Robera was frozen as she watched the scene unfold before her tear-stricken wide eyes.

Her hands - swollen and red from the constant hitting on the copter glass - was pressed against the tinted surface.

"K-Kirex..." a whimper escaped through her hoarse throat at the familiar unflinching tower of metal.

His gaze focused solely on the kneeling Trevor who was wheezing in pain.

Marion lay limp right beside the bleeding culprit.

Safe. Thankfully, blissfully safe.

That bullet had been so close...

Robera gulped a hard lump. A harsh breath escaped her lips and she clenched her jaw hard before forcing her sore hand to thump harder against the glass again.

Her brow crunched at the sharp pain coursing through her arm.

And finally, someone had decided to pay attention to her sound.

Robera sighed in relief when she met Kirex's glowing crimson gaze.

But her triumph lasted for mere seconds because as soon as Kirex saw her, his gaze focused back to the groaning Trevor.

He turned his head around and sneered up at Kirex.

"You... You wretched fool! How dare you disobey your master!"

Kirex took a threatening step forward toward him.

And Trevor suddenly laughed, coughing blood out in the process.

"You going to kill me, huh? Forgot already that you are not programmed to kill your creator?"

"Such... pity." Marion moaned as he rolled over.

Trevor glared at Marion as he used his arms to pull his trembling form in a sitting position.

He hissed when a particular position contracted his heavily bruised abdomen. One of his hands cluched his belly while the other one pressed against the ground a firm grip, holding the weight of his slumped body.

Dark, matted strands curtained his sweat-slick forehead as he turned his head and gave Trevor a bloodied, toothy grin.

"You... still got hit b-by your once... once loyal puppy. So sad."

Trevor bristled in the respose and raised his hand to strike Marion despite his own injury.

however, another flash of bullet near his bleeding leg had him yelp and moan in pain.

"A hybrid is no ordinary robox, Trevor. You seem to forget the detail."

Trevor's head snapped toward Kirex.

Kirex continued. "We are able to reprogram a command when charged to our full potential. You had the advantage of using me at me low battery. But this will not repeat anymore."

A swift rundown of sweat dampened the side of Trevor's ears.

"You still can not kill me, your owner. That is the core program not even the supreme of hybrid cannot override once it is settled in your system, Kirex. Don't forget that."

Marion's breath hitched in response and Robera's simply stopped.

But Kirex stood firm like a mountain. His pointed arm unwavering from Trevor's direction.

"The statement is true. I can harm you, only not enough to bring death. But there are other ways."

Kirex's red eyes lowered. One of his hands turned into human fingers and twisted the black leathed belt on his hip until a black rectangle object came into their view.

An instant cold wave of dread washed over Robera as she saw the red beeping thing.

No...

Robera's fingers dug into the smooth surface of the glass.

No. No. No!

"No, Kirex!" Robera pounded on the glass door in a frantic pace, tears streaming down her crimson-tinted, blotchy face like a river.

Marion was already up on his woobly feet.

"What..." Marion gulped, clutching his chest while looking at Kirex. "What are you d-doing?"

Trevor's loud rage deemed into a cold seething as he glowered at Kirex.

And for some reason, Robera didn't like the sudden transition of emotion.

Trevor choked out a snort and grabbed the earth to stand up on his pair of woobly legs.

"So, you think that mere trinket could kill me?"

"It is not for you." Kirex shook his head.

Trevor frowned. "Then?"

Kirex looked Marion and fixed his gaze on the thin, bruised boy.

Marion froze as he met Kirex's cold crimson gaze.

Trevor was stunned for a moment. And then he threw his head back to let out a boisterous laughter into the night sky.

"No..." Robera whimpered stumbling back into the leather seat.

Fresh warm tears drenched her already soaked cheeks as she looked out at the horrid scene through the tinted glass.

Nothing made sense to her anymore.

Why Marion had locked her inside this copter?

Why Kirex saved Marion only to plan his murder?

What the hell was she even supposed to do in this situation?

She couldn't just sit idly and keep banging the door forever.

Fly high...

Marion's words echoed in her mind.

"Fly..." She frowned, looking away to her side to the front seat of the pilot. "High..."

She could spot a patch of white paper sticking out the left edge of the seat.

Robera hastily wiped her wet cheeks with a sniffle and twisted her body to bent forward, snatching the top corner of the paper.

Only it wasn't just a simple paper but a manual.

She flipped the pages and the crease between hee brows only grew deeper.

