“Don’t let Cipher get to Junie,” Dr. Lehman said softly as he was being pushed into a hospital on a stretcher. Daniel was not too far behind, having tracked down the signal Lehman had sent out during Cipher’s break-in.

  Daniel saw nothing but a stream of blood rushing from Dr. Lehman’s chest; no, rather from his father’s chest. Daniel was beyond words, standing motionless and not understanding what had just happened. The persistent sweat and lack of breathing Dr. Lehman exhibited were not too pleasant either.

  Despite the severity of the situation, Daniel was covered from head to toe in baggy, concealing clothes, with his face blocked out by a hood, as machines were not allowed to enter the hospital unassisted. However, just from the characteristic sound of Daniel’s pace, a glimpse of his blue chin, and his smile, Dr. Lehman, despite barely clinging to life, could tell who it was. Lehman knew Daniel would come as he always did. He would answer the call fully prepared regardless of how mad the two of them were at each other.

  Daniel tried to make reason with the situation, so his mouth moved, desperate to say something, to put some words forward, but they just would not come out. It was almost like he was paralyzed from the inside, consumed with excessive worry for another. Daniel was now experiencing a range of emotions that he never had before; a set of anxieties was blooming that neither he nor Lehman ever thought possible.

  And so, Daniel did the only thing he thought he could. He followed Dr. Lehman, the nurses, paramedics, PAs, and the doctors into the hospital despite looming security. The doors of the west wing—the emergency section—swung open in a flash as one big blur of confusion and regret. Daniel managed to finagle his way through along with them, seemingly undetected despite his clearly ominous and concealed presence. The only thing that was running through Daniel’s mind was that this whole mess was all his fault. If he had not let Cipher escape captivity, then Lehman would still be well and breathing.

  “What have I done?” he whispered over and over.

  While being rushed down the long hallway of the hospital, one of the nurses finally noticed that Daniel did not belong with the group. She made her way up to Daniel, sticking her arm out and impeding his path.

  “Excuse me, sir, no one is allowed back here.”

  Daniel halted, although he leaned forward over the nurse’s arm, desperate to keep Dr. Lehman in his gaze.

  “You don’t understand. That is my father over there.”

  Daniel pushed past the nurse; however, she reacted by signaling security.

  A group of men with white pants, shirts, and hospital badges grabbed Daniel, preventing him from moving. Daniel motioned forward but opted not to power onward as to not accidentally hurt some of the security crew. The nurse walked up in front of Daniel while he was constrained by security; her heels tapped against the floor with each step.

  “Sorry, but we can’t let you any further.”

  “I am family. There is an exception for children of the injured to get to the back room.” Daniel paused to catch his breath and regain his composure. “I deserve to be with my father, as it may be the last chance I get to see him.”

  The nurse shook her head. “I don’t know what type of delusion entered your programming, but he is a human, and you are a machine. It is not possible for you to be related.” The nurse signaled security again, and the men removed Daniel’s hoodie and glasses, revealing his pale, blue flesh.

  “No more games, machine.” The nurse shifted her eyes to the security behind her. “Men, do what you have to do.”

  Some of the security team unraveled their portable electrodes and tasers designed specifically to immobilize disobedient individuals in cases just like this.

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  “No,” Daniel grunted as he motioned forward, “You don’t understand. I have to see him.”

  The nurse stepped forward now, feet from Daniel. “I don’t want to have to repeat myself, but I said no.” She then looked over to security a third time. “Take him away.”

  And so security electrified Daniel as they pulled him back. Now, these electrodes would have put a normal machine on his knees in a matter of seconds; however, Daniel was not a conventional machine. Dr. Lehman had built him with stronger metals, thicker wiring, and a hard, nearly impenetrable exoskeleton. All these features were not designed in simply because Daniel was a war bot; no, Dr. Lehman had so many more, much bigger goals in mind.

