CHAPTER 10

Mara looked up, but didn't say anything. Zed, however, was curious. "Who are the 'Jolly Tricksters,' Beck?" he asked.

Beck walked up to Tron's computer. He pulled up a photo. It showed three programs wearing masks. On their masks were a grinning mouth with small eye lines. "The Jolly Tricksters were a small group of three programs." Beck explained. He pushed the photo to the side and opened up a video showing the three masked programs tagging public property in Argon Square. The tags all read the same message in big letters: "TRON LIVES."

"I remember that!" Link cried. "Tesler and his men were so mad! I never saw anyone making those tags, though." Everyone else murmured in agreement – everyone, except Mara.

Beck turned around to face his fellow mechanics. "Two members of the group, Moog and Rasket, were artists who specialized in creating the tags," he continued. "But their leader?" Beck chuckled softly. "She was the heart, soul, and the brains of the entire group."

"Who was their leader, Beck?" Linked asked.

"Yeah, who?" Zed demanded.

Beck smiled. "I don't think I have to introduce her to you guys," he answered. "She's standing alongside all of you."

There was a lot of murmuring at Beck's words. Many of the mechanics looks around at each other.

Beck stood alongside Tron and raised his hand again to quiet the group. "Thank you," he said. "Now, Tron and I would appreciate it if the leader of the Jolly Tricksters would freely step forward. Or we can start checking your discs."

The room was quiet for a minute. Then Mara stepped forward and removed her disc from her back. Everyone gasped.

Mara took a deep breath and pulled up a memory file from her disc showing different photos and videos of the "TRON LIVES" tags. "Yes, it's true," she admitted. "I was the leader of the Jolly Tricksters." Mara replaced her disc. "Back then, I believed that Tron was alive, and that he was really the Renegade. I was rescued by him so many times, that I thought that since one program could fight the Occupation, I could, too."

Mara took another deep breath. "So I found Moog and Rasket and persuaded them to join me," she explained. "I wanted to start by spreading the rumor that Tron was alive, so Rasket created those tags. Moog and I helped him cover billboards and buildings throughout Argon City. We were also hoping the tags would draw out the Renegade to us so we could join him."

Mara looked at Beck. "You did come to us, but when you first approached us, you were disguised as an Occupation soldier," she told him.

"That's right, Mara," Beck agreed. "I disguised myself as a soldier to test you. I wanted to see if you, Moog, and Rasket were willing to risk your lives for the Uprising, and how you would react to being questioned by a soldier. I got the idea from Tron. When he approached me for the first time, he was disguised as a soldier, too. He wanted to see if I was willing to fight the Occupation, and risk my life doing so."

Mara looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Okay, now that makes sense, Beck," she said. "Anyway, after Beck took off his soldier's disguise, he asked us to help him. He wanted to sneak onto General Tesler's ship. But I don't remember why."

"I wanted to steal the data key onboard that ship." Beck reminded Mara. "It would give us a major advantage against the Occupation."

"Right," Mara recalled. She then addressed Zed and the rest of her fellow mechanics. "As I was saying, Beck wanted us to cover the area around the Argon Refueling Tower with our tags, or as Rasket liked to call it, 'free code.' That way, Beck could circle Tesler's ship by light jet and sneak onboard undetected while the ship was getting refueled."

"How could you get onto Tesler's ship without being seen, Beck?" Zed asked.

"Since Mara and her fellow artists were tagging the area around the refueling tower, Tesler's guards were distracted." Beck answered.

Mara nodded. "That was Beck's plan: to have us distract the Occupation, and then meet him on the warehouse roof nearby," she continued. "But Moog and Rasket wanted in on the thrills. So they snuck onboard Tesler's ship to create the biggest 'TRON LIVES' tag ever, on the bottom of the ship."

Beck stood next to Mara. "When I went to the warehouse roof and found Mara alone, she told me that Moog and Rasket were onboard Tesler's ship," he added. "Since the ship had left the refueling tower, Mara and I managed to get back onboard with my light jet. We discovered that Pavel had captured Moog and Rasket. He was about to derezz them, but Mara and I managed to free them. We had to fight Paige and some soldiers, but we were all able to escape. Only bad thing was that Rasket suffered an injury to his arm."

Mara sat down on the stairs. "After escaping Tesler's ship, Moog, Rasket, and I met again with Beck," she recalled. "Beck wanted us to join him. But the experience on Tesler's ship had changed Moog and Rasket's minds. They said that we were lucky to have survived, and that we probably wouldn't be lucky a second time. So they left us, and I never saw them again."

Mara sighed. "I, however, didn't agree with Moog and Rasket." She said firmly. "I wanted to join Beck. I told him I was ready to fight, no matter the risk. But he changed his mind and told me to go home." Mara sighed. "I didn't like being turned away. But I decided to keep tagging the message 'TRON LIVES' all over Argon City, In order to show Beck that I was still committed to the cause."

Beck stood next to Tron. "Yes, I did turn Mara away." He confirmed Mara's story. "I told Tron that I wasn't ready to deal with the consequences of losing another program committed to the Uprising. Tron agreed with that decision I made. He said that if Mara was still committed and willing to risk everything for us, then she would wait for us."

So now the secret's out! It was Mara! And now since she knows the truth behind Beck and Tron, will she join them again? And can Beck and Tron convince Zed and the rest of the mechanics to join the Uprising? Please review! More to come!