Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 558: Grilling Ala.

Hades let out a sound that was half-laugh, half-growl, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered, his voice dropping into that low, dangerous register that usually meant someone_ or something_ was about to get leveled. "She is not taking any of us seriously. Do you even know what is at risk? Have you forgotten where my wife found you? Do you want earth to become like that, or do you want to go back because I can arrange it."

Leah shot him a warning look, but he just threw his hands up.

"Don’t give me that look, Leah. This is serious business and she is playing around. Don’t try to give me that she is a child BS because she has the intelligence of an adult and everyone in this room knows this."

Sunshine’s look changed from one of understanding to stern and unyielding. Her husband’s words seemed to be the caffeine shot she needed to wake up. "Hades is right. Ala, you do not have the upper hand here and you do not have the right to demand for anything. If anyone here owes the other, you are the one that owes me."

"I was not demanding, I once read a book called the art of negotiation. I have a right to negotiate." Ala said without thought.

The atmosphere in the kitchen was so heavy you could have cut it with a dull butter knife. Sunshine stood tall, her posture as rigid as a military flagpole. Her voice didn’t just carry weight, it had an edge to it_ sharp, cold, and sounding like steel being drawn from a sheath. "You seem to forget, Ala," Sunshine said, her eyes narrowing, "that I am the one who brought you to Earth. If you refuse to help us, I will call Othyrean. I will have you returned to Boulder Creek by the end of the day."

Leah’s head snapped toward her friend, her eyes wide with shock. "Sunshine, stop. You can’t really do that. You wouldn’t. You took a big risk by bringing her here so that she could be safe and have a new family that loved her. You cannot seriously send her back to that hell." When Hades made the threat, she did not care.

But if Sunshine was making it, then it was time to panic!

"Of course I can," Sunshine countered, her gaze never wavering from the trembling girl. "Ala has put my children in danger for starters so she is a potential risk. In addition to that, she is refusing to help us save our home by withholding useful information and hiding much needed weapons.

The way I see it, she does not consider earth her home. She does not see you Leah as her mother or Dominic as her father. She does not consider Ariel and Earl her friends. Since she doesn’t value us like we value her, we might as well send her back to her planet of origin. Maybe she will be happier there."

"She will be safer there anyway, in case the watchers kill all of us." Hades added as an afterthought.

Ala’s breath caught in her throat. The bravado she usually wore like armor didn’t just crack; it shattered. She had faced down monsters twice her size without blinking. She had survived torture by her own kind on Boulder Creek. She had remained strong through it all. But the thought of being abandoned again? Of being sent back to the place where she was an outcast? That was her true weakness. Loneliness and a life of being pointed at as the cursed child was all that awaited her.

Tears welled up, fat and hot, spilling down her cheeks. "Please," Ala whispered, her voice cracking. "Aunt Suni, please. You can’t send me back there. No one wanted me! Some people... some people even wanted to kill me."

Sunshine didn’t hug her. Instead, she crouched down so she was at eye level with the girl, her expression unreadable. "I don’t need to remind you, Ala, why you ended up in that situation in the first place. It was those weapons in the first place, I am assuming. If Othyrean and the others find out that you have been hiding them this whole time....." she stopped and shook her head. "I don’t need to say what will happen to you. Maybe they will sell you again, but this time, the buyer will not be kind like me."

"Mom!" Ala wailed, reaching out to Leah. "Don’t let her! Please don’t let her send me back!"

Leah didn’t hesitate. She lunged forward, pulling Ala into a tight embrace, shielding the girl with her own body. She glared at Sunshine with a fury that could have scorched the paint off the walls. "We talked about this, Sunshine! We agreed_ no threatening the child. How could you use her worst nightmare against her? Shame on you!"

Sunshine stood up slowly, crossing her arms. She looked like a judge delivering a sentence. "There is nothing I feel ashamed about, Leah. This girl is hiding things. A lot of things. Weapons that could save us_ or destroy us. Do you think if something terrible happened, your ’cozy family life’ wouldn’t vanish anyway? Reality doesn’t care about feelings."

Leah tightened her grip on Ala, but she could feel the girl’s heart racing like a trapped bird. She knew Sunshine was right about the danger, even if her methods were heartless.

"She’s my daughter," Leah said firmly, her eyes sparking. "And I will make her talk without scaring the life out of her."

Leah gently guided Ala to a chair. She walked to the fridge, poured a tall glass of cold milk, and set it in front of the girl and then got her chocolate chip cookies from the cupboard. For a few minutes, the only sounds were Ala’s ragged hiccups and the hum of the refrigerator. Slowly, Ala took a sip, the cold liquid helping her find her center. She looked at Leah, who gave a small, encouraging nod.

Ala sighed, a sound of total defeat. She reached into the air_ literally into the air_ and pulled a strange, glowing orange device out of her pocket dimension. She placed it on the wooden table. "I’ve seen it before, I think," Ala whispered, looking at the floor. "Back in Boulder Creek. But I don’t really know what it is. I just know it’s a weapon. I don’t know how it works or how to turn it on."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Hades yelled, throwing his hands up in total frustration. "We went through all that drama, the tears, the threats of deportation, for an ’I don’t know’?"

Leah rolled her eyes at him. "Hades, come on. We wanted her to talk, and now she’s talking. You cannot blame her if you don’t like the answer."

Sunshine raised a hand, silencing the room. She stepped closer to the table, eyeing the orange gadget like it might bite her. "Ala, look at me. Why did you pretend like you knew what it was? You led us to believe you had the manual in your head."

"I didn’t pretend!" Ala snapped back, a tiny bit of her old fire returning. "I think I have seen it, my family had many weapons. I do not know what all of them did or where some of them vanished to before the big fire."