A Brief Acceptance (part six)
Adrian Veidt was no idiot.
As a matter of fact, he has been labeled “the world’s smartest man,” amongst a number of other titles, (most of them positive and on the borderline of worship.) These included, but are certainly not limited to, “The Sexiest Man Alive,” “New York’s Golden Boy,” and, or course, “The World’s Gayest Man.” The latter was actually the feature article in a small magazine entitled The Gay Gazette, and Adrian has the cover of that particular issue framed over his desk; he has quite a chuckle over it on the occasions when business associates are invited to his sprawling office. Subsequently, the magazine went bankrupt immediately afterwards and was forced to close shop
Suffice it to say, Adrian Veidt is many things, but “idiot” is one title he has never had the misfortune of acquiring.
He often thinks back to Karnak, to the events in which Bubastis died by his own hands. Everyone walked away with their lives that night, excluding Bubasitis and his man-servants.
Oh, and half of New York of course.
He had suspected that he would have to kill Rorschach that night; the man was extremely dedicated to his own set of morals, and while Adrian admired such tenacity, he could not have the world peace he had so painstakingly carved out be put in jeopardy. He had predicted that Rorschach would die that night, had gone into it all fully anticipating that the blood of the small man would have to be let there on the crisp white snow.
This had been one of the few instances in which Adrian Veidt had been wrong. Well, not wrong precisely; he of all people understood that the human mind is far from infallible, and as such he always went into situations with this in mind. No, he had not been wrong, simply surprised. Surprise was, to Adrian Veidt, a necessary evil. It reminded him of his own fallibility, something that was required if he was to guide this mere fledgling of a world. He even came to relish the feeling of surprise; the rush, the knowledge he would not always know what came next.
No, Rorschach had lived. The tenseness had been palpable as Adrian explained his brave new world, had reasoned with them, entreated them to understand and go along with it so that he might spare a few more lives. It had taken several minutes, but Jon, Laurie, and Daniel had all agreed, (though he could see the evident reluctance showcased in Laurie and Dan’s eyes,) and he had turned to Rorschach, ready for the inevitable. For a lecture on never compromising, an insane vow to destroy Veidt, along with the fragile peace he had cultivated on the backs of the citizens of New York, (though he knew Rorschach’s black-and-white moral logic would circumvent this last fact.)
But Rorschach had instead reminded Adrian of his humanity, his fallibility, by surprising him.
It had started off as Adrian expected; Rorschach stormed off, presumably to undermine Adrian’s entire project. As if the word of one man, a man regarded by the whole of the populace as a blatant psychopath who recently absconded from his own incarceration prematurely, would create more than the sliver of a crack in the foundation of Adrian’s new civilization. No, there was no concrete damage the vigilante could do, but even the smallest crack needed to be fixed, sealed up. Adrian had to be cautious; the world depended on him.
But then, something Adrian had not foreseen nor even considered had occurred; Rorschach had changed his mind.
He had changed his mind, it appeared, for Daniel.
Jon left; realized that, while he had come to treasure the unlikely miracle that was human life, there was no true place for him here, and he did not wish to make one. But he had taken Laurie with him, much to Daniel’s disdain. She was not forced, instead went of her own volition, not wishing to dwell any longer on the planet of her birth where she had learned through Adrian’s accidental tutelage that true peace must be purchased with deception and mass murder. She didn’t even said goodbye to Daniel whom she had previously shared carnal relations with.
It had been oddly depressing for Adrian, watching Dreiberg cry silently when he learned of her betrayal. As if the two had shared anything much deeper than a friendship that had turned to fucking. Daniel obviously had the illusion that the thing between them was love, but Adrian knew better, knew it was an issue of one-sided attraction on Daniel’s part and boredom on Laurie’s. Not that Laurie had slept with Daniel out of malignance; she had obviously just been flooded, flooded with issues in her relationship with a possibly omnipotent being and a mix of friendly and sexual feelings for Dan. Feelings that were not of the romantic nature, but of the “you’re a good friend and I’m horny and lonely” nature.
So Adrian watched on his surveillance cameras after his talk with Manhattan, contemplating the weight of the days events, as Daniel chased madly after Rorschach. Adrian watched as a second Jon, the first no doubt gone from the face of the Earth along with Laurie, confronted Rorschach in the snow. He waited, expecting Jon to obliterate Rorschach in some bizarre fashion. Instead, Dreiberg emerged from the building, ran desperately to stop the inevitable, to prevent his friend from doing something stupid, but nonetheless in his nature.
