October 31st, 1965…
The Amazon Rainforest…
*****
Doc Khamandides (the alter ego of Adrian Veidt) and his crew were setting up camp in the jungle. Doc Khamandides was standing on a rock, spying on an Incan temple. He stood there, wearing a torn khaki shirt, his muscles gleaming in the sunlight. He wore a strange golden cap, which gave the appearance of an exaggerated widow's peak, but with the Eye of Horus imprinted on top.
"What's up, Doc?"
Doc turned around, and saw one of his associates, a man named David. David was Native-American, an archer/engineer.
"I've found the hidden mountain, and we'll start climbing now."
"Good," Doc Khamandides nodded, "David, use Bow 'E', and get John to make some Lemon acid, in case Mick finds jagged rocks."
*****
New York…
******
The Halloween party at the Colfax house was going well; most of the New Frontiersman was there, and so was the Anti Dr. Nuclear Club. Walter and Dreiberg stood by the bar, eyeing the guests.
"So, what's the deal with the Vietnam situation?" Walter asked
"We've got it under control for now," Dreiberg replied, "But we're afraid that Dr. Nuclear might side with the Viet Cong."
"Isn't that the decision of the Soviet government?"
"I wish," Dreiberg sighed, "Dr. Nuclear practically runs the country, at peak efficiency; it's getting harder and harder to enforce the ban on him."
"Why do we need the ban?" Laurie walked up to Dreiberg, "Dr. Nuclear saved people's lives."
"Yeah, and most of the people he saved attempted to defect to the Soviet Union," Dreiberg growled
"So? Don't you think people should have a choice?"
"Forty percent of high school students use drugs," Dreiberg explained, "They chose to."
"You can't count that!" Laurie argued
"Criminals choose to break the law."
"Sometimes they need to! What about people who steal to feed their families?"
"Then they should steal a loaf of bread, instead of a Porsche."
"Rrrrg!" Laurie stormed off angrily
"You really shouldn't aggravate her," Walter said
"So I'm not allowed to have an opinion?" Dreiberg asked
"Well you don't need to force it onto others."
"I'm a military man; that's my job."
"Yeah, fair enough."
The party had reached its peak, and guests were dancing. But then, the music was interrupted by a newsflash; Doctor Nuclear had announced that he was siding with the Viet Cong, and was going to enter combat himself. The guests were shocked to hear it, but soon resumed partying. Dreiberg approached Walter.
"We've got to get to the lab," he said, "I'm sorry to abandon your party, but we have a lot of work to do."
"It's OK," Walter said, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Not for now. I'll call you, if anything comes up."
******
Dreiberg waved his hand, and several guests walked out. Dr. Osterman, Colonel Mason, Edward Blake, Dr. Gardner, Dr. Brady, and Byron Lewis, left in an orderly fashion. The six of them piled into Dr. Brady's car, a modified station wagon, and started to drive to the lab.
"Major Dreiberg, what's our top priority?" Dr. Brady asked
"We'll need to make the anti-Dr. Nuclear bullets more convenient," Dreiberg growled, "They'll have to be mass produced."
"OK, I want three ideas from each of you when we get to the lab," Colonel Mason announced, "And we'll need a list of people who are our top enemies. Danny, start brainstorming."
"OK, number one: Dr. Nuclear."
"Obviously."
"Number two…" Dr. Brady scratched his ear, "Edgar William Vaughn."
"Who?" Mason asked
"Moloch, remember?" Blake said, lighting up a cigar, "Magician guy, he spent the fifties in jail."
"He hardly seems like trouble," Mason said, "we destroyed the source of his powers, remember?"
Dr. Brady eyed Byron Lewis. Dreiberg thought it was a strange action; Byron Lewis was just a ten year old kid, the son of a soldier at the base. Byron turned his head, and muttered something.
"Moloch shared a cell with some of the greatest criminal masterminds of our time," Dr. Brady explained, "He's wise in the ways of criminology."
"I never thought of that," Blake said, "And while we're at it, who did he share his cell with?"
"Underboss," Dr. Gardner snapped his fingers, "In fact, we might prioritize him over Moloch."
The six of them soon got stuck in traffic, in the middle of a tunnel.
"Rrrrg!" Dreiberg growled, honking the horn, "Come on! Move!"
"You know, we could get through this," Dr. Brady said, scratching his ear again, "I've made some modifications to the car."
