Chapter Summaries

Harley reframed Kara’s past as a dream and convinced her she had awakened to an even harsher reality, leaving Kara more confident that she could face the world. As Su Ming and the others flew toward Ellsworth Memorial Hospital, they reached Suicide Slum just as a gunshot rang out below.

• Harley explained that she had helped Kara replace the worldview Zeiss had given her, and Kara said she felt ready to face her responsibilities.
• Diana accepted that Kara was fine and asked Su Ming where Ellsworth Memorial Hospital was.
• Su Ming said the hospital was near Suicide Slum and described how poverty and hardship had made the district a place where many residents died by suicide.
• Diana was surprised by the dark, seemingly deserted streets, while Harley explained that poverty was an unavoidable part of society.
• Deathstroke suggested they might see someone committing suicide, and a gunshot sounded below as Su Ming remarked that Felix Felicis had worked in the wrong place.

Deathstroke explained to Kara why Suicide Slum’s residents clung to false hope and why he believed outsiders could not easily help them. The group reached the coastal Arkham building where Su Ming hoped to find his target, though he still needed to ask the staff where they were.

• Kara asked why people in Suicide Slum chose suicide rather than leaving, and Deathstroke said Luthor’s occasional aid fostered false hope that eventually became despair.
• Kara asked how she could help the residents, and Deathstroke argued that many were too traumatized to return to ordinary life.
• Harley said forcing someone to live violated their freedom, while Kara concluded that outsiders could do little for someone who wanted to die.
• Deathstroke suggested using suicidal people for labor or other purposes, and Harley and Kara entertained the idea of repurposing their lives for society.
• Diana pointed out that the group had reached the coastal Arkham building, and Su Ming descended toward it to ask the staff about his target.

Su Ming’s group arrived at Ellsworth Memorial Hospital to find Reggie Long, but the building’s lead-reinforced walls thwarted Kara’s attempt to locate him with Super Vision. Harley proposed asking the patients for help.

• Su Ming explained that Ellsworth Memorial Hospital functioned more like a research facility and zoo than a treatment institution.
• Diana used her Justice League identity to gain the group entry, while an elderly guard excitedly asked her for an autograph.
• Harley and Su Ming discussed the guards, whom Su Ming said were also patients at the hospital.
• Su Ming identified Reggie Long as a young Black man with swollen cheeks and directed the group to search the second floor.
• Kara failed to see through the reinforced floors, so Harley offered to ask the patients where Reggie was.

Deathstroke’s group visited The Villa and met Old Vic, a patient who was also a lucid doctor. Old Vic confirmed that Reggie Long was there and revealed that Reggie repeatedly claimed to be Rorschach each night.

• Harley introduced herself to Old Vic as a psychiatrist from Arkham Asylum, and he led the group to his office.
• Old Vic offered Harley a drink made from spoiled fungus and suggested they observe several patients.
• Old Vic identified himself as an exhibitionist and demonstrated his condition by exposing himself to the group.
• Harley asked Old Vic about Reggie Long, and he provided Reggie’s record, which described identity recognition disorder and bipolar disorder.
• Old Vic said Reggie shouted, “I am Rorschach,” near midnight every night.

Harley and Su Ming sought help finding Reggie Long, while Harley recalled her history with Batwoman and learned how the Watchmen's story had brought them to Earth-0. The group left Old Vic's office after Harley insulted his exhibitionism, leaving him sobbing in humiliation.

• Harley remembered how Batwoman had treated her as someone who could be saved, and how Harley eventually left Joker after he tried to kill her out of jealousy.
• Harley asked Su Ming whether Second Generation Rorschach could help against Blank and Doctor Manhattan, and Su Ming said he had contingency plans for Doctor Manhattan.
• Harley asked Old Vic to help them find Reggie Long, but he refused because he did not want to spend time with them.
• Harley told Old Vic that small ones were cute, then left with the others as he smashed things and cried over the insult.

