The city of Aurelia never truly slept. Its skyline glittered against the night like a thousand watchful eyes, towers of steel and glass rising out of the darkness. Beneath the neon glow, however, the city was bleeding. Sirens wailed in the distance. Somewhere in the southern district, a gunshot echoed through the fog and was quickly swallowed by the roar of traffic.
To the common citizen, Aurelia was a city of progress, opportunity, and wealth. But those who worked in law enforcement knew the truth: Aurelia was a city of masks. Every powerful man and woman wore one, smiling in daylight, conspiring in shadows. And tonight, that mask had slipped.
---
At 11:37 p.m., a call came in to The Justice Bureau's central command. A body had been found in one of Aurelia's most exclusive high-rise penthouses. Not an ordinary death — this was Victor Alsen, a name that carried weight in Aurelia's business circles. He was the head of Alsen Corporation, a chain of luxury hotels across the continent. His empire stretched into politics, media, and real estate.
The man was untouchable… until tonight.
---
Inside the Bureau headquarters, Chief Inspector Adrian Veylor stood in front of a wall of screens, his sharp eyes locked on the case details scrolling in real time. He was in his late thirties, tall, his presence commanding without him needing to raise his voice. His dark trench coat swayed as he turned to his team.
"Victor Alsen," Adrian read aloud, his voice low but firm. "Dead. Cause unknown. The report says… found in his private study. Locked from the inside."
"Locked-room mystery?" a voice piped up from across the table.
It was Riley Stroud, the Bureau's tech analyst, hunched over a laptop. He had the look of someone who lived more inside computer screens than outside them — messy hair, glasses perched on his nose, a quickness in his speech that betrayed both genius and anxiety.
"Classic," Riley muttered. "Either he did it himself, or someone wants us to think he did."
---
Across from him, Dr. Selena Marrick, the Bureau's forensic specialist, leaned back in her chair. Her sharp green eyes gave nothing away, but her mind was already running through possibilities. She was calm, methodical, and had an unsettling talent for noticing details others missed.
"Self-inflicted?" she said softly. "We'll see. But powerful men like Alsen rarely end their own lives quietly. There's always a reason… or a message."
---
Before Adrian could reply, the doors to the command room opened, and Agent Kael Arden walked in, shrugging off his leather jacket. Kael was the field agent — the muscle of the team, though he was far more than just brawn. His dark hair and confident smirk made him look like trouble, and half the time, he was.
"So," Kael said casually, "the great Victor Alsen is lying in his golden coffin already? Damn. Bet half this city is celebrating."
"Show some respect," Adrian said sharply.
Kael raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just saying — rich man makes enemies. Who wouldn't want him gone?"
---
The last to arrive was Liora Deyne, the Bureau's undercover operative. Unlike the others, she rarely stayed inside headquarters; her world was the streets, the clubs, the whispered conversations in Aurelia's back alleys. Tonight, she wore a sleek black coat and gloves, her face unreadable.
"Word's already spreading," Liora said, her voice cool. "The underground is buzzing. Some are saying it's the work of a ghost. Others… whisper about a symbol. A mask."
Her words made the room fall silent. Adrian's jaw tightened.
"A mask?" he asked.
Liora nodded once. "The kind you don't forget. Painted, white, with black cracks. Someone left it near the body."
---
Adrian's eyes darkened. He had heard of such things — rumors, urban legends whispered among criminals. A faceless figure that moved in Aurelia's underworld, striking down both rivals and innocents alike, always leaving behind the same calling card: a mask.
"Then this is no ordinary murder," Adrian said. "Gear up. We're heading to Alsen Tower."
---
Scene Shift: Alsen Tower
The elevator doors slid open on the top floor of Aurelia's tallest residential building. The Bureau stepped into silence — the kind that presses against your skin. Uniformed officers had already secured the perimeter, but no one touched the body until Adrian and his team arrived.
Victor Alsen sat slumped over his polished mahogany desk, eyes wide open, lips frozen in a soundless gasp. His suit was immaculate, but his skin had an unnatural pallor. A small white mask rested on the desk beside him — its cracked lines etched like veins of black.
Selena put on gloves and leaned closer. "No wounds. No blood. But…" She bent nearer to Alsen's lips. "There's a faint trace of foam. Poison, maybe. Very quick-acting."
"Poison in a locked room?" Kael said. "Someone had to be here."
Riley circled the room, scanning with his handheld device. "No forced entry. The door locks were untouched. Windows sealed tight. But…" He paused, frowning. "There's an electronic disturbance in the system. Someone hacked the building security an hour ago. Whoever came in — erased their tracks."
---
Adrian stood silently, his gaze fixed on the mask.
"Black Veil," he murmured.
The name hung in the air like a curse.
"Chief?" Kael asked.
