Stack

"To arrange cards or a pack of cards so as to cheat."

It was raining. Dan truly wished he'd brought an umbrella along, no matter how ridiculous and unwieldy it would have been. After hiking along more rooftops than he could count, trailing behind Rorschach as he picked a path to the abandoned greenhouse, he was every definition of the word "wet." Water squelched in his boots, his costume clung to him like a second skin (which was very uncomfortable in certain areas), and his drenched hair poked at the back of his neck, itching something terrible. Worst of all, if he even opened his mouth for a second, Rorschach seemed to know, and would cut him off with a stiff, "Stop whining, Daniel." Being treated like a child infuriated him – how did Rorschach know what he was going to say? He'd barely said a word the entire night, and it was his right to complain if he wanted to!

Quietly seething, Dan paused as Rorschach held out a hand, pointing down and over the edge of the building. He leaned forward and nodded – the greenhouse's transparent glass was painfully obvious, reflecting the brooding clouds and each brief flash of lightning.

Suddenly, a sinking feeling attacked his stomach, and Dan frowned. "Uh, Rorschach," he said, holding up a hand. Rorschach quickly turned around and glared at him – or, at least, the mask's blots glared.

"Your costume will dry inside," he snapped, obviously fed up with each complaint Dan hadn't voiced and he'd somehow heard anyway. "Can't give up now."

"That's not what I'm saying!" he retorted, practically ready to give his smug partner a shove off the rooftop. Of course, he thought guiltily, he never really would do it… sometimes it just seemed like an awfully good idea. "My question was," he said, taking a deep, calming breath, "how are we supposed to get down?" Rorschach snorted a bit, dug around in his coat, and produced what seemed to be a homemade grappling hook, complete with several extension cords tied together and looped around a dozen times. Dan gaped at him for a moment. What he carried around sometimes… and it hadn't even made a bulge. Staring stupidly, he watched Rorschach drape the hook over the side of the building and give the rope a sharp tug. The results must have been satisfactory, because with a small nod, he let go of the extension cords.

"This will do," he said, watching it tumble down with his head tilted the slightest bit. Dan had to gulp when he heard the final "clink!" of the makeshift rope hit the glass, and he was suddenly overcome by a debilitating fear of heights – or, more specifically, falling from them.

"Er," Dan tried, feeling oddly nervous as Rorschach clambered down a bit, digging into the brick with his feet and fingers. "Are you sure that'll hold? The roof is wet."

"We'll find out." With that, Rorschach grabbed the cords and slid several feet, giving Dan a bigger start than he cared to admit. Time seemed to stand still as he shimmied his way down, each raindrop on Dan's shoulders like a hammer as he tried not to choke on his tongue. Finally, several stories and a few near-mishaps that left his poor heart pounding later, he could see Rorschach touch ground and heard him call up, voice muffled by distance, wind, and mask. "Come on."

Oh, God. Gingerly, Dan hefted himself around to dangle precariously, staring at the cords trapped between him and the building with a shifty eye. He didn't trust them at all, and yet how else was he supposed to get down? If only they could've taken Archie, but he couldn't fly in this goddamn weather, and they had to come here tonight. Otherwise, she might catch wind of them and move, and although he felt a bit like throwing up just thinking about her, he'd rather they got this over with.

Trying to recall climbing the rope in gym class a million years ago, Dan wrapped his legs around the cords, prayed briefly to whoever might have been listening, and grabbed the cord, squeezing his eyes shut against the horrible sensation of falling a few feet. Slowly, one hand after the other, he lowered himself, doing his best to feel comfortable with using a fake grappling hook, complete with a fake rope, to climb down a very, very real building.

"You'll burn your legs, sliding down that way," Rorschach offered helpfully, sounding much closer than he had a few moments ago. Dan didn't dare open his eyes.

"Yeah, well, I'll deal with it," he replied, continuing his weird shuffle.

He felt his foot touch something solid, opened his eyes, and found himself dangling a little awkwardly about two inches away from the glass and two feet away from Rorschach, who was assuredly looking at him like he was crazy. Clearing his throat, he let go of the cords and brushed imaginary dust off his uniform. Rorschach snorted again.

