Nice To Meet You

Ember's walk was with purpose, going to Gen. Luis's office, he knew the rest of the team would be there to listen to the interrogation. And so, he walked with purpose in his stride, and opened the door of the general's office unhinged, with a loud bang. The general just sighed loudly, and was about to reprimand his subordinate, but was cut off when Ember's face was dead serious, seriously glaring towards Val's direction.

The young man, who was startled, now was sweating at Ember's deadly glare, feeling that being on the receiving end of his brother's glare, was no fun at all.

Val knows why Ember was like this. The shadow snickered, and said, "Oh boy, you lads' temper never change. I guess you have that kind of temper too."

The shadow wasn't helping, and Val could see Ember was impatiently waiting for his explanation, as he promised.

He shifted from left to right from his seat, then coughed. He closed his eyes, then opened, noticing the eyes are already at him.

"Okay. Let me address the elephant in the room, but...", he paused; lowering his had hung a little bit low, and fidgeting with his thumbs. He continued, "It's not going to be me who'll explain." He could hear a protest, or rather, a yelling protest from Ember that said, "Are you fucking kidding me? Not here Val!"

Val sighed, and just snapped his finger, with his eyes closed. The entire room was enveloped in darkness real quick, and with no sound.

All the people inside the room could see the physical change in Val. Slowly, dark veins, with black smoke, slowly surrounded his entire body. It took a few good minutes before the change was finished.

The black smoke had vanished, but the dark veins that almost looked like tattoos all over Val's body only remained. Then, he (the shadow) slowly opened his eyes, but this time, his eyes, of pure blackness, no white could be seen.

This wouldn't be the first time that the two older Bellator brothers had seen this kind of change, in which it earned a mutter from Ember of 'Fuck' under his breath and just leaned on the wall, with his arms crossed to his chest, while Exeo, just seriously frowned, with his jaw clenched tightly, unintentionally clenching his fists until it turned white.

Gen. Luis, Bo, and Riggs, had their eyes wide at the Valens, or rather, whether he is still Valens, but composed themselves, and waited for the mysterious persona who took over Val to talk.

"It's nice to see you all, in person and right here in front of me." Val's had spoken, but the voice is distorted. The three, who were wide-eyed shock, were now frowning, when they heard him talk.

Val's body was controlled by the shadow, and so, he slowly walked towards the left, and started explaining. "You all seem eager to know why the man being captured right now needs to be alive."

No one dared to agree or disagree, they just waited for him to continue.

The shadow (using Val's body) then walked back to where he stood, then sat back down, with his right elbow resting, and his legs cross, he continued, "You were told that he was part of Hades' Wrath, yes?"

Then, it was Ember, who asked, "How long has Hades' Wrath has existed?"

The shadow, who was earlier staring at them one by one, zoom in on Ember after he asked the question. He chuckled, the distorted laugh was creepier, add to the fact that the room itself was made dark.

"Good question. Hmm... How long has it been?" asking himself more on this, as if trying to remember, tilting his head to the side, and rubbing his chin with his forefinger.

Then, as if he remembered, he said with a smile using Val's face that doesn't reach to his eyes, "Long before that old man was born", pointing at the general, who was somewhat offended by being described as an old man, but remained silent, and held back his curses on this throat, that were threatening to escape.

The team then shifted their gaze to the general, who coughed, as if embarrassed, then the shadow continued, "Anything else?"

When no one had spoken up, he groaned a bit loud, and a little bit childishly whined, "What? Was that the only question anyone could think of?"

Exeo, who was contemplating earlier, then, asked, "Why do you need that man to be captured?"

The shadow's happy face, using Val's face, was from ear to ear when he heard the question, "Nice question Big bro!"

Exeo was about to say he was not his big bro, but choked it up, since given the shadow was using Val's body.

He clapped his hands in glee and said, "Why would you think I want to have that man be captured?", then tilted his head to the side again, as if waiting for the audience to guess.

All of them frowned, but then an idea come up from Bo, he raised his hand, hesitatingly, and was urged by the shadow to continue to talk.

"Are you after that man's abilities?"

The shadow, fell silent, then an eerie smile crept on to his (Val) face.

