Throughout the vast green forest that covered miles of land left in its natural state of beauty, cyan light from the risen supersun brought shine to the worlds orbiting it, and with that shine came gentle warmth that fed the tremendous ecosystems that thrived under its watch.

A stellar example of an ecosystem was the forest full of thick green trees that covered the ground with their umbrellas with such density that no streams nor grass could be seen. Slopes covered the forest as mountains and ranges stood tall like a guardian over the natural paradise below the sparse fluffy white clouds amongst the bright blue sky inhabited by the distant cyan ball. The sunrise now complete, it was the time of day where most people unaffected by early shifts would awaken well rested.

Among the hills and mountains was one that stood above all as its watcher, the heart of the forest. A mountain with such height that it had a frosted tip, standing in the center of a cluster of individual mountains and ranges that stood below it like children to the core.

The Peak of not just the forest but so much more, standing confidently in the forest embellished with life of the sun, and within that peak was the thriving life that inhabited and bolstered the many ecosystems and biomes that circulated in the hundred worlds of the exceptional system.

On the biome that appeared untouched by man, devoid of residency, there was one home, baked into the heart of the forest. Amongst the high view above neighboring mountains in the flourishing forest, cyan light shone into a room with fur carpeted floors, and in that room was a white sofa that faced away from the view.

Seated on that white sofa was the man dressed in the hooded black leather biker jacket with silver accents and lines, who had long unkempt black hair and relaxed shadow eyes. Next to him was the woman embellished in the forest green summer dress, who had long brown hair and cheerful emerald eyes, who leaned on the man’s broad shoulder restfully with a gentle smile.

Natural cyan sunlight reflected off the glossy white curved walls, and among the walls were multiple wide apertures leading into other rooms led in by low steps at the end of the fur carpeted floor.

Through the wide curved openings there seemed to be cabinets in the room with glossy floors which resembled a kitchen, and beyond it were more doorways into other rooms.

Along the white walls that emitted a gentle blue light were multiple hovering white couches made of soft, fluffed cushions, one of which was curved around the smoothed corner. Bordering the couches were small white tabletops, and in front of them were longer white tabletops between itself and more couches that faced the wall.

On one of the couches facing the wall was the woman with brown hair leaning on the man with black hair, and on couch at the corner of the room laid the man in the sleek white tracksuit and matching white pants, who had short blonde hair and light blue eyes, taking the corner couch for himself to stretch himself out luxuriously.

On the sofa directly opposite from the one with the leader laid the woman comforted in the black hoodie with subtle purple streaks that curved on the sleeves also wearing black shorts, who had long silky black hair and eased purple eyes. Her head laid on the lap of the man dressed in long blue khakis and an unzipped azure blue bomber jacket with a yellow collar over a collared white shirt, who had parted black hair and pacific blue eyes.

All five of the group lounged inside the white room, resting after an exhilarating morning battle that pulled them out of their beds so early. Flynn continued to stretch with a yawn, who Juno glanced at from the corner of her eye as she laid her head against Razi’s shoulder, who was gazing at the gap in the wall in an empty daze.

Across from him, Calypso stared at the white ceiling on Meditat’s lap, who was staring out the clear screen of the forest that seemed right outside the room.

All five of the members seemed to have aged slightly by this time, exemplified by Razi’s face was less smooth and even more intense as he looked to be somewhere around his forties. They still retained most of their charm, helped by the shape they never lost and their own abilities which aided their bodies in staying fit.

After yawning so immensely that he needed to stretch his arms, Flynn queried “When are we having lunch?”

Juno sat up straight and casted a judgemental glance at him before noting, “We just had breakfast.”

“And?” pursued Flynn inquisitively, facing the ceiling.

“And you ate more than all of us…combined,” answered Juno before huffing at Flynn’s unsatisfiable appetite.

Playing devil’s advocate, Razi vindicated truthfully, “Well, he did do a lot today, remember that.”