"Interesting," he said, examining him like he would a piece of evidence, or… or a bug.

"I don't care what you say," Dan muttered, "I am never doing that again." Clenching his hands, he hoped they'd stop shaking in a minute – adrenaline was a real bitch.

"Won't have to," said Rorschach, turning away and bending down to peer through the glass roof. "It's not far. We'll jump."

Of course. Of course they were going to jump. Rorschach was going to kill them both sometime.

Rorschach touched Dan's arm briefly, jerking away again when Dan looked down at the contact. Nodding, he pulled his laser pen out of his utility belt, crouching down and peering at the greenhouse below. Most of the plants were dead, left alone for many years, but here and there he saw a splash of exciting color – like directly below him, where once the glass he cut fell, it would be muffled and less likely to draw attention.

He pressed a button, and a quiet glow focused itself into the glass, burning a hole straight through. Moving his hand in a slow arc, his stomach flip-flopped as he realized how close they really were to doing this… to finding her. After this, he couldn't turn back – either they had to arrest her, or… Dan didn't want to think about any alternatives. They had to arrest her, turn her in to the police, and then maybe he could finally get her out of his mind. It wasn't right, after all, a costumed hero and a… whatever it was Rorschach called her. They had to put her away… but why did he feel so guilty about it?

"Getting cold feet?" Rorschach mumbled. Dan frowned, finished off the circle, and they watched as the glass plummeted and crashed into a wide planter, barely making a sound as it hit flowers and dirt.

"No."

"You're sure?" That imperious tone was back, and again Dan was tempted to shove Rorschach or punch him in the mouth, whatever would get him to stop acting so damn superior. Resisting it, he clenched his jaw and pocketed the laser pen.

"I'm fine, Rorschach."

"Not asking if you're fine. I'm asking if you can do this."

Dan blinked a moment, turned away, and was unbelievably grateful that the goggles hid his eyes. He couldn't possibly lie to Rorschach's face, but he could lie to himself.

"Sure. Let's go."

With that, he slipped through the hole and fell ten feet, side-stepping the moment when he'd really have to come to terms with what they were doing. The second his feet touched dirt, squashing a few browning plants, he flicked the setting on his goggles to infrared, searching for any heat signals that would betray a bodyguard. For now, there was nothing, just the quiet colors of plants slowly waving back and forth. He couldn't believe it would be this easy.

A crunch of glass and quiet "oof" meant Rorschach was next to him, and partly out of morbid curiosity, he turned to look at his partner and immediately regretted it. All he could see was a giant source of heat, drizzled with the traces of cold rain, and his mask… a swirl of hues, no longer black and white, and no longer separate – he could still see traces of where the mask had been a few seconds before, mixed together in a horrible carnival of colors. He shivered, turned his head, and quietly stepped down from the planter. Rorschach followed, his movements totally silent, and for a moment they simply took in their surroundings. Some of the flowers still seemed healthy, despite what had to have been years of neglect. It must have been a beautiful place, before the owners went bankrupt.

"Don't see why she's so paranoid."

Snapping into action, Rorschach grabbed Dan's cape and dragged him downward, ducking behind a huge, flowering bush. The voice came from their right – Dan swiveled and saw two huge men lumbering along. One had a long pipe, and the other had what looked like a gun in his waistband. Rorschach let go of Dan's cape, made a shushing motion, and slunk off in another direction. Naturally, he would have a plan, but he really wished he could him let in on it beforehand for once.

"Me either. The birdbrain and that freak aren't going to show up anytime soon. She fooled them too good."

They were heading his way, probably almost blind in the dark. Doing his best to stay silent, Dan took a few careful steps backward, ready to duck out of the way if he had to.

"Still," said one of the men, rubbing his arms, "I don't know why she picked this place. It's creepy."

Another heat form appeared behind them, hunched over and decorated with twisting colors. Very slowly, he crept up on them, closer and closer until it seemed like he was right on top of them. Dan didn't realize he was holding his breath until his chest hurt.

"Yeah. I wish we had a flashlight."

