A Day Full of Superheroes

In Brooklyn, New York City, it was another peaceful day.

Well, peaceful as ever—if you ignored the armored truck barreling down the street as though a drunk were at the wheel.

Police sirens wailed behind it. The truck plowed through a taxi in its path, then veered out of control toward the sidewalk.

But there was nothing to worry about. One look at the woman in the extraordinary outfit, keeping pace with the truck on foot, told you why.

Boom!

The woman planted herself in front of the truck. Rather than being dragged beneath it, she stood firm as a mountain, punched through its front end, and found herself facing the dumbstruck robbers inside.

"Goddamn superheroes..."

A young man with messy hair climbed out of bed and checked the alarm clock he had already silenced.

So much for a nice lie-in. All that "heroism" outside had ruined it.

Rorschach got dressed and turned on the television before washing up.

He had been in this world for a while now, and the possessions left by the body's previous owner had kept him fairly comfortable.

The poor bastard had probably drunk too much and died quietly in his bedroom, rescuing Rorschach from an endless grind of nine-to-nine, six days a week.

But Rorschach had arrived neither in the famously "neighborly" Gotham City nor in the New York that had Avengers Tower.

Superheroes did exist in this world. Unlike the vigilantes Rorschach had known in his previous life, though, these heroes were more like celebrities.

Variety shows, news interviews, trending social-media tags, even solo films and product endorsements—under the direction of corporate giant Vought International, superhero culture was everywhere.

"Today, Homelander and Queen Maeve stopped a robbery and rescued two teenagers from the perpetrators..."

Rorschach watched the news and curled his lip.

Once superheroes became lucrative brands, they stopped going where they were needed most.

If there was no major media coverage and no reporters waiting with cameras, they might not show up at all.

Thud!

A criminal Homelander had hurled into the sky came plummeting down and, of all places, smashed into Rorschach's car.

Rorschach kept brushing his teeth. Before long, someone from Vought International would come by and cover his losses alongside the insurance company.

On the bright side, he could get a new car.

A glowing screen appeared before him.

[Main storyline beginning. System activating.]

[TO BE OR NOT TO BE]

Faced with that classic question, Rorschach swiped up to unlock it without hesitation.

[Contact information for major characters has been synced to your phone.]

"What's this supposed to mean...?"

Rorschach hurriedly pulled out his phone and checked.

"Butcher, Marvin, Frenchie—even Black Noir and Homelander..."

Rorschach frowned as he scrolled through his contacts. He had a bad feeling about this.

If he had simply landed in America, he would have liked nothing better than to live as a rich young man, travel the world, and idle his days away.

But this was a world with superheroes. Worse, it was the world of The Boys.

Most of its heroes did whatever they pleased, and when they committed crimes, they showed no remorse.

Rorschach could not accept closing his eyes at night without knowing whether he would live to see the day after tomorrow.

He would have to grow stronger, step by step, even if only for himself.

Just as Rorschach finished skimming his contacts, the system spoke again.

[Standard mission: Help Hughie avoid an undeserved disaster. Reward: Choose one of three random skills.]

[Difficult mission: Stop The Deep from humiliating and harassing Starlight. Reward: 200 points.]

[Ultimate mission: Destroy Homelander in body and mind, and show the whole world his true face. Reward: ???]

Each mission had a countdown. The ultimate mission gave him a full year.

"Well, it has some conscience, at least. It knows Vought won't be easy to deal with."

Super hearing, super vision with X-ray sight, high speed, flight, Heat Vision, invulnerability, and tremendous strength...

With all that, it was no wonder people called him a god among men.

And with Vought International's vast commercial power covering for him, bringing him down for good would be no simple matter.

The first mission, though, was easy enough. He had only twenty minutes left.

Fortunately, his phone's map marked the mission location. Hughie's shop was only three or four blocks from Rorschach's home.

If he drove, he could get there in no time...

Oh, right. His car's roof was smashed in, and it still had a layer of blood and flesh plastered over it. Better take a cab.

The doorbell chimed. Robin came in full of anticipation, but instead of her boyfriend, she saw only the back of a rather tall man standing in the middle of the shop.

"Sir, I've found all the parts you asked for." Hughie wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded to Robin in greeting.

Seeing Hughie hard at work, Robin sensibly stepped aside.

"That's everything, sir. Leave us your phone number and address, and we'll arrange delivery, assembly, and a year of repairs and after-sales service."

Hughie tapped at the calculator and gave him a price.

Besides completing the mission, Rorschach had come to replace the electronics in his home.

The previous owner had apparently been extraordinarily lazy. A strange smell always hung around the place.

In fact, finding disgusting junk anywhere in the house would not have surprised him. He had spent the past few days clearing it out in batches.

At least he could ignore the grime inside electronics as long as he did not open them up. That was why he had left them until last.

"All right, let's see... Hughie Campbell, right?" Rorschach took out his checkbook, scribbled in the details, tore out a check, and handed it to the young man.

"Sir... this is too much. Quite a bit too much." After confirming the details, Hughie could not keep the tremor from his voice.

"Oh, money doesn't interest me."

Rorschach wrote down his address and phone number, then glanced at his phone. Beside him, Hughie and Robin looked as though his casual bragging had hit them square in the face.

Something seemed to flash across the street. The display window groaned under the strain, as if its glass might crack at any moment.

"Your service is excellent, and you know your stuff. You deserve to earn more."

Hughie and Robin frowned, baffled, while Rorschach pushed open the door and left the shop.

Hughie did not know that, in the original timeline, his girlfriend would be standing by the road, joking with him, when A-Train, the "speedster hero," passed by and reduced her to pulp.

Hughie would receive compensation and a confidentiality agreement from Vought International. Then he would watch A-Train apologize and explain himself in the media, twisting the truth and shifting the blame onto Robin.

A-Train would feel no guilt. He would even tell the story to fellow heroes as a joke.

For now, Hughie had no idea what had happened. He was still proudly showing off to Robin and even considering asking his boss for a raise.

Rorschach walked along the sidewalk, looking over the wrecked street.

A-Train was a speedster superhero who could pull the weight of a locomotive, if not more.

His weakness was the Compound V he injected to maintain his status as the fastest. Under the enormous strain, his heart had grown increasingly fragile.

He also had an emotional weak spot: The Female, his girlfriend, who had debuted alongside him as a teen superhero idol.

"All right..." Seeing [Complete] beside the mission and Hughie's contact photo slowly disappear, Rorschach let out a small breath.

To survive without ever knowing how close he had come to death, and to find a little happiness of his own—that seemed an extraordinary luxury to Rorschach.

Hughie and Robin would not have to confront the terrifying fact that death could come without warning. They could take it for granted that tomorrow would follow every day they lived.

That was good.

"Next, then..." Rorschach gazed at the distant tower, his expression thoughtful.

On a nearby screen, The Seven were holding a ceremony to welcome their newest member, Starlight.