Anubis: Weighing of the Heart

[Daerune]

Vaelin

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Vealin sat on the edge of the landing pad with the nose of his condor sheltering him from the sun. He had used his guise of Blaidd Bellator to gain entry to Manhattan, with the explanation of being of Omicronian origin left people with little reason to question the heavy armament. He had finally gotten a lead on his brother, although regrettable it was to this place, one of his least liked place in the sector, it had been thanks to a contact within the slums that had alerted him to his brother wandering about, Vaelin had sent out a picture to what contacts he still retained. Despite the time eclipsed in the search of his brother, he couldn’t shake the feeling of the convenience of him finally being located. Were things all so simple. Bitterness surfaced for a moment before he repressed it. Vaelin felt a soft unwelcome tingling haunt his exterior which caused him to look over his shoulder. The dock master made his way towards Vaelin, he had a PDA in hand and held an indifferent expression which was reassuring.

“Alright, Mister Bellator. Everything checks out, sorry for the delay.” The dockmaster offered a slender object to Vaelin, a key to the hanger he had requested.

Vaelin smiled softly giving a short nod. “Thanks and don’t worry about it.” He took the key and placed it into his pocket. His guns were still at his sides.

Two guards were watching them carefully, Vaelin had his attention on them as the Dockmaster spoke again. “I hope you don’t intend to take your weapons out into the public, that's likely to get you arrested. Normally it might be fine in the parts you come from, but its more civil here so there is no need.”

He almost replied with a defensive rebuke but thankfully bit his tongue before it was given breath. He nodded in acceptance, not that he was going to go unarmed, just meant that had to conceal them. “Very well.” He worked a sound of dissatisfaction into his accepting tone to further sell it.

The Dockmaster seeming more pleased offered his hand out to Vaelin and shook his hand. “Enjoy your time on Manhattan.”.

The sincerity in the man's tone surprised Vaelin vaguely. Entering the Condor Vaelin sat at the pilot seat and navigated it off the main landing platform and into the hanger allocated for his vessel. Activating the device he shut the hanger with himself inside, the lights of the Condor came on illuminating the surrounding area. Isolate. Vaelin activated the main core of the Condor which had remained dormant to prevent detection, the AI coming to life and used the external sensors to locate the security cameras and hacked their feeds. The lights of the Wolf’s Den shut off as the AI ran a looped recording, the windows as well tinting allowing no vision of the inside, when this was done it would all switch back.

“Surveillance loop complete, Location is secure.” A hologram of a wolf sat before him, this was his favorite companion and one anyone hardly knew of. Omega, it was imprinted with his own personality though it lacked his soul.

Vaelin nodded. “Thank you Omega, I wont be able to take my armor with me. We’ll stay connected via my forearm device, I’ll need you to tamper with any scanners to obscure the fact that I am indeed armed.” He reached for his trench coat and shifted it over his shoulders which helped conceal the weapons at his sides.

“Confirmed.” Omega’s visage brightened for a moment and Vaelin’s forearm mounted PDA vibrated as Omega integrated with it, it would maintain its connection through a hidden network transmitted from his ship. “Shadownet link established, running encryption protocols. Line secure.” Omega faded into the projection device.

Vaelin lingered behind looking out the window in thought before he turned the lights of the ship off and locked it down, he bypassed the cargo bay of his ship dropping to the ground before the ramp had fully touched down. After exiting the hanger the loop recording initiated, he headed to ground level and disappeared within the crowed. Once he had worked with he LSF under the guise of Jonathan Toledo, when he felt restless he would often come to these area’s and patrol to help distract his mind. He approached a poorly maintained house, the grass outside never being cut and there were a few crafts that looked more like scrap than salvage. He adjusted his weapons to be more easily acquired as he reached for the door knob. He pulled it from the socket, in its place he slid a slender rod which was scanned, replacing the knob he twisted it and opened the door as it unlocked. He proceeded to the basement where he once again inserted the rod into a hole in the floor where a slab of concrete elevated and produced an entrance into a bunker. He found Harrison waiting for him sitting in a seat, although there was something wrong. inhaling he found out just what was wrong, the scent of blood in the air was unmistakable, at least to him. [i]Back to-[/] It was already too late. A stun round struck the center of his chest which agonizingly convulsed his body, he was unable to move his hand’s out to stop himself from colliding with the ground.

A gentle hand lightly patted his cheek. “-ke up brother, come on, ah! there you go.” Bane moved back from Vaelin and sat down in the opposing chair. He held a dagger carelessly in his hand. “I am disappointed, I would have thought you’d of been quicker. Though in your defense, you do have a lot on your mind. don’t you.”

Rather than entertaining him Vaelin struggled against the bonds making no effort to hide it, his brother knew him well enough that there would be no denying it even if his attempts were perfectly hidden. “You killed Harrison, just kill me already.”

Softly smiling Bane shook his head, declining. “Harrison was already dead, though I doubt you’d be convinced.” In a more relaxed posture he reclined back setting the knife onto his lap with his right hand holding the blade. “You were always headstrong weren’t you.” With his left hand he motioned towards his struggling arms.

Shrugging Vaelin didn’t cease his movement. “I believe the term is stubborn, might surprise you at how receptive I am. We both know that you are no saint nor will I be one to fall for your manipulation.” His voice bluntly colored by hostility. “I know we both aren’t saints, but least I didn’t feed my darker side. You embraced it.”

“No, I merely didn’t fight what the Phantoms did to us.” Bane said as he moved to place the tip of the blade against Vaelin’s temple and lightly tapped it. “You always were Sanctimonious and a hypocrite, the beast is in you as well although you leash it to a greater extent than I. I know you well enough that you embody both benevolence and malevolence, one of the victim and the other for the inflictor.”

Pulling his head to the side away from the blade with every tap Vaelin spoke curtly. “And you were always manipulative and expedient, you haven’t exactly realigned your morality since your escape from them. You know I’ve been tracking you and have been seeing the destruction you’ve sowed.”

Bane chuckled softly. “You and I both know bother, that was not you who had come to the base or to the other sites. That was one of your clones, others might not see the difference but I see it plain as day, that spark in your eyes.” He shook his head. “You thought I wouldn’t know?”

Vaelin responded only with silence, still struggling. He had anticipated the capture but not the location. He had neglected to believe that his brother would find Harrison or even know about him, he was an old member of the Anubis Taskforce.

“Either way, unlike you. I’m not willing to kill family, thats your vice. What mine is, is revenge. You cost me this.” He motioned up to the scarring across his arms. “It is only fair.” the blade bit into the skin as he dragged it down the side of Vaelins face. Vaelin had refused to voice his pain and tried to jerk his head away which caused a small jagger in the blades path. “When you escape and get that stitched up, ask yourself. Do you even know who I am? I use to look up to you.”

Vaelin sat in silence, there was no keeping him any longer and he doubted that the back up he had stationed on the Condor would get here in time to stop Bane from escaping. It took thirty minutes of struggling before he finally freed his hands, one immediately going to the right side of his face to try cover up the gash from the freely bleeding wound. He found himself becoming increasingly more agitated that he had failed to sufficiently plan, a lesson he would now wear.

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