"I have one," Rorschach said, and smacked the man with the gun over the head with it. He howled in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his head, and the gun went skittering across the floor. Dan turned off the infrared (nothing could be more distracting than an array of colors assaulting his eyes) and leapt forward, crashing his fist into the pipe-wielding thug's stomach. The thug roared, took a wild swing, and missed, leaving Dan to spin around and kick him in the back, knocking him forward a few feet. Rorschach, he noticed briefly, was still grappling with his victim, leading with his left hand as he got in every punch he could.

"That's enough."

A new voice. Calm, cool, collected. Commanding. All four of them paused, turned toward the voice, and stared for a moment. Dan had to gulp, his heart pounding so fast it couldn't be healthy. She stood in a doorway, her arms folded across her chest, almost totally encased in skin-tight leather except for her legs. Her long red hair fell to the middle of her back, and she had a look on her face like she'd just won the lottery.

The Twilight Lady.

Never one to take orders, Rorschach slammed his fist in the man's face and let him drop, whirling to face her. Dan looked back at the man still lying on the ground, his face turned toward Twilight Lady with a frown of sheer stupidity. She jerked her head once, and he immediately scrambled to his feet and fled, his footsteps echoing all around them.

"Isn't this a surprise?" she purred, unfolding her arms and planting them against her hips. She had a riding crop in her hand, and she thumped it once against her thigh. "I wasn't really expecting company today. I didn't even have time to put on my makeup."

"You planned this," Rorschach growled, clenching his fists.

"Of course. You really think I'd leave valuable information lying around on purpose? I practically led you here." Twilight Lady laughed, a syrupy sound that almost made Dan sick. Rorschach's head twitched almost imperceptibly in his direction, and he swallowed the bile down. He would not let Rorschach think him weak.

"What could you possibly gain from bringing us here?" he snapped. She slowly turned to him, put a hand on her chin thoughtfully, and surveyed him – up and down, twice. He almost looked away, but what defiance he had left forced him to stare directly into her face the entire time, suppressing memories of… God, everything. It wasn't her beauty, he thought as she surveyed him, even though it certainly didn't hurt to look at her. She just had this aura of power, of control, something that drew him in like a moth to the light. No matter how he tried to shake her, to pry her fingers off his heart and disconnect them, she only seemed to tighten her grip and pull him in further. Finally, she looked back at his face, their eyes met through each other's masks (he cursed as his heart stuttered), and she smiled.

"Why, my little night bird. I just wanted a chance to see you again, even for a moment. It has been a while." She reached out a hand as if to touch his face, but Rorschach quickly thrust himself between them, practically growling. Dan blinked, feeling sluggish – as though in some sort of stupor – and Twilight Lady laughed again. "Of course, killing your friend is a definite bonus."

"It won't happen," Rorschach snarled.

"Oh, let's not be dramatic, Rorschach. I won't kill you – too messy, hard to cover up. No one will complain if I just rough you up enough to put you out of commission. How about we, let's say, snap your spine?"

Dan started. She was almost perfectly serious – she always had a hint of sarcasm in her tone, it was part of her nature, but he knew she meant most of what she said. He glanced over at Rorschach, and raised his fists in a reluctant battle stance. He truthfully didn't know how he could fight her, but if it came down to defending his partner's life… Assured, Rorschach snorted and sank into a crouch, ready to charge her at any given moment.

"Go ahead and try," he retorted, and in a split second they were on each other, kicking, punching, and evading, a flurry of hits going almost too fast to be seen one at a time. More than once, she slapped him with the riding crop, but he held his ground, going for any place that seemed vulnerable. After a few unsuccessful attempts to land a punch, he made a grab for her leg as she swung around to kick him and caught it. Grunting, he tried to lift her up and throw her, but all he did was knock her back a step. She laughed, shook her head, and he moved in again, staying at close range – too close for Dan to leap in and try anything. He had to wait, if he didn't want to get in Rorschach's way and throw them both off – at least, that's what he told himself.

Still, it killed him, watching his partner attack time after time with barely anything connecting. They seemed evenly matched, each blow deflected and returned for what seemed to be ages. Finally, Rorschach grabbed her arm and yanked, holding her in place as he punched her in the stomach. Dan winced, watched as she doubled over, but she glanced over at him and smiled – there was something victorious in it, and it put a chill in his chest.