"Do it!" Dreiberg ordered
Dr. Brady pressed a button on the dashboard, and the car's license plates disappeared, and the windows blackened. For a moment, they were stationary, then the next, the entire car shot forward, narrowly missing the vehicle in front of them. Dr. Brady swerved right into the tunnel wall, and flicked a switch that caused the wheels to rotate 90 degrees. To everyone's surprise, the car started to climb the wall of the tunnel, and shot ahead. Soon, they cleared the blocked up tunnel, and flew right over the car crash that was causing the trouble.
*****
The Winter Palace...
*****
Doctor Nuclear stood in his private office, which was a warehouse extension of The Winter Palace. He stood in mid-air, observing Vietnamese activity. A large number of his Duplicates were being deployed there, enough to fill an entire squadron.
"Yaakov!"
Dr. Nuclear turned around, and saw Dr. Slater standing behind him.
"Yes Janey?" he asked
"Yaakov, the Americans are reacting to your military involvement!" Janey said with glee
"What?"
Dr. Nuclear spun around, and his hands shot out, projecting a large TV image. He grinned evilly as he saw President Kennedy's emergency address.
"It's starting," Dr. Nuclear grinned, "Soon, it will be ours…"
"I'll get my revenge on those American pigs," Dr. Slater grinned, "That'll teach them to force me out."
"Yes, but I'd better take a look at those plans,"
Dr. Nuclear held out his hand, and a scroll appeared in it. He flattened it out on his desk.
"If the Americans are going to go up against us," Dr. Nuclear said, "Then we'd better go ahead and attack. Arm the missiles; I'll send them to the US bases in South Vietnam myself."
******
Back at the Base…
******
The bullets were already in mass production, in the factory owned by Nite Eagle. The scientists were working on a new weapon of theirs, a mass-teleporter, one that could match Dr. Nuclear's powers.
"Is it working yet?" Nite Eagle asked
"Major Dreiberg, it will take longer than a few minutes!" Dr. Brady said, "If you want us to speed it up…"
"…then you should cut the ventriloquist act, and just let the kid directly interface with the work," Dreiberg said
Dr. Brady and Byron Lewis exchanged glances. Then Dr. Brady took out the earpiece that let him hear Byron's instructions.
"It's true," Dr. Brady said, "How did you know?"
Nite Eagle tapped on his cowl ears.
"I can detect radio transmissions. I don't really care how long you've been doing this, or what the kid knows, just let him do the work, and you do the heavy lifting!"
"Yes sir," Dr. Brady hoisted Byron up on the work bench, "OK, buddy, do your stuff."
At once, Byron got to work on the matter transporter.
"Theoretically, this should work," Byron said, "I'm using the principals of hyperspace, the idea that ther is another dimension beneath ours that can be used to go from one point to another in no time. As soon as the war is over, I'll develop it into a time machine for research. But until then, I can't let it fall into enemy hands."
*****
The Amazon Rainforest…
******
Doc Khamandides was the last of his team left alive, in the temple of the Denaha people. It was filled with so many traps. Doc walked to the center of the pyramid, and picked up a metal plate. It was just like his golden cap, only the eye of Horus was on the inside. Doc placed it over his head, and the pieces locked together. He glowed gold, and he felt absolute power.
"Arise, fallen comrades!" he yelled
David, Mick, and John arose; their wounds healed, and they came back to life, glowing like Doc Khamandides.
"Now, I can finally have my revenge on the man who killed me," Doc growled
******
Russia…
******
Dr. Nuclear saw ten nuclear missiles were stacked up in front of him; because of his magnetism towards radiation, he couldn't go near them, and they had to be packaged in lead before he could teleport them.
"Janey, this is taking too long," Dr. Nuclear growled, "Why must you insult me with this cheap labor?"
"They're working as hard as they can," Janey protested, not wanting to make him angry
"Maybe I can help them…"
Dr. Nuclear summoned a crate full of the implants used in his Duplicates; he lowered his energy outputs, and teleported them into the worker's heads; they started to work faster, and more efficient.
"Yakov, those men did nothing wrong!" Janey exclaimed, "Now you've practically killed them!"
"Shut up," warned Dr. Nuclear, "Unless you'd like to join them?"
The Duplicate implant hovered menacingly around Dr. Slater's head.
"No, I won't intrude anymore," Janey said quickly, "Do whatever you feel you need to do!"
"As you wish…"
Dr. Nuclear snapped his fingers, and the implant bonded with Dr. Slater; the emotion vanished from her eyes, and her hair fell out from the background radiation the implant had received from being around Dr. Nuclear.
"I will obey…" Janey said monotonously
*****
The Base…
*****
"Major Dreiberg!" Eddie Blake ran into the room, "The factory workers have completed the first shipment!"
"Excellent," Dreiberg said, "Byron, are you almost done?"
