S C O R P I O N
I dropped from the ramp long before we had landed. The air rushed me. The neon and smoke passed my eyes like a round from a fusion gun. Only violence on my mind. Only lethal precision that would eliminate the pathetic threats before me.
I activated my boot thrusters moments from the ground and landed in a crouch.
A pair of poorly concealed rebels flinched, dropping cigarettes outside the abandoned looking structure. But I knew better. I always did.
My hand flashed with the glint of a dagger as the first woman fumbled for her weapon. It left my hand and found its mark in her neck. I walked calmly as she grappled dropping to a knee. The next finally levelled his gun.
A round sang out behind me.
The rebel's eyes went faraway as his body crumpled from a round through the head. I threw a look over my shoulder and nodded to Kartuga who lowered his rifle from the ramp of the Falcon. The rest of my team jumped from the craft and lined up beside me.
"Deal with that." I ordered in a bored tone, flicking a hand at the door.
Thermal charges went up around it quickly. A fizz and bright magnesium light flashed. Then it clanked inward with a bang.
Music beat heavily beyond and I clenched a fist.
"Get rid of them all." I murmured, walking forward drawing both guns from my hips.
My guard took every angle around me as we strode down the hallway. If Proximo had indeed overridden the security cameras in this crap hole we would be upon them before they even knew what to do. As for his sister... I could promise nothing for her.
I pulled my comm up as we went through another door closer to the heavy beat of music.
"What's your status?"
Proximo was instantly in my ear. "About to walk through an entire crowd of rebels with one of their damn leaders out cold."
I snorted with no humour. "Allow me to introduce myself first."
I nodded to Kartuga.
He blew the charges on the final doors and the music hit us as quickly as the explosion did. Bodies were thrown out from the closest radius. I scanned the threats, the details, the circumstance–alcohol, celebration, dancing–
I couldn't stop the smirk that took my lips. They truly thought the Division's Scorpion was a distant memory. A leader finally gone from their lives, so they could press forward in whatever deluded conquest they sought over this city. A conquered victory. I was about to show them otherwise.
Two crypto grenades flew from my guards' hands as the chaos started.
Blind and terrified weapons were being pulled out too late. But I wasn't here for the spares. I walked with the grace of an Emperor through the confused morons on the wrong side. Shots went off behind me and ended threats.
"–the fuck was that?" Proximo demanded, "–we had the element of stealth!"
"Now you have the element of Scorpion. Are you going to–" I dodged a blade and sent a throwing knife through his neck, "–show yourself or am I doing this myself." I growled.
"I see you." He said flatly.
"Well–don't be shy." I grunted, ripping the metal away from a body and firing. Sarcasm dripped from me like the crimson on my face.
But I could feel the adrenaline rush me like a long lost friend. They were another hopeless faction rising to the wrong ruler. One that would never run a city like this. I dodged and shot. Yanked a clueless body in front of me as I walked and let him take the rounds of his comrade.
The heavy bass beat with my heart.
I saw a few of them run from me. The devil in red moving with a fluidness none of them had. A lethality forged from the depths of the worst part of this city. The only one that could make a ruler to run the darkness. The hardest choices were the ones we dealt in. Not hesitating to eliminate enemies and traitors alike–even if they had once been on our side. Those were the choices that leaders before could never make until it was too late. But Proximo had made that error tonight.
The movement caught me late but I saw them then. Only I didn't see them. They had different faces. Identities that weren't familiar. The only reason I hadn't dismissed them with a fusion round already was that they shot rebels too. And they had that traitorous bitch at one side.
I stalked forward through the chaos with rage clouding my vision.
If he wouldn't finish it I would.
Makayla shot quickly and efficiently beside him. She wore another face for this ridiculous mission. This waste of resources and skill. She caught sight of me with the rifle levelled at my head and froze for a moment–a look that I couldn't focus on.
I shoved her from Proximo's side and palmed another blade.
