P R O X I M O

"Spare me the lecture." I grunted.

She slid into a desk chair and pushed off the floor spinning like a careless girl in her parents office. The only notable difference were the weapons on her hips and the way she rolled her eyes like she didn't have the patience for her own words.

I waited and Scorpion gazed out a wide pane of glass looking out at the outer Sectors.

"I don't care." She said finally, turning in place. "I just needed to look like I did."

I paused and watched her expressional face. Those gold eyes that betrayed nothing to me.

"Here I was thinking we were such professionals." I snorted, moving to the other side of the wide glass and tucking my hands behind my back.

"I would like to know what's got you so... emotional." She mocked the last word like it was foreign. It was foreign to me.

"Dazz."

Her smirk disappeared and her feet hit the floor harshly.

"Need me to throw her in a hole and throw away the hole?" She asked slowly. No bluff in her words.

I huffed out a harsh breath and met her burning stare.

"She was blackmailed by Hades. Apparently she had many opportunities to kill both you and Makayla." I added, watching that lethal expression darken further. She ran a finger carefully along her dagger sheath as she considered my words.

"I would tell you she's lying but even I can't deny the truth that I had always questioned... How the hell we made it out of that tower alive if Dazz was always working with him." She finished quietly. "–that does not mean I'm not still ready to kill her the moment you let me."

I snorted and watched lines of fusion crafts race by in lines of the sky.

"You wouldn't be Scorpion if you forgave easily."

"Or forgot." She murmured, releasing the blade. "She still almost made that escape pod a death trap. I had to actually think my way out."

"God forbid." I muttered.

"Where does that leave us, Proximo?" She spoke clearly. Like a finely made knife.

I slowly met her expectant gaze without a solid answer. "I was hoping you would tell me... That I wouldn't have this–this liability so close."

She laughed humourlessly.

"She is no family of mine. I have no issue tying a loose end, it is only you that keeps her breathing." She stated, spinning in the chair freely once more. My hands tightened behind me.

"I let her go, she plots the next way to cripple the Division. I keep her alive and she rots in a cell here. There are no options available to me." I growled. "Everywhere I look there's another waiting to stab us in the back."

"Stop being dramatic." Scorpion drawled, her cool making me lose my own faster. She raised a hand before I could start a new argument. "Enemies I can handle. What I cannot handle is enemies close to my allies." I waited for more. "At least not in my city. I can fund her a new start in another continent with a new identity–but that is as far as I go with her, Proximo." She finished slowly. With a weight.

It was far more than she had deserved and she knew it. Yet still the leader of the Division watched me calmly and offered a new beginning to one who had condemned her present.

I sighed heavily and shut my eyes.

"Why are you doing this for her?"

"Because her brother is Proximo Dartega. And he's the best damn second anyone in this city has had."

That shut my mouth a moment. She enjoyed my speechlessness before waving a hand between us. "You always come to me with such serious subjects."

"What else did you have in mind?" I asked in amusement.

"What are you wearing to our visit to Sector 1?"

I scoffed and looked incredulously at her easy smile. "A suit. Preferably with a Vanguard." She shook her head with false disappointment.

"Will the stri–" She caught herself with a smirk before I could find a weapon. "–Florence. Be escorting you to it?"

"Perhaps she may. I have not mentioned it to her yet." I said tightly.

"You may want to teach her ballroom dancing before she starts dancing like you're paying her–"

I launched a desk ornament at her head and she spun the chair before it could find its mark. She tutted kicking her feet onto the desk. "Jest aside. I consider this night an active operation. I hope you realise that."

"Of course I do." I snapped. "I have several extraction plans in place already–not to mention the damn catering staff."

"Perfect!" She grinned, leaning back in her chair again and watching me. The realisation hit me.

"You want me to bring her..."

"What can I say? Emotions are very powerful contingency planners..."

This time I matched her smirk and crossed my arms. "You over estimate what she is to me."

"Regardless. I look forward to seeing the beautiful couple descending those stairs." She cooed.

"And what will you wear? The usual?" I asked, ignoring the quip.

At this her expression changed and a wistful look took her over. She spun the chair once and when she came back around, a throwing knife shot from her hand to my feet. I didn't bother to glance at the embedded blade and kicked it aside.

"I have no idea. I didn't choose it."

I barked a laugh.

"You left it to Makayla? This should be entertaining." 

Before she could respond her wrist holo lit up. She paused her spin and glanced down to it. She opted to let the speaker come through aloud.

"Yes, Miss Xavier?"

"Are you still with Proximo?" She asked tentatively. I raised an eyebrow and Scorpion's eyes snapped up to my own with more humour.

"I am indeed. What is your message?"

"The message is that Dex will no longer pursue a seat in the personal guard."

"That cowardly waste of my time–" I growled.

She held up a hand and Makayla continued.

"A man named Artella Maxim will."

The room became faraway in a flash.

People call me Art.

