Chapter Eight - Doctor Faust

  The sky tore apart in the middle of our conversation, revealing a rainfall that only intensified over time.

  This day is full of surprises. Who could’ve guessed that I would encounter yet another unknown element? This letter probably means something, but it is definitely not related to MC-13. For now, I just have to deal with the fact that someone has the need to watch me, and send me cryptic messages.

  Faust spoke out to me. “Where is your Assistant Detective, incidentally?”

  “She should be in the office, though it’s difficult to be sure with her,” I pondered, “I’ve been meaning to ask you about her, actually. How much do you know about Sylphie?”

  She thought for a moment. “Sylphie is her name? I have been seeing her meandering in the halls of the HQ for quite some time now, but I never connected her with the detective’s name.”

  “She is quite the rascal. But that isn’t really a problem, more importantly, I have some doubts about who she is, and I was hoping you could tell me what you know about her.”

  “You are asking me two different things. How much I know about the reprobate roaming around, and how much I know about the detective.”

  “The latter, s’il vous pla?t,” I enquired.

  “Detective Sylphie Moore – an A-tier who has been around for three to four years. I’m not sure what you see of importance in her, unless you’re planning on doing some workplace harassment.”

  “None of that! I just knew nothing of her before MC-13, and her appearance was very sudden for me.”

  She scoffed at my response. “To think that the Head Detective of the most important case we have ever had is such a lousy primitive who does not even know his subordinates.”

  “She literally didn’t show up until after the hotel incident.”

  As much as I try to get information from Faust about Sylphie, none of it seems unusual. From her perspective, Sylphie Moore is a normal detective that’s part of the DPD. No amount of slightly twisting the question would result in different answers. The only thing that is strange about her, aside from her behavior, is how suddenly she appeared. Maybe this is really a dead end – she has proven to be a great detective, and I should probably stop doubting her. When I think about it on a deeper level, it is probably for the best that I am working with her. As soon as I get the chance to discuss the case with her, I need to enquire about her previous findings.

  “How are you even out right now?” I asked about her being out of the lab at this time.

  “It’s breaktime. Not only that, but the precinct is in disarray right now, especially the labs.”

  “Why is that?”

  She went ahead and sat on the bench next to me before continuing the conversation. It seems that for the first time in a long while, she is up to having a conversation lasting more than a few exchanges.

  “General Director Watkins is planning on putting the forensics team in action.”

  My eyebrows furrow in confusion. “You mean he wants you to go on field trips or what?”

  She looked me dead in the eyes and whispered. “He wants me to aid you… as a detective.”

  I knew better than anyone that Faust has a complex personality. It is always a gamble to guess what she is thinking, and her opinions on people work under the same mechanism. In my case, the genius scientist is somewhat unopposed to being around me, but when work comes into play, she is a whole another person.

  “I pity you already. You’ll have to endure more than three minutes of conversation.”

  “I would rather decompose,” she said casually.

  In all honesty, having Faust around would be a godsend. There is no one on the same level as her when it comes to crime science, and she is more than capable of solving most crimes on her own. However, I can tell that this is not something she wants.

  Faust used to be a detective, too. And she was nothing ordinary, either. She was on the verge of being an S-tier if I were to gauge her brain power. In some ways, she is even better than me, but in others, she is completely helpless. There were a few cases that we worked on together, and I can say better than anyone that Faust was simply bored. This line of work is seizing me, she always said. After a few internal deals, she got a spot as the Head Forensics Scientist, and since then, she became an irreplaceable asset. Although we became more distant as a result, it only made our interactions far more valuable.

  “I doubt it, you were ecstatic to be by my side all those years ago,” I exclaimed.

  “Keyword – years ago.”

  “Don’t just say- “

  “The point is, Detective Vince – I have always hated being a detective, and being brought back to that position is an insult to my choice. General Director Watkins may have the power to assign me wherever he pleases, but he himself is spineless. If I simply refuse to comply, he will be too unwilling to give me up,” she cut me off with a rant.

  Faust holds a lot of bottled-up heavy feelings. Someone working in such an isolated environment is bound to be like that. As for her work, she is adamant on remaining as a scientist, not a detective. The selfish desire of having her on the team quickly dissipated when I came to realize that.

  “I hope you can remain as a scientist. I like this state where I see less of you, and more of your genius in action.”

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  “Even I have feelings, Detective Vince. Faint, but they are present,” she proudly stated.

  Lies. In the decade that I came to know her, I can say that she is a downright lunatic. Even though she dresses smartly, Faust is more similar to an insanity-based genius, rather than book-smart genius. Her victories as a detective were the only joy she ever got from the job, seeing the cowering faces of the criminals she captured. I always caught a glimpse of her twisted smile when she won, no other detective savored that as much as her. She relished every moment of her triumph, but now, she is stone cold. Cold, as she left her old life behind. Why, though? About seven years ago, something changed. Something clicked in your head to make you turn over a new leaf. I remember the flicker of light your eyes once had. You were whole, and now you are empty. I remember the words you told me on our last case together.

  “I have decided to end my career as a detective.”

  Back then, those words hit close to home. It was the last thing you said to me as a detective as soon as the job was done. You were my only colleague at the time, and you leaving me behind marked the end of that relationship. That soul you once had, it possessed a reason for you to be a detective. But at some point, that soul shattered, and along with it your dream. Even though you were reserved towards me, I could feel the shine in your eyes slowly wither away. You became distant, cold, and heartless. Something changed within you, and I never got to know what.