I sent it for Dazz's unconscious neck when Proximo was still shooting with one hand. A body tackled me to the ground before it found its mark. The blade slashed across Proximo's arm and he dropped her with a snarl.
Makayla's face appeared above me for a second before I sent my fist into her jaw. It was her shock that let me roll her off me. But she twisted a leg and tried to bring me back–send me out of reach from that heathen. I was lost to the rage I had for her and him. He never let betrayal cross us. It's how we ran this city. It's how we were a unit that never broke and he was breaking the rules for her.
I shifted my weight rapidly and cut an elbow into her head with enough force to make her release her hold on me. I was on my feet rapidly.
"Scorpion!" Proximo roared as rounds flew around us and more rebels fell or ran.
The music beat on in a crazed tempo as he stood over his sister and held a palm to me. I laughed viciously and pointed the blade at Dazz.
"You understood the cost of what she did and what are you doing now?!"
"She's the only blood I have left." He answered grimly. "I'll keep her under–"
"Control?" I finished, spinning the blade and preparing my body. "She's with Hades now, can't you see that?" I seethed.
"She is still my sister!" He snapped.
Makayla was slowly on her feet beside me and shot a few rounds before turning to the side of my blood soaked face. Her hand was on my forearm and I threw her a look filled with enough darkness for her to be considered an enemy. "Alex. Let's leave. Please. We can work–"
Her words weren't enough for once. This was beyond words. I ripped my arm away and levelled my eyes on Proximo. Traitors were a different breed and could not stand. They were both delusional. Letting his sentiment creep in and let her do all the damage again. She had set up so much for too long. The Emperor's pod. Hades. It wouldn't stop.
"There is nothing more to do but end her." I growled.
"Then you end me first." He said calmly, drawing his own blades slowly.
I paused a moment. Makayla stilled beside me. The music became a distant beat as my second stood before me and that traitor ready to split it all apart. For one that wouldn't do the same for him. I spat the blood from my lips down at her prone form making him snarl. I smiled coldly as I drew another blade and nodded.
"Two it is–"
Something hit the side of my head sharply. The butt of a gun.
Blackness took my mind as quickly as the rage had.
* * * * *
If I had to open my eyes in this life one more time to a splitting headache I would end it all myself. I grit my teeth as the world spun into focus. The lights from a building were a dull glow through curtains. I gripped the sheets below me.
It only meant one thing.
"Didn't expect a betrayal from you too." I cut out in a rasp.
She moved from the chair quickly and dropped beside the bed. The side light came on at a low setting but I still winced and rolled my head back. I didn't want to deal with her guilt I wanted a fusion round through Dazz's head.
"Alex I–"
"Save it. I'm not interested." I grunted, trying to get the room to stop spinning.
Her hand found my skin and I turned a glare on her until she dropped it.
"You didn't leave me any choice."
I laughed bitterly. "You don't understand what you've done. Neither of you do."
"What makes you think that everything can be solved with a bullet?" She demanded, more hurt in her voice than anger. I rolled my eyes at it. At the words of a child that hasn't lived in this game. She growled low at my indifference and straightened out of her crouch.
"His sister is alive and being watched until he can talk to her."
I smiled at the ceiling like she talked of dinner plans.
"Alex–can you just look at me?" She said more desperately.
I scanned the architecture above us and not the distressed Sector 1 royal. It really was impressive contract work. Dazz's work. I wondered how long it would take to destroy with a few Falcon jets–
Makayla puffed out in frustration but didn't dare to touch me again.
"I was prepared to do it, you know. Tonight was my plan. My decision to go to the faceless maker. Then finish what the rebels had started."
My face remained emotionless as I traced the materials running in sharp triangles and pentagons above.
"–So you may as well hate me rather than your second too, because he was prepared to end the night after the Crypt." She finished, finally making the words break my reaction.
"Why do you think I killed your father, Makayla?" I asked slowly instead.