He smirked, offering me a hand in the smoke and carnage. Flames were all around him. But it mattered little to him. His eyes were dark, yet not stern. Pieces of stone fell from my shoulders in heavy dust. I coughed harshly.

He released me as quickly as he had pulled me out of the remains of the building.

"Are you another of Lazuras' meat sacks with a trigger finger or will you be of use to me?" He called over the rushing sounds of fire and smoke.

I stared at him, confused in the moment. My head still spun and he had no right to find me–to know I was on the other side of that wall before it all went to hell. My comm was history in my ear and I felt the blood on my face. I saw most of our men dead around us.

"Meat sack." He muttered to himself, loading his gun and striding forward.

I blinked and the world began to make more sense.

"Stop!" I called, coughing harder and staggering forward. "Who the hell–do you think you are?"

He didn't stop his pace. The gun was over his shoulder like a common umbrella while the world burned around him. He didn't seem to mind.

He half turned, throwing me a look that told me of his intellect far faster than anything else. Intelligence always smirks... It never smiles. 

One wears it like a hidden promise.

"Kid, you're out of your league. I'm a contractor. We don't play by Lazuras' rules, but we do take his money."

"Do I look–like a child to you?" I shouted, my voice broke making my protest sound ridiculous. 

He finally paused his stride and looked me over slowly. It dawned on me that he was a few inches taller–no one was ever... His build was like an imperial soldier and a brawler mixed. Those calculating eyes lingered on my dusty face a moment before he spoke low.

"I think that's going to scar." He said simply.

Another charge suddenly blew out a wall ahead of us. He turned once more and slung his gun back into his hands.

"You're late!" He shouted.

Shadows emerged from the smoke. A body being dragged between them. He strode forward purposefully and the men dropped the body at his feet. He tilted his head before grabbing the collar and dragging the body towards me. I realised the man was still alive. He was dragging in breaths and he was–he was my target.

"I heard there was a fine price for this man. Lazuras will heavily reward the one responsible for his capture. Perhaps a promotion." He finished, dumping the man at my feet. I stared at his fearful face before slowly meeting the face of the man known as... Art.

"Why would a–contractor do this?" I rasped.

He shrugged in front of me.

"Because I can."

I wanted to demand his intentions. To draw my weapon, slack in my hands and order him on his knees before me. Yet he turned before the words came and he flicked a hand at his men. They dissolved with him in the smoke.

That was the first time I met Artella Maxim.

"What?" I got out, staring at Scorpion's wrist holo in a daze. "Who?"

* * * * *

"Look this isn't my place... He'll be there tomorrow morning in place of Dex–"

"No, Makayla. How the fuck is Artella Maxim in our base of operations?" I demanded with a total loss of calm. This was... to appear like this... here. I could hear the blood pounding in my head already. Those dark, amused eyes walking through our halls and slipping inside as easily as ever.

The second worst part was the way Scorpion quietly watched me. But that was for another less fucked time–

"He told me you two didn't see eye to eye... He was in the bar–I thought he was an agent–"

I dragged a hand across my head. Not only had he bypassed all of our security–he was looking out for a nobody recruit for what? Who was he to him? A new... no he'd lose patience with that boy far too quickly. He was too sharp for him.

"No, Makayla. He's a contractor. A very good one." I muttered.

Scorpion rolled to her feet this time and turned back to the wrist holo. She knew of contractors in this city of course. If we could ever get our hands on them they went straight into her personal guard–but the price was usually much too high.

"Apologies Makayla. I will get back to you."

She terminated the comm and placed her forearms on the desk.

"Who is Artella Maxim. Proximo?"

"A friend." I grit out.

"Oh really? I don't think you bother to collect many of those." She answered, not buying an ounce of my lies.

"He was there at the time of Lazuras. At the time of these." I pointed to the tattoos cutting down the side of my face.

"So, he is the story behind the scars..." She mused.

I nodded.

"And you didn't kill him?"

"I thought about it."

She considered me for a long moment. I considered many other things. Why now? Among the first. The second, how much had he changed or remained the same... The way we had left things before I joined Scorpion's side–

"I've seen this before..." She murmured.

"No contractors never usually over step–"

"Not that, Proximo." She chuckled. "I meant I've seen this before because it seems you have a very similar beginning to the way Miss Xavier and I did."

I was already shaking off her words.

"He is nothing to me." But even as the words cut out into the air they held no weight. All it took was his name to send my head into a spin. My blood running rapidly. "We can dispatch a hit–we can do that tonight?" I muttered in a daze.

"You want to try and kill a contract killer..?" She drawled. "Why on earth would we spend that many resources trying to do that. Because you had a crush?"

"He is NOTHING to me!" I roared, slamming my fist down on the glass desk.

Scorpion stared at me.

Then pointed to the door.

"Get out." She said flatly, "Speak to me when you get a hold of yourself."

I pulled my fist away from the cracked shards and didn't bother to look at the damage. The blood was already running down my knuckles. I stormed for the door and it slid open with a hiss before I could destroy something else.

My wrist holo had been flashing for the last hour but I didn't even see the words that said: Florence

All I could see was the past.

