"Why not just kill me now and be done with it?"
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #2 - "The Hand That Mocked Them...!" is the second issue of the series Before Watchmen: Ozymandias.
Plot
Picking back up in 1985 in Antarctica and continuing his autobiography, Adrian Veidt undergoes more training for his self-imposed future mission while continuing to reflect on his past.
Veidt is using his financial influence, Veidt floods the criminal underworld of New York City with money in exchange for information. A simple offer; ”Tell me what I needed to know, and I would change your life forever.” Four days after his search for knowledge begins, he receives some anonymous information. This leads him to a dark alleyway on the south side of New York that is well known for its drug trade. After observing, Veidt, almost effortlessly, disarms a dangerous dealer and renders him unconscious. The dealer is by far no match for Veidt, his training now flawlessly fine-tuned. Thus, Veidt can almost assuredly calculate the dealer's moves and best him in his mind before doing so physically.
Adrian dangles the man upside down and as he comes to, Adrian presses him for information by asking, “one question: where do you get your drugs?” Reluctantly, but eventually, the dealer gives up his source. As what can only be seen as a blatant, I don't care if you live or die message, Adrian leaves the dealer bound by his signature, Gordian knot, traced back to Alexander the Great, to a streetlamp with his valuables strung about and wallowing in his own filth.
Continuing his mission the following evening, Veidt uses his financial status and reputation and arrives at Heaven, the city's most exclusive supper club, in a luxurious sports car. Once inside, his influence allows him to dictate a quiet, inconspicuous corner table along with a “well-aired Chateau Lafite Rothschild”, 1818 of course. Everyone is more than happy to comply and serve the prestigious and very rich Adrian Veidt. With the unassuming staff and patrons none the wiser as to why he is there, other than to flaunt his status, Veidt is able to witness an envelope exchange between the restaurant manager and a large man named Hondo described as looking like a “professional leg-breaker.” The thug soon leaves and Veidt is right behind him.
Adrian follows the man across town to the warehouse district and parks out of sight. He witnesses a verbal exchange with the guard discussing the boss being inside. Veidt dons his gear from a suitcase in the trunk. Spying on the inside goings on, Adrian sees armed guards, women in their underwear packaging drugs, and, at the center of it all, the boss himself. Hondo gives the boss, Mr. Porcini, the envelope he collected at Heaven as they discuss business.
In true Veidt fashion, he presents himself to Mr. Porcini by asking if the guard from outside belongs to them as he tosses the obviously scared man towards the boss. Visibly surprised, Porcini orders his men to kill him. Veidt calculates what he's up against and boldly tells the boss it's his last change to surrender. Similar to his childhood altercation all those years ago, Adrian commences his attack without remorse, but not before releasing his headband to create more chaos by causing lighting to be unhinged, in the end collapsing on Porcini himself. Veidt also calculates the fall of one thug to land directly on the table holding the very large pile of white powder causing visual and breathing disturbances in his enemies. In an orchestra of violence, Veidt takes down the entire operation just in time for the local authorities, drawn to all the gun fire, to take over. Naturally, the police do not recognize this particular vigilante and just like that, taken from the Greek poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley and named after the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II, Veidt says, “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye mighty and despair.” With that, the newly self-crowned Ozymandias makes his exit with words of “worlds to conquer" leaving the police stunned.
Following the successful drug bust, Adrian contemplates his future and that of his city as well. He then embraces his latest creation head on, fighting criminals of all sorts by land, air and sea. He fills pages of scrap books with the exploits of his “masked alter ego,” while simultaneously noticing the decline in the once abundant fellow masked vigilantes of the past. This compels him to investigate if for no other reason than to see where they failed and to prevent him from suffering the same fate. Research leads him through the rise of the Minutemen in 1939 and the demise of many of its ranks over the years. He also discovers that the vigilante name Hooded Justice up and disappeared. Upon reflection, Adrian considers, “In less than a decade, their star had burned out completely – leaving only one true mystery remaining: what happened to Hooded Justice?"
Veidt, who always felt compelled to solve a presented mystery since childhood, sets out to trace the final known steps of the missing vigilante. Led to the waterfront, he begins his manhunt. Other than a tip that the government is also looking for HJ, Adrian discovers dried blood that's too old to actually determine if it belonged to HJ. Just as he's kneeling to contemplate this, his senses alert him that he's not alone. Veidt is ambushed by the Comedian.
Trivia
- Issue Two's front cover enhances the Ozymandias sexuality debate by depicting him in a submissive position with a female dominatrix in a gas mask over him. It's possible that this interpretation is to say that Veidt's mind is bound with guilt surrounding Miranda St. John’s death.
- In contrast, the second variant by Phil Noto, with the title, “Live like a King,” depicts Adrian Veidt on an Egyptian-like throne with both a man and a woman behind him as a promotional poster for Veidt Enterprises. This is possibly a self-realized vision of his proud parents with him as the crowned prince.