Infiltrating Alone

"Why did someone like you get mixed up in all this?"

Butcher asked Rorschach from behind the wheel as they drove toward Becca's house.

"If I said I did it on a whim, would you think that sounded ridiculous?"

Rorschach laughed, holding a can of coffee.

A long drive was exhausting, even for people as fit as Butcher and the others.

Thanks to the Deathstroke Template, though, Rorschach needed only two hours of sleep a day to stay full of energy.

By his own estimate, he could even go a month without sleep while keeping his senses sharp and accurate.

That was why most night-watch shifts fell to him and the Supe siblings.

"Then you're a full-blown lunatic."

Butcher had thought he was crazy enough, but the man in the passenger seat was clearly several levels beyond him.

"Maybe. Sorry I'm so far ahead of my time."

Rorschach shrugged and took another swig of coffee.

"Keep the car steady while you two shoot the shit! I'd just fallen asleep and nearly cracked my head against the roof!"

Marvin shouted from the back row. He took turns driving with Butcher, so he needed every chance he could get to catch up on sleep.

"Thanks to you, we should've reached the gas station two hours ago."

"Those were red lights! A whole string of red lights!" Marvin's compulsive streak clearly made Butcher's complaint unbearable.

"There wasn't a soul around..."

Butcher fired right back. Their friendship was clearly a strong one.

"There are plenty of roads, but safety comes first. Drive carelessly, and..."

Rorschach had no idea why that slogan had popped into his head, but he said it anyway.

"Oh, give it a rest."

"Quit talking rubbish..."

Rorschach stopped himself from finishing the slogan. He was an orphan too, after all.

The whole car booed him, so he picked up a book and started reading instead.

Even Mouse, who had only just joined the team and was still a little awkward around everyone, was smiling.

"Here's the plan."

Rorschach spread out a rough map and drew a few circles on it.

"Tonight, I'll scout the place and locate every camera and staff position."

"Tomorrow at three in the morning, we go in and find Becca. Everyone needs to know exactly where they're supposed to be. We can't afford a mistake."

His expression was unusually grave as he spoke.

"What if we fail?"

Of all things, Frenchie had to ask that.

"Vought will immediately send every hero in the state after us. Heroes from the surrounding areas will follow, and one or two from Seven Tower will definitely come too."

Hearing Rorschach lay out the stakes made Marvin's blood run cold.

"It's that serious?"

Marvin looked stunned. Rorschach nodded at once.

He wasn't joking. If Vought discovered them, Black Noir and Stormfront would almost certainly show up.

Mouse still didn't understand what was going on, so Frenchie explained it to him.

Once Mouse grasped how serious the situation was, he stared wide-eyed—and still had to relay it all to Kimiko.

"If my first infiltration fails, or if I don't get a complete picture of the place, the whole operation falls apart."

"So all I can say is this: trust me with your lives."

Rorschach's words sobered everyone.

"If anyone wants out, say so now. There's still time to change the plan."

To his surprise, not one of them backed out. They all nodded, determination in their eyes.

"Bunch of idiots..."

As he said it, Rorschach began changing into his Night Suit for the infiltration.

The Deathstroke Template had given him excellent infiltration skills—and not just the kind where he got in by killing everyone in sight.

He was confident, too. Vought International's technology in every other respect was sorely lacking.

The place had little more than cameras and infrared sensors, mostly to detect anything unexpected.

It was so remote that keeping wild animals out was probably their main concern.

For eight years, the only people in the entire area had been those Vought had stationed there.

When the night grew quiet, Rorschach said goodbye to the others camped beside the car and headed into the area alone.

Just as he was about to go deeper, his phone vibrated.

"You've got to be kidding me... Does this thing not have a silent mode?"

Rorschach wanted to throw it away on the spot.

Who called someone after three in the morning?

"Hello?"

Still outside the surveillance perimeter, Rorschach stepped back a little and answered quietly.

"It's me, Annie. You were asleep, weren't you?"

Her voice was gentle and apologetic.

"I'm all right. What's up at this hour?"

"Um... Are you free tomorrow night? I'd like to take you to dinner. I managed to get a reservation at this restaurant that's really hard to book. Their candlelit dinners are amazing..."

Excitement crept into Starlight's voice, but Rorschach could tell there was something else behind it.

"You called me at three in the morning to ask me to dinner? Really?"

"Come on. What happened?"

The other end fell silent for a moment before she spoke.

"I haven't been doing well lately. Ever since I cut off contact with my mom, it feels like I'm the only person left in New York at night..."

Starlight had always been strong, and not just on camera.

But with Rorschach, she let her vulnerable side show.

She needed someone to talk to as well.

"So, six tomorrow evening? You could come over and see my new suit too."

Getting it off her chest had clearly lightened Starlight's burden.

"Sorry, I'm not in New York right now. Another time."

Rorschach hung up and slipped back into the shadows.

By the time dawn began to break, Butcher finally spotted Rorschach returning.

"How'd it go?" Butcher was tense. After so long, he was finally close to seeing the love of his life again.

The goddess who had rescued him from a life of hell.

"I've got it all mapped out. We move tomorrow night."

Rorschach gave him an okay sign, then stripped off his black Night Suit.

The area was enormous, but after tomorrow night, that probably wouldn't matter.

As Rorschach marked camera positions and guard posts on the map, Butcher and Frenchie stared as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Fuck. Security's that tight?"

From what Butcher knew, he couldn't imagine how Rorschach had spotted all those cameras and Infrared Sensors, let alone made a full circuit inside.

It would have been easier to believe he'd marked the map at random.

"That part's under control." Rorschach patted the computer he had gotten from Mallory.

"Won't be hard."