The Golden blade has a majestic aura emanating from it withing its sheath , which intensified as Haru's hand made contact with the handle. This blade is his prized possession, a gift from an unknown person, the same man who trained Haru into the warrior he is today.
After Haru escaped from the war there was one thing on his mind, and that was killing the bastards who murdered hundreds of men and used their bodies like puppets. He became a secret agent to gain information on the Shade company and he has hidden away from them for long enough. "He said he was in the Aristocrat district, Im sick of hiding. As much i dread returning to battle, I need to do what needs to be done!" Haru announces, his brows furl in rage, and he eyes begin to turn a blood red with fury; he is standing tall with confidence.
"I need to check his tracker, if he is still inside the city I should be able to find his last location" Haru says, but a horrifying realization crosses his mind, and the anger that was just on his face is immediately replaced with despair. "His tracker was destroyed inside of the Aristocrat District.... I'll have to track him the old school way." He says, as he pulls a strange pair of goggles from a drawer at his desk. He replaces the thick circular glasses he usually wears with these new specs.
The lenses begin to glow a bright green as if they were activated the moment they're secured onto the bridge of his nose. An electrical booting noise begins to come from his goggles as he presses a small button on the side. Haru didn't have powers, similar to Brakus, but he wasn't just a good doctor. He was also a small time inventor who created small devices to assist Daniel, but he was a hardened soldier and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty.
"Maybe the man Daniel was talking about has intel on the shadows that Brakus saw steal my safe. If he does, maybe we can stop the war from spreading into Hanselgard." he ponders, pausing for a moment before continuing to inquire to himself "But it won't be that easy..." he thoughts begin to trail of as his gaze falls to the long suitcase from earlier, that he tossed on the floor. There is a large .50 caliber pistol alongside a automatic rifle still placed neatly in the case.
Haru begins to gather up all of the weapons and prepares to head out. As he finishes he exits the room. Brakus is still in the hallway but is sound asleep. This surprised Haru who takes in this sight with a proud expression, "This kid has some spunk, I'll give him that. but he isn't ready for war yet. hopefully he'll never have to be." Haru whispers, with a genuine smile on his face.
[Brakus]
But Brakus is faking his sleep, he plans on following him to help against his will. Though the thought of coming up against the Shade group froze his blood causing goosebumps to spead throughout his body.
"He really thinks he can just leave me here! just wait old man!" he screams angrily inside of his head and starts trembling with inpatience. "Ugh! It has to have been long enough... I need to move dammit!" He begins to shift before promptly hopping to his feet but the impact sends jolts up his legs causing him to wince in pain.
"Owch!There is no way Ill make it like this" He cries out quietly in pain, tears welling up in his eyes as he slumps onto the floor, the pain was unbearable the wounds from earlier are throbbing, the pain resembled being stabbed repeatedly with a knife. Brakus begins to painfully drag himself towards the stairs, the throbbing intensified with every movement as he begins to feel dizzy.
He shakes his head to clear his vision; refusing to pass out at a time like this. Hand over hand he pulls until the reaches the stairs, he let's out a sigh. He dreads the agony of climbing the stairs but he refuses to concede to defeat, and sluggishly reaches for the first step with his left hand and the handrail with the other before pushing with his full strength to climb back onto his feet. His mind wanders as he looks back on his past, thinking about the grief of losing his Dad.
[Flashback: Two years ago]
A younger Brakus sits alone in his room with tears falling from his face. His face is buried in his hands, he is attempting to hide his pain but his body language betrays him, his shoulders are weak with grief and he struggles to sit still. "W-why cant you be here with me right now Dad?.. I can't handle this! The kids at school bully me and I don't know what to do...you always knew what to do Dad. Why can't I be like you?" he says quietly. As he breaks down to the floor and rolls around as he continues to wail.
[Present day: Brakus]
As he reaches outside, he looks both ways to search for any signs of Haru. His vehicle is gone, but there seems to be tire marks from driving off in a hurry. "You can't be serious!" he exclaims before he pauses in thought 'I was hoping I would see him leaving.... now there's no way I can find out where he went, unless...' his train of thought trails off, as Brakus carefully analyzes his surroundings; he notices more black tire marks further up the road heading deeper into the city.
"I've never been there... but I think I know where gramps ran off to" he exclaims with a laugh before slowly walking towards the trail which was left unintentionally by Haru. 'Let's see if im right... I'll see you there baldy!' he thinks. he is clearly amused with this thought, because he cracks a giant smile and his face glows with a new light and he is determined to track Haru down and discover whatever secret he has been keeping from him.
