(The following is a non-profit, fan-based work. Watchmen is owned by Alan Moore and DC Comics. Please support the official release.)
(Well, here it is. The first fanmake of Alan Moore's Watchmen. It took me and Phantos about six months to write, which is a long time for a co-written work. I was planning on writing a Watchmen fanmake for a while, but never got around to it. When Phantos and I started working on it, only my casting choice for Doctor Manhattan remained.
Just so you know, the italics mean it's either an inner-monologue or a flashback and ~ means a scene change.
Now, enjoy.)
Fanfiction Dot Presents...
A TLSoulDude/PhantostheHedgehog fanmake...
A fanmake of the most celebrated graphic novel of all time...
TL and Phantos' Watchmen
"The Shukaku Journal
October 12th 1985:
Found dead dog in the alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I've seen it's true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood. And when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up around their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"...and I'll look down, and whisper 'no'."
A teen with unruly, red hair and turquoise eyes was walking across a street, carrying a sign saying "The End Is Nigh". He looked down and saw a World War II-era German Iron Cross in a gutter as blood washed down the drain.
"They had a choice, all of them. The could have followed in the footsteps of good men, like my father or President Truman. Decent men who believed in a day's work for a day's pay. Don't tell me they didn't have a choice."
The teen simply walked away.
"Now the whole world is standing on the brink, staring down into the bloody Hell. All those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers...and all of a sudden, nobody could think of anything to say..."
Up above, an anthropomorphic fox and falcon were looking over a crime scene.
"Well, that is a big drop." The fox murmured to himself.
The fox was looking out of a shattered window of an apartment building, he was looking down from the 30th floor. The falcon was checking the broken lock on the apartment's door.
"Yeah that poor guy, he never saw it coming. Hey Fox, I've always wondered, do you think you black out just before you hit the street?" The falcon asked his partner.
"Falco, I don't think I wanna know. What do you think happened here?" Fox asked, turning to his partner. Falco stood up and held the shattered door lock.
"Well, it looks like someone broke in here by busting the door open. Meaning we have two guys to look for or one guy on really strong drugs, because this lock has a chain fastened on it, meaning our guy was home when it happened. Falco said. And sure enough, they were right.
Earlier the previous night, the occupant of the apartment, a 68 year old man was kicking back in a recliner, drinking a beer and watching TV. The man had white hair and red eyes. He looked over as someone burst in and sprung to his feet.
"Hmm, but I saw the BODY and he looked tough enough to defend himself." Fox pointed out, "For a guy his age, he was in pretty good shape."
"What, ya mean APART from being dead?" Falco asked.
"No." Fox stated, "This guy, this Bielschmidt guy, the occupant, he had a pretty dang good physique. He looked like he could give an Olympic sprinter a run for his money and he probably would've put up SOME sort of fight..."
The man got punched across the face and crashed into a painting, breaking the glass.
"Yeah, well looks like he lost to me." Falco stated, looking at the shattered glass, "Ya think it was a couple of guys?"
"Maybe." Fox conceded, "The data we have suggests that he's been doing some diplomatic work for years."
"With this classy kind of living, maybe he just got soft." Falco suggested.
Fox grabbed a picture of the man shaking hands with another, much taller man with sandy-blonde hair, glasses, and a bomber jacket as well as standing next to a balding man, "He doesn't look too soft to me. Just look at that scar. Something like that would've killed someone like...hey, isn't that vice-president Ford and Alfred Jones?"
"Well what do you know? This guy must've been really important." Falco said, clearly impressed.
The beat up man was grabbed by the collar and some blood dripped onto an iron cross that was hanging from his shirt. The intruder then lifted him over his head.
"Looks like some money got taken but there's no way this is a simple burglary. Somebody really wanted this guy dead." Fox said, putting the picture down. The two decided it was time to leave and go back to the station.
"I mean, how did he get out the window?" Fox asked as he and Falco left the building.
"Maybe he tripped against it." Falco suggested.
"No, that's not possible." Fox said, "That glass is pretty strong. Even a person that size wouldn't break through it by tripping against it. He'd probably have had to be thrown at it."
