"Jesus Christ!"
"What the hell is this?"
"Rorschach... you're telling me that's a machine? A lifeform? Oh, God..."
...
When Howard Stark arrived at the scene and laid eyes on the massive body of the Decepticon, his entire worldview felt like it shattered.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
What era is this, exactly?
The concept of robots was still mostly theoretical—even futuristic.
Let alone something like this—a towering, mechanical giant lying dead in front of him.
The psychological shock was understandable. Even for someone as brilliant and forward-thinking as Howard Stark, it was overwhelming.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he'd brought along? They were speechless, completely frozen in place. Wide-eyed. Stunned.
But what shook Howard more than the sight of the robot… was the fact that Rorschach had apparently killed it.
How the hell did he do that?
This thing looked like it could wipe out an entire army. It was absurd.
Howard, like Peggy Carter before him, had once wondered if Rorschach was another supersoldier—an attempt to replicate Captain America's serum. But now, he was sure that wasn't it.
Even if Steve Rogers himself came back from the dead, he wouldn't be capable of something like this.
Still... something was bothering Howard.
Where's the head?
He scanned the wreck. The torso was there. So was the right arm—severed. But the head...
Then he spotted it.
The head was right there. Under Rorschach's butt.
Rorschach was sitting on it. Like it was a stool.
Howard's jaw dropped. He didn't even know how to react.
This wasn't just any robot. This was something groundbreaking, possibly alien, definitely revolutionary.
And Rorschach was casually using its head as a seat?
Talk about nerves of steel.
"Rorschach!"
Howard finally composed himself and approached. His mind was buzzing with questions. "What the hell is going on? You said on the phone this robot is—was—my car? I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean."
It didn't make sense. Cars and robots were two entirely separate things. The idea of one being the other was just… impossible.
"It's exactly what I said."
Rorschach stood up, brushed himself off. "This giant mechanical lifeform you're looking at—that was the Cadillac you gave me."
"Wait—wait a second." Howard raised a hand, trying to process. "You're telling me the Cadillac I've had in my garage for almost a decade… is actually a robot?"
It made no sense.
That car had sat dormant for years. It never so much as growled. And now it suddenly decided to transform into a monster on the first day with Rorschach?
And even if it was a robot, who in their right mind designs a giant machine to disguise itself as a car?
"Come with me," Rorschach said.
He led Howard to the massive wreckage. "Take a look at this."
Howard leaned in—and froze.
There it was. The Cadillac emblem. Clear as day. Burnt and scratched, but still recognizable.
Now that Rorschach mentioned it, the color matched too. That deep red.
No way.
Was this some top-secret prototype? Did Cadillac build this?
Since when did Cadillac make alien war machines?
"Sir," a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent jogged over, snapping Howard out of his thoughts. "We've spoken to the garage witnesses. They said Mr. Rorschach was trying to dismantle a Cadillac, and then—boom—it transformed into a robot."
That matched Rorschach's story exactly.
Howard fell silent.
It sounded ridiculous, sure. But too many people were saying the same thing. It was hard to deny.
And honestly, why would Rorschach lie about something so wild?
It didn't make any sense to fabricate a story like this. Not with so many witnesses. Not with this much wreckage.
And Howard wasn't naïve. He knew there were strange, unexplainable things in the world.
After a long pause, he sighed.
"Rorschach," he said, serious now, "I'm going to have to ask you to come in again. Back to the Bureau. I've got a lot of questions."
"No problem," Rorschach replied easily.
He'd already planned to share some information. This encounter was the perfect chance to guide S.H.I.E.L.D. in the right direction.
Soon after, Howard ordered the massive Decepticon corpse to be hauled back to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility for further study.
And once again, Rorschach followed him to Room 218.
There, he gave Howard the full rundown—step by step, no details spared.
Howard took notes carefully, noting every suspicious detail.
Then he paused, eyes narrowing.
"So, Rorschach... that's why you insisted on the Cadillac, isn't it?"
Before, Howard had thought Rorschach was just a kid chasing a cool car. But now? Now he saw the bigger picture.
That car had sat untouched for years. Yet the first day it ends up in Rorschach's hands, it transforms?
That wasn't coincidence.
"Yes, Mr. Stark," Rorschach admitted.
There was no point denying it now.
He'd already prepared a solid explanation.
"When I was in your garage, I felt something strange about that car. It wasn't ordinary."
"Not ordinary how?" Howard asked, confused. "It's just a car. Isn't it?"
"I could sense... life inside it."
Howard blinked. "Life? You mean, like animals, plants—something alive?"
"Yes," Rorschach said firmly. "It's a machine, yes—but also a living organism. It might even have DNA."
That caught Howard off guard.
And now, thinking back, he realized—Rorschach never once called it a "robot."
He called it a mechanical lifeform.
And that made all the difference.
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