"Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human."

― V.E. Schwab



S C O R P I O N



Pain was always familiar. It was a place to go to. More raw than any other feeling and often more useful than anyone realised. I expected much of it before my death. That was surely where I was heading before I had fallen off a fusion cycle at speeds that should kill. But life was often never as simple.

Life clung on stubbornly.

My mind rang in a high pitch and that was the first thing. The second was distant murmurs. Unfamiliar ones. I took more measured breaths and identified something cool pressed against my forehead–at least I may not have to fight these people.

I opened my eyes slowly to a low ceiling in a patchwork of metals. Dim lighting and the smell of damp and street food. Someone stirred beside me in shock. I turned my head carefully aware of the singing and blinding ache.

My eyes landed on a gangly boy. Middle teenage years at best. The woman beside him stirred a pot cautiously and kept throwing quick looks between us and the weapon holster on my hip.

"Where. The hell. Am I." I rasped slowly.

The woman flinched and the boy came to put himself more prominently in front of me. He cleared his throat and tried to widen his shoulders. I regarded him with calm lethality. It was then that I noticed my weapons were not in their holsters.

"Scorpion–I found–I saw your crash and took you in–before a group of rebels could find you."

His voice broke on several intervals but he was doing his best to look years older and stronger than was the case. I exhaled slowly and stared at the ceiling before speaking.

"Why would a boy from Sector 49 do that?" I thought dully recalling the last location I flew past.

"Don't start Lee you've done enough–" The woman in the back tried to cut in.

He pushed some jet black locks from his face. "I want to be a part of the Division."

I stared at him blankly waiting for the punchline. But his face was adamant. I raised myself slowly from the thin bed so I could set my legs on the metal floor and meet his stare properly. It made the blood rush dangerously around my head but he met my gaze without flinching. I raked my eyes slowly over his thin and spindly body that would break under the first week of training.

"No you don't, kid."

"I'm not a kid–I've fought–people." He pressed with a tightening of a fist.

I smiled darkly at him. "You think bloodying a nose makes you a fighter?" I asked calmly. Watching the woman behind him relax more as I spoke. It was clearly not her will to have him anywhere near us. For good reason. "What did Proximo Kartega say to you when you approached him?"

His eyes became more sheepish in a moment. He avoided my lethal amusement and loosened his hand. I snorted.

"You should look for work in the city. If you cannot even approach my second, you should not be anywhere near my Division."

"It's not that–it's that he–" His words cut off and he wrapped a cloth around his hand. "–he said I was too weak before he even trialed me with the others." He grit out.

I ignored his comment entirely and stared at the woman.

"Do you have a comm?" I asked calmly.

She met my gaze quickly and dropped a quick nod going for the satchel beside her pot. The infrared glowed under it with a low buzz. But the boy had apparently not finished his speech yet and came dangerously closer to my side. I cut him a warning look and he stumbled back a few inches in the small room.

"I can help–please let me help–"

"Kid. I am telling you no. Do you wish to find out what happens when I lose patience?"

"Lee. Enough." The woman added in a hiss as she presented me with a comm. I dropped her a steady nod and began setting up an encrypted line.

"I know the land cruiser you were chasing." He blurted.

I lost patience and seized him by the throat. The woman yelped but did not intervene. I ignored the red and pain that ripped through my skull but kept my eyes fixed on him.

"Stop. What you are doing. You do not belong with my people." I murmured in a husky voice. "If my second told you no, what makes you think I would say yes?"

"I just saved you!" He cried desperately aware of how close my weapons were to the bed. "Not many in the city can say the same!"

I paused and tilted my head. That much was true.

"What of your family?" I humoured him.

"My father was executed by Silver Sun." He growled with a hate I recognised. "The Division killed the troops that shot him." He finished flatly. I eyed the woman who now focused on her cooking. Then dropped the boy's collar and tapped on the comm.