Adrian's eyes didn't leave the mask. "This isn't just a killing. It's a declaration. Aurelia's about to bleed… and this is only the beginning."
The silence in the penthouse was suffocating. Aurelia's skyline glittered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, but the room itself felt cold, as though death still lingered in the air.
Kael whistled low, circling the desk. "Richest man in half the city, and he dies like this. No guards, no fight, no nothing. Almost too clean, don't you think?"
"Too clean usually means staged," Selena said, slipping a small vial into her evidence kit. She carefully scraped a trace of white residue from Alsen's lips. "We'll confirm the toxin at the lab. But this wasn't suicide. Someone wanted to send a message."
Adrian's gaze swept the room, taking in every detail — the untouched glass of wine on the desk, the perfectly aligned bookshelves, the faint hum of the ventilation system. "And they wanted us to see it."
---
Liora drifted closer to the mask, her gloved fingers hovering just above it. Her expression remained unreadable, but her voice carried a subtle tension.
"I've seen this symbol before," she murmured. "Not often. Only in whispers. Criminals talk about a man — or maybe not a man — who hides behind this face. Some say he's a myth, a story to scare rivals. Others… swear he's real. They call him The Black Veil."
Riley snorted. "Great. So we're chasing a ghost story."
"Ghosts don't hack security systems," Adrian said firmly. "This one's flesh and blood. And he's bold enough to strike at Victor Alsen."
---
The sound of footsteps broke the tension. A uniformed officer approached nervously, handing Adrian a slim tablet. "Sir. Preliminary security footage from the tower lobby."
Adrian tapped the screen. The footage showed the luxurious marble-floored entrance hall of Alsen Tower. At 10:02 p.m., the cameras flickered. For less than ten seconds, the screen went black. When it returned, nothing was amiss — people continued walking as if unaware.
"Someone piggybacked on the system," Riley muttered, peering over Adrian's shoulder. "They inserted a blackout window, then erased the traces. Whoever did this… knows tech better than I do. And I don't say that lightly."
"Someone with resources," Adrian said quietly.
---
Selena straightened, holding up a second piece of evidence — a folded slip of paper tucked under the base of the mask.
"Message," she said, handing it over.
Adrian unfolded it. The handwriting was sharp, deliberate. Only five words:
"Every mask hides a truth."
The words struck harder than any weapon. Adrian folded the note back carefully.
"Bag it," he ordered.
---
Kael leaned against the desk, arms crossed. "So what's the play, Chief? We chase a fairy tale across the city? The guy could be anywhere."
Adrian gave him a hard look. "Fairy tale or not, he's taunting us. Which means he wants us to follow."
"And when we do?" Liora asked softly.
Adrian turned toward the window, the lights of Aurelia burning like embers below. "Then we find out whose truth he's hiding."
---
Scene Shift: Bureau Headquarters, Midnight
The evidence room was quiet except for the soft hum of machines. Selena worked at a stainless steel table, running chemical tests on the residue from Alsen's lips. Green and red lights flickered across her instruments.
Riley hovered nearby, typing furiously into his laptop. His fingers paused occasionally, frustration flashing in his eyes.
"Nothing about the hack makes sense," he muttered. "This wasn't brute force. It was elegant, surgical. They slipped in, rewrote entire strings of code, then slipped out without triggering a single alert. Whoever we're dealing with… they're not just skilled. They're an artist."
Selena didn't look up. "Poison's consistent with aconitine. Fast, deadly, undetectable unless you know what to test for. Not easy to get. Whoever sourced it has access to high-level black markets."
"So, poison and hacking," Riley said. "Who exactly are we up against, a team or one guy with too much free time?"
---
Adrian entered the room, coat still on, eyes sharp despite the late hour. Liora followed silently behind him, her phone in hand.
"I've tapped my contacts," she said. "Word is spreading fast. Some gangs are terrified, others think it's an opportunity. When power like Alsen's falls, there's always a vacuum."
Adrian nodded once. "Which means Aurelia's about to get bloodier."
He placed the folded note on the table. "This is the heart of it. 'Every mask hides a truth.' This isn't random. It's personal."
Kael, lounging against the wall, raised an eyebrow. "Personal against who? Alsen? The city? Us?"
Adrian's jaw tightened. "That's what we're going to find out."
---
The room fell quiet, each of them lost in thought. For the first time in months, the Bureau had a case that wasn't just about justice — it was about survival.
Outside the Bureau's headquarters, the city pulsed with life, unaware that in one luxury penthouse, a corpse and a cracked mask had just lit a fuse.
And somewhere, hidden in Aurelia's shadows, The Black Veil was watching.
❓️❓️❓️❓️
"Do you think the mysterious Black Veil is real… or just a legend to scare Aurelia?"