John Wick thought he was going to die. He remembered falling down in that cemetery, his body broken and tired. Everything had gone black, and he was ready for it to end.
But now his eyes were open.
John was lying on cold, wet ground. Rain was falling on his face. He could smell garbage and car smoke in the air. This wasn't the cemetery. This was somewhere else.
He sat up slowly. His whole body hurt like he had been hit by a truck. Around him was a dark alley with brick walls on both sides. At the end of the alley, he could see bright lights from the city.
John stood up and walked toward the lights. When he got to the street, he stopped and stared. This looked like New York City, but something was different. The buildings were taller. The lights were brighter. And there was a huge tower in the distance with big letters on it that said "STARK."
John had never seen that building before. He had lived in New York for years, and he knew every important building. But this tower was new. Or maybe he was somewhere new.
Then he heard sounds that he knew very well. Gunshots. People screaming. Someone laughing.
John followed the sounds down the street. He moved quietly, like a ghost. At the corner, he stopped and looked around the edge of a building.
What he saw was strange.
A man in a red suit was fighting a group of bad guys with guns. But this wasn't a normal fight. The man in red had two swords on his back and guns in his hands. He was killing the bad guys, but he was also talking and laughing like he was having fun.
The red suit covered his whole body, even his face. John watched as the man cut down three guys with his swords, then shot two more with his guns. Blood was everywhere, but the man in red just kept making jokes.
"Come on, guys!" the red man said as he stabbed another bad guy. "This is supposed to be fun! You're making this too easy!"
John had seen many killers in his life, but never one like this. This man was crazy, but he was also very good at fighting.
Then the man in red turned around and looked right at John. Even though John was hiding in the shadows, the man somehow knew he was there.
"Oh my God!" the red man shouted. "JOHN WICK! Is that really you? This is so cool! Are we in a movie? Am I dreaming? Please tell me this is real!"
John stepped out of the shadows. He didn't say anything. He just pulled out his gun and pointed it at the red man.
The red man clapped his hands together. "Yes! This is definitely real! Only the real John Wick would try to shoot me before saying hello!"
John pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The bullet hit the red man in the shoulder and spun him around. But instead of falling down or screaming in pain, the red man just looked at the bullet hole and laughed.
"Ooh, that stings a little. But I've had worse. You should see what happened to me last Tuesday!"
Then the red man ran at John with his swords.
The fight began.
John had fought many people, but this was different. The red man was fast and crazy. He swung his swords at John's head while telling jokes. John rolled to the side and shot the man in the leg. The man stumbled but kept fighting.
"You know," the red man said as he tried to cut John with his sword, "most people introduce themselves before they start shooting. My name is Deadpool, by the way. What's yours? Just kidding, I know you're John Wick!"
John didn't talk. He grabbed Deadpool's arm and twisted it until he heard bones break. Deadpool screamed, but he was still laughing.
"Ow! That really hurt! You're even better than I thought!"
John kicked Deadpool in the chest, sending him flying into a brick wall. Deadpool hit the wall hard and slid down to the ground. John walked over and pointed his gun at Deadpool's head.
"Stay down," John said quietly.
Deadpool looked up at him. Even though his mask covered his face, John could tell he was smiling.
"You know what's funny?" Deadpool said. "I can't die. I heal from everything. So this is going to be a really long fight."
John was about to pull the trigger when he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey! What's going on here?"
John turned around. A young man in a red and blue suit was hanging from a web attached to a building. The suit looked like it had a spider on the chest.
"Spider-Man!" Deadpool called out happily. "Perfect timing! I want you to meet my new friend John Wick! He's really good at shooting people!"
The young man swung down and landed on the street. John could see that he was probably just a teenager.
"I don't know who you are," the young man said to John, "but you can't just go around shooting people!"
"He's not just anyone," another voice said from the shadows. A man in a red costume with horns walked out of the darkness. "I can hear his heartbeat. He's a professional killer. Very dangerous."
More footsteps. A big black man with a bald head came around the corner. He was huge and looked very strong.
"Great," the big man said. "Another crazy guy with guns."
John looked at the three men. The one called Spider-Man looked young and nervous. The one with horns seemed calm but ready to fight. The big man looked like he had seen many fights before.
Deadpool was still on the ground, but John could see that his broken arm was already getting better. The bones were moving back into place.
"Don't worry about me, guys," Deadpool said. "I'll be fine in a few minutes. But you should be careful of John. He's called the Baba Yaga. That means he's the guy you send to kill the boogeyman."
Spider-Man's voice went up higher. "The boogeyman has a boogeyman?"
"Apparently," said the man with horns. His name was Daredevil, though John didn't know that yet.
The big man, Luke Cage, cracked his knuckles. "Well, boogeyman or not, he's got to answer for what he did here."
John looked around. The street was covered with dead bodies from Deadpool's fight with the bad guys. Blood was everywhere. And now John was standing in the middle of it with a gun in his hand.
These three men thought he had killed all these people. They thought he was a monster.
Maybe they were right.
John had been a killer for most of his life. He had tried to get out, tried to be normal, but it never worked. And now he was in a strange place with strange people, and they all wanted to fight him.
"I don't want to hurt you," John said quietly. It was true. These men seemed to be trying to help people, not hurt them.
"Then put the gun down," Spider-Man said.
John looked at his gun, then at the three men. Behind him, he could hear Deadpool getting back on his feet.
"Can't do that," John said.
Because in this strange new world, his gun was the only thing he could trust. And something told him he was going to need it.
The three heroes moved closer. John could see they were getting ready to attack. Spider-Man's hands were up, ready to shoot webs. Daredevil had pulled out some kind of stick. Luke Cage was just walking forward like bullets couldn't hurt him.
John Wick, the Baba Yaga, the man who once killed three men in a bar with a pencil, was about to fight three superheroes.
And Deadpool was laughing behind him.
"This is going to be so awesome!" Deadpool said. "I can't wait to see what happens next!"
John couldn't wait either. But he had a feeling it wasn't going to be good.
The rain kept falling. The city lights kept glowing. And somewhere in the distance, that big tower with "STARK" on it watched over everything.
John Wick's new life was about to begin.
And it was going to be very, very dangerous.