The exhibition was closed for maintenance that evening. A few VIP members were still inside, along with a private security team and two high-profile guests: a logistics billionaire and a Ministry of Culture official.
Juno remained in the control room quiet, observant sipping espresso and monitoring camera feeds.
Then something unexpected happened.
A small blip blinked on screen — Mic Line 3 — Active.
Mic 3 wasn't supposed to be live.
Curious, Adrien tapped into the feed. It came from a hidden maintenance panel just behind the east wing artifact corridor. Someone had left a line open possibly from a careless technician's device.
And what he heard shifted his entire world.
"…The transfer is scheduled next week. They'll move the Meridian Artifact under diplomatic cover."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely. It's been hidden in plain sight for years. The vault under the foreign relics wing it's a dummy."
"…How do they expect to get away with it?"
"Government immunity. That piece alone is worth more than the Louvre's entire west wing."
Juno froze.
The Meridian Artifact was a myth rumored to be a pre-Christian relic imbued with enormous value and cultural weight. Some believed it had origins tied to Mesopotamian monarchs, others claimed it was just gold. But its presence in 'Liora groupe' was unknown… until now.
And it was about to vanish under everyone's nose.
Unless someone got to it first.
Juno waited two days.
Then, at midnight, he descended to Level -2 the restricted archives. His clearance allowed access under the guise of maintenance.
He walked past rows of artifact blueprints and stopped before one marked in faded letters:
"ARCHIVE T-Ω | VAULT ROUTE A-01 | PRIVATE"
Inside was a dusty folder with only three items:
A partial vault schematic, A manual lock override code, A note in Latin: 'Veritas protegit se ipsa' 'The truth protects itself.'
The vault wasn't just underground. It was beneath the east wing, hidden behind a retractable wall panel and a coded entry sequence only a few knew existed.
Juno felt the weight of opportunity and danger.
He gave himself five days.
In those five days, he Studied every shift change, entry, and motion route for security. Located blind spots between CCTV coverage, Acquired a digital key imager to clone card swipes, Practiced lockpicking in his apartment for hours each night. Simulated walk-throughs of the vault route in 3D schematics
If he pulled this off, he would vanish without a trace.
The sixth night arrived.
Midnight.
A light drizzle fell over Paris. Juno arrived early, as usual, greeted guards with polite nods, and made his way to the control room.
The backup technician scheduled for the night was conveniently called off with an anonymous family emergency alert. Juno had everything timed.
At exactly 1:12 a.m., he began his routine patrol.
Only this time, he took the long way around.
Slipping past the marble corridor, he accessed a hidden latch behind a Greco-Roman display. The panel slid aside soundlessly. Beyond it was darkness and the start of Vault Route A-01.
He pulled on gloves. His heart thumped but his hands were steady.
Each hallway was calculated motion sensors on a five-second delay, two analog locks, and one keypad. He bypassed them like a surgeon: wire-stripping, overloading circuits, and keying in the Latin passphrase.
Then came the final door.
Old, metallic, and complex. Triple-mechanism lock.
Adrien crouched, pulled his handmade lockpick set, and got to work.
Click. Click. Click.
The vault opened with a heavy hiss, revealing a sealed black pedestal surrounded by motion-triggered lasers.
Inside the case gold, obsidian, and ancient carvings.
'The Meridian Artifact.'
Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!
Juno picked out his phone and check the caller ID...It was..