DIVISION 52 - BOOK II

CHAPTER XXXV

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.