Hey guys! I'm finally done with another chapter! This one took me a little longer than expected, especially since it's pretty short. It's not that surprising, however, since I'm currently working on a whole array of other projects, including my Soul Eater story, which I am hoping to update a week or two from now. Not much action in this chapter, but hopefully there will be some in the following chapter. I hope you enjoy! Also, thanks to screamfan for commenting! You rock!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Saw franchise

"What's that?" John asked, looking over my shoulder at my sketches. It had been two months since we started, and we already put four more people through our "games", earning John a reputation as the Jigsaw Killer. I smiled when I brought the newspapers in, showing John how our work was starting to affect the outside world. He didn't like the name, stating for about the millionth time that he wasn't a killer (I, personally, thought the name was pretty cool), but he liked the attention it was getting.

"Soon people will start to realize how we decide the players in our games," he said, "then the people who have never been in our games will be just as influenced by them as the people in our games."

We decided that we would record tapes for the players to hear in their traps and disguise John's voice by slowing down the audio. Soon, though, we ran into problems. Like the fact that some traps didn't allow people to grab the tapes and play them. Thus, Billy was born.

Billy is a puppet John created to be the "face of the Jigsaw killer". He would be "the first face they saw when they woke up, and the face that would mark their rebirth".

"The face of rebirth is creepy as hell," I said.

"The people playing our games do not deserve a kind face," John replied, a statement I had to agree with.

Then I found out that the puppet was based off of a toy he was going to give to his child, which is really the whole reason he started this in the first place. I thought that was kinda cool as well.

I named the creepy-as-hell puppet Billy after the first person we used it on. We usually only used Billy if the person playing wasn't able to physically operate the tape player, like if they were shackled or restrained in any way. We'd record him before hand, then wait until the person woke up and start the video by remote control.

"It's a reverse bear trap," I replied, not turning away from my work. "It attaches to the persons upper and lower jaw. They have to find a key before it splits their jaw open."

"Do you know who the trap is for?"

"I have a few people in mind." I finished up my sketch and handed it to John. He inspected it and nodded approvingly.

"Where is the key going to be?" He asked, handing my sketch back to me.

"I'm thinking maybe somewhere embedded in the person's arm."

"Why's that?"

I explained about the two people who would most likely be the candidates for this game. One was a woman named Amanda Young, who was a heroine addict. The other was her drug dealer, a man by the name of Donald Greco, or Donnie. The key in his/her arm would symbolize the drug he/she is addicted to.

"I think this trap should be for Amanda. I have another game planned for Donnie." John said, "and I have a few revisions to make to your trap."

"Be my guest."

John took my drawing and grabbed a few more pieces of paper off of the desk I was working at.

"What's this?" He asked, picking up another one of my drawings that was under the pieces of paper.

"Just a project I'm working on," I dismissed the drawing with a wave of my hand. "I'm still in the planning process."

John studied the drawing for a second, then flipped over the paper and looked at my notes. "It's good," he commented. I tried to hide my embarrassment.

"I still need to figure out a few things, and even then it won't be perfect. So many things could go wrong," I insisted.

"Like...?"

"Like, one person has to kill another person, and the other person has to escape, right? Well, they might just sit there and not do anything and wait for someone to find them. The police would have to find them at some point."

"But if they aren't given food or water, there's no way for them to survive for a long period of time."

"So what? If two people go missing on the exact same day around the exact same time, the police are going to investigate it as soon and as much as they can," I argued. "We need to establish a time limit somehow."

John looked at me over the top of the paper. "I think I know what to do. Can I keep this for awhile?" I shrugged. "Sure." I was a little bit disappointed that he didn't let me finish the game on my own, but I was sure he had his reasons. Plus, he would run his ideas by me anyway, so there was really nothing to worry about.

"Meanwhile, can you get everything set up for the next game?" John asked. He handed me a few drawings and diagrams. At the top of each one of them, the name Donald "Donnie" Greco was written in cursive. I nodded, and we both went our separate ways.

So this is Donnie's game, I thought. I looked over the pictures and diagrams and made my way to the back of the warehouse. Standing in front of a bulletin board, I pinned each of the drawings and diagrams to it in a perfect straight line.

