Seventeen: Doom of a Discomfiter part ten

At the last minute, as O. Bucky lifted his sharpened girder, the french windows looking onto the balcony disintegrated, admitted the cloaked, hatted and masked figure of the Green Man, a long-barreled revolver in his hand.

"You have filled the cup of vengeance, Deconvert." The Green Man took a step closer to the hapless hitman.

O. Bucky lunged at the Green Man with his sharpened girder. Side-stepping, the Green Man took a firm hold on the girder with one gloved hand, twisting it. With a cry of pain, the hitman dropped his girder. A heavy fist smashed into his jaw, as the Green Man took a step forward.

"You can't win, Green Man," Deconvert snarled, wiping bloood from his jaw. "One day, we'll get your girl! She cannot avoid our attentions!"

"Hey!" Ms. Madison piped up, outraged. "I am not 'his girl!' I'm his secretary." She sounded hurt, pouting slightly.

"Exactly!" the Green Man's fist slammed into O. Bucky's jaw with the force of an express train.

Deconvert staggered back, his unibrow fluttering to the ground. Ms. Madison gasped, recognising the waiter from the night before. Deconvert laughed mockingly, his hand going inside his jacket. Before he could draw whatever he had from under his jacket, the Green Man had socked him of the jaw again, knocking the man to the floor. Falling on his sharpened girder, O. Bucky managed to cut off both his arms. Weeping like a baby, he ran from the room. A grateful Ms. Madison gravitated to the Green Man's left shoulder.

"Excellent!" a female laughed from somewhere, clapping her hands, "superb!"

A girl in a black evening gown walked into the room. Still laughing, she sat on the bed.

"Now," she purred. "I come from the Discomfiter..."

Ms. Madison held the Green Man's arm closer.