"Yes sir," Byron replied
"Good. We'll conduct the test now…"
Byron aimed the teleport ray at a crate, and fired. A phone call from a soldier in Vietnam confirmed that it had arrived safely.
"Great, now ship all the bullets!" Dreiberg ordered, "And send those experimental laser mortars that we've been working on too."
The Amazon Rainforest…
Doc Khamandides and his men were marching directly through the forest, knocking down everything in their way. They were not heading to where Major Dreiberg was now; they were heading to where he would be when they could intercept him: North Vietnam, twelve hours from now…
******
The Colfax House…
******
The party had died down sufficiently, and the guests had left. Walter was on the phone with Dreiberg, writing down as many details as he could.
"Anti-Nuclear shielding…" he muttered, "Must get laser mortars in position. Byron 'Bug' Lewis child genius. Dr. Brady a dummy. Got it, won't print that…"
"Walter," Laurie asked, "I have something to show you."
Walter turned around, and saw Laurie was standing there holding his gun.
"Laurie, put that down, you could hurt yourself," Walter warned
"It's not her she's concerned about,"
A woman stepped out from behind Laurie, wearing a dark green army uniform, and wearing metallic gloves.
"I'm controlling her actions," the woman explained, "Brain implant we gave her; she 'volunteered' to be one of the test subjects for Dr. Nuclear's Duplicates."
"Wait a minute…" Walter looked closely at the woman, "You're Salva Juspeczyk, the leader of that female fighter plane pilots, the…Silk Specters."
"Correct; I'm also this girl's mother, but I haven't thought of her as my daughter since she defected from the home land."
"Whatever you're doing to her, stop it!" Walter growled
"I can't; she has to kill you, or her brain will explode. You either have to stand there and die, or…you kill her. Either way, we'll be taking your notes on American weapons."
Walter didn't move; as much as he loved his homeland, he loved Laurie even more. She was what personified the nation, her free-spirited self…killing her would be no different than striking down Lady Liberty.
"I can't do it…" Laurie croaked
A drop of blood trickled down from her nose, and she fell down to the ground, dead.
"No!" Walter growled
All of a sudden, all of Walter's pent up anger made itself noticed; it was boiling inside him, about to burst. His anger at his mother, his anger at the criminal scum he had seen, and his anger at himself for not doing what he knew was necessary. He needed to release it, but how? Then he reached into his pocket, and found the cloth version of his mask he carried for emergencies. Walter pulled it on, and walked towards Salva Juspeczyk, his arms reaching out, preparing to strangle her.
"Tell me, Salva," he growled, "What do you see in my mask…?"
******
The Base…
******
The Rorschach arrived half an hour later, dressed in his blood-splattered trench coat, fedora, and cloth mask.
"Rorschach!" Dreiberg said, "Get over here! We're leaving for…what happened to you?"
"Ran into some mother," The Rorschach said, his voice hoarse and monotonous, "Finally found practical use for an electric can opener."
"OK…anyway, get in the Eagle-ship, we're going to Vietnam, and we'll need a combat correspondent."
*****
The next day…
******
The warring parties had all crossed paths; they were all in their positions, preparing to destroy each other; Dr. Nuclear was at least ten times his normal size, blowing up any soldier who shot at him. The Rorschach, Eddie Blake and Dr. Osterman (Using Doctor Gardner's Judo-Master identity) were on the ground, preparing to slash the throats of unfortunate Viet-Cong soldiers or Dr. Nuclear Duplicates. Major Dreiberg and Colonel Mason were in the Eagle-Ship, blasting anything in sight. And Doc Khamandides and his men were tearing down the Nuclear missiles, unaware that they were causing a dangerous build up of radiation in Dr. Nuclear's body, one that could go off any minute…
*****
In the Watchmen Universe…
*****
Dan Dreiberg and Adrian Veidt stood around a viewing globe, observing the thermo-nuclear explosion that had just occurred in the 'Red Son' scenario. The viewing globe could show a rough hypothetical situation of what would happen if certain events in time were changed.
"No good," Veidt said, "Changing Dr. Manhattan's place of origin would only result in a swifter devastation."
Dan nodded, and crossed it off his list.
"I really wish it could be more simple. In fact, I'm almost considering killing the first Minutemen, just so there would be no vigilantes in the first place, and the world wouldn't have gotten into the horrible withdrawl from Rorschach's disappearance."
"True, I never realized how much of a key component Rorschach was to our society," Veidt sighed, "Well, what's the next plan?"
"Plan 2005," Dreiberg explained, "What if Jon Osterman never became a scientist?"
"Hm. Worth a look…"
********
The End…