I faintly wondered why John didn't tell me about Donnie's game sooner, but then I remembered that I just started keeping an eye on him last week. This must've been a last-second decision.

But, still. He could've told me.

Taking one more look at the sketches, I walked though the tables of traps until I came to the one I was looking for.

The trap in question was another one of my designs. It was a collar with two spring-loaded clamps on the sides. Each set of clamps was just big enough to hold one syringe and could be tightened with a screw. On the back of the collar was a small padlock that could be opened by a key. The collar was on a timer. If the player didn't get the collar off in time...well...you should know what happens by now.

I picked up the trap and brought it over to one of the desks under the bulletin board.

"John!" I called, walking over to where I saw him last.

"Down here!" He called back. I walked down the stairs and found John rummaging through some of the items I scavenge for our games.

"Where's the poison for the syringes?" I asked.

"Don't use poison," John replied, not turning away from his work. "Use the heavy sedatives."

"Why?"

"I have a feeling," John pulled a few gears out of the pile and inspected them, "Mr. Greco will play a large role in Amanda's game."

"Do you want to tell me what that role is?" I asked, a little frustrated.

"Not yet." John put one of the gears back in the pile and took the other two with him upstairs. I sighed and followed suit, returning to my own work area.

I grabbed the sedatives and three syringes from my storage area. Taking two of the syringes, I placed them in the trap, tightened the screws, and set off the trap. After watching it spring into action, I made a few adjustments, then tried again and again until the results were satisfactory, making minor adjustments between tests.

I walked over to where John was working. With him he had various pieces of metal, including the two gears I saw him grab earlier. He looked at my drawing of the reverse bear trap, then moved the pieces of metal just so.

"John, I'm gonna go try to get Donnie to sell me some drugs."

"Where are you going to tell him to meet you?" He asked.

"Outside the warehouse."

"When?"

"I dunno. Later tonight, probably."

John nodded and I ran down the stairs and out of the warehouse.

There was no time to waste. I knew where Donnie usually sold his goods, so I started to casually walk there immediately. I walked a few blocks before I came across two teenage boys looking at a newspaper article. I caught a glimpse of the headline Jigsaw Killer Strikes Again and pretended to tie my shoe as I listened to their conversation.

"His name is Seth Baxter," one of the boys said. "He's a murderer. He got what he deserved, in my opinion."

I switched to my other shoe, listening even more intently to their conversation. We never tested a man named Seth Baxter...

"Jigsaw's a murderer," the other boy argued.

"No he's not. He's a genius. What a good way to keep the low-lives out of this world."

"But they say that he gives his victims a chance to live."

"Oh, pu-leez." The boy tossed the paper into a nearby trash can. "Everybody knows his traps are rigged. Why do you think nobody has ever won any of his 'games'?" The two boys walked away and I stood up and walked over the the trash can. I pulled out the paper and skimmed over the article, getting angrier with each word I read.

Looks like Donald Greco would have to wait.


"Look at this!"

I threw the newspaper in front of John, right on top of the notes he was taking on Amanda. He looked up at me, then picked up the paper and started reading it.

"Who does this guy think he is?!" I started pacing back and forth across the room. "I can't believe it! A pendulum trap? Really?! How unoriginal can you get?"

I caught a glimpse of John reading the article, his hands shaking.

"Not only that, but he wasn't even given a chance! He was supposed to crush his hands to stop the pendulum and he did, but they found his body completely cut in half!

John turned to me. His hand had stopped shaking and his face was completely calm, but I could see the anger brewing in his gaze.

"Do you know who might've done this?" He asked, his voice as steady as his expression (minus the eyes).

I stopped pacing. "No, but I can find out."

"What about Donald Greco?"

"What about him? He can wait. This is way more important."

John set the paper down. "I'm glad you see it that way."

"What are you planning to do with him?" I asked, slightly curious.

John stood up and put Amanda's notes in her file. "Whoever did this has potential," he said, "he just needs to be put in the right frame of mind."

"You're not actually going too..." My voice trailed off as John nodded. "Whatever," I sighed. "You're the boss, John."

Why would John want whoever did that as an apprentice? I thought, my anger rising. Aren't I good enough?

John nodded at all of the files we've started. "Can you look through those to see if you can find anybody who might've done this?"