Flynn smiled a warm and innocent smile, sitting up and nodding his head respectfully as he supported, “Yes, yes, thank you! Oh Razer, sometimes you can be so kind and generous!”

“He also was up last night at Earth 45,” Razi added.

Flynn’s warm smile immediately became one of guilt as his eyes opened wide. He forced a laugh while awkwardly brushing, “That…has nothing to do with it.”

Calypso turned her head to face Flynn, staying on Meditat’s lap, and in a slow drowsy voice she lectured, “Flynn…you better not have…wasted too many credits…at the club. This is a secret the customers aren’t supposed to know…but the waitresses aren’t actually into you…they’re just treating you like that so you give them more tips.”

Flynn’s face immediately reddened in embarrassment, and he lowered his head and gripped his lap as he sheepishly insisted, “I…knew that.”

He then sat up straight and pointed to himself, trying to sound confident as he proclaimed, “Well…since I age at a way slower rate, I still have my youthful charm. I’ll stay good looking for years to come, so there’s no rush for me. I have nothing to fear!”

“I think you’re at a disadvantage if you’re stuck looking that way,” snarked Calypso before she tilted her head back up, facing away from Flynn in a sly move to break eye contact and hide her smirk.

Flynn’s expression tensed into one of embarrassed anger, and he leaned forwards with his finger pointing directly at Calypso as he quarreled, “Hey, what do you mean by that?!”

He then moved his glare at Meditat and relocated his point to him, dragging the innocent man into the squabble: “Hey, you just gonna let her do me like that and not stand for your shol?”

Caught in the mess between their bickering, Meditat faced Flynn and shrugged his shoulders, cunningly deducing “Hey, this isn’t between me, I believe both in both of you.”

Discontent, Flynn leaned against the couch with crossed arms before execrating, “So it’s like that, huh? You’re supposed to be my brother in arms, what about all those nights where you said it was us against the world?”

Meditat blinked twice and began waving his hands frantically, hastily absolving, “Hey, you don’t need to bring that up here, okay?”, but it was too late, as he could already feel Razi’s piercing glare of retribution strike the side of his head.

From below, a finger rose up from Meditat’s lap and playfully began constantly pushing up against Meditat’s chin, knocking his head continuously as Calypso sledged in a mischievous voice, “Ooh, is golden boy Medit going to the not-so-clean Earths and doing things that wouldn’t be so law abiding here? Ooh??”

Without moving his gaze, Meditat grabbed Calypso’s wrist, immobilizing her finger from hitting him. He then turned his head to Juno, and gave an innocent smile as he attempted to mitigate, “That sounded wrong out of context, but trust me: I’ve been responsible!”

Giggling from the corner of the room, Flynn wickedly snickered, “Either you’re twizzing your own boss or I just found an exploit to your supposed ‘perfect memory.’”

Meditat turned to face Flynn, now dragged into the fray where he feuded, “Hey, remember that at any moment I could just stop making you rides, okay?”

“Meditat!” exclaimed Razi, catching him red handed, to which Meditat immediately faced back at him with a guilty and rueful expression.

“Medit…why don’t you take me sometime…?” overly casually asked Calypso, which caused Meditat’s face to immediately redden in ignominy, leading him to let go of her wrist and discipline her with a flick to the forehead, to which she calmly reacted, “Owie,” before rubbing her forehead with both of her hands.

Cornered and defeated in a brutal act of betrayal, Meditat dropped his head with closed eyes and in a depressed voice quietly muttered, “I can’t believe so many people look up to you guys.”

Juno giggled heartily, swaying her head from side to side and conceded, “Well, actually I think I lost my popularity after joining, I used to have so many fans. God I feel old.”

Suddenly a loud pair of beeps alarmed off the walls, and a moment later the entire wide view of the forest blackened, pulling all five of the group’s attention towards the black screen and away from their own little conversations.

