"Nothing is true, and everything is permitted."

–Assassin's Creed

…

…A Few Minutes Earlier…

While Tool Shed had been dragging Pip through the woods and towards the cabin Damien had taken Kyle to, Mysterion and Iron Maiden were racing for the northern edge of town. After what Mosquito and Tupperware had told them, they knew exactly where to go - an area of the mountain trail that was normally closed off at the beginning of fall until summer since conditions could quickly become less favorable for a hiker.

Mysterion was becoming more concerned the longer it took for Mosquito and Tupperware to retrieve Tool Shed and tell him of their plan. Surely he hadn't reached Damien yet, he wouldn't know where to go. Unfortunately, if he does reach Damien before word gets to him of their plan, things could get ugly and both Tool Shed and Kyle could easily lose their lives to the anti-Christ. Him and Iron Maiden just needed to get there before that could happen.

He looked back at the iron maiden gliding along beside him. "You think you go any faster?"

"Timmy!" He responded with an implied "yes."

"Okay, then let's go!" Mysterion pushed his legs to the absolute limit, feeling a deep burn that he really needed to work out more often than he did.

The two ran until they were a fourth mile outside of town, where they could see The Coon yelling at professor Chaos with chains and open electronic cuffs in his fist. Mysterion slowed to a stop and began panting to catch his breath, managing to catch some of the "lecture" coming from The Coon's mouth:

"How far could the piece of shit have gone? He was there only a minute ago!"

"N-Not far," Professor Chaos muttered. He didn't like when The Coon yelled at him, it made him feel like he'd failed. "We should start looking."

"Bullshit!" The Coon pulled a wireless radio out of the front pocket of his pants. "I'm gonna radio the guards up at the cabin and have them comb the woods. Let's see Damien get that little blonde fuck of his back unharmed now!"

Without thinking, Mysterion launched a mini fireball at the radio, melting it and The Coon's only way to get any backup. Both villains jumped and looked over at Mysterion and Iron Maiden, just now realizing the heroes were there. Hell, they could've attacked at any moment. Why they waited for the attention of the two they were to fight, they had no idea whatsoever.

"Well, well," The Coon sneered, "the whore is here with the hunk of metal to try and challenge us." He laughed mockingly. "You couldn't take us down when all of you were together in one area, what makes you think you can defeat us now?"

"We don't need to defeat you," a fireball formed around Mysterion's fist again, "just delay you."

"'Delay?'"

"That's right." He waited only a moment longer before launching the fireball at the fatter villain, who quickly dodged.

Realizing that the heroes weren't bluffing, Professor Chaos reached into the pocket of his cape for one of his modified guns–and immediately stopped so that he could dodge the sudden onset of thick metal spikes being launched at him. When Professor Chaos could finally stop dodging, he ground his teeth together. One of the spikes had grazed his leg, causing it to bleed and hurt. Iron Maiden's aim had gotten better. That wasn't good for him or The Coon, if Iron Maiden had become this good in such a short span of time, he needed to be taken out before he alone could overwhelm them.

With that in mind, Professor Chaos ran forward with a Black Bird pistol clutched in his right hand. Mysterion saw this and stepped between Chaos and Iron Maiden as the metallic hero began focusing his attack on The Coon. His eyes narrowed as the barrel of the pistol was pressed against his forehead.

"Mysterion, move," Professor Chaos said in an almost pleading voice, "I don't wanna hurt you, but I have my orders to do so if necessary."

"Babe," Mysterion rapped one knuckle gently against the side of gun, "this is the paintball gun I got you for your birthday last year."

"Not anymore." As a confused look crossed the hero's face, Professor Chaos pulled the trigger, sending an actual bullet through Mysterion's forehead.

The Coon and Iron Maiden stopped fighting at the echoing sound of gunfire and looked over at Mysterion and Professor Chaos, who had a few tears running down his face. Mysterion, though having been shot in the head, remained standing with his head cocked back so that his horrified face looked straight up at the sky. A thin trail of blood leaked from the bullet wound on his forehead and down the side of his head.

All three wondered if he was dead, not sure only because he remained standing. Regardless, The Coon launched himself agilely into the air and gracefully landed next to Professor Chaos. He laughed hardily and clapped the small blonde on the shoulder. "Good job Chaos, you took out their leader! Now taking out the rest of them will be easy!"

"But," Professor Chaos dropped the pistol to the ground, "that was…Kenny…I killed him…I killed Kenny."

The Coon shrugged. "Ah well, look at it this way, he–" He stopped as Mysterion suddenly convulsed and a small flame burst from the bullet wound to cauterize it. "What the hell?"

Mysterion gasped for air and twitched slightly as his heart picked up its rhythm again. He head fell forward, sending him stumbling a few steps before he regained his balance and looked up at Professor Chaos and The Coon with eyes glazed over with both tears and death. "You shot me," he said in a voice just above of a whisper.

