The S.C.A.R.E. Unit's office was a far cry from the typical police station. Its walls were covered in maps, sketches, and photos of crime scenes, connected by a tangled web of string and hastily scrawled notes. Every inch of space seemed to pulse with tension, with unanswered questions, and with the suffocating weight of a threat they couldn't yet understand.
Chief Investigator Arjun Mehra stood in the center of it all, his eyes scanning the maze of evidence for the hundredth time. He had barely slept in weeks. Dark circles marred his eyes, and his normally immaculate hair was unkempt. But he refused to rest. He knew Rogue was out there, slipping through their fingers like smoke. And every time they missed him, more people vanished.
"We have to be missing something," he muttered, pacing back and forth. His voice was hoarse, strained. "No one can be this elusive. Not even a supernatural entity."
Priya Patel glanced up from her desk, where she was poring over the latest batch of reports. "Maybe he's not trying to hide, Arjun. What if he wants us to chase him? He's always one step ahead, like he knows exactly where we're going to be."
Arjun paused, considering her words. "So, what? He's toying with us?"
"Or he's baiting us," she replied quietly. "Leading us somewhere."
Arjun turned back to the board, narrowing his eyes at the chaotic sprawl of notes and photographs. There had to be a pattern, something they weren't seeing.
"Alright," he said finally, "let's go over the failed attempts again. Every detail, no matter how small."
Priya nodded and reached for a file labeled Operation Red Beacon. She flipped it open and began reading aloud.
"Attempt number one. We set up surveillance around Ridgeview Terrace after receiving a tip about strange noises coming from a supposedly abandoned building. Two officers reported a faint ringing sound, but by the time the team moved in, Rogue was gone. All we found was a pile of ash and a doorbell lying in the middle of the floor."
She glanced up at Arjun. "No sign of forced entry. No sign of exit. It's like he was never there."
"Except for the doorbell," Arjun murmured. "He's mocking us."
"Or leaving us a clue. Attempt number two: We had undercover agents pose as residents in one of the high-risk neighborhoods. They stayed up all night, waiting. At 3 a.m., they heard the doorbell ring. The agents moved in immediately, but—"
"Nothing," Arjun finished, his jaw tightening. "He slipped right past us again."
Priya continued, her voice grim. "Attempt number three. We set up thermal imaging cameras around the suspected perimeter. We picked up his heat signature—"
"Only to lose it within seconds," Arjun interrupted, his frustration boiling over. He slammed his fist against the table. "Every time we get close, he disappears. Like he's not even human."
"Maybe he isn't," Priya whispered, a haunted look in her eyes. "The way he moves, the things he does… It's not normal, Arjun. What if we're dealing with something that doesn't play by our rules?"
Arjun fell silent, his gaze fixed on a particular photograph pinned to the wall. It was of a man—Mr. Suryavanshi, the retired army officer who had been the first victim to admit to ringing the doorbell. His body had been found twisted and mangled, his face frozen in a rictus of terror. And that single word scrawled in his own blood: *LIAR.*
"We have to keep trying," Arjun said finally. "We can't give up."
Over the next few weeks, the S.C.A.R.E. Unit launched a series of increasingly desperate operations to catch Rogue. They tried everything—thermal imaging, psychic probes, even electromagnetic pulses meant to disrupt supernatural energies. But each time, Rogue eluded them.
One night, they surrounded an apartment building in Nariman Heights after receiving reports of a strange man lurking in the corridors. They stationed officers at every exit, set up barricades, and watched the building like hawks.
Arjun and Priya waited in a nearby surveillance van, monitoring the feeds from the hidden cameras.
"There," Priya said sharply, pointing at one of the screens. A dark figure moved silently down the hallway, his face obscured by shadow.
Arjun leaned forward, his heart pounding. "That's him."
They watched as Rogue stopped in front of an apartment door. He raised his hand, the motion slow and deliberate, and pressed the doorbell.
"Move in!" Arjun barked into his radio. "All units, go!"
Officers stormed the building, their boots pounding up the stairs. They burst through the doors, guns raised, only to find the hallway empty. Rogue was gone.
"Impossible," Arjun whispered, staring at the screen. The figure had vanished in the span of a heartbeat, leaving nothing behind.
"What is he?" Priya murmured, a note of fear creeping into her voice. "How does he do that?"
Arjun had no answer. He just knew they had to keep trying. They couldn't let this… thing continue its reign of terror.
Rogue watched the investigators with a faint smile, his red eyes gleaming in the darkness. He could sense their frustration, their desperation. It was amusing, in a way. They were like children chasing shadows, thinking they could catch what wasn't there.