It was a flight manual full of instruction on how to operate this copter. There was even a mention of a button on the panel that could open and close the doors and windows.

Damn! Why didn't I look for this earlier? Those banging sessions were a pure waste!

Robera choked out with relief and wiggled her way to the front seat.

Her fingers swiftly grazed the panel buttons in search of that particular trigger to open the door.

Soon enough, she even found the black button.

With a grin, Robera's finger was about to press the trigger when a sudden thought crossed her mind.

Her finger hovered over the button as she paused and pondered for two seconds.

With her mind made up, she flipped the pages of the manual and began to push and pull levers and buttons.

Her intention? Starting the copter engine, preparing for the flight.

Her fingers were shaky.

Her legs were woobly.

Her nerves were frenzy.

The chances of blowing this up was high. There were thousands of way she could mess up with the flight. She could fail to operate the center console. She could fail to push or pull a wrong button, a false lever.

She could fail to perform the right take off or crash the whole thing mid air or while landing. The chances to make mistakes were more with a simple manual to aid her.

But then, this was her only chance. It was their only chance at life, at survival.

And Robera was determined to make it out alive from here with her both men outside.

Robera let out shaky sigh the second the copter thrummed to life and the blades startes to rotate above. She forced her trembling fingers to be steady as she pressed the button to open the doors and tinted windows.

She leaned over to her left window and found three pair of eyes frozen on the whirring copter blades.

Trevor's blue eyes were widened.

Marion's gray ones were gleamed with pride.

Kirex's crimson pools were blank.

"Get in, guys!" Robera shouted, breaking each of their trance.

Trevor was the first one to make a dash toward the copter. He was fast even with his limping legs.

But Robera was faster.

Just before Trevor could reach the passenger door knob, the windows shut close on his face and the doors, locked.

"Open the door, Robera!" Trevor's muffled voice boomed as he pounded the door windows from the outside. "Damn it!"

Robera smirked. "Not you, Trevor. I don't give ride to murderers."

"Robera!"

She ignored the annoying noise of the old man and tilted her head to see Kirex and Marion were inching closer to the copter behind Trevor.

Trevor unbeknownst to the looming threat was frantically hitting the door and cursing Robera.

Just before her men could reach the culprit Robera pressed a gray switch beside the yellow button.

The tinted windows went down and Trevor cursed for the last time, yanking at the door.

When it didn't budge, Trevor jumped and began to crawl through the small space of the window.

"Hey, Trevor," Robera smirked, watching Trevor's head snap toward her for a moment. "Go to hell."

Trevor opened his mouth to respond but before he could utter a single word, a loud thud behind his neck jerked his head to the side of the edgy windowsill.

He could barely let out a yelp before his body lolled forward like a ragdoll.

Kirex grabbed the back side of his coat and yanked the unconscious body of Trevor behind, over Marion's ducked head.

"Nice shot, Grumps." Marion grinned, opening up the door to get into the passenger side and winked at the smirking Robera. "Let's go, pilot. Time to fly outta here."

Robera chuckled and waited for Kirex to jump in. However, her smile dropped the second he shut the door close and turned around.

Bewildered, Marion and Robera shared a glance before Marion edged closer to the door.

"Hey, Kirex, what are you-"

Kirex whirled around and raised his weaponized arm toward Marion. The barrel of his machine gun was emitting crimson ray that colored the spot right between Marion's brows.

"Kirex, get in!" Robera frowned, shouting over the loud noise of the copter.

Kirex only stepped backward, keeping the laser light of his barrel pointed at the blank-faced Marion.

A short second of tensed pause passed as they remain still in their posture.

And then, Marion flung himself toward the door.

He could barely twist the knob when the loud sound of a bullet going off somewhere close made him jerk.

Robera jumped in her seat with a yelp.

"Kirex!"

"No!"

Marion and Robera glared at the hybrid with equal fire in their eyes.

"Leave. Run away from this place."

Marion clenched his jaw.

Robera's heart drummed hard as she frantically shook her head.

What the hell are you doing?

"No, Kirex! Not without you!"

Kirex fired another bullet in response. This time the sound tinged with one of the whirring blades above.

"Go or stay dead. Make a choice."

"Kirex, don't be an idiot," Marion gritted his teeth hard.

Tears started to flow down again. "No, Kirex, please... Don't do this."

"I said leave."

Robera's breath hitched as Kirex's gun barrel switched its position again.

This time, the ray of laser was prickling the skin below her chin.

Kirex... My Kirex...

