S C O R P I O N



"Everyone that isn't an egotistical sociopath please leave my office." I stated.

A few guards lingered in confusion.

"That means get the fuck out."

They scrambled from my sight and I secured the room making the fire burn brighter. The same one Makayla had lowered less than twenty four hours ago. That look in her eyes before she walked past me...

"Now that is how to command a room." She noted, glancing around the space curiously.

I dumped myself in my chair behind the desk and drummed my hand on it. Let her fill the space with sound for a while. I had no intention of making her feel at home. She decided to cut the small talk and recrossed her legs in that ridiculous white suit.

"I didn't think you would see me."

"It wasn't my idea."

"Yes I spoke to your second in my tower before the chance disappeared for another generation." She smirked. I waited. She sighed. "You're not going to make this easy–"

"Your predecessor did not make it so. In fact he had weapons installed in my sectors to wipe out half the population and then some." I said bluntly. She didn't flinch. Of course she knew about them.

"We are removing them over this month."

That did surprise me. But I did not let it show.

"Of course you would think I kept them..." She mused. "How can you trust someone like me?"

"I think the real question is why would I trust someone like you." I remarked calmly.

This brought a light into her eyes and made her smirk widen. "She said you were good at the game–"

"Don't bring Makayla into this." I snapped.

She raised her eyebrows. "I think she already brought herself into it." She raised her suit sleeve and revealed a hole where a dagger travelled through.

"You think I care that she redesigned your suit?" I smiled darkly, standing from my desk and letting my crimson cloak sway behind me. Her eyes didn't miss it. No one did. It spoke so many volumes on its own accord. "You are only here because my second allowed it. You are only here so we can stop needlessly killing civilians to get to each other. It's a pointless cycle and we both know it. What I want to know is what you think you'll achieve by coming to me directly."

She scanned the armour on me and then my arms.

"I think you're an intelligent woman with a lot of power." She remarked simply. "I think you command more assets than you can spare all of your attention. What I offer you is double the resources–"

"You want Division agents and Dawn guard working together?" I snorted. "Not possible."

"It is if their leaders showed cohesion."

"And what exactly does cohesion between leaders entail, Empress?" I drawled pinning my foot on a sofa and leaning my forearms over it.

"Well in Sector 1 it is a union but–" She corrected quickly when my glare darkened, "–simply being present in both headquarters should suffice for coordination and appearances."

"You think I have time to fly off to Sector 1 every time your soldiers piss me off?"

"You would get the time. And twice the resources. Eyes on all sectors. Enough assets to stop rebel outbreaks that you are so frequently having to quell..." She said pointedly.

I leant back and considered this.

The fact that she knew who our enemies were was interesting and using those eyes even more so. But if there was one thing I knew more it was that good offers came with price tags or betrayal.

"I need something from you to measure your loyalty. To measure what this is worth to you."

"I've travelled alone, Scorpion." She scoffed. "Is it not enough to know my own life has practically been offered if you decided otherwise?"

"Empress please..." I drawled. "You're not the first woman to stray far from home. A frown pinched her eyes before she rolled them thinking of the same blonde that had just redecorated her suit.

"What do I need to do, Scorpion." She stated plainly.

I dropped the facade and stared at her, tucking my hands behind me.

"Kuzo's head." She flinched visibly. "You get me that rat's head and deliver it to me and you have yourself the most powerful alliance in the city."

She stood slowly and appraised me. Reading my face as best she could although none tended to know what they saw–only one woman did.

She nodded and offered me her forearm in a surprising outer sector fashion. I met it and closed our forearms. She smiled and I dropped our arms before she could get too ahead of herself. I chuckled returning to my desk.

"You think it will be so easy."

"There isn't any man that can stand in the way of this city's future." She answered, turning for the door without waiting for my word. "That's why they put women on the thrones."

I couldn't argue her there.

I waved the room out of its secure state and she paused before the glass. Turning her head over her shoulder and making that dark hair that was neatly held high break a strand free.

"I thought the leader of the Underworld would be the unreasonable one." She noted. "But it seems like its the woman from Sector 1 I should watch out for."

