Chapter 767: Hostages from the Battle.
The moment Sunshine and her team reached the aircraft, the heavy air of the battlefield finally began to lift. She leaned against the soft leather of the chair, her lungs burning, and tapped her comms.
"Neems? do you copy?" she croaked.
"Copy boss. I am, on my way to your aircraft." Nimo’s voice crackled through, sounding suspiciously cheerful. "And Suni? I’m coming back with a gift. You’re gonna love it. Or hate it. Honestly, it’s a toss-up."
Unlike their grand, thunderous arrival that had practically screamed ’Here we are, come kill us’, the return journey was eerily silent. The vehicles hummed in invisible mode, gliding through the scorched landscape like ghosts.
Once they were safely back on the aircraft’s, the ramps hissed open. On the battle aircraft, Sunshine was already waiting in the storage area for cars to board. The moment they did, the doors were sealed.
For a moment, they all strapped in as they aircraft started, and took to the air. After Elio’s voice informed everyone that that they could now move freely, Sunshine unstrapped eagerly.
Nimo took her to the car, wiping grease and blood from her forehead. She gestured dramatically toward two reinforced containment units. "This is a gift from the universe to you for repairing those rifts!" She said, with a wide grin.
Inside the first was a very grumpy-looking Noxian soldier who was still bleeding. Inside the second was a watcher, unconscious and drugged a little too much because they had been worried about the creature waking up.
Sunshine stared for a second, then a laugh bubbled up from her chest_ a wild, jagged sound that was part relief and part pure surprise. "Nimo, you’ve outdone yourself," she said, shaking her head. "Add more sedatives. Heavy ones. I want them sleeping for days if that is what’s necessary. If they even twitch an eyelid, double the dose. Scan them for trackers, we should make sure that they can’t be found ever again unless we want it that way."
"Already on it," Nimo grinned. "Oh, and we tossed a bunch of mutant corpses in the back of the cars too. For science. Or sell. Your call."
Nimo’s eyes, which had been glowing with the pride of a job well done, suddenly dimmed. Her smile dropped as she looked at Sunshine’s charred suit and shaking hands. "Sunshine... your fingers! They look like they have been through a trash compactor. Are you okay?"
Sunshine blinked, looking down at her hands. The skin was dark red, bruised and raw. At the same time, it was like all her veins were exposed. "It doesn’t hurt; I am sure they will be fine. They were bleeding for a minute. I felt... funny and then suddenly, I was okay." She looked up at the ceiling. "I guess I have the system to thank for the quick fix."
Nimo looked up too, wondering if that was where the system was.
Meanwhile, it chimed in Sunshine’s mind: [You are wrong. Your fix was not my doing. The regeneration is a result of the Dexa Q serum that is still in your blood stream. It has awakened regeneration abilities in you.]
Sunshine winced, her stomach doing a little flip. "Wait, did you give me more of that stuff without my knowledge?"
[I didn’t have to. The serum is stable within your biology. I do not need to give you more.]
"Great," Sunshine muttered. "Any side effects so far?"
[Your body has adapted well. However, should you wish to return to normal, Planet Zenn has developed Dexa P. It acts as a neutralizer to wash the serum out.] The system paused. [Do you wish to order a dose?]
Sunshine looked at her hands that had repaired themselves. "Not yet," she whispered. "But stock up on it. I don’t want to be a science project forever."
They took care of the hostages and transferred them to sealed pods. Then, they went to the de-contamination units on the aircraft.
As the strong mix of chemicals washed them clean, Nimo narrated the battle between the Noxians and Watchers.
*****
The atmosphere in some parts of Fortress Four shifted the moment the ships touched down at 11 A.M. The heavy cloud of tension that had hung over the mountain base snapped. People flooded the hangers_ fire fighters and medics scrambled toward the returning squads. Decontamination and mechanical crews rushed to the aircrafts.
Hades was the first to reach Sunshine. He had a massive, relieved smile on his face, looking like he wanted to wrap her in a hug. But the moment he saw her expression, he froze. Sunshine wasn’t smiling. Her face was a mask of cold stone, had something gone wrong? he wondered.
"Take the hostages to the underground bunkers. Maximum security. Now," she ordered Elio.
"I will tell Carson and Poncho to prepare." He said.
"Hostages?" Hades asked, his brow furrowing. "What hostages?"
He watched as two transparent pods were whisked off the ramp by a team of heavy lifters.
"Is that... an alien?" Hades whispered, his eyes widening.
"A Noxian." Sunshine said, "And a Watcher."
"Noxian!! Suni, how did the Noxians even know where to find you?" Hades said, a glint of worry forming in his eyes. "Did they hurt you? What are we going to do about this? You need to hide in Glacis or wherever Nine comes from. Forget the rift, your life..."
"Breathe honey," Sunshine cut him off, stepping around him, "how they got my location is exactly what I’m going to find out. I want to know who sold me out because there is no way they found me on their own."
"And the big bird?" Hades asked, gesturing toward the pod with the watcher.
"A lucky break that we needed." Sunshine said.
She didn’t wait to rest or tell him more because the clock was now ticking. The watchers would be looking for their own very soon. She followed the team into the high-security lab underground where the watcher had been laid out already. The giant bird was strapped to a metallic bed with heavy chains, looking ridiculous because its wingspan was far wider than the furniture.
"Let’s get this junk off him or her. Be careful not to cut yourselves." Sunshine commanded.
A few trusted technicians and doctors began unbolting the heavy armor plating. To everyone’s surprise, the metal came away easily, almost like it was designed to be a costume rather than protection. As the chest plate fell away, one of the techs gasped.
"Wait... look at the neck," he pointed.
Sunshine leaned in. The feathers were loose. They weren’t growing out of skin. They were attached to a thick, sewn fabric_ a high-tech onesie.
"System what is this?" Sunshine asked quietly.
[Scanning...] the system chirped.
[Scan complete. This appears to be a simple costume. Host, open the zipper located beneath the left-wing joint.]
Sunshine didn’t hesitate. She reached into the fake feathers, found a small, hidden tab, and pulled the Zip.
The entire front of the bird fell open. Everyone in the room leaned back, ready to see a big bad monster.