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More from The_Watchdog
Story and Watchdog: 
holmgren13
Other characters belong to their respective owners.
Icon by
gunmouth
Chapter 1: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8939755/
Chapter 2: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8939769/
Chapter 3: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8939798/
Chapter 4: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10115622/
Chapter 5: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10115644/
Chapter 6: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10548018/
Chapter 6b: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10548036/
Epilouge: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10548042/
Watchdog 5: Until the End
Chapter 2
Eddy stayed in his host’s shower probably too long, and after he had dried and bandaged himself as well as he could with their first aid kits, he had felt he was taking too much. He was not about to take their clothes to.
“But I insist, sir.” A sweet old possum held out a plain green teeshirt and some slightly worn jeans. “They belong to my husband and he never wears them, I promise you. You’re be doing me a favor.”
“Please ma’am...” Eddy held onto his grin as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I feel I’m imposing as it is...”
The woman put her hands on her hip, loosing her smile for a moment. “Young man, I will have you know that my son was getting into trouble in school and finding only the worst friends until he started hearing about you. The way I see it, I owe you for that. You turned my baby boy into a good wanting little citizen, and I cannot imagine how hard you must work. I mean, look at yourself! Really, here...” The possum gently took Eddy’s thick arms and turned him towards a large mirror to look at himself. The mutt was standing in a pair of white boxers the woman had given him, and his whole body was riddled with small scars and bandages. His leg’s bandages were still stained with spots of blood, though most were back to being clean and white. A thin cast was secured on his arm, though a good chunk of the cast had broken off from one of the gunshots.
“Well, Uh... I mean, I don’t look TOO bad... do I? Hehe...”
“You look a mess, Watchdog.”
Eddy grinned awkwardly, turning back to the lady. “Please, ma’am, call me Eddy.”
She smiled and nodded before handing him the clothes again. “I’ll wash up your uniform for you while you change.”
“Oh no no, please.” Eddy was already stepping into the jeans. “I’m going to need to get it stitched and scrubbed and possibly replaced. I’ve got stuff for all of that at home. If you just put them in a trash bag, I can take them, please.” He gave a bit of his puppy-eye stare until the woman threw up her hands in defeat and went to grab a trash bag from the kitchen. Eddy sighed and carefully put on the teeshirt, thanking his lucky stars that some people still believed in him enough to not call the cops the second they saw him. “Um, Ma’am?”
The possum had just come back with a large trash bag full of his clothes and his spare weapons that made it through the fight. “Yes, hun?”
“Um, there is ONE thing that you could help me with, if you can. Do you think you can get me a ride back to my car?”
Once Eddy made it back to his car, he was able to toss his clothes in and get into a disguise. A small can of fur coloring gave him a few patches of dark brown, and his hat hid his lengthy grey hair while sticking out puffs of black fur from the brim to throw anyone off. A brown leather jacket, a false mustache, and some fake glasses finished his costume, and a switch of license plates let him drive through the streets with little more than a second glance. He had one place he had to stop by before he could go home...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Dr Schmitt?”
A very tall and slightly overweight ape with a thick red face looked up from his notes, lowering a thin pair of glasses down his flat nose. “Is it important?”
The nurse, a petite deer in a clean white outfit, bit her lip and looked behind her for a moment. “Um, yes sir, we have a walk-in that needs your attention.”
The doctor pushed his glasses back up to his eyes, looking to his papers again. “Send out Dr Reeves. He needs more practice, and I’m busy.”
“I-I understand sir, but... Well, this could really take your personal touch. He asked for you specifically.” The nurse put a file down on the doctor’s desk without asking permission. “Please, sir...”
The ape sighed angrily and tossed down his papers, glaring up at the nurse. “You and I will have a talk later, Deborah.” The doctor stood up and snatched the file from his desk, walking quickly down the hall towards the waiting room, opening the file. “... John Doe? 6’ 185 lbs, Date of Birth... “ The ape gripped the file tightly, crumbling the edges. “Alright, who here was born yesterday?” He looked angrily into the near empty waiting room, expecting some giggling teenagers pulling their stupid pranks, but what he saw made him lower his glasses again. “... Edward?”
“John Doe, Doctor.” Eddy grinned from behind his fake mustache. “I think I need a checkup.”
The doctor quickly got Eddy out of the waiting room and into an empty room, closing the door and then the blinds before turning back to the mutt. “What the hell are you doing here, Edward!? You know that ever since a warrant had been placed on you that treating you would put me in danger of loosing my right to perform medicine, and possibly put me in jail!”
Eddy cringed as he took off his jacket, his cast and multiple bandages coming into view. “Nnng! I know, Dr. Schmitt, but I needed a real doctor this time. I don’t think first aid is going to cut this all forever. Look, you can use the fake file I gave you as the medical file, and if they go after you, tell them I forced you. Please, I need someone and I can’t trust just any doctor to not turn me in.” The mutt took off his shirt, the ape biting his lip as he saw the injuries all over his past patient’s body.
“I guess so...dammit.” The doctor went behind Eddy and opened the door. “Deborah, do not bother me until I’m out. Mr... Mr Doe and I have lots of work to do.” he closed and locked the door, taking off his white coat and rolling up his sleeves. “Well, pants off, get up on the table. This isn’t a surgery hall, but I should have enough here to get you patched up and checked out.”
Eddy grinned, looking a little pale as he sat up on the paper-lined bench, laying back fully. “Th-thanks, doc.”
The ape took a pair of sharp scissors to the mutt’s bandages, snorting a short chuckle. “You used to hate coming in for your shots... Now look at you. Willingly laying back and begging me to give you a few.”
“If we can skip shots, I won’t complain...”
“Oh, you’ll want shots... is this a gunshot wound on your leg?”
Eddy nodded, grinning awkwardly. “Hehe, yeah... and the one that broke the cast.”
The doctor sighed. “I’m going to have to take the cast off and take some new x-rays. You’ll have to be moved across the hospital a few times. I’ll leave the mustache on and cover you all up, so no one will think you’re anyone special.”
“Thanks again, Doctor Schmitt.” The mutt took in a deep breath, and then yiped sharply when a needle pushed into his leg.
“Oh don’t be such a baby... you can take a bullet, you can take this.”
Eddy felt the drugs go to work right away, his leg going numb, the cold feeling spreading through him until he actually fell asleep. He was out for hours, apparently, because when he began to hear voices it was the doctor and nurse talking. “It’s not his arm I’m worried about, Doctor. I mean, no it probably won’t heal perfectly with how he’s been working it, but what about the internal damage?”
“It’s nothing too severe yet, Deborah. Some antibiotics will keep it from getting infected and it will only take time.”
“Have you ever read the news on the Watchdog, sir? He doesn’t give injuries time.”
