Ch. 54

Walter had spent all day looking for as much information as he could possibly find on Hooded Justice II. He had started at the library, hoping that they would have more than the local newspaper, which they did, fortunately. Walter not only found articles that explicitly mentioned Hooded Justice II, but he also looked into as many recently reported murder cases as he could get his hands on. When Walter was finally forced out of the library at closing hour, he returned to the hotel room where he spent the evening in the living area, drawing up patterns and possible predictions on Agent Orange's next course.

Nelly, Dan, and Laurie came in later on, and Nelly quickly went into his room, while Dan looked at both Laurie and Walter before he muttered something and went back out again. Laurie hovered at the door for a moment before she came closer to Walter.

"Hi Walter," she said.

Walter nodded but said nothing.

"We didn't go to the beach," she told him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Walter asked, looking up.

Laurie held up her hands.

"I thought you might get mad if I went to the beach with Dan," she told him. "I was with him and Nelly all day."

"Good for you."

"Okay," said Laurie, frowning.

Walter sighed and turned back to his writing, closing his eyes for a moment when he realized the words were swimming in front of him.

"I'm sorry," said Walter, feeling a little ashamed. "I'm just very tired."

"Didn't you sleep?" Laurie asked. She came to his side and gave him a sympathetic look.

"No," he said. "I was thinking too much about what I was going to do with this case."

"Maybe I could help you."

"No," he said, a little more harshly than he had intended. "You enjoy yourself while I handle this."

"But we've always worked together, Rorschach, why can't I work with you now?"

Walter gave her a strange look. Why did she just call him that? She didn't seem to have noticed, as she was staring at him while waiting for him to reply.

"This is between him and me," he told her, finally.

Laurie sighed.

"I feel useless sitting around doing nothing while you obsess over this case."

"That's unfortunate," said Walter, stiffly.

Laurie turned and gave Walter a level look, but said nothing for a moment.

"Walter," she asked him, calmly, "Why did you invite me along?"

Walter stared at her, unable to respond. Would she be angry with him if he told her it was because he wanted to keep an eye on her? Because he was afraid of the mischief she might get into if he let her out of his sight? It made him ashamed to think of the level of faith he had in their relationship. He was planning on marrying this woman, and he couldn't trust her to behave herself while he was gone.

Walter held up his hands to Laurie, feeling as if his heart was twisting in his chest. Laurie took one hand and held it to her cheek.

"If you need anything," she said to him, "Any help -- even writing things down if you need it, I'll be here. Okay?"

Walter nodded, though he knew he was never going to take her up on the offer.

"Thank you," he told her, in a quiet voice. Laurie nodded, but looked distant.

"Good night, Walter," she said sadly as she turned away.

"Good night," he told her as she left him and went into her room. Walter felt compelled to go after her, to kiss her and tell her that everything would be all right once Agent Orange was behind bars, but somehow he felt that he would be lying to her. Something was unraveling around them, slipping out from under their feet and making them fall backwards and he didn't know how to stop it.

Suddenly, Walter felt too tired to focus on anything, let alone Agent Orange. He got up and went to bed. He was dismayed to find that Dan was in a talkative mood. He was discussing trivialities and Walter felt as if he were stalling somehow. Walter decided to ignore the man and drown him out so he could get some sleep, when Dan finally got to the point of what he was apparently trying to tell Walter.

"I stopped three guys from hitting on Laurie today," Dan said, suddenly.

"What?" Walter asked, his eyes flying open.

"Yeah," Dan was nodding at him. His glasses were off so Walter knew he must be just a blur to Dan, but Dan was focused on looking at Walter as if he could see every detail of his facial expression. "Exactly."

"Where was this?"

"The shopping center -- look, does it matter?" Dan sighed. "It felt really weird having to do that, but you know, it happens a lot."

"What?"

"I mean, it's not just something that happens here," Dan said. "I've had to do it back at home a couple of times, but it just was never like it was today. I mean, they're more aggressive here; bolder or something. Or maybe just nuts. But it's really embarrassing to have to tell them that I'm not her boyfriend but I'm working on behalf of him to make them go away."

