𝘿𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙘

      Night, not a full moon, clouds and only lights in the windows of houses. Only one person did not sleep that night and, as always, protected his city and monitored its order at night so that there was no crime. And this man was wearing a soldier's helmet with a camera glued to it. He wore black makeup over his eyes, black gloves over his eyes, black shoes, black pants, a black T-shirt with the English letter “D” on the chest made of silver tape and a black backpack with equipment, balls and a wooden bat on his back. A man posing as a superhero climbed the fire escape onto the roof of a five-story building and ran along it, reaching the edge of the roof at the end of another street. He took out binoculars and began to follow the three suspicious people. — Are you a fan of peeping at us? — someone asks him from behind. The guy in the soldier's helmet turns around and sees in front of him a blue dwarf, who was all covered with wool and needles, and had red sneakers on his feet. The dwarf himself smiled and looked at him slyly, folding his hands on his chest. — Hey, I know you! — says the man. — Well, who am I? — You are... What’s you name... Barbed Justice! — says the guy. — Almost guessed. You can call me Sonic. — Zonic? — asks the superhero, and the hedgehog answers: — No no no. I said Sonic, and not Zonic! The man looked somewhere to the side and answered: — I’ll just call you hedgehog! — Okay, guy! And what is your name? — Defendor. — Defen... Who? — Sonic didn’t understand. — Not DefenWho, but Dor! — the man corrected the hedgehog. — Are you a poor student in English? — asked the hedgehog. The man laughed. — You yourself are a poor student! My nickname and its last syllable are my thing with catchphrases associated with my name. I'm still a superhero. — Do not make me laugh! If you're a superhero, then where are your eye lasers? Or why don't you let lightning strike? Can you run at the speed of light? And why don't you fly? — I don't have a cloak. Cloaks are needed to fly, and I can't fly. I also can’t run fast, shoot lightning or shoot lasers. — Well, then you’re not super at all. It's great when you're the strongest. And you know how to fly, but at least you can shoot lightning and run like me. And you are just a hero. — Superhero! Just a hero! Who cares? — asks Defendor and looks further at the suspicious types. — Big difference. And anyway, why are you following them? State laws prohibit people from being spied on or surveilled. — I am a superhero and I have the right to monitor every person. Moreover, I suspect that they are planning something evil. Moreover, they work for Captain Industry. — Which captain? — Sonic didn’t understand, and the man turns to him questioningly and explains: — Captain Industry! He killed my mother and I am still looking for him to take revenge on him and all his bandits. If there is no Captain Industry and his bandits, then my entire city will be safe. — That's it! Can I help you find him? — No, I don’t need partners. I can handle it well alone. — Defendor replies and stands up, putting away his binoculars and looking down. He notices a trash can with a bunch of garbage bags that haven't been removed from there in a long time and decides to jump on them. He falls and lands on the pawns, almost breaking all his bones, but survives, gets up and moves on. Sonic is watching him from the roof. — I suspect that this eccentric is mistaken. — the hedgehog answers to himself. The loser superhero approached the three guys who were trying to steal a car. He stood in front of them in a cool pose and said: — Move away from the car! The hijackers turned around and saw the crazy costumed freak and just laughed at him. — What a freak you are! — says the first of them. — What are you staring at? — asks the second. Defendor was outraged by such impudence. He expected them to be frightened by his appearance with a cool phrase and run away. But instead I got something completely different from what I expected. — Are you deaf, you bastards! I said move away from the car! Three robbers themselves were indignant at such a threat and the third asked: — What is this? A threat? — You’ve completely lost your fear, freak! The superhero shouted: — I WHOM TO TOLD GO AWAY, OTHERWISE I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!! The robbers realized that these were definitely threats. Knowing this in advance, they took out their butterfly knives. — You’re either a brave fool or a damn freak. — the first one answers. — I warned you. — Defendor got angry and took out his bat, getting into a fighting pose. When the robbers approached him first, he swung a bat and tried to hit them, but the hijackers deftly jumped back from the blow. At the moment of the impact, Defendor managed to get a jar with evil wasps and threw it at the feet of those robbers. The wasps began to fly around them and sting them painfully. Defendor approached them and, while they were swatting away the wasps, hit each of them in the face with his bat, knocking them to the floor. And then he started hitting them in the stomachs and between the legs. Sonic, who was hiding behind the cars, watched as he fought with them, already began to think that he was probably mistaken and hastened to conclusions that he could not cope. However, six more suspicious types came out from behind the building, they saw some masked freak beating their