“Mm, yes... I tend to try and avoid seeing my past patients in the middle of a fire-fight. But I understand your point... I will try to have a talk with him, But I’m only his doctor.”
Eddy grinned weakly. “The best doctor a mutt could ask for...”
Eddy scared the doctor and his nurse, who both put a hand on their chest as their hearts raced. “Dammit, Eddy. That shot should have kept you asleep for another two hours minimum.”
“I’m a fast healer, what can I say?” The mutt pushed himself up on the cushioned bench he had been lying on, the nurse moving to help him. “Nnn! Thanks, Debby.” Eddy gave the deer a little wink, making her blush as she backed away. Eddy then took a serious look at his doctor. “So, did you give me a full checkup?”
“Yes, I did, and I didn’t like everything I found.” Dr Schmitt held up a small plastic ziplock bag with 4 bits of metal inside. “Four bullets, Mr Holmgren. Four bullets, I found inside of you. Only two of them were recently introduced.”
The mutt whistled and took the bag. “Youch, huh? Where were these other two?”
“Besides the two in your leg, I found one deep in your back thigh and another in your side, awfully close to your liver.” The doctor tapped his fingers on his knee, looking uncomfortable in the small chair he was in, but unwilling to stand. “And that’s not all.”
Eddy sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair, wincing when he felt new stitches under his finger. “Thh! Ow, what’s this now?”
“I’m getting to it, but you won’t like what I have to say.” Schmitt finally stood up and walked over to the X-ray display, turning on the light behind the film. He pointed to each of the almost half a dozen copies in turn. “I found a hairline fracture on your skull, your arm was strained and had to be broken again and set with three pins. Each of these lines here are fractures in your right hand knuckles... Edward, you are destroying yourself! Even your teeth look ready to crack and twist, and as a professional I suggest that you meet with a dentist, though I know you won’t.”
Eddy sighed and his leg shook nervously. “Well... I mean, what do I have to do to get back into fighting shape?”
“And there you go, wondering when the next fist you can throw will be. This is why you’re going to be in pain until someone gets lucky with one of those little bullets.” The ape went to a small folder and opened it, slipping his glasses on once again. “You also had internal bleeding that we were able to stop, and one of your old wounds looked infected so we cut it open and cleaned it out. Your face looks fine, but the tissue around your left eye is tender and slightly swollen from constant abuse. If that keeps up, it’s only a matter of time before your eye becomes mush and useless.” He closed the folder and tossed it onto the bench. “I can’t keep this information. As far as this is all concerned, you were never here. But under my orders, you can NOT go out on the streets as the Watchdog for at least four weeks. I’ve-”
“Four weeks!? Doc, crime doesn’t rest, what am I supposed to-”
“Edward!” The doctor growled and waited for Eddy to bite his lip and look to the floor before he went on. “I’ve set you up with some medication. Antibiotics for your internal bleeding to keep it from becoming infected and some supplements to help your bone and muscles to heal. I’d suggest having a professional remove the majority of your stitches in about ten days, but I’d rather it not be me. I’ve done enough work off the clock.”
“...Thanks doc, I really-”
“The meds are at the desk with Deborah.” This was the nurse’s cue to leave, which she did hurriedly. “Take the files. I don’t want to hear anything of Watchdog for the next month, do you understand me?”
Eddy didn’t answer, but looked frustrated and a bit hurt. Doctor Schmitt left his patient, closing the door behind so that he could get dressed in privacy. The ape sighed and walked back to his personal office to check on his schedule. He was no doubt very behind thanks to all of this, but as much as he yelled and scolded the patient, he wouldn’t have helped if he didn’t believe in the hero.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eddy drove back to headquarters, where he had made his home for the past few years. It was convenient to be close by for whenever there was a call for backup, or a request for assist in training, but now that the masked mutt would be bedridden for the next month, it didn't seem beneficial to be so close to the center of action. He drove around the block once or twice to make sure that no one was following him, and then reached up to press a switch on his visor, opening the very normal garage to a large yet plain home on the border between a simple suburban neighborhood and a largely commercial section of the city, nearly sharing a large scrap yard belonging to a pawn shop garage combo building. He parked the Watchcar and closed the garage door behind him, staying inside of the vehicle for a few moments before reaching to his visor for a second switch.
The garage door's seal inflated and secured, making the double paned extra thick door almost fully soundproof before the floor of the garage shook and began to slope downwards. Soon, the Watchdog gently drove down into a long tunnel, pulling off to the side and turning around before parking near the entrance. Another flip of the visor and the garage floor was lifted and secured, the seal deflated, and everything was back to normal for the large plain home where Buck and his slightly oblivious parents lived.
This was it. After years of searching and moving and building, this was the Watchdog's headquarters. Eddy walked down the dimly lit tunnel until he came to a solid metal wall with a large electric padlock. He typed in his personal passcode to unlock the sturdy door and went inside, where he was met by the smell of hot pockets and ramen. It seemed Buck was taking his lunch break.
Eddy remembered when Osprey had found a couple of chop-shop workers stealing a car and followed them to the pawn shop garage. Everything was normal until Buck began to do some thorough research on the shop. Before the pawnshop had been built, back when the neighborhood was nothing but a stretch of freeway, the land had been used as a truck stop with a large refueling station. There was a bad leak and then a fire, forcing the business to close down. No one bought the land for decades until some rich guy wanting some good public relations decided to clean up the land. The dug out all of the bad dirt and took it off to be cleaned up, but before the land was filled up again, the threat of nuclear war convinced the rich man to use the dug up land to build a bomb shelter for him and his family. They secured the deed to the land and build a great underground shelter, secure and off of the maps. No bombs fell, and the family left the land to later be bought and turned into the pawn shop and scrap yard it is today, no one the wiser of its true purpose.
Eddy saved up enough of the donated money to loan his cousin, Tortilla's sister Kayla, to buy the shop and run it as her personal business. The monkey loved working on cars, calling herself Grease Monkey, and now she made good money running the shop with a few loyal workers from a nearby mechanic's school. Building the entrance from Buck's garage took some real work, but with that and two extra entrances into the pawn shop and into the sewers on main street, the base was perfect. They had build a training hall, meeting room, housing for at least two league members at any given time, and even parking for the Watchcar. With the large business right over them, their electric and water usage was easily explainable, and they even used what was pawned off in the shop to build and repair some of their own tools.
"Hey Buck." Eddy walked inside the lounge where the deerhound was eating his lunch with his handheld game playing on the big TV. "Can you give me a rundown of current missions?"
"Hold on juuuuust a sec. I almost got this guy. Hold on, hooooooold on... Got him! Okay!" Buck put down his game and spun around on the sofa, putting his legs up on the arm rest. "Okay, Watchdog, what did you ne- Oh god! What the hell happened to you!?"
