CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT - Darkest Before Dawn
As Eddie put his hand up to soothe and defend his face from being singed, he moaned a little bit, then.......
EDDIE - I was so worked up, I was scared, I was sore, I didn't want to go out like this, not at my age, not bein' burned to death. I was still yankin' at the tree branch I was cuffed to. I just kept pullin' and pullin'. I couldn't stand this anymore, so with my free hand, I made a fist and slammed this creep in the face and he fell over. At least I bought myself another minute or two, I knew he'd bounce back. His boss, on the other hand, looked back at him and asked what the hell was goin' on. That's when my Boss-Man had him.
Oh, I rushed him. I belted him, knocked him down to the ground, not givin' a damn about my shot hand, or even that I might take some more lead. What his henchman was doin' to Eddie was beyond pissin' me off - beyond inhuman, not so much destroyin' a beautiful face like his, but makin' this poor boy scream as loud as he did, as tearful as he was, as........sorry, I, uh, I can't go on like this. Thinkin' of how bad off he was...just too painful to describe. I was hurtin' as bad as he was in other senses. It was kinda like what I thought Jesus gettin' nailed to the cross was, you know.
Anyways, me and this wretched rogue were wrestlin' with the gun. I was worried it'd go off, so I dragged his hand to aim at the henchman, puttin' a couple in him as Eddie ducked outta the way. I then pistol whipped this mother until he was almost unconscious. I slapped a pair of cuffs on him with more pleasure than when me and Eddie get together, if ya take my meanin'. I took this cat's flamethrower and went up to Eddie, cautioning him to look the other way as I tried to melt this handcuff off the tree so he could get outta there. And, my God, wouldn't ya know. It was daybreak. We won.
EDDIE - Mike melted the steel which set me free. My arm was kinda sore from bein' stretched like it was. It was daybreak and I realized the two thugs had been subdued, meanin' we won. Game over. Mike had this huge, adorable smile on his face as he held me and kept sayin' "we won - it's a new day." We looked into each other's eyes and I was happy at first, then, I guess 'cuz I realized everything that happened, and how close I was to really gettin' it, it was too much. After bein' a crimefighter for a while and facin' all this stuff we dealt with, the brushes with death and all, some stuff still got to me. I mean, holy post-traumatic stress disorder. I wasn't smilin' any more, and just stared at Mike.
The kid looked pretty upset and I ask, "what? What's wrong, we got outta this, didn't we?" His lips shook, his eyes were turnin' red and he mutters, "I coulda been burned alive." "well, yeah, that's right, ya coulda been, but it didn't happen, right?" Then he grabs me, bear0hugs me, buries his head in my chest and starts bawlin'. I understood. He needed me to comfort him. Everybody does. Just because we all live right, don't guarantee it's gonna turn out okay all the time. Ya just gotta stick in there and hang with it. His arms around my neck, brushin' against my face a little, it felt real nice, it smelled real nice, my Eddie was back where he belongs, me holdin' him. I held him with one arm, then with the other, I stroked the back of his head, kinda like back at the flophouse he was livin' at. Now as then, his hair was so soft and smelled really nice. But I had other things goin' right now, he didn't need a roll in the hay, he needed me to hang onto. I never heard him cry like this before. It musta really got to him. I kissed his head as I stroked it. I whispered stuff to him like, "it's all right, the man who loves you is here. Your Boss-Man is here with ya, sweetheart."
EDDIE - That was a really nice thing between me and him, ya know? I was in orbit and Mike brought me back down to earth. We took care of these thugs with the one-two punch like we do. People are always tryin' to get between us, turn me against him, but it ain't gonna happen. It almost did, when I was tortured with darts, and to this day I don't wanna think about it, talk about it...nothin'. Mike really made me feel good, realy made me feel special.
I noticed Eddie was really feelin' it this time, I wondered what was gettin' him so bad. "What's really wrong, kid? Huh? Come on, tell me, you can tell me anything, ya know that." "They almost split us up." "How do ya mean?" "It's true, when I was chained up and I saw ya get shot in the hand, I was all chained up, I couldn't do nothin' for ya. What if he emptied that gun into ya, me not there to take some of that 'cuz I had some nut-job walkin' up to me with a flamethrower. What if they killed ya first....." He started bawlin' again. Yeah, he was right, this is the closest call we've ever had.
Ya know, as much as I was feelin' it bad for the kid, these guys had to be taken in, the cops had to be called, and we had to go to the ol' repair shop for our wounds. We had to get outta that place, so I said to Eddie, "ya wanna sit down someplace while we're waitin' for the cops?" "Yeah, sure, it'd be good to take a load off." Eddie hopped over to the tree he was hangin' from, "no, not there, not..." "Why not? The tree didn't do anything to me. It was innocent." So he, with his busted ankle, me with my shot hand, took a load off at the scene of the crime.
