Vice, Part II – A Sinful Invitation
Scene: Rain Against Glass – Night, Lucen's Apartment
Rain tapped gently on the windows, smearing neon reflections across the floor.
Lucen stood in silence, staring at the case file again.
Missing teens. Designer sins.
A rough street sketch lay on top. Scribbled in charcoal—Velvet Cage—a club hidden beneath a condemned opera house.
He lit incense. The smoke curled above a small shrine to Tariq.
His eyes closed. Breath steady.
"Guide my hands," he whispered.
"If they forget who they are."
His fingers trembled—not with fear.
With hunger.
He remembered rage.
That night. That fire.
Eshun's voice came through the comm.
"You sure you're ready for this place?"
"If I wait, someone else dies."
A pause.
"And if you lose control again?"
Lucen's voice was quiet.
"Then may they forgive me."
A pause.
"But I won't forgive him."
Scene: Velvet Cage — Inside
The club was beautiful—and sick.
Golden chandeliers floated like ghosts.
Velvet walls pulsed like lungs.
Every guest wore a mask—each one shaped like an emotion: greed, envy, lust, sloth.
The music was slow. Hypnotic.
The air was laced with something artificial. Something warm and wrong.
Lucen entered in a black hooded cloak.
Masked. Still. Watching.
On stage, Vice leaned into shadow—only half his face visible.
His voice spilled across the room like silk soaked in poison.
"You came to escape yourselves," he said.
"But the truth? You are your sins. I just give you permission to be honest."
The crowd laughed. Some cried. Some applauded.
Lucen's fists tightened.
Scene: Aria Appears
He saw her.
Aria.
She wasn't masked.
A sleek black dress hugged her frame. Her eyes flicked around, confused. Like she didn't know how she'd gotten here.
Lucen moved fast—through perfume, through heat, through murmurs.
He brushed her wrist.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, low.
"I—I don't know," she said, dazed.
"I thought it was an invite to a board meeting... I just followed the directions."
"Leave. Now."
She looked at him. Eyes narrowing. Searching.
"Wait…"
"It's you, isn't it? The Whisper?"
He froze for a half second.
His hand loosened.
"Please," he said.
"Just go."
Then—
Fog erupted from the stage. Music stopped like a held breath.
Vice's voice cut through the haze.
"Ladies and gentlemen…"
The crowd turned.
"…meet the hero who murdered a murderer. Who burned a city, then wore a mask to fix it."
A spotlight fell.
Right on Lucen.
"This…" Vice said, grinning, "is what guilt looks like."
Applause. Twisted cheers. Hunger in their eyes.
Scene: Chaos Breaks Out
They came fast—warped and laughing.
Eyes glassy. Bodies loose. Drugged.
Lucen moved with control.
No killing. Just pressure points. Bones. Nerve endings.
A man charged—high on wrath gas.
Slashed Lucen's side. Blood sprayed.
Lucen didn't flinch.
Aria screamed—Vice's men had grabbed her.
Vice grinned wide from above.
"You want her safe?" he purred.
"Then choose a sin."
A tray was carried out.
Seven bottles.
LUST. PRIDE. GREED. WRATH. SLOTH. ENVY. GLUTTONY.
"Wear it. Feed it," Vice said. "Or she dies."
Lucen's breath slowed.
Flash of memory—Tariq's hand, slipping from his own.
The fire. The faces. The silence after.
"You think sin makes us real?" he asked.
Vice chuckled.
"I think it reveals who you were always meant to be."
Lucen stared at the WRATH bottle.
Then crushed it in his fist. Shards bit his skin. He didn't care.
"I've already met my sin," he growled.
"And I survived it."
He lunged.
The crowd parted like a wound.
Vice vanished into smoke.
Aria was alive—but shaken.
Scene: Lucen's Apartment — Later
Lucen stitched his own side. Calm. Efficient.
Aria sat nearby.
Watching. Quiet. Processing.
"That man… Vice," she said softly.
"He knew you. Like… deeply."
Lucen didn't look at her.
"People like him don't study heroes," he said.
"They study monsters. Waiting for them to slip."
A pause.
"Are you… a monster?"
He finally looked at her.
Tired. Honest. Sharp beneath the silence.
"Not anymore," he said.
"But I still speak their language."
She reached out. Fingers brushed his hand.
"Then keep speaking it," she said.
"To protect us."
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Next Chapter:- CHAPTER 8: THE ECHO IN THE FIRE...🔥