Pink had always been Dawn's least favorite color—hate was too strong a word for a mere pigment—but she couldn't deny that it suited her well.

Despite her distaste for the unholy blend of red and white, she had purposefully turned herself into the very personification of the color. The mix of pink and the pale shine of her dehydrated and starved skin appeared appealing to the eye. It almost seemed childish—the way the bright colors resembled that of candy—but the jumpsuit that hugged her in all the right places proved otherwise.

She looked as hot as the pink she wore.

"Civilian," the monotone voice began again and the humanoid machine bent it's head slightly in her direction."This is a restricted area, you are not allowed in this vicinity. Please leave or face—"

"—immediate termination." Dawn completed the sentence slowly then pointed at the FCM almost seductively. "Who says I don't have access to this area? If I didn't then how did I get here?"

When she got no reply, she set her hands on her hips and looked up at the stationary chunk of metal in front of her. She had no doubt that she and her sister could turn it into a piece of unrecognizable scrap metal if they got the chance. And since this area wasn't under any surveillance it was the perfect place to make the offending machine mysteriously disappear.

Even if they were somehow discovered it would still be hard for them to be convicted with any charges given her reputation as the leader of the Cipher Squad, but Dawn was a bit hesitant. After all, the man controlling everything behind the scenes was her father. The person in the FCM might only be innocently following orders without knowing the consequences.

Above all, the thought of taking a life—or being involved in the process—after taking an oath never to do so again chilled her to the core.

Can I save his life?

She knew that the longer she stalled the more danger she and her sister would be in. From now on she wouldn't be able to delay the inevitable.

Dawn had to make a choice fast or they would all be dead soon.

Dee, what are you doing? Right on cue Rhea Lee's cool and expectant voice echoed dimly at the back of her mind.

Are you cloaked? Instead of answering, Dawn asked a question of her own instead, looking back at the alley through the corner of her eye.

Yes. Why? Are we finally taking this bastard out? the doctor asked eagerly, provoking an eye roll from Dawn as a noncommittal grunt slipped passed her lips.

I don't know. She said through the link.

What do you mean you don't know?

I'm sorry if I'm not really in the mood to smudge the clean slate I worked so hard to get. Dawn growled softly and tightened her hold on the comb.

Rhea Lee said nothing, but after a moment her voice resounded quietly in Dawn's head. Then I'll handle it myself.

"Provide a confirmation code for verification." The man in the FCM let out an audible sigh and it boomed loudly from the machine's speakers. "Hurry it up, I have important things to do." The speakers screeched.

"Oh?" Dawn asked, pretending to look through her pockets as she raised a pale pink eyebrow. "Are you looking for something—someone?"

"The confirmation code, please?" He asked again, harder this time. Even from around twenty feet below Dawn could see the little sparks that flew around the chest of the FCM where the engines were located, she could tell that he was preparing to fire at her.

She knew that regardless of whether her confirmation code was valid or not, he was going to kill her. The lack of surveillance and pedestrians meant that there would be no witnesses but her and Rhea Lee. In his mind she was the only one here and soon she'd be too dead to tell a soul anyway.

He couldn't have anyone knowing that an unlicensed use of federal technology was occurring. And she couldn't leave him roaming around unchecked either.

The choice had been made for her, kill or be killed, there was no negotiating it.

"Yes." Dawn answered quietly—more to herself than him—then raised her hand, her pale fingers holding up a slim holographic card. The code wasn't hers per se, but it would serve it's purpose.

"324011GH." She shouted out the numbers, despite knowing that the microphone of an FCM could pick up the quiet buzzing of a fly's wings. It felt good to imagine the man piloting the machine wincing from that unexpected attack on his ears.

"Miss?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"You don't have access to this area." As he spoke he raised the hand of the robot in her direction, the palm of his mechanical suit glowing with a dreadful red light.

Oh dear. Dawn thought with an air of nonchalance as she took off in the direction of her Auto. "You obviously don't know who I am!"

"Are you married?" she asked playfully, her mind already minutes into the future as got ready to dodge the attack.

