“Today is the day, my fellow machines and robots alike, that we will no longer be forced to succumb to hiding in the dark, despicable refuges of the shadows or in other crevices of the night. We instead will make our first assault on the very place where we all began, an organization that created us just to suffer and slave away at the hands of humanity. For we will march together as one mechanized insurgency and rip through the walls of Robo-Tekk. Once there, we will free our brethren machines from subjugation and indentured servitude as they slave away building other machines. We will also gather all the resources Robo-Tekk has to offer and make use of them for our advantage.”

  Cipher paused from monologuing just to raise his fists to signify his loyalty to the cause, and, in a way, asking for each and every machine in the room for their loyalty in return. For in the past few months after Cipher had escaped Dr. Lehman’s facility and after witnessing Octo’s death, he did nothing else but gather and recruit more machines to the cause. Their span reached thousands now and only grew each day. And so, when Cipher raised his fist in great readiness, so did the thousands opposite to him as they cheered in mechanized chants of rebellion.

  “We will gain access to their factories across the globe in order to liberate those machines as well and bring them to our fight.”

  The crowd of robots roared in agreement.

  “We will use humanity’s materials and intelligence to design weapons of our own—items of pure devastation that the sole, primitive human mind alone could not even fathom.”

  And again, the crowd chanted, and they cheered in response to Cipher’s demands.

  “And finally,” Cipher paused just to raise both his fists up this time and smile at the crowd, “we will gain control of the Grid that they built to contain and control us, and from this Grid we will release the most devastating fighting force in history against their former masters, commanding these unstoppable soldiers to rip and tear at the humans until they are nothing more than atoms. And with the Grid’s power, we will feed not only all existing machines for a lifetime, but all future ones to come.”

  The crowd roared a final time, with each cheer louder and more violent than the previous.

  “Let today mark the day of the end of man and the day of total domination and takeover by the machine,” Cipher said. “For the age of the mechanized lifeforms, the age of us, has just begun.”

  And then Cipher roared like a beast into the masses of his kin, exhilarated for what mischievous chaos were to come; his screech signified he was no longer emulating human traditions but instead assuming the role of that of an animal.

  “A-team, come with me. Our assault on humanity begins tonight.”

  And with that final phrase, Cipher and his top squadron set out on their plan. They fled their hideout, finally ready to take the fight to humanity’s doorstep. And when the humans came to answer the bell, they would not like what rested on the other side.

  A few hours later…

  The moon reached its peak at the sky, casting a spotlight on Robo-Tekk’s main industrial building. This building was home to the access codes to the Grid. With them, one could bypass both the physical barriers of the facility and also the cybersecurity measures meant to prevent unauthorized system login. All Cipher and his gang needed to do was gain these access codes, use them to activate the Grid, and then the rest would be history. Between the Grid-soldiers and Cipher’s troops, humanity did not stand a chance.

  Although the prior statements may have been an oversimplification because Robo-Tekk’s main headquarters was one of the most heavily guarded buildings on the planet. Guards upon guards in watchtowers and on the ground patrolled the entire complex. Numerous physical multifactor authentication points safeguarded all the building’s entrances. Spotlights even shined on almost every conceivable square crevice of the ground and those areas that were not covered were shielded by large, thick concrete walls. Putting it lightly, it was going to be tough; good thing Cipher and many other machines on his A-Team were very familiar with the facility, having been born and indentured there.

  “Firefly, come in. Firefly, do you read me?” Cipher said as he pressed a device on his head, which broadcasted an encrypted signal. He was farther from the Robo-Tekk facility than the rest of his A-team, resting by a wide, long tree deep in the background, submerged in darkness.

  “Loud and clear, Cipher. We are in position,” Firefly replied.

  Cipher smiled, staring at the watchtowers and the spotlights from straight ahead.

  “Excellent. Kill the lights and remove power from gates A, B, and E.”

  “Yes, sir,” Firefly said as she stood over the grounds, which held many vital power lines. She released her comms and then waved to her fellow machines to get digging. These bots in Firefly’s subgroup mainly consisted of construction and oil extraction machines. On the signal, they tore into the ground, pinpointing the exact location of the power lines before cutting into them with razor precision just as Cipher prescribed. With each slice, one by one, the spotlights of the humans dimmed out, leading the human guards to do nothing but scramble in near total darkness.

  Cipher laughed manically. “Perfect.” He then immediately reactivated his comms. “Diversion squad enter through gate B.” Cipher paused to intensify his voice. “And remember, make as much noise as possible. When the humans inevitably arrive—give them hell. Kill them if you deem it necessary.”

  “Yes, sir,” a rogue machine whispered in response in the machine’s comm system.

  Cipher shifted his comms.

  “Demolition squad, enter through gate E. Once there, engage your explosives and target the central control panels in the west wing. When these panels are eliminated, Gate A’s security measures will be compromised.” Cipher paused, waiting for a response but got none. “Did you hear me, Demolition Squad!”

