Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 439: Mutant Vs Criminals Vs Squad.

Hadrian vanished without warning, one moment standing there rolling his shoulders, the next gone, his voice floating faintly back. "I’ll clear the outer sentries."

"Move silently," Sunshine said, "All of you. Not just Hadrian."

They moved like ghosts after that, slipping between rusted factory containers and broken walls. Three men were squatting near the entrance, laughing loudly, smoking and arguing about who cheated at cards earlier.

One blinked as the cigarette vanished from his fingers, another gurgled as a knife kissed his throat, and the third was pulled backward by nothing at all, eyes bulging before being laid down gently like a sleeping child.

Morris pulled open a hatch and down they went, with him leading the way. He dropped down and quickly took out two men that were sitting below eating canned tuna and rice.

A third turned to alert others of intruders. Sunshine froze him mid-step, ice blooming up his legs to the top of his head.

Nimo caught the body before it hit the ground, whispering, "I swear, I’m not paid enough for this,"

Morris lifted the frozen body and carefully dumped it behind crates.

They got into formation and followed Hunter. Walking stealthily like cats, breathing slowly like the air in their masks was limited.

Two more criminals were playing cribbage inside a broken office, arguing over missing chips, and they never saw Phillip’s fire snake along the floor, burning only the oxygen around them until they slumped unconscious, faces red, breaths shallow. "Non-lethal," Phillip muttered. "I’m super good at this."

Another man dozed in a chair, snoring loudly, and Sunshine simply tapped his forehead, frost numbing him instantly.

Bodies were hidden, dragged, stacked behind machinery. The team continued to move with practiced efficiency and grim humor.

They were almost at the target area when it all went wrong.

A woman stepped out of a steel door just as Hadrian was dragging one of the men that had been counting bills from a stack of money at a table. For half a second the woman stared in horror as the man slid backward on the floor like he was being claimed by a ghost.

"GHOST_" she screamed, before Sunshine struck her dead with an electric bolt.

"Those are intruders!" Another voice came.

The alarm wailed, lights flared on, and gunfire erupted instantly, bullets tearing through rusted metal and concrete.

"The children are in here," Phillip snapped, flames roaring to life as he raised a wall of fire to shield the children in the room the woman had stepped out of.

Sunshine stepped forward, ice forming under her boots as electricity crackled along her arms. "Change of plan," she shouted. "Contain and push!"

A mixture of human and superhumans poured out from the gun assembling area and two rooms that were designated as office areas. All criminals. All part of Derone’s gang.

Sunshine sent a wave of ice across the floor, freezing anyone in her path.

Hadrian reappeared long enough to yank guns out of hands before vanishing again, laughter echoing faintly. "Peek a boo." he giggled.

Nimo took cover behind a machine, firing clean shots, aiming for heads or thighs.

Phillip burned anyone that tried to approach the children while Morris cracked bones, smashing enemies against walls or the floor as hard as he could. Anyone he touched, did not get to stand up again.

The children’s cries could be heard now, frightened but alive.

"Phillip, switch positions with me.." Sunshine ordered.

They did and he joined the fight while she formed a wall of ice around the door. "Stay down!" She told the kids. Gunfire was rapid, she did not want any of the children harmed in the crossfire.

Hunter joined her side, growling like a beast and less like a dog.

And then, a voice came into Sunshine’s ear from the ear bud. "Ma’am, watcher numbers are increasing rapidly over the town." a beat of static followed, then the words Sunshine hated most, "They brought the mist."

Her jaw clenched and a low growl ripped from her chest because Mist meant chaos. "Listen Trey, prepare yourselves, we killed a watcher and to them this looks like a perfect time to revenge. Mutants are coming. They may make it through the bubble if we are unfortunate or pass through the ground. Monitor the edges of the town, especially the areas where the wall has not yet been built."

"Y-yes ma’am."

"System, help me activate the special features of the thermal bands."

[With pleasure.]

Immediately, every member of squad zero started to feel a change. Warmth surged through their bodies and a crack seemed to break on the inside. Their power doubled.

Phillip staggered then laughed breathlessly as his flames ignited hotter and purer than ever, Hadrian flickered in and out of existence like a broken light, faster, sharper, more dangerous.

It was the same for all the others.

"End this fast," she shouted, voice amplified by authority and power, "before the mutants_" the warning died as the ground started to shake.

"What the fuck is that?" One criminal yelled.

Suddenly, there was a bang, and something burst from below.

The children screamed.

Hunter barked.

"Not good." Morris whispered.

For a few seconds, everyone was still, eyes glued on a new enemy. It looked like octopus but also not, because it had visible, obvious sharp fangs. It had fat long tentacles that slapped and writhed. Barbed suckers latched onto the flesh.

"We..." Sunshine started

One of the tentacles shot forward and stabbed a man in the chest. It lifted him into the air and crushed him until his ribs burst outward, another limb was already on the move, wrapping around the foot of an aerokinetic that had been avoiding Nimo’s bullets.

It slammed him into the wall again and again causing the factory to tremble. As dust started to fall and metal creaked, chaos broke out.

Those with guns fired wildly, superhumans unleashed their wrath on the beast.

Sunshine roared, "Hadrian, Hunter, protect the kids," and she ran forward, wielding her hammer. She had fought such a creature before. This was a battle she could win easily. "Squad Zero, divide and conquer. One person, one tentacle. Rip them off."

Morris adjusted his size, seeking an advantage.

"Barbecue the legs, got it." Philip puffed up his chest as his flames roared.

Sunshine leaped up, spinning violently as glowing runes ignited on the hammer, moving on its own like a loyal beast, smashing one tentacle. She froze it and the hammer shattered it.

Amid that chaos Hunter ceased to resemble a dog at all, her body shifting with a sharp mechanical hiss as armored plates slid apart, revealing weapon compartments Sunshine herself had not fully catalogued

Hunter launched forward like a missile, metal paws cracking concrete as she intercepted a limb mid-lunge, jaws clamping down with hydraulic force on the tentacle that aimed for Sunshine’s spine.

With one swift bite, she ripped it off.

The beast cried out in agony and anger.

"Okay that is cool." Nimo said.

Hunter did not pause, shoulder ports snapping open as compact rotary cannons unfolded, firing controlled bursts that shredded two more tentacles with brutal precision, every shot calculated to sever.

"Phillip, take Hunter’s former position." Sunshine ordered, flinging her hammer upwards.

He dashed away, both hands raised as he sent twin rivers of fire streaming down opposite sides of the room, cutting off from two men that were trying to catch Hadrian and get to the children amid the chaos.

Five members of Squad zero were carrying out children carefully, one by one. The rescue would only count if they saved the little ones.

Those battling the tentacle beast were just about to relax as only one tentacle was left. But then, suddenly, new ones started sprouting!