didn’t know what it left him, but it left him something - there was a certain kind of clarity that came with it, too. Like figuring out the bigger picture, or something equally as cliché. He should probably have minded that, but he didn’t. Something like this, he was pretty sure, called for it.
“You paged me?”
This, too, he’d planned for. The slight grin he wore widened as he stepped forward, a look of being clearly pleased with himself, though this time, it wasn’t for the usual reasons. Alan Bradley was not his father - wasn’t even close to it, something Sam had made clear many, many times since he was a twelve year old - but he had done his best. Sam had always known that, but what he could see now, what he’d learned, was that Alan really was the closest thing to Kevin Flynn, not in terms of the position he’d held in Sam’s life, but in terms of what he wanted. For Sam, for the company. There was no more pretending it wasn’t his. This was what he was supposed to do. “Yeah. I need you at ENCOM at eight AM.”
Alan shifted, like he hadn’t quite figured out what this meant yet. “What about the board?”
“You’re chairman now.” That much was easy, easier than saying what came next, though even that felt surprisingly natural now, Sam’s gaze lifting to the ceiling before it settled on Alan again. “I’m taking the company back, Alan,” he said, not waiting for a response before he walked past, a hand resting briefly on Alan’s shoulder as Alan stared at him, incredulous. Mere hours ago - God, it felt like so much longer - he’d been saying how he didn’t want this very thing, but everything had changed since then, even if no one would ever know quite what but him. How the hell was he supposed to explain the Grid to anyone? His father’s stories, the ones he’d grown up listening to, they really hadn’t done it justice, and that was what he kept coming back to. Everything he’d been told, it was all true, right down to the promise to take him there, and the last words his father ever spoke to him all those years ago. We’re always on the same team, something he’d never forgotten, something he’d had proven to him, right there at the end. And that was the thing, it had been the end, but it was different this time. No disappearing without a trace, no years of not knowing. His father was still gone, in that respect, his life hadn’t changed at all, but everything had changed, too.
He couldn’t say as much, but he could at least try.
A few feet from the door, he paused and turned. “Oh, and - you were right.”
“About what?” Alan asked, all too clearly unable to make sense of this sudden turn of events. Sam didn’t mind. It wasn’t the logic that mattered; it was the fact that he was doing it at all.
Again, he smiled, more thoughtful than anything else. “About everything.”
There was no other way to put it. With a slight nod, he turned again, and pausing by the doorway, thumbed the switch for the arcade sign, the one that would illuminate FLYNN’S in bright orange letters above the door. Maybe no one would ever use the place again, but it felt right, like a tribute of sorts, something that he could do now that he knew the truth of it all. With that, he stepped through the door, into the first rays of early morning sunlight -
But he wasn’t outside the arcade at all, or anything resembling it. Sam blinked a few times, a hand coming up to shield his eyes, but it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds for him to figure out that this was not where he had been just before. There were no trees in front of Flynn’s, for one, and it hadn’t been nearly this warm, the heat something he could already feel far too heavily through the layers he was wearing. This, this wasn’t fair, not in the slightest, and maybe it was petulant to think so when he didn’t even have the first idea of what had happened, but he’d had enough of the whole being suddenly transported thing to last a lifetime, still reeling from his trip through the portal, mind just barely having processed everything that had happened. He didn’t need this, too. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he let out a faint groan, and turned to look behind him - sure enough, an unfamiliar concrete building, certainly not the one he’d just left. “This isn't happening.”
“You paged me?”
This, too, he’d planned for. The slight grin he wore widened as he stepped forward, a look of being clearly pleased with himself, though this time, it wasn’t for the usual reasons. Alan Bradley was not his father - wasn’t even close to it, something Sam had made clear many, many times since he was a twelve year old - but he had done his best. Sam had always known that, but what he could see now, what he’d learned, was that Alan really was the closest thing to Kevin Flynn, not in terms of the position he’d held in Sam’s life, but in terms of what he wanted. For Sam, for the company. There was no more pretending it wasn’t his. This was what he was supposed to do. “Yeah. I need you at ENCOM at eight AM.”
Alan shifted, like he hadn’t quite figured out what this meant yet. “What about the board?”
“You’re chairman now.” That much was easy, easier than saying what came next, though even that felt surprisingly natural now, Sam’s gaze lifting to the ceiling before it settled on Alan again. “I’m taking the company back, Alan,” he said, not waiting for a response before he walked past, a hand resting briefly on Alan’s shoulder as Alan stared at him, incredulous. Mere hours ago - God, it felt like so much longer - he’d been saying how he didn’t want this very thing, but everything had changed since then, even if no one would ever know quite what but him. How the hell was he supposed to explain the Grid to anyone? His father’s stories, the ones he’d grown up listening to, they really hadn’t done it justice, and that was what he kept coming back to. Everything he’d been told, it was all true, right down to the promise to take him there, and the last words his father ever spoke to him all those years ago. We’re always on the same team, something he’d never forgotten, something he’d had proven to him, right there at the end. And that was the thing, it had been the end, but it was different this time. No disappearing without a trace, no years of not knowing. His father was still gone, in that respect, his life hadn’t changed at all, but everything had changed, too.
He couldn’t say as much, but he could at least try.
A few feet from the door, he paused and turned. “Oh, and - you were right.”
“About what?” Alan asked, all too clearly unable to make sense of this sudden turn of events. Sam didn’t mind. It wasn’t the logic that mattered; it was the fact that he was doing it at all.
Again, he smiled, more thoughtful than anything else. “About everything.”
There was no other way to put it. With a slight nod, he turned again, and pausing by the doorway, thumbed the switch for the arcade sign, the one that would illuminate FLYNN’S in bright orange letters above the door. Maybe no one would ever use the place again, but it felt right, like a tribute of sorts, something that he could do now that he knew the truth of it all. With that, he stepped through the door, into the first rays of early morning sunlight -
But he wasn’t outside the arcade at all, or anything resembling it. Sam blinked a few times, a hand coming up to shield his eyes, but it didn’t take more than a couple of seconds for him to figure out that this was not where he had been just before. There were no trees in front of Flynn’s, for one, and it hadn’t been nearly this warm, the heat something he could already feel far too heavily through the layers he was wearing. This, this wasn’t fair, not in the slightest, and maybe it was petulant to think so when he didn’t even have the first idea of what had happened, but he’d had enough of the whole being suddenly transported thing to last a lifetime, still reeling from his trip through the portal, mind just barely having processed everything that had happened. He didn’t need this, too. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he let out a faint groan, and turned to look behind him - sure enough, an unfamiliar concrete building, certainly not the one he’d just left. “This isn't happening.”