"How did you get back here?" Haru says with a look of confusion with a hint of anger in his eyes. Completely disregards him, Brakus' eyes sparkle with exitement and as he scans the small basement, he has never seen anything like this place before. The technology inside was years ahead of any devices he had experience with "Wow! This place is amazing! so this is what you've been so shady about!" he exclaims with a goofy expression, his smile engulfing his entire face as he teases the old man for being so secretive with him.
He notices Daniel standing there. He hadn't realized there was someone else in the room with them, Daniel was as still as a statue almost blending in with the wall. Brakus' gaze is met with a nonchalant wave and tilted head as Daniel greets him "Nice to meet you! You must be the one I've heard all about" his voice has a soothing sound, similar to the song of a bird.
"A-a-aren't you-" he points at Daniel and begins to quiver with excitement, from the look in his eyes it was apparent that he was starstruck. Daniel cuts him off before he can say his name "Why yes, I am". Brakus hops backwards in surprise at a loss for words "...Seriously!!!". Haru witnesses this childish reaction, he begins chuckling uncontrollably while covering his face with embarrassment.
"Y-y-you're that vigilante from the news!!" , Daniel cringes at hearing this, his eyes widen in surprise 'He doesn't even know my name!!.. this kid can't be serious!' he's clearly very upset over this fact, and he can't help but clench his fists in irritation; his cheeks turning a deep red under his mask.
"You stopped a bank robbery all by yourself, it was amazing! but you know, I save people too , but only if it benefits me. Or if its to protect a friend. I leave everything else to the so called 'heroes'." But you're awesome so I'll give you a pass." Haru and Daniel both burst into laughter thinking It was a joke, but Brakus' expression remains unchanged and is met with groans of realization.
Haru sighs and then says "I might really have to kill a kid" with a huge grin. "But if you must know.....we don't have a plan and frankly the knowledge of how to kill them isn't enough." He turns his gaze to Daniel and winks discretely, this was an unheard message signifying that he doesn't plan on getting Brakus involved, he sees him as a playful young child. He is only 15, unaware of the horrors of life or so he thought. There was something familiar about Brakus' appearance, like an old friend. "I never asked you kid. Whats your name? You remind me of a friend of mine."
"Oh- I guess you're right I don't know yours either but I'll start. I'm Brakus Bronze.. How about you gramps?"
"Call me Haru. I don't have a family name." the honesty in his voice was shocking to Brakus because he was accustomed to him acting mysteriously, the past few days after his injury they only spoke a handful of times and it was never about anything serious on the rare occasions when they would communicate. Daniel stays silent, refusing to reveal his identity to him.
Daniel glares at him through his face covering giving a sly remark "You have a strange idea of what being a hero means, is that truly the kind of hero that you want to be?". There was a stillness in the air following his statement. Brakus is eyeballing him intensely. Daniel struck a nerve by questioning his drive, though it doesn't anger him judging by his nonchalant lean against the wall "So what? Heroes have never saved anyone I love..." he says with pain in his eyes, "So how does anyone have the right to judge me on who I save?". The sincerety of his voice was undeniable, he would never betray his convictions.
But to his shock; neither Haru or Daniel disagreed or even uttered a word at all 'No way!The old man always has something mean to say.' Brakus ponders,clearly puzzled by this reaction.
Haru hasn't been the cheery old man that would usually greet people from the register ever since his safe was stolen. However, it wasnt rare for his goofy personality to bleed through.
An electronic ding comes from the computer and the loading screen reappears, this time it says 'Analysis complete' , the loading bar from earlier is completely absent replaced by the words 'Download Data'. Haru swivels in his seat to face the computer. He clicks download and begins to hammer away on his keyboard. A buzz reverberates from the computer, followed by the clanking of a printer as it began to spit out over a dozen pages from above Haru. All of the papers land in perfect stack directly in front of him.
