Hi everyone. So this is the first story adoption I've ever done. I own absolutely nothing in this story. It belongs solely to the wonderful Cyberbutterfly and not to this Prime. Cyberbutterfly didn't have time to write any more of this story, and I had found it and fell in love with it. I asked if I could adopt it (with the help of some of my friends *possibly a few of the old readers from the original story?*) and she said yes! I was so excited! Now, just to let you know, it won't be just me writing this, I'll be having help from the original author, Cyberbutterfly, as well as various other authors on this site (maybe one of you?) Anyway, I present (with all the original author's notes and with some grammatical editing but no more than that!) the adopted Grid Lock Tango.

Chapter 1

Bad Kitty

Don't know where this came from, but it just popped into my mind and wouldn't leave.

But I've had a few of these ideas, and they're fast to write, so I just created this place as a 'dumping ground' for them…Will be my zany ideas-along with any prompts people want to throw out there.

PURE CRACK... These are for fun, so don't go into them expecting anything deep and meaningful.

Warnings will be noted for each chapter...But overall don't expect anything severe.

Summary: Alan doesn't care what Sam does with his spare time…He just wants to know what that thing in the box in the middle of his office is.

Warnings: Very mild language…Shameless manipulation of the Tron universe and characters.

"Does someone want to explain why there's a plastic box; in my office; with something resembling a deranged cat in it?"

Alan Bradley closed the door then walked over until he stood in the middle of said office, pointing a finger at said plastic box that was currently hurling itself around the room and making noises no plastic container ever should.

"More over…Why does the not-quite-a-cat in the box have red eyes and what looks like racing stripes down its side?"

He continued to stare as Sam-who people might notice if he killed-Jr.-who he probably could get away with killing-and Roy Kleinburg did nothing but continue to shuffle their feet and avoid his eyes.

He spread his arms wide, waving at them, and then put them on his hips.

"I'm waiting…"

More shuffling oh feet until Sam cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head; he gave Alan an apologetic grin.

"On the plus side-your de-coding sequence worked…We managed to separate Rinzler's code from Tron's,"

Alan took a quick look at the box, which thumped menacingly in the corner, and then turned back to Sam; he folded his arms across his chest.

"Good…I'm very happy for Tron…Still not seeing what the correlation between that and the 'cat' is, Sam."

Apparently the three of them were turning feet shuffling to an art form-because they all went back to doing exactly that. Finally Alan sighed and pushed his glasses up to rub the bridge of his nose as he took the initiative.

"Why don't you just tell me why Rinzler's base code and the cat have some magic connection?"

Edward Dillinger walked over to the mini fridge Alan kept in his office and pulled out a Pepsi from it. He held it up to Alan.

"You mind if I-?"

Alan waved him away, recognizing a stall trick when he saw one.

"Knock yourself out."

He cracked the can open and took a drink, then pointed at the ever shifting, growling box.

"We figured we'd use the two disks to separate Tron and Rinzler's programming…Basically put Tron's code into one, and Rinzler's into the other."

Alan hummed, and raised one eyebrow.

"Sounds like a solid idea."

Suddenly Sam jumped in.

"Yeah…But when we finally got the coding organized we saw that there was no way Rinzler had enough base code to form a full program…I mean-the formatting was there for something sentient…Just not enough for anything that big."

Alan looked at all three of them; giving them the best intimidating glare he could muster…It clearly was doing its job.

"So you decided on a CAT?"

He leveled a glare at Roy, who raised his hands in surrender.

"Don't look at me…My job was to stay outside and monitor the laser…About the only part I played was getting that beast into a container before it ripped them both to shreds,"

He snapped his attention back to Sam and Jr., who were doing great impressions of being eight year olds preparing to be spanked.

"Again, why a cat?"

They both began to mumble, voice low enough not to be heard. Alan squared his shoulder and added a little more emphasis to the intimidation factor and switched to his 'drill Sergeant' voice.

"Enunciate,"

Sam replied meekly.

"Well…He already had the whole 'purring' thing going on…It just seemed like a good idea at the time."

Jr. snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah…Until we re-rezzed him with the disk…As it turns out the only things worse than Rinzler as a program-is Rinzler as a small, fast, agile, well-armed, and pissed-off mammal."

Alan looked at the box one more time, and then turned back to the kids. Sam pulled down his shirt collar to reveal several long scratches on his chest; Jr. raised his arms to show similar marks.

"So…Why bring it here?"

Sam gave Alan his best 'you've got to be joking' looks.

"On top of everything else, he lost a lot of intelligence when separated from Tron…He probably couldn't take care of himself in the grid."

Alan kept glaring, knowing that ultimately Sam would get around to answering his question…After a moment Sam raised his hands up and sighed.

"Well what else were we supposed to do? Animal Care 101 isn't exactly required learning for programs-so it's not like we could leave him with anyone…And besides-he attacked everyone he came in contact with there."

Jr. chuckled and smiled at Sam.

"Well…Except for Tron…Rinz just kinda shrunk down in a corner and mewled when he came back online."

Sam returned the chuckled and shook his head.

"Yeah…but that might have had something to do with the activated disk, and his offer to permanently 'pacify' Rinzler, more than mutual friendship."

Alan cleared his throat and the kids' laughter stopped, they stood at attention.

"Why is it in my office?"

Sam rubbed the back of his neck again and gave Alan a pleading look…It was the same one he'd been giving him since he was twelve and knew Alan wouldn't like what he was about to ask.

"Well…There's no way in hell Quorra's going to want him around-and besides I'd hate to see what he'd do to Marv."

Jr. spoke up, different expression-same plead.

"I'm allergic…Apparently even to digital versions."

