November 1, 1985
Adrian films his message to Robert Redford, congratulating him on his inauguration as U.S. President and explaining that he planned it. Meanwhile, a cleaning woman goes to Adrian's office, closes the doors, and accesses his computer. The woman opens a hidden refrigerator and takes out Vial #2346, mixes in a liquid from a soap dispenser she has with her, and puts the vial back. Once she's put everything back in order, the cleaning woman prepares a syringe and inseminates herself.
2008
A woman arrives at Karnak and pounds on the door. Adrian opens the door and the woman removes her protective mask to reveal that she's Trieu. Trieu says that she wanted to talk to him, but Adrian isn't interested until he says that he manufactured a trans-dimensional being to kill three million people. Adrian denies it, but Trieu points out that no one gives him credit for it. She thanks Adrian for saving the world, and Adrian invites her in for tea.
Inside, Adrian tells Trieu that Redford doesn't return his calls and figures he could have become President without Adrian. Trieu looks at Adrian's teleport device and he explains that he teleports the squid into the stratosphere using a random algorithm to cause the rains randomly. Trieu tells Adrian that it's a rerun because he's still doing the same thing as twenty years ago, just smaller. She asks him what happens if he lets the "clock" start up again, and Adrian figures that they'd be back where they started at. Trieu offers to make every nuclear weapon disappear on the planet, and says that there is someone without limitations who could do it. She knows that Manhattan isn't on Mars but on Europa, and explains that she build a satellite to scan for Manhattan's unique frequency of radiation and it should reach Europa in five years.
Trieu says that she just needs to confirm where Manhattan is before she destroys him and takes his power. Once she does that, she can fix the world and do everything Manhattan should have done. Trieu has designed a quantum centrifuge to strip Manhattan of his energy and transfer it into her, but she can't afford to build it so she hoped Adrian would stake her $42 billion. Adrian wonders why she would hope that, and Trieu says that she's his daughter. He insists that he's never given himself to a woman, and Trieu points out the hidden refrigerator with Adrian's sperm specimens, and says that she's subject 2346. Her mother was one of the Vietnamese refugees working at Karnack in 1985, and Adrian says that the woman was a thief. He notes that he gave up his parents' wealth to demonstrate he could achieve anything starting from nothing, and he offers Trieu the same. Adrian insists he will never call her "daughter".
On Europa, Adrian blows on the rotting birthday cake, and the manor shakes. A space probe lands on Europa and Adrian smiles in satisfaction. He then goes to the tunnel that he dug with the horseshoe and descends. Adrian emerges outside and approaches the probe, and the Game Warden arrives and orders Adrian back to his cell. When Adrian refuses, the Game Warden shoots him in the chest. The Game Warden goes over, and discovers that Adrian caught the bullet. Adrian kicks the Game Warden to the ground, gets up, and heads the probe. The clones arrive and shout a warning, and the Game Warden tackles Adrian from behind. Adrian drives the horseshoe into his chest, comforts the dying clone, and says that it's almost over. The Game Warden asks him why he made him wear a mask, and Adrian says that masks make men cruel. He removes the mask and says that having a worthy adversary kept him sane for the eight years of his imprisonment. The Game Warden asks his master if he was a worthy adversary, and Adrian says that he wasn't. The clone dies, and Adrian tells him that he put on a hell of a show.
The clones say goodbye to Adrian as he goes to the probe. The last Miss Crookshanks gives him his headpiece and kisses him on the cheek, and wishes him godspeed. Adrian looks at her for a moment and then enters the probe, and the probe lifts off and heads for Earth. He sees the words that he left in corpses: "Save Me Daughter", and Trieu's recorded voice tells him that his return journey has begun. It invites him to step into the preservation chamber, and Adrian does so and is frozen in a protective metal case.
Now
When the probe arrives on Earth, Trieu's servant take the Adrian "statue" out and take it to Bian. Bian removes the case as Trieu comes in and tells Bian that she has to do it now before Adrian says something. The girl acknowledges that she's Trieu's mother, and the chamber opens to reveal the unfrozen Adrian. Trieu offers him water and says that she was surprised when the images showed him and his message on Europa. She says that it meant a lot for him to acknowledge he was her daughter, and Adrian says that Manhattan sent him to Europa and is on Earth. Trieu explains that she's going to destroy Manhattan and take his power in an hour, and she brought Adrian back so he could see her achieve anything. Bian has clothes for Adrian, and he realizes that Trieu cloned her mother. he sees the Millennium Clock outside the window and realizes that Trieu actually built it and says that it's beautiful, and Trieu tells him that they have a god to kill.
