The Calm Before The Storm

The flame begins to grow dim as the embers sputter out withering into ashes.

"What the heck was that thing?!?" Brakus says, continuing in a brisk"and after you made me go on a scavenger hunt , you owe me some food old man!" he is famished from all the running around and his injuries are beginning to sting. Brakus sits on the ground and crosses his legs before letting out a large yawn and running his fingers through his hair with exhaustion.

[Inside the cafe]

The three of them are sitting at a tall bar with five tall chairs; Brakus's legs are dangling in the air and he is watching Haru drink while shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He was always denied entry from bars in the inner city, but the outer city didn't share that sentiment.

"The food is taking forever! I might actually die of starvation.." he complains childishly; he is bouncing up and down impatiently. "Relax kid" Haru says and then Daniel chimes in to tease Brakus, "You'll be fine" he says with a quiet chuckle. Haru and Daniel are completely wasted and they reek of alcohol and cigarettes, after tonight they needed it; the horrors of war were getting close to him.

"We need to talk about what just happened out there, that guy couldn't have been human. Bullets just bounced off of his chest!" Daniel exclaims with a small shiver, he is clearly still shaken from their battle. He continues, "If I wasn't able to teleport away from him that first time I would've been toast."

"This is just the beginning, there will be more where that came from and there's also the issue of that house." Haru replies with a cold voice. Brakus listens to their conversation intently, he still has no clue what they are talking about. He decides to speak up, "Can someone explain this to me? I kind of just showed up with no context whatsoever" Brakus whines with a confused gaze. "That man was probably with the Shade group, and if that is true.... they've already set up bases throughout Hartford. They might be planning a uprising from within, forcing us into the war we tried so hard to stay out of" Haru responds to Brakus with a harsh voice.

At this news, his gaze drops down to face the table; Brakus resented the whole idea of war, because of war he has lost everything. Daniel gives him a inquisitive glance, and gives him a weak smile to comfort him. "Your body language shifted as soon as he mentioned war.... if you don't mind me asking, why is that?" Daniel questions him with a compassionate look; his tone was so direct it stabbed straight through Brakus's ego.

Brakus ponders the question for a moment before releasing a loud sigh of defeat; it was always difficult for him to talk about his Dad, he always kept his pain inside allowing it to bottle up. Tears begin to flow down his cheeks, a few of the drops hit the table beneath him as he struggles to put together his words. He stammered searching for a response and after a little while he shuts his mouth, unable to tell them the truth.

"Fine, we won't pressure you to tell us. Me and Daniel here both understand what it's like to take great losses, with war there will always be casualties" He tries to comfort Brakus who is still silently crying. 'Including this time..' Haru thinks,contemplating on his own foolish mistake; a mistake they're working to erase.

'What was that sword the old man had earlier? it was awesome' Brakus observes Haru curiously, the old man is currently digging into his food like a starved dog. Their food was finally here but the knots in Brakus's stomach prevented him from finishing his meal , he was still terrified from what he had witnessed earlier. "So do you have a plan gramps? And it better not be to fight them head... one of those guys almost killed both of you guys from the looks of it." Brakus asks both the men outright.

Both of them stop completely in their tracks, they give eachother a quick look and a nod. Haru opens his mouth to answer him, "Okay I'll make it simple. The Shade group has a heavily secured base in the center of the Aristocrat District, we assume they're also responsible for the increased murders in the area. We need to infiltrate this base and escape without being noticed, I don't plan on having to shoot our way out."

After hearing the plan, Brakus's jaw drops and he raises one of his eyebrows in confusion; he was amazed at the absurdity of Haru's 'plan', it sounded more like a suicide mission than an actual plan.

"You do hear yourself right old man? I think you might need a hearing aid gramps.." Brakus cracks a joke , trying to tease the old veteran's idea. Haru just stares at him intimidatingly and there is a long silence for a moment. "I honestly wouldn't call that a plan either" Daniel laughs, finally speaking up to break the ice at the table.

Haru curiously raises an eyebrow before beckoning for him to continue. Daniel acknowledges this motion and continues to talk, "Might I suggest a few things?" he pauses for a moment but continues before anyone can interject "First we will need to acquire the blueprints for the building and a military grade skeleton key. Without securing these two things shooting our way out won't be the worst of our worries".

