Matthew punches the ground angrily as tears continue to flow from his eyes. Haru reaches out and grabs his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.
"You don't know for sure if they're dead" Haru says, but his eyes betray his words as a look of realization flashes across them, it was just like the time his entire platoon was wiped out.
Matt eyeballs him for a moment before he finally opens his mouth to speak, "You're wrong", his voice sounds cold but confident.
"What makes you so confident?" Haru presses Matthew for an answer, he is glancing curiously at the young man; Brakus is nearby shifting back and forth with his eyes locked intently onto Matthew. He begins to stir uncomfortably from both of their gazes burning into him.
After a moment, Matthew's body tenses up as he caves under the pressure of the thick atmosphere which filled the room. He takes a deep breath before swiveling his gaze to Haru, "I don't know much about the true nature of my assignment, but all I know is there was supposed to be an alliance between this country and Scorsland".
Haru raises his hand gesturing for him to hold on, "An alliance? they wouldn't send the grand air force if that was the case.." he questions Matthew. He drags a cigarette and blows a cloud of smoke, all without breaking his stiff gaze from him.
"We were meant to fly over the wall towards the capital, the grand air force was carrying men and supplies to reinforce the neutral zone." He responds calmly
"If you are telling the truth, the peace wouldn't be kept for much longer-" Haru utters with a light cough.
Brakus, who was only listening this whole time, stands up to intervene in the conversation,"The shade group plans on breaking the peace anyways right? aren't they the ones who started the war? more allies sounds worth the risk." He strides towards the two men and stops a couple of feet from them, giving them both a curious look.
Neither one of the men answer, they just stare at him shocked by his questioning. "Great...more secrets" Brakus mumbles quietly just out of earshot.
"Why do you want me to train? you tell me this intel is important, but you keep any information about it a complete mystery" Brakus continues out loud, Matthew raises an eyebrow and a light flashes in one of his eyes.
"Intel?-" Matt inquires towards Haru as he slowly rises to his feet "What intel?". Haru avoids eye contact by glancing at his feet in an effort to hide the details.
He finally decides to reply, Haru pulls out a cigarette to light it and says "As a soldier, you know I can't tell you that."
Matthew glares at him suspiciously, "You haven't fought for quite a while, you ran away from the war and you still speak like orders hold any meaning to you" an insult leaves his sharp tongue. These words cut deep into Haru's heart and he leaps onto his feet and stands in front of him like an immovable wall causing Matthew to stumble backwards.
"Who are you to question my loyalty? I continued to fight on the front lines even after my platoon was wiped out-" He firmly grips Matt's shoulder and makes eye contact with him "-And what do you plan to do when faced with the same issue? you choose to have no faith in your fellow soldiers.. don't tell me about loyalty" the words rolled from his mouth with a quick and commanding tone which caused everyone elses hearts to tremble; shocked by the sudden outburst.
Brakus shrinks away from the old man who is gritting his teeth angrily, while Matthew stands his ground face to face with Haru; with no signs of fear letting themselves through. "There's a thin line between loyalty and stupidity old geezer" He retorts defensively as he stands taller, confidently facing the old man.
Before the situation can escalate any further Brakus places himself between the two men and attempts to separate them, "Stop fighting, I wasn't a soldier so I don't agree with hiding truths from my allies. with so much running from the issues, how can soldiers call themselves heroes?" he utters confidently. Both the men shift their gaze to the floor, their cheeks burning with embarrassment over their behavior; the thick hostile atmosphere instantly thins out as they attempt to calm down.
They apologize in unison saying "You're right." Both of them stand down , Haru sits back into his seat and Matt walks away towards the front of the shop. He exits the room, closing the door with a loud slam on his way put.
"I need to call Daniel, we owe you an explanation. I won't keep you in the dark anymore.... but I still don't trust that man", Haru points at the door. He begins to rub his head in thought before turning the back of his chair towards Brakus; leaving him to contemplate on his words. He pulls his phone from his right pocket and begins to put a number in.
As the phone begins to ring Brakus studies the old man for a few moments; the old man appears to be on edge and it may not be wise to approach him for conversation. Haru quickly swivels around to face him with a smile.
"You should go back home tonight" he suggests reassuringly. Brakus leaps in confusion from his sudden mood shift.
'His emotions change so fast , could he be acting?' he couldn't help but question the old man's behavior.
[Daniel]
A man is holding his head up with his arm as he slowly drifts into a nap within the small cubicle he is stationed at. There are six matching cubicles with wired telephones, full sized keyboards and a little monitor on top of each desk; this floor appears to be a call center for a small company.
A young red-haired women with freckles taps him on the shoulder. Her soft hand contacting his back snaps him out his sleep, causing him to fall from his chair. The women laughs as he tumbles clumsily onto the gray office floor.
"Oh its just you thank goodness, I thought you were the boss coming to fire me" the man mutters as his gaze meets her bright green smiling eyes. His cheeks turns a dark red and he quickly turns away to hide his shyness.
She giggles and smiles genuinely, "No need to worry I won't tell him you were asleep-" her quiet giggle changes into audible laughter for a moment, before she covers her mouth and calms her breathing.
"-But anyways, Did you still want to meet at our favorite restaurant after we clock out? we have about ten minutes until closing time", her tone is full of wonder and happiness as she questions him.
