Watchmen Part 7 of 12. Writer, Alan Moore. Illustrator, Dave Gibbons. Described by Liana Kerr https://twitter.com/lianaleslie Last modified March 2, 2015. Chapter 7. Cover. The words "Chapter VII" are printed vertically in light teal on black over the left third of the page. Above them is a light teal and black clock with no numbers or markings that indicates that the time is 11:55. The right two-thirds of the page show a reflection of the Owlship in a curved glass surface surrounded by a golden frame. Lights reflect off of the surface, giving it an otherworldly look. There's a wide, rounded line over the left side of the Owlship, as if someone has cleared grime off the glass with a fingertip. Page 1. Panel 1. A smaller version of the cover image, with a greater contrast between the dark reflection of the Owlship and the bright stripe of grime that's been wiped away in one spot. Panel 2. The glass surrounded by the golden border is one of the eyepieces of the goggles that are part of Dan's Nite Owl suit. They hang around the empty suit's neck, underneath the mask that covers all but Dan's eyes, nose and mouth, making the rest of his head look like an owl's head. Panel 3. A woman's hand is raised in front of the empty suit, the index finger extended. There's grime on the fingertip. Panel 3. Laurie is standing in front of the suit, looking at something off to the side. She wipes her finger on her thumb. She's wearing a pink jumpsuit with long sleeves, over which is a sort of short apron-like garment, belted at the waist, with three pockets over the front. In the bright lights of the Owlship, she looks washed out, and she casts a large shadow on the wall beside her. Panel 4. Laurie walks down a short flight of stairs, away from the suit and towards the Owlship. On the ground in front of the Owlship is an oil barrel and a toolbox filled with sloppily-placed tools. There's a wrench and some nuts and bolts on the ground. Panel 5. The reader sees Laurie looking directly into the Owlship's lit up windows as if we're seeing things from just over the shoulder of the empty suit. Panel 6. Laurie wipes some of the soot off of one of the large, round windows with her left hand, looking inside at the complex ship. Light reflects off of the glass window. The clean spot on the window is similar to the one on the goggles that she created, which also recalls the blood stain on the Comedian's pin. Panel 7. She kneels down under the ship, smiling as she locates the portal that leads inside the ship. Panel 8. Laurie's upper body is visible inside the ship, and she looks at the controls and the driver's seat. The reader sees her as if we're looking from outside the window, and the soot over the window gives her, as well as her surroundings, a greyish-green tinge. Page 2. Panel 1. Laurie sits down in the driver's seat, smiling as it swivels around. Seen from inside, the Owlship is clean and impressively modern, with lots of rounded corners and buttons everywhere. The driver's seat looks comfortable, almost like the base of an egg. Panel 2. Laurie takes out her cigarette holder and eyes a grid of little square buttons on a control panel next to her. Panel 3. Laurie pushes one of the buttons with a tentative finger, lifting the cigarette holder to her lips. Panel 4. The lights in the Owlship turn off, and she looks up in dismay, moving her finger away from the control panel and her holder away from her mouth. Panel 5. She pushes the button again, turning on the lights, and brings the holder up to her mouth, biting on the tip with her teeth and smiling as she says "Ha. *O-kaay*... Now where's the *dash lighter*?" Panel 6. One slender finger, its fingernail long and painted with red nail polish, hovers above a square button marked with a flame shape. It's between a button marked with a sun shape and a button marked with a missile shape. There's also a button with two wavy horizontal lines and a button with a lightning bolt. Panel 7. A large panel that takes up the space of three regular panels. Flames shoot out of the front of the Owlship, enveloping the handrails on either side of the stairs. Laurie stands up, yelling "*Yeeee!*" in large text. Under this panel is the chapter name, A Brother to Dragons. Page 3. Panel 1. Dan is refilling his sugar canister from a large bag of bulk sugar cubes. He looks up, alarmed, and says "*Laurie*? Did you *shout*? Everything *okay* down there?" The bag is labeled "Sweet Cane Sugar Catering Pack." Next to him is a Veidt-branded teapot, and the door behind him is open. Panel 2. Part of an earlier conversation with Rorschach, shown from Dan's point of view. Dan is holding the Comedian's smiley face button in his hand, looking at Rorschach's back. Rorschach is saying "Maybe. Or maybe someone's picking off costumed heroes." Panel 3. Dan drops the bag of sugar cubes on the counter and rushes toward the open door, saying "Oh, God. *Laurie*? Laurie, hang *on*, I'm *coming*!" The sugar cubes spill over the counter, around the canister. On the opposite counter is a bag of groceries. Panel 4. Another earlier conversation with Rorschach seen from Dan's point of view. Rorschach is standing in front of a mirror, applying some of Dan's Nostalgia aftershave to his neck, his mask rolled up slightly but his skin not visible. Rorschach is saying "The Comedian murdered. Dr. Manhattan exiled. Two of us gone. All within a week. Who next? Veidt? Juspeczyk? Me?" Behind him, Dan's dismayed expression is reflected in the mirror. Panel 5. A panicked Dan rushes down the stairs to the dark room, holding on to the handrail. Panel 6. Rorschach's face and clothes are colored in red and purple tones as he pulls his mask back over his face, saying "You?" Panel 7. A large panel that takes up the space of three regular panels. When Dan reaches the basement, he finds Laurie trying to put out a fire around the Owlship. He yells "Laurie?" She replies "*Fire extinguishers!* Where the hell are the *fire extinguishers*?" The fire looks frightening but manageable, snaking over part of the floor towards the oil drum, which is now knocked over. Laurie is attempting to remove the burning tarp from the Owlship. Smoke billows up towards the ceiling, and the scene is colored in vibrant light yellows and rich reds. In the foreground on the right side, near the Owlship, is a glass case with some vases, pictures and other items in it. Page 4. Panel 1. Dan reaches for a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall near him, saying "Over *here*. Laurie, what *happened*? I thought..." He's moving so quickly that his necktie is flying in front of him. Laurie, still wrangling the tarp over the Owlship, looks frustrated. Panel 2. She stands back from the fire, putting her hand in front of her protectively, and says "Look, I'm really *sorry*. I was just poking around down here. I saw the *lights* on in the ship... See, I was looking for the *dash lighter.* As Dan comes up behind her, preparing to use the fire extinguisher, he says "I don't *smoke*. That was the *flamethrower.*" Panel 3. Laurie, standing behind Dan and gesturing with one hand while touching her forehead with the other, says "Yeah, well, I *know* that *now*. Look, Dan, I'm *really* sorry..." Dan directs the fire extinguisher at the flames, answering "Hey, it's *okay*. My fault. I was down here checking out the systems earlier. I left everything switched on when I went out to the *store*. You're not *hurt*?" Huge clouds of foam spray out of the nozzle, putting out the flames. Panel 4. Laurie, standing behind Dan, gestures towards the Owlship, saying "Me? I'm *fine*. But look at your beautiful *ship*..." Dan, still putting out the fire near the ship itself, looks back at her and says "Ahh, that's mostly just *soot*. It'll wipe off. I'm just glad *you're* okay. When you *screamed*, I thought... well, y'know. Ever since the *Comedian* died..." Panel 5. Laurie looks over at Dan, crossing her arms over her abdomen. She says "Oh, come *on*, Dan. You're not starting to take Rorschach's quote *mask killer* unquote bullshit *seriously*? I mean, he's *psychotic*. To *him*, *everything's* a conspiracy." The fire all put out, Dan looks at the Owlship as the foam behind him settles on the ground. His posture seems worried. Panel 6. Dan, going back up the stairs, says "... I don't *know*. The Comedian *murdered*, Jon *exiled*, someone tries to shoot *Adrian*, Rorschach himself gets taken by the *police*... It just makes me feel *uneasy*. Laurie looks over at him, saying "Is that why you were tuning your *ship*?" Panel 7. Dan turns back toward her, gesturing and looking taken aback. He says "What? Oh, no, no, nothing like *that*. I was just *tinkering*, you know, nothing *serious*..." Laurie turns to look at the rest of the basement, smiling and saying "You've got some wonderful *stuff* down here. It's like a magician's *cave* or something..." Behind both of them is Dan's old Nite Owl suit and goggles, set into a closet in the wall. Panel 8. Dan replies, "What, with all these *leaks* and *puddles*? No... Maybe it *used* to seem like that to me *once*, but *these* days it's sort of an *embarrassment.* Looking back, it all seems so... well, *childish*, I guess." A close-up of his own suit, with the empty helmet and the goggles around the neck. Panel 9. Dan and Laurie are reflected in the goggles of Dan's old suit as they walk toward the Owlship, their heads in the part of the glass that Laurie cleaned off with her finger. Dan continues, "Just a schoolkid's *fantasy* that got out of *hand*. That's, y'know, with *hindsight*... On reflection." Page 5. Panel 1. Laurie and Dan are seen reflected by one of the Owlship's large, round windows. Because of the soot on the windows, they're colored in murky tones of green and grey. Laurie says "Yeah, well, at least you were living out your *own* fantasies. I was living out my *mother's*. Y'know, I'm really *impressed* by all this *equipment*. It must have sot you a *fortune*. What's this *cabinet* over here?" Panel 2. Laurie walks towards the cabinet, which is protected by glass panels, as Dan answers "Oh, that's just *souvenirs* and junk like that. As for the *money*, my dad was in *banking*. He left me a lot of money when he *died*. I was always kind of *surprised* about that." Panel 3. Dan continues, "I mean, he always seemed *disappointed* in me. He wanted me to follow him into *banking*, but I was just interested in *birds* and *airplanes* and *mythology*. *You* know. *Kid's* stuff." Laurie is kneeling by the cabinet, opening the door and pulling out a picture. She says "Hmm. What's *this*?" Panel 4. Dan adjusts his glasses, looking embarrassed, as he says "*That*? Oh, *that* isn't anybody. It's just this *vice queen* I put away back in '68. Called herself *Dusk Woman* or something." Laurie reads, "*The Twilight Lady*. She sent you her *picture*?" The picture she's holding up is framed, showing a woman posing next to a bed covered in throw pillows. She's white, young and shapely and has her thigh-length hair in a high beehive ponytail. She's wearing a dominatrix-style outfit that's black leather, low-cut with a high collar, long sleeves and gloves, and cut like a swimsuit at the thighs. She holds a flogger in one hand, and has her other hand on her hip. The picture is signed, and reads "From one quote Night Bird unquote to another. Love from the Twilight Lady." Panel 5. Dan turns away from Laurie and starts to walk away, adjusting his necktie and gesturing as he says "Yeah, well, I guess she had sort of a *fixation*. She was a *very* sick woman. I keep meaning to throw that picture *away*, but you know how it *is*..." Laurie, standing up and still holding the picture, watches him and says "Mmm," touching her hand to her mouth contemplatively. Panel 6. Laurie kneels back down by the cabinet, looking back at Dan and saying "I see you have a lot of pictures of *birds* and stuff. That was *my* fantasy, when I was a *kid*: