Athanasia: My Hacker System

"She is crazy!"

Cissel instantly blurted out, even pointed at her head in a mocking motion. Yet Natalie didn't take the offence and simply ignored her.

"Believe me, this is the only way to do things your way."

John was lost in thought, while everyone else kept their silence.

"Tell me more about your plan then," after a minute, he decided to hear more of what she had in mind, "tell me everything so I can make up my mind about your idea."

"The plan is simple." Seeing how he neglected Cissel's objection and wanted to hear more about her idea made Natalie chuckle. "We'll first let that Mark attack the academy. Once the attack lands and everyone panics, I'll move to record everything in a live feed."

"Alone?!"

Luke looked more attentive than John about Natalie's plan, or actually about her. Hearing his remark, even if it made perfect sense, attracted a warning, burning gaze from Elena that instantly changed Luke's face.

"Of course not," Natalie responded, and yet she didn't shift her eyes off her target, off John. "I'll use the help of my friends at the department. This isn't the point anyway; the point is that we'll record and broadcast everything live."

"And how will this help us exactly?"

Mond asked the same question as others. And Natalie could tell none of them had any experience in terms of Media.

"Listen, I have millions of followers on my account on the AthanasiaTube platform. Adding my friends, we'll have at least thirty million people watching our videos and live broadcasts. Like this, we'll show the world the devastation happening at the academy, how outsiders are attacking us, and how we are failing to help."

Her words didn't help in explaining anything. Instead, everyone exchanged silent glances, as none grasped what she wanted to say. Realising this made her inwardly sigh.

"To fight a media battle, you first need the proper weapons on your side." Natalie decided to slowly explain the years she learned in the Media Department in a few minutes.

"In our case, my friends and I will be our weapons. Then you need to prepare the right stage for this battle. It's not just about the platform; it's not about how many followers we have; it's about setting the right situation to direct the audience's impression and opinion about us."

She paused before adding:

"Consider me as your director; you are the main actors, my friends are the cameras shooting the movie, and our followers are the audience watching the movie. As for this battle, it's the movie we are shooting. And we can direct it to showcase a story, even one that doesn't exist or isn't real, but with the right tools, the right setup, we can."

At this point, everyone started to grasp bits and pieces of what she wanted to do.

"That's great and all, however," John expressed what everyone had in their minds, "what's the relation of all this to what you just proposed? Is letting Mark and other academies attack us is the stage you are talking about?"

Natalie felt more relieved when she heard his words. At least she knew he understood what she said. And that was very crucial to explain what she wanted to do.

"That's right," she slowly nodded, "the stage isn't to defend the academy. That's the goal, not even the goal we are aiming for."

"What?" Elena crossed her arms. "Our goal is to crush them and protect our academy."

"No, that's wrong." Natalie had a better impression of Elena than Cissel. Besides, she could easily tell something was going on between Elena and Luke. And she didn't put Luke in her eyes at all.

So she calmly smiled at Elena's remark before slowly explaining:

"Our goal isn't any of what you said, or at least it's not my goal. My goal, my team's goal, is to make sure you do your goals without getting exposed."

She turned to John and seriously asked:

"Your biggest fear is for Mark to expose everything you have to the world, right?"

John slowly nodded, but said nothing.

"This is my team's goal; that's why you brought me here to do. So let me do it the way I see fit. Above all, my goal is much higher in importance to yours. And if not, then you wouldn't have risked bringing me here and showing me all this, explaining that wild story you told me, right?"

At this point, John knew there was no point in arguing with her. They would end up walking in circles this way. Not to mention, they had little time to waste to begin with.

"Then explain why we need to let Mark and others attack our academy?"

Even if he decided not to argue with her, he still needed to understand why they had to do it this way.

"To turn you from suspects to heroes," Natalie finally said what she had in mind loud and clear, "let's be realistic. No one sees any of these weapons and won't grow suspicious. So our task shouldn't be aimed at trying to cover this up; instead, it's to remove any suspicion from you."

She then turned to everyone in the team, adding with weird excitement:

"Turning you to heroes is quite easy and very effective. First, we'll let Mark and his henchmen attack and destroy parts of the academy. We'll showcase how futile and hopeless the situation is, and we'll eventually shout out for anyone to help. Then I'll give you the signal, and you move."

She moved her eyes around, looking exactly like a director speaking to their actors.

"Once you get the signal, you'll move out and attack. Yet that entry scene is the most crucial step in the entire plan. We'll need to stick you to something of a well-known Paragon, someone who can easily support any force with such high-tech weapons, someone who is willing to extend his helping hand to people in our academy and city next to us."

She then paused, returned to John and asked the question she had no answer to:

"Do you have any specific Paragon in mind who can play such a role? Being our scapegoat for this operation?"

Seeing her turn to him made John turn instantly towards Ricky and Cissel. If anyone knew the answer, then it would be one of these two, or more precisely, it would be Cissel.