She left before I could answer. So I snorted instead watching her be led away by my personal guard. You have no idea what that woman is capable of indeed.

Proximo wore a thoughtful expression as he watched her go. Then he turned it on me and I nodded him inside. He glanced around the office with a guarded look.

"What?"

"I just don't want to sit anywhere you and Makayla..." He trailed off and I erupted into laughter. But the expression remained.

"Get a life, Proximo. You live in mine too much."

"Just because I have standards–"

"Now you're overstepping." I growled, sobering instantly. He threw me a wry smirk.

"You know I favour your little royal despite her disregard for orders and everything else." He quipped, dropping into a chair.

"Yes she seems to have taken a deep liking of our new ally..."

His head snapped up and his focus sharpened on me.

"You brokered an alliance so soon?"

"Of course not. But I think she will go out of her way to meet my requirements."

"What did you ask of her?"

"Kuzo's head."

He stilled and clenched a fist with a tight nod. For what Kuzo had sent to our doorstep–for the very close edge of death that Artella Maxim had walked–it was no surprise Proximo was on board with that request.

"What about our less legal activities?" He probed.

"It doesn't seem like she cares. She wants forces and assets joined and rebels crushed. I can't seem to disagree there but..."

He watched my expression sour and seemed to be waiting for the but.

"Her Sector 1 idea of an alliance is a bit close for my taste. She wants us collaborating. Closely."

"Nothing you cannot handle." He scoffed.

I shot him a glare and he leant his arms back over the chair.

"Proximo I am serious. I will not have her come between Makayla."

"It's not like you are sleeping with her. Just keep an eye on the power and a firm grip on the direction our city goes. Makayla will understand."

"I think you know she will not." I grit out, pressing my hand against the glass and watching agents scan holo screens beyond.

"Makayla will be a good royal and let the leaders carry the city out of its festering state. We have never had such an opportunity before Scorpion and you know it." He pressed in a low voice. "The outer sectors warred each other before you. Now they can join upper Merridian."

I watched a screen at the other side of the room track a group of soldiers before they open fired on a rival gang. There was always an endless cycle of it. To idolise otherwise was a pipe dream. I turned in my chair and watched him.

"Let's see if she can uphold her end first. Then we talk of how close this alliance will be."

He nodded once and got to his feet. Then a small smile touched his lips.

"You deserve a drink."

"I have something to take care of." I answered, distracted.

A knowing look crossed those steel grey eyes.

"Someone."

"Fuck off already." I deadpanned.

He grinned darkly with a salute. "Whatever you need, commander."

He disappeared and left me staring at the desk. I flicked my wrist and a holo-screen glowed back at me. I skimmed through my records. Page after page. Date after date. A different time and a different Scorpion. Until I found it.

A flash of blonde hair. An Emperor's daughter crashing into the ruler of the Underworld in the upper sectors. Running from her own guard. She never knew I had this. But I cycled back to it now watching my guard sweep around her with a smirk. It glowed turning my face blue.

I watched that scene play out as clearly as it was held in my memory.

That innocent face. My imposing guards. Even my own face was alien. I pinched the hologram and twisted it to see the darkness written on every line of me. I had no idea what I was about to get myself into. Yet the one who was running did. I watched her lips move frantically and then her release. She stumbled a step, staring into the dark hood shrouded in red.

I flicked my wrist and it vanished.

I leant back in my chair and let it spin a few times. Proximo just wanted to see the same stability in this city I wanted. Yet he often underestimated what Makayla and I were to each other. Not out of malice. Just out of ignorance. I didn't want to spell it out either way. The closer I worked with the Empress the further it would send her–I read the future ahead of us like it was painted as plain as day.

There were several ways to fix it. And one most glaring of all.

It wouldn't be an issue if I wasn't the one holding the throne. It wouldn't be an issue if it was my second that had to deal with all the pretences of power. If there was one thing I was certain about it was Makayla Xavier. Not the mindless power games this silver spooned amateur wanted to play. Proximo wanted the best for this city as much as I did.

The only difference was that I wasn't willing to gamble my relationship with Makayla Xavier on it.