Eddy raised his eyebrow and then looked down at himself. Under the thin teeshirt the kind woman had given to him you could plainly see the padding of a few bandages, and his limp was a little too obvious, but it shouldn't have been anything Buck hadn't seen before. That's when he remembered the medical eyepatch and the head wrap, along with the new cast and brace. That would make him look a little worse. "Oh, that. Well, I went to the doctor today."
"...."
"...."
"And?" Buck didn't think that that was a good enough explanation to the bandages, the mutt looking like he was used as a crash dummy for NASA.
"Well, I might have gotten shot."
"Shot!?"
"And uh... I maybe, might, possibly have a fractured skull..." Eddy grinned awkwardly, but before Buck could pick his jaw up from the floor and say anything, the mutt raised his hands in defense. "But hey, this wasn't like, from today I think. I just haven't gotten any X-rays in a long time. Getting to the doctor is hard when you're wanted... I mean, they found two extra bullets I didn't know I had, so that fracture could have been there a long time, who knows." Eddy listened to his own argument and could completely understand Buck's look of confused and 'duh' expression. This was not helping Eddy's case at all. "Look, Buck, just... don't tell Osprey about the extra injuries, okay? I'm on doctor's orders to take a month off, but if she found out she'd make sure I didn't even use the phone."
"Maybe you shouldn't. Seriously, Eddy, a fractured skull and gunshot wounds are not small things." Buck stood up, and walked over to his laptop, clicking it on. "You probably shouldn't do anything but be resting for a while. And we all know you, Eddy. You hear one sign of trouble and you'll be out on the streets without a second thought. Hell, you had a broken arm when you went on your raid a few hours ago."
"True enough... But I can still-"
"You want me to tell Osprey?"
"No, I don't, but-"
"Then get your stuff out of the Watchcar, show me what you need replaced or cleaned or whatever, hang up your uniform, and then I'll set up your room so that you can play operator with me until you're on your feet."
Eddy raised his eyebrow, and then sighed with a bit of a chuckle. "Heh, yes sir."
"I learn leading from the best, Watch." Eddy and Buck went out to the Watchcar to get his stuff. Eddy grabbed his duffle bag in the back that held his uniform and armor and mostly empty belt, but as he started walking to his room, Buck opened up the floor of the trunk and froze. "Uh, Eddy? Where's all your stuff?"
Eddy stopped and turned, not looking very worried. "What do you mean bud?" He walked over to Buck, who gestured at the nearly empty car. "Yeah, just grab the tracker collar, spare disk, and two cases of catnip grenades. I got the rest."
"You used it all!?" Buck's eye twitched before he lowered his head. "All..."
"Well, come on now, I'm not Spirit, okay? I can't just take on a dozen armed thugs without a few tools." Eddy actually looked a little annoyed at the remark, and he closed up the car, forcing Buck the nab the few weapons there were before it closed on him.
"Yeah, well, Osprey doesn't use nearly as much. AND she can usually secure quite a bit of what she used to fix up for later. I mean, this is going to take a lot of work to replenish it all, you think you'd be able to-"
"Buck! Look, I'm not Osprey okay!? She's a lot smarter than me! Just because I have to use more weapons and I can't just snatch them back up while I'm being shot at, it doesn't make me... it doesn't mean they're better, I mean... Just forget it! Just put the spares on the work counter, I'll get them in the car later." Eddy picked up his pace, walking quickly back into the lair and shutting the door behind him.
Buck gulped, his ears falling back. He was just surprised and joking about the weapon usage, and a little upset that he'd have to spend the next few days rebuilding and setting up a new set. He didn't mean to imply anything bad. He struggled to hold the disk and other spare weapons as he entered his own password and opened the door with his foot, getting everything to the work counter like he was told. When he looked around, it seemed that Eddy had tossed the duffle bag under the counter and then went off to his room, putting up his 'do not disturb' sign.
The deerhound sighed and picked up the duffle bag, turning it upside down to empty it onto the counter. The Watchdog shirt and jacket were torn in a few places and both were stained pretty badly with sweat and blood, but what was really scary was the large almost ripped dent in the back of the armored vest! Whatever made that would have killed the mutt if he hadn't been wearing it. Buck shook his head and laid everything out, hanging up the jacket to patch up later and tossing the clothes into a pile in the corner of the room to be washed. The utility belt was nearly empty, and Buck hung it along with the jacket to be filled once he found some time to prep up more weapons. As it was, he needed to get in touch with the other league members in the field and make sure they were all well, and then report on any news.
Eddy sat in his room in his borrowed boxers, the rest of the clothes on the floor. He logged onto his computer and checked through his normal mails and bank accounts, making all of his routine checks before deciding he should take a shower and get some sleep. He would have to be careful with all of his new stitches, and it would probably take him a while. If Buck was going to leave before he was done, he'd want some stuff to do while he was bedridden. He opened his door without walking out and called for the other boy. "Buck?"
Buck's ears perked up hopefully, "Yeah, Eddy?"
"I need a copy of everyone's latest training session to review. Could you email me each of them and make a dvd copy in case I need to watch from the big screen in the lounge?"
The deerhound sighed. "Sure thing, sir." Eddy didn't even thank the boy, closing his door and walking towards the bathroom to clean up, leaving Buck with his work. By the time the mutt had fully cleaned himself and changed a few of his bandages, Buck had made the copies and filed all of the reports he had planned for the night. He'd probably do a bit more research from his computer in the house, but he felt a little awkward in the lair with his hero upset at him. With the training videos emailed and copied to a disk, he left the rest of the work for the morning. No one else would come in unless they called, so he signed out of his laptop and locked the lair up, leaving Eddy to himself for a while.
Eddy tried to sleep, but after his battle that day he was more sore than tired. He tossed and turned in bed, finding it difficult to find a way to lay down that he wasn't directly on a nasty bruise or a stitch. His mind kept going back to Buck's reaction to his injuries and to how many of his weapons he had used in one fight. He sat up in bed and went to his emails, opening up Spirit Force's latest training video. Every hero knew that when they trained they were being taped for educational purposes, but Eddy rarely reviewed the tapes unless he suspected someone of slacking or doing anything dangerous or counter-productive. Now that he was watching the tape with no reason other than to see how strong his team really was, he began to see things he never had before.
The mutt began to compare the video to his own, not to the heroes themselves. He watched as the aura driven fox tumbled around the room, as his hands dashed fluidly in his attacks against the fight dummies faster than anyone being hit could possibly follow, and he watched as he did sprints far faster than Eddy could have. Eddy bit down on his lip and stopped the video, standing up and putting on his jeans before going out to the work counter. If he couldn't sleep, he'd at least stay productive while he waited to get tired. He took the dvd and put it into the player, Fawk's image coming up onto the big screen. The mutt watched the fox train again as he moved around to find a few tools, limping from cupboard to cupboard to find what he needed to start replenishing his utility belt.