A hard lump lodged in her throat while tears streamed down her cheeks with renewed vigor.

"He is ready to kill me?" Robera's voice was barely above whisper, a dazed disbelief coating her words.

"Damn it!" Marion muttered under his breath as he looked at her. "Robera, no. He's acting crazy. If we just manage to convince him-"

"He wants me gone..." Robera met Kirex's dead gaze through her glossy eyes.

"Robera, don't take his actions seriously. I'm sure he's plotting something stupid to save us-"

"Fine."

Robera clenched her jaw hard and wiped tears off her face again.

"Robera! Not you too!"

Robera's frantically flipped the manual pages before stopping at the detailed description of operating the copter consoles.

"We can't leave him!" Marion flailed his arms.

Robera grabbed the center console and looked out the window toward the heartless, cruel, stupidly selfless hybrid watching them depart with a calm gaze.

When he met Robera's cold gaze he was no longer pointing his weaponized arm toward them. In fact, it already returned to its familiar human shape.

But it was too late to change Robera's mind now.

She got his message loud and clear and she was going to follow through her determination even if it killed her.

Robera eyed the still beeping back object on his hip.

The flashes were growing faster and more frantic with each passing second.

"As you wish, Kirex," She mouthed the words to the hybrid.

Did his eyes flash brighter in response? Or was it a trick of the thick fog that was glistening with the ever brightening sky?

Robera couldn't tell.

She didn't stall a moment further either and looked ahead at the thin line of dark orange far on the horizon.

She clenched the center console tighter and let out a shaky breath before raising her chin high.

"Robera, this is madness!" Marion grabbed the seat tighter as the whole copter woobled the minute they rose to the air.

"Robera, Kirex..." the constant, loud whirring of the blades cut the noises of Marion's voice but she could predict what he was saying.

Robera was mad. Kirex was nuts. Trevor was gone. This sacrifice was stupid.

Was this sacrifice really unnecessary?

A vague someone screaming outside managed to infiltrate the sea of loud noises.

Marion's breath hitched behind Robera.

"Robera, look, Trevor... Damn!"

"I can't. I'm busy," Robera's voice was cold as she slowly pushed a lever, raising the copter higher in the air.

"Goodness! Trevor has gone loons, wriggling against Kirex's arms. He's trying to reach us but Kirex is holding him tight in his grip. Oh God! Looks like, Trevor twisted a muscle."

Robera's gaze was fixed on the ever brightening horizon as her hands worked to steady the unstable motion of the copter.

"Wow... The tower looks like giant needle from here. The roboxes like a bunch of swarming black and gray ants - if gray ants were ever a thing-"

"Where should we go?"

"Huh?"

Robera tilted her head to the side, her gaze never wavering from the rising red sun on the east.

This looked like a giant ball of ripe tomato with orange halo around it from here. The sky was a smudged blur of dark navy, orange, yellow with pinkish tint scattered around.

It was Robera's first time watching a sunrise after years of darkness.

"Columbia."

At first, Robera didn't hear him due to the noise around them.

"Let's go Columbia."

This time she heard his voice clearer, detecting the strange tender note in his tone.

Columbia was quite far from here, far from Kirex.

Robera had the sudden urge to look down the window to see if Kirex was still watching them from the ground.

She cleared her throat.

"I thought you were from New York. Why Columbia?"

She heard a sound of sigh cut through the noise of constant whirring noise.

"Columbia is... Well, Columbia has more human colonies. I've always wanted to be a part of a human colony, be among my kins, and Columbia is the biggest hive out there for humans in the states. The influence of robox leaders there is relatively less than New York."

"There are more robox leaders?" Robera couldn't hide the disbelief from her voice. "Thought we are done with Trevor the Big Boss here?"

Marion snickered. "The Big Boss is still locked in his prized mercenary's grip, you know."

"Not for long, it seems." Robera shrugged, passing a soft flock of golden cloud just above their copter.

Marion hummed. "Hope so too. But still, he's just one down. There are thousands of them in America, billions more in the whole world. This isn't going to be an easy ride."

Robera shook her head. "No, Marion. It won't be. But then, they might be billions in number but how many of them are supreme version of hybrid?"

"Aren't we getting cocky?"

Robera smiled a little, detecting a hint of smirk in his voice.

"Only speaking the truth."

Marion chuckled. "Anyway, I hears Columbia human colonies have underground training facilities. I bet you could get your training done in there before you start your mission 'taking over the world.'"

