- "Specializing at infiltration and close-quarters combat, Cipher is a spy killer, designed to hunt down elite operators in the field and eliminate them quickly and quietly."
- — In-game biography
Alexander McDaniels, also known as Cipher, is a character featured in Call of Duty: Mobile and was added in the game on March 4, 2022, during Season 2: Task Force 141 as part of the Prototype Draw. [2] Cipher also appears in the Comics, apparently with some past with Ghost. He is also Foxtrot's younger brother.
Biography[]
Cipher is seen to have had a rough childhood with his sister Foxtrot, under their strict father's upbringing. One day, after a heated argument with their father, Foxtrot leaves home out of distress, leaving Cipher alone back at their home.
When he grew up, Cipher became a soldier and eventually joined the UAC, having been acquainted with Ghost at some point. He eventually went missing during a UAC op, leading his sister Foxtrot to search for him. A picture of his face was soon found on a trafficker's phone, apparently he was being sold along with many others, to a mysterious entity known as Ortelius.
Foxtrot finds intel regarding her brother's fate when she went to the Congo Basin with Rampage. After obtaining the data she needed, she exfiltrated from there and continued the search for her brother.
Some time later, the siblings are reunited and they attempt to work together to take down Ghost along with his TF141 team in Lisbon. Cipher ambushes Ghost in the building's atrium and attempts to kill him, while Foxtrot lies in wait outside. However, Cipher was soon defeated by Ghost and carried out of the building, unconscious.
He is then rushed to a hospital along with Ghost's convoy, with Foxtrot tailing them. While doctors tend to him, he suddenly regains consciousness and attacks the doctors. He later encounters UAC agents and Ghost outside the operating room, and fends off the agents when they attempt to restrain him. Cipher enters a brief standoff with Ghost, the latter asking if he remembers him. But before Cipher can reply, Captain Price strikes him in the head with a fire extinguisher. Wounded, a disguised Foxtrot then injects her brother with anesthesia, promising to "fix this". Cipher, now unconscious once more, is then taken away on a gurney by the agents.
The comatose Cipher is escorted to a black site in Moroccan desert. Along the way, the convoy is ambushed by Phantom and Spectre respectively, although Foxtrot manages to fend off the former and Spectre is fended off by Price and Roach. Foxtrot later meets with Captain Price and tells him their backstory.
After revealing their backstory, Price's convoy comes under attack once more, this time by Nikto and a squadron of jet fighters. Overwhelmed, Price and Foxtrot are forced to jump from their plane, taking the still comatose Cipher with them. All three tumble to the ground alive.
Cipher is later seen in New Vision City, having infiltrated the place with aid from Dark Shepherd. Upon greeting him, Dark Shepherd reminds Cipher that he had to convince a lot of people to get him back in there, especially after what he did to his recovery team in Morocco. Cipher verifies that the 'recovery team' is actually Nikto's hit squad, and that he should send a 'more welcoming committee' next time. He then expresses admiration for Dark Shepherd's new suit, which doesn't impress him, he reminds Cipher that many still consider him a security risk and that his only hope is that Dark Shepherd isn't one of them. Cipher doesn't appreciate his tone, and informs him that he has brought 'gifts' as a sign of appreciation.
Dark Shepherd tells Cipher that he knows he's angry, that he knows he feels like Atlas Corporation betrayed him, and that if he were him, he would hurt them to show that they had erred, painfully. But he also warns Cipher that if he betrays him, he will kill everyone Cipher cares about, before killing him. Cipher reassures Dark Shepherd that he has been nothing but loyal since day one. He then reveals his 'gift': Foxtrot, who's tied up in the back of his truck. He believes that offering up his own flesh and blood should count for something.
Cipher escorts Foxtrot, who is still bound, through New Vision City's medical center. Foxtrot deduces her brother didn't go missing during his op, but was extracted, and asks how much did Atlas Corporation pay him to turn on the UAC. Cipher corrects her, saying he was on a deep cover op running intelligence on the UAC. Foxtrot believes they faked his death, declared him K.I.A. and smuggled him out, which Cipher confirms as a successful mission, but wonders if his sister just had to go looking for him because of her guilty conscience.
Foxtrot retorts that she is still trying to wrap her head around her brother, the "anarchist hacker" being a corporate spy. Cipher asks her where did she get off, noting she has said less than 5 words to him in the last 20 years, and they were at their father's funeral and she shouldn't assume she knows anything about him. Cipher then grabs the arm of one of the guards, and uses the gun to shoot the rest of the guards in the elevator including Dark Shepherd, before knocking out the guard he grabbed the arm of.
Afterwards, he sets Foxtrot free from her binds, hoping her legs still work as they have about 60 seconds before they need to start running. His sister thanks him for that, but Cipher tells her not to get sentimental as he didn't do this for her. Dark Shepherd recovers from the attack and pulls out his scythes, ready to do battle with the siblings.
A fierce battle ensues, Cipher is knocked aside when Dark Shepherd kicks the gurney towards him, although this gives Foxtrot an opportunity to open fire. However, Dark Shepherd uses his scythe to destroy her gun and knock her aside as well. Cipher recovers and duels Dark Shepherd, but is wounded on the forehead when the latter cuts him with his scythe. Foxtrot manages to recover and shoot Dark Shepherd dead. With the threat neutralized, Foxtrot tells her brother that he is now obligated to tell her what is going on. He tells her that where she found him in Lisbon, there wasn't supposed to be a bomb; he reveals that Atlas Corporation wanted him to die in Lisbon, as it's how they "repaid his loyalty". He then says that he will blow the lid off the whole operation.
