Planetary News: The nude beaches on Mercury have gained a lot of publicity lately after they started hosting nude weddings and parties. The Mercurian Government is urging anyone in need of a release to visit the beaches. They say they have everything you need... and more.

"Are yuh sure me look menacing?" Cleo asked while staring at herself in the mirror. She wore a silver nano suit.

"You look like the most menacing woman in the system," Rainbow replied, staring at Cleo's backside. Cleo caught Rainbow's reflection ogling at her and winked, making Rainbow blush.

Cleo reached for the earpiece on her right ear and pressed the white button. It transformed into a silver helmet with red eyes. Pushing the button again, it turned into a visor, looking like a cyclops' eye. "Me can shoot optic energy beams when eena dis form?"

"Yes." Rainbow nodded. "The more energy you absorb from an enemy's attack, the stronger the beams are."

Cleo pressed the white button again, and the earpiece turned into a face mask. She did so again, and it changed back into an earpiece. "Me like it."

"I knew you would."

Cleo turned around and stared at Rainbow, who gulped after noticing the lustrous look in the woman's eyes. When Cleo moved towards her, Rainbow scooted back on the bed. Cleo pounced on the hollan, straddling her waist and pinning her arms to the mattress.

Rainbow breathed heavily as she stared into Cleo's green eyes. The longer she did so, the more susceptible she would be to the woman's charm. She did not want that at the moment.

Looking away from Cleo, Rainbow stared at the wall with holographic news clippings and the faces of people who committed crimes against humanity and animals. Cleo had done an extensive investigation on slave traders and poachers in the system, having enough evidence to lock them away for eternity. But the martian did not want that. The evidence justified her crusade, protecting her subconscious when she killed them.

Cleo kissed Rainbow on the cheeks, getting the hollan's attention away from the wall. "What?" Rainbow asked Cleo after noticing the woman staring at her.

"Me like dis," Cleo said.

Rainbow raised her brow. "This what?"

"Dis thing."

"What thing?"

"Dis thing... yah know."

"I do not."

Cleo let go of Rainbow's hands and sat upright, still straddling her. "Yah know... Us."

"Us?"

"You."

"Me?"

Cleo smiled. "Me see wah yuh a doin'?"

"You are the one on top of me saying weird things. I am doing nothing but asking questions." Rainbow grinned.

"Yuh tink yuh suh smart, eh?"

"I do not think I am smart. I know I am."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

Cleo squished Rainbow's cheeks with her hands, making Rainbow's lips look like that of a fish. "Yuh still tink yuh smart now?"

"Yes."

Cleo kissed her lips. "Yuh still tink yuh smart?"

Rainbow nodded.

Cleo kissed her again. "Now?"

Rainbow nodded.

Cleo arched her brow. "Eh seems me haffi use odda means."

"What other means?" Rainbow raised her brow.

Cleo snickered before tickling Rainbow's sides, making the hollan laugh until tears flowed down her face.

"This is not fair," Rainbow said in between laughs.

"Yuh forced me tuh use dis dangerous move," Cleo said as she kept on tickling her.

"General," a voice interrupted them, coming from the commlink in Cleo's suit.

Cleo groaned. "Yes?"

"We're ready."

"Me be deh eena five." Cleo turned to Rainbow. "Wi haffi guh."

"Took them long enough."

Cleo got off Rainbow and tied her hair into a ponytail. Apart from the king-size bed and wall with news clippings, nothing else set the room apart from the other in the spacecraft.

After leaving the room, soldiers standing in the hallways bowed at them as they passed. Though Rainbow hadn't told Cleo, she hated being around the soldiers. They were all synthetics, making it hard for her to read them.

Arriving outside D-14, a scanner on the wall scanned them before the door opened. The room had a high ceiling, long white walls, and a crate full of weapons in each corner. More soldiers stood inside, wearing power armor.

Cleo interacted with them while Rainbow leaned on the wall with her arms crossed. The hollan remembered something Cleo told her before: "Loyalty can be programmed inna machines, nuh humans. Dat's wah me prefer tuh be surrounded by machines. Me know weh me stand wid dem."

Standing in front of a green screen, Cleo faced the camera. She had been nervous the previous night about what she wanted to say. Rainbow had offered to help her write a speech, but Cleo decided to wing it.