I stared at the small cuts and burns that marked the side of my jaw and face. It had been a week and they were still raw. My grey eyes stared back in the mirror.

Artella Maxim gave me this harsh souvenir along with the most wanted man Lazuras demanded alive. 'A promotion perhaps'. It's as if he knew exactly what would result after this. My promotion hadn't just been senior–it was the second hand to one of the criminal rulers of Merridian.

'Because I can.'

Was he mocking me when he said that? Look here. Look what I can give to you and take away just because I can...

For a week all I had seen was choking smoke and dark eyes. Again. Replaying it to check for a hidden meaning. A reason for a contractor to do something so grossly against their work.

I placed a nano seal against the side of the worst of it. It would take the worst away but the faint lines would remain. Mocking me. If I found him again I would be sure to give him a souvenir of my own making–damn the pity gift he left me.

Weeks passed and I was back on the training floors.

I lined up Lazuras' best fighters and pit them against each other. They wore full armour combats. Even masked in similar style to Imperial guards. I had always preferred to fight without the mask. It dulled the senses–smothered your peripheral. But they trained well enough.

The hours were long and I felt the sweat eventually run down my temple after the tenth routine. I clenched a fist and they stopped before me with fists on chests. One by one the men left the training mats for the day. Until only one remained.

I glanced at the matte black clad guard and waved him off.

"We're done."

"I don't think we are." He responded, muffled by the mask.

I snorted and rolled my shoulders and glancing over one.

"I said, we are done soldier." I retorted more darkly.

"I've heard chatter you want me dead."

I froze in place.

Before dipping rapidly and sweeping a leg for his own. He jumped and walked past at leisure. I didn't give him time to indulge more. I ran for his waist to take his stance out completely but he dropped to meet it with a strength I did not usually have to fight with–and forced me back off my feet.

He pressed a boot down hard to my chest and ripped the mask off.

Artella Maxim watched me impassively.

"I've got to say I'm not impressed."

I snarled and cut my elbow into the weak point in his knee. He rolled away and jabbed my jaw when I rushed him. The force spotted my vision but there was enough anger to drive me further. For a man that waltzed into Lazuras' base of operations like it was nothing–breach his security just to mock me yet again–

But I realised too late that my rage made my mistakes rapidly.

Before I knew how to arrange my limbs he had me in an unbreakable hold around my neck. His voice was steady and low despite it all. I breathed raggedly as I tried to twist a leg and gain any advantage. But he merely kicked out the back of my calf until I kneeled.

It was this exact dominance I was to assert. Yet here I was. At the mercy of this contract killer for his own damn amusement.

"Just fucking kill me!" I spat. "At least save me–from your narcissism."

The last thing I had expected from him was a laugh. A full throat loud laugh. Yet his grip remained lethal and unbreakable. I waited, controlling my breathing.

"I don't think I can, Proximo Dartega." He answered, "I've done my research on you and you're not what I expected."

"Why don't you–let me go so I can express–just how unexpected I am." I snarled around his arm.

"I'd say you owe me so you can hear me first."

I spat out a scoff.

"I owe you–a fusion round to the head!"

"I agree the damage to your face is unfavourable but it gives you a... more purposeful expression."

I grit my teeth and decided on diplomacy. Before my oxygen ran dry.

"Fine."

He seemed shocked a moment.

"I'm going to release you." He spoke slowly. "Now we can speak like adults–"

The moment he dropped his hold I spun before him, taking in his dark stare for a millisecond before front kicking him hard in the stomach. The wind left him harshly and he collapsed on his back with a sharp breath. I could tell it was painful from the way he struggled to breathe but he had the insane sense to chuckle between it.

I approached him slowly before finally offering him my hand.

He stared at it a moment. Then took my firm grip. I yanked him up quickly and dropped his grasp as quickly as he had to my own.

"Seems like you won't try to kill me."

"For five minutes." I answered curtly.

He nodded with that insufferable smirk back in place. He scooped up the mask and slid it back on. "Best to be unseen under your rotund leader's roof."

"Just get to the point so you can find the door." I offered.

"Impatient and distrustful."

"You enjoy hearing yourself speak don't you?"

The laugh turned into more of a cough under the mask. I had no sympathy. He deserved as much after blowing half my face off and infiltrating a crime lord's base of ops.

"I want to offer you a job."

I kept my face expressionless as we walked through the training facility. But my mind was still caught between turning him in and shooting him myself. What stopped me was the mystery around him. He shrouded himself with it.

"I have one."

"It pays well."

"It's not credits I am interested in."

He went silent. I couldn't tell if he watched my face under the mask but I kept my eyes ahead.

"What are you interested in, Proximo Dartega?"

I stopped my walk and tightened a fist. It wasn't anger, it was just my bodies response to not knowing what to do with myself or his words. He mistook it for the former and nodded to himself.

"I think I've overstayed my welcome." He finished turning away from me.

I watched him walk for all of two strides before blurting at his back.

"I'm in."