The group drive to the Dreamland Theater in Tulsa and Trieu goes over to Seymour's newsstand to get her papers. He hands them over, and Adrian looks at a newspaper showing Redford is still President. Seymour notes that Adrian looks like Ozymandias, and Adrian asks him what everyone thinks happened to him. The vendor says that no one cares, but he heard that one day Ozymandias walked off into the jungle and never came back. Adrian says that Ozymandias was stranded on Europa quietly going insane, and a metal sphere from the Clock arrives and hovers in the air. Seymour and Adrian look at the sphere, and Adrian tells the vendor that the end is nigh.
Senator Keene Sr. arrives at the abandoned department store housing the 7K base. Inside, other 7K soldiers take Laurie to the cage they've been building. She sees Jane, and Joe greeting his father, and asks her guard what they're waiting for. Gunshots come over the guard's radio, and the soldier at the other end says that people are shooting at them. The guard tells Joe that they have a situation, and a Rorschach-masked Wade comes over and tells Laurie to stay cool. He says that he'll get them out when he has a chance, and explains that 7K came to his house to try and kill them. Meanwhile, Joe tells the soldier on the radio to take the shot. Manhattan appears inside the cage and Laurie realizes that it's Jon. Joe tells Manhattan that he's got him.
Angela questions a 7K soldier, who says that she can't stop them. She breaks his fingers until he answers her.
Joe undresses and says that Adrian took their guns and made them say sorry over and over for the sins of people who died decades earlier. Three years ago, they sent out their guys to get the war rolling.
Angela shoots her way in through the front door.
Joe explains that three years ago, one of his men got teleported to Gila Flats on White Night. Manhattan teleported him there, and Joe asks Manhattan where he is in time. The being says that it's 1985 to him, and Joe explains that the cage is made of synthetic lithium that they got from melting down millions of watch batteries. Everyone cheers, and Joe says that he brought Laurie there so that someone who cares about Manhattan is there when he dies.
Angela comes in and tells everyone to stop, training a gun on Joe. She says that whatever Joe thinks is going to happen won't happen, and explains that Trieu has been planning her operation longer. Joe doesn't believe her, and Angela puts her gun down so Joe will listen. She explains that Trieu told her that she was going to stop Joe, and Joe asks where she is. Trieu let 7K steal the batteries, and Joe promises to drink Manhattan's power.
Laurie tells Wade to shoot Joe, but Wade doesn't see an end game after that. Joe gets into the transference chamber and 7K powers it up. There's a burst of energy, and the people and equipment are teleported to downtown Tulsa. Trieu's men disarm 7K using magnetic shields, and Trieu comes in and is surprised to see Angela there. She says that she's fulfilling her promise to Will to give him justice.
Adrian approaches Laurie and assures her that she isn't dead, while Trieu notices that Joe isn't there. She opens the transference chamber and Joe's liquefied remains pour out. Trieu thanks them for capturing Manhattan for her, and reads Will's letter saying that Cyclops has plundered, pillaged, and murdered in the name of white supremacy. Jane tells Trieu to just do it, figuring she's going to have them killed, and she vaporizes all of them with her machinery. In the cage, Manhattan touches some of Joe's blood that has seeped in. He energies it with his touch and teleports Wade, Laurie, and Adrian to Karnak. Adrian tells Laurie and Wade that they're in his office, and Manhattan did it to save the day.
Manhattan tells Trieu that he sent the trio away, and then starts reliving more of his past. Bian initiates the transfer and Angela asks Manhattan what's going on. He says that the cage makes it hard for him to be present, and he sent the others somewhere to help. Angela wonders why he didn't send her, and Manhattan says that he didn't want to be alone when he dies. He tells her not to touch the light. A beam of light comes down from the sphere, slamming into Manhattan. Manhattan screams in agony.