As the mutt worked, he was constantly being reminded at how far his team had gone since they first began fighting together. Every time he looked up at the screen, he saw a member of his team running, hitting, sparring, even being trained by Eddy himself. He began to see everything they did that he could not, and was forced to look away from the screen as he began to feel that he was being left behind. He turned back to his work, stitching a new plate to his armored vest.
Once his vest was repaired and his jacket was stitched and spot cleaned, it was time to turn to his weapons. To keep his mind off of his shortcomings, Eddy began recalling where they had bought the parts for the many specialized tools that decorated his belt. The hollow steel balls that held a special trio of chemicals that mixed on heavy impact or timer and created special smoke screens... originally they had been ordered as an industrial agitator for a large washing machine. The high grade flexible thin cables used as the base of the Watchdog's leash-lasso was created and ordered for a pulley system used in the garage, and of course they ordered plenty of spares. Eddy's favorite were his new extra-spin extending shuriken. The parts were ordered all separately, the main body claimed to be a rotating gear stop. It was ordered thin but very dull, not meant for cutting, but a run through a grinder and a few minutes on a whet stone and the blade was sharp enough to cut through most anything you'd find out in the field. The pieces each had two blades, but connected well together thanks to Eddy's formulated design. Once sharpened, a small spring was added along with a delicate pressure trigger, each made to be part of a large clock, and two of the blades were put together and secured with a strong bolt. The blade turned in on itself to create a strait blade that held together and easily slipped into special pockets and sheaths in the Watchdog's jacket, and with a tight grip or a heavy throw, the blades separated and spun apart, the inertia extending the blades and forcing the blade into a faster spin before impact. Eddy loved his new toys, and spend a good amount of time painting each part a dull black before buffering and sharpening them. As a finishing touch, each shuriken was fitted with what was made to be a small metal car decal, giving each weapon the insignia of the League.
Eddy worked tirelessly wrapping catnip grenades, carefully fitting new gas pellets with their mixed chemicals and timers, carving out and wrapping the handle of his new paddle and a spare, putting his insignia and fitting new doggy disks with handles, and even rebuilding his arm launch system that had been destroyed in the last battle. He continuously looked up to see the training video go on and on, and he forced himself to work harder until he was finally fully equipped once again, but he didn't want to stop, and began to build a new set of spares he would be keeping in the Watchcar. He lost track of time, and was buffering out the new paint on a set of parts for his shuriken when the door hissed, its locks disengaging as Buck came inside.
"Oh, hey Eddy. You're up early. Couldn't sleep?"
Eddy pulled off the goggles he had been wearing, and the felt mask he had put on to block the fumes of the paint. He wiped his forehead of sweat as he looked up at the clock, seeing that it was 8am. "Oh, yeah. I guess." The mutt picked up the next piece he was working on, putting it under the buffer brushes and moving it from side to side before flipping it and grabbing for the next piece, but Buck looked at him questionably.
"...You're still up, aren't you?"
"So what?"
The deerhound dropped his laptop case on the couch before walking quickly over to Eddy, looking like he was going to slam his hands down on the counter, but he stopped. "Y-you..." The entire counter was covered in pieces and parts of the Watchdog weapons, and the belt that hung next to his cleaned jacket was bulging full. Buck gritted his teeth. "You're supposed to be getting well."
"I'm not straining myself. This is just busy work since I wasn't tired."
"Eddy..."
"I can take care of myself, Buck!" Eddy put down the piece he was buffering and picked up the next. "I'm going to finished these, put them in the Watchcar and any spares in the weapon crate here at HQ, and then I'm going to clean up and get ready for the squirrels. It's their training day today."
Buck threw up his hands and stomped over to his computer. "Fine, whatever! Eddy, you're going to get yourself hurt bad... BADDER... one of these days, and I'm going to have to watch and just hope you don't get yourself killed. You know what, I know you think it's just trouble, but you're giving me no choice but to tell Osprey everything. I saw your medical file in the Watchcar, and I'm going to do the responsible thing and file it, and get a copy to her because maybe SHE can talk a little sense into you."
Eddy growled under his breath, but his hand began to shake a little. Not in anger, but in simple weakness. He dropped the piece he had been working on, making Buck look up at him. The hero fell back onto the stool, and he pulled off the goggles on his head, tossing them onto the counter before turning off the buffer brushes. "Buck, I... Look, I'm sorry it's just..." Eddy swallowed hard, feeling his pride crack as he looked back at the big screen, which was looping a sparing fight between Osprey and the squirrels.
Buck stood by the couch silently for a bit, but shifted and cleared his throat when Eddy stopped talking. "Eddy?"
"Buck, I need to get to sleep... would you call Littil and Tilla to tell them that I won't be supervising their training today? And then call Osprey, tell her that I'll be out of commission for the month."
"Wait, Eddy, what were you just saying?" Buck walked over to his hero, putting his hand on the mutt's back. "Look, we're all in this together, right? You trust me, don't you? Just tell me what's wrong, you've been just flipping out since yesterday."
Eddy couldn't look up at Buck. He knew what was bothering him, and it was stupid, but it didn't make it not hurt. "I'm being left behind, Buck."
"I don't get it. What do you-?"
"Look at that." He pointed at the screen. "Look at them fight. Do you remember when Fawks and Reaper accidentally walked in on me and Osprey in a spar, and they both thought we were going to kill each other with how intense the fight was?" Eddy saw Buck nod out of the corner of his eye, and he swallowed before going on. "I fought my hardest to keep up with Osprey, and she was fighting her hardest to keep up with me. But I haven't fought her full on after that. It's been over two years, and now I'm watching her and the others get faster, stronger, better... and I haven't moved. I'm at my peak. I don't think I can get any better than I am."
"That's not true, Eddy, come on." Buck forced a grin onto his face, patting the mutt's back. "Come on, you're the Watchdog. You're the leader of the league. You're... You're the whole reason any of this is even here. You've got..."
"I've got limits, Buck. I've been trying to get better, and to be more efficient as a leader and as a fighter, but... but I can't." Eddy rubbed at his eyes, making Buck look away for a moment, as if afraid to see the Watchdog cry. "I'm going to get some sleep. Let me know if there's anything I can do here. Put me on grocery runs, whatever it takes, just... just don't leave me behind, alright?" The mutt put on his best grin, reaching over to ruffle the deerhound's hair. "Sorry I went nuts on you, you deserve better than that. I don't say it enough, but you're really amazing, bud."
"Th-thanks sir..."
"Oh come on, what's with the sir, you've done that twice now. You know better." Eddy stuck out his tongue and flicked one of the boy's ears before turning to limp back to his room to wash and get to sleep.
Buck scratched at his ear and chuckled under his breath. "Thanks, Eddy."
holmgren13Other characters belong to their respective owners.
