Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 597: A deal with Vicente.

As a businessman that had closed many deals before, he knew when a deal was about to made. If Vicente was giving conditions, then he was ready to crack. This was a deal he could make now and go home with dry ink on a contract.

He offered a thin, sharp smile. "If you join us, Vicente, you’ll be privy to some truths_ but don’t expect to see the whole map. Even in the inner circle, some truths are kept under lock and key."

Vicente met his gaze and nodded once, "I would be worried if you said yes because a leader must keep some things to himself. You are more honest that I assumed you would be considering your reputation as the wolf of the business world." Wolves were aggressive, they stalked, they commanded, they took risks. They were predators and persistent.

Hades Quinn’s competitors had often described dealing with him as "feeling hunted."

Vicente was not sure if he was being hunted but he knew he was being targeted.

Hades turned his head toward him, his gaze sharp. "So does this mean that you have thought about my offer."

Vicente let out a short, dry laugh_ the kind of sound that felt more like gravel hitting a tin roof than actual humor. "Right, that offer," he muttered. He looked out toward the horizon, where Ferry Island sat like an ugly scar. Once, he had been its protector. Now? Now he was a pet killer, the incompetent figurehead who couldn’t even find the person that tried to assassinate him recently.

The gunman was still out there, probably sharing a beer with the very guards who were supposed to be protecting him. He did not trust his people anymore. He did not trust the residents of Ferry Island anymore.

He was tired of sleeping with one eye open.

"Everything has turned upside down, Hades. Especially after the Emily battle," Vicente said, his voice dropping to a weary whisper. There are talks of a rebel group among my ranks. Ferry Island isn’t home anymore. It’s a mess that will not be easy to clean up." He let out a heavy sigh that seemed to deflate his entire posture. He looked at Hades, meeting the man’s impenetrable gaze. "Yes... I’ll join Fortress Four. I want to go where I’m actually wanted. Frankly, I don’t give a fuck what happens to these unappreciative fuck holes anymore."

Hades didn’t jump for joy. He didn’t even look surprised. He knew a cornered animal when he saw one, and Vicente had been backed into a very small, very dark corner. But a man like him did not want to show fear so he was passing it off as nonchalance and anger.

None the less, the goal had been achieved. "Welcome on board," Hades said simply.

The two men shook hands. The grip was firm, but as they pulled away, Vicente paused, his fingers still hovering near Hades’ sleeve. "There’s a rebel group forming back there," Vicente warned, his voice low. "They aren’t just angry; they’re organized and some of them are superhuman. I am not sure that they will be welcoming of your leadership. Keep your eyes on Luca, he is an instigating snake."

Hades nodded once, the information already filed away in his mind. "Noted."

The walk back to the music center was quiet, the air thick with the smell of smoke.

Hades found Hadrian leaning against a pillar, looking bored enough to go out on a hunt just for the entertainment value. "Hadrian," He called out. "Stay here. Relieve Dominic. The man hasn’t seen his family in days, and he’s starting to look like a ghost in a tactical vest."

Dominic, who had been standing guard near the reinforced glass, let out a tired, genuine smile. "Bless you, Hades. My little girl is going to be thrilled to see me. She probably thinks I’ve been eaten by a mountain lion by now."

Hades felt a sudden, sharp pang in his chest. He looked at Dominic, then at the floor. "That girl has a way of knowing that her parents are in trouble, but I wouldn’t be so sure about the ’thrilled’ part, Dominic."

Dominic’s smile faltered. He stepped forward, his heavy boots clunking on the polished floor. "What? Did something happen? Is Ala okay?" If he lost another child, he did not know what he and his wife would do.

"Ala is fine," Hades said, but his hesitation was louder than his words. He knew this was Leah’s story to tell_ she was his wife and Ala’s mother; Hades did not know what parts she would not want Dominic to know.

But Dominic was staring at him with the eyes of a father who was already imagining the worst. "Hades. Talk to me. Now."

Hades sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It’s about the Kid Squad, Dominic. And Ala."

Over the next ten minutes, Hades laid it out. He didn’t sugarcoat it because if the situations were reversed, he would have wanted to know it all. He told him about the Kid Squad going to the forest and how Ala had given them weapons, that she’d been part of a horrific experiment.

Dominic didn’t interrupt. He just stood there, his face turning into a mask of stone. When Hades finished, Dominic let out a breath so heavy it sounded like a physical weight dropping. "That poor child," Dominic whispered. He wasn’t thinking about the mistakes she had made. He was thinking about the trauma his little girl had gone through. "What did they do to her?"

"We’re going to fix it, she’s in therapy. She has family and friends," Hades said, though even he sounded unsure. "She will be okay.... I mean she opened up to us about the weapons. That is a good start." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Dominic didn’t wait for a formal dismissal. He tapped the interface on his chest. With a mechanical whir and a hiss of hydraulics, his exo-suit surged to life. The metal plates shifted and locked over his limbs like a second skin of vengeful chrome. "I’m going home," Dominic said, his voice amplified by the suit’s internal comms. "I need to hold my daughter and see my wife right now."

He engaged the thrusters, and with a deafening boom of compressed air, he shot straight up into the clouds, a streak of silver disappearing into the gray expanse.

Hades watched the vapor trail for a long moment, feeling an uncharacteristic flash of envy. "Must be nice going home to his wife," Hades muttered to himself.

He nodded at Hadrian and prepared his command face. He had vehicles full of panicked billionaires to shepherd back to the mountain safely and more beacons to collect. Now that Ferry Island was theirs, he also needed to uproot the rebels or put a stop to their disobedience.

But first, he needed to identify who they were.