As I raced across the rooftops, I couldn’t help but stop just above the town square. There, I had the perfect view of Traitor Tower, a massive electric bulletin board where the government plastered the faces of the “criminals”. I smiled as I saw Cracker Jack flash across the screen. Wanted for crimes against The True Republic. Crimes include thieving, hacking, and overall treason. He is considered incredibly dangerous, do not approach. Report any information to the Guardians. They didn’t have a picture of me, which made me chuckle. There were very few of us “faceless” criminals left.
I heard a soft thud beside me as Selene landed beside me.
“What’s up Jack?” Selene asked.
“Admiring the commemoration of our achievements”, I replied as I cracked a wry smile.
“I swear your ego is just as big as Traitor Tower”, she added. “And hey”, she paused to look around for emphasis. “Am I on that thing?”
“Nope”, I replied.
“And why the hell not?” She seemed rather disappointed that she didn’t make the Guardian’s most wanted list. It was a sort of honor, to us at least, to be included on it. When your picture was up there, for a few brief moments you meant something, you weren’t just another face in the sea of anonymity that most were drowned in these days. I can see why she would be upset.
“Because we don’t need you on the Guardian’s radar just yet, we can’t reveal one of our aces before we’re ready to take them on”, I responded.
“Yeah, I hear ya Jack. As long as I get on there eventually, after all, I am the best thief and fighter in the True Republic, it would be such a waste of my talents for me not to make my grand appearance”, she boasted.
“You will”, I assured her with a smile. “Because you’re the best”, I continued as sarcastically as I could manage with a straight face. She pounded my shoulder for the sly remark. The faceless image on Traitor Tower faded away as a clock slid into its place. “Time to go to work”, I smiled.
“Yup, our first meeting with the various resistance groups”, she replied.

We got ready for the big meeting, and then fired up the supercomputer. I folded my lucky bandana, a red and white striped design that took up most of the faded cloth with a blue rectangle and many white stars, into a headband and tied it to my forehead. After I fired up the supercomputer that I’d made from various stolen computer parts. I opened the chat channel, secured the network and positioned the web cam.
As I stood with Selene in front of the camera, I couldn’t help but think that tonight we would put a chain of events into motion that would define our future. For six months now I’d been spying on the True Republic and sending everything to the resistance groups under my handle Cracker Jack, the best and most respected hacker in the republic, since I could crack any computer. I’d also taken the liberty of hacking into their networks to find out more about them, basically they were a bunch of rag tag vigilantes that focused on terrorism to try and get to the True Republic. One could easily see that they were going nowhere, which made my job that much harder. A notification on my computer interrupted my thoughts, all the groups were online.
“You ready?” I asked Selene.
“Yup”, she responded. With that, I switched the web cam to ‘live mode’ and prepared myself for our little meet and greet.
“Hello everyone, glad you could make it. I am Cracker Jack, the hacker that’s been sending you information for these past six months”, I began. The other leaders stared at me blankly.
“I am Rorik”, a buff leader in his late twenties spoke up. “Glad to have you on board Cracker Jack”.
“Alice”, a younger woman replied. “Nice meeting ya’ ”.
“Now that the introductions are out of the way, why did you call this meeting Cracker Jack?” Rorik asked.
“Do you want to join us?” Alice asked.
“No, to lead you”, I said flatly. I heard protests rise from every channel.
“Up until now, resistance to the True Republic has been a divided front, which is why you keep losing”, I continued above the noise. “If we can unite, I’m confident that we can win this”.
“But you’re a hacker, what do you know about combat and leading others?” Alice asked.
“I would think that you guys would be willing to try anything. Without my tactics and skills, you’ll continue to fight a meaningless war. You, and the rest of the city that you all claim to want to save, will continue to live as proletariats” I finished. Well that got their attention. After ten more minutes of discussing, all the leaders agreed to let me take command.
“First things first”, I said. “We need as much tech and weapons that we can get our hands on. So I need you all to designate which warehouses you’re gonna hit, try to hit different parts of the city to make it seem somewhat random. I’ll get a base ready for all of us, we’ll speak next week”. We finished our business and I signed off.


