I get to cover one of my favorite Freddy tricks in this one. I think it's been in most of the movies ever since the first one & a more extreme variation in the remake. Ha ha. Love it. Oh – and before anyone calls me on it, I've granted Daniel the first Kristen's (Dream Warriors) awesome 'bring other people into dreams power'. Only you know, no one will call him on it. But it's there. It's there. *nods sagely*

And a friendly reminder – it is the horror genre. And we all know how many people are allowed to survive by the end. :D

Thanks for reading & reviewing – you guys are awesome.

Part V

The plan had been simple. Since the pair had very little left to lose at the moment, Daniel and Rorschach agreed a head on attack would be most beneficial. And if not the most beneficial, than definitely the most satisfying. Despite failed earlier attempts with physical attacks, at this point just the knowledge he could punch that bastard in the face repeatedly brought a bit of comfort to Nite Owl. It was also the original plan prior to Ms. Jupiter's passing so either way they hadn't taken a step back in their planning.

Only now, it was Rorschach keeping watch while Nite Owl slept instead of the two of them going in at the same time. Someone needed to stay awake on the off chance the other started to fail. There had been a brief argument over who would go in, but Daniel won. Ms. Jupiter's passing had induced more rage than originally realized. Rorschach backed down. So, Nite Owl found himself in full suit and gear prepared to take on the entire underworld if need be sitting in his basement on a cot.

They exchanged a brief nod acknowledging the plan was a go and Nite Owl laid back on the cot and placed his hands on his stomach. Rorschach watched his partner's eyes shut and took in a short breath. A few seconds later and partner was out like a light with Rorschach watching, armed with a steel pipe, for anything suspicious.

Sadly, the words of Steinbeck seemed appropriately true when it came to best laid plans.

Rorschach cursed once again before kicking the nearest metal handrail with enough force to break the rusted thing. He fell asleep. Rorschach fell asleep. One, one damn thing to do and he fell asleep. Rorschach didn't even feel like he was nodding off. One thing he was looking at Nite Owl breathing evenly, and then nothing but red, steam and metal. Rorschach's fist was tight around the pipe he thankfully was still carrying and stalked along the boiler room overhangs and pathways looking for signs of anyone- be it Nite Owl or Krueger.

So far, Rorschach found himself alone.

The vigilante considered this in itself as a fear tactic to keep Rorschach on edge. Whether or not it was working had yet to be seen as the fighter was far too angry with himself for falling asleep in the first place to be bothered with something trivial like fear of someone jumping out at him with a knife. In fact, Rorschach would almost welcome that at the moment. Beating someone's face in with his pipe would definitely do wonders for his nerves.

He started to run the pipe along the metal walls creating a screeching noise as he walked, tapping it at random intervals to listen to the clangs echo throughout the crowded, steaming room. Krueger wasn't the only one who could cause intimidation. Rorschach continued on his way in this fashion looking for signs of anyone but coming up short. No hallucinations, no imposters, no Krueger, no Nite Owl – just a crime fighter making metallic noises bashing metal on metal. One tap, however, was a miscalculation as it knocked a rickety pipe out of place blasting Rorschach with a burst of steam.

Immediately covering his face with his hand to try and catalog the damage left Rorschach frozen in place. His fingers dug into the flesh of his cheek and he took in a deep breath. Something was very wrong. Looking up and around, Rorschach tried to spy a reflective surface in all of the metal surrounding him to come up short. However, a creak from the side drew his attention and Rorschach made the dash for a conveniently placed set of industrial wall lockers. The door on the end hung open revealing a small square mirror. Rorschach ripped the metal door open all the way to get a look at himself. Rorschach saw his own eyes widen.

His face was missing.

"Where the hell are you Freddy?" Nite Owl called out through his basement. The oddest thing about these dreams by far had to be that each and everyone started him off right where he fell asleep. But Nite Owl knew better by this point. Sooner or later he'd either come across a bunch of creepy children or a boiler room. His biggest tip off that the time was fast approaching was the change in temperature. Freddy liked to turn up the heat right before his appearance.

Dan wondered if he did it on purpose or if it was just a side effect of being whatever it was Freddy was.

Nite Owl didn't particularly care.

"Get the hell out here you bastard!" Nite Owl screamed again waiting for something to change. Something to happen. Something, anything to help him get rid of these feelings of helplessness and frustration. "I've got a bone to pick with you!"

"There's no need to yell, Dan. Or is it Nite Owl at the moment? You are in full costume." Replied a cheerful, familiar voice. "We can all hear you, you know."

