~The Watchdog: Dusk~
The weeks past, stretching into months as the rising and falling sun seemed to blur in its speed. As Eddy spent his nights as the Watchdog, his days seemed to drag and rush seemingly at the same time. With no summer school to keep him occupied during the day, Eddy began to spend a little more time with his friend Carrot, and much more time planning and preparing for every night.
Eddy's sleeping pattern did not change with his extra time, and he was forced to spend some days in bed, claiming illness to any who asked. Or course, he'd still let Carrot visit even when he decided to stay in bed all day, letting them hang out in his room and catching small naps while they played their video games or watched movies. But as Eddy's days and nights stretched and warped with his strange forced schedule, so did it start taking a heavy toll on his mind.
Captain Doom's words had stained The Watchdog's perception of right and wrong. Each and every night The Watchdog's thoughts strayed into questions about the justifications of his actions. He knew what he was doing was right, but was there a better way to fight his foes? Captain Doom was a villain, even the orange wolf himself admitted it, and yet he claims he's fighting the same bunch that the Watchdog was but on a larger scale.
The Watchdog did not see for a long while that he was striking more often and harder every night. When normally the masked mutt would bonk a ruffian's head and quickly tie him up before calling the police, he was starting to leave them with black eyes, bruised ribs, and twisted ankles and joints. He was becoming much quicker to react to violence with violence, but was stopping more crimes every night with his fast hard hits. Even when the hero realized what he was doing and what he was slowly becoming, he questioned if he was becoming better or worse of a hero because of it.
School crept up on the hero much too fast for his liking, and Carrot poked fun at him for not realizing how quickly the year was starting again. Feigning his fear for school as a simple hatred for homework, Eddy truly felt the annoyance at having to work through the day when he could be planning his nights doing what he was truly meant to do.
Even after talking his advisor into letting him push his classes all into the mornings of the day and leaving school every day at lunch, the days sitting in a classroom copying repeated notes from a white board dragged and dragged on. Eddy became more restless as the classes went on, and he prayed every day to at least be able to sit next to Carrot for science. Every day, however, the new science professor decided to seat the two further and further apart, until they sat on opposite sides of the large classroom.
Carrot was a genius when it came to science, and throughout each class he found himself more studying Eddy than whatever the teacher had to say. He was half worried and half plain interested in the subtle changes that were slowly showing themselves as the days drew on. It had been quite a while since he had seen Eddy with a scruffy face, but it was becoming a more and more reoccurring event, the mutt forgetting or just refusing to trim up in the morning before coming into class. He also noticed that Eddy was being less and less active around the school. Not like with his homework, since he did that with Carrot every day, but with his more honorable nature. The mutt used to stand up for anyone being picked on he saw, but for the last few days the same poor chess captain computer programming mouse named Jarred has been catching rubber bands to the back of the neck, sent by the same star quarterback homecoming king wolf Mark. Every class the jock bastard would shoot rubber bands at Jarred, the mouse would squeak, and the professor would get mad at him. No one was standing up for the poor guy. Carrot would have, but he had become more interested in why Eddy wasn't.
“Squeak!”
Speak of the devil... Carrot turned his head from watching Eddy to watch as Jarred rubbed the back of his neck as the professor turned to glare at him.
“Mr. Hedge! Do you have something you'd like to add to the lecture?”
“N...no, Mr. Whitehead.” Jarred had stood as he talked to his overly strict professor, the white tiger slipping his hands impatiently into his large lab coat. The Professor's glasses slipped slightly from his nose as he looked over the almost comically small lenses.
“Are you not interested in staying with the rest of the class in learning the properties of sound and its effect on certain elements? Would you rather perhaps wait outside for the assignments that will be due tomorrow?”
“No! I mean... I want to stay in class, please sir.” Jarred's ears were becoming red as they fell back over his head, draping just past his obvious hand-me-down Star-Trek shirt.
The professor growled very softly, turning slowly until he pointed back up at his white board and continued where he had left off his lecture. Jarred looked shyly back at Mark, the wolf leaning back in his chair twirling his thumbs in a mocking show of innocence.
Carrot shook his head disappointedly both at Mark's actions and Eddy's lack thereof. He turned to look at his friend across the room, watching as the mutt took out a pen. Eddy sat almost lazily with his long sleeved flannel shirt draped over his chair, his white T shirt loose enough not to show off any recent muscle growth. He was looking at the pen as if interested by it, and it was only then that Carrot saw it wasn't one of his normal pens. Eddy always bought his school supplies in bulk, so he always had a great number of pens and pencils, but they all looked the same. Not like the one he was holding now. This new pen looked more expensive, probably made of metal and not cheap thin plastic, and it was black instead of the very colorful set Eddy always buys.
