M A K A Y L A



The first thing I was aware of was the colour of the sheets. Dark sheets. The next was the distinct smell of male cologne. I opened my eyes and winced at the stark light coming through the curtains. They were usually closed.

I pushed myself upright and took in the same clothes I wore from last night. I smelled like a god damn bar. I scanned the alien room. Matching furniture and holo frames of foreign locations–strange weapons mounted on the walls that looked at least two centuries old.

"Good you're up." A deep voice grunted.

"Art?" I rasped.

He smirked at my chaotic look. He lounged on a sofa like he had slept there all night...

"What the hell am I doing in your room..?"

He snorted and rolled onto his feet. He pushed his hair back and took a swig of something in that towering form before crossing his arms and watching me.

"You fell unconscious. I wasn't at liberty to leave you there."

"I–what?" I got out strangled.

"Believe me, Xavier. I had different plans in mind for my night... But it was quite an amusing one either way."

I shook my head and tried to drown out the screeching pushing its way past my ears into my frontal lobe. "Just–remind me."

He drank deeply from what I assumed was water before levelling my stare.

"You dragged me to the Crypt against my will." He drawled, "–I was rather concerned for your state of being in the confines of our base so I agreed." I raised my eyebrows remembering a faint comm before the alcohol. "–what happened after–I am not sure you would like reminding of..."

But he didn't need to spell it out. It slapped me hard in the chest.

In fact I had slapped her hard.

Alex appearing in the Crypt refusing to leave my side. Insisting that I could insult her any way I liked. My sharp and stabbing feelings of inadequacy and insecurity before yet another Sector 1 royal–her face when she had ripped herself away from me–

"What the hell did I do?" I murmured.

Art seemed marginally uncomfortable. I watched his dark eyes closely as my eyes slowly adjusted to the light in the room.

"Xavier, I think it's best you let Proximo track her down–"

"You mean she's gone?" I demanded, my voice breaking at the end. "How long? Where?"

He shook his head and dropped into a crouch before the bed. "Trust me it's best you leave him to reason with her."

"Where is she?" I pressed, raising out of the sheets despite the spinning in my head.

"She took a stealth jet–he doesn't know yet."

I flopped back down and pushed my palms into my eyes.

"Makayla... She is the Division's leader. There is no where she will go for too long." He reasoned. But it fell flat on me.

"She doesn't even care about that–she cared about me." I mumbled. Not even sure if that was present tense at the current state.

He tilted his head appraising me and my lost expression.

"I got the same impression." He noted. "I never thought rulers got so... involved."

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

He snorted humourless. "You probably did not know the previous Underworld leaders well from that ivory tower–" I glared and he shrugged. "–relationships are unheard of for them. If they showed weakness it was targeted."

"Believe me they have tried before..." I muttered.

He watched me silently for a moment.

"Yet you both persisted. Despite the risk and the constant threat of death. Why risk so much at all... You have so much of your life ahead of you."

I met that dark gaze. "I don't suppose you would understand fully unless you felt it." I answered simply. "It's not logical. It's not sensible. It's impossible. I think that's why they call it falling... You have no control of where your emotions lead you when you fall for someone."

He stilled and raised an eyebrow. But it wasn't in disbelief. It was in understanding.

"I just didn't see that happening to Scorpion."

I didn't bother asking who he had fallen like that for. It wasn't worth saying. I think I knew.

"You must have seen her darker side and nothing more." I murmured.

"She was brutal." He agreed simply. "There was a reason the other rulers fell to her so quickly."

I wanted to answer him differently. Tell him of the woman that had taken me to a sky garden and risked a dance in the Emperor's tower just to prove a point. But his comm glowed. He rose from the side of the bed and tapped on his wrist a moment, noting something over the line.

"Confirmed."

I waited a beat before he ignored my gaze and started strapping a Vanguard to his chest along with several other weapons. I stepped out of the bed and he stared me down.

"Not a good idea."

"I'm coming with you." I dismissed.

He flexed his jaw and appraised me.

"Makayla a hangover will not cut it for where I'm going."