"What is Laurie's part in all this?"

"I don't know -- being pretty?" Dan shrugged. "And she's friendly?"

"Why are you telling me?"

"I don't know, Walter," Dan's voice was a little louder at that moment. "Maybe so you can be there next time when someone hits on your girlfriend?"

"I can't be in two places at once."

"Yeah, exactly."

Walter glared furiously at Dan, but Dan really couldn't see anything beyond his nose without his glasses. Dan just blinked a lot at Walter and sat there staring in his direction. Why did Dan have to mention this now? He didn't want to deal with this right now, let alone the sickening rage that made his blood boil as a result of hearing the news.

"Look, Walter," said Dan, holding up his hand, "Laurie told me about the Agent Orange thing, so I can't help but say..."

Walter flinched a little. Why did Laurie tell him about Agent Orange?

"I know how Ozy was about this whole business," Dan continued. "He got really weird about it, didn't want to work with me anymore because he was so focused on solving this case. And I can see this happening with you. Not just talking about your romantic relationship with Laurie, but you as crime fighting partners. It's really lame to be left out like that, you know?"

"Yes," said Walter, feeling weak.

"Oh, well, good night," said Dan. His voice sounded angry, and he wrenched the lamp cord a little more viciously than necessary. Walter could hear him scrambling under the covers in the darkness.

Dan had started snoring by the time Walter's eyes had adjusted to the dark. Walter stared out at the shadows around him, feeling cold. What had happened? He thought he was doing so well with Laurie, and he thought they had an agreement. He told her that he would be focusing on Agent Orange when they arrived, but it seemed she had somehow planned for other things in her mind.

Just think about it as a vacation with the possibility of catching a criminal on top of it.

Walter could see Laurie's words -- from the note they had passed in the car -- clear as day in his mind. Was this all that was to her? A vacation? Why did she not understand the importance of this task? When had she started compromising her beliefs? He thought she was a crime fighter, like him. He thought she had valued what he did, thought she would understand why Agent Orange had to be caught. That is because she has not truly seen his work. She has never had to be face to face with what he could cause. You can't blame her for that -- you should teach her if you want her about.

Walter wondered for a moment about that begrudging voice. The voice seemed intent on telling him more, but Walter could not help but close his eyes a little. The voice was nagging at him, but Walter batted at it in his mind. Not dealing with this right now. Eventually he fell asleep and eased himself into a troubled dream.

In his dream, Walter was floating above the city as if he were flying, somehow. It wasn't the city he had been in just moments before, and even in the dream Walter knew that something wasn't right. He knew he must be asleep somewhere else, but knowing this he somehow did not come back awake but sank even deeper into the dream.

Walter flew above the city and its empty streets -- empty but for the alleyways, all filled with bodies, rank and diseased and putrifying, so disgusting that even the flies would not touch them. The smell of death and decay hung so thickly from the carcasses they seemed to pour out into the streets as physical matter. Blood ran from the corpses that were so bloated and rotten they should not have been in any state to bleed as they did; but they did anyway. The blood was rotten too, just as putrefying as the bodies themselves, but still red and fresh as it ran down the streets and into the gutters, where Walter saw a hundred bony fingers grasping out from the dark grilles that led under the city.

Feeling a panic of knowing familiarity, Walter scanned the areas, searching for any signs of civilization, just one glimpse of another soul. He finally caught sight of one lone man walking down the street ahead of him, head hanging low as each weary footstep brought him further down into the darkness and into a cold world Walter did not want to understand.

Walter was hovering haphazardly over the figure now, wavering as he tried to control his movement, but it seemed as if he were being guided by an invisible string. He was coming dangerously close to the figure, obviously male, and Walter had to gag at the stench that came off of him. It was the stench of death, the same rotten smell that came from the streets, and on top of that some form of cologne that made it all the worse. Walter couldn't see the man's face, but he was obviously homeless. Some crazy vagrant, he imagined. Just a ghost of a human being now, his mind too far gone to bring any comfort to Walter who hungered for contact with a living being, not a shell.

