Chapter 63 63. The Impenetrable Wall

The Joint Special Operations Commander sat at the head of the table in the Situation Room. One by one, he pointed at each visual feed from the scene.

“That’s Legolas One. And Legolas Two.” The JSOC moved on to the next monitor that was showing six feeds from the bodycams on the ground. “These are Babysitters One to Six.”

Dodson leaned on the table and studied the feeds. For now, the heavily armed soldiers on the ground were in front of the library along with local law enforcement officers.

Another monitor was showing three frames from inside the library, which, according to the JSOC, were the Ushers. They would be the ones carrying out the main event. Soon, all eyes in the room would be on them.

A voice from the speakerphone on the table filled the room. “We are all set.”

***

Colonel Tanner adjusted his headset. He was sitting inside the command vehicle parked a block away from the library, his eyes scanning the monitors lining the interior of the minibus.

“Wait for my final confirmation,” said the JSOC from hundreds of miles away.

Tanner checked the time. Only a few minutes until ETA. He wondered how punctual his targets were.

He studied the feed from the bird’s-eye view provided by an aerial drone. For the last ten minutes or so, people had been trickling in, alerted by Rippin’ Rippa’s X post. Thankfully, his Babysitters and the local cops were doing a good job controlling the crowd.

Despite the growing number of onlookers, Tanner was confident. No one would actually witness the killing. All everyone would see was his men safely extracting the child from an unseen danger.

But on the other hand, it was rather sad, he thought. He didn’t like the fact that it wasn’t the books that drew the crowd.

***

In front of the library, a group of reporters from the local newspapers murmured among themselves.

“What’s going on?” one of them asked his peers. “Why is the military providing security?”

That was an understandable question. This wasn’t a big event that required heavily armed security. The official guest list included just the Vice Mayor and some members of the City Council. It was supposed to be an occasion that only needed a paragraph or two and a small photo. Not even worthy of a second of airtime on the local TV news.

Another one just got off her phone. “So, apparently, that Buttons kid is coming to the ribbon cutting. The VTuber girl just posted on her X.”

“Ah~” Everyone nodded. They looked around. Now the growing crowd made sense.

“I guess that explains that guy over there,” another reporter pointed at a neatly suited man talking to the Vice Mayor.

“Who’s that guy?”

“Forgot his name, but he’s an under-secretary something from the State Department.”

The reporters didn’t need to be told. They shifted their mindset. The god kid was making her first official appearance. The State Department was also involved. A new era was beginning. They were on the scene to report a new chapter in the history of mankind.

***

Based on Rippa’s X post, ButtonsTracker had sent out an alert, to which people who had arrived at the scene were now adding their own Instagram or TikTok links. It wasn’t that difficult for Rippa to find a high-quality feed from the library. She made it the main component of her OBS scene.

Rippa’s viewers were confused as their streamer had remained silent.

‘Guerrilla stream?’

‘Is this the library ceremony you posted on X?’

She didn’t answer. In fact, she had her mic muted.

Mom had brought a chair and was sitting next to Rippa. The two held hands tightly and watched the portal open.

***

The crowd cheered loudly as Goggles stepped out of the portal. The cheer intensified when Buttons, flanked by Madam J.D. and Miss Pendrake, emerged.

The Vice Mayor and the man from the State Department approached and greeted Buttons. They then introduced a middle-aged woman as the head of the new library. The three all welcomed and thanked Her Grace Lady Buttons for coming.

***

On his monitors, Tanner watched the child posing with the city officials for photos.

“I’m on Saber,” Legolas One reported through the comm.

“I have Jedi in my sights,” said Legolas Two.

Through the headset, he heard the JSOC’s voice giving him the go word.

“Roger that,” Tanner replied, then switched back to his local comm. “Ushers, get ready.”

***

A suited man approached Goggles. “Sir, could you spare a minute?”

“Sure,” said Goggles and stepped aside to talk to the man.

“It’s about the meal,” said the man. “Would you mind looking at the menu to check if we have anything Her Grace is allergic to?”

“Oh, no, no. I wouldn’t mind at all. That is quite a good idea, actually.”

The man then gestured toward the library. “This way, please. It’d be easier if we talked to catering directly.”

Goggles looked back at Buttons. The Vice Mayor was introducing the members of the City Council to the kid. She noticed Goggles and met his eyes.

“I will be right back,” said the butler to his ojousama, and followed the man into the library.

***

Rippa and Mom gasped at the sight of Goggles disappearing into the library.

“For the love of God, please don’t do it,” Rippa said through gritted teeth.

On the screen, a man approached Buttons and gestured toward the library. The kid headed that way with both her nanny and the bodyguard by her side.

The man, in the meantime, produced the event’s schedule sheet and spoke to the city officials. They gathered around the man and pored over the sheet, listening.

