~*~
Walter knew something was wrong the moment he kicked down the door. Daniel was still half-dressed in his Nite Owl outfit; it smelled charred and Rorschach could see blood spatter. Daniel did not look up or look worried or come running. He was not tinkering in his basement or puttering in his kitchen or plucking away at his typewriter. He was sitting at the table, in the dark, head in his hands. Unlike Daniel. Daniel did not do that. Then Daniel finally lifted his head to look.
"He fed her to his dogs, Rorschach," Daniel croaked, red eyes peeking through fingers. "HIS DOGS!" He screamed and slammed his hands on the table.
Rorschach paused. He had no experience in consolation. And he was beginning to feel sick as well.
"Too late? I am sorry Daniel. Should not have been late. Should have gone as soon as…"
"How could this happen!?" Daniel jumped up and kicked the chair away. "Are we that sick? That it's not enough to poison adults, peddling drugs and spreading disease, to cheat and steal from each other, to shoot each other down in the streets over money and stupidity? How did she deserve this hell, she was a child, I thought it was a ransom case that he wasn't going to… she was a child!"
"Am aware, Daniel," Rorschach croaked, watching Daniel's limbs flail like he wanted to hurt something. "Grice?" He asked with a faint hint of hesitation.
Then Daniel started laughing. "Grice? That bastard? That… that… filth, sitting in a dilapidated nest of dirt and grime, letting everything get torn apart… you want to know what I did? I cut his fucking hands off and tied him to his stove and I watched him burn." Nite Owl's eyes flashed from behind the glaze of tears. His hands flexed and he grabbed his partner by his trench coat's lapels, slamming him into the kitchen wall, forgetting that Rorschach had gotten wounded earlier. "He earned it! He was filth and I cleaned it, burned it all away and I'll keep burning it all away, the dirt off of everything! They've all earned it! I'm not watching them get off again, they die, they'll all die! I will scrub them off the face of this planet…" Then his eyes widened and he let his partner drop. "Oh God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… God, Rorschach, Rorschach, Ror, Rory, Rory…" He grabbed onto the coat again, but this time in wilting despair instead of anger. "It's all dirt and filth and we're wallowing in it Rory, Rory…"
"Did right, Daniel. Too soft before. Both of us. Better like this." Daniel nodded into his chest, but the tears were still coming. Walter could feel them, hear him whimpering.
"I need to get to bed," he mumbled and staggered away from Rorschach. He peeled off pieces of his costume – his cowl, his gloves, his belt – and set them carefully onto his chair. "Bed. Yeah." He sounded deflated and empty, slipping past the doorway and into the darkness.
Rorschach watched him stumble away, looked at the empty costume, saying nothing. He stood still, waiting as the hands of the kitchen clock slowly turned and clicked. When the hands lined up at twelve, Rorschach trod carefully into Daniel's room.
He'd thrown himself haphazardly onto the bed, sheets wound and tossed about. The blots on Rorschach's face drifted as he watched his partner, still shuddering in his sleep. He'd forgotten how little of hurt Nite Owl had ever seen. All children had to grow up but that didn't make it pleasant. So Rorschach carefully picked up the downy comforter, draped it over Daniel while making sure not to touch him, then left in silence.
~*~
"An island?" Daniel frowned. "I don't suppose that Moloch was so good as to tell you where the island was."
"Didn't know. Maybe Comedian didn't say. Could go back. Check. Ask again."
"No. I've seen you interrogate. If Moloch didn't tell you, he didn't know." He played thoughtfully with the front wisp of his hair that never seemed to behave. "Island, island… perhaps he came across it doing work for the government? They would know where he was, what path he was taking. Don't know how we'd get our hands on that information though."
"Could try. Check out facilities."
"Was there anything in his apartment? Papers, tickets, anything to show where he might have been or who sent him there?"
"No," Rorschach admitted.
"Any trail has probably been destroyed," he sighed. "I don't think they would keep records like that lying around. And if they exist, they're probably in Washington. A fool's errand any way you look at it, really."
"Back out, then." Rorschach stood up.
"I understand," Dan nodded. "You know, you said that Moloch mentioned scientists, writers and artists? On that island? Eddie saw something he wasn't supposed to. Probably what got him killed. And something that big, well, that has to leave a trace. Perhaps you could take that angle? I don't know how many bars out there will have people who would know where a painter went, but like you always say, somebody out there has to know something."
Rorschach nodded. "You?"
"I'll take a slightly more direct approach," he said, getting up from the table with a smile. "It's been a while since Archie and I have gone on vacation together. Say, did you ever go visit any of the others?"
"Yes."
"What happened? What did they say?"
He made a sound. "Nothing of consequence. Veidt called him a Nazi. Laurie was upset. Jon teleported me away."
Daniel nodded. It was as he'd expected. "Never mind. We never needed them to operate." He looked at the trench coat. "Say, where'd you get that rose anyway?"
"Grave." He got up. "Moloch left it. Must get back to work now. You will be leaving soon also?"
"As soon as I can get Archie prepped. Take care out there, Rory," he said quietly. "This whole business is starting to get me worried. I don't like it."
Rorschach nodded again, pocketed a handful of sugar cubes and left the Nite Owl to his business. On his way down the stairs, the call button caught his eye and he saw that now the only name next to the buttons was D. Dreiberg. No more neighbors? Only an empty building? He would have to investigate further, ask Daniel when they both got back.
For now, there was more important business to attend to.
~*~
Laurie continued to scream even after they moved past their discussion of the Comedian.
"You 'warned' the Nite Owl? You would have done better to leave him alone!" She continued on her tear. "You know, he used to be a nice guy before he got mixed up with you!" She ranted furiously. "Decent. Wanted justice. Wasn't messed up, at least not before you infected him with your damn… before you rotted his brains out with all that garbage you spew! Pulled him into your lunacy, trapped him in your sick little codependent relationship."
"Did not hurt him. He saw truth. That's all."
"Oh the truth my ass," she growled. "You disgust me, you smelly, filthy…"
"I think you ought to go." Jon stepped in and Rorschach knew it was over.
He was out in the rain all of a sudden, staring into the darkness. With a shrug he moved on, indifferent to all that she had said. She could think what she liked; she didn't know Daniel.
~*~
Daniel took his time getting into his Nite Owl armor, enjoying the feel of putting on his second skin. Sometimes Daniel felt confused or frightened or worried, but Nite Owl knew how to handle the world and its horrors. He knew what to do, what people deserved, wasn't helpless against the crushing, relentless, disgusting waves. Potent. That was the word for it, for the feeling that grew as he put on boots and gloves and goggles.
He fired up Archie with the same sense of deliberation, pausing to feel the engine hum beneath him. He patted the ship's steering column, a moment of affection for an old friend who'd been with him through any number of exploits. Archie was, in a sense, irreplaceable.
But that didn't mean he couldn't make new friends too. He carefully took the ship up and out, maneuvering around the bulk being stored in the warehouse he used to launch Archie. Then the roof opened up, giving him the sky, a gift he accepted gratefully as he rose above the suffocating grime of the city to mingle with the crisp, clear stars.
~*~