"I do not give second chances." I begin in a low tone. "If you fail one phase of your training you do not come back. If you break orders–" His whole frame jumped in excitement and I cut him a glare stopping his eagerness, "–if I hear you are wasting our time I will see to it myself that you remember who we are before I dump you back in this shit hole." He nodded frantically pressing a fist to his chest.

The woman sighed loudly behind me but did not challenge me.

"I will go wherever–"

"Stop talking." I interrupted, typing into the comm.

He shut his mouth and retreated to his mother's side consoling her with frantic murmurs. It was already known that members of the Division were well paid. It was practically a ticket into an upgraded life. Members rarely died because of the training and if they did we struck enemies down in number.

The encryption was complete.

He answered in a second. "Scorpion what the fuck is going on–"

"I need a pick up at the location I'm sending." I cut in. "Dazz was expecting us."

He dragged in a thick breath. "I will deal her. Let me deal with her–"

"Stop. I am not alone." I stated in implication.

A pause over the comm.

"Sending a heavy convoy to you now. I will have a medical team with them."

"Good. I am bringing another with me. A recruit for you to break." I drawled with a dark look in the boy's direction. His spine straightened waiting for my second's response.

"We have a lot to discuss it seems." He finished in a trademark calm.

I smirked ahead. "I will see you soon, Proximo."

The woman flinched. I terminated the comm and wiped the details on it. I placed it on the bed and met the woman's cautious look.

"You have done the Division a service today. It will be repaid generously. Whether your son completes his training is up to him. But your compensation will be agreeable." I finished without waiting for her shocked thanks.

I strode for the door on unsteady legs and placed a hand against the wall to take a breath.

"Scorpion–your weapons." The boy noted, coming to my side and holding a number of knives and guns. I took the fusion pistols from him and left the blades.

"You'll want to keep those. You look like a street urchin without them." I murmured, glancing at his shocked expression. "Put those on and get the door." I stated.

He nodded quickly and clipped on the knives to his chest frantically before giving his mother a knowing look. A moment passed between them before I sighed loudly and he rushed to the door. I walked past him and pulled my hood lower. The Vanguard was a deep black on my chest and told me it had done its job in the crash.

"You do not speak from now unless I ask you. Is that clear?" I told him over my shoulder.

He rushed to my side after shutting the door to his home. We were in a Sector mess. Many metal boxes stacked upon each other and below. A network of bridges and metal paths connecting them. He would need to get used to a higher class soon enough. My fighters did not live like this.

"Take us to the streets."

He took point and led the way through many connecting pathways and citizens of the mess. Many drank and others huddled around fires. But the ones that did notice us almost choked on their drinks. Others remembered the way and ducked into bows or moved out of our path altogether. But what was more amusing were the looks they threw the gangly boy now outfitted with Division blades and walking with Scorpion.

"Keep going." I told him as one man called something to him.

The boy set his shoulders and nodded firmly. Perhaps muscle could be built on those thin arms. Proximo could turn anyone into a weapon with time. But we did not waste much on one person. He would be no different. I gave him the time of day because he made a good choice today. He stepped in when my people could not and bought the favour of the leader.

I heard the sudden whir of several fusion crafts. He flinched and stared up as armoured crafts started circling our spot on the bridge. I smirked as armoured guards dropped onto nearby rooftops and trained guns on the area. Lasers darted across the bridge and other citizens fled into houses or out of sight entirely.

I slapped him on the shoulder as a craft dropped skilfully close between the metal buildings and a set of doors were opened before me. He stared at the luxury before it.

"Do not disappoint me." I growled, pushing him forward towards a man with vicious half tattoos and a dark look of his own.



* * * * *



Proximo glared death at the boy before him and spun a large dagger in his hand. The boy wisely made no eye contact the entire time we ascended.

"I've seen this little thing before." He grunted, making the swirls of ink move on his face. "What is it doing in our craft?"

"Now, now, Proximo." I drawled. One of the medical teams had wires and pads at my head already but I drank whiskey regardless. The ice clinked and I tilted my head in a wince.

