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"Grab and run. That was exciting."

With a crowd behind him shouting and chasing, Damon carried the unconscious woman and grinned as he leaped directly over a police car rushing toward him. The officers inside scrambled out and tried to continue the pursuit, but Damon had already ducked into the alley he had emerged from earlier.

Then his body shot upward.

He still could not fly, but after copying Diana's abilities, this kind of height meant very little.

A crowd of breathless pursuers rushed into the alley and froze.

It was a dead end.

Where had he gone?

They looked at one another, baffled.

Lilah, who had followed with the crowd, quietly slipped aside and climbed through a building to the roof. Once there, she hurried to the spot where the Disciple was cloaked. There appeared to be nothing there, but when she reached out, her hand touched the ship.

She let out a long breath.

The hatch slowly opened, and Lilah hurried inside.

"You're back."

Damon had bound the woman to a chair with the Lasso of Truth. He turned his head as Lilah entered.

"Master, you..."

Lilah had no idea what to say.

"Running every now and then is good for your health. Keeps you in shape," Damon said with a smile. "If you get too fat, I will not want you anymore."

"Ah... I understand."

Lilah could only nod.

She did not know what would happen if Damon truly stopped wanting her. Would he send her back to her original era to continue her original fate? Or would he simply kill her? After all, no one liked giving private belongings to someone else, even if they no longer wanted them.

A muffled groan came from the unconscious woman. She opened her eyes, froze for an instant, then struggled and shouted.

"Let me go, you bastard!"

"Relax. I am not a bad person," Damon said with a smile.

If life had background music, this was exactly when it would turn ominous.

"What is your name?" Damon asked gently.

"Laurie... Laurie Juspeczyk. What did you do to me? Why am I..."

Laurie stared in terror at the rope glowing gold around her. The burning heat of it made her answer against her will, even while she tried to question him.

"Silk Spectre II?" Damon asked.

"Yes... how do you know that?"

Laurie felt as if her mind had split in two, one half answering and the other half demanding answers.

"Good. I found the right person."

Damon smiled.

The Watchmen were a superhero team made up of Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, Ozymandias, the Comedian, Nite Owl, and Silk Spectre. As the only woman among them, Laurie had inherited her mother's codename and become Silk Spectre II.

"Where is Dr. Manhattan?"

Since he had found the correct person, Damon asked the question he cared about most.

"He... he left Earth. No one knows... where he is."

Laurie spoke against her will.

"When did he leave? And why did I not see any reports about him?"

"After... after he became Dr. Manhattan. He can see the future. He knew that one day someone would come looking for him, someone who would use his power to bring disaster to the world. So he left in advance. That person is... you, isn't it?"

Laurie was drenched in sweat and had to force the words out through clenched teeth.

Damon frowned.

Among Dr. Manhattan's long list of powers, precognition was indeed one of them. It was not even particularly strange as abilities went. Gideon on the Waverider could calculate future outcomes, and the Time Masters were even more familiar with such things.

But those methods only identified the effect of a deviation after that deviation had occurred.

Dr. Manhattan's foresight was stronger. He had foreseen the deviation before it was even born.

In other words, he was always one step ahead.

Damon had come full of interest and was leaving disappointed. Dr. Manhattan had left Earth early because of him. No wonder there was no news at all.

Originally, Damon had wanted Dr. Manhattan to meet Soviet Firestorm and see whether one snap of his fingers could make Firestorm explode. After all, the man's stated wish was world peace.

Now that plan was dead.

Who knew where Dr. Manhattan had gone after leaving Earth? Mars, like in the film? If he could leave Earth in advance, he could naturally leave Mars in advance too.

Losing interest, Damon removed the Lasso of Truth from Laurie and waved.

"You can go."

Laurie had a fierce temper. The moment she was free, she kicked at Damon.

'You abduct me, then tell me to leave, and I am supposed to obey?'

Setting aside the kidnapping, the possibility that Damon was connected to Dr. Manhattan meant Laurie could not simply walk away.

Smack.

The black high heel struck Damon's arm. Damon caught her leg in passing and tossed her away.

Bang.

Laurie hit the floor hard and groaned. She stared at Damon, who stood several meters away with an indifferent expression, and froze.

He was terrifyingly strong.

"Who are you?" Laurie rose and shifted cautiously into a fighting stance.

"Questions, questions. Enough questions. I could tell you and you still would not know me." Damon sounded impatient. "You cannot do everything you wish you could do, so you should do everything you actually can."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Laurie was confused.

"It means you cannot beat me. Get out."

"..."

Laurie was so angry that she unbuttoned her coat and stripped it off.

Damon glanced sideways at her.

"What? Planning to fight me bare-armed?"

Laurie charged.

She had been trained in hand-to-hand combat by her mother since childhood. After joining the Watchmen, she had taken part in more than a few missions. She did not believe her skills were inferior to anyone's.

Yet she had never met someone who could sit there and block every attack with one hand, especially while looking so absent-minded and bored.

Bang.

Another attack failed. Laurie retreated a few steps, furious and humiliated as she glared at him.

"Do you know what life is?" Damon suddenly asked.

Before Laurie could answer, he answered himself.

"Life is one slap after another until it wakes you up."

"Are you awake yet?"

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