Sigma/Star

Chapter 121: A Message to Deliver

Porter was in shock. Everything had happened so quickly that the time seemed to slip by without him noticing. Here he was, amidst over a hundred men and women, all of them shouting or running or scrambling with computers, and he was only just realizing the gravity of the situation.

They were finally making their mark. Chandana had returned to the Red Scarf Gang, reorganized them into a fighting force, took command and informed them of their new goals, of the new information they had acquired. For many, there was a surprise at the betrayal by their own government. For others, their hatred was already strong towards the establishment, and so they accepted the news as though it was to be expected. Ling Shi had returned to the Jade Fang to help rally them, but he said he would return to the Enian Federation as quickly as possible. Both Porter and Chandana knew exactly why he would be coming, and that it had nothing to do with an uprising.

There was a constant flurry of activity around Porter. He could barely keep up with all of the action, so used to living on the island in seclusion, and then an organized academy before that. This was chaos, though there were clear patterns in it. People seemed to know their roles, more or less, and were performing the correct actions. There was just pandemonium in how they did it.

Porter's relocation had been tough though. He hadn't lived on Earth, among people, for quite some time. It had been a life in the academy for the last few years, and an orphanage before that. It was strange to now be in a city, to be in Narrius among people. There was an energy to it he couldn't describe, and it had left him breathless, caused this lapse in his memory as time passed by. And it never stopped.

"Are you prepared?" Chandana laid a hand on Porter's shoulder, drawing him out of his haze. He nodded as an answer, his heartbeat rocketing upwards in his chest as everything became real.

The discussion had always been for the group to deliver a message, for a global call to action to be launched. Sigma's hacking could take them so far, could get them access to large public channels in the other countries, and throughout the Enian Federation. It would be empty, hollow without actions to reinforce it. But if the team of Goliaths made any moves, assaulted any government buildings, interrupted fights, fought the Bahari as rebels, it would also be meaningless without a message. They would just be random acts of terror, nothing but misguided efforts at disrupting peace. If it came with a clear method, if it was calculated and reinforcing a declaration, people would notice.

And so two weeks of planning had gone by. Chandana had bonded with Irina quite quickly, subduing the woman whilst feeding her information. It was necessary, as they all feared Irina would grow impatient, but the general seemed significantly calmer, much of her anger burned out in the tiny cell in the north. While she still held fury in her eyes, she wanted to properly direct, to make sure her revenge had some greater impact than her throwing herself against a wall in vain until she died. Ling Shi had largely been in charge of calculating the proper message, his group known more for their large-scale broadcasts and attacks, while Chandana was occupied with Irina.

The Red Scarf Gang, it turned out, was more adept at subterfuge, at disruption of processes and at production of misinformation. They were the perfect pairing with the Jade Fang, and Porter was surprised each group had specialized in such complementary ways, yet never engaged with the others. But putting the two together had been quite helpful; the Jade Fang could compose a message, and the Red Scarf Gang could manufacture a means of delivering it. They were quite certain they could personally hijack the airwaves of the Enian Federation, but had to bow to Sigma's incredible mind when it came to more global operations.

Porter suspected even Sigma had limitations though, and this was approaching them. He had watched his brother pull Allyson aside, discussing things with her and giving her instructions. It seemed quite likely that it would take both the cyborgs to hack all networks around the world at once. Whatever it took then, it would be worth it.