~Hawkeye~
That stereotypical “that day was the day everything changed” scenario is sadly true here, but that’s not to say it wasn’t a turning point for me, or for all of us. It was the first step in a direction none of us had anticipated, or wanted.
The Watchdog vanished after fighting the massive battle against his arch nemeses. His disappearance was the bigger deal in the public eye, their hero was gone, along with their villains. He had been broken by the events of that night. Discovering that his best friend was a villain had been the final push; he had broken too many of his own rules and so he gave up his mask. What he failed to consider when he ran away were the consequences inflicted upon the citizens of his town. After the hero had left, and those who had been called villains ceased to keep crime in check, chaos broke out almost immediately. The few remaining honest cops who had begun to stand against corruption suddenly disappeared, as did the politicians who had made Watchdog their poster boy. Things didn’t go back to how they had been before; things got worse.
The Watchdog, aka Eddy, did not involve himself in it, he had hung up his mask, and thrown everything away before becoming a villain himself. Spending almost all his time in the mountains, like some cheesy Kung Fu movie, exercising his mind and body. He wasn’t trying to fix himself; he was trying to calcify his heart, hoping the aches would go away. Hope itself is a heavy thing when you carry it for others; if you fail, you not only lose faith in yourself, but those you fail lose faith in everything. I assume that’s what happened to Eddy. He couldn’t handle the weight of his mask. He couldn’t handle that pain people like us have to carry, the pain of everyone calling us heroes.
I spent some time watching him train in those hills. Watching the man I called my hero, the one who had made the world aware of all our existences, even though I preferred to stay in the shadows. In a way he had ruined everything, people now wanted to publicize my appearances, tipping off the scum of our city on my movements. However, no one ever called the cops anymore if they saw me stalking my prey; they would stare in awe and give me their hope. The main point I had to realize was that I needed Watchdog. I needed his help to fix things...
I spent the next couple days following him, to make sure he was really the man he used to be, or to see if he had changed so much that he was not salvageable as a hero at all. I watched as Eddy did nothing as a convenience store he was sitting in was robbed. Pathetic. That’s all I could think at that moment; pure rage was all that filled my mind as I watched him wander out of the store. His head was lowered in shame or apathy; it was impossible to tell.
I left him then, and went to track down the lowly thieves who had stolen the clerk’s money. The day was rainy and cold and there was almost no scent left behind to follow; it had all been washed away. After searching for some time I spotted them both sneaking around in a shadowy alley several blocks away from the scene of their misdeeds. I recognized the smaller of the two thugs; he was the nephew of Midas, one of my city’s major crime lords. Squatting in a filthy alleyway with the rest of the dirt of this city. I drew my bow, carefully arming it with a rubber tipped arrow. I hope this hurts, you bastard. Suddenly the small one straightened up, no longer bowing his head down and counting his haul. For a moment I thought he had noticed me and I snuck further on the building’s rooftop, away from the edge where I had originally perched myself.
“Hey, the fuck are you? Beat it, ass-hat,” the smaller boy said, his voice as twitchy as the rest of him. It was obvious he had hyped himself up on something nasty.
“Hey, I’m just passing through. Uh… Look, that money doesn’t belong to you guys. I don’t want to call the cops or anything, so why don’t you just bring it back?” I realized they boy’s jump had been triggered by this newcomer and not by me; I dared to inch forward slightly, staying low to the ground.
“You think you got the balls to say that again, gramps?”
“Dude, I’m 24.” This is when I realized the voice was Eddy’s. Why is he here? Did he track down the criminal as well, or has he just happened across him on his way home?
“Retard, then. Obviously you’re a bit mental if you think I’m just gonna give this money up. You got no proof it ain’t mine, and my little friend here says you ain’t gonna be takin it for yourself.” I strapped my bow back onto my back and got into prone position. Slinking across the roof like a snake, my eyes peered over the edge, taking in the scene below me. The arrogant little brat suddenly whipped out a gun, and for a moment my heart turned to ice. I have to get Eddy out of there! As strong as Eddy was, no one can stand up against a bullet without Kevlar.
“Uh, you know you can see into the chambers of a revolver, right? It’s not even loaded. Are you gonna click me to death, or what?” Eddy said, his brow scrunching together.
I watched as the kid eyes bulged slightly with surprise; he froze for a minute before whipping out a knife instead. “You gotta lotta balls and not a lotta brains if you think I’m gonna let you take my money,” he snapped.
The fight didn't take long, and I watched closely as the brats were taken down. Eddy didn’t know what he had just done as he walked away carrying the money with a look of frustration and self-loathing on his face. I didn’t follow this time; I had the information I needed. Underneath his pain and his determination to fight who he had once been, Eddy was still a hero, simply in need of a good push.
I returned my focus to the two boys lying in the alleyway sobbing over their minor wounds; I was betting neither of them had even been shot before. Weaklings, I scoffed, lightly running my fingers down the long scar that ran down over my right eye. I silently dropped down behind the one whose identity I did not know; neither of them even noticed me. I slapped my hand across his mouth and dealt a quick blow to his kidney. He shook, and the shout that should have echoed in the small alley was unheard. “You’re going to tell me when your friend’s uncle makes a move on that man who just kicked your ass, or I will make sure that a knife finds its way into your back in prison. Nod if you understand.” I felt the boy quivering under my hands; his head slowly lifted then fell back to his chest. “Good choice,” I whispered, “Crush this when he is on the move; should you break it at any another time, I will find you, and I will finish what I started. Understand?” The boy nodded again vigorously; I slowly withdrew my hand and then leapt upwards onto the fire escape, silently flowing back into my shadows.