Icon by
gunmouthChapter 1: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8939755/
Chapter 2: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8939769/
Chapter 3: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8939798/
Chapter 4: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10115622/
Chapter 5: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10115644/
Chapter 6: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10548018/
Chapter 6b: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10548036/
Epilouge: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10548042/
Watchdog 5: Until the End
Chapter 2
Eddy stayed in his host’s shower probably too long, and after he had dried and bandaged himself as well as he could with their first aid kits, he had felt he was taking too much. He was not about to take their clothes to.
“But I insist, sir.” A sweet old possum held out a plain green teeshirt and some slightly worn jeans. “They belong to my husband and he never wears them, I promise you. You’re be doing me a favor.”
“Please ma’am...” Eddy held onto his grin as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I feel I’m imposing as it is...”
The woman put her hands on her hip, loosing her smile for a moment. “Young man, I will have you know that my son was getting into trouble in school and finding only the worst friends until he started hearing about you. The way I see it, I owe you for that. You turned my baby boy into a good wanting little citizen, and I cannot imagine how hard you must work. I mean, look at yourself! Really, here...” The possum gently took Eddy’s thick arms and turned him towards a large mirror to look at himself. The mutt was standing in a pair of white boxers the woman had given him, and his whole body was riddled with small scars and bandages. His leg’s bandages were still stained with spots of blood, though most were back to being clean and white. A thin cast was secured on his arm, though a good chunk of the cast had broken off from one of the gunshots.
“Well, Uh... I mean, I don’t look TOO bad... do I? Hehe...”
“You look a mess, Watchdog.”
Eddy grinned awkwardly, turning back to the lady. “Please, ma’am, call me Eddy.”
She smiled and nodded before handing him the clothes again. “I’ll wash up your uniform for you while you change.”
“Oh no no, please.” Eddy was already stepping into the jeans. “I’m going to need to get it stitched and scrubbed and possibly replaced. I’ve got stuff for all of that at home. If you just put them in a trash bag, I can take them, please.” He gave a bit of his puppy-eye stare until the woman threw up her hands in defeat and went to grab a trash bag from the kitchen. Eddy sighed and carefully put on the teeshirt, thanking his lucky stars that some people still believed in him enough to not call the cops the second they saw him. “Um, Ma’am?”
The possum had just come back with a large trash bag full of his clothes and his spare weapons that made it through the fight. “Yes, hun?”
“Um, there is ONE thing that you could help me with, if you can. Do you think you can get me a ride back to my car?”
Once Eddy made it back to his car, he was able to toss his clothes in and get into a disguise. A small can of fur coloring gave him a few patches of dark brown, and his hat hid his lengthy grey hair while sticking out puffs of black fur from the brim to throw anyone off. A brown leather jacket, a false mustache, and some fake glasses finished his costume, and a switch of license plates let him drive through the streets with little more than a second glance. He had one place he had to stop by before he could go home...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Dr Schmitt?”
A very tall and slightly overweight ape with a thick red face looked up from his notes, lowering a thin pair of glasses down his flat nose. “Is it important?”
The nurse, a petite deer in a clean white outfit, bit her lip and looked behind her for a moment. “Um, yes sir, we have a walk-in that needs your attention.”
The doctor pushed his glasses back up to his eyes, looking to his papers again. “Send out Dr Reeves. He needs more practice, and I’m busy.”
“I-I understand sir, but... Well, this could really take your personal touch. He asked for you specifically.” The nurse put a file down on the doctor’s desk without asking permission. “Please, sir...”
The ape sighed angrily and tossed down his papers, glaring up at the nurse. “You and I will have a talk later, Deborah.” The doctor stood up and snatched the file from his desk, walking quickly down the hall towards the waiting room, opening the file. “... John Doe? 6’ 185 lbs, Date of Birth... “ The ape gripped the file tightly, crumbling the edges. “Alright, who here was born yesterday?” He looked angrily into the near empty waiting room, expecting some giggling teenagers pulling their stupid pranks, but what he saw made him lower his glasses again. “... Edward?”
“John Doe, Doctor.” Eddy grinned from behind his fake mustache. “I think I need a checkup.”
The doctor quickly got Eddy out of the waiting room and into an empty room, closing the door and then the blinds before turning back to the mutt. “What the hell are you doing here, Edward!? You know that ever since a warrant had been placed on you that treating you would put me in danger of loosing my right to perform medicine, and possibly put me in jail!”
Eddy cringed as he took off his jacket, his cast and multiple bandages coming into view. “Nnng! I know, Dr. Schmitt, but I needed a real doctor this time. I don’t think first aid is going to cut this all forever. Look, you can use the fake file I gave you as the medical file, and if they go after you, tell them I forced you. Please, I need someone and I can’t trust just any doctor to not turn me in.” The mutt took off his shirt, the ape biting his lip as he saw the injuries all over his past patient’s body.
“I guess so...dammit.” The doctor went behind Eddy and opened the door. “Deborah, do not bother me until I’m out. Mr... Mr Doe and I have lots of work to do.” he closed and locked the door, taking off his white coat and rolling up his sleeves. “Well, pants off, get up on the table. This isn’t a surgery hall, but I should have enough here to get you patched up and checked out.”
Eddy grinned, looking a little pale as he sat up on the paper-lined bench, laying back fully. “Th-thanks, doc.”
The ape took a pair of sharp scissors to the mutt’s bandages, snorting a short chuckle. “You used to hate coming in for your shots... Now look at you. Willingly laying back and begging me to give you a few.”
“If we can skip shots, I won’t complain...”
“Oh, you’ll want shots... is this a gunshot wound on your leg?”
Eddy nodded, grinning awkwardly. “Hehe, yeah... and the one that broke the cast.”
The doctor sighed. “I’m going to have to take the cast off and take some new x-rays. You’ll have to be moved across the hospital a few times. I’ll leave the mustache on and cover you all up, so no one will think you’re anyone special.”
“Thanks again, Doctor Schmitt.” The mutt took in a deep breath, and then yiped sharply when a needle pushed into his leg.
“Oh don’t be such a baby... you can take a bullet, you can take this.”
Eddy felt the drugs go to work right away, his leg going numb, the cold feeling spreading through him until he actually fell asleep. He was out for hours, apparently, because when he began to hear voices it was the doctor and nurse talking. “It’s not his arm I’m worried about, Doctor. I mean, no it probably won’t heal perfectly with how he’s been working it, but what about the internal damage?”
“It’s nothing too severe yet, Deborah. Some antibiotics will keep it from getting infected and it will only take time.”
“Have you ever read the news on the Watchdog, sir? He doesn’t give injuries time.”
“Mm, yes... I tend to try and avoid seeing my past patients in the middle of a fire-fight. But I understand your point... I will try to have a talk with him, But I’m only his doctor.”
