“Having powers doesn't make people any less shitty. It just magnifies whoever they are.”

- Margot M.

Jess could barely stand. Felix supported the battered girl carrying her out of the ruined apartment. How many minutes has it been? 10 minutes, maybe 20. Felix found the situation surreal. Couple of minutes was all that took for Jess to be hurt badly, and for her apartment to be in ruins.

Jess still whimpered, but she didn’t stop walking. Both couldn’t wait to be out of there. In a few minutes they sat on the couch of Felix’s apartment. Jess was battered, bloody, but alive.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes with her, Felix gets up to get Jess a drink, but Jess pulls him back. They sat there, not talking, just waiting. He wanted to go back and check on the corpse. His mind flashing back to all the slasher films he had watched before. The killer always comes back, his mind whispers, he scoffs. No human would be alive after that.

Soon enough, the sound of knocking breaks out in the quiet apartment. They both freeze, with the girl holding on even tightly from Felix, she lets out a small whimper.

“It’s the police, you made a call.” a man speaks.

Felix looks at Jess, “It’s the police, Jess. I’ll be right back.” Then he puts her hand on the sofa. Her eyes were glued to the floor when he got up.

“Coming right up, a moment please.”

Felix opened the door, somewhat expecting Dollmaker. Two officers stood. Both their faces sheened with sweat, though their eyes shone with determination. The taller one speaks first.

“I’m officer Kennedy, and he’s officer Jonhson. “ they both flash their badges, and ids. A lot of robberies happen with people blindly trusting people with uniforms.

Johnson says “You made a call. About Dollmaker?”. They give him a look of inquiry, their faces looking grim.

“Yes, he attacked my neighbor Jess. She’s inside.” Felix gestures back to the girl sitting on the sofa, opening the door wider. Jess hadn’t moved an inch from where she was.

Kennedy looked at me approvingly while Johnson sent a pitying look towards the girl.

“And the attacker?” Kennedy asks.

“Hopefully dead, it’s the next door on the right, the door’s open.” he points a finger.

“The ambulance will be here shortly. You two stay put, and we’ll check it out.”

Felix closes the door and they walk slowly towards the door.

Johnson opens the door first. The apartment was quiet, save for the ticking sound. The first half of the apartment was clean and neat while the other half looked to be a mess. Broken chairs, table, scattered blood, a pizza box, and a corpse. They moved closer to the corpse. The ticking sound became louder.

“This is a shit show.” Johnson whispers with anger.

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“I know, bud. However this is probably the best outcome we could’ve hoped for. Killer dead, victim alive.”

Kennedy thought about how others on the force talked about their Dollmaker cases. Limbs, body parts, or organs missing. This really was the best they could’ve hoped for a case like this.

Kennedy moved slowly to the body and checked for a pulse. He found none. No movement at all. They both breathed out a sigh.

“He seems to be dead. Let’s not touch anything. The forensics’ guys will be pissed”

Johnson frowned “Why is that sound still going on? It’s definitely from the corpse.”

“I dunno. It’s not really our job to worry about that.” Kennedy reasoned.

Johnson nodded in agreement. “Have you seen that girl? She was a mess, poor girl. Still, she’s pretty lucky.”

\* */

Soon after the ambulance took Jess to the hospital for further treatment, Felix promised Jess that he’d come and visit as soon as he could. The two officers were back taking a statement from Felix.

“So, you stabbed the guy in the neck over and over.” Johnson asked again.

“Yes, I told you that two times now.” Johnson just sighed. Kennedy explained.

“The forensic guys said that the guy you stabbed was dead for at least a week.” A chill ran across Felix’s spine.

“But, he was beating Jess up.”

Johnson scratched his head. “Relax, we believe you. We suspect that the machinery inside him was moving him around. You probably cut or broke an important part while you were stabbing him.”

“Then that means that Dollmaker is still here. Oh my God, he’ll come after me.” Felix’s breath quickened.

“We don’t know that.” They tried to console him. It had little effect.

Kennedy offered. “An expert on Dollmaker is coming. She’s been after that psycho for months. She’ll come soon, and you can ask her for more information.”

Then the officers left for the crime scene. It wasn’t any less noisy.

10 minutes later, a woman was sitting opposite of him. She reminded him of the nun from the church he used to go to, but a little scarier.

“My name is Chen Jackson, and I understand that you saved that poor girl. I thank you for it.”

She flashed him a grateful smile, and a moment later she had her professional face. “But you must tell us everything you know.”

Felix gave the woman a tired look.

“There ain’t much to tell Ms. Jackson. I heard the noise, and went to save her, and luckily I was able to do so. And I’m afraid that psycho will come after me, because I broke his fucking doll.”

“You can relax on that part, Mr. Gray. As far as we know, Dollmaker has no way of contacting his dolls after he makes them. There have been no parts that could signal anything in any of his dolls.”

She tried to give him a reassuring look. It didn’t work.

He was baffled “Why doesn’t the public know any of this?”

“I know that this seems bad Mr. Gray. But this way we can try to keep the public order, besides this kind of info is readily available on the criminal registry that’s available to the public. We just censor the news and the names of everyone involved. That way we can protect the victims, the witnesses, and we can prevent public panic.” she explained.

“So, what happens now?”

“Hopefully nothing. We’ll keep protections around you two for a month, and a check-up every week or so after that. And after six months in total, you will hopefully be back to your daily life.”

Felix felt his face heating up “That’s it? We almost died, and you don’t even know if you can keep us safe. You don’t tell the public, is this all you can do?”

“I’m sorry Mr. Gray. At the end of the day, we’re just the police fighting a bunch of super powered bad guys.” Chen looked at Felix with intensity. “But I promise you that I’ll do my best to keep you folks safe.”

“I get it. I get it. Today was kind of a long day, I’m sorry for lashing out at you like that. I’m not usually this hotheaded.” Chen assured Felix that it was alright, and the rest of the police left soon after.

With nothing else to do Felix headed to bed.

He had nightmares.