Rippa could see it. Buttons was conveniently, and so plausibly, isolated.

“Dudson, don’t do it,” she whispered. “People are watching, Dudson.”

Her hand hurt. Mom was gripping too hard. But Rippa didn’t pay any attention to the pain.

Then, all of a sudden, Madam J.D. and Miss Pendrake vanished. Buttons’ dress disappeared, along with her prosthetic and her cane, leaving the kid only with the Moana underwear that Rippa had bought. With the sudden loss of balance, the child flailed her arms wildly before collapsing on the hard ground.

Mom whimpered.

***

“Saber down.”

“Jedi is gone.”

The two sharpshooter teams reported at the same time.

Colonel Tanner already knew. He saw it on his monitors. The two targets just… vanished into thin air.

He had seen all three Ushers first get behind Goggles and then shoot him in the back of the head. The butler now lay face down on the floor, not moving.

Tanner spoke into the mic, “Ushers, confirm.” Then he addressed his men on the ground. “Babysitters, standby for extraction.”

He let out a sigh of relief. ‘So the kid was a human, after all.’

As the men in the library were checking Goggles’ body for a pulse, Tanner watched the feed from the aerial drone.

The Babysitters and the police officers were now alert. They were in crowd-control mode, looking left and right for any threat while screaming at everyone to stay calm and get down. The Vice Mayor’s bodyguards had, in the meantime, surrounded the man and were assessing the situation.

“Butler is neutralized,” the Ushers finally confirmed.

“Babysitters, get the kid to safety.”

As his men turned around from the crowd, Tanner saw Buttons moving her hand. Sitting all alone on the ground, the kid pulled a strand of hair and… blew it away.

A few feet from her, a shape that looked too much like Goggles started to appear. The Babysitters stopped in their tracks.

“The fuck?”

Tanner checked the video feed from the Ushers. The butler was still there, bleeding on the floor.

“She was the real target!” The JSOC’s voice screamed from the headset. “The kid is the real one!”

Tanner got on comm immediately. “Legolas, the girl!”

***

Chat was in chaos.

‘WTF is happening?’

Rippa and Mom watched the feed with their mouths wide open. Goggles was appearing back like the Cheshire cat of Wonderland.

Rippa blinked. At first she thought it was a speck of dust on the monitor. She reached and tried to wipe it off the screen, but the small dot still remained. She then thought it was a bad pixel, but as the person holding the camera zoomed in, Rippa realized it wasn’t a malfunctioning pixel.

There really was a small something hovering right before Buttons’ face.

Whatever it was, the kid plucked it out of the air and tossed it away.

“That’s a bullet!” Mom screamed. “Oh, my god! No!”

Rippa watched Buttons raise both arms toward one of the soldiers, as if asking for help to get her up.

The soldier seemed to hesitate for a moment, then put a finger in his ear, listening to something.

And then, all of a sudden, a baby and a visibly pregnant woman spawned next to Buttons.

***

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” Legolas One was screaming in the comm. “That’s my wife!”

Legolas Two was also screaming, “That’s my son!”

Tanner’s jaw dropped, but he quickly regained composure. “Babysitters, kill the—”

More people appeared around the target. Kids, women, and babies. All hovering in the air, confused and scared. All conveniently sliding into lines of sight.

“Shit, that’s my girl,” one of the Babysitters uttered in disbelief.

In the video feeds, nobody was moving.

“Jake! What’s happening? Where am I?” A woman’s voice bled into one of the men’s mics.

Colonel Tanner bit his lip. He switched channels. “Command, I’m calling it off.”

After a heavy second, the JSOC replied. “Roger.”

***

“Buttons, what the fuck are you doing?” Rippa was screaming. “What the fuck!”

Her chat, however, was still confused.

‘What happened?’

‘Who are those people?’

But Rippa paid no attention.

***

Goggles finished materializing. He looked at the soldiers frozen in place. They didn’t know if it was safe to approach their loved ones.

The butler waved his hand, and Madam J.D. and Miss Pendrake spawned next to him. Expressionless, they looked as if nothing had happened.

“Gentlemen.” Goggles addressed the soldiers and gestured toward the human shield surrounding Buttons.

The men hesitated.

“You have my word,” Goggles assured them.

After exchanging glances, the soldiers rushed forward and plucked the scared and crying people from the air. They turned around and carried their moms and wives and babies away from the scene.

Goggles then approached the child on the ground. He flicked his fingers, and Buttons’ dress and prosthetic leg appeared on the girl. He picked up the child and carried her in his arms.

A portal opened before him.

From her butler’s arms, Buttons waved at the crowd and shouted. “Congratulations on your new library. All the best!”

Still confused and unsure what had just happened, people did not respond.

Once again, Madam J.D. was the last to leave the scene. She turned around, faced the crowd, and gave a polite bow before entering the portal.

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