DIVISION 52 - BOOK II

CHAPTER XL

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.