I considered telling him to do it himself, but I decided to just nod and bite my tongue. As I walked over to the files, I instantly pushed my anger away. We needed someone else to help us. We've been getting way too far behind, and someone like that might already have the right frame of mind. We would just need to teach them our way of doing things.

After I had searched through the files for about an hour, I found three people who might be the Jigsaw Imposter. The first one was a man named Jeff Denlon, whose son was run over by a drunk driver named Timothy Young. I instantly discarded this one, since his son wasn't murdered by Seth Baxter, but this file had information on Timothy Young, a man who developed a drinking problem after his wife was murdered by Seth Baxter. I decided to keep it out along with Young's file, as Timothy Young was the second person I found. The third person was Mark Hoffman, a man who became overly depressed after his sister was killed by Seth Baxter.

I carefully looked through each of their files. Out off all of them, Hoffman seemed the most likely candidate because, well, just look at his file.

Name: Hoffman, Mark

Occupation: Police Officer

Game: N/A

Results: N/A

Reason for Game: Needs to let go of his sister's death and continue on with his life

Notes:

-Sister killed by Seth Baxter (see file) putting him in a state of depression

-Has violent tendencies, though he is good at controlling his anger

-Deals with his sister's death by drinking at night

CAUTION: Always armed!

Now look at Young's file.

Name: Young, Timothy

Occupation: None

Game: N/A

Results: N/A

Reason for Game: Needs to let go of his wife's death; has a drinking problem; killed a child while driving under the influence

Notes:

-Wife killed by Seth Baxter (see file) putting him in a state of depression

-Developed drinking problem because of his wife's death

-Is always drunk

-Lost job because of drinking problem

-Killed Jeff Denlon's son (see file) while driving under the influence

It made sense. For one thing, Timothy Young was always drunk, so he probably wouldn't be able to create something like the pendulum trap. For another thing, Hoffman is a cop. He would easily be able to cover up his murder by removing evidence from the crime scene.

Which made him all the more useful to us.

I took a look at the fourth file I pulled out and made a few adjustments.

Name: Baxter, Seth

Occupation: Drug Dealer

Game: Pendulum (Created by Mark Hoffman (see file))

Results: Failure (Game was rigged)

Reason for Game: Murdered multiple women; sells drugs

Notes:

-Given a life sentence after murdering Mark Hoffman's sister

-Was released after five years due to legal technicality

-Becomes a woman's boyfriend through lies, then murders her

-Was put in an imposter Jigsaw Game by Mark Hoffman

-Deceased

"Did you find someone yet?"

I had a mini-heart attack as John snuck up behind me.

"Don't do that!" I turned away from Seth's file and looked up at John. "Yes, I found someone." I handed him Hoffman's file.

"Are you positive it's him?"

"Yes. No one else would've been able to pull this off. I'm sure of it." I picked up the files and set them on the desk. While I was doing that, I realized my hands were shaking. Did John really scare me that badly? I shook my head slightly and tried to cover up the shakiness by talking.

"I don't really know for sure, but I'm positive it's him," I started, "I mean, I don't know anyone else who would have the motive, or the means of doing this. But if we kidnap him, and he isn't the one who did it, then we would really be doing it for no reason, and that completely defeats the purpose of…"

I realized that John had stopped reading Hoffman's file and that he was looking at me with an amused look in his eye. I realized I had started talking incomprehensibly fast. I could feel myself blush.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

John looked back at the file, pretending not to have noticed. "This is him, I'm sure," he said. "I want you to keep tabs on him for the next week or so. See what he does and how he acts around other people. The usual."

"Okay," I replied, still a little ashamed of myself. I grabbed Hoffman's file and brought it back to my work area. I laid out the pictures on my desk and pretended to study them as I wondered why I was so nervous and jittery. There's no way John startled me that badly, so then what was it? My eyes flitted from picture to picture as I tried to memorize the details but didn't really pick up anything. I started staring at one picture, trying desperately to memorize Hoffman's features and surroundings when it hit me.

I'm going to be replaced…

Another chapter down! Next chapter, Hoffman comes in, along with some new challenges for our main protagonist (or antagonist? Depends on how you look at it) Puzzle. Let me know what you think! Leave a review, and keep on reading!