Vendetta

FALSE PROFITS

I crashed at the Hacker-space last night after working late—and by working I mean transforming a smart car with the rest of the DedSec crew, only to have it be chased by cops in the city before crashing and burning, ending in an explosion: all for followers.

It's 9:00am when Sitara walks over to Marcus who is staring at the Follower Wall beside Horatio's desk.

"It started out as just a trickle. Then boom. The numbers haven't stopped climbing. This was a good target." Sitara nods as she folds her arms.

"Yeah but. Was it?"

Sitara turns to Marcus as I sit up from the couch, looking straight over to them. "You don't think?" She raises an eyebrow.

"No. I mean of course, look at the numbers. But... I dunno there's... What are we going to do? You know, for real?" Marcus asks, turning to her.

"Aim bigger," she states matter-of-factly.

Marcus nods approvingly. "Hell yeah, that's what I'm thinking."

The two then fist-bump before Sitara walks away, heading over to me.

"Rise and shine, El. Get prepped. You're on the field next."

I stretch before pulling myself to stand up. "Only if you give me some cash to stock the DedSec closet today."

"Yeah, sure thing," she says just as her phone pings. She takes it out and a frown immediately hardens her features. "Is this a joke?" Sitara scoffs, moving past the main desk where Josh and Wrench are seated, scrolling on her phone. Then, she turns back around, her shoulders tense. "New Dawn wants to step into the ring with us. They got our recruitment video killed on all the big social media sites AND threatened to sue anyone who hosts it. This is gonna cost us a lot of followers."

"DMCA takedown. Annoying," Josh says, monotone, as Wrench takes out a chip from the hardware the two are surveying.

"This is worse than annoying. This, is a declaration of war. I will not be censored!" Sitara exclaims.

"Hey, New Dawn is a fucking scam." Marcus comes over, holding his hands up to Sitara in attempt to calm her. "Rich people throwing away their money for some elitist, circle-jerk shit. This could be big for us—I mean, nobody's gonna take the side of those assholes unless they're already members."

Sitara turns her head away, fuming. "We are so gonna cornhole this fake-ass church."

"What's cornhole?" Josh asks.

"Where the corn goes after you eat the corn, Josh," Sitara states.

"Oh."

Wrench then leans back, annoyed at the hardware, and I try to hide my amusement at it.

"They don't like us using footage of their celebrity whore, Jimmy Siska, so... Let's start with him," Sitara says, a smile coming back. "He's their highest-profile spokesperson."

"But it's, it's Jimmy Siska!" Marcus retaliates. "I mean, when I was a kid, I had the Siska glasses, the popped collar... I even knew every line to Open Wounds."

Suddenly, Wrench hurries over to pitch in. "Dude, me too! I even have the lunchbox."

"Nice," Marcus says as they fist-bump.

"In mint condition," Wrench continues. "Just not, not Siska ok? Just anyone but him, please."

"There's there's gotta be another way, alright," Marcus calmly argues his point. "I don't..."