After a week of raiding and pillaging, Selene and I picked a spot central to all of the resistance groups, that way there would be one less thing for them to argue about. It was a mansion originally, although it was hard to tell due to all the vines and battle wounds that covered it. We spruced the inside up, which consisted of filling the holes, cleaning up the inside, and moving furniture.
The days preceding the meeting flashed by as I racked my brain for strategies to propose to the rest of the group, we still needed a plan for taking the True Republic down. I sat at one of the couches, eating my favorite snack, which just so happened to be Cracker Jacks, and considered all our options. Although I was the leader, I believed that everyone should get a say in the way we went about this operation. After all, they were in this too, risking their lives for this cause just like Selene and I were; they should be able to voice their opinions. As I was eating, Selene walked in, took one look at me, and just about died of laughter.
“What?” I demanded after she was through with laughing.
“I swear that’s cannibalism or something”, she cried as she pointed to my Cracker Jacks, obviously referring to my handle. I couldn’t help but laugh at her pun as well, before returning to my strategizing.
The next couple of hours were a blur as Selene and I moved everyone into the base. When they were all settled, we moved to the largest room we had and discussed possible strategies. Many of them wanted to just run in with their guns blazing like idiots. I couldn’t help but think that that was why they hadn’t been successful.
“We could blow up Traitor Tower”, Rorik suggested. “That’ll send them a message”.
"We don’t have the explosives”, I replied. I watched a bunch of explosive enthusiasts’, which was everyone, faces fall with that comment. “Besides, I have use for that tower. I want to end this in a single, swift operation”, I orated. “And I have just the plan to do so. We want to take all of the Leaders of the True Republic at once, but they generally aren’t together. In a few days’ time, however, they will all gather at Truth Hall for the republic hundredth year anniversary. They’ll appear on the television, which is broadcasted live on Traitor Tower, where the Leaders basically brag about all that the republic has done for its people. When that happens, we’ll sneak into the Hall and eliminate them. How’s that sound?”
“I’m up for it”, Selene said happily.
“I like it, count me in Cracker Jack”, Alice agreed.
“Sounds better than the others, I’m in”, Rorik replied.
“Great, now let’s focus on all the details”.

The awaited day had finally come. We filed out of the base in five squads, each taking a different route, hoping to draw less attention that way. Selene and I made our way through the city’s winding streets, blending in with the early risers. We set up shop in an abandoned house near Truth Hall, and I immediately went to work on the hall’s network while Selene stood watch. I hacked my way into the system and shut off all surveillance and detection equipment.
“You’re all good to go”, I said into my headset. “You’ve got ten minutes, if that, to get in. Once you’re in, meet at the rendezvous point. Understood?” A chorus of agreements followed.


“Let’s go”, I said to Selene. We fast walked to Truth Hall, attempting to not draw attention to ourselves. Once we were in the back of the building, Selene and I scaled the wall until we reached a second story window. Selene unlocked it, and we slipped inside. We walked softly through the building, every sense on high alert, ready for Guardians to swarm us at any time. On the way to the rendezvous point, we took out several Guardians that discovered us.


We met up with everyone and raced to the archive room, eliminating any Guardian that we came across. With all that shooting, of course, they had found and swarmed us, but we prevailed in the end. We had finally reached the archive room, after numerous battles to get there.
“Ready?” I whispered, hand on the doorknob. They all nodded and I pushed the door open to our final battle, hearing many gasps as we stormed in. I did a quick head count; they were all there, all seven of them. I let of a sigh of relief. “Hands up”, I ordered the Leaders, and more Guardians that were present.
“What is the meaning of this?” one Leader asked frantically.
“What do you think it is”, Selene replied icily. “Cuz it ain't a tea party”.
“We’re through with you controlling all aspects of our life. We want to be the masters of our own fate, we want a say in how a government rules its people. You damn bureaucrats are livin’ it up in your fancy houses with everything you could ever need while everybody is struggling survive.” I continued, facing the camera. If I played this right, everybody should be seeing this. I guess Selene’s partly right; I do have a huge ego.
After more of our outburst, I saw a Leader give a Guardian an unmistakable sign, the sign to kill. I had planned on this, of course I had never told anyone about it, not even Selene. The leaders of these kinds of things generally died martyrs for their cause. The one part of my plan that everyone was hung up on, was the fact that I wanted the Leaders to shoot first, that way we would look less like power-hungry usurpers. I was their most likely target, and prepared myself.
But, I figured martyrdom was overrated. Why go through all the trouble to make a change if you were going to die in the end? No, I wanted to be around to enjoy this rebellion. I dropped to the floor before the Guardian pulled the trigger, with the one Guardian’s single shot, a cacophony of gunfire erupted; leaving us the victors.
Luckily, all of this was caught on camera, with the entire city watching. After our coup d’état, I took a picture of our entire group and posted it to Traitor Tower’s screens, now called Freedom Tower, as a reminder of how the United Democratic Nations came to be and a tribute to those who put their lives into making it possible. Everyone up there was finally someone.