Patricidal
I don't think anyone else notices it, when the New Kid appears from behind the sliding steel door. Not that I expect many of them to. It's subtle, in the way he holds himself up against the heavy metal; he's barely standing on his own. When you've become accustomed to someone as inexpressive and apathetic as the New Kid, any minute difference practically screams out at you. Yet no-one says anything, they don't look at him for more than the barest of moments for recognition – nothing's as important as the mission at hand, despite the fact that, apart from beating the shit out of Cartman, that very mission is to rescue his parents. Anyone who notices doesn't speak up, doesn't seem to care, and I guess I'm in that group as well.
"There we go! See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Dr. Mephesto chides from the back of the tram track. I watch the New Kid intently, but he doesn't look up.
"What took you so long, New Kid? You screwin' around havin' fun?" Toolshed adds, and still the New Kid doesn't look up. Still no-one notices, still I don't speak up.
"All right, Freedom Pals. We've got to get out to the town and tell everyone what Cartman is doing." Doctor Timothy addresses us and we file out of the tram. Finally, New Kid pushes himself off the door and leads the way into the greenhouse. I abandon my regular post by Doctor Timothy to jog up to the New Kid's side, and he ignores me. I find my eyes attracted to dark, irregular splots of red caked over his usually bright white wristband, leading down to larger splotches soaking into his hands. My heart skips a beat.
Before I realize what I'm doing, I grab his arm, swinging his hand up so I can see it in better light. The New Kid flinches and whips around, pulling his arm from my loose grasp. In that moment, when I finally see his eyes – big and round with teeny, startled pupils – he's crying. Tears have been building up behind his eyelids, dam now broken by my actions, and water streams down his face uncontrollably. There's an eerie look of emotion I'd never seen in those eyes before, not in all the time the New Kid has lived in South Park. It's everything wrong, and I feel it breaking me apart inside.
"New Kid?-" I mutter, my gravely voice faltering before we're interrupted.
"I don't think so, guys..." We all turn to see Cartman and Mitch Conner trying to block our way through the greenhouse. "You came all this way just to die Coon and Friends."
"Freedom Pals." Human Kite interjects.
"Coon and Friends."
"FREEDOM PALS."
"Coon and Friends! Coon and Friends! Coon and Friends!" shouts Mitch Conner.
"Careful guys, he's got some kind of super weapon!" says Cartman. All this while, the New Kid has been tensing beside me, and I don't know whether he wants to fight or run.
"It's over, fatass! We're gonna tell everyone on you!" yells Toolshed.
"Yeah, you hear that Conner, you sick son of a bitch-" Conner hits Cartman in the face, shutting him up.
"You shut up, Coon. We need each other, don't you get it? I create the crime and you stomp it out. I am good for your franchise." he says.
"Oh fuck, I get it now." says Human Kite.
"But then the New Kid had to come along and try to stop me for good." says Conner, and I can see him angle toward us. "I had no choice but to have my own New Kid built."
New Kid twitches.
"What have you done, Eric?" asks Doctor Timothy.
"Why don't you ask the New Kid?" dares Conner, and beside me he twitches again, more violently this time. "After all, it's really a question of what he's done, isn't it?"
Everything happens in a flash, even Fastpass was shocked by how quickly the New Kid was on Cartman, fists flying everywhere.
"OW! New Kid, fuckin' stop it!" Cartman bellows, trying to push him off. The rest of us are too surprised to move. Then we hear the choking, and it isn't Cartman.
"What's wrong, New Kid? Was it your mom, or your dad?" Mitch Conner taunts him, and the New Kid throws his punches harder.
"What the fuck is going on?" Super Craig asks, and finally I'm snapped back to my senses and I rush forward. I hook my arms under the New Kid's, trying to pull him off Cartman. The New Kid struggles against me, and as I drag him away he starts kicking at Cartman.
"New Kid, calm down!" Toolshed pleads, coming forward to help me pull him back. Meanwhile, Cartman picks himself back up, begrudgingly resuming his charade.
"Bitch!"
"Maybe we failed in making a New Kid clone, but now we've got our very own monster, isn't that right?" Mitch Conner retorts, and New Kid struggles harder, no longer able to hold back the choked sobs tearing up his throat.
"Cartman, what have you done!?" I yell at him, but he only shakes his head.
"I didn't do anything, you guys!" he whines. Human Kite storms up to him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pulling him close.
"Do you think this is a joke? You think kidnapping people is a game? It's fucking not, Cartman! Now tell us, where are the New Kid's parents!?" He yells. Mitch Conner laughs.
"Whichever one's still alive, New Kid already knows. He killed the other himself."
Human Kite lets go of Cartman, stepping back in horror. My grip weakens as well and the New Kid breaks free, launching himself again at Cartman, but this time Mitch Conner strikes out, hitting him clear across the face. The force of it knocks New Kid to the ground. Cartman backs away quickly, and no-one follows after. I move towards New Kid, crouching down to where he's collapsed on the floor. He avoids my gaze, even as I try to help pull him to his feet.
"Even if we did get your DNA, it doesn't matter!" yells Mitch Conner. "I had to resort to cloning a different superhero."
"Which superhero?" asks Toolshed, but before he can be answered, the whole greenhouse shakes.