EDDIE - I just thought it might be good to sort of take the stink of a murder attempt off an innocent tree. I bet a lot of kids climbed this, a lot of sweethearts had picnics here, and all, I wasn't gonna let no thugs take that away. Mike said I was a sweet kid. That was nice of him. It would've been good to hold each other, and all, but Mike's hand was bleedin' and it hurt a lot. My ankle was also messed up. We'd have time to sort of "get together" after we were taken care of, but right now, it seemed a good idea to talk.
Me and Eddie was relaxin' at the tree and he stopped cryin'. He knew he was safe now and everything was gonna be okay. He sat rubbin' his ankle, I sat holdin' my wounded hand. "Man, this thing is killin' me", I says as I nursed it. Eddie grinned, "well, it's a bullet, ain't it? That's what them things do." I turned to see that beautiful grin, I snickered, and grumbled, "yeah, ya son-of- a-bitch, ya. I'll remember that." He laughed and so did I. Then, he turns kinda serious, "Mike, was that guy your lover?" I grimaced, "naw, im-possible. The kid was impossible. He worked for me and was good and all that, but..." I chuckled a bit more, "Jesus Murphy he was a piece of work. Even now. I mean, he was darin' me to leave you behind like he says I did him. I thought he was right behind me, then I thought he didn't make it." I bristled at the memory of it, re-livin' it again. I start thinkin' I'm gonna bawl now. I put my hand up to my face and start shakin' my head, "aw, shit, shit, shit", and kept shakin' my head. My eyes were closed and I had my hand over my face, and felt Eddie's hand on my shoulder. "Aw, it's okay. It's all right." I looked at him and grinned, and put my hand on his, tappin' it a little, "thanks, kid." We looked at each other and leaned over to each other to steal a kiss. Our lips no sooner made contact then we heard the sirens. We laughed a bit over this, and thought, "ah, a little later, I think".
The cops came and scooped up the bad guys, then the paramedics came and scooped us up. They treated my hand, and bandaged it up for the time bein', then I stood up and walked to the ambulance. Eddie, on the other hand, hobbled up and the paramedic, after treatin' his wound, took his arm and started to put it on his shoulder for support, but Eddie insisted on hoppin' by himself. "Thanks, anyway, but I gotta show these guys I can bounce back from this", and hopped over to the ambulance.
As we rode over to the ol' repair shop, I got to thinkin' and I had to talk to Eddie about this. "Ya know somethin', kid? I think we need to lay low for a bit, not go on these wild things for a while. Too much has happened to us, I think we need a break." Eddie just said, "okay, so what's next?" "You gotta kick back, especially. You gotta go out and get your detectives' license and I gotta start takin' some light cases, like, oh, I don't know, somethin' that don't involve us bein' superheroes or nothin' like that." "Yeah, I hear ya, boss, I hear ya."
EDDIE - I was so worked up, I was scared, I was sore, I didn't want to go out like this, not at my age, not bein' burned to death. I was still yankin' at the tree branch I was cuffed to. I just kept pullin' and pullin'. I couldn't stand this anymore, so with my free hand, I made a fist and slammed this creep in the face and he fell over. At least I bought myself another minute or two, I knew he'd bounce back. His boss, on the other hand, looked back at him and asked what the hell was goin' on. That's when my Boss-Man had him.
Oh, I rushed him. I belted him, knocked him down to the ground, not givin' a damn about my shot hand, or even that I might take some more lead. What his henchman was doin' to Eddie was beyond pissin' me off - beyond inhuman, not so much destroyin' a beautiful face like his, but makin' this poor boy scream as loud as he did, as tearful as he was, as........sorry, I, uh, I can't go on like this. Thinkin' of how bad off he was...just too painful to describe. I was hurtin' as bad as he was in other senses. It was kinda like what I thought Jesus gettin' nailed to the cross was, you know.
Anyways, me and this wretched rogue were wrestlin' with the gun. I was worried it'd go off, so I dragged his hand to aim at the henchman, puttin' a couple in him as Eddie ducked outta the way. I then pistol whipped this mother until he was almost unconscious. I slapped a pair of cuffs on him with more pleasure than when me and Eddie get together, if ya take my meanin'. I took this cat's flamethrower and went up to Eddie, cautioning him to look the other way as I tried to melt this handcuff off the tree so he could get outta there. And, my God, wouldn't ya know. It was daybreak. We won.
EDDIE - Mike melted the steel which set me free. My arm was kinda sore from bein' stretched like it was. It was daybreak and I realized the two thugs had been subdued, meanin' we won. Game over. Mike had this huge, adorable smile on his face as he held me and kept sayin' "we won - it's a new day." We looked into each other's eyes and I was happy at first, then, I guess 'cuz I realized everything that happened, and how close I was to really gettin' it, it was too much. After bein' a crimefighter for a while and facin' all this stuff we dealt with, the brushes with death and all, some stuff still got to me. I mean, holy post-traumatic stress disorder. I wasn't smilin' any more, and just stared at Mike.
