Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 590: Father first, commander second.

Sunshine ignored the mystery of the claws for now; she had more immediate problems, like the weight of Vortan’s scathing gaze burning into her shoulder blades. She leaned in, her voice a jagged whisper. "Listen to me, that orange device is a beacon. It pulls things_ creatures_ from God-knows-were.

Don’t twist it. Don’t let Ariel play with it. Tell Professor Chloe to kill the tests on the device immediately. Put them in a freezer or Ala’s space. Hurry up Hades, before the Watchers win this bizarre war."

A sharp curse from Vortan cut her off, cold and sudden.

Vortan slammed a hand against the power core casing. "Sunshine, any time now. End the chit-chat! We have work to do!" He was clearly fuming, his jaw set tight.

She knew the reasons why he was fuming. He hadn’t mentioned their little stunt in the water yet, but the way he was gripping his wrench suggested he was vibrating with suppressed fury. If she pushed him hard enough, he would crack.

"Hades bye, I have to go." Sunshine said and hung up abruptly.

"Screwdriver!" Vortan shouted, reaching his hand out without looking.

Nine fumbled in the dark, splashing as he dug through the kit. "Right! Screwdriver. Standard? Or Actually, don’t yell, here’s the standard one."

Vortan snatched it and began frantically unscrewing a panel while water lapped at his chest. He glanced at Sunshine, his eyes narrowed and dangerous in the flickering light.

"Do not just stand there," he hissed, his voice low and vibrating with a threat that made the hair on Sunshine’s neck stand up. "Get to work. If that core dies, the pressure drops completely. If the pressure drops, we will be turned into pancakes before we can even scream. Fix the secondary cooling lines. Now!"

Sunshine didn’t dawdle. She waded over to the flickering green core, her hands already reaching for her soldering iron. "Nine, I need the thermal sealant and a light. And maybe...."

Nine interrupted. "A joke? The mood in here is a bit damp. Vortan is mad," he grunted, struggling to stay upright as a small wave hit him. "Maybe you should sing one of your songs to improve the mood in this hell pit."

It was really hot down there. How could they be simultaneously hot and cold at the same time, with their feet buried in water?

"Focus, Nine," Sunshine said, her face illuminated by the dying yellow glow of the core. "Now is not the time for a song."

In fact, if she dared to sing, Vortan would be the one to take her head off.

*******

Back on earth, another day started without Sunshine’s presence. Inside the walls of Fortress four, the normal problems were already blooming like weeds. A pipe had burst in camp Pitbull, flooding a communal kitchen with grey water.

While it was being fixed, some people had flooded the kitchen, treating it like a swimming pool. The color of the water did not seem to bother them.

Two elderly residents were currently engaged in a heated, cane-shaking debate over who won the bingo game the previous night and someone’s experimental pet mutated piglet had escaped its pen, leading a trail of half-eaten laundry through the town of Silverdale.

These were the flickers of life that Hades usually delegated but now, he had bigger fires to put out, especially when Sunshine was not around. But before the Commander could be a leader, he had to be a father, and that was proving to be the harder job.

"You’re leaving? Like, leaving leaving? Outside-the-walls leaving?" Earl’s voice cracked, his eyes wide. At his age, he knew the difference between a supply run and a dangerous mission_ everything outside the walls was dangerous.

"Just for a few hours, Earl," Hades said, kneeling to be eye-level with his son.

"But Mom isn’t here," Ariel interjected, his voice tight with a precocious anxiety. As the oldest, he was already calculating the power vacuum which he needed to fill in the absence of two parents. "If something happens to you, who’s in charge? If the wall breaches and you’re at King’s Bridge, the chain of command falls to the sub-administrators, and half of them can’t even agree on a lunch menu.

Also, who is in charge of activation of all security measures for the wall. I will tell you who...not me! And I strongly believe it should be me because I am mom’s oldest child and the most responsible one."

Hades suppressed a tired smile. "Ariel, you’ve been reading the protocol manuals again. Stop that. It’ll give you grey hairs before you’re fifteen. If anything happens, which it won’t_ you know what to do. Tank or Hunter will activate the security measures. And you," he turned to Castiel, who was currently clutching his combat boot, "why the long face?"

"No goodbye kiss," Castiel sniped, his lower lip trembling. "Mommy did not kiss me yesterday and she has not kissed me today. What if she does not kiss me tomorrow too and you are not here to kiss me as well."

"I don’t like this and neither does White." Ariel mentioned.

Beside them, the bear let out a low, vibrating growl. It sounded like a chainsaw moving underwater. He slumped his heavy head so hard onto Hades’ back, nearly knocking the man over. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The bear was no longer the size of a baby cub; he was now as fat as a planet trying to squeeze into skinny jeans! He was as tall as Ariel but as big as Tank. And yet, he maintained his baby like persona and wanted to be carried and bottle fed.

Tank and Sunshine were the only two capable of doing so now.

"I promise," Hades said, his voice softening as he pulled his children into a rough huddle, the white fur of the bear tickling his nose. "I will be back before the night lights are lit. I’ll kiss you; I’ll kiss White_ though he’s got bad breath_ and we’ll have dinner."

The children burst out laughing. Castiel had accused White of not brushing just because their mother was away. When it came to hygiene, only Sunshine could convince White to brush and bathe.

Rori smiled as her son kissed the top of her head. "I’ll be back before you know it mom."

"Please.....with Suni gone...." words failed her.

"Mom, King’s Bridge is ours now. It’s like walking into our own backyard. There is nothing to worry about. Dominic has said the people want us to lead them. I need to step up and do these things in Sunshine’s absence. We cannot always rely on her for everything."

Rori sighed sadly. She knew this much, but she wished Sunshine was around. Nobody truly worried when her daughter-in-law was going beyond the wall.

Because she was Sunshine! Whether it was killing or surviving, she was great at it all.

Hades was not Sunshine, and that was what worried her.