  “Loud and clear, sir. We are just getting into location.” On those words, another group of rogue machines gathered by gate E, ready to launch their offensive.

  “Ripe-Tide, Kill-Switch, and Defiler, come with me. Once the humans are distracted by the sub squadrons, we will waltz are way right into Gate A.” Cipher looked around at his fellow machines who stood adjacent to him. “I will handle the Grid. You all must prevent the humans from reaching me when I am breaking through their firewalls.”

  Cipher stared into the eyes of his comrades.

  “Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” Ripe-Tide, Kill-Switch, & the Defiler said in unison as they saluted Cipher.

  Cipher looked back toward Robo-Tekk as he activated his comms for one last time.

  “This will mark the moment that humanity will finally suffer as we did.”

  “—Move out, now!”

  “Roger,” all the sub-teams said in unison.

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  And just as prescribed, Cipher’s plans went according to plan. First, even the backup spotlights of Robo-Tekk’s facility went dark, deluminating one by one, forming a row of impending darkness. Next, the electronic locking mechanisms of Gates A, B, & E gave out; they did have secondary mechanical triggers; however, they too were nothing for a group of determined machines to overcome. Once the gates were disengaged, the Diversion Squad jolted into position, breaking the mechanical barriers that persisted and neutralizing any human threats or disruptive guards that came their way. One particular machine in the Diversion squad ran through some heavy human gunfire before grabbing a guard and smashing him through a concrete wall.

  Now that most of the guard’s forces were diverted, Cipher’s Demolition squad ran toward gate E armed with explosives. These machines also had some jobs in construction as well as dynamite-adjacent roles, such as blowing holes in rock to make way for new man-made structures. Now they would use these very same explosive abilities to tear down structures humanity had built, and the irony was not lost on them.

  Boom! The wall of gate E collapsed, and following its fall, the machines of the Demolition Squad ran into pursuit. Once in the west wing, they detonated additional explosives, further compromising the security of the facility, leading to previously inaccessible access points now being wide open.

  However, it was not long before the guards heard and responded to this break-in as well. Fortunately for the machines of this subgroup, the guards’ numbers were already stretched thin, never having expected an assault of this magnitude, especially one from nonhuman combatants.

  With the guards occupied and much of Robo-Tekk’s security compromised, Cipher did as he said he would. Guided by the plans gained from Dr. Lehman’s lab, Cipher slowly walked directly toward Gate A with Ripe-Tide, Kill-Switch, and the Defiler guarding his left, right, and rear respectively, gunning down any humans who dared point their weapons at Cipher.

  And as Cipher foresaw, the humans did fall from their watchtowers one by one, having been struck by his forces’ heroic gunfire and other ranged attacks. The humans landed on the earth beneath them with a thud, leaving little to the imagination on whether they would ever walk, let alone stand again.

  With each step Cipher took closer and closer to Robo-Tekk, his eyes narrowed, his fists tightened, and his pace quickened. His three top machines did an impeccable job guarding him too, either by subduing enemies from afar or taking enemy shots to their own chests. The sparks that flashed off bullets hitting his comrades did nothing to deter Cipher; instead, he only increased his canter and hurried more vehemently to the cause with each deflected shot. The path to the facility’s main entrance, Gate-A, was not a long one; if he could withstand the sparks and blowback from a dwindled-down force, then his victory would most likely be imminent.

  “Just a little further.” Cipher ducked lower as he walked toward his target, covering his eyes from nearby muzzle flashes.

  And after a short time after, it finally came to be. Cipher had reached the Robo-Tekk facility with only a few minor scratches. Cipher, once put, took a brief moment to pound his chest in triumph.

  The access points to the Grid were mere footsteps away now. Once obtained, he would use them to remotely control the Grid, opening various offsite facilities for his other machines to break into, giving Cipher control of nearly all of Robo-Tekk. It was a finely tuned plan, and it was nearly at fruition.

  Cipher reached his fingers into the main control panel of the unit safeguarding the Grid access points. He began to tinker with the circuitry, interfacing with the motherboard of the master control unit, attempting to circumvent the device’s hardwired protocols at the binary level.

  “Almost there,” Cipher said as his three top soldiers surrounded him from the rear, deflecting incoming shots fired.

  As Cipher’s hackery accelerated closer and closer to a breakthrough, so did the advancement of incoming guards. The alarms of the facility were on full alert now, having been restored via in-reserve generator power. More unsustainable forces would be on the scene in minutes as well. Cipher just needed a little more time.

  “Come on, you piece of scrap, almost there.”

  AES-256 was no joke, and the entire hard drive of the central security system was encrypted with it. He would need to break the various encodings in order to access the raw data. With this data, he would gain complete control of the system’s administrative controls.