"Well, if this Gilbert Bielschmidt guy was as big as you say, then one guy couldn't have hefted 'im up." Falco said, "So we're probably talking about TWO thugs here."
"Which floor do ya want?" asked a man in an elevator.
"Uh, ground floor please." Fox said as he and Falco walked over.
"Ground floor comin' up." the man said.
The man, Gilbert Bielschmidt, was tossed out of the window, shattering the glass. His Iron Cross badge flew off with a streak of blood onto it.
"But that question still remains: is this a burglary or do we look for some other motive?" Fox asked.
"It could've been a burglary, Fox." Falco replied, "Maybe it was a group, but I dunno. But ya know how it goes in a city this size: a lot of crazy things can happen. They don't ALL need motives."
"You're right, but let's not kick up too much dust Falco. I don't want any masked avengers getting curious and barging in." Fox said as he and his partner walked down the sidewalk.
"I think you're acting a little paranoid. You remember the Keene Act don't you, back in '77? Since that was passed only supers who work for the Government are active, they never interfere." Falco said.
"What about that Shukaku guy?" Fox asked.
"Shukaku? That psycho never retired." Falco answered as they passed by the red-haired teen, "He's still out there somewhere. Just hope he doesn't catch wind of this. If he finds out about a homicide, there's gonna be a lotta bodies." Fox adjusted the collar of his shirt, "What's up?"
"Nothin'. I just feel a chill." Fox replied.
Later that night, a figure walked up and held up the Iron Cross with gloved hands. He was clad in a black hoodie and had a large gourd on his back. He looked up before pulling a cork out of the gourd and holding up his hand. Sand erupted from the gourd and caught onto a broken window frame before pulling him up. In the light, he had a white, dog-shaped mask with red markings on it. It completely obscured his face as he looked around the apartment. He slowly made his way to the closet before tapping on the back wall. He noticed a button and pushed it. The wall slid back to show a black domino mask, a navy-blue German World War II uniform, and a picture of people gathered around in a line. He suddenly realized who he was dealing with...
"So, I was in the supermarket, buying some cereal, when I turn the corner and run into none other than Molly Mayne, the Harlequin." An elderly man with paling blonde hair said to a teenager with spiky, brown hair, "You know her, right?"
"Oh yeah, I remember hearing about her." The teen said, this kid is named Sora and the person he's talking to is Alan Scott, his childhood hero. Back when Alan was younger, he was a superhero known as The Green Lantern and Sora knew that when he got older, he wanted to be just like him.
And he did! When Alan retired, Sora became his replacement.
"Yeah I put her behind bars dozens of times back in the day. She told me that she found Jesus, got married and has two kids. We traded phone numbers, she's a nice girl." Alan said as he and Sora sat in front of a fireplace.
"Uh, Alan, listen...it's almost midnight and I probably should be going" Sora said, looking as though leaving was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Sorry, lost track of time talking about that old stuff." Alan said, "You must've been born stiff."
"You know better than THAT." Sora said with a laugh, pulling on a coat, "Heck, these Saturday-night beer sessions are what keep me going."
"Well, us retired guys have to stick together." Alan said, standing up and showing Sora to the door, "Y'know, it's a shame that they put you kids out of business in '77. You were MUCH better at your job than I was."
"Alan, that's bull and you know it, but thanks anyway." Sora said.
"Hey, watch that language." Alan said with mock rage, "This is the guy who fought Black Adam and lived, remember?"
"How could I forget?" Sora asked with a laugh, "Thanks for another great night, Alan! Take care of yourself!"
"You too, Sora!" Alan called as Sora walked away, "God bless!"
Alan closed the door and Sora walked towards his home. Since he retired, Alan ran an auto repair shop and lived there as well. He and Sora always met every Saturday night and reminisced about the good old days, back when superheroes were legal.
Sora walked through the city streets as rain fell to the ground and after a minute or two, he arrived at an apartment complex but when he stepped up to the front door, he noticed that the lock had been broken off.
Really curious, Sora entered his apartment and saw a familiar face sitting at his table, eating beans out of a can.
"Hello Sora." Shukaku said.
"Shukaku?" Sora asked, looking nervous.
