First, Your Heart (Then, Your Valuables) - Ratiorine / Aventio

1.

Veritas Ratio is good at his job, and that is a known truth.

Ever since he graduated from police academy, he steadily climbed the ranks over the years. His thorough disposition and meticulous investigations may have earned him the ire of his colleagues, but it got him a significant promotion and a transfer to a different department. The investigation department of a police force has no room for fools, for half-hearted ambitions and lofty goals. The investigation department of a police force only takes in the best of the best, takes in those with unbridled passion for unanswered questions and the untarnished truth. It only makes sense that this is where Veritas would thrive.

He thrives in his work as an investigator, no longer obligated to work with other people and expend precious brainpower on dealing with bumbling idiots. He thrives in his work as a detective, solving the hardest of problems with ease and prying the coldest of cases wide open. Eventually, after a few sensationalized incidents, he gained a rather embarrassing nickname in the daily papers. They say that he is the Doctor of Truth, and that his specialty is curing the troubled minds of families by prescribing them with much-needed closure.

Veritas Ratio is good at his job, but they say there are always exceptions to every rule.

The Stonehearts are not your average ragtag criminal group. For one, they are quite skilled and are infuriatingly difficult to catch. They have been around for several years now, and all the police has to show for it are a couple of fleeting encounters and close calls. For another, they adhere to a strict moral code that is theirs and theirs alone. It feels damn near arbitrary, with how some major crimes seem completely fine but some lesser ones are apparently off the table. On top of all that, the application of said moral code varies between Stonehearts, making them impossible to predict. The police don't even know what it entails, only that it exists.

They call themselves phantom thieves, and insist on separating themselves from the common petty burglar. It is not difficult to see why they would do such a thing, not difficult to fathom why they would take offense to being likened to the average criminal. On paper, their crimes are very much the same. In practice, however, their execution is much different.

Their modus operandi are quite peculiar, indeed. First comes the calling card to their place of interest, oftentimes well-made and ornate with fancy writing that details exactly what they are targeting and when they are going to steal it. Second comes a public announcement sometime in the days leading up to the crime, though this step is optional and only occurs when their plans haven't been made into a public spectacle just yet. Third comes the phantom thief themself, somehow navigating the heavily guarded location without being noticed and slipping away with their prize against all odds. It is the same song and dance so practiced that it's perfect, and thus they leave with the last laugh every single time.

In recent news, it seems they have a new member.

The first time they come across each other, Veritas had been personally assigned to the case. His superior hoped that with his plethora of experience and this rookie criminal's lack thereof, they would be able to finally put a dent in the Stonehearts' ironclad defense by kidnapping away their newborn chick. Thus, he was given the calling card and shooed away from the station for all the days leading up to the scheduled date. He only heaves a single exasperated sigh before he gets to work.