Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 518: Easy retreat.

The command center in the first wall of the fortress exploded into noise the moment Sunshine returned and narrated to everyone what Emily’s demands were. She was not so surprised to find that Sheldon was still at the command center while most of the other billionaires had chosen to leave for the safety of their homes.

The man had already recognized Emily. What reason had prompted him to stay back, he had not shared. Jon was the only other billionaire that had opted to stay back just in case he was useful. Something, he made very clear.

"She wants what?" Sheldon shrieked, jumping from a chair when he heard his name being mentioned.

"She wants you." Warren shared, unnecessarily loudly. "This is not much of a surprise, Sheldon is on most people’s blacklists. You can only cross so many people before one puts you on their hit list or writes your name down in their little black book."

Jon’s head moved side to side as if his disapproval would change the situation. "Still, this is ridiculous! She cannot just demand for him to be handed over."

"Is it?" Hades asked calmly, eyes flicking to Sheldon. "You did buy a significant amount of Stafford property for pennies. You said it yourself. And you reported her father to the feds, or so rumor said. That must be the grudge she holds against you."

Sheldon waved his hands. "He was a criminal, I did my civic duty as a good citizen. And I bought their property legally for the price the city auctioned it off." He shouted, "and I was not the only that bought their...."

"We get it, but was it done ethically?" Sunshine asked flatly, interrupting him. "I am sure you found a way to get the price down. Pennies...you said so yourself."

Sheldon opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Tried again. "That’s subjective."

"That’s a yes," Sunshine said.

Lisha crossed her arms and spoke apologetically. "Let us hand him over. All he does is give us grief and now he has brought Emily the looney Lord to our door."

Sheldon bristled. "You cannot be serious, I am a member of his base.....you cannot do that to me."

"He is a jerk but he has contributed to the development of this base." Jon mentioned, as if reminding them.

"Do not hang that over my head, I can return that investment ad then throw him to the wolves." Sunshine announced, putting the two men in their place once again.

"What my wife is trying to say is that you guys are not invincible just because you are investors." Hades pointed out. "We cannot put thousands of innocent lives in danger including our families and children just because of one bad apple. Maybe you should just go out and apologize."

"Please guys!" Sheldon flushed. "You cannot hand me over to that vindictive bitch."

Lisha winced.

Sunshine stared at him. "Do you think I am enjoying this? An apology from you could make her go away and save us all the headache."

Sheldon’s voice cracked despite himself. "She’ll kill me. An apology is not what she is seeking."

Warren cleared his throat. "She is a superhuman, if she has death in her mind, it is not going to be pretty. I heard you dumped her after all that. Hell hath no wrath Sheldon....you crossed the wrong woman."

"Gee, thanks for the information." Sheldon muttered weakly.

Sister Anna opened her mouth to say something but father Nicodemus beat her to it. "For the love of God let us think of other solutions first before thinking of handing over one of our own."

"Thank you father, I will attend all your masses going forth and donate heavily to the cause if I survive this." Sheldon made a vow.

Hades stepped forward. "Emily doesn’t have the leverage she thinks she does," he said. "One hundred fifty fighters against this fortress is posturing."

Sunshine nodded. "It is not just Sheldon that she wants, Joy seems to matter to her more than Sheldon does." She looked around the room, meeting each pair of eyes.

"Tomato?" Carson asked, is brow arching upwards. "I didn’t think she was even important. The woman is a soft clueless....kind of idiot. Her wings are the only thing of note about her."

Sunshine nodded as she had observed the same.

"We cannot hand over a spy with wings back to her, who knows what she will do next." Father Nicodemus mentioned.

Carson nodded vehemently. "Ma’am with all due respect, I hope that you are not thinking of handing her over, it only ends two ways for Tomato. Either she dies or spends the rest of her days in prison until the apocalypse ends."

"Of course handing her over is not an option." Sunshine said.

Hades clicked his tongue and spoke. "Well then, this means that we are going to war."

"We need a solution that doesn’t end in bloodshed." Sheldon swallowed.

His words shocked everyone.

Sister Anna asked the question on everyone’s mind. "Who are you and what have you done with Sheldon?" She asked softly.

"I can... compensate her. Money. Resources." Sheldon said. "I am, sure that she will want to trade with us. Those drones up there are ours, they came from here."

They had all noticed, they were of old models sold to some of the traders from kings bridge.

Sunshine snorted. "We may try but...without Joy, I do not know."

Silence fell.

"So war?" Hades said again.

Sunshine sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Two hours," she murmured. "We have a forty three minutes left now."

Sheldon laughed weakly. "I am absolutely panicking."

Sunshine looked at him. "Good. Maybe now you will really change your wicked ways."

Lisha’s head tilted, a soft, confused sound escaping her lips.

"Uhh, Suni?" she began, more to herself than anyone, her finger poking at the air toward the monitors. "You said we still have time, right?"

All eyes snapped to the nearest screen.

Sunshine leaned in, her eyes widening. "They’re... leaving?" she muttered, disbelief coloring her voice.

"They’re just marching away. No answers, no threats, just a tactical retreat...perhaps?." Major Grayson aired his thoughts over a radio.

Sunshine crossed her arms, a deep frown etching her face. "Emily does not strike me as the type that gives up easily. What does this mean?" A cold dread trickled down her spine. "Or is this a ’I’ll be back with a bigger gun’ situation?" She shrugged, "Anyway, no matter how this ends, I will not hand Sheldon over. Not because I like him, but because if I give in to one demand, they will think we are soft and return with more demands. And I cannot have that."

"One thing’s for sure. We didn’t make a friend today. We made an enemy. A really organized, probably vindictive enemy." Carson announced, adding to the tension.

Major Elio, ever the pragmatic soldier, scratched his chin. "The only thing that makes logical sense to me," he stated, his voice a low rumble, "is that they can’t handle the heat. Literally. Look." He pointed. "See that guy? He just folded like a cheap lawn chair. The apocalypse finally worked in someone’s favor. Ours."

Emily was the only one in a solar suit. The rest of her group was suffering under the heat.

Sheldon, who had been holding his breath so long he was turning blue, finally exhaled. A wide, wobbly grin split his face. "Thank God!!" he chirped, doing a little, awkward victory shuffle in place, then looked at his friends. "I survived! Jon, I call dibs on the last bottle of Alexander the third wine bottle!" He practically vibrated with relief.