"Got hungry waiting for you and I decided to help myself to some beans." Shukaku stated, face obscured by his hood, "Hope you don't mind."
"Uh...no, of course not." Sora answered, looking somewhat nervous, "Do you...y'know, want me to heat those up or anything?"
"No." Shukaku stated as he finished his meal, putting his mask back on as he finished.
"So...long time, no see." Sora said, trying to break the ice in a polite way, "How've you been doing?"
"Out of prison so far." Shukaku replied, tossing Sora the Iron Cross, "Take a look at this."
"What is this?" Sora asked, catching the cross and seeing it, "This stain, is it bean juice or something?"
"Yes, HUMAN bean juice." Shukaku answered, grimly. He walked over to a can labeled 'sugar' and emptied out some sugar cubes, which he put into his pouch, "The badge belonged to The German. That's his blood, too. He's dead."
"What? The German's dead? You mean THE German?" Sora asked in total shock. Shukaku stood up and looked at him.
"The one and only, I did an investigation and the victim's name was Gilbert Bielschmidt, I found the costume and gear in his closet. Somebody threw him out a window." Shukaku said. Sora got really nervous all of the sudden and walked over to a door that led to the basement.
"Um, let's talk down here. I feel exposed up here." Sora said, opening the door. He and Shukaku walked down into the basement. When Sora became a superhero, he decided to turn his basement into a workshop.
He created a ton of things to help fight bad guys and his costume was sitting in a locker off to the side. It consisted of a black and red jumpsuit and a black domino mask along with a hood and cape. Next to his costume was a huge key. Sora's alter ego? Keymaster!
"Haven't been down here for a while." Sora said.
"It shows." Shukaku said, wiping his finger on a ship of sorts, noticing the dust.
"Yeah, well, y'know." Sora said, looking very uncomfortable, "I come down here sometimes, but there doesn't seem to be a point since I retired. Listen, about The German...couldn't it have been an ordinary burglary? Someone who didn't know it was Bielschmidt or who he was?"
"Ordinary killer? Kill The German? Ridiculous." Shukaku stated.
"Yeah, it does seem a bit far out there." Sora conceded, "I heard he'd been working for the government, trashing the Berlin Wall and taking down Marxist Republics in South America. Do ya think it was a political killing?"
"Maybe or maybe someone's killing off costumed heroes." Shukaku said.
"Doesn't that sound a little on the paranoid side?" Sora asked.
"That's what they're saying about me now? That I'm paranoid?" Shukaku asked before continuing, "The German was active for forty years. People make a lot of enemies in that time." He then looked at Sora and asked, "How's Alan Scott these days?"
"Alan? He's doing good. But what does he have to do with all this?" Sora asked.
"You should know by now, he and The German were part of the Minute Men when The German was only 16 and Alan Scott was still The Green Lantern. That book Alan wrote, Behind the Mask, he said some really bad things about The German in it. I didn't like it one bit." Shukaku said as Sora intervened.
"Shukaku, I don't like where you're going with this. Alan's a really nice man, he'd never kill anyone!" Sora said.
"I'm not pointing any fingers, just a thought. Anyway, I thought I'd warn you just in case somebody's out there, killing masks. I'd better go now, I got things to do." Shukaku said as he walked down a small set of stairs. Right next to the stairs was a long tunnel.
"Right um, this tunnel will bring you to a warehouse on..." Sora said before Shukaku interrupted him.
"I know where this goes, I used to come here a lot back when we were partners." Shukaku said with his hands in his pockets. He started to walk down the tunnel.
"Those were really good times Shukaku, what do you think happened to them?" Sora asked. Shukaku's answer?
"You quit."
Sora slumped down next to his costume, looking at the ground and feeling as sorry for himself as he had felt in a long time.
"The Shukaku Journal
October 13th, 1985
Slept all day. Woke at 4:37. Landlady complaining about smell. She has five children from five different fathers. I am sure she cheats on welfare. Soon it will be dark..."
Shukaku was sitting on a rooftop, writing in a journal. He looked over the city before walking down a fire-escape and ending up on the street.
