S C O R P I O N

The night had come. Our grand appearance of powers to be held in the Empress's sky tower. We knew not of the full event only that we would attend in true Underworld force.

I had teams of service staff and outer squads waiting on orders. We wouldn't be caught outnumbered a second time inside that building. But something told me her new imperial majesty wasn't foolish enough to make such moves.

The question now, was what the hell I was going to wear.

Makayla stood with a smug look as she placed the covered item down on the bed before me. I gave her a serious look.

"You know we need to make the right impression tonight..."

"Naturally." She shrugged, crossing her arms and leaning back on the wall waiting for me to look. I watched her as I took the dark bag off the bed and gripped the zip.

"You'll wear nothing if this is hideous–"

"Just open the damn bag Scorpion." Makayla sighed.

I obliged her and tore the zip downwards without delay.

Alright. The upper Sectors had given her a sense of style.

I dragged my eyes over every inch of the finery. A tailored three piece suit in a close fit style I favoured. But not just that. The fabric itself was something I hadn't seen before. A material that almost stole the light from the very room it was so dark–perhaps a curtesy from Xarfa... Then there was the subtle but stark hems in the crimson of my cloak woven into perfect edges at the sleeves and lapel. The inside of the jacket itself was my cloak colour which couldn't be sharper against the midnight black of the outside.

"Oh and you'll need this."

She dropped a Sector 1-styled, pentagon plated tie before it. It stole the light in the same way but it would sit against a white shirt only making it more pronounced.

"Makayla Xavier..." I turned to her knowing smile with one of my own. "It seems you know how to dress me as well as undress me."

She laughed and bowed extravagantly.

"I had tailors for most of my life... You pick up the sense."

I smirked and nodded, placing the suit back on the bed.

"I guess we'll see if running the Underworld makes me any less capable..."

She raised an eyebrow and I nodded over to the walk in closet. She bit her lip and eyed it.

"I don't know whether to be excited or horrified. You could well have me show up in some dreadful pink number–"

"You're much too bold for pink. Makayla." I dismissed.

She turned for the clouded glass door and it opened to her just before she reached it. The lights activated within and revealed what was already shining on the other side. The gasp was enough to tell me the tailors in the outer sectors had their own reputation for excellence.

"Alex!"

"How much do you hate it?" I grinned.

But there was more gasping and the sound of the rare material clinking as it rustled. I rounded the corner and leant on the door frame as she ran her fingers across hundreds of tiny scales, like a plated suit of armour in gold that caught every ounce of light in the room and threw it back. She could not have known I would present her in the opposite way she presented me–but it could never look so right.

The leader of the Underworld and the star of Sector 1.

"This is–it's so–that's the best design–what material is this?" She finally demanded.

"Second millennia alloy that doesn't exist anymore." I noted casually, flicking a hand. "I'm sure the artefacts melted down for it weren't missed too much."

"You–what?" She whirled, taking her hand off it.

"Please..." I drawled dryly. "You didn't really think I would let some upper class nobody try and out dress Makayla Xavier's return to Sector 1. It's light too, don't worry I had adjustments made for style and comfort."

She was torn between wanting to scold me for it and running her eyes over the sheer beauty of it. It cast golden shards of light all around us in the small room already–in the tower and on her it would be simply breath taking. The front was low cut but not too much so. The shoulders ran across her upper arms and into a backless design that ended midway. The rest would hug her legs to the floor until it pooled like molten gold around her feet.

"I can't take my eyes off it." She mumbled in awe.

I snorted and tightened my arms.

"How do you think I'm going to feel for the entire night?"

She ignored my comment and whirled on me in what I thought would be reprimand but stopped my thoughts when she kissed me softly. I returned it and relaxed my stance. She drew back and pressed her lips to me again.

"I love that you dare to be this bold, Alex."

I grinned.

"I wouldn't be Scorpion if I wasn't."

"Perhaps that Empress will seek a different woman for her alliance." She winked.

"She wouldn't last long as a leader if she tried." I murmured low.

"On the contrary–" Makayla said with a sly look over me, "–there's nothing more tempting than a crime lord in a suit..."