"Really, now." In the blink of an eye, Twilight Lady slammed her body into Rorschach's, throwing him off-balance and knocking him down to the ground. She kicked him once on the side of the head, knocking off his hat and sending it flying.

"Rorschach!" Dan cried, taking a step forward. She ignored him, turned Rorschach over with one stiletto boot, and crouched down on top of him, pinning him with her weight and with more strength neither of them had known she possessed. He struggled, roaring with rage and trying his best to regain purchase, but he wasn't getting up – he couldn't.

"Whore!" Rorschach spat, unable to say anything else. Twilight Lady laughed, uproariously, breathless.

"Sticks and stones, dear," she whispered. He roared again, screaming with everything he had. It hurt to listen to it, to see him ground into the dust like this, but what could he possibly do? It felt like he couldn't move. How could he lift a hand against her?

"Nite Owl!" Rorschach bellowed, practically begging for help, for him to do something besides stand there like an idiot and watch this happen. Dan stepped forward again, perfectly aware they were both watching and waiting for him to do something, but his feet wouldn't go any farther. Rorschach turned his head away as best he could, and Dan felt his terrible disappointment as if he'd been stabbed in the chest.

Bile gathered at the back of his throat – he couldn't attack her, no matter how he wanted to, and he felt so sick and ashamed. Her chuckle only worsened the feeling, and desperately, he closed his eyes and dug down inside himself, frantically searching for that one spot somewhere inside him that she hadn't corrupted.

"That's the best part about all this," Twilight Lady said, loud enough for them both to hear. She slammed Rorschach's face into the ground again, held him down with her hand, and leaned forward to whisper into his ear. "He won't lift a finger to help you. He's powerless against me. Isn't that right, night bird?"

Desperate, Dan scanned the room, his gaze passing over useless flowers and the still-unconscious body of the thug Rorschach had taken care of earlier. Anything, anything that might help him end this without any more violence, get her to let his partner go and quietly surrender to the police, something that might give him the extra courage he lacked…

With a sudden, piercing clarity, his eyes locked on a gun, lying a few yards away. He remembered seeing it what seemed like years ago, tucked into the bodyguard's waistband, and briefly bit his lip. He knew what he had to do.

"What shall we do first?" Twilight Lady muttered, her attention wholly on Rorschach as she clinically studied him. Praying fast and silently to anyone who would listen, Dan made his way slowly over to the gun, picked it up, and steadily moved out of her line of vision. She didn't seem to notice, running her hand over his partner in a way that made him shriek bloody murder. He felt a twinge in his stomach, his resolve hardened, and he continued to slide his way toward them until he was right behind, close enough to touch her. "How about we take off this mask…?"

Nite Owl raised the gun, pointed it directly at the back of her head, and cocked it, making an audible click. Her voice petered out softly, and even Rorschach ceased struggling, his body instantly tensing up at the sound. Slowly, she turned around, looking back at him with a studiously blank face, but there was surprise written plainly in her eyes. They stared at each other, and with all the strength he possessed, he kept his arms perfectly steady.

"Let him go, Leslie."

She tried to pass it off as some kind of sick joke, her typical smile twisting up the corners of her mouth as she did her best to look winning and innocent. "Why, Nite Owl, you wouldn't! I thought–"

"If I have to, I will. Get off him."

Dropping the smile and the false persona, she stared at him, challenging him – but when he refused to point the gun away, she carefully stood and held up her hands in surrender. "Whatever you say, dear…" she said quietly, never taking her eyes off the gun. For a moment, Dan panicked, knew he couldn't do it if anything were to happen, but with a quick glance at Rorschach, still on the ground as if stunned, that feeling disappeared. He could and would pull the trigger, if Rorschach needed him too. What was more important, Leslie knew it too, and that would keep her from trying anything stupid.

