Rorschach is "Mike Caulfield" (whisper_no) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2010-08-11 14:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | batman, rorschach |
Who: Batman and Rorschach
What: A terse encounter
Where: Rainier Valley
When: Late at night Wednesday
Warnings: Violence, mild gore/torture, and grown-ups in silly costumes
Less than a week in the human world and already Rorschach was doing very well for himself. He had something of a home - his definition of "home" was very loose - with a strange little girl that probably needed adult supervision anyway, and that place just so happened to be square in the center of the most crime-ridden portion of this bastard city. It was like putting a kid in a candy store and handing him mom's wallet. In just four days, he had prevented three rapes and two muggings. He was growing used to the city quickly, learning all of its nooks and crannies the way a man would memorize the curves of his lover.
In creating a blueprint of Rainier Valley in his mind, Rorschach was able to locate the best of the worst. Two gangs he had never heard of before, the "Bloods" and "Crips," seemed to engage in turf wars regularly. The previous night, one particular member of the "Bloods," a young man named Antwon Phillips, had shot up a convenience store in "Crips" territory. A little girl went to the hospital and left through the back doors. Rorschach had taught himself how to spy on police and EMT radios - it was pathetically easy.
He found Antwon at home, watching television while his girlfriend made him dinner. Women with knives were funny things - leave a woman unarmed and she cowered, but give her a knife and she became Xena. She was disarmed quickly. He kept the knife after wrenching her shoulder out of its socket, giving her wounds to lick while he went to find her boyfriend. By the time Rorschach had neutralized the girlfriend, Antwon was armed. Three gunshots fired out, three gunshots that nobody would bat an eye at - they were in that shitty of a neighborhood.
It was a terrible world, a world that could hear three gunshots ring out amidst a woman's screams and not even listen. To Rorschach, however, this was an advantage. Antwon clearly hadn't been fastidious about keeping his gun loaded, because he ran out of ammunition. Then it was Rorschach's turn.
The window shattered as Antwon's body barreled through it, sending splinters of glass showering the alley below. He screamed, but nobody heard. Unfortunately for him, they were only on the third floor. It was high enough to break his left arm, but not high enough to kill. It meant that there was still something left for Rorschach to work with. The vigilante calmly climbed down the fire escape to meet the gangbanger, standing over him casually as the man cowered at his feet. Spitting out shards of broken glass, Antwon looked up at him with a mixture of horror and loathing.
"I can make you rich, man," he said, the hand of his broken arm shaking. "Lot of money in drug deals. I got the hook up, man, you can't go wrong."
He hated it when they begged. They had nothing to beg for. Their lives weren't fulfilling, they had nothing to exist for. They were black holes, the lot of them. He was putting the universe back into balance by eliminating them. As Antwon reached for him, Rorschach stepped on his hand. The heavy sole of his boot combined with his entire body weight caused the man to cry out in pain, writhing on the pavement. "Don't want money," he growled.
"A job?" he choked, trying to pull back. "Honeys? You name it, man, I got it for you."
"Want one thing," he said, lifting his foot to free Antwon's hand. Reaching down, he buried his hands in the other man's shirt as s means of dragging him to his feet. He stared at the other man through his mask, his own breath stale and still. Antwon was six feet tall, dwarfing Rorschach by four inches. Still, even with his dark tattoos and flashy clothing, he didn't appear to have half the bulk that the vigilante did. He cowered as Rorschach pulled him close, one hand gripping his forehead while the other clasped around his neck. "Balance."
As Antwon's spine snapped like a dry twig, Rorschach could feel the universe changing. It shifted slightly, wavered a moment, before settling into balance again. One little girl had left this planet, followed by the black hole that stole her. In a small way, he had restore things. He dropped the corpse like a ragdoll, wiping his gloved hands on the lapel of his jacket. That had been productive.