[Red light district: 10:00pm]
Rain pours down, from the black sky as a black sedan rolls to a stop shutting off its headlights. Inside is a man with a shady expression, he was dressed in an all black suit. He has a earpiece connected to his ear and dark sunglasses paired with a matching fedora hat. "I'm at the meeting spot! where is the contact?" he shifts nervously "I'm starting to get....impatient" his sinister voice was as cold as ice. Something begins to stir in the distance. A man shifts out of the shadows carrying a small bundle, the man in the car beckons him to bring him what he is carrying. When the man gets to the car he drops the damp package into his lap. The man inside the car smiles with ill intent saying, "Thank you, you did well." as he pulls a silenced pistol, firing a shot straight through the other man's head. He brings his gaze to the ground where the man fell "Hmmph, you didnt even deserve a bullet" he spits on the man's body and groans indignantly as the body fades into ashes; carried away by the wind. The black sedan silently drives off into the darkness.
[Brakus' Point of view]
A few days passed and Brakus is finally able to move around after being taken out of his body cast. He broke both of his legs and multiple ribs in his first encounter with the Shade group, he is hobbling around the shop wincing in pain.
He takes in his surroundings and notices that the old man has been busy while he was recovering, the front counter was as good as new as if the explosion was forgotten by the world. The front windows were in pristine condition the sun was glaring through them lighting up the entire room. "I wonder where he went.. he's always coming and going at all times of day" he contemplates for a few seconds, recoiling with fear at the thought of what he could be up to.
"He is such a creepy Old man" he let's out a long sigh, crumbling onto the floor with boredom."I really miss my video games right about now!!" he yells to no avail. He would usually play video games with his little brother whenever they weren't outside practicing martial arts. He whistles a small song to himself, the high pitched notes pierce through the air. Squirming as impatience washes over him, he stumbles stopping his fall with the front counter. He stares at his reflexion in the the glass for a moment, then begins to poke around in his jacket pocket and after a while he reveals the stopwatch he always carried on his person. The timer has reached two hours, he made it a habit to time the old man's comings and goings, he was obsessed with timing things it was almost like a compulsion after spending years developing the habit. This was something he picked up from his father, who would never leave the house without his stopwatch. They both had a way of losing track of time when they were focused on something.
"This is really starting to make me mad..." his voice trails off as a wave of exhaustion travels through him. "Maybe I should try to sneak in a little nap before he comes back.." he approaches the door to the backroom, consumed with anxiety "He has never left for this long before" he says, irritated at having to stay indoors all day, he is still a kid and all he can think about is playing outside with his brother as he begins to doze off.
The door to the shop swings open, warm summer air flows into the stuffy shop as the old man enters the building. He slowly walks to the backdoor, his steps falling with a thud as he approaches. When he arrives at the door he pauses for a moment, taking in every detail of the room before moving into the backroom; once inside he sees brakus on the floor in a deep sleep. He's tossing and turning like he is having a nightmare for a moment, rolling onto his back still as a rock.
He pulls out a cigarette, billowing a cloud of Grey smoke as he crosses the threshold. His steel-toed boots thudded confidently against the pristine linoleum flooring, echoing throughout the room. Instead of waking Brakus up he steps over him; headed towards the back left corner of the room. Double-Checking to make sure he was still asleep. Once he was convinced he was out cold, he pushes a brick inward locking into place with a soft click.
A large section of the wall begins to shift to reveal a secret staircase, leading downwards into some sort of basement. He pulls out a small flip phone and dials a number, the air is still for a moment as the phone rang.
"I don't think he knows anything, but I need to be careful"
"..."the voice on the other line responds
"Yeah, They already attacked him" the old man continues to a password protected door at the end of the small, dark tunnel.
"..."
"I'll see you then." he abruptly hangs up the phone with a loud beep as he places his finger on a blue fingerprint scanner unlocking the heavy steel door. There is a small room surrounded by steel walls with a large curved computer monitor in the center , a keyboard is connected to some kind of super-computer on his desk. The old man pulls out a vial of a familiar slime, placing it into a beaker. As he does this the monitor's lights come on, displaying a slow moving bar with the words 'analysis in process..' above it. There is a movement in the room, already aware of what the source was he says, "Now what do you have for me?" before turning around to face whoever just arrived.
But it wasn't Brakus, it was a tall and slender man in a bright red suit. He has a blue mask with black markings covering his face with a smile etched into the space where the mouth would be. The old man has a large smile on his face recognizing who this strange man is. "Daniel.." he takes a moment to look him up and down "It's been a long time hasn't it? what like.. let me see-. I honestly don't recall."
"Yes, yes I know but there is no need for small talk Haru, knowing you aren't a fan of it yourself" he replies happily with a sing-song voice. But he seems to be in a rush. though he does enjoy Haru's presence because they have been friends for such a long period of time.
"I have a long story for you, and you might want to take a seat for this one, it has to do with the Shade group." Daniel's muscles tense up just by the mention of them, his terror was apparent even with the mask hiding his emotions."You can't be serious. Have they made it into this country as well?"
All Haru does is nod while pulling from his cigarette, to signify that he was correct.
"And the intel? is it still safe?" he asks frantically. Haru says nothing in response to Daniel, who is slowly sinking into a panic attack.
Haru flicks the butt of his cigarette against the wall dropping his head in failure as tears begin to fall from his eyes in a storm of emotion, knowing that he may have put the entire country in danger. "It might not be too late Haru, the intel should still be within the country. There isn't exactly a multitude of ways to smuggle things through the borders, the security has been even tighter these past few weeks. Rumors of a new weapon has reached my information network." This is Daniel's attempt at brightening the mood, he was never great at reading a room and casually dropped another tragedy on Haru's shoulders. This news disheartened him greatly,a new weapon meant more pointless death. Something he was disgusted by after years of battle.
"So what's the plan, old man?" Brakus' voice shatters into the room as he walks in rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, causing both of the men to jump out of their chairs and fall onto the floor, their secret has fallen apart!