"Beneath me, this awful city, it screams like a horde of retarded children. New York...on Friday, a German died in New York. Somebody knows WHY. Down there, somebody knows..."
Shukaku walked up to a tavern with the simple name of 'Moe's'.
"The dusk reeks of sex and bad conscience...I believe I shall take my exercise."
Shukaku opened the door and walked inside, passing by some rather shocked-looking tenants.
"Shuh...shuh...Shukaku." stammered the bartender, a slouched man with thick, gray hair. This was the Moe who owned the bar. He was showing clear terror at Shukaku's arrival, "Uh...how're ya doin'?"
"I'm fine, Moe. Yourself?" Shukaku asked.
"Fine! I'm fuh...I'm fine! And I'm glad YOU'RE fine, too! And uh...uh..." Moe stammered before breaking down and saying, "Oh Lord, PLEASE don't kill anyone! The health inspector said he'd shut my place down if another murder took place and he won't accept bribes again!"
"A man went sidewalk diving yesterday." Shukaku stated, "I don't think he was alone when it happened. His name was Gilbert Bielschmidt. He was a friend of mine."
At one of the bar tables, a regular customer named Barney looked over at Shukaku and the man clearly had too much to drink, again.
"Hey Homer, did you know he has friends? I guess he finally learned how to use deodorant." Barney said before laughing hysterically and ending it with a loud burp.
Homer screamed and ran out as Shukaku tapped him on the shoulder.
"Oh, uh...I didn't mean nothin'!" Barney said before belching. Shukaku held up his hand as sand quickly covered Barney's hand, "Hey, what're ya..."
Shukaku clenched his gloved fist, causing a sickening crack to erupt. Barney screamed in pain at this.
"I have just crushed this man's little finger. Who killed Gilbert Bielschmidt?" Shukaku asked, darkly. No answer. Another clench. Another crack. Another scream, "And his index finger. Who killed Gilbert Bielschmidt?"
"Please, we don't know!" A black man named Carl Carlson said, fearfully, "Just leave 'im alone..."
Shukaku looked at Barney before withdrawing the sand and walking out.
"First visit of evening fruitless. Nobody knew anything. I feel somewhat depressed. This city is dying of rabies and the best I can do is wipe some foam off the lips?"
Shukaku stepped out of the bar and back into the city.
"Never despair. Never surrender. I leave the human cockroaches to discuss their heroin and child porn. I have business elsewhere with a better class of person."
Shukaku was sitting in front of a man with neatly-cut brown hair and matching eyes. He was Asian (Japanese to be exact) and his name was Light Yagami, a former partner of Shukaku who used to go by the name of Kira.
"The German dead? But why?" he asked.
"You were always supposed to be the smartest man, Yagami." Shukaku said, dryly, "You tell ME."
"I never claimed to be anything special, Shukaku." Light said, looking over the city, "I just have some over-enthusiastic P.R. men. Listen, couldn't it have just been a political killing? You know how those Soviets are getting these days..."
"Sora said the same thing. I don't believe it." Shukaku stated, holding up an action figure of Light in a superhero costume involving black lightweight armor, a golden collar, steel shoulder pads, a flowing black cloak, and a black mask. Had his eyes been visible, his expression would probably have been disgust, "America has Professor Neos. The Communists have been terrified of him since Vietnam. They wouldn't even think about antagonizing us. I think it's a mask killer."
"Not necessarily." Light said, "The German had plenty of OTHER political enemies in his Rogue's Gallery, not just Communists. The man was practically a Nazi."
"He stood up for a country that wasn't his own, Yagami." Shukaku stated, still holding the toy, "He never cashed in on his reputation. He never set up a company selling posters or diet books or toy soldiers based on himself. He never became a prostitute. If that makes him a Nazi, might as well call me one, too."
Light looked out the window, down into the city streets and then back at Shukaku as rain started to fall.
"Shukaku, I know that you never liked me all that much but still, you're not being fair. I chose to retire and tell the world my secret identity, you remember the police strikes don't you? All the cops in the city we're going on strike, because of us. I didn't want to be part of it anymore." Light said as Shukaku put the action figure down onto his desk.