"Alan looked up at Roy and raised an eyebrow. Roy just looked at him incredulously.

"Seriously? Come on, Alan…You know me…I've killed cactuses through neglect…Besides, I'd worry constantly about El' Diablo showing up knocked one night, furious because I stole his 'pet'."

Alan rolled his eyes and walked over to the container, which was growling low as he approached; he slowly pulled the lid off it.

"Oh come on, he can't be that bad."

All three shouted in unison.

"DON'T!"

Less than a second later, Alan concluded he now fully understood the expression 'bat out of hell'…Before anyone could say anything more, the cat lunged out of the box with an ungodly scream ad shot-hissing and spitting-straight for Sam and J; within the second the cat had somehow managed to pin the two grown men in the corner, as Roy tried fending it off with a chair.

Watching the two kids holler while his friend acted like a lion tamer, Alan didn't think he could be blamed for laughing. He got up and started to walk over.

"Clearly, none of you have ever owned a cat."

Before Rinzler could sense his approach, Alan crossed the distance and reached down, snagging the cat by the scruff of the neck with one hand and grabbing the back paws with the other.

Rinzler twisted and turned but couldn't free himself. Finally the animal began to still and Alan let go of the back paws as he reached up and gave the cat's nose a quick, hard flick with his finger.

The cat's eyes widened as it went completely limp in his hands…Alan smiled as a shocked Rinzler simply stared back at him.

"Bad kitty."

A growl started up low in the cat's throat.

Alan clicked his tongue as he went back to grabbing the cat's rear paws.

"Let me introduce myself…I'm Alan, otherwise known as 'Alan-1', Tron's user…And if you think what he threatened to do to you was bad, it's because you don't yet know what I'm capable of."

The growling stopped as the cat whimpered and tried to shrink into itself.

Sam, Jr., and Roy stood in place, jaws practically hitting the floor as Alan tucked the cat under one arm and went over to the fridge; he pulled out the remains of a tuna sandwich and a bottle of water out. After a few seconds of pulling the sandwich apart on a dish, he put both it and Rinzler down on his desk.

The cat sniffed the tuna and took a tentative lick before diving in to devour the meal. Locating another dish he pouted some of the water into it and set it next to the fish. Alan turned his attention back to the others.

Sam pointed to the cat, clearly baffled.

"How the HELL did you do that?"

Roy clearly just as stunned, studied Alan.

"Programmer, rebel, and cat whisperer,"

Alan rolled his eyes again, and reached down to scratch Rinzler behind the ears, who pressed into the scratch as he flexed his front paws.

"No…but I had a couple of cats as a kid, so I've learned what works and what doesn't."

Sam looked hopeful.

"So…You'll take him?"

Alan looked down at the cat as it finished and licked its lips. He turned back to Sam and pointed a finger at him.

"He stays in the office until I decide-and you're buying the supplies and food until then."

Sam practically beamed and stepped forward; Alan figured it was to hug him, but a vicious hiss and an arched back from Rinzler made Sam think twice. Alan chuckled, but gave the cat another little warning flick.

"Now…About those supplies."

He'd never seen three people more intent on leaving his office and he was soon alone with the animal. Turning back to Rinzler he watched as the cat circled his desk a few times and then curled up to sleep. He went around and sat down, absently running a hand through the cat's fur.

"Aw…You're not so bad, are you?"

Rinzler's only answer was a deep rumbling purr.

Alan never did give Sam a definite 'yes or no' answer when it came to the car. But over the course of a month Rinzler just sort of became a part of Alan's work life; greeting him when he came in, following him around as he went about his tasks, and curling up on his lap as he sat at his desk…He'd even somewhat accepted Jr. as tolerable, but Sam seemed to have earned a permanent black mark on the cat's record.

Any questions about the cat's look were explained away with the words 'Research Lab Animal'-no one had ever felt the need to question further, partially because Rinzler had also developed a notorious reputation among the Encom staff-having left his 'mark' on more than a few of them…Many who probably deserved it, if anyone had stopped to ask Alan's opinion on the matter; either way it officially earned the cat the titled of 'Encom Enforcer'.

As for hiring new employees, Alan was now in charge of that responsibility-and he made sure they took place in his office. Rumors circulated that only those the cat approved of got the positions they'd applied for; and those who Rinzler outright attacked-if they didn't just bolt in terror-found their interviews shorten significantly.

The decision to adopt the animal was finally made one evening when everyone else had gone home for the day. Alan had removed his glasses to clean and then misplaced them somewhere. After 10 minutes of searching, he still had no luck.

Course, it didn't help that he needed the glasses to see in the first place.

Looking around, Alan smiled at the blur he assumed was Rinzler and waved his arms around the room.

"Any suggestions?"

Quickly, Rinzler ran over and wiggled under his desk, only to emerge moments later with the handle of Alan's glasses in his teeth. He jumped up onto Alan's lap as he sat in the chair. Smiling at the purring animal, he scratched under his chin, which resulted in a dramatic increase in rumbling purr volume; Alan smiled.

"Good Kitty."

OKAY…so don't tell me you people didn't watch that movie and think EXACTLY the same thing as me!

LOL…Okay- so thoughts, comments, reviews, prompts, hell-flames…don't care-send them all…I love to hear back from people. (Shameless that way, really)

NOTE: Scary enough…The Rinzler-kitty is based off the cat I owned for 18 years (named Whiskers-hey! I was 7 years old when I got her-give me a break :D). Beautiful looking animal, and if she liked you she was a doll…Problem was if she didn't) that was a LOT of people)…If she didn't you ran the risk of having an arm ripped off simply for walking into our house.