"It's mission 'Removing the biased roboxes and their evil leaders from the world,' Marion."

He hummed. "Very ambitious and hard."

"But not impossible."

"No, it's no- the hell!"

Robera jerked forward as the whole copter shook vigorously after a thundering boom behind them shook the world.

Marion bumped against her seat and hissed, holding the side of his temple.

"Ugh! Damn!"

Robera could barely stop herself from crashing against the panel.

She managed to steady the copter even though the dark smog blurred the sunlight around them.

For a moment panic seized her heart as she thought she would never be able to see the day again.

"Are you okay?" Marion's voice was laced with concern as poked his head on the right side of her seat.

Robera met at his worried dark gray clouds and sneaked a glance at the small bump forming on the left side of his forehead.

She gave him a shaky nod. "You?"

"Peachy." Marion tried to grin, raising his brows but winced when he creased his bruised temple.

Robera offered him a small smile and watched him returning to his seat with a groan.

She took a glance at him as he tried to curl his tall form into a tight ball and worked to fit into the small two seater.

His limbs jutted out in awkward positions as he rested his head on the edge of the window. His frantic gaze roamed around the gradually thinning dark cloud, waiting to find out what happened behind them.

Kirex...

Robera's heart drummed faster as she waited with bated breath for the fog to clear and to find her Kirex to be okay somehow.

He will be okay. He has to be okay. Kirex, please...

After the thick wave of smoke passed through them after a while, Robera risked a glace through the rearview mirror on her left.

Breath caught hard in her throat as she watched horror unfold before her eyes.

The whole tower and the entire surrounding area had turned into a giant pit of blazing fire. Orange flames fluttered high, trying to lick the sky. Thick, dark balls of smoke curled around the tower like a cloak engulfing a body. The scorching fire devoured every inch of the ground, even the place where their copter had been resting before the take off.

It was a mess.

A very hot, scalding mess with no chance of anyone's survival.

Kirex, you stupid fool! No! No. No... No, Kirex... No.

A sudden sob choked out of Robera's throat and snapped her head forward, not being able to bear the scene any longer.

Her hands trembled and vision blurred as tremor wrecked through her body, heart, and soul.

Her guardian, her mentor, her protector... He was just gone.

That selfish selfless grumpy hybrid was really gone!

His last breath wasted on her protection. All because she was a weak damsel who couldn't protect herself from sick bastards like Trevor.

It's all my fault!

"Robera..."

Marion's thin arms wrapped around her shoulders as he pressed her against her seat and rested his head on one of her quaking shoulders.

Robera threw her head back and screamed clutching the center console hard with everything in her.

Marion could only hold her with one arm while his other one held the shaking console with a steady grip.

Even through Robera's darkened world, she felt the effort Marion was putting to comfort her. He was the only anchor in the raging storm in her life right now.

The only strength that could keep her afloat in this drifting world - both literally and figuratively.

Robera's streaming tears soaked the side of Marion's face as she sobbed harder, leaning into his head.

"Cry, Robera. Cry. Let all of your tears out." Marion whispered against her shoulder.

He was moving the console over her hands, occasionally pulling a lever or a button after flipping through pages of manual with a free hand.

All so Robera could mourn in peace. But would she ever get peace again?

The steely crimson gaze of Kirex was going to haunt her for life.

She knew what he had been planning to do the second her gaze fell upon that black time bomb strapped to his hip. She never even guessed there was something so dangerous present in the tower let alone an active one.

But she was sure of his intention when Kirex held gun point on her throat letting her know he had been serious.

And Robera finally accepted that she could do nothing against a determined mercenary who was hell bent on finishing a tyrant off the face of this earth.

And unbeknownst to him, he rested a responsibility of doing the same on Robera's shoulder with his death: To end the era of robox's tyranny from the world. For that reason alone, she must survive.

She looked at Marion crouched beside her. His hands moved the center console over hers as he navigated the copter on her behalf.

Survive... Yes.

Robera and Marion both.

Robera blinked the blurriness off her vision, letting the remaining drops wet her dirty coat and the wrapped white towel underneath.

Her heart was crumbling.

Her soul was screaming.

She was breaking.

But she knew with Marion beside her, she would survive.

A warm golden dawn was slowly breaking on the edge of the horizon.

She would rise...

A new day.

She would thrive...

A new beginning.

Maybe not today, maybe not so soon, but someday. Yes, someday she'd do Kirex's sacrifice a proper justice. She had to.

Because Robera Sayfix was finally awake.