The Rubicon Initiative[]
Foxtrot records Cipher making a public broadcast to the world, where he reveals that he was on a deep cover operative collecting intelligence on the UAC for the past 3 years, on behalf of Atlas Corporation; additionally, Ortelius and the People's Covenant are on the same boat as Atlas Corporation; Atlas had been funneling resources to the People's Covenant through Ortelius, funding terror so that Atlas could then swoop in and clean up the mess--for a tidy profit. He has also collected intelligence tying Atlas Corporation to a human trafficking ring using the renegade organization known as Ortelius, to fund the People's Covenant and use its members as guinea pigs for experimental cybernetic and medical augmentations.
His broadcast has repercussions: Ether realizes the true nature of the Director's actions, as his Division A's Iron Will had made decisions that were engineered to result in the downfall of Atlas Corporation's board, and the UAC is tasked to bring Cipher and Foxtrot into custody. At the same time, Makarov and his group set off explosive charges around New Vision City, reducing the landscape to nothing but flames and rubble.
He later emerges on top of the New Vision City medical center, witnessing Atlas Corporation's Sky Carrier on a squad of UAC planes. He is surprised that Atlas is taking on the UAC, as he didn't think they had the stones to do so. When Foxtrot tells him he sounds a little too happy about it, he says that they should be, as they are watching Atlas hang itself in real time, and the board isn't as untouchable as they think they are. But Foxtrot is unmoved, sternly telling Cipher that people are dying--people who trusted him and people he was paid to spy on. She hands him a flare to light, and sends a signal to the sky, hoping for the UAC to spot them.
Cipher admits to being impressed by everything Foxtrot has done to find him, even though she didn't have to. Foxtrot thinks she should've left him alone, as she believes Cipher has the habit of betraying people whenever it suits him, and wonders when it will be her turn. Cipher retorts that she was the one who walked out on him, and left him with their father--and he became worse after she left. But before they could continue, a fleet of Reapers attack them, and they are forced to fend them off.
As they do so, the UAC transport arrives and neutralizes the Reapers, before moving in to pick up Cipher and his sister. After some talking, Cipher is brought on board the transport with Foxtrot.
The Atlas Ascension[]
Some time later, Cipher is shown to have escaped custody again, injuring 4 people, on a news report seen by Alias in Las Vegas. Later, he sends a selfie of himself to Ether, while he's in Chicago, and declares he will see them soon.
Cipher enters The Club and arranges a meeting with Ether and her group there. When they arrive, he comments that Ether had brought friends, but she tells him to get to the point and spill the intel that he has for them. Cipher informs them that since the UAC disbanded following the attack on New Vision City (quoting the UN War Crimes Tribunal verbatim, "fired a weapon of mass destruction over a populated area"), Atlas had realized who it's enemies are and have sent their worst and deadliest to take them out, including Ether and Alias--but Cipher doesn't know who Deadman is, and he tells him he's just a concerned friend, so he replies with "Cheers, mate."
Alias tells Cipher to tell them something they don't know; she had been trying to pull together what remains of the UAC, all those were present in New Vision City that day, but they have either gone dark or underground, and she also knows who is hunting them. Cipher then sends them a log of field performance data on Spectre's armor; on the night of the attack on New Vision City, Spectre took multiple shots from a high-caliber weapon, including a direct shot to the head, but it was merely slowed down; they must use this data to figure out a way to take down Spectre, or they don't have a chance in hell.
While Alias tells Deadman about Spectre, Ether is still wary of Cipher's trustworthiness, since she doesn't know whether he's using this to get closer to her, and that he most likely still has beef with her. Cipher confirms that he does, but also reminds her that Atlas is now in control of Division A, and that none of them are safe while they're in charge.
Just then, Nyx makes her presence known to the operators, prompting Ether to tell them all to leave. She tells them that Nyx is a high-level operative for Atlas--they've either been made or are about to be. Suddenly, Ether is attacked by Spectre, who nearly impales her with his sword, only to be stopped when Cipher catches his sword with his hand, but is quickly knocked aside by Spectre. Deadman then takes his glasses as he prepares to fight Spectre, much to Cipher's chagrin.
Cipher has to be helped up by Ether as he is still reeling from Spectre's knockdown. Deadman and Spectre engage in a fierce fight, during which Spectre tears out Deadman's cybernetic arm and knocks him down. However, before Spectre can finish off Deadman, he is disoriented by Alias' 'non-lethal prototype' weapon, which gives Deadman enough time to recover and slam Spectre against the wall with a garbage bin. Cipher then flees with Ether and the rest, but not before Deadman retrieves his arm. Shadowfall soon arrives to help, telling the group to get in her vehicle.
The group later arrives in Detroit, Michigan, where a mass protest is taking place outside the Atlas Corporation HQ. Cipher, instead of disembarking with the rest, chooses to remain behind the vehicle with Shadowfall, as his head is still not right after Spectre kicked him, and adds that politics bore him. Afterwards, an ops team led by Alex Keller infiltrates the protest, causing it to turn violent. However, Cipher manages to escape, along with the others.
He is later seen greeting the others who have met up with Frank Woods, revealing he has managed to find Dr. Mendelsohn, The Director's former colleague. Although some of the group members are not happy about Cipher showing up, especially Rampage, Woods reminds them that they are in dire circumstances and they need to make tough choices--they need Cipher's tracking skills. Cipher informs them that it wasn't hard to find Dr. Mendelsohn if they knew what they were doing, and for everyone to not thank him all at once. He is present when Woods christens the group as 'The Phantom Corps'.
Gallery[]
References[]
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