to work with *animals*..." Dan, standing over by the Owlship with his hands in his pockets, answers "I just liked *birds*, mostly. Just the idea of *flying*..." Panel 7. He kneels under the Owlship, looking up at the portal inside, and says "As a kid, I read about *Pegasus*, flying *carpets*, then later about *birds* and *planes*. Finally, I mastered in aeronautics and zoology at *Harvard*. Guess it helped me design this jalopy here." Panel 8. Dan climbs into the Owlship as Laurie follows him, stooping to look under the ship. She smiles and says "*Jalopy*? *That's* a word I haven't heard in a long time." He answers "Heh. I probably picked it up from *Hollis*. Hollis was something *else* that influenced me as a kid. I *idolized* him..." Panel 9. Dan, standing in the Owlship, holds Laurie's hand as she climbs through the portal. He continues "...But then I guess that's pretty *obvious*. Welcome *aboard*. You want to take a look *around* while I finish checking the *ship* out?" Laurie, looking up at him and smiling, says "Sure. And don't *worry*... I won't *touch* anything." Page 6. Panel 1. Dan and Laurie are standing in the Owlship. Dan gestures with one hand, holding Laurie's hand with the other. He says, "Oh, *hey, listen, I'm* not worried. That *flame thrower* button confuses *everybody*. The *Comedian* almost did the same thing, back in '77." Laurie, smiling, says "Mm. Dan, I'm safely on board. You can let go of my *hand* now." Panel 2. Dan looks down at his hand, which is still holding hers. Laurie continues to look at him, smiling. Panel 3. Dan lets go of her hand, turning and walking over to the driver's seat. He adjusts his necktie and his glasses, saying "Oh. I'm sorry. I, uh... Listen, I'd better check out the ship's other systems. You, uh, you just take a look around." Laurie smiles as she turns toward him, her hands on her hips. Panel 4. From offscreen, Laurie says "I like the *design*. All *curves* and no *corners*." Dan, sitting in the driver's seat, has a hand on the controls as he says "Well, uh, actually, along with the concealed *vents* and *turbines*, having no corners helps make the ship *radar invisible.* Hmm. This chair control is *sticking* a little..." Panel 5. From offscreen, Laurie says "*Radar invisible*? Boy, you really have all this stuff figured *out*, don't you? What's this *closet* here?" Dan replies, "Special *auxiliary* costumes. Ah... that's *better*," he says as the chair zooms over the floor towards Laurie. Panel 6. Laurie is looking at a green costume with a full face mask and a hose coming out of the mouth. She smiles, holding it up, and says "Hey, these are *terrific*. It's like when I was *small*, Mom got me this *G.I. Joe* with all these neat little *spare uniforms*. What's this *green* one?" As Dan looks at another control panel in front of him, he replies "Underwater work. Let's *see*... *flamers* functioning, *water cannon* functioning..." Another costume on the rack in front of Laurie is yellow, with a full face mask and the symbol for radioactivity on the chest. Panel 7. Laurie attempts to replace the costume on the rack as Dan continues, "*Public address system* and *screechers* functioning... Air-to-air *missiles* functioning... *Fog-screens* funct..." Panel 8. Laurie drops the green costume and turns around, reaching for something in her pocket. Her face is alarmed as she repeats, "*Air-to-air missiles*?" From off-screen, Dan replies "Sure. Button right next to the *flame thrower*." Panel 9. Dan continues, "*Fogscreens* functioning... radiation shields functioning..." Laurie is looking at her tobacco and cigarette holder in disgust, saying "That's *it!* That *does* it! No more *smoking*. I'm all through. I quit! I mean, talk about *dangerous habits*..." Page 7. Panel 1. Laurie hangs up the green suit while Dan leans over the controls, saying "Electromagnetic systems functioning... Yup. Everything's okay." Laurie says "I already stopped a couple of times before, but it got so *boring* around the Rockefeller base, my will power never held out long. Probably won't *this* time either." Panel 2. The reader sees the two of them as if we're looking at them from outside the ship. The right side of the window is covered in soot, and they appear to be murky greyish-green, except for one spot where the soot is wiped off, showing Dan's orange jacket. As Dan works with the controls, saying "Well, y'know, that's a very negative *attitude*... I mean, *I* had a dangerous habit *myself* once." Laurie says "You *did*? What *happened*?" Panel 3. The reader sees the two of them as if we're looking at them from outside the ship, from a point of view just to the side of Dan's Nite Owl costume's shoulder. It's as if the empty hood is looking at them as Dan says "I quit. No problem. Oh, I mean, sure, at first I used to get *cravings* but I held on *in* there. These days it hardly bothers me at *all*." He sits slightly slumped over while Laurie stands next to him, looking at him. Panel 4. Laurie, leaning over the control panel, gestures with both hands, saying "You're talking about, y'know, what we *did*. You still *miss* all that stuff?" Dan, preparing to stand up, says "*No*. No, not *really*. Just *sentiment*, I guess. C'mon... I'm finished here. Take the rear exit so you won't get *dirty* crawling under *Archie.* The reader sees the two of them from outside the ship, near its front. Panel 5. Laurie asks *Archie*? Dan answers "Oh, uh, well, it's short for *Archimedes*, Merlin's pet *owl* in *The Sword in the Stone*. I saw the *Disney* version once, and... Well, you know. It's just a stupid *nickname*. Here's the *exit*. Watch your *step*." The reader sees the outside of the ship as they travel through it, and the position of the dialogue boxes indicates where they are, although they are no longer visible through a window. Although it is a separate panel from the previous one, the image is a continuation of the image from the previous panel. Panel 6. Laurie exits the ship onto a large box used as a step stool. She holds Dan's hand as he helps her down onto the ground. She says "You were really into all that knights-in-armor fantasy stuff as a kid?" Dan, gesturing with his other hand, says "Yeah. I guess it *figures*... y'know, being a *crimefighter* and everything. It was just this adolescent, *romantic* thing." This image is in a separate panel, but it is also a continuation of the image from the previous two panels. The effect is that time, and their conversation, is passing normally, but the image of the Owlship is consistent over all three panels. Panel 7. The two of them walk side by side through the basement. Dan has his hands in his pockets and Laurie gestures at her surroundings as she says "Nothing wrong with adolescent *romance*, although *most* people don't spend so much money *getting* it. I mean, this *basement*, it's *enormous*. Why not sell some of this old *equipment* and turn it into, I dunno, a *gym* or something?" Panel 8. A large panel that takes up the space of two regular panels. Dan and Laurie walk through a wide and tall arch into another section of the basement as Dan replies "Already *got* one. No... I don't know *why* I hang *onto* this stuff. I mean, I *know* the romance is *over*... I guess I just don't have the heart to throw out all the *engagement presents*." In the room behind them is the Owlship, still partially covered by the tarp; the room they're walking into has a sort of futuristic, rounded car with a crescent moon symbol on the door, a scooter, a water scooter hung up from the ceiling by sturdy chains, and shelves of equipment, controls and boxes. There's puddles on the floor, and the cavernous room is dark. Page 8. Panel 1. Laurie runs her finger along the windows of the futuristic car, walking a few paces ahead of Dan. She says "Oh, *Dan!* You sound like my maiden Aunt *Bella*. What got you *into* this business in the first place?" Dan, watching her with his hands in his pockets, says "Well, I was *rich*, *bored*, and there were enough *other* guys doing it so I didn't feel *ridiculous*..." Panel 2. A larger panel that takes up the space of two regular panels. Dan walks slowly past the car, his shoulders slumped and his hands in his pockets. He continues, "I guess *Hollis* was my *hero*. He was *retiring* when I was *starting out*, so I wrote and asked if I could carry on his *name*. I remember visiting his garage, that first time. I was *awestruck*." Laurie stands near the front of the car, looking at her index finger. A long trail runs from the back window of the car to the windshield where she's cleared off the glass with her finger. Panel 3. Dan walks past Laurie and continues, "I mean... there I was, hanging out with a real *hero*, being his *friend* and everything. Being a *crimefighter,* y'know? Like part of a *brotherhood* or something..." Laurie stands near the car, wiping off her hands and looking around. Panel 4. A larger panel that takes up the space of two regular panels. Dan is standing in front of a brightly lit screen that's at least ten feet by six feet wide, his hands hovering over a control panel packed with buttons and panels that's as long as the screen. He looks up at the screen as he continues, "That's why I sort of regretted the *Crimebusters* falling through back in sixty-whenever-it-was. It would have been like joining the Knights of the Round Table; being part of a fellowship of *legendary beings*..." On the screen are blueprints for the Owlship, showing it from the side, top and front. Laurie looks out behind her as she wipes her hands together, an impressed look on her face. Panel 5. Dan steps away from the screen, gesturing with one thumb and putting his other hand back in his pocket. He says "...But eventually I realized the Comedian was *right*: It's all crap dressed up with a lot of *flash* and *thunder*. I mean, who needs all this *hardware* to catch *hookers* and *purse snatchers*? I mean *really*?" Laurie is looking at some sort of mechanical device in front of her, smiling and pointing at it as she says "Hmm. What's *that*?" Panel 6. Dan passes the device without looking at it, turning to the left and starting to go up some stairs. He says "Prototype *exo-skeleton*. First time I tried *moving* in it, it broke my *arm*. Never again." Laurie stands in front of the exoskeleton, her hands spread apart. She says "Jesus. That sounds like the sort of costume that could really mess you *up*." The exoskeleton is suspended from the ceiling by two large chains, and it's huge, with bone-like metal structures connected to loops for the arms, legs and chest. It has Dan's signature owl-shaped helmet, and looks extremely imposing. Panel 7. Laurie follows Dan back to the other room of the basement as he says "Is there any *other* sort?" Page 9. Panel 1. Dan, his hands in his pockets, walks back towards his costume as he says "I mean, look at *Rorschach*, the *condition* he's in. He was *normal* once. Sure, he was *quiet*, he was *grim*, but he still had all the *buttons* on his *overcoat*." Laurie walks behind him, and their shadows loom large on the wall to the side. Panel 2. Passing in front of the costume, his back to Laurie, Dan gestures with one hand and looks sad and worried as he continues, "Soon after I started out, we blitzed the *Big Figure* together. Tactically, Rorschach was *brilliant*. He was so *unpredictable*. What I'm *saying* was, he was *rational* then. Over the years, that *mask's* eaten his *brains*." Laurie, standing behind him, looks at him with a look of concern on her face. Panel 3. Laurie asks, "Wasn't anything *good* about those years? I mean, all these *gadgets* you designed... If that was *me*, I'd feel *proud.