"Sigma, what's the status on Jahari attacks?" Porter stood next to his brother on the beach, the two of them preparing for the upcoming departure. Sigma had been scanning the ocean and sky nearby, waiting for a large enough ship to pass by. He would then hack into its systems and create the illusion of a malfunction that would crash the ship, forcing the crew off of it. They would need a vessel of some sorts if they were going to carry the Goliaths back to the shore.

The android did not respond for a minute, gathering all of the data requested. There was a barrier put up around the island, generated by Sigma, that prevented any signals from leaving or entering the island. He had to create temporary holes in it whenever he was trying to download new information, and it slowed down his process slightly in order to maintain their safety. "There have been three major attacks on cities over the past month. One in Narrius, one in Verdad, and another in the northern mountains of the Enian Federation."

"That's less than I expected." Porter inspected the rest of the group as they got ready. They had been training for the entire month, doing their best to improve, and while they had let their bond deteriorate over that time, he was confident they were getting back on track and were ready to begin their rebellion.

"All of those areas are now under Jahari control." Sigma hid his emotions entirely as he gave the reports, leaving Porter to wonder if his brother was phased by the news at all. "Narrius as a city is lost, currently occupied by Jahari forces and being torn down, and Verdad quickly sunk into the ground after the fight. The stretch of Jahari control in the north is unknown."

"What about Syn?"

Sigma had been gazing into the sky, as if he could see into the invisible data that was always flowing around them, but he stopped as soon as Porter asked the question, his head swivelling to stare at the teen. "Syn's been seen here and there, but he's not doing much. He only appears when the Jahari do, and he usually ends the conflict."

"You didn't need to look that one up?" Porter held confidence in his question, commanding the words rather than feeling nervous about asking the robot. He had been so non-confrontational before, but there was something different now. Had it been Riya's scolding, Shotuku's apology, or perhaps just a connection with a brother he never had, someone else he could relate to and feel accepted by, even if Sigma was still largely a mystery.

"I'm always watching Syn. You never need to worry about him."

"I'll keep that in mind." Porter walked away from the cyborg to rejoin the rest of the group, interrupting their conversation with his presence alone. All of them were wearing their jumpsuits for piloting, their additional clothes that Shotuku had brought from the academy to be left behind on the island. Gretta, Shotuku, Alpha, Sigma, and Roth were all to stay there in the protection of Sigma's haven, while the rest were being shuttled to the Artisan Confederate as soon as a ship could be hijacked.

"Don't mind me," Porter said, raising his hands in defense to try and separate himself from being the reason any discussion had died. "Just here with the rest of you."

"We just want to know the plan, Porter." Ardwen smiled, revealing the innocence in his words. There was no more malice between any of them, no hostilities over secrets and guilt. They were prepared to move as one.

"Ah, the plan..." Porter glanced around a bit, as if searching out a distraction to buy himself time to think.

"You have no idea do you," Nami asked, whacking Porter across the back of the head.

"Hey, I've thought about it, I'm just putting some pieces together. There's only five of us after all. It's not like five people can fight an army."

"Not without an army of our own," Raul muttered, half-interested in the conversation, half-interested in his fingernails.

"An army of our own..." Porter stared up at the sky, suddenly struck by a new idea. In his mind, all of the fragmented plans he had been gathering became cohesive, glued together by a single, massive fact. "There is an army of our own out there."

"What are you talking about?"

"Change of plans," Porter continued, ignoring Raul's question, "we're not going to the Artisan Confederate. We're going to the Eastern United States. However..." Porter trailed off, spinning in circles until he found Rick, and he pointed at him with a wicked grin on his face. "You get to go somewhere special Rick."

"You are sending me somewhere alone?" The Circuit Breaker calmly set down his cup of tea, cleaning himself off a bit, and drawing up his posture, puffing out his chest slightly in Porter's face. "Is this to keep me away from the fair maiden Miss Riya? I have sworn my life to her, you know this."

"Yaddy yaddy, sworn life, anyways, the point is, I need your special talents." Porter bypassed the man's front, wrapping his arm around Rick's shoulder and walking him towards the beach. "Did you ever hear about Chandana and the Red Fang?" Rick shook his head. Circuit Breakers weren't required to keep up on the news or current events, and were dissuaded from it so they would not generate biases, opinions, or personal connections in the event they were called upon for an assassination. "Terrible really, she was a lovely young woman, much like Miss Riya, and a childhood friend of hers, who was wrongfully accused of a crime she did not commit. They thought she was the head of a criminal organization and locked her away, and now she sits in Arkterra Federal Prison, awaiting an execution most likely."

"The very idea!" Rick pulled away from Porter in disgust. "I cannot stand for such mistreatment of beautiful and saintly women like this. It is not within my code as a gentleman of honour!"

"Fantastic, so you'll break her out for me right?"

"Of course I will! I would swim across the ocean at this very moment to rescue such a damsel in distress."

"Great, amazing, you keep telling yourself that." Porter pushed Rick in the direction of Sigma, hoping the Circuit Breaker would inform his brother of the new change in plans. He already knew though that Sigma was more than likely listening in on all their conversations, even unintentionally, and would already be gathering information for them. "Well, that's settled." Porter rejoined the students, taking up a head position in their semi-circle.

"You tricked Rick into breaking a criminal out of jail?" Riya raised an eyebrow at Porter's antics, but didn't seem angry...yet.

"Correct."

"Why?" The entire group blurted out before Riya even could, and her face flushed instead.

"We already have an army in the works all around the world. The Red Scarf gang are an anti-government organization. The Jade Fang does the same thing in the Artisan Confederate, and I'm pretty certain they know of any other groups that exist out there. You said we needed an army Raul, and I think that would work."