Carrot saw motion in his peripheral vision, and watched with growing impatience as Mark once again pulled back on a much thicker rubber band, still leaning back in his chair like the lazy jerk he was, holding the back of the band close to his eye and aiming expertly towards Jarred. Carrot was almost ready to speak up for the mouse himself, becoming less interested in Eddy's changes than he was with not letting this bullying continue on. As he was about to raise his hand to gain the professor's attention, another much faster and harsher movement caught his eye.
“Yipe!” Mark's thumb turned, shooting the rubber band backwards into his own face and making the jock fall back with his chair! His foot caught the small desk he was at, pulling it along with all of his notes, books, and the rest of his school supplies on top of him. The class couldn't help but burst out with laughter, but the irritated roar of the professor brought everyone back to their senses. All but Eddy, who hadn't seemed to have lost anything but his new pen, now writing with a cheap plastic green one.
Carrot barely heard Professor Whitehead chewing out Mark for disrupting the class, working through his head what had actually happened. Mark whimpered as he stood before his teacher, the wolf holding his eye where the rubber band had struck him hard and sucking on his thumb. It looked pathetic until he opened his mouth to talk, the thumb bleeding badly. Carrot worked the circumstance into his theories, slowly bringing to realization the truth. His final clue to the 'accident' was in the pile of school supplies schoolmates were helping pick up for their star quarterback, among the supplies being multiple black metal pens.
Carrot grinned to himself as his eyes returned to Eddy, who purposefully distracted himself away from spying on the scene. Carrot pictured it all happening, seeing Eddy working his way into class and slipping one of the heavy expensive pens from Mark's bag, or maybe he had taken it a few days ago. He imagines the mutt hiding the pen until Mark is in the perfect position, leaning his chair back onto two legs, holding the rubber band to his own face. He can see Eddy's now well trained hand throwing the pen from the back of the room, unnoticed by those napping or watching professor Whitehead, striking the jock's thumb hard enough to cut him and make him shoot the band backwards into himself which makes him loose balance and fall back, bringing his desk with him.
“Well played, hero...” Carrot muttered to himself, unheard by the rest of the class, busy watching as Mark clambered out the door to visit the nurse's office. “You've hurt Mark more than you might know. You've struck his throwing hand, damaged his depth perception, and dealt a heavy blow to his ego. Or maybe.... maybe you do know.” Carrot looked worried for a moment, thinking of what that would mean if Eddy, the sweet, clumsy, kind hearted mutt... if he actually meant to hurt someone so thoroughly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The memory of Mark's complete embarrassment was still fresh in the minds of the full class as they finally left for lunch, Eddy staying behind just enough to leave comfortably with Carrot. The two normally ate lunch on the days they had science together, and today was to be no different. The two left the classroom walking side by side down the familiar school hallways lined with pictures of their past and present sports stars in between the large rows of lockers.
They made their way slowly towards to cafeteria even though Eddy's schedule allowed him to leave campus, and they talked quietly with muffled laughs about the class incident. Carrot hid the fact that he had worked out what had really happened, and Eddy faked his own ignorance, even as their heads spun with the knowledge that the embarrassment Mark had faced would be spreading as the story was told again and again throughout the day. 'Of course,' they both thought as they saw Mark and two of his fellow jocks waiting outside the large metal doors leading into the dining hall, 'someone like Mark would never take such an egotistical beating lightly.'
Carrot quickly glanced to the doors he and Eddy were passing on their way towards Mark and his thugs, taking Eddy lightly by the arm and drifting towards one that lead to an empty connecting room. He and Eddy had many times before slipped through the school's empty classrooms in order to dodge bullies and teachers alike. Eddy, however, walked straight forward, pulling out of Carrot's light grasp.
“Eddy?” Carrot whispered as he slowed near his escape door, watching as his friend adjusted his overly weighted backpack of books and walk straight towards Mark. “Eddy...what are you doing?” Carrot whispered to himself soft enough for no one to hear.
Mark put his arm on the wall in front of the cafeteria door as soon as he saw Eddy coming, as if Eddy had wanted to pass by him. The wolf had a medical patch over his eye and a small bandage over his thumb where the pen had struck. When Mark spoke, it was loud enough that people in the hall passing in to eat their lunches slowed and stopped to watch what was going on. “You think you're some big boy now, Ed?”
