The Beginning of War

The bullet punched through the glass, spilling the lighter's fuel all over Lamplighter's hand.

Lamplighter jerked his head up. Only then did the gunshot reach him.

A crushing force slammed him to the ground, and Kimiko lunged forward.

Without the one thing he relied on most, Lamplighter panicked. Rorschach turned his sights on someone else—Storm.

The first shot had been as precise as a sniper's. The second, third, and every shot after that came in a rapid volley.

He didn't need to hit a vulnerable spot. He just needed to hit her.

Even with her Bio-Electric Aura protecting her, Storm couldn't shrug off a heavy sniper rifle.

But when Rorschach saw her flying toward him, he didn't panic.

He had lured this heavyweight here because he intended to get plenty out of her.

Before becoming Storm, she had gone by Liberty.

"Well, look who it is. Starlight's little boyfriend."

Storm couldn't resist the jab when she landed, though she was already on high alert.

"I heard you turned down a place in The Seven. Thanks for leaving it open for me."

The man in front of her looked far more delicate than she'd imagined, and Storm couldn't keep her mouth shut.

But she didn't dare attack with lightning from a distance. If he swapped their positions, she would be the one taking the hit.

And an attack too weak to hurt her probably wouldn't affect him either, even if it landed.

So Storm kept talking trash while she waited for Rorschach to drop his guard.

Then she would paralyze his whole body with lightning and snap one of his arms!

But Rorschach's next words stopped her in her tracks.

"Of course. After being a top star as Liberty, it must have been tough waiting decades for a chance at a comeback."

Storm frowned, confused.

Her victims back then had all been Black, hadn't they? Why did this man know about such ancient history?

"I also know you were among the first followers of the Church of the Collective. And before that..."

Rorschach gave her an unreadable smile. Despite the sweltering heat, cold sweat broke out across Storm's skin, and she began to tremble.

"You wouldn't want the world to know where you really came from, would you, Ms. Storm?"

"Just so we're clear, I've saved copies on dozens of cloud drives. If I don't cancel the scheduled send by four this afternoon, every major media outlet gets the story."

"Pictures included."

While the others were still tearing Lamplighter's head off, Rorschach watched his points soar.

Storm was plainly struggling to contain her anger. The "mastermind" Edgar kept mentioning was standing right in front of her.

Yet she could do nothing to him. She had no desire to be condemned for the rest of her life.

"What do you want?"

Storm forced the words out.

"Are you done over there? If you are, bring his hand too. The one that wasn't holding the lighter."

Storm heard Rorschach speaking into his earpiece. The others, having fought their way out of the hospital, spotted her as well.

"Now you're facing three Supes, and the dirt I have on you means you can't afford a drawn-out fight."

"We were never at this hospital. You can make that happen, can't you?"

"I don't understand. You're one of the best—even among the best, you're at the top. Why mix with these nobodies?"

Storm sounded genuinely baffled. How could someone lower himself to share the troubles of people she considered ants?

"That's the difference between us." Rorschach shrugged, offering no further explanation.

"I'll leave the hospital to you, then."

With that, they carried Lamplighter's head to the car right in front of Storm, got in, and drove away.

"Feel good? Getting your revenge?" Rorschach glanced at Frenchie's goofy grin in the rearview mirror.

"Pretty good. I think we did right by Colonel Mallory."

Frenchie was still caught up in the thrill of it.

They had killed a former member of The Seven, then escaped right in front of a current member.

It had been one hell of a rush.

"After this, we'll be living like rats underground."

Rorschach gave a rueful smile.

His raid on Sage Grove Psychiatric Center had served one purpose: building a better relationship with Colonel Mallory.

The other was to find out how far Vought's research into Temporary Compound V had progressed.

After what had happened with Becca, he no longer trusted the original story.

"And the way he begged at the end, saying he was sorry—God, if only we'd had a camera. We could've shown Colonel Mallory."

Frenchie kept talking. Bloodstained Marvin and Butcher wore smiles Rorschach hadn't seen in a long time.

Lamplighter really hadn't been that tough. Against two Supes, he never stood a chance.

Next came the crucial moment: all-out war with Vought.

With Congresswoman Victoria pushing for it, the Vought hearing was about to begin.

And Rorschach had to stop Edgar from sabotaging it.

If that terrorist attack happened, everything afterward would turn decisively against them.

Rorschach wasn't ready to pin his hopes on an eight-year-old child.

"What did you say to make Stormfront let us go?"

Butcher couldn't understand it.

The man in his passenger seat seemed to know everything.

Becca's whereabouts, Compound V, even the weakness of a "newcomer" like Storm—

Rorschach could find it all.

"She's very old. She takes great care of her appearance, but even when wrinkles are removed, they don't disappear without a trace."

"From there, I looked into what became of the old heroes. That brought Liberty, who'd suddenly retired, onto my radar."

"Then all I needed was an old newspaper. There was bound to be a photo of her. She and Soldier Boy were awfully close back then, weren't they?"

Cold sweat ran down Butcher's back as he listened.

So if this man bothered to look, he could catch the slightest thing out of place and dig up everything behind it.

That was why Storm had come out so badly—she couldn't force Rorschach to comply, and she couldn't bring Lamplighter back from the dead.

"You know she'll report this to Vought's higher-ups when she gets back, right?"

Butcher gripped the wheel, carefully avoiding any cameras that might reveal where they were headed.

"Oh, that's exactly what I wanted to say."

"Get ready. War's coming."

Rorschach's calm words struck harder than any thunderbolt Storm could throw.

"War? Us against Vought? Vought has over two hundred heroes!"

"Don't worry. They'll side with whoever wins."