"Assuming they are willing to cooperate with us." Ardwen threw the retort into the ring, not as a challenge to Porter's new-found leadership, but as a way of trying to strengthen a plan by eliminating its flaws.

"Are you telling me," Porter answered, "that an anti-government group would not want five Goliaths and their pilots to join them in a fight against the power they hate?"

"Would they even trust us?" Nami tapped her finger against her chin, legitimately debating the question in her head. "I mean we're coming from out of nowhere, just like that. Who is to say we aren't spies?"

"But we won't be coming out of nowhere!" Porter clapped his hands together, no longer able to contain his excitement. His personal glee was beginning to snowball as his plan fell into place, and there was no way of turning his mind back now. "If Rick gets Chandana out of prison, she'll be more trusting of us, she will be in our debt. And I..." Porter suddenly hit a wall in explaining his own connection with the Jade Fang. Chase running through the library with him suddenly flashed through his mind before vanishing. "The truth is, I've met the Jade Fang before, and they know who I am. We can communicate with them, and they'll certainly be a bit more trusting of us than anyone else."

"When did you meet the Jade Fang?" Nami tilted her head, an innocuous question that gained a more suspicious undertone as it floated around the group.

"Chase and I-" Porter started, before Ardwen cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"The goal is what matters here, not the connection. Porter has a plan to get us more resources, and we need to be committed to Porter in this situation. Are we?" Ardwen stepped into the semi-circle as he spoke, challenging the group with his words. "I know that I will follow Porter to the ends of the Earth now. We've all seen the same things, experienced the same things. We know that we have new enemies in faces we once trusted. We must assume that all government agencies have been hiding things from us, have been consorting with groups like the Jahari for personal gain, and are profiting off of the sacrifices of thousands of soldiers that they toss around. None of us will stand for it anymore will we? The whys and hows are no longer relevant. What matters is what we are going to do about it."

Porter was silent as Ardwen continued his rallying speech. He had picked up on something that had been said and new concepts were clicking together in his mind. Carter Veillon had disappeared, mysteriously, from the records of the Eastern United States. The memo had indicated a package trade in exchange for a weapon from the Jahari. Porter had already put two and two together, assuming Carter had been traded for a weapon but...it didn't make any sense anymore. What weapon could be exchanged that would equal the life of just a single human? The Jahari seemed to have a total disregard for human life, despising people and wishing to slaughter them. They had been making deals with almost every country at once, bartering their services in exchange for something of great power. Sigma and Syn were both Enigma soldiers being given up for Jahari armies but Carter...was just a person.

Ardwen finished his speech, and Porter's eyes shifted over towards his comrade. He still couldn't get an answer to Ardwen, still could not solve where Carter had gone or what had become of him, if anything. He couldn't bring himself to say anything to Ardwen until he had the whole picture and could at least deliver more closure. Perhaps, after all of this, he would need to do more digging into Carter the person, rather than Carter the disappearance. But for now, there were more pressing matters at hand to be dealt with, and Porter would need his complete focus to put his new plans in motion.

* * * * *

"I'm in." Rick crawled along the metallic ceiling, the fingertips in his suit adapting to help him stick to the surface. His entire body flickered for a moment and he paused his crawl, watching the myriad guards going by around him.

"Be aware of your suit's power levels. Currently your camouflage is set to last only another six minutes before it will need time to recharge." Sigma's voice cut into Rick's ear, but the Circuit Breaker was unfazed. He was used to the augmentations and devices he lived with everyday, both from training and experience. It felt strange to him to know that Sigma was able to connect with him from the island and still hack into his suit, but he needed the android's assistance.

As soon as Sigma had commandeered a vessel for them to leave the island, he had become intensely fascinated in Rick's mission. There seemed to be something about it he didn't like, some sort of connection he kept hinting at. In the end it had lead to him forcing himself upon Rick, leaving the assassin with no choice but to allow Sigma to act as a guide once he was inside the prison. Besides, Sigma seemed to have an intimate knowledge of accessing the facility, one that had to extend beyond simply downloading maps and information.

But that wasn't Rick's concern at the moment. His own connections had not been able to procure anything related to the Arkterra Federal Prison, and he was fairly certain almost none existed on computers that were connected to anything public, but he would let Sigma's mystery knowledge slide for now. He wasn't entirely sure what the android was capable of doing, and he didn't want to test it; he just needed to break out Chandana.

"I'm approaching the hallway you mentioned. I'm seeing indications of sewage system running along here, as well as ventilation. Do you know where the shafts lead or will I need to take the drainage route?" There was no response, something different from previous communications. The connection was still holding, that much Rick could see, but Sigma was otherwise silent. The battery indicator continued to drain in front of the Circuit Breaker's eyes, and he couldn't move from the spot on the ceiling without further instructions. Without any information, he was trapped.

"Ventilation. Don't...don't take the sewage yet." Rick scrambled along the metal surface, rushing to the grate where the air conditioner lay. He checked over his shoulder for any guards who might notice a randomly moving grate, and once he was satisfied nobody was watching, he began to remove it.

"I'm in the clear." Rick's suit began to shut down to conserve power, beginning a process of recharging through gathering electrical ions from the air. Everything was electric, always, in any building, and it would take no time at all for the suit to be fully operational once again. In the meantime, only its critical functions were running, including maintaining the line with Sigma.

"No, now the real hard part begins."

A/N: A spiritual return to Arkterra's prison for Sigma, as the plan begins to move in motion. Can Porter bring about a new revolution through unity in all worldwide rebellions?