CHAPTER 87: LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS.

Lying in bed that night, Hades and Sunshine were discussing the day and all that happened. It was something they did every night in order to catch up on what the other had missed. He was the first to bring Helena Drew.

"I told you we should stuff her in a box and dump her on Jon. That whispering Ariel was talking about; she is doing most of it."

Sunshine kicked his foot as she replied, "Maybe we should just poison her and make her dumb. No mouth no quaking." She giggled and raised her head, eyeing him expectantly.

He did not laugh.

"Tch, that was funny." Sunshine mumbled.

"It was." He admitted, "But I am thinking more on your dumb poison idea. It becomes more amazing as I think about it. Dwayne is an expert on poisons so he would know the right herbs or concoctions to get the job done."

Sunshine sat up and looked down at him. "Ask him about it tomorrow."

Hades suddenly sat up as well and her switched on the bedside lamp. He looked at her and asked, "Are we bad people for what we are planning to do?"

"Not even close. If the muteness does not solve the problem, then we dump her on Jon. I just don’t think he will tolerate her for as long as we have." She answered.

Jon would not be willing to feeding a loud-mouthed politician that was more of a burden than a helper. He would probably pass off to another of his friends.

****

Helena Drew was also in bed, lying next to her husband and she was complaining about the Quinn’s. Specifically, Hades and Sunshine. As much as she was glad to be safe in the apocalypse, thanks to them, she still thought that she had the right to express herself. What she found more annoying than the way the couple let their son Ariel run around like he was the base commander was her husband who was meek like a sheep. He could not stand with her when she needed his backing.

"You should stop being a pussy Drew, open your eyes and see the facts. That brat Ariel claimed that everything is fair within every area of the walls. If that was true, then tell me why there are three walls?"

Drew turned his back on her and closed his eyes.

Helena poked him in the back with her long nails. "Don’t pretend that you are sleeping Drew, I am still talking. This is not one of those days where I will let you get away with ignoring me. It is because you lack a spine that we are living in this second wall. We should be in the big resort. More than half of it is still empty. I heard this from one of the maids that cleans it."

Drew covered his head with a pillow and groaned.

"There must be a way to get us in there and also a way for me to take over Ariel Quinn’s position." She sat up and switched on the light. Then she pulled off the pillow covering Drew’s head. "I thought that Nimo was a friend of yours or something. Didn’t you serve together once? Why aren’t you asking her for help? Major Elio and the others are kissing her ass for favors. What are you waiting for to cozy up to her as well? I cannot live next to those loud-mouthed criminals. And that pregnant woman, she thinks that she is the...."

Drew grabbed the pillow and marched out of the bedroom. It was another night of sleeping on the couch for him.

Helena was not pleased with his behavior, and she creamed his name, commanding him to return.

As for Drew, for the sixth time since he arrived at the base, he wondered if the lawyers could help him with a divorce. Living alone had to better than listening to Helena complain, whine and scheme all day. He longed for the days of war when he had a purpose and got to stay thousands of miles away from her.

As he stretched on the couch and listened to her hurling insults, he tried to remember why he had married her in the first place.

****

In the morning, Sunshine did not leave the apartment. After sending Hades and the children off, she vanished into the space. Ever since she leveled up, she had not received a single task which was why she had looked at the repair mall. This was an opportunity to take a look.

The mall had four sections. Shops and services, Vendors, Reclamation stalls and a food court.

In shops and vendors there were armor smiths and ship fixers that fixed every kind of transportation device and sold spare parts. AI counselors that offered therapy to emotionally fried devices and systems. Translation booths where multilingual gadgets were translated to any language one wished. Every lost language in the universe was found there.

The last shops in this section of the mall belonged to quantum stitchers that fixed time loops, rips in space and any damage caused by anyone that visited another world where they did not belong.

"AI counselors!!!" Sunshine exclaimed. "Machines needs therapy!!"

They had therapists on the base and of all the people working in the medical sector, they were the busiest individuals.

Sunshine shook her head; this machine therapy was way too bizarre. Then again, she had met robot dogs with all sorts of personalities and attitudes. Maybe machine therapy was not such a bad thing after all.

She moved to the vendors section and discovered welders and mechanics that sold all sorts of machine parts and alloys. They could even personalize parts on demand.

When she discovered fuel vendors that sold every kind of fuel from different universes, she nearly somersaulted. She had found the place where Cassius had got all the special fuel he had sold in the apocalypse.

"Bastard! bastard! that son of a dog!!" Sunshine hissed.

The robot dog on the table raised its head curiously. Which dog was she talking about?

Sunshine in the meantime was recalling all the times she had been driving her aunt, uncle and Cassius to safety and they would run out of fuel. She would risk her life searching for more fuel. One time, she ran into six marauders and had to fight them off alone.

In the end, she had a broken arm, and a slash on her face. When she returned, bruised and in pain, Cassius had demanded food, and her aunt and uncle had grumbled about how long she had taken to return.

"Damn freeloaders." She mumbled. "Blood suckers!"

She opened her mouth and screamed. To think that Cassius had access to fuel and chose not to bring it out!!! That fool was deserving of death.

After calming down, she checked the reclamation section. It was a den where salvaged and old parts were sold. Forgotten technology, loot boxes whose content was unknown, old weapons that were at the end of their lives. Such things and more.

For Sunshine, it was heaven. Some of the weapons in the reclamation section where the very ones Cassius had sold. Here on earth, they were miracles.

"System, I love you." She declared.

She sent out flying kisses in every direction with both hands. Sunshine folded a fist and said with resolve, "Mutant beasts, wait for me."

With weapons and evolved ice powers, she would conquer the world. Maybe she would call herself Eighth queen. Moon would lose her mind if she heard that name.

Was it better to use Eighth king and make Moon think that it was Cassius’s doing?