The Insurrection

Chapter Nine

"The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better." ~ Gloria Arroyo

Hours turn into days and days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months as we prepare for this movement. Everyone is doing their part in terms of preparation.

Mila is making sure we have all the nutritious foods and suitable clothing. Everyone has been getting the right foods to make sure our body reaches its optimal performance. Mila, with the help of the rest of the supplies team, has also designed a special suit for all of us for combat to wear on Day Zero. The suit is all black and provides maximum movement as well as secret pockets to hide weapons.

Leon and his tech team are working on a way to make the suit invisible and syncing all our Chips to one communication circuit so that we can all hear each other without having to be in the same room.

Leon is also working on a way to have a separate communication circuit with the People of the World with the Chip. If he manages to do that, then that will be how I communicate to the people about our movement.

Taika and her medical team are constantly testing us to make sure that we are healthy and are working on making ointments that allow fast healing as well as supplements that give extra strength and endurance.

Nicodemo and his weaponry team are making sure we have all the needed weapons for combat including guns and knives. He is also working on making the star advantage of Day Zero.

Tau and Zahra are both teaching self-defense classes and are training all of us for the inevitable combat that we will face when the time comes.

We continue to hold our sessions and have finalized our planning, but nobody can hide all the tension and it only gets worse as the number of days until Day Zero gets smaller.

The only ones not feeling the tension are the kids, which I am sure we are all glad for. Alex continues to go to school and hangs out with Dani and the rest of his friends more than he hangs out with us.

Taika and I were having a self-defense class with Tau and Zahra when Leon burst in.

"Ow!" I rub my chest and glare at Taika who took my distraction to her advantage and got a good roundhouse kick in.

Taika only laughs gleefully and Zahra beams at her. I look at Tau for some backup, but he only shakes his head with a small smile on his face.

"Even the princess got you, Alan," he says in a deep voice.

Taika narrows her eyes on Tau, but before she can say anything Leon interrupts, "I got it! I found a way to get a communication line with every Citizen of the World through the Chip," he says breathlessly as if he ran here, which he probably did.

Zahra turns to him, "You really managed to open communication with them?"

"Kind of, we can only speak to them and they will be able to hear us clearly, but they cannot do the same," he explains.

"So, we will never know whether they like what we are saying or not?" Tau clarifies.

Leon nods, "But the tech team and I made a private chat forum that they can get on to communicate with us. We figured it will be safer anyway just in case UniFed is listening in to the Identified Citizens' Chips."

Zahra nods approvingly and Taika runs up to Leon and hugs him, "You really made it!"

Leon hugs her back awkwardly before stepping back with a slight blush covering his pale cheeks. He looks at me and says, "If you are ready to talk to the people you can do it right now."