The Street Rat 201

“You must be the Street Rat. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Eddie stared up at the man towering over him. In the dark lot surrounded by brownstone apartments it was hard for Eddie to see the man’s details. He had dark, buzzed-off hair with stubble lining his face. He appeared to be at least a couple years older than Eddie, but with the height and facial hair disparity, the gap looked even greater than it was. His skin was darker than Eddie’s, but in the dim light, Eddie wasn’t sure what to make of his race. 

“Yep. That’s me. And who do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?”

“You want to talk, so let’s talk,” he said, crossing his arms, holding his bow in his left hand. 

“Okay. Well. Yeah. I mean, I didn’t really think I’d get to this point, so give me a sec.” 

I figured one of us would be dead at this point. Or at least incapacitated. Most likely me, if I’m being honest. 

“Wait, you didn’t answer my question. Clearly, my reputation precedes me, but I don’t have a clue who you are other than the guy who’s been dropping people off roofs and giving my upstanding Street Rat moniker a bad name.”

“I’m Archer. I make sure people who hurt others and get away with it in the system don’t get to hurt anyone else. That’s all you really need to know.”

“Killing people isn’t the only way to keep people from getting hurt.” Eddie stood straighter as he argued. 

“No, but it is the most effective way.”

“Is that really for us to decide? Who gets to live and who is sentenced to die?”

“The people I take out think so.” Archer shrugged. “They don’t hesitate to kill an innocent person, so I don’t hesitate taking out the guilty. Lot more innocent people not dying this way.”

“But everything isn’t black and white, Archer. People change. We all live in these shades of gray. Me and you, we’re operating in the gray every night that we go out. Someone could see what we do and absolutely say, ‘That person is guilty, and I’m going to take them out.’ If you saw someone doing what you are doing, you would take them out.”

“Maybe so.”

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say? You kill a dozen people, and all you have to say is ‘Maybe so’?”

“Look, I’m not a hero. You may get your kicks running around trying to play dress up, but that’s not me. I’m just trying to make my neighborhood safer.” He threw his arm out at the street as he talked. “And if that means I wear the black hat and some view me as a villain, so be it. At least kids will be able to check their mail without thinking they’re about to be shot down.”

“That’s what you do. Literally. First, you deliver your execution notices in the mail. You send your little cards, telling people to meet you on a rooftop and then you pick them off from a distance, shooting them down.”

“It’s what needs to be done.”

“It doesn’t, though! There are other ways!” Eddie bounced on the balls of his feet as he talked. “Look at Frank. When I met him, it was a month after the incident at the docks. He tried shaking down a little kid. But he’s changed because, for once in his life, someone was willing to believe he could be good. We owe it to one another to give people a chance to be more than what they are.”

“People can change, but they usually don’t. And while you’re busy trying to fix one person, ten more are going around racking up body counts. It’s a numbers game, and not only are there fewer dead bodies my way, the deaths aren’t innocent people either. What we owe to one another is keeping innocent men and women and children alive, whatever we have to do to make that happen.”

“None of us are innocent, though. Not really. We’re all just trying our best, even the people you target. What we’re worth isn’t determined by us doing things a certain way. It’s just by us being human.”

“Look, this is pointless. You keep doing things your way. I’ll do things mine. There’s no reason for us to be against each other. You’re trying to make the community safer your way, and I’m doing it mine. We’ll get more done this way.” 

Archer ripped his arrow out of the brownstone wall behind Eddie. He pushed a button on the shaft, pulled the wire out of the end, and put the arrow in the quiver across his back. 

“No,” Eddie said, shaking his head, “we won’t. I get where you’re coming from, I really do, but we can’t just do our own thing and not cross paths. I’m trying to make my community safer, and if there’s someone going around sticking arrows in people, I have to try and stop it.”

“If that’s what you think is best for the community, so be it. I’ll let you go this time, but if you get in my way again, there might not be another chance to talk.”

“Just consider that I could be right. Just try. What could we accomplish if we worked together?”

Archer reached back and pulled an arrow out of his quiver. “See you around, Streets.” 

He loosed it with another wire trailing it. A distant thud sounded, and Archer soared into the night sky above the buildings as the wire pulled him away, leaving Eddie standing there alone in the dark lot. 

Eddie let out a sigh and leaned back against the wall, slumping to the ground. 

At least I’m alive, he thought to himself. For now. 

With a groan, he hopped back to his feet and walked back to the main road. He had more information now than he did before, but still felt as though he hadn’t really accomplished anything with all the work they had put in to catch Archer. Hopefully he at least got him to spare Frank.

22nd and Jefferson. Eddie read the street signs and sighed again. It’s going to be a long night back tonight. He started the three-mile trip back to Frank’s with a light jog. 

“Ba-dada-da,” he sang softly to himself as cars raced by to his right. 

I should’ve at least asked him if he had any tips for my theme song. Surely, he has one by now, Eddie thought, trying to shake the discomfort his conversation with Archer had left him in. 

“Look out!” 

The scream came from across the street, causing Eddie to skid to a stop and look around. 

“What are you doing?” another voice shouted. 

Eddie watched as a drunk man wobbled across the street, horns blaring, drivers shouting as they bypassed him. 

“I’ms walkins’ ’ere,” the man slurred, raising his fist and shaking it at the passing cars. He stumbled into an intersection as the light flickered to red. 

A car trying to beat the light swerved as the man walked in front of its headlights, tires squealing as the driver braked, but the reaction was too late. 

The car thudded as Eddie landed on the hood. He had gotten to the spot in time to shove the man out from in front of the car, but couldn’t get himself out of the way. He had jumped, and with that and the car’s deceleration from slamming the brakes, he was able to roll off the hood unharmed. 

Eddie scooped the drunk man up to his feet and hurried him back to the sidewalk. The man hurled insults at Eddie but complied with his guidance. The odor of burnt rubber mingled with the familiar bitter smell that was Sanders’s signature scent.

“My car!” the driver shouted as Eddie and the man reached the sidewalk. “Look what you did to my car!” 

He stormed over to confront Eddie, leaving his car in the intersection and causing a barrage of horns to sound, the streets busy, even at the late hour.

“I was just trying to help,” Eddie told him. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d have hit him and had even more damage, so you’re welcome.”

“Oh, is that so, smart guy? Let me make this simple. You can pay for the car, or you can pay for a hospital room when I’m through with you. What’s it going to be, kid?” 

“I guess the hospital room.” Eddie shrugged and braced himself for the fight, settling into a stance. 

“Why, you little—” The man swung at Eddie’s head, but it never connected.

 The man let out a yelp as his arm got pinned to the wall of the building, an arrow protruding from his forearm. Another thud sounded as another arrow embedded itself in the wall above the first with a wire attached as Archer slid onto the scene. 

“Get back in the car,” Archer demanded, ripping the arrow out of the man’s arm, causing the man to scream and double over. 

Grabbing his arm to stop the bleeding, he rushed back to his car, looking back over his shoulder to make sure Archer didn’t have any other plans for him. He immediately pulled out of the intersection, away from the honking cars and Archer’s stare.

Pulling his other arrow out of the wall, Archer turned to Eddie. 

“Look, I’m not saying I changed my mind about what the city needs, but I’ll at least consider doing things your way. Anyone committed to this community enough to risk their life to push a drunk out of the traffic has my respect and my ear. I’ll hear you out and give your way a trial run. What’s first?”

“Where did you get all this wire?”

The Street Rat continues with episode 202.

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