S C O R P I O N
To think this week had not been bad enough already.
The pompous politician from whatever god damn president would be communicating directly. With us. A man whose lips had been on–
I growled for the tenth time today and secured the bulletproof vest to my chest a little tighter. My sharpest knives secured to my thighs and arms finished my mood. I ignored the buzz on my wrist holo. It had alerted me often. Many times it was Makayla. But I sent orders to my guards with excuses to keep her away.
I needed to slip into a much darker place in my mind for my next moves. Unleashing it on her was out of the question. She may feel hurt from my distance briefly but it was better than seeing the monster I would become to deal with a long time traitor.
Dazz.
I glared at my reflection in the mirror. My gold eyes shone back under the dark lines of charcoal. My hair secured tightly back under the blood red hood. I was more myself than ever–or never as far. I could never tell now I walked this path so closely with Makayla.
I assembled my personal guard but for Proximo outside the craft hatch. The most deadly soldiers in Merridian dropped me respectful nods with fists to chests. I strode past them all with impatience.
"Someone pilot that damn craft before I lose my calm." I stated into the air.
Boots rushed around me. Either to get the hell inside or prepare to take us up. Dazz had done well I had to give it to my enemy. She hid her traces well. She was invisible in the digital space. But she could not hide from my contacts. The ones that were everywhere.
I had floated a couple of thousand credits for information and my army of spies dug up her sightings in less than half a day. I carefully pulled the Santa fish black blade from my thigh. It glinted wickedly even in the low light of the cargo hold. The jet moved upwards quickly and I stared at the dark metal. The last skin it tasted was an Emperor's. Now it would be my Second's sister.
It took longer than I liked to arrive. The voice came into my ear calmly from Octavius. I did not know he could pilot.
"3 minutes from drop." He stated.
I nodded to myself and clipped on the drop line to my armour. My guard instantly followed suit as soon as I had. I pressed a hand to my head.
"Keep a close perimeter. Nothing escapes." I murmured calmly, meaning more than just vehicles. But Octavius was a professional and as calm under pressure as even Proximo would be.
"Understood."
I smiled darkly and caught the eyes of several of my guard. They were ready, almost eager to spill the blood that knew our most important secret. Our base of operations and its capabilities. They would defend their keep.
"Consider anything that moves in that building as hostile. I will not hold you to collateral." I spoke calmly into the comm, watching their faces acknowledge the freedom I just gave them. The power to do whatever was necessary tonight.
The hatch doors lowered open with a flash of red. Then Octavius spoke again.
"You are clear in the drop zone."
I ran the rope under my fingers as I moved with purposeful strides until there was no ramp left. I threw myself off the edge and swung against the rope as I sailed towards the building roof. My guard were close above following with trained efficiency.
"Kill electronics." I murmured to Octavius.
I saw the bright light under the fusion jet hum with a quick three pulses before the lights in the entire block suddenly shut off. But our group relied on fusion power not digital power. As dear, sweet Dazz relied so heavily upon.
When the last set of boots hit the roof the jet was already pulling up and circling the area in a buzz of wind. I shot my hand forward and my guard melted into a defensive stance around me. I dropped a nod and they lined up charges on the rooftop coded door. It blew inwards and clanked loudly down a set of stairs.
We moved quickly. Rushing the building. Our night vision clicked on from the internally powered suits. Another gift from Xafra. But my orders had been clear from the start.
Movement from a shadow to the right in the dark. My guard sent a round through him before he could even fumble for the door. Suppressed. Silent and lethal. He dropped to the ground in a heap. Voices could be heard from multiple doors but they would not lose their lives if they did not involve themselves.
"Move three floors below. Heat signature is active." Octavius informed me.
I relayed orders to the team and we swept defensively to the main stairs. Every corner checked. Every shadow accounted–
A door ripped open. I sent a bright fusion round through his mouth before he could even shout. He body slumped towards me and I kicked it back through the door and slammed it shut. More stairs. More corners.