Eddy grinned weakly. “The best doctor a mutt could ask for...”
Eddy scared the doctor and his nurse, who both put a hand on their chest as their hearts raced. “Dammit, Eddy. That shot should have kept you asleep for another two hours minimum.”
“I’m a fast healer, what can I say?” The mutt pushed himself up on the cushioned bench he had been lying on, the nurse moving to help him. “Nnn! Thanks, Debby.” Eddy gave the deer a little wink, making her blush as she backed away. Eddy then took a serious look at his doctor. “So, did you give me a full checkup?”
“Yes, I did, and I didn’t like everything I found.” Dr Schmitt held up a small plastic ziplock bag with 4 bits of metal inside. “Four bullets, Mr Holmgren. Four bullets, I found inside of you. Only two of them were recently introduced.”
The mutt whistled and took the bag. “Youch, huh? Where were these other two?”
“Besides the two in your leg, I found one deep in your back thigh and another in your side, awfully close to your liver.” The doctor tapped his fingers on his knee, looking uncomfortable in the small chair he was in, but unwilling to stand. “And that’s not all.”
Eddy sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair, wincing when he felt new stitches under his finger. “Thh! Ow, what’s this now?”
“I’m getting to it, but you won’t like what I have to say.” Schmitt finally stood up and walked over to the X-ray display, turning on the light behind the film. He pointed to each of the almost half a dozen copies in turn. “I found a hairline fracture on your skull, your arm was strained and had to be broken again and set with three pins. Each of these lines here are fractures in your right hand knuckles... Edward, you are destroying yourself! Even your teeth look ready to crack and twist, and as a professional I suggest that you meet with a dentist, though I know you won’t.”
Eddy sighed and his leg shook nervously. “Well... I mean, what do I have to do to get back into fighting shape?”
“And there you go, wondering when the next fist you can throw will be. This is why you’re going to be in pain until someone gets lucky with one of those little bullets.” The ape went to a small folder and opened it, slipping his glasses on once again. “You also had internal bleeding that we were able to stop, and one of your old wounds looked infected so we cut it open and cleaned it out. Your face looks fine, but the tissue around your left eye is tender and slightly swollen from constant abuse. If that keeps up, it’s only a matter of time before your eye becomes mush and useless.” He closed the folder and tossed it onto the bench. “I can’t keep this information. As far as this is all concerned, you were never here. But under my orders, you can NOT go out on the streets as the Watchdog for at least four weeks. I’ve-”
“Four weeks!? Doc, crime doesn’t rest, what am I supposed to-”
“Edward!” The doctor growled and waited for Eddy to bite his lip and look to the floor before he went on. “I’ve set you up with some medication. Antibiotics for your internal bleeding to keep it from becoming infected and some supplements to help your bone and muscles to heal. I’d suggest having a professional remove the majority of your stitches in about ten days, but I’d rather it not be me. I’ve done enough work off the clock.”
“...Thanks doc, I really-”
“The meds are at the desk with Deborah.” This was the nurse’s cue to leave, which she did hurriedly. “Take the files. I don’t want to hear anything of Watchdog for the next month, do you understand me?”
Eddy didn’t answer, but looked frustrated and a bit hurt. Doctor Schmitt left his patient, closing the door behind so that he could get dressed in privacy. The ape sighed and walked back to his personal office to check on his schedule. He was no doubt very behind thanks to all of this, but as much as he yelled and scolded the patient, he wouldn’t have helped if he didn’t believe in the hero.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Eddy drove back to headquarters, where he had made his home for the past few years. It was convenient to be close by for whenever there was a call for backup, or a request for assist in training, but now that the masked mutt would be bedridden for the next month, it didn't seem beneficial to be so close to the center of action. He drove around the block once or twice to make sure that no one was following him, and then reached up to press a switch on his visor, opening the very normal garage to a large yet plain home on the border between a simple suburban neighborhood and a largely commercial section of the city, nearly sharing a large scrap yard belonging to a pawn shop garage combo building. He parked the Watchcar and closed the garage door behind him, staying inside of the vehicle for a few moments before reaching to his visor for a second switch.
The garage door's seal inflated and secured, making the double paned extra thick door almost fully soundproof before the floor of the garage shook and began to slope downwards. Soon, the Watchdog gently drove down into a long tunnel, pulling off to the side and turning around before parking near the entrance. Another flip of the visor and the garage floor was lifted and secured, the seal deflated, and everything was back to normal for the large plain home where Buck and his slightly oblivious parents lived.
This was it. After years of searching and moving and building, this was the Watchdog's headquarters. Eddy walked down the dimly lit tunnel until he came to a solid metal wall with a large electric padlock. He typed in his personal passcode to unlock the sturdy door and went inside, where he was met by the smell of hot pockets and ramen. It seemed Buck was taking his lunch break.
Eddy remembered when Osprey had found a couple of chop-shop workers stealing a car and followed them to the pawn shop garage. Everything was normal until Buck began to do some thorough research on the shop. Before the pawnshop had been built, back when the neighborhood was nothing but a stretch of freeway, the land had been used as a truck stop with a large refueling station. There was a bad leak and then a fire, forcing the business to close down. No one bought the land for decades until some rich guy wanting some good public relations decided to clean up the land. The dug out all of the bad dirt and took it off to be cleaned up, but before the land was filled up again, the threat of nuclear war convinced the rich man to use the dug up land to build a bomb shelter for him and his family. They secured the deed to the land and build a great underground shelter, secure and off of the maps. No bombs fell, and the family left the land to later be bought and turned into the pawn shop and scrap yard it is today, no one the wiser of its true purpose.
Eddy saved up enough of the donated money to loan his cousin, Tortilla's sister Kayla, to buy the shop and run it as her personal business. The monkey loved working on cars, calling herself Grease Monkey, and now she made good money running the shop with a few loyal workers from a nearby mechanic's school. Building the entrance from Buck's garage took some real work, but with that and two extra entrances into the pawn shop and into the sewers on main street, the base was perfect. They had build a training hall, meeting room, housing for at least two league members at any given time, and even parking for the Watchcar. With the large business right over them, their electric and water usage was easily explainable, and they even used what was pawned off in the shop to build and repair some of their own tools.
"Hey Buck." Eddy walked inside the lounge where the deerhound was eating his lunch with his handheld game playing on the big TV. "Can you give me a rundown of current missions?"
"Hold on juuuuust a sec. I almost got this guy. Hold on, hooooooold on... Got him! Okay!" Buck put down his game and spun around on the sofa, putting his legs up on the arm rest. "Okay, Watchdog, what did you ne- Oh god! What the hell happened to you!?"