Adrian watched the encounter in amusement, listening as fastidiously as a lonely old woman to her soap operas.
Daniel begged his partner, crying in the most dignified manner available to a man that has just been deserted for a naked blue thing. Rorschach had begun to ask to be killed, his final refusal of Veidt’s plea for silence. But then he looked up at Daniel, mask in hand, and something made him stop.
Adrian surmised from Rorschach’s posture and sudden double-take as his gaze met Daniel’s that the gruff little man had seen something in Dreiberg’s eyes; something that snapped his resolve, that persuaded the un-persuadable man to live in a world that he could not possibly survive in, that brought him the ultimate pain just to inhabit.
Adrian didn’t understand at first, could not comprehend why it was that Rorschach then nodded slowly at Daniel, a silent agreement. An agreement that essentially undermined Rorschach’s own moral integrity.
But Adrian was, as previously stated, not an idiot. When he saw the embrace that was shared as Jon left, as Daniel rushed forward in joy, he knew.
In elation, Daniel leaned in, arms wrapping around Rorschach, whom was now his only refuge from the truth of Laurie’s desertion. This in and of itself was not enough to raise the hackles of Adrian’s suspicion, but Rorschach’s reaction was; the man tensed up at the contact, (once again, nothing unusual given his established distaste for emotions and the physical displays that accompanied them,) but then did something unexpected. He gritted his teeth, as if repressing words, his face contorting into a kind of pain that bespoke an unfulfilled longing, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides in what appeared to be an attempt at restraint.
Then he pushed Daniel off, face still grubby with tears and snot, and stumbled away, towards Archimedes. Towards a life that he didn’t even want, but had been thrust back into his hands by whatever he had seen in Daniel’s eyes.
So, Rorschach was hot for Dreiberg, or something similar. Adrian restrained a laugh. An unexpected turn of events, but not without its merit. He assumed that this would increase Rorschach’s likelihood to keep silent in several ways; for one, it was possible the conflict between Rorschach’s feelings, morals, and promise would push him over the edge and he would wind up dead either through self mutilation or reckless abandon during patrols, (which Adrian had no doubt would be kept up religiously.) And, of course, Daniel would be less likely to seek revenge on Adrian if he did not kill him directly as he had been planning before Jon’s intervention and usurping of the role. At the worst Rorschach might come to kill him, and this was a slight nuisance he could easily remove.
So, Adrian would allow him to live for the time being. He had immediately disposed of Dan’s records, incriminating evidence and the like from when he had aided and abetted Rorschach’s escape from prison. Adrian realized keeping the two in relative comfort where he could keep an eye on them was the best way to preemptively silence wagging tongues, rather than having the two become disgruntled prison captives or refugees on the run to who knows where.
Of course, Adrian had fresh bugs and cameras placed all over Dreiberg’s residence; he left most in obvious places, counting on Rorschach to find and dispose of these in the belief the threat was neutralized. Normally he would have retained paranoia that there were more no matter how many he found, but the events of Karnak left him fairly dazed, less apt for that type of thing. Adrian was pleased to find at least a few bugs left throughout the house.
When he had seen Rorschach and Daniel’s odd sexual encounter Adrian smirked in the knowledge that his assumptions of Rorschach’s feelings had been adequately justified. He wondered idly what the results of this tryst would be as he masturbated to the throaty growls and strangled moans emanating from his former teammates. Adrian Veidt was not exempt from such primal urges, and though these hungers were typically sated by expensive man whores he was not above a brisk bout of self-manipulation if the need arose.
As he came into his own hand, quickly cleaning the mess away with an expensive silk handkerchief, he understood this would most likely result in an attempt on his life. The outcome of the two men’s desperate fucking produced several possibilities in Adrian’s mind; this would either break Rorschach, or it would motivate one of the two, (possibly both,) to kill him. Maybe they would indeed attempt assassination, maybe they would release his secret, (although he severely doubted the latter,) or maybe they would do nothing at all.
Either way, Adrian Veidt was adequately prepared. As if a flabby ex-adventurer and an insane… Midget could damage him.
As if anyone could.
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