"Whatever... anyway I better get going. I may not like you that much, but I don't want you to be the smartest man in the morgue. But like they say, there's worse things you could end up as." Shukaku said, opening a window.
"See you later." He said before crawling out the window and scaling down the side of the building.
"Sure, have a nice day..." Light said as thunder crashed in the sky.
"The Shukaku Journal:
October 13th, 1985, 8:30 P.M."
In front of a military center, guards were patrolling. A good distance away, a large hole had been cut through a wire fence. It had been created to allow Shukaku to pass.
"Meeting with Yagami left a bad taste in my mouth. He is pampered and decadent, betraying his own shallow, liberal affections. Possibly homosexual? Further investigation is required."
Shukaku climbed to a roof-top to keep out of sight of another patrol officer.
"Sora is just as bad. A little failure who sits, whimpering in his basement. Why are so few of us left active, healthy, and without personality disorders? Green Lantern runs an auto-repair shop. The first Oathkeeper is dying in a Californian rest resort. White Ranger was decapitated in a car crash back in '74. Knives is in an asylum in Maine. Shinigami retired in disgrace, murdered by a small-time adversary seeking vengeance. Kaptain Krust got shot. Ninja Man went missing in '55. The German is dead."
Shukaku snuck past some more guards, broke through a window and opened a door to allow him to enter.
"Only two names remaining on my list. Both share private quarters in Rockerfeller Military Research Center. I shall go to them. I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him..."
He entered a room, which had an odd, red light glowing within.
"Good evening, Shukaku." came a voice. The speaker was currently about twenty feet tall, stark naked, colored bright red, and had a shock of brown hair on his head. This was Jaden Yuki, also known as...
"Good evening, Professor Neos." Shukaku said, oddly nonchalant about this.
Suddenly a young girl entered the room. She had a head of brownish red hair and she was wearing a pink and white outfit outfit and purple shoes. It was Kairi, Jaden's girlfriend and former crime fighter.
"Shukaku? What are you doing here? I heard you're wanted by the police." Kairi said as Jaden started to shrink himself down to normal size.
"Oh, hi Kairi." Shukaku flatly said. Shukaku and Kairi never liked each other that much.
"You didn't answer my question." Kairi snapped.
"Apologies." Shukaku replied, "Came to warn you two and bring bad news. The German is dead."
"Yes. Since he and I are the only two extranormal operatives currently employed by the government, I was informed Saturday morning." Jaden said in an extremely monotonous voice, "I understand that the CIA suspects the Libyans were responsible."
"The Libyans couldn't stop Doc Brown stealing plutonium. I have my own theories." Shukaku stated, "I take it you're not concerned about Bielschmidt's death?"
"A living body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally, there is no discernable difference. Life and death are unquantifiable abstracts. Why should I be concerned?"
"Anyway, it couldn't have happened to a nicer person." Kairi said, a bitter edge to her voice, "Bielschmidt was a monster, plain and simple. You know that he tried to RAPE my mother back when they were both Minutemen?"
"So you support the allegations made in Alan Scott's book concerning Bielschmidt?" Shukaku asked, pulling a sugar cube out of his pouch. He pulled his mask up far enough for him to pop the cube into his mouth and eat it before sliding it back down.
"What Scott said in Behind the Mask is what happened. God knows that I'm not my mother's biggest admirer, but some things shouldn't happen to anybody." Kairi answered, "Why do you think Bielschmidt never sued Scott?
Shukaku crunched the sugar cube before saying, "I am not here to speculate on the moral lapses of men who died in the country's service. I came to..."
"MORAL LAPSES?" Kairi shouted, looking completely enraged, "RAPE is a moral lapse?! You know he BROKE her ribs?! You know he almost CHOKED her?! Jaden, get this creep out of here!"
"Shukaku, you're really upsetting Kairi. I think it's time you leave." Jaden said, his voice making him sound like he was on the verge of crying.
"Just hear me out Professor Neos, I think there's a mask killer out there, maybe it's an old foe holding a grudge." Shukaku said as Jaden narrowed his eyes.
"I said, I think it's time you leave." he said.
