Chapter 218: Thank God for the apocalypse.
Ariel’s words stayed on Sunshine’s mind for a very long time. She had taken the children to visit Lisha at her place in order to keep them from waking up Hades.
However, since arrival, she had not thought of anything but little Leo and how to fix his problem. She had gone through many ideas until she recalled the obvious one that she was forgetting: a suppressant.
It had just crossed her mind that she could do for Leo what she did for Rosario’s baby. Of course, she had explained it all to Rosario and the mother was glad for it. Leo’s parents were not at the base.
She considered herself his guardian. In order to protect the child, his powers needed to be suppressed until he understood just how special he was.
Sunshine was so relieved that she sighed.
Lisha dropped on the sofa and poked Sunshine in the belly. "Suni, now that you are exhaling, can I assume that you have fixed whatever was causing a frown on your face?"
She turned to face Lisha, lifting her feet and placing them in the chair. "You would be right about that. The solution was right at my fingertips, but I went around in circles for some silly reason. It must be that stupid LuluPod. I keep thinking about it."
"The stupid what?" Lisha reached for a closed flask cup that had hot chocolate.
Sunshine shook her head, "Ignore my rumbling. I am just thinking about the watchers on the bubble. Did you notice that there is one with a pink stripe?"
Lisha slapped the sofa and gushed, "It’s so pretty. Elio was the one that pointed it out to me. It must be a girl or a princess of some kind."
Sunshine was drawn back. She had never thought of the watchers as male or female, they were just watchers. And she had never thought of them as pretty. Again, just watchers. Heck, she never got to find out what they were truly called, nobody did.
It made her wonder of Cassius ever found out the truth about the creatures. Other worlds had to have some information about them surely.
"What are you thinking about now?" Lisha asked her.
"Cassius and Moon." Sunshine slowly removed her socks because her feet were hotter than usual.
Lisha frowned. "I hope they are as dead as Damien." She sneered. "Do you know that he was apparently pretending to be a fool?"
Sunshine was shocked to hear this from Lisha. "How did you know?"
"Warren." Lisha shared enthusiastic. "He heard it from Hadrian. Not only was he not a fool but he was stealing from the company too and paying off his psychologist to hide his diagnosis!! That son of a bitch was probably planning to take over the company. Thank God for the apocalypse. It could not have arrived at a better time."
Sunshine blinked. She wondered how many people in the world were thanking God for the apocalypse aside from Lisha, Father Nicodemus and the prisoners who were not in jail anymore.
****
Sunday morning woke the residents of the fortress with the tolling of bells that echoed through the wind and snow, bouncing off the stone walls.
They were loud enough to go beyond the three walls and seep into Jon and Jin’s bases. Wherever they were heard, those who were awake and walking stopped. It was not in reverence but in surprise.
Tracey Kingsley covered her ears with a pillow and groaned. "Mass in an apocalypse! Are they crazy?"
Jon yawned and went back to sleep. Not his base so not his problem.
Another person that was unwilling to wake up was Castiel Quinn. He grumbled beneath the blankets as Sunshine shook him awake. "Just one more minute mommy." He pleaded.
Sunshine lifted the thick duvet, lifted his night shirt and blew cold air on his back.
Sleep vanished from his eyes like frost on the bubble and he sat up. "Not fair mommy," He complained and pouted.
Sunshine ruffled his hair. "I have a surprise for you. But you will only see it after taking a bath."
Reluctantly, Castiel accepted to bathe.
Indeed, there was a surprise waiting for the children.
In the kitchen which was saturated with the scent of fried eggs, toasted bread and bacon, was a robot. The children froze at the doorway, jaws hanging.
"This is Tank the robot." Sunshine introduced to them, unable to suppress her smile. "He is our new family member and guess what..."
"What?" Ariel asked, almost breathless.
"He is making us breakfast today." Sunshine told them.
Ariel moved fast, his wide eyes blinked, and his small hands touched Tank’s thigh. "He is real! He is so cool mom, what else can he do?"
"We shall find out together." Sunshine replied, waving at the other two to come over. Then she introduced them to Tank.
"It is nice to meet you all, little foremen." Tank’s mechanical voice said.
"Can we play with you?" Castiel as squinted at the robot.
Tank’s lenses flickered, "I have hundreds of construction games stored in my memory, so yes."
That was enough for Castiel’s imagination to ignite. "I want a piggy ride!" He shouted, already tagging on Tank’s arm.
The robot morphed into a mechanical pig as it crouched down, ready to crawl on fours.
Hades laughed as he raised his hand. "After breakfast, you will have plenty of time to play with Tank."
The robot went back to work and the children who were not so pleased frowned. They did not want to play later; they wanted to play immediately.
Ariel especially wanted to chat with Tank. The robot looked like something out of one of his games. It seemed intelligent and could carry a sensible conversation. It was better than Castiel’s stupid octopus which was only good for cuddling.
But the opportunity to engage with Tank would have to wait. He had a feeling that it would wait until after church.
The table soon filled with clicking plates and happy chatter. Even white joined the table. Sunshine had crafted a special seat just for him, one that cradled his body comfortably. The little bear chose to lay in her arms and be bottle fed. A thing that Castiel did not appreciate very much.
After breakfast, the family walked together to the church. Usually, only a few people attended prayers but for some reason, many showed up this Sunday.
Sunshine, who was joining mass for the first time was also surprised by the turn up. "Is it always like this?" she asked Hades.
"So many people came today." Hades mentioned. He was a regular at the church because his mother and grandfather expected it.
"Father Nicodemus must have convinced the residents somehow." Sunshine responded, unbothered by it all.
The church was filled to the maximum. It had been built for one hundred people at most. More than one hundred had showed up. Residents from every corner of the base had gathered.
Sunshine got an understanding about why tents were being raised outside.
"Something is off." She whispered to Hades.
People did not just wake up one morning and flock to church as if prizes were being given out. She had this unsettling feeling in her stomach that something was going to happen.