The Man Who Vanished

[Flashback – Precinct 09, Seven Months Ago]

Rain. Hard, constant. The kind that swallows city sounds.

Captain Lorne Faulkner stands at his desk in Precinct 09. The room is stripped down—boxes of files stacked, lights dimmed. He’s talking on a burner phone.

Faulkner (whispering):

“They’re closing in.

If I disappear, it’s not because I ran.”

He hangs up.

Looks around the precinct one last time.

Then vanishes.

[Present Day – Elias at Precinct 09]

Elias stands outside the boarded-up building. Rust creeps up the metal shutters. The air stinks of mold and rot.

No one’s been here since Faulkner.

He steps inside, flashlight in one hand, gun in the other.

Dust chokes the air. Old case files still litter the floor. Some were never even packed up. Coffee mugs fossilized into desks. A dead rat curled by a filing cabinet.

But what strikes Elias is the blood trail.

It leads from the locker room…

…to the evidence archive.

He follows it.

[Evidence Archive – Underground Level]

The basement is freezing. His breath fogs.

Elias swings his light over the shelves. Old evidence boxes stacked high. Many are half-open. As if searched. Rifled through.

He finds Faulkner’s file.

But it’s empty.

Except for a Polaroid tucked at the bottom.

It’s grainy.

Faulkner—tied to a chair. Blindfolded. Mouth taped.

And behind him… a mirror.

In the reflection—barely visible—is the outline of someone else.

A figure with no face.

[Sudden Shift – Static Surge]

The power flickers.

Elias’s flashlight cuts off for a moment.

When it comes back on—he sees it.

A message written in dust on the mirror’s glass.

“NOT YOUR CASE.”

Elias spins around, but sees nothing.

Gun drawn.

Footsteps echo through the room. But only his.

Later – Elias Back in His Apartment

He plays the voicemail Faulkner left him seven months ago. The one he never deleted.

Faulkner (recorded):

“Kuro, I know you. You won’t let this go. But whatever you think you’ll find… it’s worse.

I was trying to stop it. I swear I was. But they’re too big.

The Architect is just a tool. The real monster’s still in the walls.”

Click.

Elias rewinds and listens again.

“…The real monster’s still in the walls.”

He scribbles it down on the board.

Looks at the Architect’s profile.

Then past it.

To the names above the Architect.

Names of Judges. Politicians. High-ranking officers. People who never made headlines—but always escaped investigation.

A network.

Elias circles them all.

And draws one large word across the board in red marker:

“SYSTEM.”

[Final Scene – City Bridge, Midnight]

There is a man stands by the railing.

We don’t see his face.

He lights a cigarette. The glow catches a badge.

Faulkner’s.

He’s alive.

But he’s not hiding anymore.

He dials a number.

Faulkner:

“He’s getting close.

Either we stop Elias… or he brings the whole damn thing down.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

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