The Eagle's Eye

Chapter 2

While he did not have the best nap of his life, youthful Wally had to appear in the headquarters anyway. His face was filled with bruises and bandages, as a result from his misadventures a few days back. He sat in an unoccupied room, staring blankly at his colleagues moving along, carrying out their duties for the day. At the same time, he was upset.

"It was you, was it not?" Wally asked someone.

Some of his colleagues, including Eddie, were unsure who he was referring to.

"What are you talking about, Wally?" asked a junior officer.

"It was you, was it not, Eddie?" asked Wally while turning his head to face his adversary.

"Wally," Eddie said, "what do you mean? This is me, always has been ever since...since as long as we knew each other!"

"Nice of you to say that," Wally replied, "after you hit me from behind and stole my moment of glory."

Eddie was shocked, but he knew where the conversation was going. He took a seat and held on to his stick.

"I see," Eddie said. "You are talking about your misfortunes..."

"I doubt that it was truly a misfortune."

"But Wally, you were putting yourself at risk. I guess I had to do what is right..."

"Yeah," Wally said while chuckling, "what is right...for an egghead who is not even fit to carry out detective duties."

Wally's remarks angered Eddie. "What did you call me?" he asked, his face lit up.

"You heard me," Wally said, his arms folded.

Eddie was furious. "I am going to beat you up for that!" he said.

He then stood while attempting to get hold of Wally. Suddenly the situation became tense in the room. Wally was just standing doing nothing but folding his arms with pride. Fortunately, his colleagues calmed him down, thus he sat again.

"I know," said a stone-faced Wally, "as detectives, our paths cross at times. However, when it comes to vigilantes, I have no option but to capture them, dead or alive. It does not matter, as long as they are all brought to justice. You, Eddie, crossed my path many times, but you really pushed it too far at the docks."

Eddie took a deep breath, before replying to his vengeful colleague. "Wally, I did not mean in any way to destroy your reputation. You are undoubtedly a top detective. I think everyone agrees, am I right?"

The colleagues in the room nodded their heads and said yes.

"Your sweet talking will not save you," Wally fought back. "I know that you feel uncomfortable, when it became clear I am a better detective than you are. Truth is, I was, and have always been, better than you, Eddie. You are just jealous of my achievements."

"Take one situation as an example," Eddie said while lifting his hands to reenact a scene. "If you caught that guy with the feather on his head, what are you going to charge him for? I mean, he has not committed any crime. In fact, I believe he did help us catch the man in the black trench coat."

Wally leaned on the wall. He seemed to not be able to accept his young colleague's hypothesis. His face was glowing red, at the same time he was very angry.

"The man in the coat is considered a good catch. He brought us more information. However, I hardly think that we could have caught him had it not been for the help by the guy with the feather...whatever his name is."