𝕯𝖊𝖋𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖔𝖗 𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖚𝖘 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍

      For the umpteenth time, a mentally unstable psycho in a suit and helmet was unable to cope with yet another bandit. A black man in a business suit knocked him easily to the ground three times, no matter how hard Defendor tried to fight and fight him off. When the black man takes the minigun in his hands and takes it off and loads it, preparing to shoot the psycho, the latter, enduring the unbearable pain of his teeth in his mouth and spitting blood, says through groans: — Be a man! — What? — the black man didn’t understand, but the crazy spruce gets to his feet and speaks. — Guns... For cowards. The black man mistakenly considers this another challenge and asks his faithful henchman to hold the weapon. For now, he decided to stand and wait for him to get up so that he could hit him again. At this time, the defender, while getting up, managed to take out his mobile phone and dial the phone number of his friend, Paul Carter. Then he shows the mobile phone to the bandit, and Paul picks up the phone: — Arthur? Arthur? Arthur, can you hear me? Where are you, Arthur? — Show me what you can do before ambulance gets in the way. — says Defendor. At that moment, in the alley, next to the black man and his henchman, stood some mysterious person in a black robe and hood with glowing red eyes, who was watching Arthur himself. The bandits themselves did not pay attention to that person behind them. The black man, thinking that in front of him there really is a real psycho, nevertheless takes the howling machine gun in his hands and shoots the half-superhero in the chest, knocking him to the ground. That psycho’s cell phone falls nearby, and Paul was still in touch at that time: — Arthur? ARTHUR??? After looking around and making sure that everything around is quiet and there are no police, they decide to calmly leave this place, leaving Defendor lying in this alley and dying himself. The rest of the bandits, whom Defendor had previously knocked to the ground, stood up, helped each other up and also left, leaving the corpse lying there alone.