*" Dan is facing his suit, and turns his head to look at her, saying "You're really *interested* in all this stuff?" He takes the goggles off from around the suit's neck, saying "Well, uh, did I show you my *goggles*?" Panel 4. He hands the goggles to her, an apologetic look on his face as he says "I mean, if you *like* this sort of garbage... I guess it's pretty *kitsch* or *camp* or whatever..." She takes the goggles, smiling at him, and takes something out of her pocket as she says "Dan, don't be so self-deprecating. I was admiring the goggles *earlier*. These *lenses* are pretty dusty..." Panel 5. Dan looks contemplatively over at Laurie as she wipes the goggle lenses with a handkerchief. He says "Hmm. The work best in *darkness*, so I'll kill the lights. I've got this little *console* in my *belt* here..." He takes a yellow belt out from inside his costume. Laurie says "What *else* have you got in there? Chocolate rations? Boy scout knife? Army issue contraceptives?" Panel 6. Dan takes out a small radio-like device from one pocket of his belt and says "*Ha ha ha ha*. No, it's mostly pretty *boring*... Respirator masks, smoke bombs, fingerprint kit, pocket laser, this little *console*... You know. The usual stuff." Laurie fits the goggles over her head, smiling at him. The background is bright yellow. Panel 7. Dan presses a button on the device, and the basement goes dark. He says "Okay, now if I snuff the lights in the ship's *cabin* and in the kitchen *upstairs*..." Laurie fits the goggles over her eyes, saying "*Ha!* Show-off. Hey, what are these *goggles* supposed to do? I can't *see* anything. Are they *broken*?" Panel 8. Dan comes closer to her, reaching over and adjusting one of the sides of the goggles. He says "No. You just press here to rotate the lenses a quarter turn, like this." Laurie adjusts the goggles over the other side of her face, smiling. Dan continues, "As I remember, they work pretty good. No matter how black it got, when I looked through these goggles..." Panel 9. Dan continues, "Everything was as clear as day." Laurie says "*Ooooh!*" The reader sees the panel as if we're looking through the goggle lenses. The panel is bordered with black, with a display of the time, 17:49, at the bottom, and another display of a red half circle at the top. There's a circle in the middle of the panel that shows the Owlship and Dan's face, looking closely at her. The Owlship and Dan's face are colored in unnatural shades, suggesting the distortion of the night-vision goggles, but are clear and detailed. Page 10. Panel 1. The panel is still shown as if we're seeing through Dan's night-vision glasses. Laurie holds her own hands out in front of her, saying "Dan, this is *fabulous*. This must be what it's like having *powers*... Y'know, special vision and like that. It must be so strange being *Jon*. *He* can see *neutrinos*..." Dan checks his watch, a slightly worried look on his face as he says "Hm. Well, it's getting *late*." Panel 2. Laurie takes off the goggles and the scene is dark once more. She says "Oh, okay. I'm all through *playing* with them, anyway. ... Though maybe I'll borrow them for *Pale Horse*'s Madison Square Garden concert in early *November*. They're kind of *Devo*." Dan asks "*Devo*?" Holding the remote control up, he says "Just a second... Let's put the lights on upstairs." Panel 3. The lights turn on upstairs, and light comes through the hallway, slightly illuminating the basement. Laurie gives the goggles back to Dan as she says "Sure. Devo. Quote *Are we not men* unquote? Band from *Ohio*. Late *seventies.*" Dan answers, "Oh. Well, I'm mostly into Billie Holiday, Nellie Lutcher, Louis Jordan... Stuff like that." He continues, "Do you miss Jon?" Panel 4. Laurie gestures, looking off to the side, and says "Jon? No... Although I keep thinking I *should*. But, you see, even when I was *with* him, he was never really *there*. There was no real human *contact*; no *physical* contact... I was so *lonely*..." A few feet behind her, Dan replaces the goggles and the belt on the costume, a troubled look on his face. Panel 5. Dan and Laurie head for the brightly lit stairs. Dan, walking by her side, reaches out, intending to put a hand on the small of her back. He looks at her and says "Yes. I know. Laurie, sometimes I've felt..." Laurie, gesturing with both hands, continues "...And, like, it wasn't just the *isolation*. I used to work out in a *gym* a lot as a kid, all by myself, so being *alone's* no big deal." The mask of the Nite Owl costume is in the foreground, looking straight ahead. Panel 6. She gestures towards Dan, saying "I mean, take *you*, for example. You *like* living here on your own, so..." Dan withdraws his hand quickly, bringing it to his forehead and smoothing down his hair. She asks "Dan? What are you *doing*?" Dan replies, "Uhh, nothing. Just trying to keep these licks of hair in *front* tidy. Please... Carry on." The mask of the Nite Owl costume is in the foreground, looking straight ahead. Panel 7. Laurie, opening the door and gesturing, looks back at Dan and says "Well, what I'm *saying* is that at *Rockefeller* I got the *bad* side of isolation without the *compensations*, like *privacy*. There was nobody to *talk* to, but I'd always feel like I was under *observation.*" Dan, his expression dejected, says "Hmm." A couple of licks of his hair near his forehead stick out oddly. Behind them, the costume is still visible. Panel 8. Laurie continues offscreen, "It must be great for you, having a *secret identity*, a secret *place* nobody *knows* about. You can just come down here to hang out and there's nobody checking *up* on you... Nobody *watching* you." Dan's Nite Owl costume hangs in the closet, light from the hallway causing it to throw a shadow behind it. Panel 9. Dan answers "Isn't there? These days, I feel like something's watching my every *move*." A close-up of one of the sides of the goggles around the costume's neck. Dan, standing in the doorframe, and one of the Owlship's large windows are reflected in the lens. Page 11. Panel 1. As Laurie holds onto the handrail and walks up the stairs, she gestures with the other hand, saying "Dan, you sound like *Rorschach*. This quote *Mask Killer* unquote thing, it doesn't hold *up*. I mean, *Jon* left Earth of his own free *will*; Rorschach was caught red-handed committing *murder*, for God's sake... Where's the *conspiracy*?" Behind her, Dan has his hands in his pockets and is frowning slightly as he takes the first step up the stairs. Panel 2. Laurie opens the door and steps into the brightly lit kitchen, where the sugar cubes are still in disarray on the counter around the sugar canister. Behind her, Dan is at the top of the stairs, saying "I wasn't really thinking about the *mask killer*, but... I don't know. That Rorschach *murder* thing sounded *funny*. He wouldn't just *shoot* somebody. It's too *ordinary*. Anyway, it's almost *six o'clock news* time. Want *coffee*?" Panel 3. Laurie looks back at him as she leaves the kitchen, smiling as she says "Sure. Black as the *devil* and sweet as a stolen *kiss*." Dan looks over at her, saying "What?" as he fills the canister with sugar cubes and picks up the tea kettle. She says, "No milk: two sugars. Polish *folk saying*. Oh, incidentally, did you see that *package* that arrived for me?" Panel 4. Dan, preparing the coffee, says "Uh, no. I didn't." Laurie, walking away from him through the hallway, gestures as she says "Just my *clothes*, forwarded from *Rockefeller*. My old *costume*, stuff like that. Oh, yeah, and a letter telling me I don't have *cancer*. Hope you don't mind me using your *address*." Panel 5. Dan calls from the kitchen, "Long as you *like*. See, I'm not *really* that solitary by *inclination*." Laurie, reaching the living room, reaches for the light, saying "Well, I just don't want to get in the way of your *work* or anything. What is it that you *do,* actually?" The dark living room is sedately decorated, with a couch, a TV with a light and a small owl figurine on top of it, and a book case with several books and another owl figurine. Panel 6. Dan calls from the kitchen, "Oh, well, y'know. Not a *lot*, I guess. I sometimes write pieces for *ornithological* journals." Laurie, kneeling by the T.V. to turn it on and looking out toward the hallway, smiles as she says "Really? You do a *lot* of that?" The announcer on TV says "... Latest in a series of *tenement fires* allegedly designed to remove *sitting tenants*..." Panel 7. Dan calls from the kitchen, "No. Not much. I haven't written anything since last *April*. Most people find it all pretty *boring*, I guess..." The announcer is saying "...Meanwhile, investigations into captured vigilante *Rorschach* are *continuing*..." Laurie's attention is caught by the T.V., and she turns her face toward it, her expression turning serious. Her face is oddly colored in the reflected light of the T.V. Panel 8. Dan enters the living room with a tray holding two steaming mugs of coffee. He says "Usually as soon as I mention *ornithology*, folks sort of switch *off* and..." Laurie, still kneeling by the T.V. and facing it, puts her finger to her lips and says "*Shhhh!*" The announcer continues, "Today, police allowed *news cameramen* into the apartment used by Rorschach, real name Walter Joseph *Kovacs*." Panel 9. The announcer continues, "His *landlady*, Ms. Dolores *Shairp*, described Kovacs as quote a Nazi pervert unquote, and said that he'd frequently propositioned her *sexually*..." Laurie says "*Ha!* I *knew* it." The announcer continues, "She pointed out stacks of right wing literature including back issues of the *New Frontiersman*." The screen shows Rorschach's landlady, scowling as she gestures with her thumb towards Rorschach's squalid apartment behind her. There are several broken, dirty plates on the table, as well as open cans, and there are stacks of magazines and two signs that Rorschach used to carry. Two of her children hang around their mother, looking at the camera. One clings to her, and the other is picking his nose. Page 12. Panel 1. The announcer continues, "We asked *Hector Godfrey*, the Frontiersman's *editor*, if he had any *comment*..." Hector, sitting at his desk behind his nameplate, says "Frankly, isn't it time we *reassessed* Rorschach as a *patriot* and *American*?" Laurie continues "...And did you *see* that *room*? I mean, was that *gross*?" Hector is sitting up straight, his hands clasped in front of him. He's white and has small eyes and an intense expression. He's wearing a suit and tie and his hair is parted on one side and slicked over his head. The impression he gives is of someone very rigid and proper. Behind him is another man carrying Gunga Diner takeout, whose face is mostly hidden by a speech bubble. He's white, red-haired, and his eyes look curiously over the speech bubble. He wears jeans and a green t-shirt with a yellow smiley face over a yellow long-sleeved shirt. On the desk in front of Hector is a small American flag, a stack of papers and a pencil sharpener. Behind him are stacks of magazines, a telephone and another worker sitting in a chair. There's a corkboard behind Hector, on which are pictures of Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian among others that are blocked by him and his assistant. Panel 2. Dan leans over the coffee table in front of the couch, setting down the tray. He looks over at the T.V., saying "Yeah. He's not gonna be easy for a jury to *sympathize* with..." Laurie, sitting on the couch and facing the T.V., rests her arm on the end of the couch and says "*Sympathize*? After he shoots a *cop* with a *grappling hook gun*?" The announcer continues, "Following a tense *bail hearing*, Kovacs awaits trial, pending *psychiatric examination*." Panel 3. Dan says offscreen, "Don't *remind* me. It was me who *made* that thing for him." The T.V. shows Malcom walking into the jail. He turns back to look at the several reporters gathered around him, and he looks relaxed and confident. One of the reporters has her red hair tied up into a knot, one is a balding man with a combover and a sneer, and one is an older man with a fedora. A sign on