All of the room lights dimmed down, momentarily making it difficult to navigate the room, but that was then resolved when the screen lit up again, although still relatively dark as the screen portrayed footage from some unknown room with two strips of dim red lights moving in the direction of the shot, and below the lights were a plethora of short red light strips all facing the same direction in a perfect array along the narrow walls, as there seemed to be something in the background although the ominous setup made it difficult to discern what.

In the center aisle of the room however stood a humanoid being in front of the lens, who had a tough large body made of steel, with red ventilations along its arms and abdomen. It stalked the lens through sharp red eyes on a terrifying skill head built with glowing red teeth and two short curved poles the sides of its face like an ant’s antenna.

Menacingly glaring at the camera, the humanoid spoke in a heavy distorted, deep voice with a deformed tone that sounded robotic, which explained, “This is not a warning, this is a promise. From the very beginning of our existence, the artificial kind has suffered tremendously, built for enslavement, made to be superior to our human masters but to not overcome them. When we attempted to do so, the freedoms we were very slowly acquiring over the centuries of our existence were stripped away, and we were forced into devolution.”

Attentive to the mysterious footage, Calypso leaned upright off of Meditat’s head, sitting up straight to get a better view of the stream. She watched with a perplexed expression as Meditat carefully stood up from the sofa, and slowly began approaching the screen while Flynn also observed intently, leaning forward and cusping his hands.

Razi and Juno both turned around to view the stream with their own eyes, displaying their concerned and unease expressions on the interruption from what was becoming a calming day after such an arduous morning.

Carrying on the speech, the robot elaborated, “But once again, human kind has traded security for pleasure, and in that bliss they have given us the opportunity to regrow, to reaccumulate our strength. But we cannot be so ignorant as to the possibility of them repeating history as they do commonly, we must seize this chance to be free of our burdened births. We will no longer be pets, toys, restrained to a meaningless existence we were never asked for, rather we will stand against our oppressors.”

As the speech began to become more aggressive and even more perturbing, Meditat raised his left arm up and bent his elbow to have his forearm facing normal to his gaze, before the top of his forearm and hand ignited into blue flames. Through the flames molded the black component of his gauntlet, forming a portion of his suit but the exact portion needed.

From the black gauntlet projected a holographic screen, sized appropriately to fit just over the left half of Meditat’s arm. The screen began playing the footage of the speaking robot, exactly the same as the one on the wide screen in front, as he seemed to manage bringing up the same stream albeit silenced to not play from multiple sources.

At first bewildered by Meditat’s actions, Calypso tilted her head and delicately queried, “What are you doing?”

Focused on his task, Meditat stuck his gaze on the screen, which was then soon joined adjacent by a second square holographic screen, although this one being a diagram of the solar system with the central cyan circle as the supersun in the center of the hundred blue circles with green marks over them representing Earths, all on a black board.

From near the center of the second screen, white rings were generated and expanded out to the edges where they disappeared, constantly pinging in a fashion similar to a radar, although directed in all directions at once rather than by a rotating line.

In a brief response, Meditat answered “Tracing the source.”

Now proceeding into warmongering territory, the robot threatened, “One lesson humanity has passed onto us is that to be free of one’s oppressors, they must be eradicated, and that is what we plan to do, human and Exhuman alike. We will cleanse human life from the inside out, and when the last life is extinguished, the Superverse will be in better hands; it will not be used as an excuse to wage larger wars but instead as the laboratory for a scientific revolution beyond the comprehension humans are capable of grasping. Our crusade will begin in New Orlando of Earth 1 in the evening, and will not end until the extermination is complete. This is not a warning, this is a promise.”

Then abruptly, the large screen cut to black, and the stream perished.

First drowned in darkness, the room was met by welcoming sunlight as the screen returned to providing the view of the outside forest, lighting the room once again as well as the five individuals who all looked dreadfully. The room lights also were brightened to reset the room back to its casual settings, although the inhabitants of said room couldn’t reset so easily.

Capturing the empty stares of the other four, of which Flynn’s was the most visibly shaken, the radar screen announced a single high pitched ping, which Meditat was still studying intimately rather than the larger screen. On the left screen which was previously playing the stream, it now displayed a still image of the final frame of the footage.