Haru and Brakus gaze at him with complete interest ; Daniel was a very intelligent person and the command he had of his soothing voice was like music, his smarts always attracted people's attention. He continues speaking to them in a smooth voice, making sure every word is clearly understood, "The second part of our plan would then be to locate the lost intel, and if we're lucky there may be a slim chance we will find it in the Aristocrat District. But we will most likely only find clues pointing towards the intels whereabouts."

"The next step would be to steal data from the enemies computers for analysis. Though that shouldn't be a problem, right Haru?" Daniel asks, diverting his gaze towards the old man, who is taking a sip from a glass of tequila. Haru stares blankly at the wall for a while after being questioned, he barely could hear him over his own thoughts as memories of the war flash through his head. Brakus taps the old man on his shoulder bringing him back to reality, Haru stops trembling and his face goes back to a calm resting state.

"Hey, are you alright gramps?" Brakus asks with a concerned gaze, his eyes were full of compassion; he has gotten quite close to the old man over these past few days and has began to truly care for his friend's well being.

The blank expression his face slowly fades, changing into a weak smile. "I'm fine, just a little tired that's all..., but to answer your question Daniel, it shouldn't be an issue so gather data from the inside but I'll need a security decryption disc." Haru says calmly. Daniel gives him a quick nod of approval in silent acceptance of his answer.

Daniel clears his throat to gain everyone's attention, his silky voice vibrates through the air as he begins to speak. "Sounds like we have arranged a path forward" Daniel says before losing himself in thought, 'I need to continue searching for leads...' he thinks, while observing Haru and Brakus bickering over who will take the last of the fries. Daniel smiles softly; he has finally met people he can consider family, Haru has been around for a long time but after what happened to Daniel's younger brother, he hasn't felt this way in a long time.

"Hey guys! I'm gonna take off soon, i need to tie off some lose ends" Daniel says in a smooth tone, before turning to Brakus and saying "In the mean time I'm sure old Haru here can brief you on our next step, sorry I couldn't stick around longer!". Daniel suddenly vanishes, leaving money to cover the bill behind.

"Does he always leave so abruptly?" Brakus says with a giggle, clearly tickled by Daniel's rude behavior. But Haru doesn't respond, he only strokes his beard in thought as his mind wanders. 'I can't tell him the truth. it won't do him any good and that doesn't sit right with me. I'll have to tell him about my plans eventually, but for now we should get going... I'll reveal my preposition to him on the drive back.' After finishing this thought he begins to smile as he stares outside through the window.

"Let's get going too, it's been a long night and my old bones are starting to ache." Haru says; he winces as he stands up rubbing his back, which is cracking and popping with every movement. Brakus scrambles from his seat with a satisfied look because he finally managed to finish his meal, "Sure *burp* let's go baldy!" he exclaims as he dashes to the door ahead of Haru.

"You should seriously be in bed right now, I'm surprised you're even standing" Haru says. Brakus tumbles onto the ground into a lump on the floor; the timing of this was impeccable which Haru found amusing. "I told him he shouldn't have kept running around like a maniac... the stupid kid never listens" but he can't help but break into laughter at the pure innocence of it all. Haru moves towards the boy who is slumped against the door and he stops next to him, "Peaceful" he says in a calm voice before scooping him off the ground and carefully tossing him over his shoulders.

[Brakus's House: 4:00am]

Sylvis is sitting in a rocking chair next to a fireplace, there is a letter in her hands that she is silently reading, her calm demeanor slowly changes into a soft cry. A single tears falls from her eyelid and lands onto her arm. She continues to cry, when suddenly she let's out a gasp and her entire body stiffened , causing the letter to fall to the floor. Only the bottom line of the paper can be seen and it says 'Burn after reading'.

She wipes her tears with a handkerchief before crumbling it up and tossing it onto the nightstand. She quietly kneels down to pick up the strange letter, glancing at it once more before throwing it into the fire. The paper slowly becomes ashes; never to be seen by the eyes of another.

Once she is convinced that the letter is destroyed she tosses a glass of water that she had on her nightstand into the flame, extinguishing it. She begins to stir before slowly opening her door and walking out, silently shutting the door behind her; after a second there is the clicking of a lock. What could she be hiding?