the building reads "New York State Penitentiary." The announcer continues, " Dr. *Malcom Long*, carrying out the examination, has his first interview with Kovacs this afternoon... He told pressmen he felt quote confident and optimistic unquote." Panel 4. Dan, handing a purple and white striped mug of coffee to Laurie, points at the T.V. and says "I never *dreamed* he'd ever *shoot* anybody with it. What really worries me is him being in *jail*. The other prisoners'll *kill* him..." Laurie reaches for the mug, watching the T.V. and saying "Yeah, well, things are tough all over." The announcer continues, "Meanwhile, in *Afghanistan*, the fighting *spreads*..." Panel 5. The screen shows a map with Afghanistan in the center, bordered by the U.S.S.R. to the north and Pakistan to the south. The U.S.S.R. is colored red, while the other countries are colored green. Kabul and Quetta are marked by name, and there are some square and rectangle shapes and arrows coming out of the U.S.S.R. and moving through Afghanistan, pointing toward Pakistan. The announcer continues, "As the *conflict* moves closer to its *borders*, Pakistan today called on the U.S. to intervene..." Dan asks "Laurie? Are you okay? Did I put enough *sugar* in the *coffee*? I went out to the store specifically..." Panel 6. Laurie, holding the mug in both hands in front of her, continues to watch the T.V., her expression troubled as she replies "No. No, the coffee's fine. Dan, does this sort of stuff on the news scare the hell out of *you* too, or is it just *me*?" Dan looks over at her as he sips his coffee. The announcer continues, "Addressing Congress, President Nixon said that America would quote consider her options unquote..." Panel 7. The announcer continues, "Thus, while Russia claims to be merely securing her borders, Western experts see only opportunistic hostility in the wake of Dr. Manhattan's departure." Laurie continues, "I mean, is this another *false alarm* or has the big *countdown* finally started?" The T.V. shows images of a tank and troops raising clouds of dust as they march over the desert. The tank has a large red star on it. Panel 8. Dan reaches in his pocket for something and moves his hand to his glasses as he answers "I don't like *thinking* about it. During *Hiroshima Week*, I read an article in *Time* magazine, with *pictures*: kids' *bodies*, skin burned *black.*" Laurie closes her eyes, gesturing toward him and saying "Ouugh. Dan, *don't*..." The announcer continues "Meanwhile, America's European military installations have been placed on *full alert*..." Dan's mug rests on the tray on the coffee table in front of them, where there's also an issue of the latest Nova Express with its cover story on Dr. Manhattan. Panel 9. Dan answers, "Sorry. It's just *disturbing* that faced with such *heat*, people remain so *cool*, so *apathetic*..." The announcer continues, "At England's *Greenham Common* base, women *peace demonstrators* were *arrested* during scuffles with *police*..." The screen shows an image of a policeman holding a woman by her purple hair and holding a baton to her neck. She's wearing green camouflage and she looks scared. Behind her, another policeman is subduing a brown-haired woman, and another policeman is beating a woman in green camouflage who is approaching the tall chain-link fence with wire cutters. Laurie says, "Me, I wish I could just *split*, like *Jon.*" Page 13. Panel 1. Dan is holding his glasses in front of him, and we see his hand wiping them off with a handkerchief. He says "Oh, right. The old *Manhattan Transfer*..." Laurie looks up at him, her face crinkling in a genuine smile, and says "*What*? Manhattan Transfer? *Ha ha ha ha!*" The announcer continues, "...And throughout the world there is *tension* with no sign of a *breakthrough*." Panel 2. The announcer continues, "Meanwhile, at home, police stopped searching for missing writer *Max Shea*, having failed to open any new lines of *investigation*..." An image of Max Shea is shown on the screen. He's white, his face is stern and angular, and he has chin-length light yellow hair. Laurie says "*Ha ha ha*... Have you *always* called Jon's teleportation *that*?" Dan answers "Well, not to his *face*..." Panel 3. Laurie continues laughing, saying "Ha ha ha ha ha." The announcer continues, "Shea, who wrote children's *pirate comics* before graduating to modern classics such as *The Hooded Basilisk* and *Fogdancing* vanished from his Boston home two years ago..." Laurie looks appraisingly at Dan, who is still cleaning his glasses. She smiles as she says "Hmm. Why, Mr. *Dreiberg*... You're *ravishing*." Dan looks back at her with a smile. Without the large glasses, his face seems more balanced and conventionally handsome. Panel 4. Dan says "I'm *what*? Oh... No, no, I just got some steam, from my *coffee*, on the *lenses*..." The announcer continues, "While in New York, the *Institute for Extraspatial Studies* reports *exciting* and maybe *alarming* possibilities for opening *new dimensions*..." The T.V. shows the large, nondescript building with the words "Institute for Extraspatial Studies" written on the side. A car passes the building, and to the left, around the corner, the small figures of the newsvendor and the comic-book reading boy can be seen next to the newsstand. Panel 5. Laurie leans over Dan, fussing with the stray locks of hair near his forehead and saying "No, but *seriously*, you look *terrific* without glasses. If we could just do something with this stupid *hair*..." Dan leans back, surprised, and gestures wildly with his arms, saying "*Hey*, *stop* that!" The announcer continues, "We spoke to the Institute's chief *physicist*, Dr. Ed *Corey*." Laurie has placed her mug of coffee on the floor next to the couch, and steam from it and from Dan's mug on the coffee table drifts up. A clock behind Dan reads 6:10. Panel 6. Dan says "*Aaagh*. Laurie, *please*. I like it how it *is*. I don't *want* to be *Devo*..." The T.V. shows the inside of the Institute, centered on a man in a white lab coat, with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a clipboard. He says "We're very *excited* and expecting early *success* in our search for extra-dimensional *energy sources*." Behind him is a large, blank glass panel that appears black, and a control panel of some sort. Another scientist is working at another control panel, while to the side two others are looking at something. There are three visible levels to the room, and the glass panel is so tall that it nearly reaches the ceiling. What looks like a laser or a similar instrument hangs from the ceiling. Laurie says "Y'know *your* trouble? You're *inhibited*." Panel 7. Dan, lying down on the couch and holding his glasses as he looks up at Laurie, says "Uh... *inhibited*? In, uh, in what *way*...? Laurie, leaning over him, says "Oh, all *kinds* of ways." The screen shows a close-up on Dr. Corey as he says "Our *activities* are entering *spaces* we thought *impossible*." The announcer continues, "...And that's the world tonight. After the break, Adrian Veidt's New York Astrodome *charity performance*..." Panel 8. From offscreen, Dan says "Uh, *Laurie*? Should I *move*, or... uh...." The screen shows a scene from a commercial. There's a grand piano, on top of which is a bottle of champagne, two champagne glasses and a bottle of Nostalgia perfume. A stocking is laid over the piano bench. There's some flowers in the foreground, and behind the piano are long pink curtains, blowing open to reveal a balcony looking over a large body of water. It's night, and there's a full moon. A singer sings "Oh, my darling, it's incredible, that someone so unforgettable..." Panel 9. Laurie brings her face close to Dan's and touches the side of his head with one hand, her eyes open as she prepares to kiss him. He looks up at her, his lips parted slightly. The singer continues, singing "...Should think I am unforgettable, too." The screen centers on the bottle of perfume, which is visible in the space between Dan and Laurie's necks. Page 14. Panel 1. The screen shows a close-up of the bottle of perfume, next to the filled champagne glasses, bottle of champagne and a pair of golden cuff links. The glass perfume bottle has a cylindrical metallic cap, while the bottle itself is round with a flat base and has a graceful "N" on it. Text overlaid on the scene reads "Nostalgia by Veidt." The Veidt is the familiar Veidt logo. An announcer says "Nostalgia... by Veidt. For unforgettable you." Offscreen, Dan says "Jesus, Laurie, are you sure you..." Laurie says "Shh." Panel 2. Dan, lying on the couch, puts his glasses on the floor as Laurie sits awkwardly on the edge of the couch, holds his head between her palms and leans over to kiss him, saying "Mm." The announcer continues, "And now, in a repeat showing of last July's charity spectacular, we bring you Ozymandias himself, Adrian Veidt, at the New York *Astrodome.*" Panel 3. The screen shows Adrian in his Egyptian-inspired Ozymandias uniform. His body gleams golden under the direct spotlight, and his cape falls gracefully behind him as he bows, his legs straight together and his hands out to the sides. The announcer says "Ladies and gentlemen, performing live in aid of the *Indian Famine Appeal*, we present *Adrian Veidt*, the one, the only... *Ozymandias*!" Offscreen, Laurie says "Here... Let me move *around*... My *elbow's* pressing on your *chest*..." Panel 4. Behind Dan and Laurie, the screen shows a close-up of Adrian Veidt's attractive face. He smiles and starts to remove his cape as he says "Thank you. I hope you'll forgive me while I warm up. I haven't done this in a while." The audience laughs, "*Ha ha ha ha*." Laurie is now lying down on the couch, looking up at Dan as she says "That better?" Dan is holding his body up with his arms above her, and his head is cut off by the panel border. He says "Uh-huh." The face of Dr. Manhattan is visible on the magazine cover on the coffee table near Laurie. Panel 5. The screen shows Adrian, wearing his golden bodysuit and Egyptian-style loincloth, leaping onto a horizontal bar, his form perfect. The audience watches expectantly, and camera flashes light up in the background. The announcer says "...And just *look* at the *confidence* as he leaps up and grabs the bar, beginning his *maneuver*." From offscreen, Dan says "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I *crushing* you?" Laurie says "No. It's okay. Don't worry. Everything's okay. Mmm..." Panel 6. The announcer continues, "Moving up into the handstand now... Notice there's not the slightest tremor of effort. It's all one smooth, seamless flow of motion..." Dan fiddles with Laurie's shirt, starting to undo the buttons, exposing her lacy bra. Halfway down, he says "Uh, I can't seem to..." Laurie answers "What? Oh... Here, let me do that..." On screen, Adrian is swinging over the horizontal bar, his body barely visible in the space between Dan and Laurie's bodies. Panel 7. The screen shows Adrian grasping the bar and swinging over it beautifully. The announcer says "...And as he moves into his first set piece, the audience is on the edge of their seats. Believe me, this is absolutely breathtaking..." From offscreen, Laurie says "Oh. Ohh, Dan..." Panel 8. Dan asks "What's the *matter*?" as he attempts to slide her pants off her legs. She says "Nothing. If you could just lift yourself a little, I could... That's enough. That's great..." From offscreen, the announcer continues, "The grace of each movement is extraordinary. This is a man in his *forties*..." Laurie's foot rests on the ground, next to her shoe, Dan's glasses and her mug of coffee. Panel 9. The audience goes "*Ooooooohh*" as Adrian continues to swing around the bar, a look of concentration on his face and his form perfect. The announcer continues, "Just listen to that crowd as he switches his grip there..." From offscreen, Laurie says "Um. Ooommmmmm." Page 15. Panel 1. Laurie is pulling Dan's shirt and cardigan off as he places the palm of his hand over one of her breasts. She says "Dan?" He says "It's okay. I just need a couple of minutes to..." Then, in small text, he continues, "Aw, hell." The announcer continues, saying "...Spinning through the air against the lights, just *perfect*..." Panel 2. The screen shows Adrian jumping down from the bar and landing with his arms outstretched and his legs together as the announcer says "...And he's down! A perfect *Hecht dismount*..." From offscreen, Dan says "Oh, Laurie, I'm *sorry*. It isn't *you*, it's just..." Laurie answers, "Hey, *relax*. It's *okay*. We don't have to *rush* things..." Panel 3. The shadows of Laurie and Dan are shown on the wall behind them, looking at each other. The locks of Dan's hair in the front are very disheveled, floating out in front of him wildly. Laurie says "We've got as long as it *takes*. And don't *worry*. You're doing *fine.