Something I've been working on for a while. Let's see how it goes!
This story contains a lot of angst. Like, a crazy amount of it. Do you expect anything less from South Park?
Prepare yourself for the incoming feels!
(This work has been reposted from AO3! I will always upload new chapters there first!)
It was a cold, cold night in South Park.
The moon was shining brightly, casting a mysterious light onto the town which projected onto the streets of Colorado. A hidden figure was seen jumping through the darkness, hopping from building to building as he patrolled the town.
Mysterion ran along the line of building rooftops as sleek as a black panther, cape flowing behind him and eyes darting around for any signs of trouble down on the streets. The masked vigilante was on his nightly watch of the town, searching through the sky for any signs of danger from his vantage points up above.
After scaling up a particularly large building, Mysterion froze when he heard the sound of a yelp and a scuffle coming from the alley below him. He slid down a drainpipe, jumped off and onto one of the building's window ledges and perched there to get a better look of what was going on.
The sound of a fist slamming against soft flesh was heard, as well as a harsh whimper from the obvious victim of the scuffle and a shout from the enraged attacker. "Give me the money NOW you little bitch!"
"P-Please sir, I don't have any m-money on me at the moment!" The victim pleaded shakily, fear evident in his strained tone.
Mysterion frowned. From the sounds of it, it was a typical mugging gone violent. The superhero narrowed his eyes in thought. He seemed to recognize the victim's timid voice from somewhere, although he couldn't quite place where from. He shifted slightly from where he was crouched to get a better look at the figures below, and upon closer inspection, he realised that the boy pinned against the wall was one of his classmates.
Specifically, a very distinctive, pathetic, classmate of his.
It was Pip.
Mysterion groaned and rolled his eyes in disdain, not looking forward to saving Pip, or Frenchie as everyone called him. He was known for being the school's number one loser, being even more unpopular than Butters on the social chain of popularity. His British accent and Victorian fashion sense only further aggravated his fellow students, causing them to bully him mercilessly. However, pathetic limey or not, Mysterion knew he still had a duty to help him. The hero sighed and adjusted his hood, making sure it was completely concealing his identity, then prepared to make an entrance.
Pip was not having a good day. He'd been bruised and battered enough at school so was a little miffed that this criminal had decided to attack him at the time he was supposedly free from his tormentors. The small blonde struggled hard against his captor's vice grip but remained pinned against the wall, unable to do anything to free himself. The thug punched him in the face again, splitting his lip and causing it to bleed.
"You little punk!" His attacker growled, yanking the boy's collar impatiently. "Where the fuck is your money? I know you have some, so where is it you little bitch?"
"I-I honestly don't have any w-with me sir, I-I left it at school!" Pip replied fearfully, too stunned and scared to say anything other than that. "P-Please believe m-me sir, I-I'm not lying-"
He was cut off suddenly when the muscular thug smacked him across the face, flinging him to the floor. Pip let out a pained cry and landed on his knees, scraping them hard along the gravel. He then tried crawling away from his attacker but was quickly pulled up by his hair and slammed face first into the wall. The thug then drew back his fist in preparation to pummel the British teen again, but froze when a large bang was heard from behind him.
The brute turned around slowly, Pip doubled over in his grip, and raised an eyebrow at the hooded teenager's sudden appearance. Mysterion was crouching on top of a garbage can, hands clenched into fists and then he stood up, eyeing the thug with malice.
"Who the fuck are you supposed to be?" The thug spat, grip on Pip's hair tightening as he eyed up the masked stranger.
"I'm Mysterion, and I'm gonna kick your ass."
Pip felt his heart skip a beat. Mysterion was here? He'd heard all about the masked hero from his classmates. They'd constantly be talking about Mysterion during breaktimes and he'd seen posters of the hero plastered around the school and in other student's lockers. Pip desperately wished he could have one of his own but had no money to buy one with, and if he did have one in his locker, it'd probably get stolen anyway.
But now the renowned hero was standing here, right in front of him!
Mysterion scowled at the thug. "You will let go of him. Now." He spat, jumping off of the trash can and landing in front of the pair, arms raised defensively.