Rorschach seemed to shake off whatever had held him to the ground, jumped to his feet, and took a few obvious, heaving breaths. There were dirt stains on his mask, brown mixed with black and white, and it broke Dan's heart so thoroughly that he knew nothing he ever did could fix what just happened. Still, he took one hand off the gun, reached into his utility belt, and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"You're under arrest, Leslie." He didn't say what for – he didn't need to, all three of them knew what she'd done: prostitution, drug distribution, typical vice queen behavior, but what stood out foremost in his mind was assault, and it kept him angry as he put the cuffs around her wrists. They clicked into place, secure enough to hang onto her until they could get the police here, and Dan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Twilight Lady kept her back to him, standing still and totally silent… but he could feel Rorschach's stare on him. Too nervous to stare back, try to analyze the mask blots and discern a meaning, he kept his focus on the gun. Quickly, his heart pounding, he uncocked the hammer, ejected the magazine, and tossed the gun away, his fingers trembling a bit when it left his hand. For a moment, he'd held life and death in his hands, unforgiving metal ready to kill anyone in its path – he never wanted to have that kind of power over anyone again.

The next half hour was a blur – he knew he'd called the police, because within ten minutes the glass greenhouse was alight with flashing blue-and-red sirens. Leslie had called to him, nonchalantly asking him to "wait for her," and he hadn't watched as they loaded her into the back of a car. As the officers raided closets and back rooms, searching for and finding drugs and half-filmed pornos, Dan and Rorschach slipped out the front door and into the night. The rain had long since stopped, leaving the air humid and with a biting chill. They hadn't spoken to each other at all, and now as they walked down the street, Dan couldn't help but feel as if he should say something. It took a few minutes, but in the end it was the smudges of dirt still on his mask that guilted him into talking.

"You all right?" he asked gently, not knowing what sort of answer he expected, or what he wanted.

"Fine," Rorschach snapped, the syllable clipped and frigid. Dan blinked once, fought for words, and pressed on tentatively.

"Listen… I didn't mean for…" Rorschach stopped, turned to face him, and stared, the blots barely moving. "I mean, Rorschach, I –"

"Forget it."

There was anger in his voice… no, anger wasn't the right word for it. He sounded furious, barely repressing the animosity creeping into his voice. Rorschach turned on his heel and started to walk away and suddenly, Dan felt it, too.

"Hey – hey! You don't get to act like that, Rorschach!" he shouted, following him closely. Reaching out, he grabbed his arm, yanking him back around. After all that obviously unwanted contact from Twilight Lady, he knew Rorschach wouldn't be very responsive to any kind of touch, but he only felt a small twinge of guilt when he jerked his arm away and stepped backwards, almost in a panic. "Don't forget," he continued, pointing a finger at him, "that I'm the one who saved your ass back there!"

"You almost didn't." This time, his voice was totally emotionless, and the full weight of Dan's sins came crashing down onto his shoulders. Before he could say anything or even move an inch, Rorschach turned away again and walked off down the street without a goodbye.

This time, Dan let him go.

AN: I will not lie – I know absolutely nothing about guns, or greenhouses, so I apologize for any incongruities or for infuriating any gun-experts and so on. I'm also going to admit that fight scenes are in no way my strong point, especially fight scenes that don't involve my POV character, but it was very important to have Dan simply be a spectator. If you have any suggestions on things to fix or mistakes you saw, please let me know, and I'll do my best to fix them. Also, slightly unrelated, in terms of "Words," it was a few months after this that Dan made Rorschach a grappling gun and presented it to him, as a way of sort of saying he was sorry. Fun little trivia. :)

Everything we know about Dan's relationship with Leslie comes from what little the graphic novel says about her, speculation, and "The End Is Nigh" video game. I watched a lot of walkthroughs and clips revolving around that, especially the parts with Twilight Lady, and I have to say that I don't agree with most of it. I always imagined Rorschach and Nite Owl taking down Twilight Lady together both times, and I don't believe Dan would purposefully toss his partner into broken glass and let him fall, even to save her. That's part of why I wrote this the way I did – Dan doesn't know what to do with himself; he feels strongly for Leslie, but he doesn't want to leave his partner hanging, and in the end he chooses what's more important. That's part of the reason why I didn't really like the Nite Owl ending of "TEIS" (or the Rorschach one, but you know)… maybe one day I'll write what I see as really happing, but it's not going to be put into Words. Either way, I apologize for the digression, and I hope you enjoyed. :)