"You're going to her aren't you?" I stated without hesitating.

He gazed at me before checking his holsters. I walked past him and took the liberty of securing his own gear to my hips.

"I don't have time to babysit you–"

"Perfect. Because I'm not asking."

He let out a low sound of frustration as I slung a fully automatic plasma rifle over my back.

"Proximo asked me to keep you here."

I smiled back at him sweetly.

"Do you always do what Proximo asks of you?"

Despite all his evident intelligence and wits. He smirked darkly at the notion and shook his head once. "Not a habit I ever made."

"Good."

"Then I should let you know what you're in for." He quipped in a dry tone, as I attached more pistols to my hips. "Scorpion is going after Kuzo with the Dawn Guard. A show of collaboration and cohesion." He finished darkly.

I didn't give him the satisfaction of pausing. I simply knocked back the hammer on a pistol and checked the glowing fusion cartridge. The blue tinted my face.

"Do I look like I give a shit?"

He grinned wickedly back.

"I prefer you when you're sober." He decided.

I smirked and strapped it to my hip nodding him to the doorway. "We shouldn't keep her highness waiting."

But the cool expression that painted my face reflecting nothing within. I had only driven this alliance closer by my actions. I had only driven Alex closer to her. Division 52 and Dawn Guard working together as a unit to remove a threat. I could practically see those calculating bronze eyes shine from here.

"She can blame Proximo when you show up..." He muttered, waving me to the door.

I remained silent behind him as we stalked for the lift. The comm was close to his ear. A real time feed of what their plans were... Plans I was not meant to be anywhere near. To hell with it. And to hell with that Empress. It's not like she was trained to do anything but hold civil conversation. She wouldn't be in the line of fire with her Dawn Guard either way–

"Confirmed we'll–I will be ten minutes." Art corrected, smirking when he was caught out in his own lie. To his credit he smoothed things over simply by implying he was with other guards. Proximo was no doubt on the other end confirming locations and operation instructions.

Art waved me into a Falcon not many minutes later and took the pilot's chair.

I sat in the cargo bay with my hands on my knees trying to piece everything together. All I saw was a blur of music and anger. A collision of hurt and betrayal that was on her face. How did it escalate so badly?

I saw the slap but I couldn't piece together all the words said. Alex was hard to hurt. Calm in the face of compromise. She would handle this like she handled everything. She knew I wasn't myself. She knew this wasn't me... All I knew was that I had wanted oblivion in any form to escape what I was facing. My past leaping in front of my eyes and the one woman that was willing to stand before my pain–I sent away.

"5 minutes, Makayla." Art said in my ear.

I confirmed, distracted.

"If you've got something to say. You can go ahead."

I pressed my forehead into my hands and willed strength into me.

I felt her hurt last night even through the distorted fragments. The jet shuddered under me and I tightened my fists. Screw handling this like a woman from Sector 1. I wasn't such a person anymore. I was trained in sub zero conditions by Scorpion. I was trained by her second. And I sure as shit wasn't going to sit in that room while some silver spooned politician tried to slide into power while we struggled with... my mistakes.

The jet dropped in altitude quickly.

I shook my head sharply into focus and tightened the straps of the Vanguard on my chest.

Fuck Sector1. Fuck the Empress.

I'd show the leader of the Division just why she had chosen me.

Art walked out from the pilot's door when the ramp started opening. He cracked a smile at my dark look and pointed two fingers ahead.

"Don't make me regret this."

I levelled him with a calm look and offered him my forearm. He clasped it.

"The only thing you'll regret is not bringing me sooner."

His returning grin was wolfish and I met it. As far as contractors went... I rather liked him. We released each other and faced the hatch opening.

A woman in a red cloak surrounded by Division and Sector 1 guards waited for us. And of course. Of course. The Empress herself was stood firmly in white combat gear of her own.

So be it.



* * * * *



I had seen Alex in that cloak many times, but I had rarely seen her as Scorpion.

Every line of her face was etched with it now. None of the softness. All of the lethal darkness. They watched us descend the Falcon ramp. I may well have been another personal guard for all the acknowledgement she gave me.

