DIVISION 52 - BOOK II

ADDENDUM

"Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another." 
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

A woman cloaked in red paced on the rooftop of Division 52 base of operations.

A man shrouded in the world's greatest armour and training held the future of Merridian in his palm. 

A woman born into fortune trained harder and harder against test robots in the lowest levels of Division 52 training rooms for the war to come.

A man driven by loyalty and altered by devotion sought his only meaning as he travelled to the upper echelons of Imperial territory.

A woman that ruled high class society with nano bots in her blood paced before the balcony with the first real fear she had felt in her life.

A woman of blue hair watched it all unfold around her with every answer and no resolution.

The lives of millions of Merridian's spun onwards unaware. The wheels of change shifting ever so slightly around them and yet they could never know what was to come in the near future. They knew not of satellite weaponry or how close to the knife edge two classes were.

The contractor had learnt much from the Deathless. He knew one thing above all else.

The best wars were the ones where not a single trigger needed to be pulled.

He knew Division plans were idealistic at best–pure chaos and loss at a practical level. He could not risk it. No matter how much his rage over Dex's loss drove him... Killing that woman on the throne would start the war. The war would put the Division's second in command's life up to chance. That was a chance he couldn't take. Ever.

The woman cloaked in red and promise of retribution in every gold burning look was lost.

That in itself was rare if not impossible. Driven, ambitious, unstoppable... but lost? That was a rare affair for the Underworld's leader. She couldn't think past the grey eyes of her second that was fast on his way to the centre of the fight for Merridian. It felt like the greatest betrayal that she wasn't there beside him to meet it. They tore the city apart together once. Was it to be the last?

The Imperial woman of ruling bloodline faired no better.

She was stronger, faster, better in every sense to deal with the outer sectors... And yet it was not enough. Dex was dead and had been her friend. Artella was AWOL and she assumed it was not long before Proximo followed suit. She saw real division when there should be unification. She was to be married and yet the circumstance could not be worse. How could any find their happiness when the city was tearing itself apart?

 A man with vicious tattoos down the side of his face prepared for the end.

In what form it took was mere detail to him. It was all or nothing as it had always been. He would not live in a world that did not include the contractor that had burned his way into his every thought. There would be nothing left to regret or contemplate what if. The time for hiding from the feeling–the living–was at its end. Whatever outcome faced him, he would meet it without fear.

A sister with impeccable skill and dexterity in the digital world watched her brother and his lover's backs. 

A guardian angel in the shadows as she had always been despite it all. Despite the sides and politics she despised. Despite the side her brother took over family all those years before. She could do this. She could support Artella's plans to shape the future of the city and avoid getting them all killed in a fruitless war. As long as she didn't get caught.

The final player in the game of life was more complex.

Forged in Imperial academies and born out of Imperial loss. Empress Ryko was filled with venom and distain. For she had been deceived at the game. Filled with a weapon when she had the upper hand. How could a contractor have achieved so much in such short time after that boy's death? She pondered this Artella to be a bluffing man... But that would mean gambling her life. He was due to meet her at the edges of the city limits. Beyond the great walls that kept the ruined lands of centuries at bay. Wastelands of past wars. His motives were still eluded. His part to play in all this a mystery... But she didn't throw in the towel for a single moment. If she had to take this man with her to the grave she would. Merridian was worth too much to not fight for.

High into orbit the satellites rotated around the earth. Sitting among the stars. Threatening complete destruction or flying endlessly in the darkness. unused.

The lines between good and evil had never been so blurred. Both sides did not offer the future for Merridian that guaranteed prosperity. Merely more division. The city knew far too much of it already. Division 52. Sector 1. If only Merridian were merely Merridian. Leaders rise from ashes to fill needs regardless. Who is to say that the true darkness of the Underworld would return as it was before Scorpion if left into Imperial hands. Who is to say another Emperor Xavier wouldn't step forward to take Ryko's place and install Sector killing weapons once more.

The future is always changing. And the memory of human kind is famously short.

The question is what cost each side is willing to bare before it breaks. If Scorpion falls a knew Xavier would rise to take her father's place with no sympathy in her heart. If Maxim were to fall there is nothing on earth that would stop Proximo Dartega from exacting his revenge with the help of his sister. If Ryko dies first the war is afoot and no Imperial would stand to see the Division last another moment. The city was in the balance.

And the next move of the board would shift it entirely.