Mark's words may have been louder than comfortable for others to hear, and they may have been insulting, but Eddy just took a few more steps closer and stopped a few feet from where Mark stood. He looked the wolf in the eye as if bored, pushing his bangs out of his eyes as he waited for him to continue. He always hated the name 'Ed', but seemed as if it were not worthy of his attention anyways.
“I think the little pooch needs a lesson in manners, unless he wants to apologize. What do you think, Jeff? Mike?” Mark turned to his two goons with a smirk. Mike turned his head with a sickening crack, the black bear being one of the largest linebackers for the school football team, while the only slightly shorter elk beside him, Jeff, just glared and tried to look threatening. Jeff was the leader of the wrestling team, and even with his antlers ground down to stumps had a chip on his shoulder bigger than his ego inflated head.
Carrot felt his chest clenching as he nervously watched Eddy confronting the team of ruffians, but Eddy seemed as cool and collected as if he were talking to his mom's first grade class. The mutt finally spoke after looking around him and taking in his immediate surroundings for some tactical advantage. “Well, you know Mark, I really have had it with you strutting yourself around like you're some lone wolf alpha beast when you're just a scrounging pup whining for his mother's milk. If the only person you can man yourself up to is Jarred, then I don't think your threats warrant any decent response. If little Mikey and the big bad Jeff want to back you up to teach me some manners, then might I suggest you start by saying please?”
Mark turned to growl as he heard a group of students trying to muffle their chuckles. The group shushed each other as they slowly backed away, letting Mark turned back to Eddy and spit on the ground. “You think you can just try to be all alpha and not get hurt, Ed? You're gonna be the one whining for his mommy in a second!”
“Oh, so you freely admit you were whining for your mother's milk as I said before?” More muffled laughs made Mark's face turn red from both embarrassment and pure rage. “No no, that's good. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, Mark. You are a bigger man than I gave you credit before if you can stand their and confess your true nature as a leeching self-centered spineless prick with a strange fetish for his mother's teat.”
Even Eddy would later admit that he had gone too far with the teat remark, but it had served his purpose of driving Mark over the edge and into a fight without throwing the first punch. The wolf gritted his teeth and ran at Eddy, lifting a fist to lunge at the mutt's head, following the path Eddy had already predicted he'd make.
Eddy's first move looked accidental and clumsy, but even as onlookers watched confused and excited, Eddy's plan unfolded perfectly. He fell backwards before Mark's fist reached him, pulling his own legs up from under him, landing on his backpack moments before Mark's arm passed over him. To Eddy is was happening as if in slow motion, having have practiced being in real fights night after night, but to everyone else it all took place in the blink of an eye. As Eddy landed on his back, he kicked both of his legs up into Mark's center, pushing with the wolf's own force to lift him up off the ground and fly through the air. Mark landed better than Eddy could have hoped, head first directly into the trashcan just outside of the cafeteria, full of discarded sandwiches and mini-milk cartons.
Eddy rolled back with his kick, lifting his head as he landed kneeling behind his overly large backpack. He saw the large shadow of Mike looming closer and closer as the linebacker rushed to tackle him while he was still off guard, but Eddy quickly stood and turned, pulling his backpack into a wild spin to catch the bear in the side of his head. Eddy kept up his spin, calculating quickly where the bear would end up after stumbling from the blow before releasing the book filled pack. The backpack flew straight at Mike's thick head, striking just as he ran into the lockers on the side of the wall, sandwiching him into a head vice strong enough to make him cross-eyed before collapsing to the ground.
The audience was growing around the doors of the lunch room, forcing Carrot onto his tiptoes even as he felt like his stomach was being squeezed in fear. He'd never seen Eddy fight like this, cause pain like this. Sure he'd seen The Watchdog defend himself and subdue criminals and the occasional night guard, but this was somehow much different. The look in the mutt's eyes wasn't angry, he wasn't smug and trying to prove his own power, he just looked like he was doing a job. Cleaning up trash, something he's doing because it needs to be done, even if he doesn't like it.
The crowd began to rile up, one yell of support turning the whole mass of students into a cheer squad, most calling for Mark to kick the lowly mutt where it hurts, supporting their sports hero. Eddy wouldn't have cared except that he knew the teachers would soon come running to break up the fight, and he'd have a lot of explaining to do that he didn't want a part of. He was about to walk away to leave Mark with what little dignity he had left, but Jeff finally came in on his cue, grabbing Eddy from behind and holding him in his strong well practiced arms.