  “Faust, why did you become a scientist instead?” I try to head to the desired subject.

  She remained silent for a few seconds before responding. “It was my way of showing defeat.”

  “Defeat?”

  “Detective Vince, that case you now bear, it goes much deeper than you could ever think,” she uttered with a heavy heart.

  MC-13? I have only surface-level knowledge of it as of right now. Is Faust telling me that she knows something about it as well?

  “Go on.”

  When I became a detective, my drive was centered around solving the crimes you always read books about as a child. Those typical stories of crimefighters and prodigies led down the path of evil. Murders, bank heists, and so much more. As I grew older, I realized that these are not just stories, but real occurrences. Some of those books I read as a child were based off of criminals I later met in prisons. They were real, and not just stories. But Faust – she never told me what drives her. Her passion was negligible, and the way she operated was almost robotic. She was an enigma, to say the least. There was something indescribable stirring within Faust’s chest whenever she was on the scene.

  Then, she answered. The words that came out of her mouth overpowered the sound of the rain. It was as if time stopped when the message reached me. It was deathly silent. Did I hear it correctly? I must have misheard.

  “I became a detective in order to solve MC-13.”

  Impossible. This accursed case only realized itself three years ago. How could you base your career off of something that has yet to happen? You are a methodical and practical person, there must be a reason you phrased it like this.

  She continued, despite my bewilderment. “That case – its true lifespan is not three years. Not even five, or ten. MC-13 as a murder spree began almost twenty years ago when I was still a child.”

  Even though she did not show it, a strong emotion was about to erupt within her if she were to continue talking. But those statements – MC-13 is a marvel to behold, and it only continued to get more complex. Why was the truth behind the origin of the case concealed from me?

  She read my inner monologue and responded. “The documentation of the case is only three years old. You are correct to know that. But – the truth is that these bizarre murders have been going on for two decades. When I heard that the case is being taken on by you, I had hoped that the nightmare would come to an end soon. These long years have robbed me of my humanity, and the only person to blame is the wretched killer behind MC-13.”

  I could only watch as she poured her suffocated thoughts out. It was not right to interrupt now – Faust is revealing a past long forgotten by even herself.

  “Detective Vince, the killer behind this ordeal is no human. They only kill for the sake of killing. I came to realize that at a very young age – in the very moment that my parents were found impaled on the chair.”

  This is tragedy. There is no better word to describe her story than tragedy. Faust was deprived of her childhood and fate by none other than the Flawless – almost twenty years ago. I am starting to finally understand what she feels. I took on the role she once desired to wield, to dance with the death known as MC-13.

  Faust, you studied long and hard in order to become a detective. The perfect detective to counter a case that no one knew about for around ten more years. You became the scorching flame that would incinerate the sin that steered you into the deep end. And that flame burned bright – I knew that better than anyone. Only you had the sweltering passion of true crimefighting. Other detectives had their own selfish motives, including me. Only you, Faust – you had the will to defeat the Flawless, back when it was only a rumor you could cling on.

  “That light at the end of the tunnel, the defeat of the man who mutilated my parents, it was folly. The case that later came to be known as MC-13 would not be discovered for a long time, and the culprit behind it missing and inactive. It was a sick joke,” she persisted with a disgusted look.

  That is why you stepped down from being a detective. You realized your dream was constantly running away from you, no matter how much you fought. All the years as a detective only served to remind you that you are not fighting the true villain of your life. Because that man never showed up, and his absence overpowered your resolve to continue. You took on the job of a scientist, a place that allowed you to watch from afar, but still close enough for you to intervene. You silently hoped that MC-13 would be discovered, one way or another. I wouldn’t doubt that you never brought it up to anyone, the problem was that there was no evidence. Your parents were murdered, but the method of killing has not yet been discovered for almost two decades, and the crime as a whole was the same as that.

  Silently suffering, suffering for most of your life at the behest of a filthy murderer. Your life was met with challenge after challenge that you conquered with ease, but you could never scale the final wall, for it was never there to be scaled. MC-13 was not part of your life, as much as you willed it so, it appeared too late for you to do anything. At that point, three years ago from now, the light in your eyes attempted to flicker back into existence, but it was too late. Your life was emptied of passion, and the burning desire for revenge. The Faust that became a scientist was only a husk of her former self, destined to wither away in obscurity.

  “Vince, I want you to end this charade once and for all.”

  It was a painful scene to behold. Faust’s eyes were dampened by tears, yet the composure she had did not allow her to cry, nor was she capable of it. The stone-cold heart she possessed had no room to spare tears, or any more emotion. That striking look was burning with unfiltered fury and rage, the willingness to fight, and the same stare you once had.

  That sentence marked the first time she referred to me as something other than a detective. Faust was always a closeted person, and I was the closest thing to a friend she had. With her final words in the guise of a detective, I felt as if the burning desire to smite the Flawless off this earth transferred to me, the one destined to end this story. There was no one else that could do it, and as I came to learn the truth of this case, I realized that there is more I am dealing with than a murder spree. This is a conflict that affected hundreds, no, thousands of people and families. To think that in three years, over a hundred were killed. What about twenty years?

  I am the force that will bring an end upon you, Flawless. For every single person whose life you have tarnished, I will extend your sentence for one year. But that is only under the assumption that you will not get the death penalty that you so rightfully deserve. You are the stain that darkens the world, and it is my duty to uphold the justice that will inevitably bring upon your demise.