DIVISION 52 - BOOK I

CHAPTER IX

– S C O R P I O N –

I pressed my blade against the woman's throat. Her patrol armour did nothing to save her as I slowly pushed against it and drew blood.

"Please." She gasped looking at me frantically. "I was given no orders to kill those men—"

I pressed harder.

"Then who would mark them with the seal of The Silver Sun?" I seethed down at her.

"It could be anyone! Other gangs wanting to start a war, maybe to weaken you—"

I growled down at her. "Seems like you would know a lot about that."

"I don't want to die." She sobbed against my blade.

"Then give me a reason not to end you." I said in a murmur, watching the tears leave those dull brown eyes. They were nothing like the crystal blue she had...

I snapped out of my ridiculous daze to focus on the matter at hand.

"I can do you a deal, work for you... just please let me live." She begged.

I stood there considering. I had plenty of inside people. Soldiers and patrollers working for me... She wouldn't be of any real use.

I decided to release her. She choked on a breath and looked up in relief.

"Only information on the Emperor himself will keep you alive. If you want what's left of your pathetic life–you will tell me the emperor's greatest threat." I said in a bored voice, as if it was the simplest request in the world.

She stared at me in bewilderment.

"I—I—"

"Say I one more time and I'll kill you now." I snapped.

"A daughter!" She suddenly blurted. "He has kept it a secret since the beginning." She murmured. But she looked defeated too, as if saying these words would seal her fate. "The emperor has a daughter." She whispered.

I froze.

Thinking back over yesterday... was it possible. No, no it can't of been that girl. She looks nothing like him.

"That's impossible, he has no extended family, no heir, my people have found every data source." I stated in certainty.

"Not everything. Not her. It was concealed from birth." She told me with no doubt in her eyes. "Only the highest echelons in Sector 1 know."

"A daughter." I mused. I flicked my head up in thought. A thousand ideas forming in my mind. Then I looked back down at the bleeding Silver Sun scum in my cell.

"You have been most helpful..." I turned away from her and made for the exit. "You may have just earned your life back." I added as I strode back to get answers from that not so innocent woman herself.

I took the steps two at a time and emerged from the cell floor. She had played the part of rich nobody well but she wouldn't hide something like this forever from us... Who knew what else she concealed–she may even be responsible for such attacks from that waste of air on the throne. 

But when I arrived at her guest room it was empty. Proximo was likely taking her back to Sector 1. I turned on my heel and rushed towards the elevator. It flew me up to the roof entrance in seconds and then I saw her...

Her blonde hair was swept into the wind on one side, glistening like fresh snow. The rising sun cast a magnificent orange glow onto the roof against her and I was speechless yet again. Frozen and numb.

For the second time I let her out of my grasp. Why? I couldn't tell you. Sometimes a thing of such beauty will knock the sense out of you, shake you to your core and leave you wondering if you'd lost your mind... She did that.

So when she stepped inside and the fusion craft began to rise, I tore my eyes away and disappeared back into the darkness. Where I belonged.

– M A K A Y L A –

They dropped me off near our tower. I slipped out quickly and they disappeared back into the sky before I could even utter a word.

I took all of three steps before a nearby imperial guard seized my arm and dragged me towards the emperor's tower.

Seems like he's expecting me. I thought dryly.

The closer we got the more guards surrounded me. By the time I stepped through the entrance I had about forty men and women surrounding me. But they parted like an ocean the moment my father stepped into view.

"I'm not going to bother asking you if you have any idea what you've done because you clearly do not." He growled towering over me.

He wasn't even much taller but his presence gave him several extra feet.

"Father, I just needed to see the rest of—"

"Of what!?" He interrupted in a shout. "How many times must I tell you that there is nothing outside of Sector 10 except criminals and danger!" He now drew a hand over his face. "Why is it that you are constantly seeking out these things, Makayla?" He growled.

"Because I feel like a prisoner!" I yelled back at him, finding my own anger.

I never disrespected him but it had built up over my twenty years and I'd had enough.

"Stay in the rich sectors, say the correct things, buy the right clothes, attend the same mindless events, it never changes and I feel like I'm just...", words failed me for a moment. "Like I'm just living for someone else. Not for myself." I murmured at last.

My father was speechless.

He was never speechless. He was charismatic, sure, quick witted but never lost like he was now.

His dark hair that was swept back neatly only showed grey on the sides and the rest of his angular face was clean shaven.

"I will not have this conversation here." He finally said. Before I could storm away from him he spoke again. "Speaking of mindless events, you have one. Tonight. I'm sure it won't be too difficult for you to endure the night." He said sarcastically.

I didn't dignify him with a response. I think it was evident enough that I was pissed off.

But when I made my way back up the hundreds of floors I found myself thinking of those colourful streets, those jagged buildings and that gold eyed demon that held more allure and mystique then anything I had ever experienced.

When I was with her, away from the routines, the sameness and the snobbery.... Near danger and lethality at every moment–

I felt so alive.