[Haru: Around the same time]
The sounds of the engine are deafening, the old vehicle is sputtering as it reaches 90mph. Haru is speeding down the road out of the Shopping District, after thirty seconds the various store building begins to change into nice homes, the houses grow nicer as he zooms past ignoring them. "I really hate these houses.." he mumbles to himself as he lights a cigarette and begins to roll his window down for fresh air.
'It shouldn't be long now, I should be at the Aristocrat District's gates soon. Maybe I can find the bastard who attacked Daniel or any hints on where to find him' Haru couldn't help but feel concern for Daniel even though he trys to avoid getting attached to people , he chooses to internalize his PTSD, never revealing his true feelings to anyone because he fears being too close. Haru has a deep sadness that follows him wherever he goes, a darkness that cannot be removed, the war has left him scarred and cold hearted to the world.
He was a noble man nonetheless , a man who was determined to fix the situation that he caused. "How could I have been so careless with the intel, I've placed hundreds of thousands of innocent people in danger with my carelessness!" regret dashes onto his face as he punches the steering wheel with rage. The gate of the Aristocrat District begins to come into sight over a hill, Haru presses the gas pedal to the floor heading towards the gate at full speed. It almost looks like he is going to crash through the front gate but before he would have smashed into it he takes a left turn before bringing the car to a screeching stop.
He springs from the vehicle like a rabbit before frantically gathering all of his supplies from the back seat of the car; slamming the door shut as he lifts his head from the vehicle. Haru was so angry he didn't care if the military police heard the noise he was making and he was in too much of a rush for it to matter to him at the moment. 'This God damn place annoys the heck out of me, the snobs that live here give me the creeps' he thinks, picturing a wealthy man looking down on him with distate.
As the front gate grows closer with each step. "Now how do I get in??" he says with a look of disgust; he walks up to the gate and scans it in its entirety, before letting out a long exhale in irritation. Something about this place bothered Haru to no end, the atmosphere was thick with a cruel aura that would've made a lesser man freeze on the spot. The goggles on his face begin to hum, the green glow they have been illuminating shifts to a dark purple once he reaches the gate.
Once at the gate he gives the tall black steel another gaze, this time using infrared. The entire gate is the same temperature except for a spot where the gate is corroded.
Haru hurriedly grabs his rifle from his back taking a few steps away and bracing himself for the recoil before firing precise rounds into the bars. Each of his shots sliced through the edges of the rusted out area leaving a hole just large enough for him to carefully make his way onto the other side.
A few minutes later he arrives at the same road where Daniel had appeared earlier on that night; the dark gravel crunched under his feet as he follows it's path. His eyes begin to evaluate his surroundings, gliding across mansions of varying shapes and sizes ; a cold breeze blows smoothly across Haru's skin, as the ominous atmosphere becomes a sickening haze of energy. Haru's expression remains unchanged, he isn't deterred by this in any way whatsoever; he scans the mansions through the trees with a different setting on his goggles. There's nothing off about most of the mansions, but one of them towers above the others; this was Thomas Harts and Haru was detecting a heavy security system inside.
He furrows his brow at this discovery, it was a strange occurrence for someone to have such redundant security measures. he shuts off his goggles as he steps into the grass area between the road and the area where the tall house is located. As he crosses the field, he see's a section that looked like a tornado had ripped through it.
'Hmm..This must be where his signal disappeared. I'll give his phone another try.' Haru strokes his chin inquisitively for a second and then slides a phone from a pocket in his cargo pants and quickly dials a number. The phone rings for what feels like forever before there is a loud beep and then a frantic "Hello?! is this you?!" as Daniels voice comes through the speaker. "Yeah, it's me" Haru responds with a calm voice but was unable to hide his relief, his shoulders untensed with the knowledge that his friend was still alive.
"Good, meet me at Al's Cafe about 30 minutes out from the Aristocrat District, you know the place. I can't give you the whole story over the phone, but you'll know the truth of what happened soon " Daniel replies with a foreboding voice.
"Fine, stay safe." Haru promptly hangs up the phone, he gives the tall white house and the battlefield from earlier one last glance before leaving them behind to return to his car and head to the meeting place. Haru takes a swig from his canteen and walks towards the road and continues off into the night; he has to get to Daniel and discover what he can about the man with the demon.
Unknown to Haru, a shadow was lurking in the bushes listening to his conversation; scurrying away once the old man disappears from sight.