She turned sharply letting the crimson of her cloak billow behind on the winds of the rooftop.

"Proximo with me. I want the rest imbedded with Dawn Guard." She stated, flickering her eyes over the high grade gear of the Empress's men. Proximo's towering presence lurked with an impossibly large fusion sniper on his back. Those steel eyes cut to mine for a moment before he took position on Alex's right side. I remained close to Artella as we approached the group of twenty highly trained personnel.

"I'm glad you decided to join us, Scorpion... But did you not want us to prove our worth first?" The Empress asked walking beside her like they were friends not leaders on opposite ends.

Alex didn't pause her stride as she walked them to the edge of the rooftop. My heart ached watching the side of her face. That calculation and armour was back in full force–

"Focus." Art growled low beside me.

I glanced at him as he pulled my rifle off my back and checked the plasma quickly before forcing it back into place. "I can reassemble that thing faster than you can make your morning coffee–I'm ready." I murmured, keeping my eyes on the dark braid woven down her back.

"I'm feeding you into the closed comm." He answered, swiping his wrist and clearing certain security measures. It pinged briefly in my ear letting me know I was in the inner feed. Though none dared to talk over the leader of the Division just yet.

It made me wonder what orders the Empress had given her men. They stood to attention with very expensive weapons holstered. Imperial weapons.

"–matters not. You can only really rely on someone once you've seen them up close." Scorpion answered in a flat voice over the winds.

This however, made the Empress smile with a small nod. Her hair matched the shade of Alex's. She even looked like she knew what she was doing in that armour. As if to answer my question Scorpion asked the same.

"I expected your men. But I didn't expect you to fight beside them..." She murmured, surveying the buildings below them where I assumed we would make our move.

"I was trained since I could walk in the Imperial academy." She answered in a casual tone making Scorpion raise an eyebrow. "These weapons are not just for appearances." She finished.

The worst part was the smirk it drew to Alex's lips. The understanding that flashed across those golden eyes before she worked on her wrist holo and communicated with her techs back on base. My fist was clenched so tightly it made the recent damage on my knuckle bleed.

Proximo broke from their group leaving them in low discussion on the routes their men would take to breech Kuzo's building. He gave me his full attention as he walked with that obscene weapon swaying behind his shoulders.

"Have a good night, Xavier?" He murmured, stopping before me without casting Art a glance.

At least I wasn't the only one.

"The best." I returned calmly.

"I heard you put quite a bit on the Division's tab."

"Sure. Art and I had a lot to talk about." I returned watching that smile fade.

He kept his eyes on me as he spoke.

"Seems like you both have the talent for running away." He spoke calmly but his face told me differently. It told me that his night had not gone so well either.

Despite it all I stepped up to the Division's second and patted his shoulder firmly. His jaw flexed under my touch and those steel eyes burned. "You better keep an eye on this one in that case. Contractors are a slippery bunch–"

His hand moved fast and seized my collar pulling my entire weight off the ground. Art stepped forward faster and levelled him with a hard look. I merely smiled lazily at him.

"Direct that anger at someone more your size." He said low.

"Oh, Xavier and I do this all the time..." He drawled, watching my eyes closely under his fist. I winked at him and he dropped me back on my feet. Art put his hand between us and pushed me slightly behind him. If I wasn't so concerned with Alex's indifference to me I would have found it vaguely sweet.

"You two enjoy yourselves. Today will be a long one." Proximo stated, finally turning from us and pulling the collar of his trench coat up sharply around his neck. Scorpion had her back to us all and was more concerned with the leader crouched on the edge with her. It twisted the dagger in my chest just a bit more.

I massaged my throat before glancing up at Artella. His teeth were set.

"Great to know I'm not the only one." I muttered.

He snorted humourless and looked at me. "He works in two ways. Kill and don't kill."

I watched Proximo flick a hand and speak with his personal guard. They had firm respect in their eyes and trusted him completely. All made under his hand.

"There's more to him. I've seen it."

Art traced his face a moment before meeting my gaze. "I know Makayla. That's not why he's..." He exhaled and I waited. "We cannot work. There is too much damage in our past. But it will not stop me from being here because he needs me."