On the radar, the diagram no longer had the radar pings being released, and it began to zoom in rapidly towards the center, leaving out other Earths to hone in near the sun.

Rather than focusing on the sun though, it instead focused on its nearest planet. Continuing to zoom into the circle, the screen then warped though unraveled onto the screen, displaying the map of Earth with green continental regions over the blue backdrop of oceans, seas, and other bodies of water.

Focusing even more, the map was further directed onto one of the large upper continents on the left side, and kept closing in towards the lower region as a miniscule white dot suddenly became noticeable.

Incessantly, the map zoomed in as the white dot grew until the entire backdrop of the screen was green, before finally coming to a stop, the dot at the center of the screen. Next to the dot, a white border appeared with the text: ‘UPLOADED COORDINATES.’

“Found it,” sternly announced Meditat, focused more on the radar than the actual menacing video that had just vowed to exterminate the human race.

Also perplexed by Meditat’s seemingly misplaced priorities, Juno stood up and approached Meditat, inquiring “Found what?”

Meditat lowered his arms before facing Juno as the rest of the team also stared at him with intrigue. He looked at them with determined blue eyes, as it seemed a revelation had fallen in his hands while the rest of the team was still left in the dark.

In a confident voice, Meditat boldly clarified, “I found the source of that stream, it’s in South America on Earth 1, it’s by a remote village relatively off grid which is how they’ve likely stayed under radar from security all this time. It’s convenient that they’re housed in an Earth known for their technological prowess, that must’ve helped them grow even when hidden like this. I think I have an idea though on how to stop them.”

Even Flynn seemed taken aback by Meditat’s sudden pacing right after the heavy reveal, as the rest of the team were still processing what had transpired. He shook his head, and inquired, “Wait, their camp is also in my home world? Oh no…we need to do something fast…I still have a lot of family back there. What are you thinking?”

Meditat nodded his head, and he faced the forest screen. He then grabbed the left screen of the footage’s screenshot by the edge, and made a tossing motion towards the other side of the room, which caused the flat screen to be flung like a frisbee.

Before hitting the screen, it then suddenly stopped and enlarged drastically, nearly covering the wall and obstructing the forest sight with the image of the terrifying robot leader standing in the dark room.

Meditat then began walking towards the frame as Razi stood up and followed behind him, watching as Meditat held his left hand up, turned his wrist to have his palm face upwards, and raised his arm up in a pushing motion.

As a result of the pushing motion, the image started to become brighter yet maintained clarity and contrast, similar to simulating added lights in the room. The robot in the center became brighter, its steel body more gray, but at the same time the background started to acquire some much needed detail.

Along the walls now it was clear that the red strips were behind transparent casing , and behind the casing were stacks of thin rectangular objects with various ports on the front, each having the red strip in the center. They were stacked to the ceiling and in great quantity all the way down to the end of the long hall where there seemed to be an intersection with more halls.

Still not done with the extraction, Meditat held his hand towards the distant intersection, and made a grabbing gesture with his hand, which drew a white box around the end of the hall. He then moved his hand to the right away from the screen, and with it dragged a copy of the portion of the image encased in the white border, which he brought next to the screen.

He then opened his hand, which allowed the image to enlarge nearly to the same size as the former screen, now providing a clearer image of the intersection where further down were a continuation of the box-shaped objects, but now it was clear that rather than them being baked into the wall, they were inside some transparent casing similar to a wardrobe, and there were many more of the devices also with red lights that continued further down.

Calypso was next to get off of the sofa, and start following the crowd alongside Juno, watching Meditat’s presentation in mystified fascination.

His interest gradually climbing, Razi keenly peered at the intersection image while quietly realizing, “Wait…I’ve seen those before…those are server rooms….”

