Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 434: How long to suppress?

Someone nearly choked on their food.

"A what?" Leah demanded.

"She wants to take people to visit fallen meteor sites," Lisha continued. "Show them the damage. Err...pass through the forest and have them gawk at mutated animals. She is hoping that we leave the place where the crocolydus and queen snake fought as it is. In future, it will be a...."

"Does she have a hole in her brain?" Dwayne snapped, cutting her off.

"That’s insanely dangerous." Hades said slowly.

"Hmmm." Sunshine nodded thoughtfully. "She can do it," she said. "Within Fortress Four."

Everyone stared at her.

"Ma’am, are you sure?" Commander Grayson asked.

"She stays inside the walls," Sunshine added. "If anyone steps outside, they’re on their own. No protection, no rescue, charge her heavily for the permits.

And the site where the crocodylus and snake fought, it can be preserved. In future, it can be a tourist site. We can hang some beast skins there. Maybe add a souvenir shop that sells fang shaped candy, necklaces, rings, shirts, mugs and other things."

Hades grinned. "Always thinking of how to make money." And here he thought she was giving Tracey the go ahead without thinking carefully.

"Next issue, the walls aren’t finished," Warren chimed in. "We need to tighten security even further, sweep the edges of the towns every minute."

"Everyone needs to stay vigilant," Sunshine said sternly. "We cannot relax. We have taken over the smaller towns and all that is left now is the center. If we take it, we have control over the entire city.

But before anyone gets excited we need to ensure that the outer towns are firmly within our grasp and there is no danger from within."

People nodded.

Sunshine straightened her back. "Now. We have to talk about the suppressant."

The room went quiet.

She looked around slowly, eyes digging into the gaze of everyone that dared to look back at her. "How long do you think superhuman prisoners’ abilities be suppressed?"

Hadrian spoke immediately. "For life. If they’re dangerous."

Sister Anna slammed her hand on the table. "I second that. They should be suppressed for life."

Sunshine was surprised. Sister Anna was the kind of person to plead for criminals to be pardoned and given a chance to reform. What had changed?

Father Nicodemus lowered his cup of coffee. "I do not agree. These powers are a gift. To take away a gift from the Lord is something that we should consider carefully."

Leah spoke up next. "I agree with the priest. Not on the powers being a gift from the Lord but careful consideration. Reality is that we need superhumans to fight mutant and mutated beasts.

These prisoners, not all of them are completely bad. Circumstances forced most of them to do what they did. They had no food, so they took from weak people."

Hades jumped in. "Ordinary humans are doing the same thing. Superhumans are not the only ones to blame."

Lisha loudly pitched in with a frown. "Nobody is saying ordinary humans are innocent. What we are worried about are the bad superhumans. Why should they keep their abilities if they will use them for bad deeds? I say we suppress them forever."

"And what if they are repentant and willing to fight for humanity?" Father Nicodemus asked.

Voices rose, many in agreement. A few in disagreement.

It became a full-blown argument, heated and tense.

Eventually, Sunshine had to blow a whistle to get everyone’s attention. "Listen carefully," she said aloud. "I have heard all your opinions and come to a decision. Suppression will be determined according to the gravity of crimes committed.

It is not right to take someone’s superpowers just because they stole some food. Leah is right, we need superhumans....the world needs them.

So, we will give them chances to reform. Small crimes, one to two years. Heavy crimes....everyone can make suggestions and drop them off with Leah. We will decide basing off of that."

"And how will you know that they have reformed?" Hadrian asked slowly, voice filled with doubts. "What will stop someone from pretending to be good just to get their ability back. And what will stop them from coming after you or any of us for revenge when they get their ability back?"

His questions silenced the majority. They presented points that they had not considered.

Major Elio broke his silence. "Criminals are arrested all the time. Sometimes they go after the person that put them in prison but most times, they don’t. Superpowers don’t really change this."

Carson nodded. "I agree. In fact, they will be grateful for the opportunity to get their ability back that they will want to stay off our radar.

Besides, Sunshine has suggested matching suppression time to prison time, according to the crime committed. So, the suppression will last during one’s imprisonment.

When they are released, the suppression comes to an end. With the exception of violent offenders."

Hadrian smiled. "I can get on board with that. People like Derone should have their powers stripped completely."

Father Nicodemus sighed. "Why couldn’t these powers be assigned according to goodness of heart?" He sighed again. "But again, our God is the God of redemption. All sinners get chances to repent."

For Sunshine, the issue with suppressing superpowers was over. The discussion continued, minor issues were raised one after another. Everything on the table vanished into the stomachs of the people at the table. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

After filling her stomach, Sunshine stood up. "Unless someone else has something to add, the meeting ends here."

"Get Zulu out of my house." Hadrian raised his voice.

Sunshine pretended not to hear him as she made a skillful evasion.

Chairs scraped.

Laughter filled the room.

Outside the command center, the rest of the base was bustling with activity, loud and restless. Energetic and slightly chaotic.

Elite squads jogged past junior teams, boots pounding in even rhythms, arguments breaking out over who landed the cleaner kill the day before in the forest or who had better aim, laughter trailing behind them like smoke.

Ever since Sunshine gave the green light for private hunts during off-duty hours, the energy of the trained soldiers and superhumans had shifted to become even more positive.

Whatever they brought back, she would buy. But she made it clear that she was responsible for their security outside the base.

The result was chaos in the best possible way.

Free hours had turned into unofficial drills, blades stayed sharp, aim stayed true, and morale stayed high.

"They look excited." Hades mentioned as he caught up with her.

Sunshine let out a tiny sigh. "So am I. My pockets are about to be lined with gold."

Hades rolled his eyes. "Does a day end without you using the word gold?"

Sunshine grinned cheekily. "It is my favorite word in the dictionary." She slipped an arm through his, dragging him along to the car. "I have a golden husband, golden sons, golden bear, golden robots."

Behind them, Hunter changed her settings to get an even more golden shimmer in its fur. It was not to please Sunshine, just to be the most loved robot in the house.

"Should I make us a golden bed?" he asked her.

She laughed. "We would sleep like kings. Maybe I should ask Ala what color of beds they had in her royal palace."

Hades frowned. "Speaking of Ala, are you aware that she is now a member of the kids squad? Ariel allowed her in without any test. Frankly, given her origins, I am a little worried about him spending too much time around her.

What do you think? Am I being paranoid?"