I pushed her against the clothes stacked in the wall. Her breath became small and her eyes flickered between my own. "If I knew I would wear them more often." I spoke near her lips.

"You don't eat your favourite meal every day." She murmured back, not breaking my gaze. "–you save it for special occasions."

"I'm looking at mine. I don't think I want to save it for another day." I returned with a dark smile.

She swallowed but shook her head slowly.

"I need to get dressed." She reminded me. "And so do you."

I placed my hands on her hips and pushed the base of her top upwards. She gave me a comical glare. Which I ignored entirely and pulled the rest over her head. She stood before me unconcerned and I glanced at her bra.

"As fantastic as that is... You can't wear it with the dress unfortunately."

"I wonder who designed it like that." Makayla drawled sarcastically.

"Someone with good–"

She stopped my words when she pulled a dagger off my hip and cut her bra in half in front of me. My mouth dried up as her chest bared itself to me so very... "I suppose if I can't wear that–I can't wear these either." She slipped out of her combats and stood in very beautiful, black laced underwear. But this was Makayla. If I teased her she would take it to a whole new level.

"I mean you can..." I trailed off, lost as she stepped out of them and placed them in my hand. I watched her waltz naked up to the golden dress and stared at every golden shard that was painted on her skin as a result.

Sector 1. Political plans. Division 52. Empress. Dawn Guard.

I repeated it in my head but it didn't mean to much as a woman with godlike curves and waves of blonde hair piling down one side strutted around in a closet just because she could–

"Go get dressed Scorpion." She ordered over her shoulder.

I looked down at the fistful of black lace in my hand and puffed out the largest sigh I could muster while she pulled the gold off the rack and I turned to my suit of pure midnight. It was at times like these when I wondered if the title was even worth it if it meant losing time with the woman in there.

* * * * *

I was in the cargo bay where vast numbers of fusion crafts and armoured vehicles were preparing in extraction teams if needed tonight. My techs ran over formalities with Proximo and I, but his eyes seemed to dart behind the thin man and a slow smirk broke his tattooed face.

I followed his gaze.

Makayla Xavier emerged from the lift looking like a queen in her own right. Shimmering in golden scales from every angle as her hips swayed. My personal guard fanned out around her and others stumbled just to get out of her path all together.

My legs were moving before I had acknowledged it.

Our eyes met as we walked the metal bridge from the lift to meet. I was just another woman and not an Underworld ruler–I couldn't be under that reserved look she gave me as we neared. A private one. A look that said I was hers.

I stopped a few feet away unable to take in the humming of machinery and work around us in the base.

"Are you speechless?" She drawled, flickering those sky blue eyes that were even more unfairly stunning under darkened lines and golden eyeshadow. Her collarbones flaunted themselves between the dress scales and I noticed with a start that she was now a few inches taller than myself.

"Makayla I..." I tried to find the words and for once in my life I felt my face heating under her gaze. She realised after a moment the effect she was having on me and a shameless grin broke across her face. I puffed out a breath and tried to speak but she beat me.

"Is that a blush, Scorpion?" She demanded.

Proximo saved me.

"Miss Xavier, a beautiful dress." He drawled, offering her a curt nod in his own tux and cut between us immune to her charm entirely. "I believe our leader would tell you as much if she could find her jaw from the floor."

I cut him a glare as he offered her the crook of his elbow. He was still taller than her. Those steel eyes winked at me as he lead her to one of the armoured fusion crafts.

Then I noticed the calculating gaze of Artella Maxim watching them between a group of my personal guard. They were all in suits with Vanguards beneath. His eyes snapped to mine as if sensing the look. He tipped me a small nod before turning to get inside one of the crafts.

Well this promised to be one hell of an evening.

Before I could follow that unthinkably stunning woman and my second, a fusion craft dropped from the roof hatch above. I drew up my wrist holo and summoned a tech over to me with a finger.

"Who is that?" I demanded. "Entries are not authorised for non-personnel tonight."

"Yes–yes Scorpion. But I'm afraid Proximo authorised this entry–"

"Who." I repeated.

"Florence Parker."

I almost rolled my eyes out of my head and pushed the holo pad back into the sweating techie before approaching the craft myself. If my second wanted to steal the honour of walking my woman into that craft I could think of no better way to return the favour...

