Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 713: Pissed off superiors.

Sunshine stood up, her face instantly shifting from Mom mode to Commander mode. "That’s no meteor," she muttered. "There’s no fire. No smoke."

She was right. The sphere began to vibrate, then it simply... disintegrated. Hundreds of Acid Maw Crawlers_ vile, multi-legged creatures with gaping, dripping mouths_ spilled out across the surface of the bubble. They looked less like centipedes and more like really fat, hairy caterpillars.

"What a way to make an entrance," Hades scoffed, reaching for his heat torch. "And I have to say that even if they had not come with acid, I would not have snacked on them."

Earl bent his back, threw off his hood and wretched.

"So ugly." Berry whispered. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The little lizard threw up as well!

This made White throw up too!

Sunshine rolled her eyes. "You are all being ridiculous."

The crawlers began to secrete a thick, neon-green liquid from their undersides. The acid sizzled against the shield, sending mild distress signals to the command center’s consoles. The creatures wandered aimlessly at first, their blind heads twitching.

"System is that acid dangerous to the bubble?" Sunshine asked

[Only if it stays active for very long and if it is in huge amounts.]

Then Lisha’s voice came over the communication system. "Attention residents, you are all requested to stay still for a moment. Don’t move or speak."

The Acid maw crawlers rushed towards the sound. But then it was cut off, and they stopped. For a few seconds, the fortress was still, and so were the creatures.

Clang! A nervous resident on the mountain base dropped a metal tray. The crawlers instantly snapped their heads toward the sound and rushed in that direction, moving like a single unit.

"Sound attracts them," Sunshine whispered. She looked up and could see the Watchers rolling around on the bubble, squeaking and chirping in what sounded suspiciously like laughter. They were loving the panic.

"Tank," Sunshine said into her comms, "Wait to engage the heat protocols. Elio, give me a count."

"That was the last sphere, Sunshine," He confirmed. "They’re all here. The whole family." His vision had been trained and enhanced, now he could almost see the rifts clearly.

Sunshine didn’t hesitate. "System: Control all sound." The festive tunes had vanished, replaced by an eerie silence. But it could only last so long because there were many children outside. Sooner or later, one was going to cry or scream.

Besides, the ones that were stuck in the rides had to be panicking. This problem had to be dealt with very quickly.

She turned to Hades. "Keep the people calm."

With a soft pop, Sunshine vanished.

She reappeared a mile away, near the edge of the dark forest. She took fully charged sound speakers from her space and asked the system to play a heavy metal track at maximum volume.

[Yes host]

The effect was instantaneous. Above the fortress, the Maw Crawlers froze. Their heads tilted toward the forest. Like a carpet of filth, they began to scramble away from the carnival, racing toward the source of the noise.

The Watchers’ squeaks of joy turned into groans of disappointment. Their reality show was moving to a different theater. They scrambled to follow the horde, squealing commands that went unanswered.

Once the crawlers had piled up near the speakers, forming a literal mountain of writhing limbs and gnashing teeth, Sunshine spoke into her radio. "Tank. Now. Initiate the Artificial Sun: Extreme Heat."

The overhead lights of the fortress, designed to mimic daylight, suddenly flared with a blinding, white-hot intensity. The temperature didn’t just rise; it soared.

The Watchers felt it first. Their bodies began to puff up in the heat. They fluttered their wings frantically, realizing the area was now a furnace. Below them, the Acid Maw Crawlers began to screech_ a high-pitched, tea-kettle sound. They dried up like raisins in a sunroom. Some fainted, rolling onto their backs with their legs twitching feebly.

"Squads, engage the ones trying to escape!" Elio’s voice boomed over the radio.

The squads flew their exo suits to the parts of the wall near that edge of the forest. Small parts of the wall pulled apart to create gaps through which they could fit their weapons. Streams of concentrated thermal energy blasted the remaining crawlers, turning the crawling mutants into charred husks before they could even think of retreating.

In the midst of the chaos, a new Watcher_ one with strange black and white stripes_ looked absolutely livid. It turned and smacked pink Watcher across the head, then squeaked in anger and zoomed away.

The Pink Watcher paused, glaring through the shield directly at Sunshine with pure, unadulterated fury. It shrieked her name_ or a sound that mimicked it perfectly.

Sunshine didn’t blink. She looked the inter-dimensional pest in the eye and slowly raised her middle finger.

Pink let out a final, indignant yell and zipped away into the clouds, followed by the rest of its disgruntled "guests."

Sunshine teleported back to the training grounds. "Now, you can talk." Lisha announced. Then, a roar of cheering broke out that was louder than any music. They had all watched the destruction of the bugs on large screens which were covering carnival celebrations in different towns.

"Mom! That was so cool!" Ariel yelled, running up to hug her legs. "You made them go poof!"

"The best part," Hades said, walking over and putting an arm around her, "the best part was watching Pink get smacked."

Sunshine smiled, but her eyes lingered on the spot where the Pink Watcher had been. "Pink is mad, Hades. She angered her superiors because the ’show’ was a flop. She’ll be back to retaliate."

Hades rubbed her back, his thumb tracing a soothing circle. "Maybe. But look at this." He gestured to the crowd.

The residents were already picking up their snacks. The music kicked back on_ a bouncy, upbeat tune. People were buying out lanterns.

"We celebrate the win for today," Hades said firmly. "Whatever Pink brings next, we’ll be ready. Together."

The celebration lasted all day. As the sun began to set, hundreds of paper lanterns were lit. They were released into the air, floating up toward the bubble shield. When they reached the top, they didn’t just hover; they were rigged with small pyrotechnics that burst into a canopy of golden fireworks.

"Me too!" Castiel bounced on his feet

"Go ahead sweetie," Sunshine told him

Sunshine leaned her head on Hades’s shoulder, watching the sparks fly, and for the first time in a long time, she let herself just enjoy the carnival.

A notification popped up in her head, [Host, the council has accepted your request for a hearing, it is scheduled for tomorrow morning.]