Nite Owl gasped out right as he turned towards the voice and felt his voice choke up in his throat. He could barely rasp out the name of the person standing to his right. A person covered head to toe in blood so thick you couldn't even tell the color of her costume any longer. Brunette hair now matted and plastered in clumps to her head. A previously warm, welcome chest ripped open and full of puss. His voice caught in his throat as his eyes started to tear up. "Laurie."

"Oh, don't cry, Dan." Laurie cooed as she took a few steps closer, reached a hand up and pet his cheek. She rubbed her thumb just under the goggles in a soothing motion. "It's okay."

Nite Owl flinched when her hand touched him and he felt the warm substance leave a streak. "But, how." Dan sucked in a breath. "This is a trick. You're not real."

Laurie chuckled. "Oh, you don't understand very much, do you Dan?" The blood covered Silk Spectre rose up on the tips of her toes to come face to face with Nite Owl. "I'm real."

Dan felt sick. He could feel Laurie's warm breath on his mouth and his nose was filled with the rancid scent of old blood. Her face was getting ever closer and Nite Owl instinctively reacted by grabbing her shoulders to holder in place. His voice shuddered. "You're dead."

"Yeah." Laurie whispered softly. "I am."

Nite Owl wasn't given a chance to respond as Laurie used an inhuman strength to push past his arms and bring her lips to meet his in a kiss. Dan shoved at her with more force this time but she wouldn't budge and continued to push her way farther until a rotting tongue was shoved into his mouth.

She held like that for a few moments before releasing the man. She chuckled when Nite Owl started to gag off to the side. "Sorry." Laurie smirked before laughing out right at the glare. "You need more practice."

"How dare you." Nite Owl responded, voice low and angry. "Take that disguise off." A beat and a snarl. "Now."

"Disguise?" Laurie chuckled before doing a little spin in place. "Maybe." She took a few skips to the other side of Nite Owl and blew a kiss. "But for now, I have somewhere else to be. Looks like another one of your friends wants to play."

"Hey!" Dan moved his feet to follow and hesitated when the scenery shifted to the familiar boiler room. What on earth was it with Krueger and this place? Before he could ponder his surroundings too much longer, Dan realized 'Laurie' was already fast running around the corner.

Nite Owl took off after the imposter with as much speed as he could muster, cape flickering behind him and boots landing heavily on the metal. Thankfully, his armor protected him from the jets of steam coming from every which direction so he could follow more easily. He saw a flicker of brown hair round the corner and he headed full force towards it.

Only to smack into something solid.

Both Dan and whatever it was he ran into collided hard enough to send both of them backwards and to the ground. Dan heard the second thump as he reached up to adjust his goggles, followed by an angry growl that sounded familiar but just a bit different. He looked up to see what he hit and tilted his own head much like the owls that he so loved.

There getting up on his own knees was a red headed man, face covered in freckles and pock marks. A rather familiar face that Dan saw quite often, actually. But why on earth was he in Dan's dream?

Adrian Veidt was not an ignorant man. Nor was he superstitious or prone to actions without proper thought behind them. In such a case, it was natural that he would draw a conclusion that Daniel's odd nightmares and Laurie's death would be related in some way. The connection of the message written on Laurie's wall and the details of Daniel's dream were unlikely to be so similar if the events were not related. Laurie had called him after all, when Daniel too paid her a visit to discuss said nightmares and requested if he had any knowledge of a man named 'Freddy Krueger.' Adrian of course, explained that he had monitored Daniel's sleep and found nothing to be amiss.

"The stress is getting to him, I think." Veidt had told her casually. Laurie agreed and also supported one of his second theories on the matter with he reply of "I bet it's Rorschach. Lord knows you can't hang around him all day and not get messed up from it."

Needless to say, Adrian was prepared to write it off as nothing, that is, until Laurie was murdered. Factor in the disappearance of Manhattan soon after and Adrian had a bit of a mystery on his hands. Never once though, did he give weight to Daniel and Rorschach's claims that their dreams were haunting them for real. Things like that were impossible. A man recreated himself after being diminished to atoms? Not likely, but possible. There was still matter present to manipulate. Dreams? Merely electrical byproducts of the brain. Adrian kept his focus on Daniel and the possibility that he may have snapped. Certainly nothing that would keep the Smartest Man on Earth from getting his proper eight hours of sleep.

Adrian was starting to think he had been stupid to ignore the man's claims.

Ozymandias jerked into a fighting position when a vase fell from its spot on a pedestal and shattered behind him. He was still in his house, and yet, he wasn't. It was as if someone had taken his house and drenched it in acid and let it sit for a hundred years. The colors were faded, the draperies and carpets split and torn, and everything had a tendency to collapse into dust when touched. It was clear he was in a dream, but Ozymandias couldn't remember the last time a dream had been this tactile.