*" From offscreen, Adrian says "Thank you. Thank you very much." The audience claps, making a "*Klap klap klap klap klap klap*" sound. A clock on the wall behind Laurie and Dan reads 6:40 P.M. A tiny amount of Dan's hair can be seen at the base of the panel, but it is mostly cut off. Panel 4. The screen returns to the announcer, a brown haired man with a wide smile. He's wearing a green checked suit and holding a piece of paper. He looks at the camera and says "...And with the *eleven o'clock news* coming up next, that's all we have *time* for." Offscreen, Laurie asks "Still nothing?" Dan replies, "Uh-uh." Laurie says "Hm." The announcer continues, "So from me, Benny Anger, and Pale Horse's *Red D'Eath*, it's thank you and *good night*!" Beside him is a surly-looking white man with his dark brown hair arranged in a knot on the top of his head. He's wearing a jacket with a high collar and a red shirt. His arms are crossed in front of him, and he's smoking a cigarette in a long thin holder with a ball at one end. Panel 5. Dan is resting on his side on the couch, his eyes closed and his face troubled. Laurie pulls a blanket over his shoulders. She's still wearing her shirt, although it's unbuttoned. The announcer says "Now let's take a break from our *midnight movie* for *this*..." The T.V. shows an advertisement for meltdowns, with the candy featured in the middle of quick motion lines and bubbles, giving the advertisement a frantic look. The advertisement says "*Mmmmmmmm*-meltdowns. With *fruity fallout* and a *delicious* molten center, they'll blow you all the way to *China*..." On top of the TV is a picture of two men, perhaps Dan and Hollis. Panel 6. The announcer continues, "And that's *it* from *ABC* tonight. We'll be back tomorrow morning, but until then, take a *break*, take a *nap*, and most of *all*, take *care* of each other." The screen shows a pair of clock hands superimposed on the ABC logo, the three letters in thin, modern lowercase. The clock reads 1:59. From offscreen, Laurie asks "Dan?" He replies, "Mmhuh?" She says "Can you move *over* a little?" Panel 7. Dan, lying on the couch and facing the wall, says "Uhm surrey..." Laurie, easing herself onto the couch and pulling the blanket over her bare legs, says "It doesn't matter. I know how it is when something's not right. We'll sleep now, okay?" Panel 8. As the image on the TV screen turns to black and white static, Laurie says offscreen, "Just *sleep*." Panel 9. The static on the screen is reflected in one of the lenses of Dan's glasses, which are resting folded on the floor next to Laurie's coffee cup. Page 16. Panel 1. A close-up shot on a silhouette of a woman reflected in one of the lenses on Dan's glasses, which he is wearing. Most of his face is cropped out of the panel, but his eyebrow seems concerned, and a lock of hair is floating down over his forehead. The reflection in the lens is of a black background, and the woman in it is colored all in red, so that it's hard to make out any details, but she has her legs spread apart slightly and her hands on her hips. Her hair is piled high on her head and she's carrying a flogger. Dan's eye can't be seen through the dark reflection. This panel, and all but the final panel of the page, is half the size of a regular panel, giving this page a feeling of rapid intensity. Panel 2. Dan is rushing toward the woman, a look of dismay on his face. His necktie has come untucked from his cardigan, and the locks of hair around his forehead fly around. His hands are held up by his chest, palms turned toward him, as if he's asking for something. The reader sees him through the space between the woman's arm and her torso. She's wearing black leather on her arm and a black leather glove. The background is black. Panel 3. Dan seems to be moving further away from the woman, although her posture hasn't moved and he looks as if he's still running toward her. The reader still sees him through the space between her arm and torso, but we can now see enough of her to see that she's wearing a black leather outfit. It's cut high over her thighs, exposing her hips and part of her butt. A lock of red hair falls over her back as she stands facing Dan. A cloud of yellow dust is forming at Dan's feet. Panel 4. Dan seems to be even further away from the woman now as he runs desperately toward her. She spreads her arms away from her, welcoming him. More of her can be seen, as if the reader is gradually moving away from the two of them, and it's clear that it's the Twilight Lady from Dan's photo. A large cloud of dust forms between the two of them. Panel 5. Dan reaches the woman, and they embrace each other as she smiles up at him, the dust cloud settling and spreading around their feet. Panel 6. Still embracing, Dan and the woman pull their clothes off as if peeling the clothes off of their shoulders. Panel 7. Dan and the woman embrace, shown in profile. They're both naked, and their poses are symmetrical and stiff, their toes and torsos touching. Dan holds her shoulders, looking down at her, and the woman smiles as she holds the back of his head. Panel 8. The woman puts her hands on the top of his head and pulls down in opposite directions. The skin on his head splits down to Dan's eyebrows, revealing a patch of brown underneath decorated with triangles. His face is stoic as she does this. Panel 9. The woman continues to take off Dan's skin from his chest, holding a lock of his hair in each hand and pulling the skin off in wrinkled sheets. Dan's glasses break in half, falling to the ground. Underneath the skin is Dan, wearing his hooded Nite Owl costume and goggles. His expression and posture haven't changed, but with the goggles covering his eyes and in his costume, he suddenly looks more confident and heroic. Panel 10. The woman continues to pull the baggy skin down around his thigh, smiling as she reveals Dan in full costume. He looks down at her intensely and puts his hands on the top of her head. Panel 11. When Dan splits the skin and pulls it off, he reveals Laurie. She's wearing her Silk Spectre costume and smiling seductively at him, her face relaxed. Panel 12. Dan, with his old skin completely pulled off revealing his Nite Owl costume from head to toe, continues to pull Laurie's skin off, pushing it down her thighs as it bunches up. She looks up at him, smiling, and holds him around the waist. Panel 13. Dan and Laurie lean in to kiss each other. In the distance, there's an explosion, bright orange and yellow against the black sky. Panel 14. As Dan and Laurie's lips get closer, the explosion in the background grows, filling the sky with searing whites and yellows. Panel 15. Dan and Laurie are shown from far away, appearing like two shadows clinging to each other as the explosion nearly reaches them. The sky is lit with blinding white and blue, fading into a mushroom cloud of yellow and orange and red near the top of the panel. Panel 16. Dan and Laurie's skeletons are surrounded by white light, embracing and kissing as they turn black and are pulled apart. Panel 17. A normally sized panel. Dan wakes up, sitting up and sweating heavily. His eyes are wide open, and his mouth hangs open. Locks of his hair fly loose at his forehead. The blank light of the T.V. screen is bright behind him, and Jon's face on the cover of Nova Express can be seen behind the blanket covering Laurie. Page 17. Panel 1. Dan leans back, rubbing his forehead. Laurie is still sleeping next to him on the couch, her back facing away from the T.V. In the dark room lit by the TV screen, Dan's skin is an unusual shade of blue. He's not wearing any clothes, and we see that he's stocky but very muscular. Panel 2. Dan looks over at the sleeping Laurie, his face sad. She's sleeping peacefully, turned toward him with one hand over her chest. Panel 3. Dan looks down at her and picks up her hand. Panel 4. Dan raises her limp hand to his face, looking at it with a melancholy expression. Panel 5. This panel is half the size of a regular panel. He and Laurie are two shadowy figures, embracing as a blindingly white mushroom cloud billows out in the distance behind him. Panel 6. This panel is half the size of a regular panel. Dan and Laurie's skeletons are surrounded by white light, embracing and kissing as they turn black and are pulled apart. Panel 7. Dan brings Laurie's hand to his lips, holding it with both of his hands, pressing it to his cheek and kissing it tenderly. Panel 8. Dan climbs over Laurie, placing her hand back on the pillow. Panel 9. Dan walks toward the door as Laurie continues to sleep, her long dark brown hair spilling over the pillow. Panel 10. Laurie moves her hand slightly, although her eyes don't open. As Dan closes the door behind him, she mumbles, "Uhhmn. Jon...? Did you shub ubbuh nuhnuhduh... Mmm." Page 18. Panel 1. Dan closes the door carefully. The reader only sees his arm reaching to turn the doorknob. His coat and Laurie's coat hang on pegs near the door, and the kitchen is bright with moonlight. Panel 2. Dan stands in front of the kitchen sink, his hands curled into fists. All that's visible of him are his hands, as if we're seeing the scene from his point of view. It's raining outside, and the full moon and fogged-up window make the city skyline seem unusually bright compared to the dark kitchen. Panel 3. Dan wipes one finger over the glass over the full moon, wiping away the fog and revealing the dark sky and the bright moon. The pattern created is reminiscent of the spatter of blood over the Comedian's badge. Beads of moisture slide down the glass. Panel 4. Dan reaches for the door to the basement. The reader only sees his hand, but his shadow is cast on the door. His disheveled hair forms small locks that stick up on each side, similar to the horns on his costume's hood. Panel 5. Dan's hand opens the door to the basement, and his shadow seems to precede him down the stairs. Panel 6. Dan's hand holds on to the handrail as he heads to the dark basement, preceded again by his shadow. The Owlship is still parked there, and there are puddles on the floor. Panel 7. Around the corner from Dan is the Nite Owl costume, standing empty in the open closet. Panel 8. A close-up of the Nite Owl costume. One of the goggles lenses glitters as the light hits it. Dan's hand pushes the closet door further to the side. Panel 9. Dan holds one side of the goggles in his hand, and his shadowy figure is reflected in the lens. Page 19. Panel 1. Dan's face is somber as he fits the goggles over his forehead. The shadows from his hands curve over his face in a similar way to how his hood covers the sides of his head. Panel 2. A panel that's the size of two regular panels. Dan looks at the Owlship through the night-vision goggles. The driver's seat is on the right side of the ship, while the steering mechanism is on the left, and the ship is rendered in unnatural shades of orange and pink. A voice from offscreen says "Dan?" The goggles' display reads 03:15 at the bottom