Eddy raised his eyebrow and then looked down at himself. Under the thin teeshirt the kind woman had given to him you could plainly see the padding of a few bandages, and his limp was a little too obvious, but it shouldn't have been anything Buck hadn't seen before. That's when he remembered the medical eyepatch and the head wrap, along with the new cast and brace. That would make him look a little worse. "Oh, that. Well, I went to the doctor today."
"...."
"...."
"And?" Buck didn't think that that was a good enough explanation to the bandages, the mutt looking like he was used as a crash dummy for NASA.
"Well, I might have gotten shot."
"Shot!?"
"And uh... I maybe, might, possibly have a fractured skull..." Eddy grinned awkwardly, but before Buck could pick his jaw up from the floor and say anything, the mutt raised his hands in defense. "But hey, this wasn't like, from today I think. I just haven't gotten any X-rays in a long time. Getting to the doctor is hard when you're wanted... I mean, they found two extra bullets I didn't know I had, so that fracture could have been there a long time, who knows." Eddy listened to his own argument and could completely understand Buck's look of confused and 'duh' expression. This was not helping Eddy's case at all. "Look, Buck, just... don't tell Osprey about the extra injuries, okay? I'm on doctor's orders to take a month off, but if she found out she'd make sure I didn't even use the phone."
"Maybe you shouldn't. Seriously, Eddy, a fractured skull and gunshot wounds are not small things." Buck stood up, and walked over to his laptop, clicking it on. "You probably shouldn't do anything but be resting for a while. And we all know you, Eddy. You hear one sign of trouble and you'll be out on the streets without a second thought. Hell, you had a broken arm when you went on your raid a few hours ago."
"True enough... But I can still-"
"You want me to tell Osprey?"
"No, I don't, but-"
"Then get your stuff out of the Watchcar, show me what you need replaced or cleaned or whatever, hang up your uniform, and then I'll set up your room so that you can play operator with me until you're on your feet."
Eddy raised his eyebrow, and then sighed with a bit of a chuckle. "Heh, yes sir."
"I learn leading from the best, Watch." Eddy and Buck went out to the Watchcar to get his stuff. Eddy grabbed his duffle bag in the back that held his uniform and armor and mostly empty belt, but as he started walking to his room, Buck opened up the floor of the trunk and froze. "Uh, Eddy? Where's all your stuff?"
Eddy stopped and turned, not looking very worried. "What do you mean bud?" He walked over to Buck, who gestured at the nearly empty car. "Yeah, just grab the tracker collar, spare disk, and two cases of catnip grenades. I got the rest."
"You used it all!?" Buck's eye twitched before he lowered his head. "All..."
"Well, come on now, I'm not Spirit, okay? I can't just take on a dozen armed thugs without a few tools." Eddy actually looked a little annoyed at the remark, and he closed up the car, forcing Buck the nab the few weapons there were before it closed on him.
"Yeah, well, Osprey doesn't use nearly as much. AND she can usually secure quite a bit of what she used to fix up for later. I mean, this is going to take a lot of work to replenish it all, you think you'd be able to-"
"Buck! Look, I'm not Osprey okay!? She's a lot smarter than me! Just because I have to use more weapons and I can't just snatch them back up while I'm being shot at, it doesn't make me... it doesn't mean they're better, I mean... Just forget it! Just put the spares on the work counter, I'll get them in the car later." Eddy picked up his pace, walking quickly back into the lair and shutting the door behind him.
Buck gulped, his ears falling back. He was just surprised and joking about the weapon usage, and a little upset that he'd have to spend the next few days rebuilding and setting up a new set. He didn't mean to imply anything bad. He struggled to hold the disk and other spare weapons as he entered his own password and opened the door with his foot, getting everything to the work counter like he was told. When he looked around, it seemed that Eddy had tossed the duffle bag under the counter and then went off to his room, putting up his 'do not disturb' sign.
The deerhound sighed and picked up the duffle bag, turning it upside down to empty it onto the counter. The Watchdog shirt and jacket were torn in a few places and both were stained pretty badly with sweat and blood, but what was really scary was the large almost ripped dent in the back of the armored vest! Whatever made that would have killed the mutt if he hadn't been wearing it. Buck shook his head and laid everything out, hanging up the jacket to patch up later and tossing the clothes into a pile in the corner of the room to be washed. The utility belt was nearly empty, and Buck hung it along with the jacket to be filled once he found some time to prep up more weapons. As it was, he needed to get in touch with the other league members in the field and make sure they were all well, and then report on any news.
Eddy sat in his room in his borrowed boxers, the rest of the clothes on the floor. He logged onto his computer and checked through his normal mails and bank accounts, making all of his routine checks before deciding he should take a shower and get some sleep. He would have to be careful with all of his new stitches, and it would probably take him a while. If Buck was going to leave before he was done, he'd want some stuff to do while he was bedridden. He opened his door without walking out and called for the other boy. "Buck?"
Buck's ears perked up hopefully, "Yeah, Eddy?"
"I need a copy of everyone's latest training session to review. Could you email me each of them and make a dvd copy in case I need to watch from the big screen in the lounge?"
The deerhound sighed. "Sure thing, sir." Eddy didn't even thank the boy, closing his door and walking towards the bathroom to clean up, leaving Buck with his work. By the time the mutt had fully cleaned himself and changed a few of his bandages, Buck had made the copies and filed all of the reports he had planned for the night. He'd probably do a bit more research from his computer in the house, but he felt a little awkward in the lair with his hero upset at him. With the training videos emailed and copied to a disk, he left the rest of the work for the morning. No one else would come in unless they called, so he signed out of his laptop and locked the lair up, leaving Eddy to himself for a while.
Eddy tried to sleep, but after his battle that day he was more sore than tired. He tossed and turned in bed, finding it difficult to find a way to lay down that he wasn't directly on a nasty bruise or a stitch. His mind kept going back to Buck's reaction to his injuries and to how many of his weapons he had used in one fight. He sat up in bed and went to his emails, opening up Spirit Force's latest training video. Every hero knew that when they trained they were being taped for educational purposes, but Eddy rarely reviewed the tapes unless he suspected someone of slacking or doing anything dangerous or counter-productive. Now that he was watching the tape with no reason other than to see how strong his team really was, he began to see things he never had before.
The mutt began to compare the video to his own, not to the heroes themselves. He watched as the aura driven fox tumbled around the room, as his hands dashed fluidly in his attacks against the fight dummies faster than anyone being hit could possibly follow, and he watched as he did sprints far faster than Eddy could have. Eddy bit down on his lip and stopped the video, standing up and putting on his jeans before going out to the work counter. If he couldn't sleep, he'd at least stay productive while he waited to get tired. He took the dvd and put it into the player, Fawk's image coming up onto the big screen. The mutt watched the fox train again as he moved around to find a few tools, limping from cupboard to cupboard to find what he needed to start replenishing his utility belt.
