"I tried to persuade Nite Owl to join, but he's retired and just wants to live a peaceful life with Silk Specter."
Ozymandias, with his red lynx, stood under a chandelier. The light reflected the flying dust, casting it on the top of his head.
"This is a ridiculous and short-sighted idea. The world is about to be destroyed, but he still holds a frivolous fantasy of remaining on his own."
"Fortunately, Rorschach found me, and he was willing to work for me."
Adrian's tone showed contempt for the couple, Nite Owl and Silk Specter.
They were too weak to accept the cruel truth.
Without Dr Manhattan, the universe would inevitably collapse.
Endless greed for resources was one of the original sins of mankind.
Ozymandias once thought that all he had to do was pour sewage on Dr Manhattan and exile the 'god'.
Then, by creating new energy sources, every country could get rid of resource shortage and the crisis before mankind could be solved.
But he was wrong.
Intelligent life was too complex.
Suspicion and hostility towards the same kind would also lead to war.
Once Rorschach's journal was disclosed, the world was in turmoil.
But it was only a fuse, which was ignited by human ignorance and greed.
Adrian recuperated his thoughts and looked up at Marionette and Mime.
This was a couple of dangerous criminals with no sense of morality and conscience.
But it didn't matter because Ozymandias didn't have those things either.
He could wipe out 3 million people in New York with one trick, just to welcome a short-lived false peace.
"It's to work with you, not for you."
The man in the Rorschach mask corrected.
He didn't want to make himself look like one of Ozymandias's men.
This was an insult to the Rorschach mask he was wearing.
"So, where are you hiding our son?"
Marionette didn't seem to be interested in listening to Rorschach II, chatting with Ozymandias.
She quickly stepped forward while Mime, standing behind her, picked up a screwdriver and threw it over.
Marionette firmly caught it, leaned in front of Ozymandias and savagely said, "Tell us now, or you'll die a horrible death."
"By the way, how many rewards are on your head? 10 million, or 20 million?"
She and Mime had a son, but before the baby was born, they were sent to prison by Dr Manhattan for robbing a bank.
At that time, Dr Manhattan joined the costumed adventurer's organisation 'Minutemen'.
He was teammates with Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Specter, Ozymandias and others.
Later, with the changes in the international situation, Dr Manhattan became a deterrent instead of nuclear weapons, staying in a military base all year round.
Marionette and Mime's son was the bargaining chip that Rorschach took away from their cell.
Otherwise, according to the couple's eccentric temper, they would never obediently obey.
Marionette pointed a screwdriver at Ozymandias neck as if wondering where to start.
Mime stood behind Rorschach II and made a gesture of holding a gun with his fingers.
These two used to be acrobats. One was good at cutting anything with thin steel wires, and the other could conjure up various weapons with hand gestures.
For example, Mime looked like he was holding a gun. If he pulled the 'trigger' Rorschach II's brains would splatter out.
The two of them, in the costumed heroes without superpowers Watchmen universe, were a relatively special existence.
"Oh, I think you should ask for more, Ms Manson."
Adrian smiled calmly and slowly said, "I'd be happy to pay for you to join. 100 million or 200 million? No problem."
"It would also include the location of your son."
"But don't threaten me; it's very unwise."
Ozymandias gently pushed away the screwdriver aimed at his throat. He looked for these two for other purposes.
Marionette and Mime, like Rorschach II, were extremely important pieces.
"Let's get down to business. After all, we don't have much time left."
Adrian put the red lynx down and patted his palm as if the curtain had been opened and he was ready for his spotlight.
"What do you want us to do? What does Rorschach mean by finding 'god'?"
Marionette asked.
Her husband, Mime, as the name implies, was mute and unable to speak.
"Rorschach is right; this is indeed an attempt to find God."
Ozymandias tugged at the corners of his mouth and smiled softly, "I assume you already know what I did in the past ..."
"The whole world knows what you've done!"
Marionette said sarcastically.
Rorschach's journal clearly recorded how Ozymandias planned the disaster, created alien monsters and slaughtered 3 million people in New York ...
This was a horrific and heinous crime!
"Oh, it took me my whole life to conceive and plan it. In order to put an end to the war and end the crisis, all the sacrifices are meaningful. But unfortunately, I failed."
Adrian was somewhat lost. He should have replaced Dr Manhattan as the great king of the new world, after the only 'god' on this planet left.
However, before Utopia was established, the peaceful world built by lies was instantly crushed by the dead Rorschach.
When the truth was revealed, it was like a bombshell crashing into the calm lake, causing an uproar.
"After Rorschach's journal was leaked, I sat in the castle in the South Pole in despair, waiting for the government to arrest me."
"Although I have many ways, I can avoid jail time, escape global pursuit and find a quiet place for the rest of my life..."
"But I didn't because a great King can fail, but he can't leave his crown and return to mediocrity."
Marionette curled her lips and thought Ozymandias might be out of his mind.
If she had as much money as he did, she would have been living happily.
Instead of trying to work against Dr Manhattan and trying to dominate the world.
"Besides, I won't live long..."
Adrian smiled bitterly and then added that.
He had a tumour in his head and was dying soon.
"I'm very ill, but the only person I trusted enough to perform the surgery was ... myself. Fate played a terrible joke on me."
Marionette saw a complex look of sadness, ridicule and self-deprecation on the face of the man who boasted of being the 'Smartest Man in the World'
She somewhat understood why Rorschach II was working with Ozymandias.
Perhaps it was cancer that changed the latter and woke him up from his dream of being a King.
"I get it. You want to get Dr Manhattan to come back."
Marionette blinked and curiously asked, "The military says he left Earth and went to Mars, but some speculate that he's still somewhere in the world, observing the changes in the world."
Ozymandias smiled. He remembered Dr Manhattan's last words to himself in the Antarctic fortress--
"I want to leave this universe and go to a less complicated place."
Adrian's memory flickered as he looked to the others and decisively said, "That's exactly our mission, to find Dr Manhattan, wherever he is."
"And do you have any reward for a dedicated citizen who provided the information, Mr Adrian Veidt?"
A slightly unusual voice suddenly sounded inside the base.
Ozymandias responded immediately, grabbed Marionette's screwdriver, and then threw it out.
He only sent out three invitations for the upcoming task.
Rorschach II, Marionette and Mime.
Therefore, any stranger that appeared was a dangerous presence.
With a strong force, the screwdriver brought out the sound of a whistle, enough to pierce through flesh and blood.
But what happened next was beyond Adrian's expectations.
The screwdriver, stained with oil and dust, seemed to have lost its momentum and was floating in mid-air.
Only a few centimetres from the target's head.
"That's a novel way to greet someone..."
The target whispered with a smile.
He didn't do anything, and the screwdriver floating in the air suddenly disintegrated and disappeared.
"Dr Manhattan?"
The man in the Rorschach mask exclaimed.
...
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