"Took a lot of trouble getting in here. I'm not leaving until I've had-" Before he could finish, Shukaku vanished in a quick flash of light. The flash appeared again and Shikaku appeared outside.
"My say!" he finished. He found himself outside and looked down. He grunted before walking away.
Back inside, Jaden was working on some machinery, hands phasing through the solid material and dismantling others without even touching it.
"He's gone." He said to Kairi, who was still looking angered, "Are you still upset?"
"Yeah." Kairi sighed in irritation, "I just don't like Shukaku. He's insane, COMPLETELY insane. The way he smells doesn't help anything, either. Or his voice. The sooner the police put him behind bars, the better." She sat down and asked, "Jaden?"
"Yes, Kairi?" Jaden asked.
"I was thinking that I'm probably extremely edgy to let a creep like Shukaku get to me." She explained, "I just feel cooped up sometimes. Maybe I could use a night out. You know, Shukaku mentioned Sora. We haven't seen him in YEARS. Maybe I'll call him up and ask him out to dinner..." she then realized how wrong that sounded and added, "If you don't mind, of course."
"Of course not." Jaden replied, glowing eyes not shifting from his work, "I'd join you, but I am close to finding a gluino, which would completely validate Supersymmetrical Theory if we could include it in the bestiary."
"Uh...fascinating. I'm going to call Sora now." Kairi said, sounding like she was pretending to be interested for Jaden's sake. She walked over to a phone before she dialed a number, "Hello, Sora? It's me, Kairi...I'm fine, how are you? Great. Listen, I just remembered that I haven't seen you in a while and wondered if we could have dinner sometime...Well, how about tonight? Mario's at 9:30? That's terrific...Jaden? Oh yeah, he's in pretty good shape, too. See you later, Sora. Bye."
Elsewhere, Shukaku was walking through the rain, not seeming to care about his drenched clothes.
"The Shukaku Journal
October 13th, 1985, 11:30 P.M.:
On Friday night, a German died in New York. Someone threw him out of a window and when he hit the sidewalk, his head was driven up into his stomach. Nobody cares...nobody cares, but me. Are they right? Is it futile? Soon, there will be war. Millions will burn. Millions will perish in sickness and misery. Why does death matter against so many? Because there is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Even in the face of Armageddon, I shall not compromise in this. But there are so many deserving of retribution..."
Shukaku exited the alley and walked out into the streets.
"And there is so little time..."
The next night, at a fancy restaurant knows as Mario's, Sora, who was wearing fancy clothes was sitting at a table waiting for Kairi to arrive. The young girl took a taxi and when she entered, she was pointed over to Sora's table.
The teen looked up and saw Kairi, wearing a red cocktail dress. THe two smiled and as they ate, they started to talk about the good old days.
"Oh Sora, what was the name of that one guy we faced with the dreadlocks?" Kairi asked.
"Sideshow Bob! Man that guy was crazy, he pretended to be a supervillian just so he could get beaten up. First time I saw him, he was following me in broad daylight screaming, 'I'm a bad person! I need to be punished'!'" Sora said, making Kairi giggle.
"Whatever happened to him?" Kairi asked.
"Oh, he tried that out on Shukaku and Shukaku broke his legs and dropped him down an elevator shaft." Sora said, making his and Kairi's faces go blank. The two then started to laugh.
"This shouldn't be funny!" Kairi said as she was laughing.
"I know!" Sora laughed.
Kairi took some deep breaths before saying, "I don't remember the last time I laughed like this..."
She then thought about something she hadn't thought of in a long time.
"Why'd we do it Sora, why'd we run around fighting bad guys? You remember my costume right? It always showed off my curves? It was awful." Kairi said.
"Yeah, it was awful." Sora agreed.
"Y'know, when I think back...why'd we dress up like that in the first place?" Kairi asked as the two stepped out, "The Keene Act was probably the best thing that happened to us."
"You're probably right..." Sora said, but he pulled out Gilbert's Iron Cross and set it on the table.
"I don't remember the last time I had a night like this." Kairi said.
"Yeah, me neither." Sora nodded.
"At midnight all the agents and superhuman crew, go out and round up everyone that knows more than they do,"
-Bob Dylan