She stopped pacing and stared at me. These were the cold words she needed to hear. Not the buttered version of life she envisioned. The one where people could all coexist and nothing would have a cost.
"You already told me. Because he wouldn't stop–"
I shook my head and rolled it until my eyes landed on her. There was something fearful when my full attention was finally on her. Along with the rest of the guilt she had for her actions.
"Because he would burn a building if it meant killing one member of the Division. Because he would embed weapons that could eliminate an entire Sector to keep his control on the city. Because he was like Hades. And now guess who has those weapons because of that woman you defended."
"It was Proximo's sister it wasn't my choice to make–"
"Was knocking me out with a rifle also not your choice?" I seethed, wincing when pain lashed through that very spot.
She didn't answer me. Instead she turned back and walked through the room. I shut my eyes and tried to lock the pain into a faraway place. But it was so much harder when the cause was standing right there and the others were in this base now.
"I wish you just stayed in bed." I muttered, feeling faraway from my body.
Something cool pressed onto my neck and stuck like a patch.
"I can't stand to see you in that much pain–I know it's my fault–just shut up for a second and let it kick in." She sighed, pulling her hand back from my neck and sitting on the foot of the bed with her back to me.
I was fine with the silence that hung. I had nothing for the pair of them in this state either way. For once I wasn't the one with a ready apology for my actions. I would do it again if it meant taking out another traitor from our lives.
She glanced back at me. My eyes were already on her. I wish they weren't. I wish I could separate those feelings for her. I wish that I could hate her for this. That I could be the cold ruler of the Underworld that went through her to finish what had been started. But as I stared at those aqua blue eyes I knew I couldn't. From the day she rushed through the crowd and slammed into me. Walked down those ball room steps. Held a gun to my head in my own damn craft–
"What?" She demanded finally.
"You." I sighed.
She thought for a moment. Then glanced at the bruise I knew was forming on my head again.
"You started it."
"I hit you with my fist not a rifle."
"You were about to go through your second to get to her." She murmured, watching me closely. "I'm not sure you fully calculated that."
I watched her back. Scanning the frown in her brow. The weapons still holstered on her chest and arms. She looked more like a Division member than I did.
"I wasn't going to kill him."
"He would have done anything to protect her."
"So?" I growled, "She is still a–"
"You would have done the same for me." She finished quietly.
I stilled and my anger turned into something else. I wasn't sure yet. Mostly shock.
"This isn't the same."
"Dazz is clouding Proximo's judgement. Alex, how can you not see this is just like you and me?" She asked, rising from the bed shaking her head. I didn't have the words yet the information was coming too fast and my head was too slow. "I bet he told you the same thing when I appeared in your life. When murdering all your enemies was suddenly becoming secondary."
"I–that's..." I tried to begin.
She approached me with a hard look.
"That's not what you would have done? I watched you take on an empire for me, Alex. You took bullets for me. Did monstrous things for me again and again to keep me in the light for a little bit longer." I was stunned into silence as she spoke the words that cut and filled me at the same time. "When that wasn't enough you hurt me so that the world couldn't anymore." She splayed her arms down at her body that was more soldier than Sector 1, "–Proximo is trying to hold onto the last fragment of his family–that you and I no longer have. At least we have each other. What does he have left if you take that?" She demanded in a heavy breath.
I didn't have an answer for her. Not for this. Not this time.
Those ice blue eyes wanted one. They wanted the reason.
"Makayla I... shit." I muttered finally.
Wordlessly she dumped herself on the other side of the bed and lay, placing her hands over her stomach. We were like this for a few minutes just thinking.
