DIVISION 52 - BOOK I

CHAPTER XXXVII

"Ever seen a devil with a halo?
Ever seen an angel with some horns?
Everybody got their own demons,
everybody fighting their own war..."

- The Beautiful & Damned. G-Eazy + Zoe Nash

– S C O R P I O N –

Icy water slapped me across the face.

My eyes snapped open and my hands shot towards—but they were bound behind my back. I was acutely aware of the burning in my shoulder but ignored it. I spun my head around to take in the dimly lit concrete room. But my eyes did not venture far to make out Hades perched leisurely on the end of a metal table. His modded purple eyes glowed in the shadows. How tacky.

I snorted.

"Interesting reaction." His voice tore through the silence.

I rolled my neck a few times and let out a bored sigh. If he had any idea how familiar I was with intimidation and torture he'd know that this was all completely useless. Suddenly his shadowed form moved from the table and appeared before me.

It was amusement etched on his face. "Do not think me a fool, Scorpion. I am not here to play games."

"No?" I said sweetly. "I'm not about to see the threat of deadly tools in your possession." I mocked and continued with a grin when I saw him stare at me wordlessly. "A touch of waterboarding perhaps? Oh no, no you are a man of intelligence it would surely be the old knife under the ribs—"

He wrapped a gloved hand around my throat before I could finish.

"If you could just hold your tongue for a moment." He growled through clenched teeth. "That would be sublime." He finished, throwing my head backwards forcefully.

I laughed loudly and let my head hang back as I gazed at the dirty ceiling light. I had more important places for my mind to be anyway. Like where that hidden elevator would take Makayla and if Proximo had the time to escape with the fusion ship. I didn't doubt the man's skill or thought process. It was most likely that he'd seen the overwhelming odds and acted.

A hand fisted my braided hair and yanked my face down to meet a pair of ridiculous purple eyes.

"You realise you look like a fucking cartoon correct?" I deadpanned.

He slapped me. Hard. Blood even left my mouth as I chuckled. I let it run down my chin and grinned widely at him, knowing there would be crimson in my teeth too. He sighed loudly and rose swiftly to his feet.

"I will just get to the point. Otherwise I will kill you before we get anywhere." He said pinching the bridge of his nose. But his words gained my attention. They implied an entirely different goal and meaning.

"Go on." I murmured eyeing him closely.

"I am working with the Emperor. This is no secret." He blurted. I raised a brow for him to continue. "But what you do not know is what he really wants of my skills..."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, I have connected the colossal dots. You unite the Silver Sun and the Rebels to wipe out the Underworld. Hardly groundbreaking."

But my heart froze when he smiled cruelly back at my words.

"No, Scorpion. The Emperor originally acquired my help to kill one special person in particular." He grinned at my confusion and it only angered me.

"Well, don't waste the air supply on riddles. Speak up!" I snapped. As if I were not the one tied to a chair in an unknown location.

"He wanted me to kill Makayla Xavier."

What.

How deluded was this moronic creature? Yes, that makes PERFECT sense, the emperor putting a hit out on his own daughter. And from this incompetent fool.

I burst out laughing and sagged in my chair as waves of disbelief and hysteria racked my body. I didn't get to enjoy the moment long because Hades moved with lethal quickness and shoved his thumb into my wounded shoulder.

I snapped my teeth together and snarled into my mouth. Not a scream left me and I would never let it until the moment I died. This buffoon did not deserve to witness any such thing.

"Glad I have your attention you arrogant and stupid woman. I am trying to get the truth into your thick skull but it seems that all your bravado is in the way." He growled pushing deeper into the small hole where a fusion round had gone into not long ago.

I fisted my hands behind me before snapping my head forward quickly into his nose. He barked out and staggered backwards holding his nose.

"FUCK! WILL YOU JUST LISTEN!" He roared as he got in my face again. His nose was caked in blood now and his violet eyes burned into my gold.

I actually remained silent. Because behind all the laughable anger and rage I saw a flicker of desperation. And that is an emotion that ends leaders. Over the years it was the one thing I looked for first in my enemies eyes. So instead of goading him more I let him speak.

"The damn Emperor wants his daughter dead! I am not here to make witty back and forth! I am here to tell you that I am double crossing the fucker!" He shouted inches away from me.

Did he just say double-cross? To me of all people.

"Why are you telling me this. My only priority is having your death. That is not about to change with some stories of your employer and talk of good intentions." I drawled.

"I have no intention of leading this city with a bunch of nobodies and filth." He spat the last word. "I do not want your Underworld either. I want the Damn Emperor's title." He finished as he stepped back from me and wiped the remains of his blood onto his glove. I still couldn't form the words to reply to this insanity.

"So, you can look at it two ways, Scorpion. I am your enemy first and foremost and you would put aside any logic or future profit to kill one single man. Or—" He drawled with a glint in his eye. "You put aside such petty emotion and side with me to overthrow the emperor and his Silver Sun entirely. Makayla will no longer be hunted, you and your Division will no longer be hunted and the city will be a far grander place." He said with false sweetness.

But his face was deadly serious. He meant every word. He wants to double cross the second most powerful person in the city and take his place in one move. Side with the Underworld and uprise against the Silver Sun with no one being the wiser. Makayla would be safe from the rebels, from Hades, hell even from the damn Emperor himself apparently.

But from experience... when things seem too good to be true. They usually are.

"Let us skip the false pretences and prettied words and you just tell me what the catch is here. Because do not think for a moment that I am stupid enough to believe you will not double-cross me at the most convenient time, Hades." I said in a dark voice.

He smirked at me with a knowing shine in his eyes.

"It appears there is a reason why you've survived so long." His eyes traced me for a second longer then he shrugged. "After you help me overthrow the Silver Sun and every other loyal to the emperor I will have fifty percent of the Underworld's cut for five years. I cannot run the great glass tower on good intentions alone." He winked.

"You will not have a single credit." I scoffed.

His smile disappeared. He eyed me intently before speaking. "Three years. Fifty in dealing black and clean. That is more than fair and hardly a drop in the ocean compared to what you turnover off the books." He finished.

I smiled at him. Now he was playing the game. "You will have two full years. You will get a cut of sixty and weaponry—" his face broke into a savage grin but I glared him down, "—IF you guarantee the security of all of my personal and trade dealings." I finished.

He nodded slowly and smiled once again.

"It appears you have a deal, Queen of the Underworld."

"I would shake your hand but some moron tied me up to have a civil conversation." I stated.

"Would you trust you..?" He demanded in disbelief.

I grinned back full of promise. But I needn't say the words.