Chapter 768: Cat in a costume.
Curled inside the suit was a large, pinkish-grey, hairless creature that looked like a cat with a head that was full of pulsing red veins. It was like a giant Sphinx cat with slightly more muscular limbs and very large, intelligent eyes that were currently squeezed shut from the sedatives.
"Is that a Sphinx cat of some kind?" Hades asked, taking a closer look. "Surely, these can’t be the creatures that have been making us hide and tremble?"
Sunshine blinked. She had been expecting something that looked like Wilbert...maybe. Not this!
The system sent an alert in her mind. [Creature identified: Sphinx mutant from Xylos. It is highly intelligent and capable of mimicking human social structures. They are usually used as interplanetary spies.]
The silence in the room lasted for five seconds before Sunshine absolutely lost it. She doubled over, clutching her stomach, laughing so hard that tears started to leak out again. "It’s a damn spy cat?!" she wheezed. "The legendary, terrifying watcher... is a bald cat in a bird suit?!" So... the watchers were not the Xylas!
Hades shook his head and chuckled "You’ve got to be kidding me." He rubbed his face. "So, what do you plan to do with it? Are you going to interrogate it about Xylos?"
Sunshine stopped laughing, though a smirk remained. She paced around the metallic bed, watching the cat’s chest rise and fall. "No," she said softly. "I don’t need to ask it anything. I know everything that I need to know and we can use this to our advantage."
She reached into her space and pulled out a tiny, silver wand no bigger than a toothpick. It hummed with a faint, ominous purple light.
"System, where’s the best place for a permanent ’gift’?"
[Sew it in the lining of the costume. near the base of the spine. It will remain undetected by standard of the Xylos security scanners.]
With the steady hands of someone who had just stitched the sky back together, Sunshine tucked the device into the suit. Then, she helped the techs zip the cat back into its bird persona.
"Hadrian!" she called out.
Hadrian stepped forward, looking confused. "Yeah?"
"Take our watcher friend here and drop her back in Mockland. Right where she can be found by her fellow cats. She’s going to wake up with a headache and think she somehow survived it all."
[Or wipe her memories completely with RFG-59 serum.]
"What are you planning to do with that thing? Will it not fall back on us?" Hades asked, shocked.
Sunshine gave the purchase order and retrieved the serum with the wave of one hand. Personally, she poured the contents down the creature’s mouth.
"I am letting the watcher go with the doom’s wand," Sunshine said, her eyes flashing with a dangerous spark. "She’s walking back to her master’s with a ticking time bomb sewn into her underwear. When the time is right, I am going to end Xylos. At least I will cripple them enough not to mess with any other worlds for a very long time."
She patted the fake feathers of the sleeping cat. "Go home, kitty. We humans are done playing nice."
The watcher was put back into the pod. A specialized drone team lifted the case, maneuvering it toward the transport aircraft that would take Hadrian and others back to Mockland for the quick drop.
Sunshine stood on the tarmac, her arms crossed over her still-aching chest, watching until the aircraft as it vanished into the clouds. Only when Hadrian and his team were no longer visible did she finally let out a sigh that seemed to rattle her ribs.
Hades stepped up beside her. "You look like death warmed over, Babe," he said gently. "Go to sleep. Hadrian has the cat-drop handled. The Noxian is secured in the bunker. The world will still be broken in eight hours, but better thanks to your efforts."
Sunshine looked at him, a tiny smile lingered on her lips. The adrenaline was leaving her system, and in its place was a bone-deep weariness and a hot, bubbling ball of anger. "Sleep is for people who don’t have alien assassins tracking their every move, Hades. I need to know how they found me before I can relax."
She didn’t wait for his reply. She tapped her dialed a number. "Carson. How is the Noxian?"
"The same boss," Carson’s voice was tired. "The medics are trying to flush the sedatives and stabilize him. He lost a lot of blood. He is not in good condition."
"He’s an alien, Carson. He can handle losing some blood." Sunshine retorted, walking toward her hover-jeep. "I’m not waiting another second. Use adrenaline, any stimulant, a bucket of ice water_ I don’t care. Wake him up."
"Yes ma’am," Carson answered but the doctor took the phone before he could end the call
"This is Dr. Choi, Ma’am, I do not advise...."He began to explain
"I’m the Boss, Choi. And I say wake him." She cut the transmission and drove home in angry silence.
Going home was like stepping into a different dimension. The heavy armor came off, and she scrubbed the soot from her skin, grateful that the Dexa Q had already healed the raw skin and wounds on her hands, leaving them smooth but oddly sensitive.
She shed her blood thirsty persona and dressed in ’mommy mode.’ The kids were home. School and most activities were cancelled on the days when she did rift repairs.
The boys were naturally excited to her, screaming over each other and vying for attention. Their freshly dyed purple hair was shining so brightly.
"What’s for lunch?" White asked, stomach rumbling like thunder.
In the midst of laughter, they set up the table. For once even Tank and Hunter were excited. Lunch was very noisy. The kids were laughing as they watched an old cartoon movie.
"In my days..." Hades started.
The kids screamed.
"He said it again." Earl dropped from his chair, rolling on the ground, making Berry roll her eyes.
Sunshine was amused and confused. "What did I miss?"
Ariel sighed, as if he was exhausted. "Dad just keeps comparing our behaviors to the way people behaved in his days."
Castiel cleared his throat and rolled his hand into a fist, that was supposed to be a microphone. "In my days, we personally milked the cow instead of buying bottled milk."
Hades scoffed, with a smile. "I am not old."
Everyone laughed.
The family remained together, laughing and telling stories. After dinner, Sunshine tucked them into bed. Unexpectedly, they were quite demanding.
"Story time!" they demanded in unison.
"A story about what?" she asked, pulling the blanket up to their chins.
"About how you fixed the sky!"
Sunshine took a breath. "Well," she started, keeping her voice low. "The sky had a big bruise. Like when you scrape your knee. And I had to use magical, glowing thread that is powered by lightning to sew it back together."
"Did it hurt?" they asked, their eyes wide.
"A little," she admitted. "But it was worth it. Because now the sky is safe to some point."
"And you brought home a watcher?" Ariel asked. It was a highly guarded secret, but he had scanners that tapped into the interrogation rooms.
"Oh," Sunshine smiled, thinking of the bald cat. "We found out the watcher was actually just wearing a costume. It was actually a very smart, hairless cat. Keep that a secret."
The kids laughed, not entirely believing her, but the story calmed them down. Sunshine lay with them until they drifted off, and before she knew it, the silence of the room claimed her too. She slept, deep and dreamless, for the first time in days.