DIVISION 52 - BOOK I

CHAPTER XLVI

— M A K A Y L A —

The moment the feel of metal left my feet I was weightless. My stomach dropped like a rock and I had nothing to cling to. I was terrified.

I hadn't noticed the rain crashing around us when we had flown through the sky in the safety of the Falcon carrier. But it now raced down with us like glowing balls of fire lit from the many lights of the city below—

"Makayla!" Alex's voice dragged me from my pure panic. I then noticed her hand still firmly holding mine in the suit as we free fell towards the shards of light in the cloud line.

"Focus on my voice. Control your breathing." She instructed as calmly as if we were doing a mild workout.

But my eyes couldn't stay on her, we were falling too fast, the numbers flashing by on my visor too fast. I tried to lift my free hand to wipe after the water but it whipped back in the winds.

Alex moved then. With skilled ease she shifted her body in the air so that she could grab hold of my other hand. She pulled us close and almost touched my helmet with her own.

"Calm your mind. You have full control and we are exactly on course." She informed me slowly. I finally met her eyes through the glowing visor. Met those golden orbs. I took a breath. Then another. And returned a quick nod, which bounced back from the wind pressure.

"Proximo. How is our trajectory for first jumpers?"

His reply was instant and calm. "First pair is 2 minute ETA to drop on first tower."

"And your own?" She replied just as calm as we plummeted through the rain.

"3 minutes. Are you on course?" He returned.

"Right on track." She confirmed as she smirked at me behind her visor. I wanted to cry and hug her. Unsure of which urge was stronger I remained focused on her eyes.

"I think we need to discuss how date night works!" I yelled into my visor as I glared at her amused expression.

"This wasn't your first idea of a good time?" She responded with a grin, even letting her hand briefly jut out to the racing water and sky around us.

"If I don't end up smeared down the side of my own tower I will need to show you how it's done." I half heartedly snapped.

She claimed both my hands again and leant closer to me. "I told you, no harm will come—"

"SCORPION!" A voice blared through the comm with no such calm. "—the grid, it's coming online! A backdoor reboot! Lights on in 90 seconds!"

Alex's face morphed faster than I had time to suck in the next breath. She made her calculation and acted in a blink.

She grabbed both my forearms in a rapid move and threw her legs sharply together to draw flush against me. She flipped us around in the air so she pressed tightly against my back. In the next second I felt magnets activate and bond our suits together.

"Proximo—"

"Already activated. You have less than 70 seconds to get below the skyline or anti air will target you." He informed us far too calmly. We were about to be blown sky high by my father's own missile systems and he couldn't even muster up a shout—