We were level with her floor. Then her door. I flashed my hand once and they lined the charges once more. Sticking the thermals along the edges–
A faint beep caught my attention faster than anything. Because I had heard that bleep once before. Once a lifetime ago when a room was...
"GET BACK–"
The door exploded out in a plume of fire throwing three men off the metal and sending another down the stairs. I was ripped off my feet and smashed the wall with a crack. My vision sparked and I choked in trying to draw in from my seized chest. The Vanguard hummed and flashed black showing it was compromised.
I shook my head trying to stand in the smoke. Commanding my ringing ears to focus.
A metallic ball rolled into the hallway and I threw myself aside as the bright flashes of a crypto went off blinding us all from the night vision. I snarled into the floor and was too disoriented to make out the noise in my ear.
"–PION. SC–OR–ION. S C O R P I O N!"
I shook my head in the dust and felt the hot trail of crimson iron run down my head.
"–unning–tting–AWAY! She's airborne!" Octavius had lost the calm and was shouting sense into me. Dazz was getting away. The adrenaline and rage hit me. I shrugged a piece of wall off me and the hallway spun. My other guards were struggling to stand.
"Where?!" I roared now.
"Land vehicle. She's going for ground cover–"
"Drop the fusion cycle." I stated, holding the wall briefly as I rushed down the stairs after her. She was quick. Intelligent. But she would not be faster than me.
* * * * *
My vision was still spinning when I hit the night air at the ground floor. I shouldered the final door open and crowds were already gathering in the chaos. Under the glow of neon lights I cut through them all in a blood stained crimson cloak. I spun on my heel confusion wrapping itself rarely around my mind like a distorted film. A chaotic murmur of everything far too out of focus.
"She's heading for the underpass tunnels–Scorpion your vitals are dangerously–"
"Focus on her!" I snapped, "–where is my–fucking fusion cycle?"I growled out through the blood rush in my skull.
The jet dropped out of the sky with more precision than I wanted to give credit for in my state. The cycle emerged from the base of the craft seamlessly and hit the tarmac. I staggered past the gawking and fearful sheep and threw myself onto it.
It hummed under my touch and rose quickly. I tapped the side of my head and shot into the sky between buildings.
"Give me–a route." I cut out, dodging rapidly past metal and glass. My sight was dangerously blurring and not from the speed. I grit my teeth and pushed the weakness away. Everything else away. She would not escape me for this.
My vision lit with a blue path to her vehicle roaring through the streets. I punched the acceleration and sent myself through the air like a comet. The corner of my vision seemed faded almost–weaker in peripheral. I wouldn't let the concussion claim this from me–
"Scorpion–your vitals are indicating–"
"Speak again and I'll deal with–" I grit my teeth as I dodged another stream of fusion crafts. My vision was blurring but my distance to her was flashing down in furious numbers. I was within reach of this betrayer. Her vehicle was glowing in thermal imaging. Flashing to me like a beacon of revenge that I always claimed in my name.
I did not let people slip through my grasp. My name held meaning. It held purpose. It meant that those who wronged Scorpion wronged the Underworld.
She would... she...
My head dropped. The fusion cycle shuddered and clipped–something. There was spinning. I ripped the stirring harshly before another collision of something–
"–deactivating this–own good–" A distant voice cut in.
I dropped from the sky quickly. Shaking the pain away from me. I did not concede to it. I never would.
"Override." I mumbled into the computer.
"Confirmed." A cheerful voice responded.
I smiled a drunk and dazed thing. The woman's voice was content and carefree. It made me think of the woman I found that day with blue eyes and blonde hair. An image of innocence. The image of a powerful woman that didn't want the power. A woman that lit my darkness on fire. I smiled into the rushing wind as my head drooped again and this time I could not avoid the dark shape that collided into the cycle that already moved too fast.
The distant hum of the Vanguard around me... My mind went and my vision with it. My hands and body loosened. Darkness claimed me to a roar in my ear.