He moved through the city like a wraith, his form shifting and twisting with each step. He wasn't bound by the same limitations that plagued them. Walls, barriers, physical laws—they meant nothing to him. Not anymore.
Rogue had become something else. Something far more dangerous than he had ever been in life.
The human part of him—what little remained—felt a strange sense of satisfaction watching them struggle. They thought they could stop him. They thought they could save the people of Dellhey. But they didn't know what he knew. They didn't know the truth.
And they didn't know who they were really dealing with.
He lingered in the shadows, watching as the S.C.A.R.E. Unit packed up their equipment, their shoulders slumped in defeat. They would try again, of course. They were stubborn like that.
But it didn't matter. Because while they chased after him, he was getting closer to his goal. Closer to finding the one who had pushed him over the edge.
The one who had made him this way.
He would find them. He would make them pay. And then, perhaps, he would finally have the peace that had been denied to him.
Or maybe he'd just keep killing. Maybe that was his peace.
The thought made him smile.
Months passed. Dellhey sank further into chaos. The S.C.A.R.E. Unit was stretched to its limits, working day and night to contain the panic. But for every move they made, Rogue was there, watching, waiting.
Arjun grew more exhausted, more haggard with each passing day. He barely recognized the man staring back at him in the mirror. His once-sharp features had grown gaunt, his eyes hollowed out by sleepless nights and mounting fear.
"We have to find a new angle," he muttered one night, staring at the board. "Something we haven't thought of."
Priya glanced up from her files. "We've tried everything, Arjun. Every lead has gone cold. Every theory has led us nowhere."
"There's got to be something we missed," he insisted, a wild look in his eyes. "Something about the victims… their connections…"
"Arjun, the victims have no connection," Priya said gently. "He's not targeting people with a pattern. He's targeting anyone. Everyone."
But as the words left her mouth, she hesitated. Was that really true? She looked back at the list of names, her brow furrowing. There was something nagging at the back of her mind, something she couldn't quite place.
"Wait," she said slowly. "What about the Stillburg family?"
Arjun frowned. "What about them?"
"Shellie Stillburg was one of the first reported victims to have gone missing," Priya explained. "But we never found her body. What if she's still alive?"
"Alive?" Arjun repeated incredulously. "Priya, that's—"
"No, listen," Priya interrupted. "Rogue doesn't just kill people. He takes them. We've been thinking he kills everyone who says 'no,' but what if some of them are kept alive? What if he's keeping them for a reason?"
Arjun stared at her, the gears in his mind turning. It sounded crazy, but then again, everything about this case was crazy.
"Where did Shellie Stillburg study?" he asked abruptly.
Priya rifled through her notes, her hands shaking with anticipation. "Um… somewhere in Dellhey University. She was a literature student prolly."
"Get me everything on that university," Arjun ordered. "Records, security footage, staff contacts—everything."
Priya nodded and hurried off, leaving Arjun alone with his thoughts. His mind buzzed with a newfound energy, a faint glimmer of hope piercing through the darkness.
Maybe they finally had a lead. Maybe Shellie Stillburg was the key to all of this.
But as he stared at her photo, a nagging feeling of dread coiled in his gut. He didn't know why, but he couldn't shake the sensation that they were walking into something far more dangerous than they realized.
Something that would change everything.
Several hours later, Priya returned with a stack of files. "I've got everything on Dellhey University. Enrollment records, security logs, even some old student reports."
Arjun grabbed the top file and began skimming through it. As he read, his heart began to race.
"Priya," he said slowly, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Look at this."
He held up a record showing Shellie's final semester. It was marked with a single, ominous note: Withdrawn - Reason Unknown.
"What does that mean?" Priya asked, leaning closer.
"I don't know," Arjun murmured. "But look at the date. It's the same date Johnny Stillburg went missing, just a year later."
Priya's eyes widened. "Are you saying… she could have witnessed something?"
"Or been involved," Arjun said grimly. "We need to find out more. Contact anyone who was in her class. Faculty members, friends—anyone who might know what happened."
As they scrambled to follow this new lead, the atmosphere in the room shifted. The fear was still there, but now it was tinged with something else.
Hope.
They were getting closer. They could feel it.
But little did they know, Rogue was watching. And as he saw them chase the trail he had so carefully laid out, he let out a soft, chilling laugh.
Let them come. Let them think they were getting closer.
Because when they finally reached the end of the trail, they would find not answers, but something far more terrifying.
They would find him.