DIVISION 52 - BOOK I

CHAPTER XXXIV

– S C O R P I O N –

Instead of facing the woman I loved and tearing out her heart, I decided to delay. Who could blame me for wanting to prolong the inevitable for one more evening? It's all I seemed capable of doing these past few weeks...

I splashed through questionable puddles in Sector 38 as I walked. I didn't have the classic swagger in my step, the trademark crimson cloak on my shoulders or even the general appearance of lethality. I was entirely mundane and mistakable.

I had exited my keep from the hidden underground tunnel and now just wandered aimlessly beneath a black hood.

People knocked my shoulders as I went but I didn't even cast it half a thought.

I was reliving memories. I thought of Makayla's stare. The first time I had beheld those crystalline blue eyes and saw nothing short of light and innocence. My comm link sounded in my ear, but I didn't even note what the robotic voice said.
I thought of her lips, the way they smiled when I let my armour fall away and she could see me for who I truly was. I thought of the way they turned into a snarl and her eyes had filled with that rare darkness. Twice I had seen it. Once when I had abandoned her in Sector 52. Again when she finally accepted my own darkness and had attacked me in the training rooms.

I smirked and shook my head. Such fire beneath the innocent face. I was glad I had lived to see it while I had time with her.

My feet had continued carrying me further than I had realised because I was suddenly staring at the face of the Crypt. My old friend.

Many a time I had come here to drink myself into oblivion, find contacts for business or just fight in the pits for as long as my anger lasted.

One of the bouncers saw my approach and dropped a nod. He didn't know my true identity but I was always in similar attire when I visited.

The stench of sweat and alcohol greeted me like an unbearable relative. I pushed through the packed crowds and couldn't care less what drinks splashed onto me as I went.

The music was almost deafening and the bass was not allowing me to think for more than a moment. Ideal.

"Oooo!" The crowds jeered as one of the fighters in the pit took an uppercut to the jaw. I paused briefly to watch a beefy bald man stubble into the fighting wall feet below and spit out blood. He grinned insanely through a broken and crimson smile.

"Finish it!" Someone roared nearby.

In that moment the bloodied fighter drew a hidden knife and prepared to stab the approaching fighter. I rolled my eyes and turned towards the fighter's bookie.

I didn't need to see that worthless grunt win like that.

The crowd exploded in a mix of outrage and joy when what I assumed was a win for the cheater. It wasn't like I had the cleanest history in fights so who was I to judge? I grabbed a nearby bottle and downed the contents. I didn't even wince as the fire tore down my throat. I tossed it into the crowd behind me as I walked.

Finally I stopped before him. I slapped fifty thousand credits down on the table in front of the skinny dark skinned man. He eyes it greedily and tipped a thinly brined hat at me.