Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 658: The weasal is visiting the chicken.

Suddenly, Sheldon looked at Linda Chan’s face on the screen and screamed. "You were minister or something in Finch’s government. You better explain to us everything about the alien ship and the experiments you fools did."

Linda flinched. "I was not part of Finch’s inner circle. Do you think they would share something like this with me? I don’t even think Ceasar was aware."

Sheldon wanted to make another accusation, but Jon stopped him. "Walden’s first."

Everyone in the room agreed. The Walden’s were their neighbors after all. They were the closest danger.

Hades looked at Carson. "You and Dominic interviewed Greg. Did he say anything about this that could be useful."

Carson snapped his fingers once. "Greg mentioned something about an old junkyard. A massive place, miles of rusted steel. He said the Walden’s were guarding a mining site there. A place where a meteor fell and stayed hot."

Sunshine clapped her hands together once_ a sharp, decisive sound. "That has to be it. Hunter, please widen the scan on that part of Babel. We need a closer look. Tap into footage of every drone that is outside."

"Yes ma’am." The dog replied. Half of the screen went black. There was just one word: Scanning.

Not a single word was said in the room, but many fingers were moving. Texts were being sent. Panic was being spread inside the base. But it was silent panic. Some people were already outside, trying to find the tears in the sky.

Hunter beeped. "Confirmed, I have localized an anomalous alien mineral signature at the coordinates of a former salvage Yard. The energy readings are off the charts. It has to be the prime core." She sent coordinates as well. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Vicente looked around the room, his eyes wide. He looked at the soldiers, the priest, the businessmen, and the scientists. Then he looked at Sunshine. They all seemed to be on board. "Okay," he said softly. "We know what it is. We know where it is. But Mrs. Quinn... how the hell are we supposed to destroy something like that?" He asked.

Lately he understood why strong men and tenacious women relied on Sunshine, she knew things others did not. He was slowly becoming her faithful dog.

The air in the command center was currently vibrating with the kind of tension you only find at a dysfunctional family reunion where someone brought a grenade.

Sunshine sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I’m still working on the ’how’ part of destroying the Prime core. I do have a safe place where it can be stored. In the meantime, we don’t sit on our hands. We prepare to take back the rest of the Babel territory and the prime core. Either they surrender completely to avoid bloodshed or we take the other route."

Dominic, whose face usually looked like it was carved out of granite, shifted uncomfortably. "The plan is good, but the Walden mercenaries have learned about the prime core. They’re few in number, but they’re using it to amplify their abilities. They’re fast, strong, and they don’t seem to feel pain. Taking them down won’t be like a standard skirmish. It’ll be like fighting ghosts with sledgehammers."

"And, they have exo suits too." Major Elio pointed out.

Sunshine didn’t mention the secret hidden in the thermal bands of her own elite squads_ the way her system could kick-start it when things got ugly. Some secrets were better kept until the end.

"Our upgraded exo-suits are reinforced with high-tensile alloys," she said simply, her voice echoing with a confidence she hoped they’d catch like a cold. "They are stronger and more resilient than anything the Walden’s have. Besides, we can still suppress their abilities so that alone is good enough. Major Elio, get the squads ready."

Elio snapped a crisp salute. "Consider it done, Ma’am. We’ll be ready to move by dawn."

The committee began to shuffle their papers and stretch their cramped legs, the meeting seemingly over, until Hades’ phone let out a sharp, urgent chirp. He pressed it to his ear, his casual smirk vanishing instantly.

"Wait," Hades called out, his voice cutting through the chatter. "Change of plans. Security just called from the Kingsbridge gate. We’ve got company. The weasel has decided to visit the chicken."

Lisha, didn’t wait for an order. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, and a grainy, flickering video feed bloomed in the center of the room. "Bringing up the gate feed now. Why the hell are the Walden’s at our front door?"

"Maybe they’re here to surrender?" Hadrian suggested hopefully, though he sounded like he didn’t even believe himself. "They must know that they do not stand a chance."

"Or they are here to scout the area, discover our weak points," Vicente muttered under his breath.

Jon suddenly leaned forward, squinting at a figure on the edge of the screen. He pointed a thick finger at a young man standing between two heavily armed Walden guards. "Hey, Sheldon... isn’t that your nephew?"

Sheldon froze. He pushed past Jon to get a better look, his face turning a sickly shade of grey. "Howard? What the_ what is he doing with them? And what happened to his face? His eye... it’s gone."

"They must want a ransom." Cory said.

The screen showed Howard, looking confident, a crude black patch covering his left eye. He looked less like a prisoner and more like one of them. "Looks to me like your nephew sought refuge in Walden territory," Hades said, his tone biting.

Carson shook his head, a dark scowl deepening the lines on his face. "The Walden’s don’t do ’charity,’ Sir. They wouldn’t take in a pampered kid like Howard Shaw unless he was carrying a very heavy gift. Something like... oh, I don’t know, smuggled goods from Fortress Four? He was a smuggler after all."

Ariel nodded in agreement, his eyes narrowing. "They didn’t buy those exo-suits and iron shirts from us officially."

"Maybe they have a middleman!" Sister Anna shouted, her voice jumping an octave in her agitation. "Must we be so pessimistic about everything? Honestly, Carson, your heart has become so dark! You’re about to start talking about shooting people before they’ve even opened their mouths. Are you sure you aren’t the monster you claim to be fighting?"

Carson scoffed, turning on his sister with a predatory grin. "Anna, you have absolutely no right to judge anyone. Don’t think I don’t know what you and Paula are doing in the prison medical wing. Injecting prisoners with a suppressant that strips their abilities permanently?" He sneered. "Did you think that nobody noticed?"