"Tch, nobody tells me what to do, brat." The big bruiser suddenly threw Pip aside and ran at the young hero, drawing his hand back into a fist. Mysterion saw it coming and swiftly avoided it, kicking the thug in the crotch and causing him to double over so he could get another quick shot of him in the face.
The thug stumbled back and growled, preparing to try a new tactic. He grinned as he pulled out a switchblade from his pocket, slashing the knife at Mysterion who managed to dodge most of the blows before jumping up and pulling himself onto the stairwell which overlooked the garbage bins.
"Scared, are you?" The thug mocked, stepping back. "Well while you're up there, who's going to protect the sissy?"
Laughing maniacally, the thug then turned back to Pip, who was still kneeling on the ground recovering from his previous attack. When Pip saw the thug approaching, he squeaked and weakly tried to crawl away, being stopped only when he felt his back hit the building wall behind him. Making a small noise of distress, the boy covered his head with his arms, preparing to be slashed again.
"Not today, fuckface!"
The thug turned his head to see Mysterion dive-bombing him, speedily delivering a roundhouse kick to his face. He went flying backwards into wall next to Pip and slid down it, groaning in pain. Pip recoiled and quickly pushed himself to his feet, rushing away while the menace recovered. Mysterion took this time to give the thug a raging headbutt, knocking him unconcious.
Well, that was his fourth job of the evening sorted. Mysterion hauled the criminal's body to the entrance of the alleyway and unceremoniously dumped it onto a pile of garbage bags. He turned back into the alley to retrieve the thug's switchblade and tucked it into his pocket, knowing that it'd probably come in handy if he kept it.
The vigilante was just about to leave the alley when he felt a small tug at his cloak. He span around to see Pip standing there with his hands behind his back, an innocent yet grateful expression on his face. His lip had stopped bleeding from where he had been struck, and his face was now sporting quite a few bruises, but he looked happy.
"Thank you for saving my life, Mr Mysterion! I am forever in your debt!" Pip smiled sincerely and bowed, making the superhero grimace inside. "Um, I'm not quite sure how to pay you back though, so if you think of something then please let me know and I will do my best to accomodate you!" He bowed his head.
"It's fine. Just doing my job." Mysterion replied, dismissing him with a wave of his hand. He walked forwards, trying to hide the limp in his leg. Pip noticed him stagger and lifted his arm over his shoulder to help support his weight.
"Y-You're hurt! Please let me help you?" The kind boy asked, attempting to make the hero sit down on a cardboard box that was hidden in the shadows.
Mysterion groaned and tried to push himself away from the irritating blonde. "I'm fine, I'll get over it."
Pip once again pushed him down, "You're not fine, sir! Please let me bandage your leg! It's bleeding quite badly and could become infected!" Before the hero could stop him, Pip had already started wrapping up his wound with some old newspapers that were carelessly laying on the floor. He tightly tied them around his leg to stop the bleeding and checked him over for any other injuries.
Mysterion sighed, leaning back against the box. It's not as if he could stop him now. He glanced over at the Brit, taking in his pallid features before deciding to make conversation. "What are you even doing out here?"
Pip looked startled. "M-Me? I-I, um... I just went for a little walk. I... don't live too far from here."
"A little walk? At this time of night? No wonder you got assaulted, idiot." Mysterion replied impassively, rolling his eyes at the boy's stupidity.
"Um, sorry. I won't do it again..."
The duo sat in silence for a few minutes as Pip worked on another one of the hero's fresh arm wounds. After a little while, Pip spoke up. "I've finished. You should be able to move now."
Mysterion shifted. He lifted himself up and put a little bit of weight on his leg. It was feeling decidedly better now that Pip had plugged up the wound although would never admit it to the boy himself. "Thanks for the help. You better get back home now or somebody else might try and assault you."
Pip gave a small nod of his head. "O-Of course, sir. Thanks again for your help. I really really appreciate it!"
"Don't call me sir." Mysterion replied as he shot back into the night, leaving a starstruck Pip standing in the alley.