right corner. Panel 3. Laurie is buttoning her shirt as she turns the light on in the kitchen, looking around. She has a worried expression as she says "Dan? Where are you? Did you go to the *bathroom*, or..." Dan's voice calls from down the stairs, "Down here." Panel 4. Laurie walks down the stairs to the dark basement. She's still wearing nothing but her long shirt, leaving her legs bare. She says "Down...? What are you doing down *here*? I woke up, and the T.V. was still on and everything... I mean, it's only a quarter after *three*..." Panel 5. The reader sees Laurie through Dan's night-vision goggles as she arrives in the basement. He answers "Yes. I know." The display reads 03:16, and the indicator at the top right corner is a shaded half-circle. Panel 6. Dan, still wearing his goggles, turns away as Laurie walks toward him. She looks concerned as she says "Dan? Uh... hey, are you *okay*? I mean, you sound *upset*..." Dan answers "A *dream*. I... I just had a dream is all." Panel 7. Dan gestures with both hands, still facing away from Laurie as he says "W-We were *kissing*, and then this nuclear *bomb*, it just... We burned *up*. We were *gone*. *Everything* was gone... It's this *war*, the feeling that it's *unavoidable*. It makes me feel so *powerless*." Laurie stands behind him, her arms at her side. Panel 8. Dan continues, saying "So impotent." He's still wearing nothing but his gogles, and he's looking down, his shoulders slumped. His posture makes him look fat and old. Laurie looks like she might reach out to him, and her expression is worried. Page 20. Panel 1. Laurie reaches towards Dan's back, saying "Oh, *Dan*." Dan, still facing away from her, says "No, listen, it's not *just* the war or the fact I'm *emotionally* churned up right now... It's this *mask killer* thing. I mean *seriously*," he says, starting to count off on his fingers as he continues "Blake dead, Jon exiled, Adrian shot at, Rorschach captured..." Panel 2. Dan looks down and to the side, gritting his teeth and holding his hands out in front of him, the fingers loosely curled. He says "I can just feel this *anxiety*, this *terror* bearing down... I came down here, for my *costume*... I dunno, I feel *worried*, *confused*. I just need to take the *air*, to blow away the *cobwebs*. I... Ahh, hell..." Laurie looks on behind him, her face concerned. Panel 3. Dan turns to look at her, saying "Hell, I guess I must look pretty *Devo*, right?" Laurie laughs, saying "*Ha ha ha ha!*" Panel 4. Dan reaches to the side of his goggles, looking dismayed as he says "Ah, you're right. It's a stupid, mid-life crisis kind of idea. I don't even know what I was planning to *do*... Maybe take the *ship* out or something, get myself *straight*..." Laurie puts one finger to her chin, looking slyly at him. One eyebrow raised, she says "So? Who's to *know*?" Panel 5. Dan looks over at her, saying "What?" She answers "Who's to *know*? You said it's *radar invisible.*" He gestures with both hands, saying "Yes, but..." She turns and walks away, gesturing with her thumb as she says "Listen, you get the rest of your *suit* on while I go get *dressed*." The suit is behind Dan, as if it's his shadow, although Dan's actual shadow, and Laurie's, are also cast on the wall behind him. Panel 6. As Laurie heads for the stairs, she says "I used to be a masked avenger *too*, remember... I mean, I'm *used* to going out at three in the morning and doing something *stupid*." Dan watches her go, and the empty suit to his side looks on. Panel 7. As Laurie climbs the stairs, Dan turns to look at his costume, frowning contemplatively. Panel 8. Dan takes the costume down from its spot in the closet, holding it by the shoulders. Panel 9. Dan sits on a nearby box as he pulls on his grey pants. Page 21. Panel 1. Dan is reflected in one of the windows of the Owlship as he pulls on his shirt and tucks it under his briefs. The brown cowl portion of his suit is hanging on the railing in front of him. Panel 2. Dan pulls on his glove. His other hand already has its glove on. Panel 3. He fastens his utility belt around his waist, its crescent-shaped belt buckle squarely in the middle of his stomach. He removes the remote control from its pouch. Panel 4. He pushes a button on the remote control, turning on the lights for the Owlship. We see this panel as if through his perspective, seeing the remote control in his hand and the Owlship coming to life through the night-vision goggles. Panel 5. He places the hood over his head. Only the top of his head and his hands are visible, but illuminated by the powerful lights of the Owlship, his shadow looms large on the wall behind him. Panel 6. He slides on his second boot as Laurie, wearing a thigh-length trenchcoat, walks down the stairs, saying "Uh, Dan? I'm *ready*." Panel 7. A large panel that takes the space of three regular panels. Dan adjusts his glove as he turns toward Laurie, saying "Me too. Let's go." In his goggles and Nite Owl costume, he seems more confident and powerful. Page 22. Panel 1. Laurie, her trenchcoat still on, follows Dan into the Owlship. Standing in the doorframe, she says "Uh, will this thing still *fly* okay and everything?" Dan is leaning over the steering column, pushing it forward as he says "Sure. I ran a scan on Archie earlier: not a feather out of place. Let me just plug the steering column in over *here*... Hmm. Got *soot* in his eyes..." The reader sees the two of them as if we're looking from outside the ship through the dusty window. The soot from the fire earlier covers up the right third of the window. Panel 2. Laurie clings to the back of the driver's seat and says "Oh! We're *moving*." Dan, sitting in the driver's seat, pushes a button and says "Yes. I'm sorry... He always gives that little *lurch* when he starts up. Can't seem to iron it out. Better wash these windows down before we hit the *exit tunnel*..." Wiper fluid hits the large, round window as the ship moves through the basement. Panel 3. The sleek Owlship enters the tunnel, preparing to leave the basement behind. Laurie says "Wow. It's like being on a *ghost train*: the doors bump *open*, you enter the *tunnel*..." Dan answers "Heh. Actually, its a forgotten section of *subway* I converted after buying the building *above*. Let's pick up a little *speed* here." Panel 4. Laurie, still holding on to the back of the chair, says "Is it okay to *go* this fast? Where does the tunnel come *out*?" Dan, holding on to the steering column, answers without turning around, saying "A derelict *warehouse* two blocks *north*. I own that, too. Let's just hope the steel *flood doors* over the end of the *tunnel* haven't *rusted shut*." The lights of the Owlship illuminate the dark tunnel. Panel 5. The large steel flood doors open onto a warehouse with old planks and beams scattered over the floor. From inside the Owlship, Laurie says "Rusted *shut*? *Dan*, are you...?" Dan answers "Relax. Just kidding. Okay, in a moment I'm going to take him *up*. Just have to arrange some *cloud cover* with the *fog screens*..." Panel 6. Laurie, leaning forward, asks "Fog screens?" Dan explains, "Dry ice. Archie breathes *smoke* as well as *fire*. Okay now, hold *tight*. I'm rolling back the warehouse roof. Here we *go*..." Panel 7. The Owlship emerges from the roof of a three-story high building, as white clouds pour from the roof, surrounding it and falling to the ground. The building is old and in disrepair, with the windows boarded up. A pair of shadow lovers has been spraypainted on the boarded up garage door. It's nighttime, and far above them, a zeppelin flies in the sky. The full moon illuminates the scene. Page 23. Panel 1. A large panel which takes up the space of six regular panels. The reader sees the Owlship as if we're hovering several feet above it. The skyscrapers and buildings of New York City spread out in a grid below the Owlship, and from this height, the occasional car looks like nothing more than a colored oval with a spot of light from the headlights spreading in front of it. Clouds drift to the lower left corner of the image, and the Astrodome looks like a giant golden dome in the upper right hand corner patterned with curved triangles. In the lower left hand corner is an apartment building about seven stories tall which is on fire, with dirty brown smoke from the building billowing out into the sky. From inside the Owlship, Dan says "This is *great*, remembering which *switches*; which *sequences*. It's like the old instincts are *imprinted* on my *fingertips*... There's the *Astrodome*, like a *bumper* on a giant *pinball machine*..." Laurie says "Dan? What's that down on our *right*?" Panel 2. Dan says "Wait a minute. Let's get some cameras on that so we can..." He pushes a button on a large display between the Owlship's two front windows, and five different images pop up. The top image is the largest, showing the roof of the burning building, while the other four screens are in a two by two grid underneath it. They each show the fire from a different perspective, including the corner of the roof and a person leaning out of a window and waving his or her arms. Dan continues, saying "Hmm. *Tenement* building on fire. Looks like people trapped there on the upper *storys*." Laurie says "Oh, Jesus. I see *kids*. Can you *do* anything?" Panel 3. Dan says "Let's hope so. Taking him down now..." The Owlship is an egg-shaped silhouette over the full moon as the scene shows the upper floor of the tenement building, colored in bright purples and reds. People are leaning out the windows, their arms spread out. One person says "Outta my *way*, bitch, I can't *breathe*..." A woman next to him says "Oh, *God*, please *save* us! *We* ain't *done* anything! My *baby*, *he* ain't done nothin'. Oh *Jesus*, Lord, I'm *praying* to you.." A child next to her cries "Mommee*eee!*" Panel 4. The mother, a black woman in a patterned red robe, holds her child near the window. The kid looks up, his expression surprised, and reaches out of the window as Dan says "Please stay calm. Your predicament has been noticed and the situation is being attended to." His voice is being amplified in some way, as shown by the jagged edges of the speech bubble. Behind the woman and child, other people press closer to them and the edge of the window. Page 24. Panel 1. Dan brings the front of the Owlship right outside the window. The reader sees the scene as if we're inside the building looking out the window, and Dan is sitting at the controls, looking through the window and waving. The people inside point and the woman moves her son away from the window. Yellow smoke is drifting through the room. Panel 2. A larger panel the size of two regular panels. Dan, still sitting at the controls, turns the ship so that its side is facing the building. Water spurts from two turrets at the base of the ship as he says "Okay, there's *water cannons* trained on the *lower storys* to slow down the *fire*. All you *people* in there, please get to the *top floor*. We'll join you in a *moment*. Thank you." Smoke billows around the Owlship as he speaks. Laurie is standing behind him, looking at the panels. Panel 3. A larger panel the size of two regular panels. Dan and Laurie are inside the Owlship. Dan touches a panel, his face reflected in the Owlship's window in front of him. He says "I'll extend a *ramp* from the *rear door* to a *window*, so we can shepherd everybody onto the *ship*." Laurie, standing a few feet behind him and to the right, undoes the buttons on her trenchcoat, saying "Hmm. If I'm going to be working close to the *blaze*, I won't need my coat." Panel 4. Laurie is shown reflected in the Owlship's window behind Dan, removing her coat. She's wearing her revealing, swimsuit-like Silk Spectre outfit, with its neckline that goes all the way to her navel, covered with a nearly transparent short dress. Part of Dan's face is reflected in the window as well, and he looks at her reflection, his finger hovering over a button on the control panel that has a ramp icon. Panel 4. Laurie says "Well?" The reader sees the scene as if we're sitting on the floor, with Laurie's shapely legs standing next to her discarded trenchcoat. She wears black high heels with loops around the ankles. Dan looks back at her, saying "Uh? Wuh, well *what*?" Panel 5. Laurie has her hand on her hip in a no-nonsense pose as she gestures at the building with her thumb and says "Well, what about the *ramp*? There's a bunch of people still need their *asses* hauled out of the fire, remember?" Dan hits the button as he says "Oh. Oh, right. Sure..." Panel 6. Dan continues "The ramp. Absolutely..." A ramp extends from the side entrance of the Owlship toward the window. Someone inside says "Get *back*! It's *pokin'* somethin' at the *building!