It had been designed that way in order for surviving military craft to navigate through it more easily. Each color beginning a sequence of bursts that fell into a larger pattern. If an aircraft pilot was good enough, and used his onboard navigational unit properly, he or she could fly through the bursting cloud as though it were a well-mapped out minefield.

Guardian Angel was tough to see during the day, not that it mattered. The Ancients remained indoors while the sun was out unless it was very necessary to do otherwise, their weakness for a specific ultraviolet ray forcing them to do a majority of their work from sun down to sun up.

From the moment the sunset came, the wastelands would become a war zone, littered with Ancient ships and Human Resistance. Because of the protection of Guardian Angel, if the Ancients launched an assault against Washington City, it came on foot and with heavy losses. What remained of the United States military had fallen back into the safe zone, literally turning the entire city into a huge military base of operations. The city of Berlin, Germany was just the same, making them the only two standing reminders of a society that once was.

Once you left the protection of either city, or safe zone, all bets were off. The Ancients controlled about eighty percent of the wastelands, the other twenty held by either Separatists or the Resistance. The Resistance was a mixture of American and German soldiers who had dug in and were fighting like hell to stave off constant attacks by the Ancients. Separatists, on the other hand, just tried to survive one day at a time. Usually in secluded villages, caves or even on water barges which roamed the oceans.

It took weeks for a steam powered airship to travel from Berlin to Washington, only having the ability to fly during the day. And it was an airship that Alicia and her team waited for as they stood near the landing section of the city.

Several Washington airships were departing, not an uncommon sight as it was the only reliable way of trading with factions and Separatists throughout the wastelands. A small military crew would accompany the ship's flight crew and cargo, that was the standard procedure.

The Resistance had even been known to trade with Separatists on a regular basis, giving lower-end weaponry in exchange for the one luxury they couldn't get enough of. Food. They had very little ability to grow their own food inside the asphalt grid of Washington City, so it was a deal that worked for both parties involved. They would scavenge from the dead after battle, trading anything they had plenty of to Separatists with large farms. Separatists who had an abundance of food, but the desperate need for weaponry in order to keep themselves safe.

Some Separatists had even started forming their own governments, each fighting for their own home and their own flag. It was the biggest difference between being considered a Separatist or Resistance sworn. Separatists had accepted defeat at the hands of Ancients, now focusing their attention to organizing those around them and living in peace. Those for the Resistance, however, remained focused on the survival of Humanity. A world that once was.

There was no true government in place when it came to the Resistance. The surviving military helped survivors throughout the city, distributing food and supplies routinely and asking that those who were capable of doing so, assist them with maintaining a safe environment. It was this very request, which saw groups of lamplighters do so every evening. Groups, which usually numbered near a dozen, openly patrolled the city streets. They were armed men who had sworn to help an already taxed military force, policing the streets and offering assistance to any citizen who needed it.

Larger buildings in Washington City had been designated for military use, which meant there was a guaranteed place to sleep, hot meals and fresh clothing for those who volunteered to take up arms against the Ancients. Alicia Lucard was one such person. She had been with the Resistance since the death of everyone who had ever mattered to her. With no place to go and no one else who seemed to give a damn, she joined the open arms of a Resistance force.

They had taken an accountant, a worn-down woman with no understanding of handling a weapon, and turned her into a trained killer. Her hate for the Ancients and what they had done to change her life forever, bled into a kind of hatred that was rarely seen. And, in fact, was the biggest reason she had become so deadly, swiftly moving through the ranks of those around her.

Alicia was widely regarded as one of the greatest soldiers left on Earth, having sent over a thousand extraterrestrial warriors to a very Human hell below.