three comrades and ran to help them. Defendor noticed them, took out the balls and threw them at them, but they dodged them and ran on. One of them was hit by a bat and fell. The other ran around the superhero from behind, grabbed his arms from behind and began to hold him, while the other four ran up and began to hit him simultaneously from the front. They beat him and beat him. They hit me in the face, it hurt! — “I have to help him!” — Sonic thought and decided to intervene in the fight. The hedgehog ran up and with a braindance-style kick knocked down four bandits who were beating the man from the front. Then the hedgehog jumped over him and with one blow to the head, knocked out the fifth one behind Defendor's back. The sixth man came to his senses at this time, stood up and knocked the superhero to the floor and began punching and kicking him. Sonic jumped onto his shoulders and looked into his eyes. — Do you like to beat the small and weak? Then taste me! — Come on, get off me, blue monkey! — he swore, trying to knock the hedgehog off of him with blows, while the latter crawled all over his body. His companions stood up and tried to help him. They began to try to hit the hedgehog, but all the time they hit their comrade, since the blue one always dodged the blows and sometimes even deliberately teased them and provoked them in every possible way. — Come on, hit me! Slow down again! You are too slow! Ugly snails! — SHUT UP!!! — they shouted and still tried to hit him. But they beat their partner so badly that he began to lie exhausted on the floor. Sonic began to run around the fifth one and many also tried to aim at him. He noticed this and stretched out his hands, trying to stop them: — No! Stop, idiots! No! NO!!! But they did not listen to him and also tried to hit the hedgehog, but they only hit another partner and already beat him. Sonic continued to stop sometimes, tease them, sticking out his tongue and dodging. At this time, Defendor barely stood up, gathered his strength and, swinging his bat, hit one of them on the head from behind. The second noticed him as he hit his other partner. — Once is not enough for you, freak? — YOU YOURSELF A FREAK!!! — he shouted at him. — FROM A FREAK I HEAR!!! — the bandit shouted back. And he approached him. Defendor tried to hit him, but he dodged, grabbed him with the bat with his right hand, and hit him in the nose with his left fist, knocking him to the floor again. The other two, when they finished off their partner, were already tired of fighting. Sonic jumped over one of them, quickly hit him in the head with each blow in a millisecond, and then blew on his fists. The fourth ran screaming at him and tried to grab him. But the hedgehog just dodged again and this bandit crashed his head into the car, and the alarm went off. The bandit himself received a concussion and fell. Then the hedgehog jumped on the back of the bandit, who knocked Defender to the floor and beat him again. Sonic grabbed the tormentor's throat with both hands and squeezed hard, trying to strangle him. He tried to remove the hedgehog from himself, but only pricked his fingers on its blue needles. When there was not enough oxygen, he lost consciousness and fell. Sonic let go of him and stood up. — You are a weakling! — he answers him and kicks him on the head. Afterwards, he approaches the superhero’s mountain and extends his helping hand to him. — How are you? — Thank you, but I could handle them myself. — So I believed you! — the hedgehog said sarcastically. — They easily grabbed you and beat you. They even threw me to the floor. If I had not intervened, they would have killed you. And this is your gratitude? — he was indignant and looked sternly at the man in the helmet. He looked at him questioningly for about a minute and said: — Okay, sorry! Thanks for saving me, Sonic. — Come on! Have you finally called me correctly? — Sonic bulged his eyes, smiling. — What did you think that I’m not literate, since I call myself Defendor? I know that some people call me Defender, but I don’t like that and prefer that everyone call me exactly what I called myself. But Defender and Defendor are still two different concepts of words... At least for me. — Okay, let's get out of here before they wake up. — the hedgehog says to his new friend, and they, holding each other’s hands, went to the truck on which Defendor came here. The truck was a construction truck and had a figurine of a dog on the hood with a sign that Sonic read out loud: — Defen... Dog? — Don't be afraid! He doesn't bite!... Usually! — says the superhero and opens the right door, allowing him to get into his van, and he himself got behind the wheel and drove off. — By the way, what’s your real name? Do you have a real name? — Usually superheroes never reveal their secret identities to other people. But since you saved my life and helped me with those villains, and you are a superhero yourself, and you yourself revealed your real name to me, then I can trust you in this regard... You can call me Arthur Poppington! Or just Arthur! — Nice to meet you Arthur! Where are we going? — To me! To the secret base! — Do you have a base? No, are you kidding? — Sonic didn’t believe it. — Do you think I look like a joker? — Defendor looked sternly at Sonic, and he, a little frightened, extended his hands forward and said: — No no no! I believe! The loser superhero calmed down and continued to look at the road.