And he certainly wished he had more to wear than his pajamas while wandering around it.

Adrian grimaced when his bare foot stepped in something unidentifiable on the carpet and sighed. It was wet and sticky and stuck to the bottom of his foot. The man pulled his foot up and was shocked to drag the floor up with him. Ozymandias narrowed his eyes as he watched the floor shift into some sort of viscous liquid. Adrian followed with a curse when the entire hallway floor changed into a similar substance and he found himself sinking.

Ozymandias moved his feet to try and escape the goop, but merely managed to fall to his knees in the muck. Part of his brain was intrigued by how such a liquid could support part of his weight while still retaining so many qualities of a liquid, but the other half of his brain was wondering how the hell to get out. Adrian dropped his hand into the substance and pulled it up for a closer inspection. "What an odd dream. This is surely Daniel's influence."

"He's had a lot of that lately."

Ozymandias froze in place at the sound of a new voice in the hall. He turned slightly to see a pair of shapely, bloodied legs in black pumps. Turning his eyes upward, he sucked in a slight breath at the site. "Laurie?"

"Dan's been a very bad boy." This 'Laurie' giggled before adjusting her red and green costume, clearly mimicking Silk Spectre's usual yellow and black ensemble. Her hair hung down low over her face, making it near impossible to see any features past the brunette strands. "Telling all his friends about, Freddy. You'd think he didn't appreciate the company."

Adrian had to turn around completely to follow her as Laurie ducked behind him, somehow walking on the surface of the liquid without sinking. Little ripples followed in her wake after each step. "Excuse me?"

"You're a smart, man, aren't you Ozzy?" Laurie smirked before turning her neck hard enough to throw her hair out of the way. She laughed when little Adrian recoiled from the sight of her burnt, disfigured face. "I think that you are."

"What is going on?" Adrian demanded as the figure before him shook momentarily, causing the vision of 'Laurie' to drip off into the melted floor below. What was left was a strange burnt man wearing a fedora and a red and green striped sweater. "Who are you?"

"You're the smart guy," Freddy chuckled before tapping the wall with the tip of his clawed index finger. "You tell me."

Ozymandias paused before staring at the man intently. "The best bet would be a fictional representation of this 'Fred Krueger' I'm dreaming up due to exposure to Daniel's stories and Laurie's passing."

"At least you got the name right." Fred chuckled. "But I'm no figment of your imagination, buddy." Freddy kicked up a section of the liquid floor towards Adrian and laughed when it splashed all over his clean face. "You don't have the brain power to think me up. In fact," Freddy paused. "Your brain looks a little heated from working too hard, why don't you let me help you cool off."

Ozymandias felt his stomach enter his chest when the support beneath him caved and gave way to nothing. Falling so suddenly didn't even give him the time to scream before he fell completely through the floor and into an ice bath of water below. Adrian gasped as he pulled himself to the side of the vat, thick fabric of his pajamas sticking to his skin with the weight of the water. He managed to drag himself up onto a platform and take in this new surrounding. "Where am I?"

"What's the matter, smart man?" Freddy spoke from behind the wet man. He laughed again when the hero turned with a swift kick towards his head. These 'heroes' were fun to mess with; they all fought back. "Don't you have the answers to everything?"

"No one has the answer to everything." Adrian snarled before pulling to his feet. "You will leave me be."

"Oh I will leave you," Freddy started before brandishing his clawed hand in the air. He watched and smiled as the other man slowly placed himself into a fighting pose. Oh, the fun he'd have today. "In pieces."

"You're that guy with the sign." Dan stared at the man shifting awkwardly in front of him. It was rude, but Dan pointed anyway. He knew this guy! Well, he didn't' know him personally but he was definitely familiar. "Outside the Gunga Diner. You hang around the news stand."

Rorschach was tense, confused and itching to run. This was not how the usual events occurred. Normally, it was Daniel out of costume and Rorschach in full gear. Or Rorschach watching Daniel from the side of the street unknown to his partner. The 'man with the sign' as Nite Owl put it, was not an alter ego. Oh no, just a disguise. Rorschach was the real face. Kovacs was dead.

But now Daniel was looking smack dab at him without his face as Kovacs and looked almost intrigued. Was this some sort of trick by Krueger? Or was that really Daniel standing across from him? And if it was Daniel, what was Rorschach supposed to do about it? If he talked, it's clear that Nite Owl would recognize his voice. And then the secret would be out. Rorschach hated he had to debate if that was a good or bad thing but he was sure there was a reason he never gave away his most useful disguise to his partner. It would probably bring about…questions.