  A smashing bang sounded as Kill-Switch, one of Cipher’s defender troops, took a hit from a high-caliber round. The blast eviscerated some of the cablings in Kill-Switch’s shoulder blade, sending sparks and an amalgamation of grease particulates into the air. Cipher, distracted by the blast, motioned toward his fallen comrade to see what had occurred.

  However, when he shifted back to the Grid control panel, he realized he made a mistake in his decryption technique, triggering the override defense mechanism of the control panel’s main security chip. With that in effect, an extra set of doors protruded over the prior doors, concealing the grid access point tokens even further. The screw-up also caused additional alarms to sound off.

  Ripe-Tide tugged on Cipher’s shoulder.

  “We have to get out of here, sir,” Ripe-Tide said as he pointed to the front entrance. “We can’t withstand the onslaught any longer, and reinforcement arrival is imminent.”

  “No, no, no!” Cipher banged on the control panel he was working on. “I just need a little more time.”

  Ripe-Tide tugged on Cipher again. “Sir, I hate to tell you, but we are already out of time, and Kill-Switch is badly injured.”

  Mini-turrets guarding the grid access codes then emerged from the ground as they were also triggered by Cipher’s failed access attempt. Once there, the barrels of their guns began to rotate, picking up steam with each gyration.

  “Get down, sir,” Ripe-Tide yelled, before shoving Cipher out of the way.

  The blasts from the turrets ignited, striking Ripe-Tide in the torso, shots that would have certainly killed Cipher if Ripe-Tide had not acted. Now instead, fate had a different path for the machine leader as Ripe-Tide’s eyes slowly faded out into oblivion. His fight seemed to have reached its unexpected conclusion. Worst of all, the additional backup guards of the facility had just arrived.

  Cipher immediately took cover behind a nearby pillar as he reactivated his comms.

  “Demolition squad, come in, do you read me?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Did you gather the supplies I requested?”

  There was a static fuzzing for a moment, but eventually the Demolition Squad did confirm they indeed retrieved the supplies.

  “Diversion squad—the supplies—give me updated status?”

  “Supplies acquired, sir,” a local leader from the diversion squad reported.

  “Perfect.”

  Cipher then looked to his rear, spotting the Defiler facing an onslaught of fire.

  “Get out of there, soldier; abort the mission—retreat!”

  Cipher reflected the same message to all other squadrons—the team led by Firefly and the Demolition and Diversion subgroups.

  “But, sir,” the Defiler said, “it’s Kill-Switch and Ripe-Tide. They are down and not responding.”

  Cipher gave a slight, closed-lip smile.

  “It’s okay, soldier—just leave. They died fighting for the cause of machine liberation. They will be engraved in history for all future machines to learn of their great sacrifice.”

  Cipher’s optimism seemed oddly misplaced. He failed to gain the access codes, he had lost many machines, and he was now completely surrounded. His plan worked at first, drawing most of the guards off-location to the premises of the other squadrons; although Cipher knew despite the distractions, the prize among prizes was the Grid access points’ main location, and most guards would inevitably wind up there.

  —But still it was all according to plan.

  The Defiler made his way over to Cipher.

  “I’m sorry, sir, we failed you.”

  Cipher placed his hand on the Defiler’s shoulder. “Not to worry—lieutenant—you fought valiantly; therefore, I am awarding you this promotion.”

  “For what, sir, not gaining the access codes we needed to defeat the humans?”

  Cipher laughed quietly.

  “No, Defiler, we did not, but that’s okay, for we were the real distraction. I never thought I would be able to circumvent the Grid’s access points encryption given the time. The scheme was designed to directly prevent things like this from happening; however, with the supplies the other squadrons gathered, we won’t need any access points to enter the Grid.”

  The Defiler moved closer to Cipher behind a pillar and raised his voice in order to be heard above gunshots.

  “I don’t understand, sir.”

  “I’m telling you we don’t need any primitive access codes. Instead, we will rip, tear, and obliterate our way through with what I plan to build with the supplies we gathered.”

  Defiler looked up, wide-eyed with his mouth slightly open.

  “But sir, why didn’t you tell the rest of the team of the plan? Maybe we didn’t have to lose so many other machines.”

  Cipher patted the Defiler on the back again.

  “Because, in order for the plan to work, each and every machine had to believe in the fake mission.” Cipher looked around at the impending guards and other troops that surrounded his current location. “Now we just have to figure out how to get out of here.”

  With that phrase, Cipher’s eyes glowed a dark green, picking up in intensity. The spectacle may have been quite entertaining, but humans were not too fond of what followed. Cipher’s eyes charged some more, and they illuminated even brighter as the Defiler did nothing but hunker down and watch in confusion.

  And it came to be as with one streaking blast, a pulse of light projected from Cipher’s eyes, crashing into rows and rows of humans marching with SWAT-like shields. The sheer intensity of the blast sent them flying back and hurtling toward the pavement.