Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again.-Chapter 707: The fall of a tyrant.

Arwin stepped forward, his expression a mix of anger and newfound steel. "Our roles in this play have changed, Heath. You’re the one that will stay in the basement.... or correct that; prison cell."

"Heath? You dare to call me my name!?" His father responded in disbelief. "Boy, have you lost your mind? Do you know that you are talking to your father right now?"

Arwin let out a decisive laugh. "You do not deserve the tittle of father....at least not from me which by the way should be the last thing on your mind. You should be more worried about the fact that you are locked up in a fortress four prison. Not just any section of the prison but an isolation wing where the worst of worst are locked up."

Heath blinked, the name echoing in his foggy brain. It was the same fortress he planned to seize with his daughter’s help. "Fortress Four?" Heath whispered, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck. "How?" He thought about his daughter and her sweet promises. His eyes moved to her, the sting of her betrayal hurting worse than any belt he had ever taken to her or her mother. "Paula..."

Arwin smiled tauntingly. "She made a juicy deal with the Quinns. She handed you_ a traitor over and in exchange we get to stay here and live free from your bondage for the rest of our lives. Even if the apocalypse ends someday and we all have to go back to our old lives, you will rot in here."

Heath let out a sharp, jagged laugh. Something in him refused to accept reality. "Paula? Don’t be ridiculous. She’s my obedient daughter. She’s a Burton. She wouldn’t know how to fill out the paperwork for a betrayal, let alone pull one off." He turned to Paula, his voice softening into that manipulative purr he used so well. "Tell him, honey. Tell this idiot he’s mistaken.... these fortress four people tricked you, right? This is all a part of our plan to take over from the inside."

Paula didn’t flinch. She stood there, looking at him not with anger, but with a terrifying kind of indifference. It was the look one gives a broken appliance that’s finally being hauled to the curb. "There is no lie in what Arwin has said and just for the record, I don’t care what they do to you, father," she said, her voice flat and chillingly calm. "I don’t care about the trials, the sentences for your crime, or the Burton Legacy. I have even lost interest in subjecting you to any kind of torture. I’m just done being part of your collateral damage."

She reached out and wrapped a protective arm around her mother’s trembling shoulders. "Come on, Mother. We’re leaving. We have a life to start, father cannot hurt you anymore. He will never be able to hurt us ever again. It is over."

Arwin turned to Hades and gave him a small bow. "You can take over Mr. Quinn."

Hades nodded once. "Open the cage,"

As Burtons turned to walk toward the heavy steel doors, they heard the cell door groan open. But suddenly, Martha Burton stopped. She gently disengaged from Paula’s arm.

"One second, darling," Martha whispered.

She walked back toward the cell. For a moment, Heath actually looked relieved to see her returning. He straightened his silk shirt, a smug look beginning to creep back onto his face. "That’s a good wife, now tell them that everything those stupid children said was not true!" He shifted his eyes to Hades. "Mr. Quinn, do not trust a word those twins say! It was them that came up with the entire plan; they did this! Once it failed, they pinned it on me_"

Crack!

The sound of Martha’s palm connecting with Heath’s cheek rang through the room like a gunshot. It wasn’t a dainty slap; it was the accumulated weight of twenty years of lies and fear. Heath’s head snapped to the side, his skin instantly turning a vivid shade of crimson.

"That," Martha said, her voice trembling but clear, "was for me." She delivered a stinging blow to his other cheek, her voice trembling with a mother’s fury. "That was for my children.

Heath’s face distorted into a mask of pure, primal rage. The negotiating man disappeared, replaced by the monster. "You miserable bitch_!"

He lunged, throwing a heavy, desperate punch aimed right at Martha’s jaw. He never connected. Carson moved faster than anyone expected, stepping into the gap and catching Heath by the chest, shoving him back with enough force to send him sprawling against the cold wall.

"Don’t you dare," Carson warned, his hand resting on the holster at his hip. "You don’t have any power here, Heath Burton. You are just prisoner 423 here, found guilty of treason. Or whatever crime we decide to pin on you, personally, I think it should be called stupidity."

Hades, who had been watching the drama with the bored detachment of a man who had seen a thousand villains fall, finally motioned at the judge to read him his crimes and sentence.

The judge’s voice cut through the room like a gavel. "For the crime of treason, you are sentenced to life in a maximum-security prison. For the crime of domestic violence, you shall spend those years cleaning the sewage reclamation grounds."

Heath lunged forward_ towards the judge, his voice raw with defiance. "I won’t accept this! You can’t pass judgment without a trial_ this isn’t justice, it’s a farce! Who gave you the right to hold this comic kind of trial?"

The judge didn’t so much as blink. He simply continued, layering punishment upon punishment as if Heath’s protests were nothing more than background noise. When the final decree was read which was more of a promise of banishment to the forest if he continued to misbehave, the judge closed the ledger and gave a sharp, final nod to Hades.

He gestured to the guards standing by the door.

"Take him away," Hades commanded.

"Wait!" Heath screamed, scrambling to his feet as the guards grabbed his arms. "I demand a real trial! I have rights! I am being framed! You can’t just_ "

Hades smirked softly. "There’s no need for a trial, Heath. We already have the evidence, and frankly, I don’t want to hear about you again, because if I do, you will have real problems."

He was pushed back into the cell. The heavy doors slammed shut with a final, echoing thud, swallowing Heath’s frantic protests and leaving only the faint, muffled sound of his begging.

Hades turned away from the iron gates, his gaze softening as it landed on the Burtons. They were huddled together, locked in a tight trio hug that seemed to hold the weight of everything they’d endured. A small, genuine smile touched his lips_ a rare moment of quiet satisfaction_ before he turned on his heel and walked out of the prison base.