Chapter 738: The fun.
The robots moved fast. Some stood tall like metal walls, letting bullets and weapons bounce off their chests to keep the men, women and crying children safe. But for the people who had turned dangerous, the robots were not as kind.
If a sleeper tried to hurt someone, a robot would grab them with cold, heavy hands, breaking their legs to make them stop. It was scary to watch. They didn’t take emotional calculations into account, and just followed Sunshine’s orders.
Hunter was all over the place, doing whatever she could to identify the sleeper cells. "Data acquired. Transferring to command computers..."
The screen erupted in a sea of red. The pings identifying the sleeper cells didn’t just flicker; they flooded the map. It wasn’t ten people, or even fifty. There were hundreds of them. Every corner of the fortress_ the kitchens, the barracks, the engine rooms_ was crawling with enemies who used to be friends. The screen looked like it was bleeding.
"Dear heavens, I am going out there," Nimo, released her claws and dashed out of the command room, the last thing she heard was Sunshine telling her to be careful.
The system had not been idle either, it was sourcing for the best solution that could be used immediately. [Host, I advise that you activate the Tide seashells because the vibrations will interfere with the frequency coming from the orb. The hypnotized residents whose behaviors rival those of wild animals will calm down and so will the mutated animals in Silverdale.]
"That is just perfect system, get more Tidal shells as many as you can?" Sunshine asked.
[Yes host,]
"Buy them all. Right now. I don’t care about the charge!" Sunshine yelled.
Seconds later, massive crates materialized in the command center. Not one person in the room asked how, because they had become accustomed to seeing superhumans with space abilities.
Sunshine didn’t wait. "Lisha, get the drones! Distribute these shells to every corner of the base_ hell just pour them everywhere. West brook, Silverdale, the residential blocks_ everywhere!"
A swarm of drones buzzed out of the command center like a cloud of angry hornets. Officers armed them with packets of tidal shells and they were sent out. On Sunshine’s command, they were activated all at once and the sound overwhelmed everything.
The whole base turned a glowing green color. The glowing multicolored shells went into every dark corner and filled every base. They carried an inner projection of the deep sea which reflected off the surface of the bubble. It looked like the fortress was at the bottom of a beautiful green ocean.
The effect of the shells was activated was almost immediate. All across the base, the people in trances collapsed. Some blinked rapidly as the milky film began to slowly vanish from their eyes. Others covered their ears and started to scream as if they were in intense pain.
A few children started dozing off right where they were, as if their mothers were singing soft lullabies.
Those who were coming to their minds looked at the chaos they had started. The fires they had set, at the weapons in their hands, the communication towers they had tried to bring down. They dropped their weapons in confusion and shame.
"What...what is happening?" A woman asked, confusion pooling in her eyes as she looked at the bedroom door she had been hacking, to get to her family that had been hiding from her.
She was not the only one in shock to realize that she had been about to hurt a loved one. Some had actually done so, and they were already trying to get their victims to the medic bay.
Up on the bubble, Pink leaned forward, her face showing a rare spark of intrigue. "Well, well. Sunshine found a counter-frequency in less than thirty minutes. I’m almost impressed. She wins again, but this time, I made her bleed."
"Don’t give up yet," another Watcher hissed, clutching a betting slip. "The pig is still out there, and it is hungry. I bet it is going to be the death of her. We took it to our world and enhanced it. It is a work of art now."
In the command center, on the live footage, a group of soldiers guarding the Westbrook gate was suddenly sent flying as if hit by a freight train. There was nothing there_ just the sound of heavy, rhythmic breathing and the smell of wet and rough fur.
"What the hell is that?" Phillip asked, his voice trembling.
Hunter was already around; her radar began to scream. A single, pulsing red dot appeared on the screen, moving with terrifying speed. "Beware of the invisible enemy," Hunter reported. "And it’s headed for the chapel. There are residents hiding in there and children in the orphanage."
"Shit," Sunshine cursed. She looked at the screen, then at her hammer. "Hunter, connect your radar to that of every soldier’s visor. If they can’t see it with their eyes, they’ll see it on their HUDs. It’s not invisible you know where it is."
"Done," Hunter confirmed.
Sunshine asked the system to teleport her to Westbrook, her heart hammering against her ribs. She arrived at the new chapel just as a heavy black SUV was flipped over by an unseen force. The doors of the chapel were close to being completely shredded.
The residents inside were already escaping through a side door near the confession box.
She threw a small black box inside the church, through a window. It created an invisible barrier, blocking off half of the church from the screaming residents. So, even as the doors burst open, the people were safe.
"Stay here," she told the soldiers that were quickly rising and grabbing weapons.
She entered the chapel, with Hunter on her heels. The boar, realizing it was being trapped between an invisible barrier and her, gave up the ruse. It dropped all visibility and appeared before her. A mountain of muscle, tusks on almost each part of the body, and hatred in the eyes.
Sunshine didn’t flinch.
It lunged. Sunshine gripped her hammer tight and swung it in a giant, heavy circle.
CRACK!
The hammer caught the beast square in the jaw. The force was so great that the Prime Core was dislodged from the boar’s throat, spinning across the floor like a discarded marble.
Squeaks came from the watchers as cheers erupted. "Yes! The hammer strike! I win the round!" one shouted.
Sunshine looked at the boar, then up at the ceiling, as if she could see the Watchers through the roof. "You want a show?" she muttered. "Show’s over."
She pulled the boar into her space. "System, teleport me and this overgrown pig to Veldek. Now."
"Suni_ " Hadrian’s voice started as he rushed inside, but it was too late, she was gone.
In a flash of white light, she was gone. The watchers were left, complaining and cursing Sunshine for always ruining the fun.