Harley reviewed Reggie Long’s medical records and judged his mental illness far more severe than the bipolar disorder she had treated before. Su Ming asked her to try anyway, and Harley agreed while warning that she might not even be able to communicate with Reggie.

• Harley explained that she had used psychological shock tactics on Old Vic, while Diana scolded her for going too far.
• Su Ming urged Harley to focus on Reggie Long’s medical records and find the fastest, most effective treatment.
• Harley read that Reggie spent most of his time in severe depression and became manic and aggressive near midnight before collapsing into deep sleep.
• Harley said Reggie’s condition was too severe to cure easily, and Kara agreed that bipolar disorder could be nearly impossible to treat.
• Su Ming told Harley he would not blame her if treatment failed, and Harley promised to do her best.

Su Ming and his companions searched Memorial Hospital for Reggie Long, whose records described him as a constant crier. They found him sobbing in a restroom stall, but Harley’s attempt to reach him by calling him Rorschach only stopped his crying briefly.

• Diana led Su Ming, Harley, and their companion upstairs to search for Reggie Long after they confirmed he was not in the lobby.
• Su Ming gave chocolate to an intellectually disabled patient on the stairs, while Harley warned that medication could worsen his situation.
• Strangle detected the hoarsest sobbing and guided the group through the corridor to a restroom.
• Harley entered the restroom and found Reggie Long curled beside a toilet, crying into his hospital gown.
• Harley called Reggie Rorschach, briefly interrupting his sobbing, then crouched to examine him.

Su Ming and Harley tried to reach Reggie, the second Rorschach, after finding him in a breakdown at Memorial Hospital. The Doomsday Clock finally drew a response from him, but he cried that he could no longer see and that there was no hope.

• Harley tried to treat Reggie, but he clung to the toilet and ignored her efforts.
• After Harley’s violence failed, Su Ming had Diana bind Reggie with the Lasso of Truth while Kara held his head up.
• Su Ming set a clock to 23:59 and asked Reggie what he wanted to say.
• Reggie reacted in a panic, insisting he was Rorschach and crying that he could not see and that only darkness lay ahead.

Su Ming questioned the terrified Reggie Long about Rorschach’s mask while explaining how Walter Kovacs became the original Rorschach. Reggie remained trapped in fear of the Doomsday Clock, and Su Ming still needed to discover where the mask had gone.

• Harley identified Reggie’s behavior as psychological trauma and said he seemed afraid of the clock’s moving hands.
• Su Ming confronted Reggie and demanded to know where Rorschach’s mask was, but Reggie raved about darkness and insisted he was Rorschach.
• Su Ming explained that the mask was made from Doctor Manhattan’s unusual fabric and was the reason he had come for Reggie.
• Su Ming recounted how Walter Kovacs became Rorschach after Kitty Genovese was murdered while bystanders watched without helping.
• Su Ming explained that Rorschach never found Kitty’s killer and returned to trying to get the mask’s whereabouts from Reggie.

Su Ming used Reggie's dream to learn that he had hidden Rorschach's mask in Suicide Slum, then led the group there to retrieve it and draw out Blank. A nearby gunshot suggested another suicide, and Su Ming decided to investigate the scene.

• Reggie nearly revealed the mask's location, but the midnight bell made him fall asleep before he could answer.
• Su Ming used the Sands of Time and Dream's butler to view Reggie's dream, learning that Reggie had hidden the mask in Suicide Slum near Mothman's grave.
• Su Ming, Harley, Diana, and Kara traveled to Suicide Slum, where Harley lamented missing the chance to examine an earlier suicide victim.
• The group discussed gods as they walked through the dark, deserted slum, and Kara said she did not believe gods could help anyone.
• A gunshot rang out nearby, and Su Ming explained that Luthor had supplied residents with weapons before leading the group toward the sound to retrieve the mask and wait for Blank.