As the mutt worked, he was constantly being reminded at how far his team had gone since they first began fighting together. Every time he looked up at the screen, he saw a member of his team running, hitting, sparring, even being trained by Eddy himself. He began to see everything they did that he could not, and was forced to look away from the screen as he began to feel that he was being left behind. He turned back to his work, stitching a new plate to his armored vest.
Once his vest was repaired and his jacket was stitched and spot cleaned, it was time to turn to his weapons. To keep his mind off of his shortcomings, Eddy began recalling where they had bought the parts for the many specialized tools that decorated his belt. The hollow steel balls that held a special trio of chemicals that mixed on heavy impact or timer and created special smoke screens... originally they had been ordered as an industrial agitator for a large washing machine. The high grade flexible thin cables used as the base of the Watchdog's leash-lasso was created and ordered for a pulley system used in the garage, and of course they ordered plenty of spares. Eddy's favorite were his new extra-spin extending shuriken. The parts were ordered all separately, the main body claimed to be a rotating gear stop. It was ordered thin but very dull, not meant for cutting, but a run through a grinder and a few minutes on a whet stone and the blade was sharp enough to cut through most anything you'd find out in the field. The pieces each had two blades, but connected well together thanks to Eddy's formulated design. Once sharpened, a small spring was added along with a delicate pressure trigger, each made to be part of a large clock, and two of the blades were put together and secured with a strong bolt. The blade turned in on itself to create a strait blade that held together and easily slipped into special pockets and sheaths in the Watchdog's jacket, and with a tight grip or a heavy throw, the blades separated and spun apart, the inertia extending the blades and forcing the blade into a faster spin before impact. Eddy loved his new toys, and spend a good amount of time painting each part a dull black before buffering and sharpening them. As a finishing touch, each shuriken was fitted with what was made to be a small metal car decal, giving each weapon the insignia of the League.
Eddy worked tirelessly wrapping catnip grenades, carefully fitting new gas pellets with their mixed chemicals and timers, carving out and wrapping the handle of his new paddle and a spare, putting his insignia and fitting new doggy disks with handles, and even rebuilding his arm launch system that had been destroyed in the last battle. He continuously looked up to see the training video go on and on, and he forced himself to work harder until he was finally fully equipped once again, but he didn't want to stop, and began to build a new set of spares he would be keeping in the Watchcar. He lost track of time, and was buffering out the new paint on a set of parts for his shuriken when the door hissed, its locks disengaging as Buck came inside.
"Oh, hey Eddy. You're up early. Couldn't sleep?"
Eddy pulled off the goggles he had been wearing, and the felt mask he had put on to block the fumes of the paint. He wiped his forehead of sweat as he looked up at the clock, seeing that it was 8am. "Oh, yeah. I guess." The mutt picked up the next piece he was working on, putting it under the buffer brushes and moving it from side to side before flipping it and grabbing for the next piece, but Buck looked at him questionably.
"...You're still up, aren't you?"
"So what?"
The deerhound dropped his laptop case on the couch before walking quickly over to Eddy, looking like he was going to slam his hands down on the counter, but he stopped. "Y-you..." The entire counter was covered in pieces and parts of the Watchdog weapons, and the belt that hung next to his cleaned jacket was bulging full. Buck gritted his teeth. "You're supposed to be getting well."
"I'm not straining myself. This is just busy work since I wasn't tired."
"Eddy..."
"I can take care of myself, Buck!" Eddy put down the piece he was buffering and picked up the next. "I'm going to finished these, put them in the Watchcar and any spares in the weapon crate here at HQ, and then I'm going to clean up and get ready for the squirrels. It's their training day today."
Buck threw up his hands and stomped over to his computer. "Fine, whatever! Eddy, you're going to get yourself hurt bad... BADDER... one of these days, and I'm going to have to watch and just hope you don't get yourself killed. You know what, I know you think it's just trouble, but you're giving me no choice but to tell Osprey everything. I saw your medical file in the Watchcar, and I'm going to do the responsible thing and file it, and get a copy to her because maybe SHE can talk a little sense into you."
Eddy growled under his breath, but his hand began to shake a little. Not in anger, but in simple weakness. He dropped the piece he had been working on, making Buck look up at him. The hero fell back onto the stool, and he pulled off the goggles on his head, tossing them onto the counter before turning off the buffer brushes. "Buck, I... Look, I'm sorry it's just..." Eddy swallowed hard, feeling his pride crack as he looked back at the big screen, which was looping a sparing fight between Osprey and the squirrels.
Buck stood by the couch silently for a bit, but shifted and cleared his throat when Eddy stopped talking. "Eddy?"
"Buck, I need to get to sleep... would you call Littil and Tilla to tell them that I won't be supervising their training today? And then call Osprey, tell her that I'll be out of commission for the month."
"Wait, Eddy, what were you just saying?" Buck walked over to his hero, putting his hand on the mutt's back. "Look, we're all in this together, right? You trust me, don't you? Just tell me what's wrong, you've been just flipping out since yesterday."
Eddy couldn't look up at Buck. He knew what was bothering him, and it was stupid, but it didn't make it not hurt. "I'm being left behind, Buck."
"I don't get it. What do you-?"
"Look at that." He pointed at the screen. "Look at them fight. Do you remember when Fawks and Reaper accidentally walked in on me and Osprey in a spar, and they both thought we were going to kill each other with how intense the fight was?" Eddy saw Buck nod out of the corner of his eye, and he swallowed before going on. "I fought my hardest to keep up with Osprey, and she was fighting her hardest to keep up with me. But I haven't fought her full on after that. It's been over two years, and now I'm watching her and the others get faster, stronger, better... and I haven't moved. I'm at my peak. I don't think I can get any better than I am."
"That's not true, Eddy, come on." Buck forced a grin onto his face, patting the mutt's back. "Come on, you're the Watchdog. You're the leader of the league. You're... You're the whole reason any of this is even here. You've got..."
"I've got limits, Buck. I've been trying to get better, and to be more efficient as a leader and as a fighter, but... but I can't." Eddy rubbed at his eyes, making Buck look away for a moment, as if afraid to see the Watchdog cry. "I'm going to get some sleep. Let me know if there's anything I can do here. Put me on grocery runs, whatever it takes, just... just don't leave me behind, alright?" The mutt put on his best grin, reaching over to ruffle the deerhound's hair. "Sorry I went nuts on you, you deserve better than that. I don't say it enough, but you're really amazing, bud."
"Th-thanks sir..."
"Oh come on, what's with the sir, you've done that twice now. You know better." Eddy stuck out his tongue and flicked one of the boy's ears before turning to limp back to his room to wash and get to sleep.
Buck scratched at his ear and chuckled under his breath. "Thanks, Eddy."
Category Story / Comics
Species Mammal (Other)
Size 700 x 1066px
File Size 330.6 kB
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