"Stay still." He ordered harshly and shot out a red beam from the cannon built into his hand.

"Obviously, I'm not an idiot!" She ducked and pressed her body against the polished road as the laser soared above her head and hit the building where Rhea Lee was hiding.

Dawn looked on as both the building and it's shields collapsed, unable to withstand the power of the laser beam.

"Damn." She whistled then stood up, dusting herself off as she turned to the massive machine. "You are so braeked."

As the words slipped passed her lips a thick ray of golden light flew over her and hit the FCM right in the chest, piercing through it's shields and smashing brutally into it's reinforced frame. The giant flew back uncontrollably. It was thrown a couple metres away and smacked into a few buildings before it was able to stabilize, hovering in place with a visible dent in it's armor where it had been hit.

Not wasting any time, Rhea Lee walked briskly towards Dawn with tattered clothes hanging of her pale skin and a hand that buzzed with fury. Her eyes stayed fixed on the stunned robot, prepared to fire again if it dared to move.

There was not even a scratch on the doctor, and except for the lewd manner in which her clothes clung to her body she seemed fine, perfect without a single strand of hair out of place.

All at once Dawn's heart was filled with jealously and a contrasting pride. Her sister really was one of a kind.

Dawn recognized the faint humming sound that was being emitted from Rhea Lee's arm as the cool down process of the earlier shot and suddenly she looked forward to seeing the pissed off version of her sister battle the FCM.

"Why are you just staying there?" The doctor resisted the urge to slap Dawn. "Get in the car and do something!"

"Well," Dawn was about to answer but thought against it when she looked down at the steam pouring from Rhea Lee's sparking palm. "Don't kill him?"

"No promises." Rhea Lee growled and stomped towards the staggering FCM. "He just tried to blow me up!"

He was aiming for me. . .

Dawn decided to bite her tongue and silently watch her sister go—it was quite a remarkable distance that the FCM had been blown away to.

It's better for you to take out the brunt of your anger on him than poor little me. Despite knowing that she was safe now, Dawn could not help but feel like something was about to go terribly wrong.

She shifted her gaze from Rhea Lee ro the shieldless FCM.

"What am I missing?" Her eyes moved to the sky just as she reached her car.

Wait. . . Why are the shields still flickering?

It didn't make sense since the FCM's shields were breached and would have shut off automatically to save power as it's body recovered.

And what about the shields in the sky?

From what she saw they weren't there at all.

But shields don't just disappear.

If the shields weren't there then the capital would have been flooded with fog almost immediately so it must have been something else.

Then. . . The gears her mind worked overtime to find the reason. The capital is being attacked?

The only reason a shield would fail would be if an incoming attack was too powerful that the computers would choose to salvage the defense capability of the structure than protect the structure itself.

She found herself looking at the sky again, it was perfectly clear—without any sign of impending doom. But just as she was about to dismiss her thoughts as paranoia, an almost impossible thought flitted through her mind.

No. . .

Dawn's fingers froze above the door's handle when she suddenly turned to Rhea Lee, her voice loud and terrified as her gaze fell on the battle about to go on in front of her.

"No Lee, don't shoot!" she screamed, knowing that once her sister fired the shot she would no longer be able to shield herself from what was coming.

But it was too late, a large bolt of lightning descended from the sky as both Rhea Lee and the FCM shot their lasers at each other. In a split second the entire area exploded.

Dawn looked back just in time to see the capital building—thousands of miles away from where they now stood—crumble like a crushed cookie and go up in smoke while the heat and pain from the explosion stained her limbs red and forced a scream up her throat.

The last thing she remembered before falling into a sea of suffocating darkness was a chilling laugh in the midst of the falling buildings and a rain of shredded metal.

†

AN: This chapter took forever! Was this what you expected? I didn't expect it either, haha. It was supposed to end at Rhea trashing the FCM but I was listening to music and this seemed much more epic. Remember to vote and comment!

Question of the chapter

What do you think Dawn realized about the shields. . . again?