Since the red head seemed content to merely glare, Dan was able to remember why he had rounded the corner in the first place. Laurie. Or Freddy disguised as Laurie. Whatever it was, Dan had been chasing her. However, it appeared as though she was long gone. "Damn." Nite Owl reached a hand up to bite at his knuckle before turning to the still staring red head. Maybe Freddy changed forms again? It was possible, but what benefit would he have turning into the homeless guy across from a diner Dan ate at? "You didn't happen to see which way a bloody woman ran did ya?" Dan snorted. "Not that you'd answer considering you're probably just some sort of illusion."

A bloody woman? Rorschach raised an eyebrow before shoving his hand into his pocket. He missed his trench coat. Though, the more interesting part of that bit of dialogue was the second half. Daniel thought Rorschach was an illusion. Why would an illusion accuse another of being fake? Points for this being the real Daniel were starting to add up. Rorschach shook his head slowly to answer. In either case, he hadn't seen any women in this forsaken boiler room.

Dan nodded slowly and started to walk down the corridor. "Guess I'll have to keep looking then." Nite Owl paused however when he realized the red-headed man was following him. "Uh…what are you doing?"

Rorschach nearly rolled his eyes. What he was doing was obvious; Daniel should have asked why he was being followed. Either way, Rorschach was now fully convinced that this was the real deal Nite Owl. Not even Krueger could fake that boy-ish look. "Coming with." Rorschach answered. He licked his lips awkwardly before quickly pursing his lips. He missed his Face much more than the coat. "Better as team."

Dan stared out right. As if today couldn't possibly get any weirder from being kissed by Freddy dressed up as Laurie's corpse. It wasn't muffled like usual, but Daniel knew that voice. Better than he knew that face. The sliver of disbelief still held though as he asked for clarification's sake. "Ror…Rorscach?"

"Stop staring, Daniel."

Rorschach. Dan snorted to himself before covering his face. Dan wasn't quite sure just how Rorschach got into his dream, but he was secretly glad he was there. "Well, looks like you get to help out after all."

"Suppose." Rorschach snorted as they started walking again. Rorschach's grip tightened and loosened on his pipe. He was waiting for Daniel to start asking the inevitable. "Still fell asleep at post. Not acceptable."

"Well, no one's perfect." Daniel muttered as his eyes slid to the side and took in the man walking next to him. It was definitely the same man who hung out in front of the Gunga Diner carrying that huge 'The End is Nigh' sign. Rorschach looked in his direction quickly before looking forward again. Rorschach was…nervous, almost. Dan had a sinking feeling in his gut he knew why. And suddenly Rorschach always stealing (Well, sort of. Daniel had already told the man he was welcome to anything in the kitchen when he was over. Daniel just hadn't expected him to take it so literally.) food from his house made a bit more sense. Though after a moment, Dan found himself chuckling.

Rorschach hunched up his shoulders a bit tighter as his partner laughed. Didn't think Daniel was the type to mock others on something as unimportant as looks. "What's so funny?"

"You, I think." Dan chuckled. "I just can't believe you really have an alter ego. I was flat out convinced at once point you never took off that mask." Dan paused to crawl over a fallen pipe that had landed in the way. "Or is this just some sort of Krueger trick messing with your appearance?"

"No," Rorschach admitted, but not without reservation. "This is real disguise."

"Disguise?" Nite Owl muttered to himself. "What do you mean?"

"Rorschach is Rorschach." The usually masked man answered. "Nothing without face. Just a disguise to walk around unnoticed."

Dan would have pressed further but Rorschach started to walk faster and soon passed him on the metal catwalk. His shoulders were tight and pace brisk which Dan recognized easily as the 'I don't want to talk about this anymore, Daniel – shut up' walk. Nite Owl couldn't help the chuckle and decided to help things along with a change of subject. He'd question the hell out of Rorschach later if they lived through the night. "Where do you think Freddy's hiding?"

"Don't know." Rorschach shrugged. "Haven't seen him in person. Just know he took," Rorschach grimaced having to call it this, "mask. Hurm, don't know."

"I think I saw him." Daniel sighed before rubbing his cheek and the blood there. Remembering just a few moments ago brought a blush to his face making it as red as the blood smear. "I think he was impersonating Laurie."

"Ms. Jupiter?"

"Yeah, she showed up covered in blood with her chest ripped open. Said I shouldn't cry and then ran off saying a friend wanted to play." Daniel looked over at Rorschach. He was someone new in the dream. "Maybe she meant you?"

"Possible." Rorschach nodded. "But can't conclude without further-"

A horrid shriek filled the entire boiler room.

"Rorschach."

"Right." No time for talk. Seems Krueger finally made a move and Rorschach kept up with Nite Owl easily as they started the sprint towards the horrid screaming. Seems they found just who Krueger went off to play with.