The soldier operating the camera started counting down from five with his fingers. When it reached zero, Cleo started talking:

"Me nuh waan tuh kill people. Buh eff me haffi to, den me will. By now, most of yuh will have heard my story. Or a version of it. Dem will seh me a radical, insane, egotistical woman who lost her mind an' tried tuh overpower those eena charge of Mars an' The Kingdom."

She licked her lips. "Dem may be right. It tek an insane individual tuh try an' overthrow institutions dat have been gettin' aweh wid dehumanizing humans an' animals while hiding under di guise of fair rights an' treatment for all. Yuh git wah yuh deserve, as di Martians seh.

"Wah duh we defend ignorance wid dat's how it's always been? Yuh nah want change? How can yuh live wid yuhself knowing people are bein' treated inhumanely? Me know sum ah yuh will try tuh bring up di fact me fada is Senator Logan, an' me was part of di problem.

"Yuh right; yuh totally right. Growing up, me watched me family, relatives, an' friends kick, slap, spit, an' ride slaves lakka animals bikaaz dem cud. Back den me didn't have any power tuh stop dem, suh me stood aside an' watched as di slaves got hanged bikaaz dem broke a cup of tea while we owned hundreds of dem.

"Me friends eena high school used tuh seh it was thrilling tuh treat slaves lakka shit. An' den wen dey parents went broke an' cud'nt pay a debt, dem whole family was forced into slavery, an' dem regretted everyting dem seh before.

"Wah duh we have tuh experience di same pain as others before we show empathy, compassion, love, an' care? Me tried tuh understand dis, an' honestly, me failed. After everyting our ancestors went through, all di sacrifices dem make, an' di trials an' tribulations dem overcome, we still ended up right weh dem were at di start. Eff yuh ask me, our tech's better, but we're worse off wid our humanity."

Cleo looked at Rainbow, huffing. The flaring nose, bulging veins on her face, and heaving chest were a sign of anger. She had to keep composure. Otherwise, she would empower the media that was waiting for her to reveal her fangs. "Me nuh waan tuh kill people. Buh eff me haffi to, den me will."

Ten hunters knelt in front of Cleo. Tapes covered their mouths and metal cuffs bound their hands behind their backs. Soldiers stood behind them, holding syringes with the virus inside.

She walked past the poachers and had her back to them. "Behind me are some of di hunters hired by top executives from all over di system tuh go tuh wildlife reserves an' kill di endangered species before turning dem into clothes, cushions, an' decorations on a wall.

"Me have been working wid di indigenous people of Neptune fah years, trying tuh capture dees hunters. Buh every time me was on dem tails, dem escaped. Not anymore. Me not here tuh issue a warning. Di time fah dat has long passed. De only way tuh achieve peace is through war."

Cleo went to the other side of the room and leaned on the wall. She waved at Rainbow, who waved back before the soldiers injected the hunters with the virus. The hunters fell on the floor and started shaking. When they stopped, they stood with milky-white eyes, releasing a guttural sound like that of a beast. The soldiers took several steps back while aiming their laser guns at them.

Rainbow had made the virus at Cleo's request. The Martian wanted the hunters to become their true selves: monsters. The hollan had no problem making it, eager to see humanity's reaction.

The hunters tore each other apart like a pack of wild animals before one remained. His flesh hung from his body, showing the bones inside. He did not seem in pain. Instead, he turned to the soldiers and ran towards them, roaring like a monster. The soldiers shot him with multiple rounds—most of it to his head—before stopping. He was dead before hitting the floor.

The camera turned to Cleo. "Me tried protesting peacefully, buh me was disowned by me fada an' banished by me people. Dees organizations are run by rich people who don't care 'bout doin' what's right. Buh don't worry, me gonna make dem care. Peace can only be gained through war, don't forget dat."

The soldier behind the camera turned it off. Cleo exhaled deeply before going to Rainbow. "Wah did yuh tink of me speech?" she asked.

"You did good," Rainbow replied.

"Yuh tink so?"

"I know so. What now?"

"Martians want my head on a silver platter. Knowing fada, he'll hire people tuh come fah me. So he'd want tuh talk tuh me before handing me over tuh his superiors."

"If your father hires people to hunt you down, and we are on Earth, then that means—"

"Coyotes are comin' fah me."