Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"What the fuck is going on?" growled Chen Zi Han, going from dead asleep to wide awake and ready to kill in under 2 seconds.

"The Rear Admiral has said that civilians are not permitted on base, so I said that we would be ready to leave within the hour," said Wang Chao with a shrug of his shoulders, not at all perturbed by Chen Zi Han's behavior.  "Apparently he objected to that too."

"And that was a good reason to scare Princess out of deep sleep?" the other man asked, still holding a gun to the one that didn't belong in their apartment. The other three men cringed.

"I'll go make another pot of coffee," said Liu Wei as he darted into the kitchen.

"I'll go see if I can find any sweets around here," added Liu Yu Zeng as he too went into the kitchen looking for a breakfast offering.  The world might be facing its most uncertain time yet, but the only thing scarier than outside was Li Dai Lu waking up before she was good and ready to.

"What are we doing about him?" asked Chen Zi Han as the brothers got breakfast ready. Wang Chao turned to look at Zhou Gang Jia.

"I do not make threats; I do not need to throw tantrums to get my way. Everyone in my group is a civilian, it is common knowledge and is even clearly stated in our discharge papers. Therefore, if all civilians need to leave the base, that is fine. We are willing to go," said Wang Chao clearly. He didn't care where he went and, now that he thought about it, he and Liu Wei should have an apartment in this city as well.

"And if you leave, who is there to teach the men how to use their superpowers?" snarled Zhou Gang Jia.

"Could you stop calling them superpowers?" asked a sleepy voice as Li Dai Lu walked through the bedroom door rubbing her still-closed eyes. "It's not like anyone got bitten by a spider or is an alien from outer space. We are just humans with a genetic mutation." Grumbling to herself, she made her way to the kitchen and to where Liu Wei was waiting with a giant cup of coffee. He quickly kissed her on the head and carefully guided her to the couch where she could take her time waking up.

"Why are you still asleep?! Do you not realize that it is almost 8:30 am? You should have been up hours ago," snapped Zhou Gang Jia, finally finding someone that he could take his temper out on.

Silence filled the room as Wang Chao rubbed his forehead back and forth, trying to relieve the headache that had started to appear the minute Zhou Gang Jia entered their apartment.

"8:30? Are you serious?" Li Dai Lu asked as she turned to look at him. Wang Chao could only nod and approach the live landmine that was sitting on the couch.

"It is," he confirmed in a low voice, trying to sound soothing.

"Then why am I up?" Looking genuinely confused, Wang Chao could only smile indulgently at his little girl.

"I'm not too sure," he admitted as he took the giant cup of coffee from her hands. "Why don't you and Chen Zi Han go back to sleep for a bit and I'll let you know when you need to be up."

Nodding her head, her eyes not even fully opened yet, Li Dai Lu stood up and swayed slightly. One look between him and Chen Zi Han had the latter quickly put away his gun and rushed to the little girl's side.

"Come on, Princess," the bigger man crooned, "Let's go back to bed, huh? It's still early." Hearing her hum in reply, Wang Chao and the Liu brothers watched as Chen Zi Han brought their girl back into the room and hopefully back to sleep. They all knew that she would probably not remember this whole thing when she did wake up for the day.

Turning his attention back to the Rear Admiral, Wang Chao growled in a low tone. "I told you to be quiet! And she sleeps until she is ready to wake up."

"Then you leaving in an hour was just bullshit?" mocked Zhou Gang Jia looking at the man in front of him.

"No, we would have woken her up," the other man reassured him. "But then you could have dealt with her temper." The smile on Wang Chao's face made it clear to everyone that dealing with her temper was the last thing that they wanted to do.

"Now, here are how things are going to go," said Wang Chao as he took control of the situation. "She is either going to be teaching alongside us, since she knows more about powers than any other person on this planet, or we are going to leave. What is your decision?"

"Fine, she can teach," agreed Zhou Gang Jia. His men needed to be taught and any consequences for having a civilian on base could fall on Wang Chao at the end of the day.

"Perfect, have everyone ready at 1 pm and we will all be there," confirmed Liu Wei as he not so subtly guided the Rear Admiral to the door and gently pushed him out.

Closing the door behind him, Liu Wei quickly turned the lock and leaned against the door. "How about we just agree to stop opening this thing in the mornings?" he joked.

Wang Chao groaned in agreement as he slowly sat down on the couch.

This was going to be a long day.

----

I woke up around noon or so, feeling like I had the best sleep of my life.  Poor Chen Zi Han was still in the same position as when we fell asleep last night and I felt a bit bad. "Did you have a good sleep?" I asked him, concerned that he might not have been comfortable with me sprawled over him.

"I did," he said, his gruff voice sending shivers across my skin.

"Did I dream that Zhou Gang Jia was here and yelling? Or was that real?" I asked in confusion, my forehead scrunched together as I tried to figure out what was a dream and what was not. I have been told before that I can have a complete conversation with a person but forget that it ever happened if I go back to sleep after.

"Just a dream," he grumbled as he rolled me to the side, using me as the little spoon. He buried his face in the back of my neck and I shivered as I felt his breath gliding across my skin.

"Ugh," I groaned. "I'm not even free of that man in my dreams."

I could feel his smile as he placed a light kiss on my spine, just under the base of my head. "Should we get up?"

"Yeah, I mean, the day is halfway done anyways," I agreed grudgingly. One of these days I was determined to stay in bed for a good week straight. Maybe I should add that to my list of things to do. I definitely won't be able to survive the apocalypse in bed though.  Or could I?

My mind on the logistics of staying in bed for a week, I groaned when Chen Zi Han got out of bed. Hearing his deep chuckle, I turned over to look at him.

"Take your time, Princess," he said as he slowly stroked my hair like I was Hades. "We will have coffee and breakfast waiting for you when you are ready."

I hummed in agreement but figured it was best to get my ass out of bed before I fell back asleep. Maybe with enough coffee, I would turn into a fully functioning human. Hey, that was the goal, right?

After a quick shower in my space, I went to look for Hades to have a little play time before I went back to the boys. Unfortunately for me, the little bugger was still pissed that I have been keeping him SAFE and SOUND in my space and had refused to be found.  Leaving him a plate of wet food, I figured that I had procrastinated long enough and it was time to get back to the boys.

That was the best part about procrastinating in my space. No time had passed in real life, so it looked like I was always on the ball, wanting to get a move on. Feeling smug, I left my room and followed the smell of fresh coffee to the kitchen.

"So," I asked as Liu Wei handed me my giant cup of coffee. "What's on the docket for today?"

"Zhou Gang Jia has asked that we teach his men today," said Wang Chao coming up behind me and placing a light kiss on my temple.

"Does that mean that I am getting sent out for supplies?" I asked with some confusion. The Rear Admiral had made it perfectly clear that I was not to go near his people… you know… me being the dreaded civilian that was trying to take down the military and all.

  "No," smiled the man, "We are going all together and will all be trying to train them. There are a few that I needed your advice on."

I nodded my head and chugged the hot beverage, enjoying the way the burning liquid managed to wake me up. Even if it did feel like hot lava down my throat.

"Well, let's get a move on," I said as I put my cup on the counter and made my way to the front door. "You guys coming?"