Su Ming questioned the Adjutant about the captured Superman while searching Suicide Slum for the Rorschach Mask hidden in Reggie's memories. He reached the alley where Reggie had stashed it, but the chapter ended before he confirmed whether it was still there.

• The Adjutant reported that the captured Superman was a Hypertime Variant with no apparent connection to Blank, and that he was imprisoned for interrogation.
• Harley teased Diana about the Superman's confession, while Kara asked about the House of El symbol on the prisoner.
• Su Ming explained that Reggie's dream revealed the mask's hiding place in a dark Suicide Slum alley and sent Little Sugar Bean to Kara.
• Su Ming recalled how Reggie had found the mask, imitated Walter's Rorschach while aspiring to be a superhero, and eventually developed an identity disorder.
• Su Ming approached the alley's dumpsters, where Reggie had hidden the mask in a hole behind one of them more than a year earlier.

Su Ming searched Suicide Slum for the item from his dream while checking on the other investigations, then recovered Rorschach’s mask from an alley. The mask gave him a way to track Blank as the search continued.

• Su Ming learned that Franklin had no leads for restoring Adam Warlock’s erased memories and told the Adjutant to give him Felix Felicis.
• The Adjutant showed Su Ming that Zorn Batman was fighting blue-skinned warriors under Eadwald, the King of Frost, while Joker remained undiscovered.
• Su Ming heard that Lex was working on technology and might restart the clone Superman project, while Detective Chimp and Rain Brain had made no progress.
• Su Ming found the alley from his dream and had Strangle search through its pile of garbage.
• Strangle retrieved Rorschach’s mask, and Su Ming recognized it as a valuable clue for finding Blank.

Su Ming and his companions traveled from Metropolis to an abandoned cabin in rural Kansas to retrieve Luthor’s time machine. There, Su Ming explained the cabin’s connection to Vandal Savage and The Totality before revealing that the machine was underground.

• Harley complained about the stench as Su Ming confirmed that Luthor had authorized them to take The Time Machine.
• Su Ming teleported the group to Kansas and directed them to a cabin hidden in the forest near a river.
• The companions found an abandoned building marked as a Veterans Club, and Su Ming explained that it had been a secret research center run by Lionel Luthor.
• Su Ming told Diana that Vandal Savage had first found a fragment of The Totality around 160,000 years earlier and gained immortality.
• Su Ming reassured Harley that Luthor’s machine did not use the Speed Force and said they would find it underground.

Su Ming and the others searched the imitation Veterans Club for Luthor's The Time Machine when Parasite broke through the ceiling and attacked Kara. Deathstroke drew Parasite's attention away from the women, leaving the fight about to begin.

• Su Ming collected the club's vinyl records while Kara chose drinks behind the bar.
• Diana urged Harley to hurry and find Luthor's The Time Machine.
• Parasite crashed through the ceiling, and Diana shielded Harley as Kara warned that contact would let him drain their life force and powers.
• Kara said Parasite had tracked her before and survived the Neutron Bomb she detonated inside him.
• Harley asked Deathstroke to protect them, and he threw a liquor bottle at Parasite to challenge him to fight.

Su Ming used The Force to hurl Parasite to Pluto after the alien attacked the group. With the fight over, Deathstroke led the team through the club’s wine cellar, where they found a hidden elevator leading toward a vast underground structure.

• Parasite turned on Deathstroke, but Su Ming used Force Choke to seize him from afar and fling him toward Pluto.
• Harley celebrated by leaping into Su Ming’s arms, while Diana and Kara recovered from the threat.
• Su Ming explained that Parasite could be countered by avoiding contact and exploiting his weaknesses, then led the group toward the wine cellar.
• Deathstroke and Strangle searched the cellar and discovered a hidden elevator behind the walls.
• Diana and Kara entered the elevator, and Kara sensed living creatures inside the enormous underground structure below.

Su Ming and the others fought through a laboratory guarded by failed Green Martian clones and found Luthor’s Trans-dimensional Teleporter. Su Ming believed it could send them into the past without triggering the Flashpoint Effect, though the chapter left its use untested.