***

      By the next morning, when Paul and ZashchitneG’s girlfriend found him here and then called an ambulance, they managed to save him. Fortunately, the bullets the black man shot at him were training bullets. But it’s also fortunate that he shot him in the chest, and not in the head. After all, otherwise he would definitely die. And so he was still in a coma and remembered his childhood, when he was in a comic book store with his grandfather. Even then, young Arthur looked at the cover of comics with superheroes from the G.I.JOE organization. Grandfather comes up and asks if he likes these covers. — Like? What is written here? — G... I... — Arthur only finished reading the first two letters, and grandfather mockingly finished: — Jo-o-oe! — finished and taking one such comic, we hit the young man on the head with it. - Stupid, G.I. Joe! It's time you learned to read! After that, when he came out of his coma and woke up in the hospital, his friend herself came up to him, regretting what he had to do because of her. She walked up to him next to the cot and sat down. — Hey... You got your ass kicked again. — rather than asking, she guessed and said out loud, perhaps as a hint that maybe superheroes weren’t his thing. — You can not do it this way! Where have you seen a superhero get beaten up all the time? — Arthur didn’t answer her, continuing to lie with his eyes closed, as if he were still in a coma. The friend sighs heavily and continues: — Remember, you asked me what I’m good at?” I can run well. So I guess I'll leave you alone. — looking around and not knowing what else to tell him, she sighs again. — Captain Industry is too cool for both of us. Maybe we should leave him to the cops?... After all, there are enough perverts on the streets without him. Trust me! And if you need to let off steam on someone, then... Deal with my dad. He seduces children and harassed me... — after falling silent for a minute, she takes out a seal from her bag and leaves a smiling smiley face on the cast wrapped on her right arm. It was clear that she felt sorry for him, although earlier she also considered him crazy. — You get better! With these words she leaves the room. Suddenly, Arthur himself opens his eyes and in his thoughts decides to go to that store to Mr. Debrovkovits to take revenge on him for his daughter. When suddenly he heard someone's quiet and long-rhythmic whistle. Not understanding who is whistling like that, he looks around and notices a white wolf in a black robe and hood who is whistling while looking at him. He didn't even hear him enter his room. His eyes glowed terribly red. — Well-well. — the wolf began his dialogue first. — This is not Defendor himself, in person? — the wolf grinned. — Itself? — Um... Hello. — all that Arthur could come up with to start the conversation. — Only for some reason without his famous costume, helmet, stick... And makeup. — and at the last word the wolf touches Arthur’s eyes with his right anthropomorphic paw. He covers his eyes, thinking that he wants to gouge his eyes out. But in fact, he only smeared his own black makeup on his eyes as a mask, which he smears on himself every night. — I assume this belongs to you? — he asked, showing the suit and helmet in his other hand, and his baton suddenly appeared in the hand with which he had previously applied makeup to his eyes. He then places it on his cot and steps aside, turning his back to Arthur. — Who?... Are you?... Like this?... — asked Arthur. — And?... Where from?... You... Know... My... Nickname?... The wolf grinned and answered without turning to him: — I still know a lot about you, Arthur Poppington. A poor and unhappy baby who doesn’t want to grow up, get smarter, and is stuck at that age in a long-grown and adult body. — the wolf grinned again, rather mockingly, to specifically try to provoke him into trying to attack him. — Hey, I don’t usually do this, but... — the wolf takes out a photograph of Arthur Poppington from his robe and also places it on Arthur’s bed. — I can ask you for an autograph. I've been chasing you for a long time. He points with his index finger at the inscription in red marker “You are dead!”, indicating that he should sign here. Arthur realized that this was apparently his challenge to a fight. Having recovered and gotten out of bed, he began to put on his suit and took the stick in his hands. The wolf himself was still standing in the corner and waiting for him to get dressed and attack him first. — You don’t know me well, doggy? I am a Defendor and I laugh in the face of death because I am invulnerable? — Yes? — the wolf smiles and grins incredulously. — As far as I know, you are as mortal as all of humanity. And you were on the verge of death several times, being beaten and thrown to the ground. — What is this... A challenge? — Defendor asked angrily. — Decide for yourself! I didn't offer you a choice. — the wolf answers and takes a flower from a pot for patients, which he smelled. — Everyone always thought they could beat me. But no one has ever run away from me... Alive. — Is that so? Okay. — the unhealthy man answers and begins to swing his stick, trying to hit him from the back. However, the wolf abruptly, as if teleported from here, and Defendor only hit the wall with a stick. This time the wolf stood behind the bed and looked at his rival, grinning. Defendor was quite surprised that this wolf was capable of such a thing. Having run around the bed, he again tries to attack him, but Death deftly dodges his blows with a baton and teases: — That happened once, that happened twice, you’re slowing down again! Out of anger, the Defendor raises his baton up and swings it with a scream, trying to hit him on the head from above. Suddenly, two iron Serbs appear in the wolf’s paws, with which he deflects the blow and grins again. Defendor's eyes bulge out, because this is impossible in real life. The wolf pushes the half-superhero away from him and spins the Serbs in his hands, getting into a fighting stance. — Shall we dance? — he asked him. The defender throws his stick at him, from which the Wolf deftly dodged and the stick crashed into the wall, after which it fell to the floor. Then Defendor ran at the wolf, threw balls at him and hoped to hit him with his fist. However, the wolf ducked from the balls and, standing up, sharply grabbed him by the fist. Painfully squeezing the man's fist in his hand, he grins at Arthur, who is trying to hold back so as not to scream and cry in pain, trying to free his hand. — You never learn from your mistakes, Arthur. — he said and twisted his hand, making him scream loudly and almost cry. He then throws him onto the bed, breaking it. The wolf grabs Arthur by the throat with his other hand and almost strangles him, looking into his eyes. — You're deceiving yourself, Arthur! Will you never understand this? You're not a superhero at all. You are an ordinary and mortal person, like everyone else. Mentally ill people like you have no place in this world among normal people. You are not invulnerable at all and it is quite easy to kill you with an ordinary bullet. And any bandit will never be so easily led weakly, because even the bravest and most fearless people can use guns. — Do not understand what you talking about? — Defendor hoarsely excuses himself, trying to free his throat, but no matter how hard he fights, he does not let go. The wolf was much stronger than him physically. The latter withdrew his smile from what he heard and threw him towards the door, which was closed. A dent with scratches was left at the door, and Arthur himself felt a pain in his back that he could barely stand up. At that moment, his entire life, spent from childhood until today, suddenly flashed before Arthur’s eyes for a couple of seconds. Arthur himself immediately began to catch his breath, for for the first time he was afraid of his death, and goosebumps ran throughout his whole body. The wolf sniffed and smiled, saying: — I love the smell of fear of death... What's wrong? Has your whole life flashed before your eyes? — he asked mockingly and rolled his own baton with his right foot under the feet of Defendor. — Pick it up! Let's! Meet your end! — Death?...Are you death itself? — asked Arthur. — O! Have you finally realized who I am? — the wolf laughed. Arthur was still afraid of death, but even so he tried to remain steadfast and insist on his own, pretending that he was not afraid of death. He immediately gets up, taking the baton in his hands and takes a fighting stance. — Show me what you can do! The wolf thinks about it, scratching his chin and answers: — Okay! He quickly runs into the attack first. The defender tries to hit him, but death itself dodges again and strikes him with a Serb right in the head. A few drops of blood splashed through the head and the hole formed in the door and Defendor was finally dead. The wolf was at the same time glad, but also saddened by this man that he lost to him so much, without realizing the lesson from this mortal battle. Taking out his Serb and watching the corpse slowly descend down the door, he is saddened in this man. — You really disappointed me, Arthur... You still didn’t understand the main lesson... Never... Don’t show off... Before... Your... Death! The doctors themselves came running when they heard the sounds of destruction and battle, but when they arrived there, it was already too late. The wolf himself disappeared, as if he had never been here, and the patient himself was already found near the door in the same costume and makeup, and even mortally wounded in the head with an unknown sharp object. The patient was pronounced dead.