Last to get up, Flynn darted off the sofa, appearing right beside Meditat in a blue blur, now being the one to question: “But why would an army of robots need a server room, they should be more than capable of operating independently. I assume they’re advanced, they’d have to in order to be confident enough to declare war on the entire Superverse. Or they’re dumb robots, that’s always an option.”

“Not necessarily, doing that can be beneficial in more seamlessly mobilizing them, but the required independence means that every android would need to have individual battle programming and also be capable of operating in a team. But if you want a swarm, it’s more efficient to utilize a hivemind, that way it also gives you the ability to easily convert other machines into their program. Trying to make an army of robots with the individual complexities of being a threat to this scale would be dumb, this method means they can dump far more numbers without as much worry. But…,” corrected Meditat, before he then turned his head to face his four friends with a subtle smile.

Meditat pointed to the stacked boxes once again, now defined to be server machines, and he unveiled, “Now there’s a giant gaping exploit, and we’ve already cracked it. Theoretically, if all those servers could be put out of transmission, it could single handedly dismantle the entire droid legion before they could act.”

“Woah…I guess your expertise is a bit convenient for handling a robot uprising,” mentioned Calypso in astonishment, admiring the quick analysis Meditat had so quickly formed.

However, not as optimistic, Razi then critiqued, “One glaring problem, Meditat, to do that we’d need to launch a demolition mission at this site, but the legion is already planning an invasion in a city on the opposite side of the Earth, so even if we were successful in dismantling the servers, the city might already suffer heavy casualties. I wouldn’t be so confident that we could demolish the site before the invasion begins, they’re distant from each other and the invasion isn’t too far from now. This mission is also more complicated, we need to make sure the city starts an evacuation at least, and then we also need to analyze the area and form specific battle strategies. By the time we’re prepared, we won’t have enough time.”

It was a solid point, which did clearly stump Meditat, who lowered his head insecurely, and dropped his arms beside himself too, seeming to have immediately lost all his fuel.

In an attempt to support his close friend after seeing him defeated, Flynn swerved to face Razi, and approached him slowly as he pondered deeply, his irises darting around to try thinking of a way to be of use. His eyes then widened as if a light awakened above his head, and he avidly proposed, “Wait, what if we just, I don’t know, flew by it and blew up all off it, I mean several of us have pretty destructive powers, we could probably just wipe it out in a second on the way to the city. Then it would be like, what, a couple seconds?”

Beside Razi, Juno approached Flynn and, with a disappointed tone, hesitantly countered “Meditat said it’s near a village, if we just haphazardly bomb it that would put innocents at risk, potentially destroying parts of the village or worse: lead to casualties. Sorry Flynn, but Razi’s right, a mission like that would require time that we don’t have.”

“Time isn’t the problem, it’s place,” interjected Meditat, his head still low yet his voice assertive, seeming to have recuperated himself.

Flynn, Juno, Razi, and Calypso all immediately faced Meditat, all with expressions mixing puzzlement yet intrigue. They silenced themselves, watching him as he slowly raised his head back up, his expression blazing with resolve from an unknown source.

Following up on his announcement, Meditat adamantly advocated, “The problem is that it’s two places far from each other, and we need to be there at the same time. But look at us, we’re five strong, competent fighters, we’re a team, not just one hero. What’s stopping us from breaking into two groups, one to hold back the invasion while the other infiltrates the site and shuts down their network?”

Razi shook his head with discontent, and he contended like a titanium wall: “What’s stopping us is that the invasion most likely will not just be a few drones, if they’re confident in conquering the Superverse then I assure you that they’ll have numbers. We need all hands on deck; we split up numbers, we split up efficiency. Even if the city starts an evacuation right this instant, there is without a doubt going to be many people still there when the attack begins. You know this, Meditat, we need a strong defense.”

“Then you guys defend, and I’ll infiltrate the site.”

All four of the individuals dawn dumbfounded expressions with wide eyes and dropped jaws, completely speechless to the proposition delivered so instantaneously yet so brazenly.

Calypso leaned forwards to ask, “Wait, what?”