The man looked up as if he saw Walter, but Walter knew he couldn't possibly see him. The man had no eyes -- no face, even, no distinguishing features. In fact, this wasn't a man at all, but darkness shaped to vaguely resemble the male human form. This mock-man opened his clothes and revealed more darkness underneath. The darkness spilled out onto the streets like fine sand, mixing with the decayed blood and twisting patterns into black and red. As the shadow-dust stretched out from the figure, it shrank away into nothing as even the clothes melted away. The stench became unbearable and Walter gagged.

From the smell seemed to come a sound. Was that possible? How can something fill your senses to such an extent that it overflowed into others? No, as crazy as it was, there were definite words coming from the gore. That was the only way Walter could explain it. If he thought of it too hard, he might just lose his mind.

It's all so clear now.

Simple words, harmless, even, but Walter recoiled. It wasn't just words he was hearing either, no, there were more forming before his eyes, on the ground, spelled out like an accusation in this city of death: The End Is Nigh.

No it isn't, thought Walter. It couldn't be -- that wasn't true. No matter how clear it was, no matter how many dead lay in the streets, the end wasn't anywhere near. A true end did not exist. He refused to believe. He was almost relieved when a blinding light enveloped the alley and with it took the words away. Walter watched, mesmerized, as the source of the illumination approached from near the horizon. It filled him with no small amount of disgust as he realized it was Agent Orange.

Agent Orange looked pristine pure, no sin marking his features or even his clothes or the soles of his shoes as he traversed the streets untouched and untainted.

Why you? Walter thought, but Agent Orange answered as if Walter had asked him this aloud.

It isn't me.

Walter woke up, drenched in so much sweat he thought for one confused moment that Dan had pulled a prank on him and had thrown a bucket of water on him as he slept. Walter was all too awake, as if he had slept well into noon, but he knew it must be the middle of the night. Then why was it so bright? It Walter walter a moment to realize the bright moon was shining through the window, and was placed right over where Walter's pillow had been. Walter felt his heart racing in his chest, and he had to get out of bed to keep the panic from overtaking him.

Walter left the room and stood in the dark living room, wishing Nelly didn't exist so he could climb into Laurie's bed. So pathetic -- he stayed one night away from her and he had a panic attack when she wasn't around. Why had he suggested they stay in different rooms to begin with? What did proprities matter when it was just Nelly and Dan?

Wanting to cry out with his frustration, Walter felt his hands involuntarily raking through his hair as he tried to get a grip on himself. He paced the room, glad that given his unfamiliarity with it the room did not possess the type of furniture that was prone to being run into. He could barely contain himself as he stalked through one corner to the next.

Walter could not distinguish sight from sound from thought as his mind roiled, seemingly overloaded by senses that he could not perceive in their entirety. Walter clutched at his eyes and gave a silent scream.

Let me take control -- you know I'm the stronger one of us.

Walter had to look up to make sure he really hadn't heard that voice in the room and not just in his head. His confusion made him take a moment longer than was necessary to comprehend the meaning behind the words.

"No," said Walter, not caring who heard him. "No, you're not."

You can't handle the pressure, Walter. You're not cut out for this. I am. Let me help you, and you won't ever have to worry about anything else again.

No. No, no, no. You don't understand. You are the weak one. Do you know why? Because everything is black-and-white for you. Isn't it? You think you're better because your conclusions are so clean, so cut and dry. So logical. Yet, so irrational. The way you think, that only works for a world that exists in a psychopath's mind. I don't live in that world.

"You live in mine," Walter whispered.

Silence.

Walter grabbed a nearby lamp as if to throw it, but after a few seconds of waiting he relaxed his grip and sat down. He couldn't even tell if it was one of the chairs or a sofa at this point. He was too drained to care. Exhausted, Walter lay back and closed his eyes.

-----

To be continued...