A Brief Watchmen Fic
“Rorschach! Stay with me!”
“Hurm?”
“Stay awake, man. I think you might be concussed, and I need you to-Rorschach!”
“Awake. I’m awake, Daniel.”
“Well that’s a goddam miracle in itself.”
“I was climbing.”
“I know, I know. Christ, I can’t believe I let you try that. Seven stories straight down, no rope, no harness… I’m sitting safe in an armored airship, and I’m letting you go fight the wolves… wearing a suit made of… I don’t know, bacon…”
“Did I slip?”
“Somewhere around the fifth story. I don’t know what happened, I was watching the roof exit, and when I checked to make sure you were in position, I saw you lying on the sidewalk in the snow.”
“Urgh. No bones broken.”
“Another goddam miracle.”
“My head hurts.”
“I bet. I probably shouldn’t have moved you, but I figured I had about thirty seconds to land Archie and load you in before the Big Figure’s goons started pouring out of the building to see what was going on.”
“You did the right thing, Daniel.”
“I’m heading home, and then we’ll get you into your civvies and over to the hospital.”
“No need. I’m fine.”
“Don’t tell me you’re fine!”
“I just did.”
“You fell off a building! You’re lucky we’re not hosing you off the sidewalk!”
“Urm.”
“What?”
“Spuh. Nyuh.”
“Rorschach?”
“Fine.”
“No you’re not.”
“Spyuh.”
“Rorschach!”
“Wha--? Where’s my mask?”
“I peeled it off you after you puked in it.”
“Hurm.”
“Rorschach!”
“Hrm?”
“You have GOT to stay awake!”
“Sorry. Hard to. Concentrate.”
“Don’t apologize! It’s my fault you were-“
“No.”
“It is!”
“No. You’re my partner. We share the risks.”
“But you shouldn’t be taking risks like that!”
“I have to. We have to.”
“Fine. Talk to me.”
“Talk? About what?”
“I don’t care. But I can’t fly Archie and keep you alert at the same time.”
“Sorry.”
“Dammit, I just said-“
“All right. Talking. I said we were partners. We support each other in battle. Ancient tradition.”
“Yeah. King Arthur.”
“Before that even. I was thinking of Greeks.”
“Oh, you mean agoge?”
“Urm?”
“It’s Greek. That’s what the Spartans called their system of education.”
“Never heard it called that. Didn’t the boy have an older warrior as a mentor?”
“Eventually. They spent about five years in a dormitory with the other boys. Basic training, kind of. Then each boy found an older man to, uh, learn the ropes from. Be trained in the use of the, uh, spear. And if the boy didn’t do well on the battlefield-like if he cried aloud in pain, and violated the Laconic ideal-then his mentor could even be punished for it.”
“Exactly. Admirable system in many ways.”
“In many-how do you mean?”
“The veteran’s responsible for the novice, the novice is responsible for the veteran’s city. Honestly, it’s a lot like you and Mason.”
“Uh… well…”
“I would have liked that when I was starting out. Sounds ideal. You’re new to the mask, but here’s this experienced, knowledgeable fighter to take care of you.”
“Uh, take care of you how?”
“When you make mistakes.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess so, at least in-”
“Like you are now.”
“What?”
“I fell off a building. Mistake.”
“It was just an accident.”
“No. A mistake.”
“Fine. If you say so.”
“Daniel… thank you. For taking care of me.”
“Well. We’re almost home. How you feeling?”
“Like I fell off a building.”
“Just a while longer, okay, Rorschach? Okay? Rorschach? Rorschach!”
“Hang on. The door’s sticking a bit-there.”
“Daniel.”
“Ro-Walter! Hey, buddy! Come on in!”
“Thanks.”
“Just let me shut that… What the hell are you doing here? The hospital said you’d be in for at least a couple more days.”
“Didn’t like it there. Wanted to get back to work.”
“You FELL OFF A BUILDING, Rorschach.”
“I won’t next time.”
“Well, uh, no.”
“Big Figure’s pulled back to a new hideout, I assume.”
“What? Oh. Yeah, probably.”
“You haven’t been keeping up?”
“Uh, no. I’ve been working on something else.”
“What? We can’t shut him down if we don’t know where he is.”
“I know, I know… but I wanted to make sure we didn’t have the, uh, same problem next time.”
“What problem?”
“Come on downstairs and I’ll show you… see, I thought about what you were saying, and you’re right. I can’t stop you from taking risks. That’s what makes you, y’know, you. You do what nobody thinks anyone would do.”
“Like climbing down a building.”
“Exactly. So I know I can’t stop you… but I can give you this.”
“Daniel? What is this?”
“It’s a grappling hook gun. CO2 powered. You can get replacement canisters at any party supply store-they use ‘em for whipped cream.”
“Heh.”
“Load them in here. It catches a little if you don’t-here, let me show you oh my god your hands are cold!”
“Sorry. What’s this for?”
“These are the four settings, basically 50 feet up, 100 feet, 150, 200. Pull the trigger and the bolt heads straight out. Once it makes contact, the grapples deploy. It’s a lightweight titanium alloy, so you can just about pull down the building without breaking the hook. And if you flip this switch here… god, it’s like you don’t have any blood in your hands at all-“
“Sorry.”
“Anyway, flip that, and you can use it to rappel down from a roof. Or even from Archie.”
“Daniel, this is-“
“I should have been keeping tabs on Big Figure, I know, but I just couldn’t help remembering. I mean, you were just lying there, and I couldn’t tell if you were alive or dead-“
“I’m okay, Daniel.”
“It’s just, I don’t want to see you get hurt and know I could have stopped it.”
“No. Thank you for this. For everything.”
“So. Practice with it. Next time I send you in, I’m sending you in prepared.”
“You’re a good partner, Daniel.”
“Hey, you’d do the same for me.”
“I would. Anything. That’s agoge.”
“Yeah.”
“Yes.”
“Well.”
“Urm.”
“Want some coffee? Your hand’s still freezing.”
“I left my gloves here.”
“Oh. Of course you did. Well, I’ve got your outfit ready.”
“Good.”
“Yeah. C’mon, it’s up in the laundry room. I ran it all through except the mask. I didn’t want it to shrink or something, so I hand-washed it in the sink. Is, uh, Dawn okay with you? I mean, odor-wise?”
“Fine.”
“It’s kind of, uh-“
“Lemony.”