"Yeah, sure that sounds good" he replies. The man scrambles to his feet, he stands with his posture straight as he swipes his pants to remove dust from the floor.
"You can leave earlier, You dont need to stay to help me lock up" he states calmly.
The green-eyed girl, smiles so hard that her eyes close, "But I want to stay, you're so dense sometimes." He returns her smile with a huge grin, he is amused by her confidence.
Once it is time to close, the two of them finish up their conversation and exit the shop. They turn the lights off on the way out the man turns a key in the lock to close for the day. He offers to walk her to her car but she gestures that she will be fine and she walks off towards the small parking lot; leaving the man by himself standing at the door to the call center. The sun is just beginning to set, leaving the sky a beautiful shade of purple mixed with sparks of orange.
Suddenly a man snatches him into a headlock from behind and putting a gun to his temple.
"Give me your wallet and car keys!" The robber commands frantically, still holding his gun to the young man's head.
He begins to panic and quickly pushes the barrel of the gun away from his head; trying to break himself free from the man's grasp. The men struggle with eachother both scrambling for the gun. Blam! the crack of a gun echoes off the concrete below; all of the noise from the struggle have came to a complete stop, leaving the atmosphere as still as a log.
The man flinches from the explosion next to his ear, which caused his eardrums to ring continously. He touches his left ear thinking he may have gone deaf. He has rubs the gunpowder from his face, and begins to slowly open his eyes and yells out, "I thought I was dead!". At first, his eyesight is blurry and he has to squint to make out the slumped over body of the man who tried to rob him and someone else, who was standing over him with his foot on the robber's back; this man was Daniel and he was holding the gun in his palm and waving with his other hand.
"What the hell!!!" the man yells out stammering in fear and shocked by his sudden appearance. Daniel smiles in response and puts one finger to his own lips, telling him to be quiet.
"You should call the cops and get home, If I wasn't nearby you wouldn't be here anymore" Daniel exclaims happily; the man's jaw dropped In disbelief, he had accepted death and just as quickly he was in no danger at all.
The man stutters gratefully while clasping his hands together like he was praying, "Thanks-" there is a flash as Daniel vanishes, cutting the man off.
He flashes onto the roof of an eight story building with a chain link fence around the ledges to prevent people from falling; a group of birds darts into the air from the disturbance. A mumbled catchy jingle comes from his coat pocket as his cell phone begins to ring and vibrate, he hurriedly pulls it out and notices that it is Haru; he picks it up with a deep sigh while squeezing the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
He answers with an irritated growl, "What Is it? I'm in the middle of a patrol so this better be important."
Haru must have picked up on his buddy's irritation because he listens to him, which isn't normal for the old man as he normally doesn't take orders from anyone easily. "Have you heard anything news? many days have passed and I'm starting to get anxious" he replies worriedly, he was almost talking too fast.
"The Shade group has been radio silent, they're ghosts, but that's good because it means that they still haven't reached another country... my source discovered one of their safe houses in the area, I'm going to take a look" He responds, informing the old man of what he has learned since they last spoke.
"And the Aristocrat District?" Haru's voice comes through clearly.
"The security system wasn't installed by the military, it was a rush job and was most likely installed the night that the intel was stolen" he says.
"The safe must be there with the intel, they must be trying to break the cipher before moving it..We need to move on that house soon, but we'll need help..so I'm letting Brakus into the loop" Haru sounded completely sure, he has finally decides to place his trust in Brakus and he knows this may be the only way to stop the war from spreading.
"What?!? it's about time geezer" Daniel exclaims jokingly, he already developed a liking for Brakus and may have told him the plan himself if Haru kept being so duplicitous.
"Tell him what the intel is, he deserves to know before we embark on this mission, Take care!" he utters a sing-song farewell.
Haru says bye before hanging up the phone and leaves Daniel to finish his patrol , he rubs his bald head in thought as he attempts to work out a method to tell Brakus without overwhelming him; after a bit he gives up and decides to tell him outright.
"Hey kid... the intel might be in our grasp soon, but we need your help" Haru calls out to Brakus.
He bounces happily over to Haru and replies defiantly, "does this mean you will finally be honest with me for once?". The old man raises an eyebrow at this, he is impressed by Brakus's spunk.
"The intel that I was so careless with for all of these years....happens to be dirt on the president of this country along with the building plans for the impenetrable walls surrounding us and keeping us safe, and many other sensitive bits of info" Haru states plainly. Continuing he says, "It is behind intense encryption, but if they decipher the code...there will be no more peace"
"That cant be.... No..." Brakus let's out a weak whisper and falls to his knees beginning to hyperventilate from a panic attack. Haru catches him, stopping his head from smashing into the ground, he feels the back of his neck and it is ice cold and soaked in sweat and trembling slightly. Brakus is overtaken with grief from the memory of the night his Father's died and is stricken with fear as pictures of his home and the old man's shop on fire cross his mind.
Haru dips his chin depressingly and gives Brakus a hug, understanding his fears of war. He doesn't know what he has seen, but he knows the symptoms of PTSD like the back of his hand. Brakus held the demeanor of a soldier who has seen a great traged. He hears Brakus begin to cry silently as he continues to comfort him; he holds his head like he was his own son as a single tear escapes from his eyelid and drips into his beard.