Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 629: Small Lightning strike.

The System’s voice chimed in her head, clear and mechanical. It had that quality of greed that Sunshine had become familiar with. While she was willing to spend, she wanted to make sure that she got the best and only the best.

"Can it be upgraded? I don’t want something like the exo suits which cannot be upgraded. As you have noticed, the Watchers like to upgrade their mutants. I need to do the same with my technology."

[Of course. One of the reasons why the new bubble is costly is because there are several upgrades available. They don’t come with the bubble itself; they must be purchased separately. Think of it like your earth computers and their keyboards and mouse which come separately. But the cost is worth it.]

Sunshine didn’t even hesitate. She thought about the red zones on Lisha’s map and the terrified faces of the people in the base. If they lost faith in the bubble, they would lose half of the faith in her.

Besides, she wanted her family to be safe. The bubble provided safety and allowed freedom of movement. Now that she was a wealthy heiress, what did she have to fear?

"Go ahead and purchase it, money is no longer a problem. Buy all the hardware I need." Sunshine commanded.

[Yes host.]

She planned to sell the old version of the bubble to the other territories rather than wasting everything she had in the space.

Safe in the knowledge that the bubble was taken care of, she got on her way. The road to Hunkerville was usually a quiet stretch. Her motherly intuition was screaming that she needed to call home even though she knew the children were fine because Lisha had told her so.

She dialed home, her thumb tapping a nervous rhythm on the phone.

"We’re fine, Mom! Totally fine!" the boys chimed in as soon as they picked up. They did not even wait for the question to be asked.

"Glad to hear it," Sunshine said, her shoulders dropping an inch. "Are you all behaving?"

There was a pause. A very long, very suspicious pause.

"Uh, just so you know, Earl’s not really... here," Ariel mumbled reporting.

Sunshine stiffened. "What do you mean Earl is not there? Where is he? I specifically instructed all of you to remain home."

"He said the squad members were getting brought into the medic bay and he had to go help treat the injured. You know how he is." Ariel continued to report. "I tried to stop him, but he pinched White on the buttocks. White threw a tantrum and he took advantage of the distraction to escape."

"He did what?" Sunshine’s voice hit a frequency that could have shattered the windshield. "Put the adults on. Now. Speakerphone!"

A rustle of fabric later, Jill and Cathy’s frantic voices filled the car. "Ma’am, we don’t know what to tell you! One minute he was standing right there, and the next... poof. He’s like a ninja when he wants to be!"

"But I went to the medic bay personally to see if he reached safely and Nurse Kendall confirmed that he was there. He was on duty." Cathy bubbled out.

Sunshine didn’t even say goodbye. She ended the call with a huff, her face flushing a deep shade of crimson. "That boy is going to be the death of me," she hissed to the empty car. "I am going to scold him into the next century."

Her finger was hovering over the number for the first wall medic bay when the screen lit up; Nimo. Sunshine swiped to answer before the first ring could finish. "Neems you are in the medic bay. Please tell me you’ve seen Earl. Tell me he’s there and tell me he’s in one piece!"

"Suni, hey," Nimo’s voice was cautious. Too cautious. "I have him. He’s right here. I’m keeping a very close eye on him because, well... there was a bit of an incident."

Sunshine’s heart did a backflip. "An incident? Nimo, what kind of incident? Is he bleeding? Does he have all his toes? Is he alive? If anything happened...."

"Deep breaths Suni," Nimo urged. "He’s fine. Truly. But, uh... a strand of lightning passed through the bubble and sort of... hit him in the back.... Again, calm down."

The car swerved slightly when Sunshine let out a loud scream.

"Ma’am, are you alright back there?" Day asked.

Sunshine ignored him completely as her jaw hit her chest. "Lightning?! You’re telling me my son got struck by the Arcladon’s lightning?"

"The what?" Nimo asked, "Never mind. As you know some strands managed to get through the bubble and kill a few people that were outside. Earl was unlucky but it was so small, so he is alive. But still he fell, shuddered for a few seconds_ which was terrifying for those that saw and then apparently, he just... stood up. He shook it off and went back to organizing bandages and dressing wounds like nothing happened. The doctors checked him head-to-toe. He’s perfectly normal. Maybe a little static-y, but normal."

Sunshine leaned her forehead against the back of the chair in front of her, she motioned at Day to turn the the car around. "I told him to stay home. I specifically, clearly, in plain English, told him to stay put! Why is he like this?"

"Because he’s yours," Nimo said with a dry chuckle. "Look, go do what you need to do wherever you are. I am officially on Earl-Watch. I won’t let him out of my sight, and I definitely won’t let him do anything stupid. Every thirty minutes, a doctor examines him and I am pumping him full of Vita E."

"Call me the second anything changes," Sunshine sighed, a heavy, soul-weary sound. "Even if he just sneezes weirdly."

"Okay...and Suni, good job out there my friend." Nimo said softly. "Folks are about to kiss your feet."

Sunshine snorted and gestured for Day to turn the car around again. As soon as she hung up on Nimo, she dialed the one person who was going to take this news even worse than she did.

"Hades," she said the moment he picked up. "Earl got struck by lightning."

A low, primal growl vibrated through the phone, followed by a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush. Sunshine could practically hear things being smashed in the background. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Hades! Stop! Breathe," she commanded. "Nimo has him. He’s okay. He’s actually fine. Apparently, our son is made of rubber or pure spite, because he’s already back to work."

She heard a long, jagged exhale on the other end.

"He’s, okay?" Hades asked, his voice still rough but losing the edge of pure panic.

"He’s okay," she promised, though she added under her breath, "But when I get my hands on him, he might wish the lightning had finished the job. It’s either me or White. Apparently one of our bear’s buttocks have a bruise left by his big brother Doctor escapee."

Day chuckled.

Hades groaned. They both knew White was going to throw a tantrum worse than an Arcladon when she saw them. The bear would be sleeping in their bed tonight.

But with all the fixing they had to do, would anyone get any sleep at all tonight?