Wade tells Adrian that the last dimensional incursion in Tulsa was three weeks ago, and finds the chamber where Adrian sent the squid from in 1985. Adrian is shocked that Laurie now works for the FBI, and insists to Wade that he saved humanity. He then activates his teleportation device, targeting it on Tulsa.
Bian continues draining Manhattan's energy, and Angela asks him what she should do. He tells her to go, saying that he can't hold himself together. but Angela refuses to abandon him. Manhattan stares at Angela and remembers their life together, and says that he's in every moment at once when they're together. He reverts to Cal and tells Angela that he loves her, and then disappears in a burst of energy that knocks Angela back.
Adrian tells Laurie that he designed the baby squids to dissolve shortly after impact. If he freezes them before teleport, it will be like firing a Gatling gun from the heavens. Adrian admits that Jon is already dead, but they have a window of opportunity before the centrifuge transfers Manhattan's energy into his most worthy adversary. He figures that Trieu is a narcissist whose ambition knows no limits, and she won't fix the world as she claims. Adrian warns that Trieu won't reset until they all prostrate themselves to her.
Trieu enters the cage and prepares to receive Manhattan's energy.
Adrian teleports the frozen squid to Tulsa and says that everything within five square blocks is going to be obliterated.
Bian wakes up Angela and asks if she's okay. She tells Angela to tell the arriving police that they have to go or they'll get hurt. Red Square and Pirate Jenny get out with the officers, and the phone in a nearby Manhattan booth rings. Bian answers it and Laurie tells her to take cover, and asks where Angela is. The girl tells Angela that the call is for her. Angela takes the receiver and Laurie tells her to run.
As Trieu waits for the energy to enter her, a frozen baby squid falls, shooting through her hand. The squid rain down and Angela takes cover in the booth with Bian. The police and technicians die, and Angela grabs a case as cover and runs away, and the sphere shatters from the impacts and falls on Trieu.
Angela gets into the Dreamland Theater and goes into the abandoned theater. Will is sitting in a seat, and Angela goes over to her grandfather and sits down across the aisle from him. Topher, Rosie, and Emma re sleeping on the stage, and Will assures Angela that her daughters are okay. Will explains that he told them he was family, and asks if Manhattan and Trieu are gone. He admits that making a deal with Trieu was Angela's idea, and Angela realizes that Manhattan knew he was going to die and Will helped him. Will says that they helped each other, and confirms that Angela took his Nostalgia pills. He figures that Angela knows his origin story, and describes how he was sitting there when the riots broke out a hundred years explains that Bass Reeves was his hero, and that's why he became a cop. Angela says that she felt anger when she put the hood on, and Will explains that it was fear and hurt. He tells Angela that Manhattan wanted it the way it happened and that you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, Manhattan told him that Angela would understand when the time was right. Crying, Angela says that she doesn't and Will figures that the time isn't right.
Will says that he's staying at a motel down the block, and Angela invites him to stay in their guest room for a couple of nights.
Adrian takes Laurie and Wade to the Owl Ship he found out in the ice. Wade says that he knows how to fly it since the police use the design for their own airships, and Laurie tells Adrian that he's under arrest. When Adrian points out that she has no proof, Wade holds up the DVD and says that he has Adrian's confession. Adrian says that the world will end, but Laurie doesn't believe it. He wonders why she would reveal the secret, and Laurie tells him that some people change. Angry, Adrian asks who she thinks she is to hold judgment over him, and Wade knocks him unconscious from behind. The two of them haul Adrian into the airship.
Angela leaves the theater with Will and her children.
Pirate Jenny and Red Scare get Bian into the back of a police car.
Angela takes her family to the bakery and lets them into her secret vault. Topher looks curiously at her Sister Night costume and then at his mother. Angela drives her family home and tucks her children into bed. She then goes to the kitchen and picks up the ring, Will comes in and says that Cal was a good man and he's sorry he's gone, but figures that he could have done more.
Once Will leaves, Angela looks at the broken eggs on the floor. She cleans them up and finds one unbroken egg in the carton. She remembers Manhattan telling her that he can give someone his powers by transferring them into organic material, and if someone consumed it they would inherit his abilities. Angela goes out to the pool, takes off her shoes, cracks open the egg, and eats its contents. She then steps puts one foot onto the water to see if it goes through or not.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 16, 2019