Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 13:08:20 -0800 (PST)
From: Farrell Mc Nulty <brendanchenowith@yahoo.com>
Subject: Detectives Log - Chapter Twenty-Eight - Darkest Before Dawn

  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."