  “I’m sorry,” Daniel said to the guards before bursting through, making his way past the nurse in a flash. The security guards behind him either face-planted on the floor or rolled over backwards, overcome by the sheer pressure of Daniel’s burst. But it was not long for them to get back on their feet.

  “Get him,” the nurse yelled, rallying her security crew onward as she stepped to the side.

  Daniel burst through the doors of a hospital emergency room with security looming not too far behind. He stopped at the entrance of the room as to not hinder the doctors’ work on Lehman, who appeared to be nonfunctional. Dr. Lehman was laid up against an elevated stretcher. Medical doctors and surgeons surrounded him with spotlights, computers, and magnifying glass-related tools. These doctors wore white lab coats, masks, hoods, and optical glasses, and they held sharp metal and even bone-cutting tools.

  Just at that moment, security burst through the door, grabbing Daniel again. This time they turned up their electrodes to maximum capacity and drove the tip of the devices into Daniel’s back. His armored skin may have been thick, and the hide over it even thicker; however, he even felt that—an odd feeling—a pain, something he had never experienced before.

  Daniel raised his fist, seemingly as though he was going to turn around and incapacitate each and every one of the guards. It was something he could do quite easily; however, just as he was getting ready to strike, he saw the eyes of Dr. Lehman open up one final time.

  Dr. Lehman lifted his arm a few inches off his side with the very little energy he had left and flattened out his palm, giving a stop-like signal.

  “No,” he whispered.

  The nurse came barreling in from behind. “Get this machine out of here,” she said. “Only humans are allowed in this section of the hospital.”

  Daniel froze, so desperate to burst onward, to give his last words to his father before his father’s seemingly inevitable demise—a tragedy that was almost definitely Daniel’s fault. Despite Daniel’s tremendous will to carry onward, he stopped instead. Dr. Lehman’s signal was all Daniel needed; it was a sign not only to end his hospital pursuit, but it was also a symbol for much bigger things to come. He, at this tragic and sad moment, finally knew what Lehman had been teaching him all these years. Daniel would need to lead by example, even if it meant making the hardest choice—abandoning somewhere dear and resisting one’s most precious desires, especially when one knows they are right. And so, Daniel let down his guard, nodded his head to his father for one final goodbye, and stopped his resistance.

  The nurse’s breathing simmered down as she walked in front of Daniel. “Looks like you weren’t as tough as you thought.” She turned toward security. “Take him away.”

  The security members complied, carrying Daniel away from the scene before shocking him some more. Once clear, they threw Daniel to the ground outside the hospital area.

  Daniel lay face down on the pavement for a few moments despite being more than capable of standing. He lay there not due to any relentless pain or unending injury (physically at least), but because his emotional safeguards had finally been compromised. Something anyone, Dr. Lehman, and even Daniel himself never thought possible. And so, he sat there and cried as the sky soured over him. Perhaps it was poetic justice, for as Daniel shed a shower of tears for one of the first times, Mother Nature herself also did the same, letting down a downfall from the atmosphere. The sky grieved in a way, and Daniel felt its pain as the environment fully emulated his being.

  Daniel sat there for a few moments more motionless, still devastated and betrayed by what had come to be, seemingly completely immobilized. However, it did not take long for him to rise to his feet. And when he did, he looked toward the sky—the rain, the shadows, and the clouds molding around him like a curse—and instead of falling back to his knees, he raised his fist in great contempt. His mouth dropped open, boiling with rage, finally reassured of what must be done. Daniel’s fists clenched so tightly and vigorously that it would not be to anyone’s surprise if the force caused him to break his own hands. Finally, he ground his feet into the dark, soft flesh of the earth, leaving a deep and wide, visible imprint.

  “Cipher!” Daniel shouted, “I am coming for you.”

  Daniel raised his other fists into the air even higher and pounded them both down, not as a machine, not even as a human, but as a beast, a great ape, smashing his chest in fierce, glorious defiance.