Desolation Row: The New Watchmen

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Prologue

"DO IT!" cried Rorschach, tears streaming down his cheeks. Dr. Manhattan silently obliges. In flash of bright light the man once known as Walter Kovacs a.k.a. Rorschach is gone.

Dr. Manhattan smiles and says, "Welcome to your new home, Rorschach."

He was falling, falling through the abyss. 'Is this death?' he thought. 'Am I suppose to fall for eternity?'

That thought was cut short as impacted the hard ground. He laid there staring up at the night sky, taking in some of his surroundings.

He was in an alleyway that's for sure, tall buildings rising above him. He sat up and something fell into his lap, he looked down and saw his hat and inside his hat was his 'face'. While looking down, he noticed something different, the pants and shoes that had been issued to him in prison were no longer there. Instead it was his purple striped, slacks and his brown, leather shoes; his trench coat was also different, it seemed brand new.

He picked up his hat, stood up and began sifting through his pockets, seeing if he had any of his other things that the police took from him. He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out the grappling gun Dan made for him, a blank journal and something wrapped in a piece of paper.

He put the grappling gun back in his pocket and unfolded the paper, lying on top of the paper was… a dog treat?

"Huh?" Rorschach takes the dog treat with his other and examined it. 'Why do I have this?' he thought. Then he noticed that the paper was in fact a note that read:

Dear Rorschach,

I know you must have questions but I'm afraid I cannot answer all of them, however I will answer a few of them. The reason you are still alive is because I feel that you may have some purpose here, in this new world. Yes, Rorschach, you read correctly, this a different world; different universe, different circumstances, different people, even a different time period. Any information about this new world, I cannot give, for not even I can see it clearly. Good luck to you Rorschach, perhaps you shall do some good in this world, but only time shall tell.

P.S. If we do meet again Rorschach, I would like to here all about it so please, use that journal I gave you.

Doctor Manhattan.

Rorschach finished the letter, he was stilled puzzled as to why Manhattan would send him here and why would he give him a dog treat. Then he noticed a little arrow at the bottom right corner of the paper, indicating that something was on the back. Rorschach turned it over and indeed something else was on the back. It said:

DO NOT LOSE THIS!

It had a large arrow pointing to Rorschach's other hand. "Hurm," he said.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash behind him, Rorschach turned around taking his usual battle stance. But instead of some new enemy, it was a stray dog; a malamute it appeared to be, with a gray coat.

Rorschach relaxed and put his hands in his pockets, that's when he remembered the dog treat. Rorschach put the letter in his pocket and pulled out the dog treat. He knelt down and held it out to the dog as an offering; the dog came over sniff the treat and ate it up.

Rorschach didn't know why he did that, perhaps Manhattan had something to do with it, he put his face and hat on and turned to leave.

Just as he was leaving the alleyway, he sensed the dog was following him. He turned around and there was the dog, looking at him as if waiting for him do something.

Rorschach walked up to the dog and knelt before him, the dog didn't move. "Hurm," he said again. "New companion. Could have use. Need name."

Rorschach thought for a moment. He had never owned a pet, much less given one a name. Then he remembered his favorite book from his childhood.

"White Fang," Rorschach named the dog. Then he stood up a made his way towards the alley's exit.

It was late at night when Rorschach exited the alley with 'his' dog, so there was hardly anyone out. Those who were out looked at him strangely, most likely due to his face but he didn't care, he never cared and he certainly didn't care now that he was in a different universe.

He began walking down the sidewalk, White Fang following close behind. 'Perhaps time to start punishing evil again,' Rorschach thought. 'Must find out were location is, first.' While on his trek, he spied a trashcan, 'Perhaps a newspaper,' he thought.

He began digging through the trash, searching, in vain for a newspaper. Eventually he ended his search and continued down the sidewalk. Soon after he found a newspaper vending machine. He searched for any lose change that he might have but found none, so he just knelt in front of it and began searching for the name of the city he was in.

Instead he found the date and when he saw it, he almost fell over with surprise.

It read: November 1st, 2009.

At first he believed he'd been gone for twenty years, but then he remembered that this was a different world and had never been here in the first place.

He continued looking for the name, until he realized that the sky was beginning to brighten and morning was fast approaching. So Rorschach stood up, looked to White Fang and said, "Come," just to make sure that he was following him.

As the suns rays just began to shine down, Rorschach found himself in front of a school. He looked around for any thing that would identify this school and when he looked up he saw a sign that said: Middleton High School.

'Middleton,' he thought, 'never heard of it.' He walked up to the main building, where he saw a bench and decided to sit down and write in his journal.

Rorschach's Journal. November 1st, 2009:

Manhattan has transported me to a different universe; his reasons are as unknown to me as they are to him. Perhaps he didn't want to kill me or perhaps he just wants to play God with me. Found dog in alleyway, named him after wolf in favorite book, he may come in handy when tracking evil. This city is too quiet, there are no screams that accompany the darkness of this city that I know lurks just beneath the surface. The people here must live their lives either in ignorance or they just refuse that their entire lives have been built on a false sense of security and lies. But soon, I shall reveal these lies and show truly how dark this world truly is and then I shall destroy it, one by one. Must go now, see girl in newspaper, said name was Possible, another mask adventurer? Must investigate further.

Rorschach closed his journal, pocketed it in his jacket got off the bench. He put his hands in his pockets and moved towards the school, White Fang not far behind.