I was surprised. I was more surprised because it sounded a lot heavier than fleeting attraction.

"You think two people can damage each other enough to make it fail in the end?"

He smiled without any joy in it.

"It's possible. But this isn't about me. It's about him."

I watched his eyes drop back to his weapons and cross check his grenades. There was no malice or spite on that calm face. One that had seen much of this city and still came back to one person.

"You're a good man, Artella." I realised.

His dark eyes flashed up to mine in true amusement this time.

"No I'm not, Makayla. But I may do good things in his name."

I returned his smirk for a moment and turned back to the guards on the roof. To the leader that had the Empress's forearm in her own and nodded. There were some that loved and demanded things in return for that love. Some that loved in order to gain. An escape from loneliness or material. Then there were some like Artella that loved even in the face of it not being returned ever again. He removed himself from the equation when it came to calculating what that man needed.

It was becoming more clear that I could learn a lot from a contractor like Artella Maxim.

"Give her time." He said shattering my thoughts.

"If I'm honest, Art. It's time that scares me most." I answered detached, watching the Empress smile darkly and run a hand over her blade on her hip before nodding to something Scorpion said. Her men already had drones in the sky and she took a holo pad off her guard before passing it to Alex. She leant closer and pinched the screen at a certain point making all of me want to kick her off the edge.

I didn't give a shit how much Imperial training she had I would take her with me.

"Never let that woman see it."

My eyes snapped back to his. An earnest seriousness.

"What?" I demanded.

"That look you have right now." He returned so low I almost missed it. "A woman like that will weaponise it."

As if sensing our attention she turned her head over her shoulder and smiled widely at me with all the trained precision Sector 1 taught. It was the kind of look you gave a crowd. So despite the hate boiling me I returned it with one I used when I descended the stairs as the Emperor's daughter.

Her smile vanished and she turned back to the screen between them.

"See what I mean." He snorted.

"I think I'm really starting to like you." I muttered, shaking my head.

"Don't let Proximo know that either. He'll use it against me."

I grinned and nudged him with my shoulder barely making him move an inch. He secured his pistol before hitting me on the back.

"Let's get this over with."

"I'm right behind you." I answered, true to my word and glueing myself to that man's shadow. He seemed like my living guardian today and I could use all the help I could get.

Scorpion finally turned back from the edge and summoned her guard. Half behind Artella I approached as they crowded her. Even the Empress tucked her hands behind her and waited. Those bronze eyes lined with black and her armour tight in places it did not need to be–

"His office is underground." Alex spoke factually and dripping authority. "In order to guarantee he does not make it out of that building we will clear floors from the ground floor down. Every single one of those men and women could be a threat. There will be little to no civilians during daylight so do not feel restricted." She said scanning the faces of the highly trained soldiers around her. All save for the one half hidden behind a sizeable man.

"His dancers are trained assassins do not let your guard down." She said almost growling. "Secure the floor and confirm. We will then move down on him. Is anything unclear?"

Silence.

The Empress recrossed her arms and glanced at her men with a nod.

"My men take no issue killing another misogynist."

A few chuckles returned and Scorpion nodded and flicked a hand to the rooftop door. They started moving collectively. Low murmurs and clicks of guns.

"Blow the front door and deploy crypto grenades. We move quickly and calmly." She told their backs, receiving unanimous confirmations in return.

"Crypto grenades?" The Empress quipped, taking her side as they tailed the guard.

"They are similar to your flash grenades but deploy ten flashes each."

"Impressive. If this goes well I must see where your weapons are sourced." She said with a glint in her eye.

"If you kill this traitor I will take you myself." Alex answered simply.

I shut my eyes trailing in Artella's wake. I forced all of my self control into focus and willed the burning in my eyes to a distant place. Willed the thought of them together out of my mind. The thought of countless other locations they would plan and discuss. The similarities and training and weapons they both knew since birth.

When I opened my eyes again Scorpion was staring right at me. Right at the pain on my face.

Then she disappeared through the doorway drawing a red hood over her face.