*" The child from before says "*Mom*? That guy in the *space rocket*? Is that *Jesus*?" Page 25. Panel 1. The ramp latches on to the windowsill, and Laurie steps out of the Owlship onto it. The bright light from inside the Owlship throws her face and body into shadow as lines of smoke drift over the scene. She says "Okay, everybody. Coming *through*." The people inside the building crowd around the window to watch her. One says "Oh, *man*, I don't *believe* this..." Another says "So why's *she* dressed like that? It's *us* who just got woke up at four in the a.m.!" Panel 2. Laurie stands at the edge of the window as the crowd looks up at her in astonishment. Again the focus is on her bare legs as she says "Hi. If you could all form a *line* by the *window*, we'll have you out of here in just a *moment*. *Da*... Uh, *Nite Owl*, there's an awful lot of *people* in here." Panel 3. Dan is climbing through a portal to the roof of the Owlship, carrying the steering column. He says "No problem. I can make more space by taking the *steering column* and jacking it in up on the *roof*... These *flames* are climbing pretty fast. How's the *evacuation* coming?" The smoke billows in the background. Panel 4. Laurie, standing inside the building near the window, says "Oh, you know. The *usual*. Lady, will you go *across*, please?" An older woman climbs onto the ramp as she asks "Are you with the *fire department*?" Laurie gestures as she says "Listen, I'm Smokey the Bear's secret mistress. Now will you please just *move* or throw yourself over the *side* or something?" Across the ramp, the mother and her son are reaching the side of the Owlship. Smoke continues to billow out of the lower stories, and on the sidewalk below, fire trucks are starting to arrive and people are gathering, pointing up at the building and the Owlship. Panel 5. Dan's voice, from the roof of the Owlship, comes through the open portal, saying "Welcome aboard. Please make yourselves comfortable, but try not to touch any *buttons*. We'll be serving coffee in a few moments. Is everybody *out* yet?" The boy enters the Owlship tentatively, looking around with his mouth open. He is wearing pajamas with a V on them. His mother follows, putting a hand over her mouth, and the man behind her looks astonished. Panel 6. Laurie pushes a young man onto the ramp, saying "Here's the *last*. Listen, I don't *care* about your quote *allergies* unquote or your quote *medicine* unquote. Just get in the *ship*, you asshole." Dan looks on as he stands on the roof of the Owlship, holding the steering column in front of him. He says "Uhh, fine. Okay, let's *ride*. I'll put some *music* on the in-ship *stereo*..." The smoke billows up close behind Laurie and the man, as if it's about to reach them. Panel 7. A large panel, the size of three regular panels. Dan steers the Owlship from its roof, standing on top of it and silhouetted by the full moon as red and orange smoke billows around him. The people inside look curiously out the windows of the Owlship as a song starts playing, with the singer singing "You're my thrill, You do something to me, you send chills right through me when I look at you, 'cos you're my thrill... You're my thrill, how my pulse increases, I just go to pieces when I look at you 'cos you're my thrill." Page 26. Panel 1. The singer continues, "Mmmmmmm-mmmmmmm Nothing seems to matter..." Dan's voice calls, "There's a *coffee machine* behind a panel on the starboard wall. You *got* it?" Laurie pulls back a panel to find a coffee dispenser, saying "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I got it. How are you doing up there? Don't fall off..." The people crowd around her, looking curious. The young man that was the last to get on the Owlship stands to her side and starts rolling a joint. Panel 2. Dan is steering the Owlship with both hands on the controls as smoke billows high into the sky behind him. He looks forward confidently and smiles as he says "Oh, don't worry about *me*. I'm fine. Just fine." The singer continues, "Mmmmm-mmmmm. Here's my heart on a silver platter." Panel 3. Dan's voice comes over the speaker, saying "Okay, we're over the opposite *roof* now. Everybody please leave the ship the way they came *in*..." The man who was rolling a joint holds it up to his lips and reaches out to press a button on a control panel. Laurie grabs his arm and points at his chest, her face severe as she says "Don't *touch* that! You want to burn down the whole *neighborhood*?" The singer continues, "Where's my will? Why this strange desire?" Panel 4. A large panel that takes up the space of two regular panels. The Owlship hovers above the roof of another building, and the ramp slopes down onto the roof. Laurie is standing on the roof, helping an old man in a bathrobe coming down the ramp. The mother and her child stand near the ramp, and the other people stand in groups around the ship, talking to each other and crying. The singer continues, "... That keeps mounting higher? When I look at you, I can't keep still 'cos you're my thrill." Dan, pulling back on the steering column, says "Okay, folks, the fire department will handle the rest. When your coffee's finished, please head down to the street. Goodnight, now." Panel 5. The people watch Night Owl fly the Owlship up into the sky. He turns back to wave to them, silhouetted by the full moon. The boy looks back up and waves, holding a paper cup of coffee in his other hand. The man in front of him rubs his forehead, holding his joint in his mouth. Panel 6. Dan climbs back down from the roof with the steering column, saying "You know, I can't believe we just *did* that. You realize they'll probably lock us up with *Rorschach*?" Laurie, sitting languidly in the driver's seat with a mug of coffee, says "Ahh, who *cares*? World War Three could start *tomorrow*, right? Who was that *singing*?" Panel 7. Dan answers "Oh, that was *Billie Holiday*, You're My Thr... Uh, Laurie, what...?" A close-up of Dan's face, with Laurie's smiling face reflected in one of the goggles lenses. Laurie has her thumb and forefinger on the edges of the goggles as she says "It's okay. I think I caught the title." Panel 8. Dan and Laurie embrace. Dan's goggles are pushed up over his forehead, and his eyes are closed as he kisses her. Page 27. Panel 1. This panel, and all of the other panels until the final one, is half the size of a regular panel. One of Dan's gloved fingers presses a button with a stylized cloud icon. Panel 2. Smoke comes from small portals on the underside of the Owlship, billowing out underneath the ship. Far in the background is the spire of a skyscraper. Panel 3. The cloud of smoke starts to rise, surrounding the Owlship and rising up to the moon. The Owlship is still moving, as indicated by a different skyscraper in the background. Panel 4. The smoke almost entirely surrounds the Owlship and rises up, partially covering the moon, so that the full moon looks like a crescent moon. Panel 5. The crescent shape of the moon is mirrored in the crescent shape on Dan's belt buckle, which Laurie is undoing with her manicured hands. Panel 6. Laurie's red lips are slightly parted as Dan removes her thin, black choker with a skull decoration on it. His other hand is pulling at the sheer fabric of her dress. Panel 7. As Laurie slips Dan's glove off, his finger hovers above a button marked with a sun symbol. Their embracing bodies are visible in a reflective surface behind them. Panel 8. They embrace in the darkness, and Dan kisses Laurie's neck. Laurie is naked except for her high heels, while Dan is still wearing his cowl, although his hood is off, pushed behind his head. Panel 9. Dan's cowl, goggles and hood, dark grey against the black night shown outside the Owlship windows. Panel 10. Dan holds Laurie and kisses her neck, and she leans her head back, closing her eyes. This panel is a continuation of the previous panel. Panel 11. Laurie's long brown hair falls down her naked back, and her S-shaped earring shines. Her elbow moves close to a button on the control panel. This panel is a continuation of the previous panel. Panel 12. Laurie's elbow hovers over a button marked with a flame symbol. Panel 13. A panel that's three times the size of a normal panel. The Owlship, partially hidden by billowing clouds of smoke, shoots a large jet of flame from between the two front windows. Far below the ship are hundreds of buildings and skyscrapers, including the burning tenement building. Page 28. Panel 1. A corner of the Owlship, near the control panel. Dan and Laurie's clothes are lying haphazardly on the floor, and Dan's cowl is draped over the back of the driver's seat. From offscreen, Dan says "I thought you'd *quit*, Laurie. Dangerous *habits*, remember?" Panel 2. A continuation of the previous panel, showing the rest of Dan's cowl over the driver's seat. Laurie's hand is holding a lighter to the tip of her cigarette holder, and her feet are on the floor. She answers "There's no such thing as quitting. Just sometimes there's a longer pause between *relapses*, right? Dan, was tonight good? Did you like it?" Dan answers "Uh-huh." Panel 3. Laurie is sitting on the ground, her legs folded under her. She's naked and turning her head toward her lighter, smiling. Dan is sitting next to her, naked and playing with her hair, as she asks "Did the costumes make it good? Dan...?" Panel 4. Dan and Laurie are reflected in one of the lenses of Dan's goggles. They move closer to each other as Dan answers "Yeah. Yeah, I guess the costumes had something to do with it. It just feels *strange*, you know? To come out and *admit* that to somebody. To come out of the closet." The smoke from Laurie's cigarette streams up, passing over the goggles. Panel 5. Laurie asks "Does it feel *good*?" Dan brings his face close to hers, holding her shoulder. His face is mostly in shadow, but his eyes are visible, and they're intense as he replies "Oh, yes. Jesus, yes. I feel so *confident* it's like I'm on *fire*. And all the *mask killers*, all the *wars* in the *world*, they're just *cases* -- just *problems* to solve." Behind them, the cowl and goggles hang upside down. Panel 6. Laurie, leaning back and pulling Dan back onto the floor with her, says "Hmmm. Y'know, you sound real *passionate*. I didn't know you could *smolder*. I'd *hoped* tonight might wake something *inside* you, but it sounds like it's *awoken* with an *appetite*." Dan holds her closely as he answers "You're right. It has a *big* appetite." The reader sees the two of them as if we're watching from outside the Owlship's wide windows. Panel 7. The outside of the Owlship, still surrounded by dissipating clouds. A line of dark brown smoke from the building fire crosses the lower left corner, and the full moon looms large in front of the ship. Laurie says from inside, "Mmmmmm. *Insatiable*, huh? Well, I'm open to *suggestions*. What shall we do *next*?" Dan answers, "I've been *thinking* about that, and I feel we have certain obligations to our *fraternity*. I think we should spring Rorschach." Panel 8. The