“Mark! C'mon!” The elk shouted as the wolf was standing up, growling to the point of foaming at the teeth. Eddy tried to pull against Jeff's arms, but as strong as he was becoming, he was no match going muscle to muscle with the captain of the wrestling team. He started making plans in his head to attack and escape once Mark was close enough, but then then wolf pulled out one of his pens and held it like a stabbing knife.
Eddy's body tensed as he saw how serious this fight had become with the introduction of a weapon, and he quickly ditched his plan and thrust his head back, hearing a crack as he broke Jeff's nose. The elk's cry of pain was ended short as Eddy pulled out of his grasp and sank his elbow into the wrestler's side and knocked the wind out of him. Grabbing at Jeff's antler stumps, Eddy threw the beast over his shoulder, in the same motion pulling his over-shirt up and off over his head.
As Mark came running with his make-shift shank in hand, Eddy threw his shirt over the wolf's face, blinding him. A quick side dodge saved the mutt from any stabbing injuries, but Mark wasn't going to be so lucky as Eddy began a barrage of attacks from every angle. A punch to the nose, a kick to the arm, an elbow to the neck, a multitude of strikes across his face, Mark wasn't able to tell left from right as each hit was careful to not dislodge the shirt from around his eyes. The crowd began to quiet down as Eddy's attacks continued, echoing through the halls. The shirt began to soak with blood from Mark's nose, but Eddy didn't stop until he kicked the wolf hard in the chest, sending him into the lockers and on top of Mike in a painful heap.
Eddy didn't take a chance to look over his enemies, as he found himself thinking of them, but quickly pushed through the crowd and slipped into an empty classroom. The students gaped at the scene before them, their hero broken down and squirming on the floor as the nobody who crushed him just disappeared. The teachers finally arrived on the scene, directing students away from the scene and helping Mark and his fellows up to go to the nurse.
The crowd slowly dispersed with the barked orders of their teachers, but Carrot pushed through, slipping through the river of students to make his way to a different hallway. He knew where Eddy would go, and he needed to have a talk with him. This was becoming scary.
As Carrot made his way down the hall, he heard someone close by clear their throat. “I don't know what you did, sir.” One of the girls had pulled away from the crowd unnoticed, her long striped tail swishing lazily behind her as she walked. “Whatever you did, though, it seems to be working. He'll join you in no time, I don't doubt it.”
“Not now Oracle... you don't know him, you can't make assumptions.” Carrot's eyes narrowed, his glare that of the evil mastermind Captain Doom. His voice was hushed but strict and demanding. “He's no closer in joining us, but he's much closer to hurting himself. He's taking unnecessary risks, and is... he's different.”
The girl leaned against the wall, looking disapprovingly at her superior in their villainous trio. “You wanted him to join us, you had to expect him to change.”
“Change was inevitable, but I wanted The Watchdog to change, not Eddy.”
“Eddy IS The Watchdog.”
“No, they are different. Just as different as me and Captain Doom, just as different as you and Oracle. We have our lives in and out of the mask. Our ideals behind our villainous persona may reflect our thirst for revenge, fairness, justice if you want to call it that, but we don't let it stain our lives like a bleeding wound. Eddy is changing, he's letting his drive become part of him. Maybe he always has, but I made him question his drive, made him rethink his concept of right and wrong and the methods to enforce those ideals...”
The girl blew her hair out of her eyes as she turned her head, walking past Carrot to go down the hall and towards a far off exit. “If what you say is true, then this Watchdog is much weaker than you give him credit for. Either that, or you're becoming much too soft with him.” Oracle looked over her shoulder to see the almost indistinguishable cringe of truth as it cut through Carrot's own thoughts. She continued walking slowly as she spoke, almost forcing her leader to quicken his decision. “I can pay a visit to him tonight. I do not have any weaknesses to him, unlike you.” Carrot was now glaring at his second in command, but even through his anger he knew she was speaking the truth as she saw it, and was trying to help him realize what was most important. “I will talk to him, maybe show him that his fight cannot be done alone.”
“You won't be able to just beat him...”
“You want to watch me?” Oracle turned as if offered a challenge.
Carrot had stalled her, letting him think for the moment he needed more. “...Take Private Destruction.”
“Tch, I can do better without that...”
“That was not a suggestion, Oracle. That was an order. If you were to be captured, I don't know what this new Watchdog will do to make you spill.”
“I don't talk sir.”