***

      They arrived in one alley to a certain entrance to a garage inside a house. Nearby there was a wooden door, and next to it there was a sign with an inscription in a serious font, and below there was another inscription in a slightly crooked font, as if written with a marker. They got out of the truck and Sonic drew attention to the very inscription that he read out loud: — No unauthorized personnel beyond this point. Defen... Door? — This is my secret base, and I put up a sign so that everyone would be afraid to come here to me! — Arthur answers him. — Aren’t you too obsessed with your nickname? — the hedgehog asked, looking at the inscription on the sign, the name of the truck and considering the nickname of the superhero. — I told you. This is my winged business card. In the figurative sense of the word. — the man tells him and opens the door, allowing the hedgehog to enter him. — Don't be afraid, come in! — But I’m not afraid! — says the hedgehog and goes through the door into the workshop. Inside there was a sofa, a work desk and a table with an aquarium, inside of which there were many angry and buzzing wasps. There was also a box with comics and children's construction sets. At this time, Arthur went to the sink in front of the mirror, washed off his makeup from his eyes and washed his nose with cold water. Then he took off his helmet and black T-shirt, tore off the old silver tape from it and threw it into the trash can. Afterwards he put on a regular shirt. Sonic was still examining the semblance of a garage and he was amazed at the appearance of this slightly strange-looking person. In one of the boxes, he noticed an old comic book with a superhero who had no powers, and who also used only his strength and dexterity. — Do you like comics? — Sonic asked. — From early childhood. My grandfather has been buying them for me since my mom died from Captain Industry drugs. Grandfather told me about this. — Arthur explained. — I like them too. My favorite ones are the Flash ones. He is the fastest and can shoot lightning. Just like me. — says the hedgehog. — It doesn’t matter to me which superhero someone should like more. The main thing is that he fights evil and protects innocent people. — Yes, but not everyone understands this. And especially now, when many are already tired of the superhero genre in cinema. — Why is this so? — the guy didn’t understand. — Nowadays there are a lot of films about superheroes, and they all look the same. Some people got bored of it and decided to diversify or make fun of the genre. For example, they make superheroes selfish, who don’t care about everyone and think only about themselves. They also show people without superpowers, which they also acquire from bandits and all sorts of punks on the streets. Like you for example. Is it a coincidence that you look like the same losers like Kick-Ass and Crimson Bolt? — I don’t know such people. I have not watched such films and am not interested. — Arthur explained and took out two lollipops. He held one blue one in his left hand, and the other red one in his right hand. — Do you want blue or red? Sonic didn't know what to say in response to the treat. And yet he made a choice, taking the red one, and the blue man himself began to eat. — Thank you. — Thank you, friend. — says Arthur. — I think it’s time for you to go home. Sonic leaves the garage, leaving the loser inside and slowly walking down the street. There were no suspicions. Only one black and scarlet hedgehog on one of the roofs looked through binoculars at that very door and behind Sonic himself. Putting away the binoculars, he takes out the walkie-talkie and says: — Agent Shadow is on the line! I found this man and his hiding place. Still, at least there is some single benefit from this blue freak-faker. — Excellent, agent Shadow. Continue to follow that same person. Do not engage in battle and do not kill him! We will need him alive. Send us your coordinates and we will come right away. — I obey!