Brakus' jaw drops wide open in disbelief , 'This can't be real!' he thinks 'No way..' but decides to keep this to himself. He takes a quick peek at the top page, it is covered In strange charts that don't make any sense to him. Haru picks up the stack of papers, sliding then into a file which drops carefully in a filing cabinet. "This place wasn't here until recently. After my safe got stolen I figured I might as well finish this place up, I planned on keeping the intel here. though it's a little too late."
Brakus hadn't realized it before but the entire basement had a brand new shine to it appearing to be less than two days old, not a single cobweb or speck of dust in sight. 'How was he able to hide this from?' he thought 'There must be another way to get in...' he bounces the idea around for a bit but chooses not to bring it up 'He may have been joking about taking me out.. but I really dont want to find out', trembling as he ponder on this.
"For such a secretive person, you really suck at it gramps" Brakus teases. They begin to argue, bickering back and forth for a moment until Daniel cuts them off "I know you guys are having a grand time, but I have somewhere I need to be." "But-" Haru says calmly in an attempt to keep him there longer, but Daniel raises his hands in defiance cutting his sentence short "It was great seeing you again old friend. I'll stay in touch...contact me if anything changes." Vanishing into thin air with a flash leaving no time for farewells. Seeing this flabbergasted Brakus, something like this was impossible and he would have denied it happened had it not occurred before his eyes "D-did he-h-he just..... Teleport?!?!" to him it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen, and yet Haru's only reaction to his leaving was a look of foreboding sadness, finding the time with his old friend too brief.
"Why didn't you tell me that you knew someone so awesome... I thought you were just a boring old man " Brakus jokes with him to no avail, the only reaction he received was a brief stern look which cut through his humor like a razor. He then rises from his seat, another cigarette appearing from the pack that he kept in his pocket, taking a long drag of smoke "There's a lot you don't know, and it's going to stay that way. It's best you don't know more than you already do, for me, you and this whole country.These types of things aren't meant for children to get involved." lifting a small flask to his lips and taking a swig as he finishes his sentence, the smell of alcohol fills the room.
"The only thing you should be worried about is recovering. You should be able to visit your family tomorrow." he says sternly before beckoning him to the door "I need to finish up down here and I would appreciate if there weren't any..." he pauses , staring Brakus in the eyes with a cold look "prying eyes". This sent a shiver up his spine, freezing him with terror. Haru leads him to the door and seals it shut, locking Brakus on the other side before moving back to his desk, and taking a seat. He pulls the documents out from earlier and begins looking over the charts.
[Daniel is investigating an unknown location.]
He is inside of a large mansion's master bedroom , he is checking the vitals on two individuals on the floor who appear to be dead. "Hmm, their Vitals are normal. Like they're alive..". The walls have a familiar dark slime splattered all over them, signs of a struggle painted the room with blood and destruction.The furniture is flipped , and photos lay scattered across the floor with their frames in pieces. "They were looking for something. But what?" he inquires as he scans the large room, he eyes dance around until his eyes meet with a section of the wall that looks out of place. He approaches this spot and taps on the wall "Hollow! there must have been a painting covering this spot" he runs his fingers over the wall, realizing that this section is whiter than the rest of the smoke stained walls.
"But how could they have known, whoever did this had prior knowledge of the buildings layout..." his voice trails off as his gaze snaps back to the the man and woman's bodies "Their kills were sloppy, this wasn't the work of a trained killer. But someone wanted them silenced for some reason..." his voice trails off in thought as he inspects them again, the cuts on their necks were awkward with signs of an unsteady hand. They must have suffered as the killer had missed any vital arteries which would have gave them a quick death. As he observed the woman's body he notices a small slip of paper sticking out of her coat pocket. He gets on his knee and carefully slips the paper from her pocket, it is a business card with a pitch black logo in the shape of a skull. There's is a crash downstairs followed by the breaking off glass, Daniel leaps onto his feet with a quickness and teleports outside of the house to avoid being discovered.
"I might need to call the old man again after all. But first I have to see where this evidence leads." He sees a strange man in a dark suit shining a flashlight on the bottom floor. "Shade company.." he spits out. But having found what he was searching for , Daniel disappears once again leaving the mansion before he can be noticed.