Vendetta

HACKER WAR

Missions are quieter for the next couple of weeks. I start to join Marcus on more field missions—once I'm officially cleared by the doctor after being told to keep off my feet as much as possible for an entire week after the festival. Sitara even takes me out to graffiti a couple of Government Campaigns billboards.

I quickly catch up on a few more basic hacking techniques that I can access from my smartphone, thanks to Josh for programming it accordingly. It's just over a month since Marcus and I first stepped foot in the Hacker-space when I catch myself on the lounge playing COD with Wrench. I keep nudging him hard on purpose to throw him off track, to which he keeps shouting at me for.

But we're interrupted mid-game by our screens fizzing out. Wrench leans back, cursing at the TVs. It catches Marcus' attention and he comes over. I can feel the anger emanating from him even at a distance away.

"Of course. Fucking, Lenni."

I look up at him. "Who's Lenni?" But my question is answered through the video that is sent through to our system. Marcus sits down beside Wrench as a woman appears on the screen, accompanied by some similar video editing to DedSec's, but featuring a whole lot more cats.

"Citizens of the world, may I have your fucking pathetic attention. DedSec is a bunch of losers spamming your newsfeed. They pretend to be the saviors of your free will. When really they are just some script kiddies who want desperately to be popular. It all stops now. I, am going to teach DedSec a lesson. And DedSec... If you think I won't, can't destroy your system. Well. Then. Please allow me to introduce myself." And then the video loops with an irritable clip of her laughing.

By this time, Marcus has stood up and moved to the screens on the Follower Wall to try and cut the video. "Tell me it's just Kiki."

"It's just Kiki," Sitara responds as I stand up and move over to them. "We're housecleaning the felines. Josh is brute forcing the crypto key."

"Argh, shut the fuck up!..." is all I hear from Wrench before a smash. Sitara sighs heavily and Wrench comes over to us. "Alright, so, are we going to war for this?"

"Absolutely! We're not letting these trolls drag us into their sewer. DedSec doesn't back down," Marcus says, tenacity in his voice.

"So what?" Josh exclaims, sitting upright. All eyes turn to him. "What good is going to war with them? It won't break their lock on us. It doesn't change anything. They got in!"

Wrench just stares at Josh and I place a hand on Wrench's arm before he moves to sit down at Josh's desk.

"Oh, fuck that!" Marcus exclaims. "Hey, listen up. We're not gonna let Prime_Eight derail us. Let's be smart about this."

"Alright," Sitara agrees. "Prime_Eight sells Zero Day exploits to anyone with money."

"Yeah, fucking governments, Blume, Nudle, even damned terrorists..." Wrench adds.

Marcus crouches down, his arms resting on the desk. My arms are folded as my brain digs through what I know of the city so far, what I know of Prime_Eight...

"Sons of Ragnarok," is what comes out of my mouth. Marcus slowly looks up at me.

"What?" Wrench questions.

"Hell yeah. Sons of Ragnarok," Marcus says, standing up. "They hire themselves out to Sons of Ragnarok, right? So we find out as much as we can about their people and their operations." Wrench points at Marcus, understanding what he's getting at, before Marcus continues, "We're not going to roll over. Not for anybody. Yo, Josh man, where are you at?"