Max was hoping this was it. He was hoping this would be the moment, his golden opportunity. After all, how hard does it takes for a person to die when they've nothing left to live for? Surprisingly, it's much harder than Max thought. Which was why he was looking for every possible chance to just let it happen and get it over with.
And that was the reason why he was standing before the villainess known as Ruthless, a physically enhanced martial artist, while attempting to defend her arch-nemesis, Crystal, a cryokinetic heroine, from getting pummeled while being unconscious.
"Get out of the way, filth," Ruthless had said.
"Why? Don't you think this is enough?" Max asked. "Don't you think you've won?"
"No," she replied, shocking Max and the crowd watching. "She's been in my way since day one and I'm sick of it."
"Well, she is a hero," Max told her. "She's supposed to stop you."
"She won't be when I'm finished with her," Ruthless informed. "Now move or I'll knock your head clean off your shoulders.
Max still shook his head defiantly, hoping that whatever punishment she gave would kill him. Before he knew it, Ruthless' foot smashed against the side of his skull, sending him through the window of the grocery store across the street. Shelves were knocked down and products were destroyed as her kick sent him to the far end of the store.
"Does anybody else want to stand in my way?" Ruthless demanded of the crowd. None of them moved, none of them said a word. "I didn't think so. Let that be a lesson for whoever wants to get cocky and play hero. Now, hand me your wallets or you'll end up in a worse state than that guy."
"Here you go," a lady behind her stated.
Ruthless grimaced. She hated it when people came up to her from behind. It always surprises her and makes her reaction a second late. And that was what Crystal was betting on. As Ruthless turned, Crystal gave her a delicious, iced knuckle sandwich and sent her sprawling to the ground.
She leaped back to her feet and started throwing her own punches, but none of them landed while Crystal's blows were causing her to stagger all over the place. Desperate, she changed tactics but nothing worked. Ruthless could see that Crystal definitely had the upper hand and decided now was the time to make a break for it.
Before she could even take off, Crystal tackled her and froze her limbs to the ground, effectively destroying any chance of escape. Even as she tried to escape, Ruthless knew it was hopeless. She knew she was caught and that she was going to the Isolated Island.
While she contemplated her revenge, Crystal went over to check on the young man who had stalled Ruthless enough for her to recover. As she expected, he was gravely injured but there were plenty of paramedics surrounding him, administering the Rapid Recovery medicine to him, so she knew he was going to be okay.
Besides, she had to thank him for his bravery.
------------------------
When Max woke up, he wasn't in a hospital, even though it felt like he was wearing a hospital gown. As a matter of fact, he had no idea where he was. He certainly wasn't in his house, that's for sure. The room was too dark for it to be his room and the bed felt too small, as if it was only made for one person. To be honest, the feeling he was getting made him think he was in limbo, the thin line between life and death. He did his best to lean towards death.
Nothing happened.
He heard a door open and followed by footsteps as someone walked up to him. Whoever it was took something off his eyes and suddenly he was blinded by the light as his eyes tried to gulp as much as it could see.
"Hi Mr. Potenti, my name is Dr. Stacy Walton. How are you feeling today?" a female voice asked. When he could see, his eyes found the source of the person talking.
"Why am I still alive?" Max asked.
"You have the Rapid Recovery medicine to thank for that," Dr. Walton answered, as she wrote something down on a clipboard. "If that hadn't been created, much less administered to you, you wouldn't be here right now."
"No not that," Max shook his head. "Why did they save me? I was shaking my head and trying to get them to stop. Why did they save me?"
"Why didn't you want to be saved?" Dr. Walton asked. She had never met a person who didn't want to be saved, suicidal or not.
"I had some things happen to me that makes me wish Ruthless kicked me harder," Max said.
"Mr. Potenti, we all have problems," Dr. Walton replied. "What matters is that we face them instead of running away. Besides, no problem on earth should make you want to give up on life."
"Yeah, but I had a full plate," Max grumbled. The doctor's eyes widened as she realized why Max wanted to quit life.
"Care to explain?"
What other choice did he have? So he told the doctor. He told how he was hired by his boss, how he excelled at the job he was doing, and how his boss took an entirely new interest in him. He told the doctor how his boss, who was a she, flirted with him and even went out on business ventures with him, which was a disguise for their dates, despite what the company's policy stated.
Then he told him how their relationship was discovered. They were given a warning not to do it again, as well as a demotion, but his boss decided to save her own skin and bloated what was really going on, lying that Max had been using her to get extra cash on the side and blackmailing her with explicit photos.
With nothing to contradict what she was saying, since she was a trusted employee, as well as being shocked out of his mind, Max was immediately fired and told never to set foot in a 100-yard radius of the company. If that wasn't bad enough, his family was informed of what he allegedly did and gave his, now former, boss all the finances in his banking accounts to compensate what he supposedly did to her. With no money, he was unable to pay for his bills, which were due that same week, and was kicked out his own house and forced to spend his night roaming the streets, starving and feeling worthless.
