Countdown till 2:00 tomorrow begins! From now on, the chapter titles will be how many hours left until the end of this mission. Sigh. Can't believe this story's drawing to a close.

6:00. 20 hours left…

Sashi and Boone were standing around, arguing over who's going to go get dinner.

"I'm the one who's actually entered in this pageant, so I should go!" Sashi yelled.

"I have better taste in food!"

"You mean you taste the food. You never leave any for us!"

"You need to practice for your big dance duet. I should go!" Boone mocked.

"Why you – " Sashi lunged for Boone, but Penn blocked her way.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys! We could just order takeout!" He screamed, but that didn't stop Sashi from side-stepping Penn and going for Boone. "Sashi! What's gotten into you?"

She stopped and slowly unclenched her fists. "You're right, Penn. Let's just order takeout."

…

6:20.

"Mmm. These hot dogs are delish!" Boone exclaimed, stuffing another in his mouth.

"Those are pigs-in-a-blankets, not hot dogs," Sashi said slowly, chewing slowly on hers. She didn't have much appetite.

Penn didn't notice. He obviously thought Chinese was the best thing in the world as well, and was chowing down eagerly.

She looked down at her dress, at her heels and twirled a lock of her hair. What is wrong with her? She's gotten more violent. Much more violent. And since when did Sashi walk away from troubles?

"Penn, I'm going to destroy that robot," She finally said after eating one whole pig-in-a-blanket.

Penn, alarmed, immediately turned towards her. "What? Sashi, you can't destroy the robot!"

"Why not?" She shrugged. "It's just a robot."

"You can't destroy it," he said, deadpanned.

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can! Why not? I didn't even have to be in this pageant anyways. All we have to do is destroy that thing, and all will be done. We could've been done hours ago!"

Penn shook his head hard. "Sashi, check the specs."

"But – "

"Sashi, just check the specs," he stated harshly. Sashi clicked on the glasses again and reread everything.

"Ohh…" Apparantly the robot can also be activated if it's harmed.

"See? You can't destroy the robot. Don't you think we would've already figured out a way if we could?"

Sashi shook her head. "We can still reprogram it. Why not just hack into the computer?"

All eyes turned to Boone. He looked up briefly from his plate to shake his head. "Too late. Penn and I saw it get the file."

Sashi groaned. "Now how are we supposed to do this?!"

"We can still override the system," Penn suggested.

Boone nodded. "I can try that. You'll have to give me time. We don't have superpowers in this world."

Penn struck a pose. "Yeah. I wonder when the next superhero adventure will be."

"Guys! Focus! Boone, you can override the system?" Sashi yelled.

"Yeah. But I need time. It might not even be done by the competition."

Sashi put her hand over her forehead. "When this is over, I'm requesting a vacation. Penn, you know how to dance, right?"

"Yeah. You? Oh, right…" He smiled weakly. "I can teach you," He offered.

"Sure. Let's get this over with." Sashi moaned, punching Boone on the arm. "And that's for sleeping when you should be hacking!"

"Hey!" Boone protested. "A guy needs his beauty sleep!"

"Heh. Funny. Then you should be competing," Sashi said dryly, and walked off with Penn to the practice room.