DIVISION 52 - BOOK II

CHAPTER VIII

P R O X I M O

I couldn't sleep. Not after our trip to Sector 1 in the dead of the night.

Scorpion still didn't look at me as she wordlessly exited the stealth craft with blood still staining a dagger on her forearm. I watched her cloaked back as she disappeared behind a set of glass doors. Little did she know it would help to know of as many secrets Xavier collected as possible. You could never have too few bullets of information if the need arose to pull the trigger.

I was prepared for such inevitabilities.

The question of her true lineage was still a curious mystery to me. One for another time. 

"Would you like the ship refuelled, Sir?" An engineer asked interrupting my thoughts. She was waiting on my descent from the ramp. I cast my eyes down upon the woman who tucked her hands quickly behind her.

 "No. I have more use of it for tonight." I murmured. She pressed a fist to her chest and turned sharply back to other crafts. I turned on my heel and hit the hatch button with a fist.

"Comm link, Dazz."

"Unavailable." A robotic voice informed me cheerily.

I sent a sigh through my nose. Her silence after being paid was predictable yet also out of sorts. I'd never been unable to reach her comm line directly.

I swung into the pilot chair and input coordinates for the Crypt. The hatch doors began opening above me once more and I pushed the thruster down and rose back into the sky. I crossed the air between buildings quickly towards Sector 48. Mostly land vehicles roamed the streets and a heavy presence of our men and women in red and black.

The rain picked up as I neared the building and set the craft down on a rooftop nearby. The wheels grounded and the ramp opened to me. The rain hit my hood in the night and I quickly caught the silhouette of a man slumped against a wall.

I eyed him before switching quickly to thermal vision. Nothing warm. He was dead.

I grunted, striding past him to the door he lay near. A familiar sight in these Sectors. I shouldered the door open heavily before jogging down the dirty stairs. I quickly glanced down and lost patience seeing the number. I threw myself over the bannister and dropped quickly between the stairwells. 

My boots activated with thrust the moment before the ground and I dropped in a heavy crouch.

A man choked suddenly on the bottle in his hand as he stared at me with wide eyes. I pressed a gloved finger to my lips and pulled my hood lower.

When I opened the door to street level I took long strides towards my destination. The Crypt was busy tonight. I could see the patrons pouring in and out of Kuzo's establishment quickly. It was a big fight night after all...

A set of bouncers glanced at my half tattooed face briefly and pulled the doors open wordlessly. The queue of people protested loudly in the rain as I ducked into the dimly lit room. Voices were loud and cash was quick in hands. I shouldered my way easily towards the back room. Another armed guard. Another nod.

I passed through and took a set of stairs to the announcers box. He was already bellowing fuel to the gamblers below. But the moment he turned and caught my shadow he set down the mic quickly and paled. His stark white hair was spiked at horrific angles and his sense of dress was even more hideous... The shear amount of leather.