Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 689: Help from the supervisor.

Sunshine laughed uncomfortably, scratching the back of her neck. "Oh, you know... my grandfather. He must have... collected them. He was a real pack rat. Kept everything. Old spoons, legendary god-slaying swords... the usual." How could she admit that she had been shopping around on the black market for weapons since she got her system?

80% of the weapons she had bought from the other merchants she collaborated with were illegal in some way. All she was doing was changing some parts and handing them off to the lab or her men.

Vortan cleared his throat, suddenly realizing he was acting like a fanboy. He smoothed his robes and wore his serious look once again. He turned away from the armory and looked at the two of them.

"Right. Your grandfather. A very... intelligent man, clearly," Vortan said dryly. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, why have you called me here? My time is not cheap, and I do not think you called me here to show off.... this collection of yours."

Sunshine’s softness evaporated. She looked at Nine, then back at him. "Vortan, I need your help," she said, her voice small and honest.

Vortan’s eyes narrowed instantly. He looked at the massive armory, then at the exhausted Nine, then back to Sunshine’s grease-stained face. He took a slow step backward toward the exit. When these two were together and weapons were involved, it was bad.

"What did you do? What have you two done this time?" He began to scroll through the task schedule to check if there was any task assigned to them that they could have messed up.

Nine and Sunshine shook their heads in perfect unison, looking like two guilty students in a principal’s office.

"We didn’t do anything!" Nine burst out. He took a deep breath, his expression turning solemn. "It’s about Sunshine’s home. It’s about Earth."

Vortan’s suspicion didn’t fade, but it changed. He looked at Sunshine, really looked at her, and saw the raw longing in her eyes. The air was quiet, the only sound being the soft, rhythmic hum of the animal translators she had just fixed.

"Earth," Vortan repeated. "Is this about the rifts?"

"You knew!" Sunshine’s voice hit a pitch so high it probably made everything in the space vibrate.

Beside her, Nine let his mandibles click in a frantic rhythm. His eyes widened, reflecting Vortan’s guilty face a dozen times over. "You knew?" Nine echoed, his antennae drooping in disbelief.

Vortan didn’t even flinch at the high-pitched screaming. He just adjusted his robes, looking remarkably calm for a man being stared down by an unpredictable girl and a giant bug. "Yes, I have always known," he said, his voice matter of fact. "And so has the Council."

The air suddenly felt very thin. Sunshine felt a wave of emotions crash over her_ hot anger, cold betrayal, and a weird urge to throw the hammer at his orange head. Her hands balled into fists, and for a second, she genuinely considered trying to strangle him. She took a deep breath, forcing her fingers to relax. She wasn’t a monster; she was a mechanic. A very, very angry mechanic.

"Why?" Sunshine hissed, her voice trembling. "Why wouldn’t you tell me? This isn’t just a secret recipe, Vortan! This is my home! If I had known about this from the beginning, I could have stopped the Watchers somehow. I would have found a way to stop the apocalypse before it even started. I could have kept the mutants from tearing my world apart! You all just sit back and let them attack us!"

Vortan saw the fire in her eyes and finally looked a bit uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, avoiding her gaze by looking at a nearby pile of scrap metal. "To be fair," he began, "I only found out recently. As for the Council... well, they just don’t care or choose to stay out of it entirely because of the laws that govern us."

Nine let out a long, frustrated sigh that sounded like air escaping a tire. "Vortan, you are our supervisor," Nine said, his voice heavy with disappointment. "We trusted you. We looked up to you. How could you just... sit on this? It’s a betrayal, man. A total bug-stab in the thorax."

Vortan shifted defensively, his cape swishing around his ankles. "Did you not hear the part where I said ’recently’?" he snapped, pointing a finger at Nine. "This information leaked from the council. There are levels of information in that organization, Nine, that even I can’t touch. I’m just a supervisor at Master level, not a council member!"

He paced a small circle, looking frustrated himself. "I was going to tell you, Sunshine. Truly. I was going to drop hints. A little nudge here, a cryptic clue there..." He stopped and looked at both of them, his eyes narrowing. "Wait. How did you two find out?"

Sunshine and Nine shared a quick, secretive gaze. Neither of them moved a muscle. They had a similar look on their faces. It was the kind of look that said, ’Not even the council could pull that information out of us."

Vortan waited for an answer, but only silence followed. He shook his head, a small, cynical smile playing on his lips. "Fine. Keep your secrets. I can see you’re not going to give up that information."

Sunshine huffed, crossing her arms over her grease-stained chest. "It doesn’t matter how we know. The point is, we know. And I don’t care about the Council’s politics or your ’levels’ of secrets. All I want is a way to fix the damage in the sky. I want my home back."

Nine took a step forward, his large alien eyes pleading. "Can you help us, Vortan? Not as a supervisor, but as... well, as someone who doesn’t want to see Sunshine and her people go down?"

Vortan looked at them for a long time. He looked at the Lunar Slasher on the wall, then at the weary, determined girl in front of him. He let out a long, dramatic sigh that seemed to deflate his entire ego.

"I will help," Vortan whispered, his voice suddenly losing its sharp edge. "But only because Maximus Raine was the best teacher I ever had. He taught me that sometimes, the rules are just suggestions for people with no imagination. I also want the slasher and some of these weapons." He stepped closer, his face turning deadly serious. "But listen to me: no one should ever hear about this. If the Council finds out I’m helping you without their permission, they won’t just fire me. They’ll erase all my family’s achievements and repairman lineage."