“Everyone talks, Oracle. Everyone has a limit, everyone has a price. You of anyone should realize this.” Carrot and Oracle stared off for a moment before Oracle looked away, giving up this battle without a word. “Now, take Private Destruction with you, even if she isn't needed. Have her witness The Watchdog in battle and you as well, and let her be a back up in case you are underestimating your opponent. And Oracle?” Carrot called to his second in command and the girl began to turn and leave. “You are to talk to him... this is not a vengeful clash. I want him to join us.”
“....”
“Oracle?”
“Yes sir.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Carrot made his way towards the school auditorium. It was a large but worn building that had been scheduled to be renovated over a decade ago, but budget cuts had stopped any support to the under-used performance hall. This had always been a perfect place to hang out if you didn't want to be found and just happened to know how to get in after it had been fully locked up, and Eddy had been the one to find a way.
Eddy had bragged to Carrot their freshman year how he was going to be late to math anyways so decided to explore the school for a while and avoid the security. He had looked around the hall for almost the whole period before he found a flaw in the green room exit. There was no handle on the outside of the building, but the heavy door had been used as an exit so harshly that the door had gapped between it and the wall, so something flat and sturdy like a scissor blade could push the locked hinge aside and pull it open enough for someone to get his fingers in to finish the job.
As soon as Carrot closed the door behind him, he found evidence that Eddy had been here. The lights of the hall had been turned on but dimmed to grant just enough light to see. Carrot caught his own reflection in the huge mirror that filled the far wall, but as he looked around at piles of unkempt costumes and coat hangers he did not spot his friend anywhere. He walked down the hall towards the small stage that had been built to fill an entire school's performing needs, knowing Eddy would be behind the emergency fire curtains leaning on the back wall in the dark.
One pull of the weighted pulley system opened a small gap in the heavy black curtains, revealing a soft silhouette where Eddy sat on the dark dark stage, his knees drawn to his chest. Carrot just stood for a while looking at the shadow of his friend, tapping his foot in a half-feigned disappointment.
“Well?”
Eddy looked up at Carrot's voice, but the orange wolf could only see a faint reflected glimmer in his eyes, the rest of him blanketed in darkness. The mutt looked back down, not answering, tempting a heavy sigh out of Carrot. The wolf sat down, leaning back next to Eddy, not saying anything for a while and just looking at the mutt in the darkness. For what seemed like a long time Carrot just watched Eddy as the mutt hugged his knees tighter and just stared off into the empty seats of the theater.
“You didn't have to do what you did.” Even as Eddy silently nodded, Carrot couldn't stand just sitting, he had things to say. Standing up and walking further onto stage, he raised his voice. “You can't just beat up the bully because he'd do the same, Eddy. You can't BECOME the bully if you want them to stop, you're only making the problem worse! Not only that, but you're putting yourself into danger, and putting everyone around you in danger. Is that what you want?”
“N...n..no...” Eddy's voice was shaking, weak, and whispering. He held his head onto his knees, finally a sniff echoing through the halls as he cried quietly. “I...I don't want... I just... If I didn't do anything, he was going to keep picking on Jarred... If I told the teacher, he'd just pick on him after school... I...I didn't know what else to do... I thought ma...maybe if I just took him on myself... well, at least he'd stop picking on Jarred. Maybe he'll come after me instead, or he'll just scare off... I don't know... I didn't mean to take it so far, I just... I just wanted to do the right thing...” Eddy's tears were flowing freely, darkening the fur under his eyes as he felt his body shiver and his lungs burn. He couldn't breathe well and was just trying to make sense through his near blubbering.
Carrot sighed, feeling a soreness in his throat like he was going to be crying to. He had been scared, not only that Eddy was going to hurt himself, but so many other things. He sat back down and put his arm around Eddy, trying to support him. His friend slid down the wall, finally laying his sobbing face against his chest. Carrot couldn't say anything as he hugged Eddy's head against him. He knew everything Eddy was going through was his own fault, but he also knew he couldn't stop. What Eddy had done had stopped Mark, and neither Mark nor his other thugs would probably be messing with anyone until they got back with Eddy for what he did to their reputation, this much was true. But somehow, it was still wrong.
Carrot kissed the top of Eddy's head, giving no mind to the school bell as it rang outside to mark the end of lunch. For now, he had to keep his friend together, keep him from crossing any lines they didn't want to cross. He silently cursed himself for what he knew was coming for Eddy that night, but fought back his own tears with the knowledge of his ideals. Carrot believed his justice was vital to the well-being of the meek. Captain Doom needed The Watchdog on his side, or he needed him out of the way.
“...I'm sorry Eddy.”