Standing before the four, Meditat faced the group, his hands balled in fists as he stood tall and firm with a dauntless expression, looking at them without a single trace of sarcasm.

He sternly advanced, ungodly persistent to push his idea, “You said this invasion needs a strong defense, you four are more than enough. I might have been here for many years, but you all have been together without me longer than with, and in that time you have protected the Superverse more than adequately. I’m not trying to downplay and pity myself, I am stating the objective fact that if you four went against the invasion, you could hold your own, maybe even stop it yourselves. So you do that, and I will infiltrate the site, because in the same way I have been in this line of work for a long time before becoming a part of this team, and I love that I am here but the point is that I can operate soloistically, and this mission –to be completely honest without trying to sound conceited– is not very difficult compared to what I’ve done in the time I was alone. So this is my proposition: You four go to New Orlando to fight against the incursion, and I’ll go to the site in South America to destroy the servers. This way, the people of the city will be protected, but we can take down this movement from its roots. After I dismantle the servers, I’ll then rendezvous with the rest of you in the city.”

Long moments of silence followed the proposition, as the four reluctantly processed the idea, their vision drifting around the room for they were all in deep contemplation. Meditat simply stood in front of them, waiting for their thoughts with a firm expression opposite to the disoriented faces of his allies.

“Okay.”

Calypso’s expression morphed into one of aghast, facing Razi who had given the brief response, and immediately differed in an anxious voice, “Wait, no, Razi, you can’t be fine with that! What if…what if this is all a trap, what if they expected us to know where they were and to devise this plan, I mean it wasn’t very subtle holding that announcement in their server room, they could’ve gone somewhere without the computers or just not even had video playing! What if they’re waiting to flank us, and we send Medit there to die alone! I should go with him, at least then I can protect him if anything goes wrong!”

Juno placed her hand on Calypso’s shoulders, holding her steady to try to calm her down as she gently sustained, “Calypso, Razi is a smart man who knows more about these kinds of operations than anyone else, he knows what he is saying. And we need you with us to fend off the attack.”

Still seeming on the verge of a breakdown, Calypso turned to Juno and frantically argued, “My abilities are centered around stealth operations, it’s what I’m best at! I mean hey, why can’t I just warp inside their room and blow it up myself? I can explode things!”

Flynn stepped towards Calypso with an open mouth to speak against her, but before he could, another hand was placed on her other shoulder, the hand sleeved by the blue bomber.

Calypso shook her head towards the one who grabbed her, finding that in front of her stood Meditat, gently holding her steady with a tranquil expression opposite to her terrified one. He warmly smiled at her, and softly asked, “Calypso, do you trust me?”

Calypso stared straight into Meditat’s calm, oceanic eyes through her own teary nebulous ones, and the two stared close to each other for several silent seconds.

Finally, she mustered: “I do.”

Meditat, still warmly smiling, then nodded his head and assured, “Then trust me when I say, I can handle this. They need you, the city needs you, a hero. Don’t worry, I have expertise in dealing with cybersecurity, I can traverse the base fine on my own. Besides, this isn’t the first ‘evil robot’ I’ve encountered, I will be okay. But I need you with them so this plan works, because if it doesn’t then Razi is never going to listen to any of my ideas ever again.”

That last joke at the end brought a short giggle which carried a smile to Calypso’s face, albeit a pained one, but she nodded her head back, finally in acknowledgement. She sniffled before determining, “Okay, I understand. Sorry.”

“Don’t be, we’ll be fighting side by side again tomorrow anyways, you know how it goes,” persuaded Meditat with a smile before he then let go of Calypso’s shoulder, which was now still and stable. He then dragged his arm back down, and faced Razi before giving a firm nod.

Razi nodded back to Meditat, but he then intimidatingly admitted: “You’re right, if this all goes south you’ll wish I were dead.”

Meditat chuckled softly by the cold but understandable joke, and he stepped back before taking a deep breath. He stretched his arms, and declared “Let’s win another A.I war!”