• Kara froze the creatures swarming the corridor, and Su Ming identified them as failed Green Martian clones created by Lionel Luthor from J'onn’s cells.
• Su Ming explained how Lionel’s research for Vandal Savage led to the Door Handle of Destruction and how Lex later found the secret laboratory while investigating his father’s death.
• Su Ming, Kara, Diana, and Harley entered the main laboratory and located Luthor’s Trans-dimensional Teleporter with Strangle’s help.
• Su Ming said Luthor had used the teleporter to travel into the past and proposed testing it before use by sending a chicken back two and a half years.

Su Ming and his companions tested Luthor’s Time Machine, then used Rorschach’s mask to reach the future era of Doctor Manhattan’s death. They arrived in a heavily modified, pleasure-saturated New York and began investigating Manhattan’s strange state.

• Adjutant sent a chicken two and a half years into the past and brought back its skeleton, confirming that the Time Machine worked.
• Su Ming had Adjutant wash Rorschach’s mask before using it to guide the group toward Doctor Manhattan’s death.
• Su Ming, Diana, and Harley arrived in New York in 2077, where advertisements and implants immersed the smiling crowds in electronic ecstasy.
• Su Ming sensed Doctor Manhattan’s presence and said the group should learn more about the situation before acting.

Su Ming and his companions arrived in a futuristic New York that he believed belonged to a separate Timeline created by Doctor Manhattan, where he had never existed. Unable to contact Adjutant, Su Ming began investigating and left Diana questioning whether killing people in a future that should not exist counted as murder.

• Kara and Harley commented on the strange, smiling crowds in futuristic New York as Su Ming suspected the city was full of lunatics.
• Su Ming failed to reach Adjutant and concluded they were likely in an independent Timeline connected to Doctor Manhattan.
• Su Ming sent Kara to find civilian clothes, then Harley and Su Ming abducted and killed a passerby so Strangle could disguise Su Ming as him and take his information terminal.
• Su Ming used the terminal to investigate while arguing to Diana that the Timeline and its inhabitants might not be real from their perspective.
• Harley explained Su Ming’s reasoning to Diana, who became trapped in a logical loop over whether killing someone from a nonexistent future counted as murder.

Su Ming, Harley, Diana, and Kara explored a cyberpunk Earth while searching for information about its Timeline. A news report revealed that the Justice League had died and the Legion of Doom had taken over, but Su Ming suspected the Legion no longer ruled this world.

• Kara returned with clothes for Diana while Su Ming struggled with a Future terminal crowded by advertisements.
• Harley and Su Ming obtained another terminal, and Diana accepted that killing the strange humanoid creatures did not count as killing people.
• Su Ming searched online and found a report declaring that the Justice League had died before Perpetua and the Legion of Doom had taken over the world.
• Diana realized they were in a different Timeline, and Su Ming noted that the Legion of Doom seemed to have lost control since Luthor had not appeared.
• Kara suggested getting another terminal so they could search for information more efficiently.

Diana, Kara, and Harley explored the Future’s network and searched its public records for their fates, while Su Ming investigated the strange society around them. Kara’s records connected her to Superman, prompting Su Ming to offer to restore her memories as the group headed for a secluded place.

• Diana obtained a personal terminal and began using it after deciding to set aside her old moral restraints.
• Kara noticed the Future’s streets had no visible children or elderly people, and Su Ming agreed that the absence was suspicious.
• Harley found records claiming that she and Red had been eaten by the mad Parliament of Flowers.
• Kara discovered records saying she and Superman had died of Kryptonite poisoning at Luthor’s hands, and seeing Superman’s image stirred familiar feelings.
• Su Ming offered to use his Symbiote to copy memories about Superman into Kara, warning that the process could cause headaches and intense fear.
• Kara suggested a secluded place for the procedure, and the group entered an alley toward a distant, colorful area.