– S C O R P I O N –

He got blood on my cloak. MY. CLOAK.

I jammed my fusion pistol into the Silver Sun guards' mouth. His bloodied face crumpled with even more fear.

"What. Were. Your. Orders." I seethed down at his kneeling form. I'd had enough of vague answers and lies. This man would tell me why The Silver Sun were hunting my men or I would paint his microscopic brains all over the fucking wall.

"N-no orders we-were given, I swear on my—"

I pulled the trigger and the bolt of plasma shot through his frontal lobe in a flash. I lied about the painting it would make because in reality the plasma is so hot it just burns its way through and leaves little blood behind. An untraceable weapon. A clean weapon.

Ironic that shit was still all over my clothes though...

I snarled at his body as it slumped to the floor. We had decimated every officer in the station now and I was still no closer to my answer. The power was still down in the building thanks to my contacts working in the electrical grids which had allowed us to brutally kill an entire station worth of Silver Sun scum without the outside world even aware.

But it wouldn't stay that way forever.

Proximo was already at my side handing me a cloth to wipe the blood off my face.

"The crafts are already waiting outside." He informed me in his low tone. I looked up to his half tattooed face and dropped a nod. Those steel eyes missed nothing as they appraised my own.

"The truth will not escape. We have already tripled the dispatch across the city to find the guards responsible." He murmured as he watched my face.

"I want to hear no more of this today." I growled not meeting his eyes. I stormed towards the exit of the station, standing on corpses that were in my way. I was not even slightly satisfied, the killings had done nothing but anger me further.

"The evidence, Scorpion?" One of my guards asked quietly.

I froze and turned back to him. The armoured man shifted on his feet uneasily and lowered his eyes.

"Let the Silver Sun find the consequences of insulting the queen of the underworld." I stated before turning on my heel and leaving the massacre behind.

* * * * *

"Take me to The Crypt." I demanded as I slid into the smooth interior of my fusion craft. The others followed me in swiftly. But I held up a hand.

"No, I will be alone tonight." I told my guards as they hesitated. But none of them dared question me as they slid out and got in the other crafts.

Proximo, however, lingered in the doorway.

"If there's anything, Scorpion, say the word and it will be done." He said quietly, looking into my eyes with those large grey ones. His shaven head and square jaw would give him the complete soldier appearance if it weren't for the menacing tattoos winding their way down half of his face.

"Not tonight, Proximo." I sighed, looking ahead once again. "The evening is yours."

"Then I will spend it finding more Suns to hunt." He replied quietly.

I allowed a small smirk onto my face as I turned to him. "Don't do anything I wouldn't."

"Well, that gives me a lot of freedom." He said with a savage grin.

"Always." I stated as I closed the door to the craft.

Proximo was the best I could ask for, yet not even he could lift the storm raging in my mind. The disrespect the emperor sent was clear. I cannot stand the thought of him becoming too comfortable in that glass tower.

So when I stepped out of my craft and into The Crypt I had only violence on my mind.

The place was a festering shit hole to be polite. You didn't want to know what it was being rude... The usual low lives packed the large dark room. Assassins, guns for hire, black market traders and so on. Large lights hung low and only shone light on parts of the bar and main floor. The shadows were filled with drug deals, slave trades, weapons smuggling and every other criminal act you could think of.

But I wasn't here for any of that shit.

The fighting pit that dominated the centre of the room was my reason. A thick crowd packed around the fighting floor that was 10 feet below. You didn't get out of that ring unless you either blacked out, lost an arm or died.

But bets flowed on in cash none the less.

I drew my hood close to my head so I wouldn't draw attention. I had traded my crimson cloak for a simple black one on the way here.

The crowd roared every now and then and the clamour of drinks and deals going down filled the air with rancid atmosphere. But I loved it. I loved the fights, the rude shoves of a drunkard and the bellow of the electric bass roaring over the room. It was alive and it was real. No pretentious snobs too good to slurp a drink like a thirsty man.

Even though we were all criminals, it was the most honest group of people that ever existed. I was about to wade through the crowds to reach the pit and let out all of my anger but my guard sent me a comm in my ear I had not been expecting.

"Incoming comm link from Diego Jacua." The robotic voice sang.

"Accept." I murmured to the automated receiver.

"Scorpion. Apologies for interrupting your evening—"

Why did no one ever get the point quickly... I thought with irritation.

"What is it?" I snapped.

"The girl you had me follow..." I had forgotten all about that order. "—she's in Sector 48 now. It's quite unusual—" You could say that again. "—and she's in trouble."

My head snapped up at this. Some savage protective instinct suddenly pulled me out of my mood and had my mind running again. What the hell was someone like her doing in Sector fucking 48? I was in 48 for christ sake!

"Where?" I growled as I made towards the exit.