I smiled darkly as the craft touched a landing pad and the doors opened to me.

Proximo's little affair froze on the lip as her heels clacked onto my landing pad. Her dark hair fell past her shoulder on one side and she wore a predictably low cut black dress. Furs sat along her shoulders and only drew your eyes closer to one place.

I met her eyes with no warmth in my own and a dark smile still in place.

"Scorp–Scorpion." She rushed, dropping a half bow-half stumble to me. I made a show of slowly offering her my arm. She didn't dare to refuse it and threaded her arm through my own. "You look positively dashing." She added trying to find the confidence in her voice again.

It was difficult when several of my personal guard closed around us in matching suits and lethal looks. She kept her eyes on the craft ahead. Now I had to wonder where the eyes of Artella were...

"I know I do." I drawled, without skipping a beat. "The woman with the best taste in Merridian chose it for me."

My intricate braid of dark hair ran down my back–which was also suited with a Vanguard. Makayla didn't yet know her dress was bulletproof but that was just a small detail.

"I thank you for allowing me to attend–"

"Oh, I wouldn't get too ahead of yourself Florence." I murmured darkly, meeting her gaze as we stopped outside my craft. "It is Proximo you should thank... Although you are not the only one with eyes for him tonight." My smirk darkened and her gaze turned guarded. "You enjoy yourself." I murmured, opening the door for her and meeting Proximo's gaze instantly.

The death in his stare was instant as she took her seat beside him.

I turned back to the cavernous bay, holding a hand to the roof and raised my voice.

"Let us show Sector 1 how the Division attends a party!"

The sound of powerful fusion engines and shouts greeted me back. I dipped my head back inside and slid into my seat beside Makayla.

"You can't do anything without flare can you?"

"It wouldn't have the same impact." I agreed easily, drawing glasses from the bar slowly and offering them around. Proximo gripped his tightly and stared at the hem cut into the thigh of Florence's thigh. His jaw flexed and my smirk increased.

"Whiskey?" I asked innocently.

Proximo grunted as I filled the women's glasses and then his own. Florence was at a loss. All of her bravado and dramatics evaporated before me. Such things would get her a one way ticket out the door and she knew it.

Makayla however, cleared her throat and played the royal socialite.

"That is a beautiful dress, which Sector made it?"

Her dark eyes skipped off the drink and met Makayla's. Even the action alone made me want to despatch my personal guard on her.

"Sector 50." She smiled thinly.

I resisted a snort. "Near Kuzo's bar perhaps?"

Proximo growled. I winked. She took a deep drink.

"I don't work for Kuzo anymore..."

"So I heard. Must be tiring work–"

"Alex." Makayla hissed this time. "I think it's simply stunning." She continued, with a warm smile. I absentmindedly checked a dagger within my suit folds. "You must take me after the party."

This time the stripper's smile was authentic–that must have been hard...

"And Makayla–" Proximo rumbled, leaning forward on his forearms. "I don't think I've ever seen a material quite like that." He stated pointedly drawing attention off her.

I concealed a smile.

Makayla ran a finger over the scales of her shoulder and glanced at me.

"Yes... I think that's accurate. Scorpion never does things in half measures." She added in a low voice.

"How are my personal guard?" I blurted in Proximo's general direction making him flinch.

He didn't even bother to eye his wrist holo, he had the feed in his ear.

"In formation." He grit out.

I drew my eyes back on him and smiled slowly. Then my eyes cut to Florence.

"Have you met my personal guard?"

"Scorpion." Proximo growled in warning. I ignored him entirely.

"I heard you and my dear second had quite the dispute over my new member."

She met my gaze surprisingly calm as the air tightened. I had to give her credit. At least she faced her threats head on.

"It's not an issue." She smiled curtly.

"You're sure?" I raised an eyebrow leaning forwards.

Makayla took a longer sip beside me and stared at Proximo who was caught between drawing his weapon and pulling apart the seat.

"If there's one thing I'm sure about, Scorpion. It is the man sat beside me." She spoke quietly but full of intensity. It even surprised me before she added, "–and I'm not afraid of a little competition."

I grinned and raised my glass to her.

She mirrored it.