Owlship continues to fly, and the reader sees the ship from further away, looking as if it's centered in the moon. The clouds part, and the dark smoke rises. Panel 9. The Owlship continues to fly towards the full, yellow moon, and its two large circular windows look like two eyes on the moon. The drifting clouds curve, as if to form a smile on the moon, and the dark line of smoke cuts across the side of the moon like a line of blood. From inside, Laurie says "What?" This panel is split into thirds, with the moon and Owlship in the top two thirds and the bottom third containing a quotation on black with white text. "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. Job chapter 30, verses 29-30." To the side of the quote is a round clock with no numbers or other indications of time on it. The minute and hour hands indicate that it is 11:55. Supplementary Material Page 1. A journal article. A small, typewritten note paper clipped to the top reads "The following text is reprinted from the Journal of the American Ornithological Society, Fall 1983." The top two thirds of the page are taken up by a black and white drawing of the goddess Athena in profile, wearing a helmet and looking ahead of her somberly. On her shoulder is a horned owl, looking straight ahead. Athena is carrying a wide, circular shield, and is standing underneath a crescent moon. Underneath the picture is the title, "Blood from the Shoulder of Pallas." Underneath that, between two decorative lines of squares, are the words "By Daniel Dreiberg." Each word in the title is separated by one of these squares. The first letter of the text is a large, ornamental I. The text reads: Is it possible, I wonder, to study a bird so closely, to observe and catalogue its peculiarities in such minute detail, that it becomes invisible? Is it possible that while fastidiously calibrating the span of its wings or the length of its tarsus, we somehow lose sight of its poetry? That in our pedestrian descriptions of a marbled. Page 2. The text continues, or vermiculated plumage we forfeit a glimpse of living canvases, cascades of carefully toned browns and golds that would shame Kandinsky, misty explosions of color to rival Monet? I believe that we do. I believe that in approaching our subject with the sensibilities of statisticians and dissectionists, we distance ourselves increasingly from the marvelous and spell-binding planet of imagination whose gravity drew us to our studies in the first place. On the top left of this page is a line drawing of an owl in flight, reaching out with its claws. This is not to say that we should cease to establish facts and to verify our information, but merely to suggest that unless those facts can be imbued with the flash of poetic insight then they remain dull gems; semi-precious stones scarcely worth the collecting. When we stare into the catatonic black bead of a Parakeet's eye we must teach ourselves to glimpse the cold, alien madness that Max Ernst perceived when he chose to robe his naked brides in confections of scarlet feather and the transplanted monstrous heads of exotic birds. When some ocean-going Kite or Tern is captured in the sharp blue gaze of our Zeiss lenses, we must be able to see the stop motion flight of sepia gulls through the early kinetic photographs of Muybridge, beating white wings tracing a slow oscilloscope line through space and time. Looking at a hawk, we see the minute differences in width of the shaft lines on the underfeathers where the Egyptians once saw Horus and the burning eye of holy vengeance incarnate. Until we transform our mere sightings into genuine visions; until our ear is mature enough to order a symphony from the shrill pandemonium of the aviary; until then we may have a hobby, but we shall not have a passion. When I was a boy, my passion was for owls. During the long summers of the early fifties, while the rest of the country was apparently watching the skies for incoming flying saucers or Soviet missiles, I would hare across the New England fields in the heart of the night, sneakers munching through the dried grass and bracken towards my watch, where I would sit peering upwards in hope of a different sort of spectacle, ears straining for the weird scream that meant an old bird was out combing the dark for sustenance, a mad hermit screech, glaringly distinct from the snoring hiss of a younger owl. Somewhere over the years; sometime during the yawning expanse between those snug years in the afterglow of a war well won and these current times, huddled in the looming shadow of a war un-winnable; someplace along the line my passion got lost, unwittingly refined from the original gleaming ore down to a banal and lusterless filing system. This gradual tarnishing had gone unnoticed, unchecked, finally calcifying into unthinking habit. It was not until comparatively recently that I managed to catch a dazzling glimpse of the mother-lode through the accumulated dust of methodical study and academia: visiting a sick acquaintance at a hospital in Maine on behalf of a mutual friend, walking back across the shadowy parking lot with my mind reduced to blankness by the various concerns of the day, I suddenly and unexpectedly heard the cry of a hunting owl. Page 3. On the bottom right corner of this page is a line drawing of a mouse on the ground in a small clearing surrounded by grass, next to some mushrooms. It looks up and over at the owl from the previous page. The text continues, It was a bird advanced in years, its shriek that of a deranged old man, wheeling madly through the dark and freezing sky against the ragged night clouds, and the sound halted me in my footsteps. It is a fallacy to suppose that owls screech to startle their prey from hiding, as some have suggested; the cry of the hunting owl is a voice from Hell, and it turns the scrabbling voles to statues, roots the weasel to the soil. In my instant of paralysis there on the glistening macadam, between the sleeping auto-mobiles, I understood the purpose behind the cry with a biting clarity, the way I'd understood it as a boy, belly flat against the warm summer earth. In that extended and timeless moment, I felt the kinship of simple animal fear along with all those other creatures much smaller and more vulnerable than I who had heard the scream as I had heard it, were struck motionless as I was. The owl was not attempting to frighten his food into revealing itself. Perched with disconcerting stillness upon its branch for hours, drinking in the darkness through dilated and thirsty pupils, the owl had already spotted its dinner. The screech served merely to transfix the chosen morsel, pinning it to the ground with a shrill nail of blind, helpless terror. Not knowing which of us had been selected, I stood frozen along with the rodents of the field, my heart hammering as it waited for the sudden clutch of sharpened steel fingers that would provide my first and only indication that I was the predetermined victim. The feathers of owls are soft and downy; they make no sound at all as they drop through the dark stratas of the sky. The silence before an owl swoops is a V-Bomb silence, and you never hear the one that hits you. Somewhere away in the crepuscular gloom beyond the yellow-lit hospital grounds I thought I heard something small emit its ultimate squeal. The moment had passed. I could move again, along with all the relieved, invisible denizens of the tall grass. We were safe. It wasn't screaming for us, not this time. We could continue with our nocturnal business, with our lives, searching for a meal or a mate. We were not twitching nervelessly in stifling, stinking darkness, head first down the gullet of the swooping horror, our tails dangling pathetically from that vicious scimitar beak for hours before finally our hind legs and pelvic girdle are disgorged, our empty, matted skin curiously inverted by the process. Although I had recovered my motor abilities in the aftermath of the owl's shriek, I found that my equilibrium was not so easily regained. Some facet of the experience had struck a chord in me, forged a connection between my dulled and jaded adult self and the child who sprawled in faint starlight while the great night hunters staged dramas full of hunger and death in the opaque jet air above me. An urge to experience rather than merely record had been rekindled within me, prompting the thought processes, the self-evaluation that has led to this current article. As I remarked earlier, this is not to suggest that I immediately foreswore all academic endeavor and research pertaining to the field in order to run away and eke out some naked and primordial existence in the woods. Quite the contrary: I hurled myself into the study of my subject with renewed fervor, able to see the dry facts and arid descriptions in the same transforming magical light that had. Page 4. The text continues, favored them when I was younger. A scientific understanding of the beautifully synchronized and articulated motion of an owl's individual feathers during flight does not impede a poetic appreciation of the same phenomenon. Rather, the two enhance each other, a more lyrical eye lending the cold data a romance from which it has long been divorced. Immersing myself avidly in dusty and long untouched reference books I came across forgotten passages that would make me almost breathless, dreary-looking tomes that would reveal themselves to be treasure houses of iridescent wonder. I rediscovered many long-lost gems amongst the cobwebs, antique and functional stretches of descriptive prose which nonetheless conveyed the violent and terrible essence of their subject matter effortlessly. I stumbled once more across T.A. Coward's engrossing account on an encounter with an Eagle Owl: quote "In Norway I saw a bird that had been taken when in down from the nest, but it not only assumed the typical terrifying attitude, but made frequent dashes at the wire, striking with its feet. It puffed its feathers out, framed its head in its wings, and fired off a volley of loud cracks from its snapping beak, but what struck me most was the scintillating flash of its great orange eyes." unquote. Then of course there is Hudson's account of the Magellanic Eagle-Owl which he wounded in Patagonia: "The irides were of a bright orange color, but every time I attempted to approach the bird they kindled into great globes of quivering yellow flame, the black pupils being surrounded by a scintillating crimson light which threw out minute yellow sparks into the air." In long-buried words such as the foregoing I caught some of the searing, apocalyptic intensity that I had felt in that wet hospital parking lot in Maine. Nowadays, when I observe some specimen of Caine noctua, I try to look past the fine grey down on the toes, to see beyond the white spots arranged in neat lines, like a firework display across its brow. Instead, I try to see the bird whose image the Greeks carved into their coins, sitting patiently at the ear of the Goddess Pallas Athene, silently sharing her immortal wisdom. Perhaps, instead of measuring the feathered tufts surmounting its ears, we should speculate on what those ears may have heard. Perhaps when considering the manner in which it grips its branch, with two toes in front and the reversible outer toe clutching from behind, we should allow ourselves to pause for a moment, and acknowledge that these same claws must once have drawn blood from the shoulder of Pallas. At the end of the article is a black and white line drawing of an owl, sitting serenely on a branch and looking forward. The page opposite the last page of material from Dan's article is black. At the very bottom is half of a clock, with a red, white and black edge and Roman numerals. The time is 11:55. Blood is dripping down, partially covering the top third of the page, and it continues to make its way down over the field of black between it and the clock.