Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 639: Hero or Villain complex.

Leah, who had been hovering near the back of the group, pulled two large canisters from her bag and hurled them into the center of the mercenary line.

POP-POP!

A sound between popping corn and fireworks was emitted. The canisters didn’t explode with fire. They exploded with the powder. It looked harmless, like a cloud of pollen, but as it settled, the screaming started.

"MY EYES!" one mercenary shrieked, dropping his fireballs as he clawed at his face.

Within seconds, the enemies were reduced to a group of people crying, sneezing, and stumbling blindly in every direction. The cyclone died out. The fire faded. The man with the metal skin was busy scratching his chest like it was on fire, the dust causing an unbearable itch.

"Squads! Move in!" Sunshine ordered. "Tranquilizers and suppressants only! I want them alive. They are our hostages. Check their pockets or bodies for blue stones. Once found, take them away and put them around your necks or arms...wherever you want. Superhumans only, they are useless to ordinary people."

The Fortress Four soldiers didn’t need to be told twice. They moved through the dust cloud like predators.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

The sound of tranquilizer darts echoed through the area, followed by a second dart that delivered suppressants. One by one, the elite Walden mercenaries slumped to the ground, their amplified powers useless against a simple case of itchy eyes.

The battle was over before it had even really begun.

Sunshine walked over to where Commander Telami was lying on his side, his eyes red and streaming with tears. He was trying to crawl away, but his limbs wouldn’t obey him. She stepped on his hand, crushing his fingers.

"You should have gone when I gave you the chance"

Sunshine smiled at him, poison drifting from her breath, Then, she shot the dart at the back of his neck and ripped off a necklace with a blue stone the size of big diamond from his neck.

She looked at her team, who were busy zip-tying the unconscious mercenaries. "Pack them up, no need to be gentle. Especially with Greg....that one committed treason."

As some of the trucks left, others were coming in, full of supplies, soldiers, engineers and surveillance team. Now, Ferry Island could officially be connected to the rest of the base permanently. Her father-in-law was there to keep an eye on things personally.

As for the next person to take charge of the town, they would have to take a vote. In reality, Vicente was the best choice, but he had no love left for the town now.

The prisoners were taken straight to the prison base, as they were herded like shivering livestock toward the heavy steel gates of the highly secured wing, Townsend gave them his talk, ending it with a warning by fire.

Carson fell into step beside Sunshine as she walked back to her vehicle. He looked entirely too calm for a man who had just finished a high-stakes manhunt, though his eyes held that restless glint that usually meant he’d found a new secret to chew on.

"Ma’am," Carson began, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial hum. "I got the ID on our Ice hood. It’s Brian Whitmore."

Sunshine didn’t stop walking. Her boots crunched rhythmically against the gravel. "Whitmore? The kid from the junior training squad who always looks like he’s apologizing for existing?"

"That’s the one," Carson said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Turns out he’s not just a shy boy who recently awakened invisibility abilities. He’s been running around with a device that made him untraceable. It masked his heat signature and scrambled the proximity sensors while he was invisible. Completely untraceable."

Sunshine let out a sharp, dry scoff. "Let me guess. Our resident benefactor Ala handed it to him like she handed the kids squad the gloves and weapons?"

Carson nodded, stifling a laugh. "Bingo. Apparently, Brian has a bit of a hero complex_ or a villain complex, depending on who you ask. He told me it was unfair that the wealthy elites do not want to share the pools and are hoarding all the nice ice, leaving the poor to scramble for the slushy leftovers. He thinks the rich have bought up every decent Cryokinetic in the base. He felt he had to do something about the ice-injustice. His mother was complaining a lot about this at home. It was probably the trigger."

Sunshine actually paused for a second, a gloved hand resting on the hilt of her sidearm. "That sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud. A seven-year-old running around, playing equalizer!"

Carson nodded. He reached into his tactical vest and fished out a tiny object, no bigger than a shirt button. It glinted under the harsh floodlights of the base. "Here. The device. It’s magnetic; sticks to the skin like a leech."

Sunshine took it, turning the cold bit of metal over in her palm. "Foolish kid. But he’s got heart, I’ll give him that and his reasons are valid. This might actually come in handy when we need to be untraceable someday. I should ask Ala for more when I am giving her another talking to. I swear that girl is going to give Leah and I wrinkles."

She tucked the device into her pocket and turned her gaze back toward the looming shadow of the prison base. The structure was a grim monolith of concrete and rebar, a place where hope went to catch a cold and die. Her expression hardened. Townsend was still barking orders.

"Alright, Carson. Enough about Ice hood, I need you to get inside. Use whatever means you need_ charm them, scare them, or buy them off_ but I want everything we can get on the Walden’s. Specifically, I need the location of the Prime Core they have and how much. I also want a headcount on their mercenaries. And Carson?"

"Ma’am?"

"Find the moles. Greg may not have been the only one. The confidence he had was a little too much." She was certain of this.

Carson’s posture shifted. The lightheartedness evaporated, replaced by a chilling, razor-sharp focus that made the hair on Sunshine’s neck stand up. He glanced over at Greg, who was being shoved towards decontamination, his mouth gagged.

"On it," Carson said. Then, he tilted his head toward the dark woods beyond the perimeter fence. "What happens to Greg after? If you want my advice, we tie him to a cedar tree outside the walls. Let the mutated scavengers have a snack and we film it. It sends a message, you know? Very educational for the others."