When they saw his expression, all of them were alarmed, and were about to say something when a hand was raised by the shadow, telling them to stop.

"You see, that man's ability, as he told, and you all heard about, was nothing but fake. What do you think will happen to a person, whose ability got boosted suddenly, without proper maintenance? Think of it as this, a person who wants to get high from drugs, he gets addicted."

He sported a serious face this time, then pointed a finger at Ember, "You. You asked him why, didn't you?"

Ember just nodded, and the shadow continued, while looking at them one by one, "Addiction."

Everyone was silent, the shadow was waiting for another question, but based on the people in front him, their expression was that of the 'we-are-not-some-saint-to-save-these-kind-of-people' face.

"Okay, I get you all are not some martyr or saints to save every kind of people with these issues, but think about the addiction itself. If that man was still out there, loose, no hinge, killing nonsensically, more casualties will add up. And..."

He paused, then stared right at the two older brothers, who were standing side by side, "The first reason, was, it was this owner's body's wish to save him", his palm on his chest, and then lifted two fingers forward, he continued, "The second reason is," still staring at the brothers, with more seriousness, "for personal reasons. But! I can assure you, it will be to the benefit of Val."

'To unlock basically the seals on his eyes' was left unsaid. It's better not to tell this, the shadow decided, but he knew, those brothers of Val definitely knows it's true intention.

Then the shadow crossed his arms on his chest, and asked, "Are there anything else?"

Bo, who was listening intently, was observing the man, he could tell it was not Val, then asked, "Still doesn't make any sense."

The shadow's eyes shifted to Bo's direction when heard him say it, he nodded, uncrossing his arms, and sat down on the chair, he said, "I get what you mean. It may still be confusing right now, but in time..."

He raised one finger then pressed it to his lips, motioning for them that everything has been talked here can't be discussed outside, or with outsiders, no matter what. He continued, "You all will know, in time." with his eyes, though it's black, it gave off a more sinister look when he said it, and with a colder but distorted voice.

Then, with a snap of his finger, the room suddenly went bright, with all the people groaning from too brightness, and with the shadow gone, they were not able to notice that Val, was bending down slightly, groaned a bit, then glanced at them, but can't stay his eyes open due to the sudden bright exposure. 

Val waited for everyone's vision and his to be adjusted, then Riggs asked cautiously, "Val?"

He didn't answer immediately, but straighten his back, then opened his eyes, 'I guess my eyes is the obvious sign that I'm back', he thought.

Everyone sighed a relief when they saw Val's red eyes again, but one of his brothers, Ember, was still not delighted with this turn of events. Ember didn't look at Val, even though he sighed a relief, he looked sideways to no one, with brows frowned deeper in his face, then uncrossed his arms, then went out of the room without saying another word.

Val noticed his older brother's expression, even Exeo glanced at him telling him, he saw Ember's expression too, and both just nodded. As if in tacit agreement, that one of them needs to talk to Ember about this.

Exeo was quick to tell Gen. Luis to excuse themselves, in which the general had agreed, and so the meeting was adjourned.

Everyone in the room was either confused or shocked, and that they need time to think, settle things whatever that is on their minds.

The three who saw the shadow for the first time had shared a same thought, 'His ability can talk and can take over his body?'

Although this was the same thought they have unknowingly share, all three sport different facial expressions. Bo, who normally had a poker face (timid face was showing a bit less than normal), had a slight frown on his face, while Riggs who normally was the smiley face of the team, was shocked, or rather, excited to know that there are much more to learn about abilities, and the secrets behind it.

While for Gen. Luis, a more dangerous glint in his eyes was etched, and with the serious expression, no one knows exactly what other thoughts he was thinking about aside from the one he was shown earlier. Gen Luis's hands were clasped on top of his table, clenching it tightly, and glared to wherever he was looking at, like intending to kill it.

After who knows how long had passed on contemplating, Gen. Luis raised his clasped hands to his forehead to rest, feeling a screaming headache was coming, and sighed loudly.

He simply muttered while his forehead was rested on his clasped hands, "History repeats itself, huh", then closed his eyes, as if reminiscing from his old days.