"You know... when I met him he didn't have the face tattoos." I said, staring past her to the city beyond the curtains. She turned silently and scanned my face. "He had scars on half his face from a job that went wrong for Lazuras. When he told me he was going to a surgeon to fix it I asked him why. Why those marks needed to be fixed at all." I mumbled with a brief smile. "After a long conversation over a good whiskey he didn't want it fixed anymore. He wanted it on the surface permanently. A reminder but also a nod to what I did when we first fought. When one of my own poisoned those blades we fought with and I took that weakness and carved it into my hand." I finished, grazing it absentminded with my thumb.
Makayla followed my gaze and stared at the fusion crafts that flew past between buildings. The neons and the stacked hazard of glass and metal. I felt her fingers slip into my scarred hand and tighten. I dropped my gaze from the city to her. She still watched the world beyond.
"I think I knew you wouldn't kill him." She murmured, "–I just wasn't willing to find out."
It was always her. It had to be.
The answer to my darkness. The one that drew me back and made me remember myself before Scorpion. The purple light hit her blonde hair and the side of her face. The fact that she could love any part of me was a mystery. There was so much red on my hands. And I dragged her deeper every day she stayed.
She sensed my gaze and met my own.
"You look like shit."
A laugh came out of me before I winced. The concern was all over her face when she released my hand and carefully took the side of my face.
"I don't want to hurt you again, Alex. Please don't make me choose that again." She whispered.
I moved my hand slowly until I could run my fingers through her hair at the temple. Most of it was still held up out of her face. But I tugged it free anyway and watched the golden waves splay out.
"You can hit me any time you want."
It cracked a smile out of her and she sighed trying to hold onto her composure. But this was me we were talking about.
"Makayla."
She met my eyes again and I nodded. "This isn't going to happen again because I'm going to let Proximo make this choice. I'm going to let him do what I would have for you in a heartbeat because I know what losing that feels like–I never want to feel it again."
She traced her fingers lightly over my face.
"I don't know if you've noticed... But I'm pretty hard to kill now."
I smirked darkly. "Don't tempt me."
"Our fights always end productively." She said innocently.
"You had to ruin the moment."
"I stopped you from killing your best friend I think I deserve a little more."
"I'm yours." I told her seriously. "I always have been."
She brushed my lip with her thumb. "Well, Scorpion. I've been yours for quite some time too. Let's agree not to use our combat training on each other again."
"You hit me in the back of the head while I was focused on Prox–"
She covered my lips with her hand. "Shhh... you're injured."
I shook my head in exasperation and mumbled around her hand, "I'll give you injured in a second Xavier..." She pinned my shoulder back when I tried to get up.
"Stop you idiot. You really do need rest."
I relaxed against her hold and settled back in the pillow.
"The last time I did that you disappeared and I was sent a video that almost gave me a heart attack." I muttered. "But your fighting has improved."
Despite herself she smiled and propped her head on her elbow draping a hand across my waist. I tried not to focus too much on that.
"I see why you go there... though they don't fight very cleanly."
"That's why I didn't want you there." I said slowly.
"I'll stick to your new recruits next time."
"There is one you could meet actually." I noted, thinking of the gangly boy that had somehow scooped me up before the rebels could. "His name is Lee... if he's still in one piece."
She raised an eyebrow. "Why him in particular?"
"You'd like him." I smiled faintly. "He's as innocent as you were and just as bad with a weapon in his hands."
"You're unbelievable."
"He saved my life." I added.
This caught her attention. "Now this is a story I need to hear. Where is he?"
"No..." I sighed, turning into her and pressing my face fully into her exposed neck. Despite the ache of my body it still buzzed touching her. An electricity that never seemed to stop running when we made contact. "You stay here. Go next week when we get out of bed." I muttered into her skin.
I enjoyed the shiver that went through her and the laugh that followed under me. The intoxicating, sweet smell of her that was so familiar and perfect surrounded me.
I wanted for nothing.
"Just get some sleep please, Scorpion."
I smiled against her and closed my eyes.
"Don't go." I mumbled.
I felt her lips press against my head and wanted to find the strength to drag myself up to meet them. But my mind slipped away into sleep before I could try.