The kid looked pretty upset and I ask, "what? What's wrong, we got outta this, didn't we?" His lips shook, his eyes were turnin' red and he mutters, "I coulda been burned alive." "well, yeah, that's right, ya coulda been, but it didn't happen, right?" Then he grabs me, bear0hugs me, buries his head in my chest and starts bawlin'. I understood. He needed me to comfort him. Everybody does. Just because we all live right, don't guarantee it's gonna turn out okay all the time. Ya just gotta stick in there and hang with it. His arms around my neck, brushin' against my face a little, it felt real nice, it smelled real nice, my Eddie was back where he belongs, me holdin' him. I held him with one arm, then with the other, I stroked the back of his head, kinda like back at the flophouse he was livin' at. Now as then, his hair was so soft and smelled really nice. But I had other things goin' right now, he didn't need a roll in the hay, he needed me to hang onto. I never heard him cry like this before. It musta really got to him. I kissed his head as I stroked it. I whispered stuff to him like, "it's all right, the man who loves you is here. Your Boss-Man is here with ya, sweetheart."
EDDIE - That was a really nice thing between me and him, ya know? I was in orbit and Mike brought me back down to earth. We took care of these thugs with the one-two punch like we do. People are always tryin' to get between us, turn me against him, but it ain't gonna happen. It almost did, when I was tortured with darts, and to this day I don't wanna think about it, talk about it...nothin'. Mike really made me feel good, realy made me feel special.
I noticed Eddie was really feelin' it this time, I wondered what was gettin' him so bad. "What's really wrong, kid? Huh? Come on, tell me, you can tell me anything, ya know that." "They almost split us up." "How do ya mean?" "It's true, when I was chained up and I saw ya get shot in the hand, I was all chained up, I couldn't do nothin' for ya. What if he emptied that gun into ya, me not there to take some of that 'cuz I had some nut-job walkin' up to me with a flamethrower. What if they killed ya first....." He started bawlin' again. Yeah, he was right, this is the closest call we've ever had.
Ya know, as much as I was feelin' it bad for the kid, these guys had to be taken in, the cops had to be called, and we had to go to the ol' repair shop for our wounds. We had to get outta that place, so I said to Eddie, "ya wanna sit down someplace while we're waitin' for the cops?" "Yeah, sure, it'd be good to take a load off." Eddie hopped over to the tree he was hangin' from, "no, not there, not..." "Why not? The tree didn't do anything to me. It was innocent." So he, with his busted ankle, me with my shot hand, took a load off at the scene of the crime.
EDDIE - I just thought it might be good to sort of take the stink of a murder attempt off an innocent tree. I bet a lot of kids climbed this, a lot of sweethearts had picnics here, and all, I wasn't gonna let no thugs take that away. Mike said I was a sweet kid. That was nice of him. It would've been good to hold each other, and all, but Mike's hand was bleedin' and it hurt a lot. My ankle was also messed up. We'd have time to sort of "get together" after we were taken care of, but right now, it seemed a good idea to talk.
Me and Eddie was relaxin' at the tree and he stopped cryin'. He knew he was safe now and everything was gonna be okay. He sat rubbin' his ankle, I sat holdin' my wounded hand. "Man, this thing is killin' me", I says as I nursed it. Eddie grinned, "well, it's a bullet, ain't it? That's what them things do." I turned to see that beautiful grin, I snickered, and grumbled, "yeah, ya son-of- a-bitch, ya. I'll remember that." He laughed and so did I. Then, he turns kinda serious, "Mike, was that guy your lover?" I grimaced, "naw, im-possible. The kid was impossible. He worked for me and was good and all that, but..." I chuckled a bit more, "Jesus Murphy he was a piece of work. Even now. I mean, he was darin' me to leave you behind like he says I did him. I thought he was right behind me, then I thought he didn't make it." I bristled at the memory of it, re-livin' it again. I start thinkin' I'm gonna bawl now. I put my hand up to my face and start shakin' my head, "aw, shit, shit, shit", and kept shakin' my head. My eyes were closed and I had my hand over my face, and felt Eddie's hand on my shoulder. "Aw, it's okay. It's all right." I looked at him and grinned, and put my hand on his, tappin' it a little, "thanks, kid." We looked at each other and leaned over to each other to steal a kiss. Our lips no sooner made contact then we heard the sirens. We laughed a bit over this, and thought, "ah, a little later, I think".
The cops came and scooped up the bad guys, then the paramedics came and scooped us up. They treated my hand, and bandaged it up for the time bein', then I stood up and walked to the ambulance. Eddie, on the other hand, hobbled up and the paramedic, after treatin' his wound, took his arm and started to put it on his shoulder for support, but Eddie insisted on hoppin' by himself. "Thanks, anyway, but I gotta show these guys I can bounce back from this", and hopped over to the ambulance.
As we rode over to the ol' repair shop, I got to thinkin' and I had to talk to Eddie about this. "Ya know somethin', kid? I think we need to lay low for a bit, not go on these wild things for a while. Too much has happened to us, I think we need a break." Eddie just said, "okay, so what's next?" "You gotta kick back, especially. You gotta go out and get your detectives' license and I gotta start takin' some light cases, like, oh, I don't know, somethin' that don't involve us bein' superheroes or nothin' like that." "Yeah, I hear ya, boss, I hear ya."
posted by Brendan Chenowith at 6:59 PM
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