"What's your name boy?" He snapped.

He did his best not to flinch and met Proximo's look of contempt. Proximo did not like weak looking things.

"Lee." He murmured.

"Speak up. Or must I train that into you now." He drawled with a wicked glint.

"Lee!" He blurted out much more forcefully. It made Proximo grin and lean back in his seat.

"Do you drink Lee? Of course you do. You are of age." He dismissed, despite his clear youth and flicked a hand up. A server had a glass of amber offered to him quickly. Lee took it making to look as casual as ever and took a much larger sip than one should. He choked into the glass and Proximo laughed loudly.

But Lee was sure to finish the entire glass before Proximo's keen glare. His eyes quickly landed on my blades strapped to his chest.

"Those are well made blades. Can you use them, Lee?" He quipped.

I rolled my eyes.

"I can fight." He answered with some small fire in his dark eyes.

"That is not what I asked." Proximo stated, leaning forward. Without warning he freed one from the holster faster than the boy could even lean away. He spun it in his hand and hovered it over his thigh.

"I don't think this blade has ever tasted street rat before."

"Enough." I stated in a bored voice. "Play with him later. We have more important business."

Proximo leaned back slowly and placed the blade back in Lee's chest holster. He slapped him hard with a smirk before turning to me like nothing had happened.

"We know she expects our moves now. She has too much information on the base of operations–every damn craft that leaves is a target." He growled, eyeing the window distrustfully.

"We still have the numbers. If she works with Hades it is in the remaining rebel groups. I need to know what they are targeting–if they are even targeting us at all... Or they have another in mind." I murmured, glancing at my vitals the doctor analysed beside me.

"Perhaps we should discuss the details once we land." Proximo murmured, glancing at the boy.

I chuckled and threw him a side look. "The Silver Sun killed the boy's father and we killed the ones responsible." I said flippantly. "He is loyal enough."

Proximo grunted and threw him a darker look. "Do not think this earns you special treatment. You will be tested with every other."

"That reminds me..." I began. "Have his family compensated for today. It appears the rebels were close to capturing me had it not been for him."

Proximo raised an eyebrow and despite the usual hardened treatment of new meat he smiled darkly at Lee. "A street rat. Stepping forward and aiding Scorpion. What a novel concept."

Lee ducked his gaze to the tumbler in his hand and Proximo ordered the server to refill it. He sprawled his legs apart widely and sipped at his own drink watching him.

"Not many surprise me these days." He murmured, thoughtfully staring at his gangly limbs with new considerations.

I could see this boy quickly becoming his new personal project. If he wasn't careful he would create another version of himself. Another lethally trained apprentice for Proximo to sculpt. It was of no concern to me what became of him–only that he did his job well and never betrayed us.

The craft started descending quickly into the roof hatch of our base and I glanced out the window.

"Where is Makayla?"

"I believe she was making new friends with some of our recruits in the training floor." He quipped, sinking the rest of his drink before tossing the glass to the server. "I will send her up and take this one down there." He finished, throwing Lee a vicious grin.

"Did you have time to... bring us our informant from Sector 1 while I was chasing your sister?" I asked calmly, waiting for the words I did not want to hear.

"He is in a secure hold." Proximo said simply, cutting me a glance.

The craft touched the floor and the doors were opened. I levelled Proximo with a steady look and nodded. "Good." I made to rush out but Proximo stopped me with words.

"I can be the one to–"

"No." I took a breath on the threshold of the doors. "We do things together this time. We will find what we need from Velron and we will hunt your sister together. As much as the idea sickens me–Makayla may be the best suited to extract information from him." I thought darkly, of the blade that I had put through his leg. It would never be enough. Even the notion of him setting eyes on her and having a conversation boiled every inch of me in fury.

"Say the word. I will see it done. But recover first." Proximo scattered my thoughts in a more serious tone.

I snorted and stepped through the door without another glance at either of them. I had someone I wanted to see more than another medical professional.