The Fall of Wonderguy
With the fall of one hero, another rises off the couch.
He had a choice: beer or spliff.
“Por qué no los dos?” Jonathan said to himself. He took a swig and reached for the joint.
“I thought we couldn’t smoke here?” said Logan from his slouched position on the couch.
“Do you see James around?”
“No, but after last time...”
“He bought this apartment with our parent’s money, which means it’s kinda my place too.”
They both turned back to Married at First Sight to see the screen streak blue and white, flashing the words ‘Urgent News Bulletin’.
“No!” cried Jonathan leaning forward as much as his belly would let him.
“We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this urgent update from the CBD.”
“Here we go…”
“C’mon, Jono, he’s the only hero this city has.”
“Making him laser away the trash would be a better use of my tax dollars.”
“We bring you this urgent news: Wonderguy has fallen to the Piper, whose mind-controlled victims overwhelmed the superhero.” Jonathan slammed his bottle on the table.
“I fucking called it! I knew that pussy wouldn’t be able to hit a civi’. If I were wearing that suit, I would have knee-capped them.”
“Are we stuffed now?”
“Nah, New York will just loan us—”
Jonathan was interrupted by glass smashing and a thump from James’ bedroom.
“You said he wasn’t home!” cried Logan. Jonathan slowly stood up.
“He’s not.”
“Is someone breaking in?”
“We’re 24 stories up, mate. You’re high.” Jonathan advanced towards James’ bedroom.
Inside the bedroom, Wonderguy lay on his back in the middle of the bed, suit circuitry sparking. The helmet was missing, revealing James’ bruised and bloodied face. His head slumped to look at Jonathan.
“Help everyone,” James rasped. He let out a long breath and his head finished its slump, eyes blank.
“Oh fuck.”
About the Creator
Sean Selleck
Hobby writer with a love for genre fiction, focussing on prose and scripts with the occasional dabble in poetry.
You can find my science fiction novella here: The Final Directive.
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