The question was met with silence.

Vortan growled once. A threat. A warning.

Mavielle hugged her tail, looking terrified. "I am sorry..." she wailed. She was trembling as if they had a weapon to her.

Sunshine threw her hands in the air. It was ridiculous. If anyone didn’t know better, they would think that Mavielle was being bullied by them.

"If I tell you, my life is over. If she finds out, my life will be shuttered." Mavielle cried.

"Mavielle, look at me," Sunshine said, stepping forward. Her voice was soft but firm. "Your life is already in pieces. But how those pieces get put back together depends on you. We can help you in this, or we can let the Council handle this. Which do you want?"

Mavielle looked at Sunshine, then at Vortan. She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Zevran. It was council woman Zevran."

Sunshine expelled a sharp puff of air through her nostrils. "Of course. The snake behind the fox."

"She told me I had to send your location to an untraceable number every thirty minutes," Mavielle whimpered. "I tried to refuse! I really did! But she knew. She knew I was operating as Cobra on the side. She said if I didn’t help her, she’d expose me not just to the Council and have me fired for corporate espionage. I can handle that, but she threatened to out me to the entire universe. I have enemies you know. I can’t have my identity out there or else I am dead."

"Classic Zevran," Vortan muttered. "Threatening a small fish to catch a bigger one." He looked at Mavielle. "But your word isn’t enough to nail a Council member. We need proof. Can you testify?"

"Only if I get immunity against everything and my secret is buried forever." Mavielle cried. "And I have more than just my word. I’m a professional, Vortan. I don’t do anything without a backup plan."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny, glowing recording device. "I recorded her giving the orders. It’s all there, her voice, her authorization code. And I traced that untraceable number she made me send the pings to. It leads directly to the Noxian Army Command Center."

Vortan clapped his hands once, the sound echoing like a gunshot. "That’s it. That’s the lottery ticket. Treason, conspiracy, and attempted murder of a high-value repairman." He looked at Mavielle. "You’re going to take a leave of absence from work. Immediately."

"Won’t that look suspicious?" Bjorn asked, worriedly.

"It doesn’t matter," Vortan said. "The moment Zevran realizes the hit failed and Sunshine is still breathing; she’s going to start cleaning house. Mavielle is a loose end. If she goes to work tomorrow, she won’t come home."

Bjorn nodded grimly. "I’ll keep her here. I’ll watch her like a hawk."

Sunshine looked at Cobra. Despite everything, she felt a flicker of pity. "Stay safe, Mavielle. We’re going to finish this."

With a shimmer of light, Sunshine and Vortan teleported out of the cozy family home and back into the space. Vortan left because he said he had to talk to someone.

"Be careful," Sunshine told him.

The moment Vortan stepped onto the main deck of the headquarters, the atmosphere felt... wrong.

Usually, the halls were filled with the hum of busy workers and the occasional joke. Today, it was silent. People were huddled in small groups, their faces long and their voices hushed.

Vortan stopped a passing repairman. "What happened? Why is everyone acting like they’re at a funeral?"

The man looked up, his eyes red-rimmed. "You haven’t heard? It’s Grit Byers. He’s... he’s dead, supervisor. They say he took his own life."

Vortan went completely still. His scales seemed to turn a shade paler. "Grit?"

"Yeah. Everyone’s shocked. He was just getting married next month. He seemed so happy."

Vortan narrowed his gaze. "Grit was full of life. He was newly engaged, obsessed with his wedding plans. He would never kill himself."

"Some people are thinking that it could be murder." The repairman said.

Vortan nodded and excused himself, he went straight to the Vault division where he talked to some people, he even talked to the organization police after which he moved to Sunshine’s space. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Nine was already there, Sunshine was filling him in on Mavielle and how she was not even a cobra. Vortan immediately told them about Grit and how whispers were going around that his death was a murder.

"Do you also think it was murder?" She asked.

"I know it was," Vortan hissed. "I have a contact in the vault department—a manager I trust. He told me that Grit had been seen going into Zevran’s office every day for a week. Every time he came out, he looked like he’d seen a ghost. He was terrified."

Sunshine felt a wave of cold fury. "Why Grit? What did those two have to talk about that they met every day?"

"That is not the problem," Nine said "They are claiming Grit ended his journey because of the pressure from his superiors! They are saying the work was too much!"

"What work, Nine?" Sunshine asked, pacing the room. "He filed papers. He managed digital keys. Since when does that drive a happy snail to suicide?"

Vortan, face set in a grim mask, said, "Yeah and I am among the suspects. I’m already under investigation."

"For what?" Sunshine asked, shocked.

"For ’undue professional pressure,’" Vortan spat. "The official story being spun by Zevran is that I bullied Grit about the Raine vault files, and the stress broke him. It’s a cover-up. According to my contact Grit had been putting up excuses to delay Sunshine’s access to the Raine vault. Even after I threatened him, he did not file those damn papers."

Sunshine and Nine exchanged a wide-eyed look. "What?"

"Don’t you see? This all leads back to Zevran, Grit meeting her every day." Vortan’s eyes gleamed with a dangerous light. "She’s head of the Vault Managers; I think that this has everything to do with that vault. Grit wanted to meet me, he said it was a secret because it was about a council member."

Nine nodded. "What if Zevran was threatening him not to file the papers?"

"She has nothing to gain." Sunshine said.

"Except whatever is in there." Nine said, "That vault may be empty for all we know. Why else would they make this fuss?"

Vortan nodded, "Zevran is a council member and heads the vault mangers. If anyone can go in and out of any vault as they please, it is her."

"And she hates me, from the first day I set foot there she made it her mission to make me go away. That bitch tampered with my fortune." Sunshine whispered, the realization hitting her like a freight train.

Vortan kissed his teeth, "Your grandfather never left a next of kin. You stumbled onto the system and ended up becoming a repairman accidentally. Even then, Zevran did not notify you about the vault.

If you had not met the Glacis king, you would never have known this secret. If you die, there are no more Raine’s according to the records. The Raine vault remains unclaimed forever. After a century, the contents can be put on the market, but by then, the original items could have long been replaced."

Sunshine sneered. "Oh hell no. I am calling my godfather. We are opening that vault tonight."