After a moment to allow the reality that Mysterion had just risen from the dead as quickly as he had joined, Professor Chaos finally said, "I was just acting on orders, Mys–"

"You shot me! You killed me!" Mysterion yelled the heartbreak and tears evident in his voice, which was thick with the beginning of a sob.

"I had my or–"

"You killed me!" Flame suddenly engulfed his form.

Iron Maiden suddenly got a bad feeling and decided to retreat back a bit. Nothing good could come of this situation, that much was obvious.

"I love you dammit!" Mysterion screamed. "Why don't you love me? Why?" The flame grew outward a bit as his anger grew and the tears began to flow down his face only to fizzle away into nothing before falling even halfway down his face.

Professor Chaos bit his bottom lip and backed away with The Coon. He didn't want to, but he didn't want to get burned to a crisp even more, no matter how much worse it made the situation look. "Mysterion, I still–"

The Coon clamped his hand over Professor Chaos' mouth and pulled him back. "Shut up, you'll ruin this. He'll incinerate himself, taking the dirty work of murdering him to scatter the heroes away from us. Now," he turned Professor Chaos' head to face him, "let's help that along." He crushed his lips into the blonde's knowing it only helped to anger Mysterion more when he felt the heat of the flame against the side of his face.

"Get away from him fat ass!" As Mysterion screamed, the flame shot upward in a towering inferno. Now fear replaced rage as the hero was lifted into the air much as he had been in the Soul Modifier. What was going on? Why wasn't the flame going away as he now wanted it to? Why couldn't he control it?

"T-Timmy," Iron Maiden muttered out with a clear, ringing tone of pure fear.

Even The Coon released Professor Chaos and backed off even more. He didn't think that this would happen, if he didn't act quickly, he could be incinerated right with Mysterion. He grabbed onto Professor Chaos' arm and yanked him roughly back. "Come on Chaos, let's go!"

Professor Chaos hesitated for only a moment before turning and joining The Coon as he darted away at top speed down the highway, passing the beginning of the trail again as Damien - carrying Pip - Human Kite - carrying Tool Shed - and Mosquito - carrying Tupperware - flew out from the tree-line and towards the pillar of flame with a hail of electric and water balls following them. When Mosquito's mind control had worn off, the six were spotted immediately by the guards surrounding the cabin and had fire opened on them.

After taking a safe path around the tower of flame, the three able to fly landed next to Iron Maiden. Tool Shed demanded to know what happened to Mysterion, getting his answer as one of the swords serving as Iron Maiden's arms pointed up into the tower of fire. Everyone looked up at where Iron Maiden was pointing to see a barely visible silhouette of a figure arched backwards against the now spiraling flame.

"Mysterion?" Human Kite yelled; his voice laced with concern. He had been right when he thought Mysterion was behind the pillar of flame that they had seen from the cabin, and now he wished he hadn't been. He thought that Mysterion could control the fire well, not lose control of it so easily.

In tower of flame, Kenny slowly opened his eyes and stared up through the open "eye" of the swirling fire at a clear sky quickly becoming covered in thick black smoke. He wanted to cry, wanted to feel the salty tears flow down his face, but the heat around him was too intense, the tears would disappear as soon as they appeared. Maybe this is my payment for hurting him…maybe that's why he shot me, and why I'm to die in this fire.

When he heard the name of his hero persona yelled out, he looked over. Where the flame would part for a brief instant, he could see everyone standing there looking up at his general location concernedly. He saw Human Kite and smiled slightly. Kyle's okay, that's good to know. Everyone else too…even Stan…I'm happy they're okay.

"Mysterion," Human Kite yelled again, "you can control the fire! Don't let it kill you, we need you! You're our leader, our guide! Besides, how will you ever rescue Professor Chaos from The Coon as a pile of ash? I thought you loved him! So you can't die! Get down from there, please!"

Kenny looked back at Human Kite as the flame parted for an instant once again. He really believed that the blonde could make a difference, could save Butters and win his heart back. Of course he thought that though, he wasn't around to see Mysterion get shot in the head and begin the meltdown that summoned the pillar. But there was something that did strike a cord in Kenny, the part that was said about him being their leader, their guide. A leader, him? Kenny McCormick? Was he really so important to them?

"Human Kite's right," Tool Shed called slightly hesitantly, "you are our leader Mysterion! You can't just die on us like this!"

Kenny's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Stan? He…He's not mad at me anymore? The flame around him began to slowly disappear as the others began shouting their agreements that he was their leader and couldn't just leave them. Everyone…they think I'm… He smiled and slipped his eyes closed again when the flame completely disappeared. Thank you…Kyle.

As the pillar of flame vanished, Kenny began falling from his position about three stories into the air. Human Kite launched into the air and caught his friend before he could hit the ground. The redhead began shaking Kenny in his arms as he touched the ground again.

"Mysterion! Hey Mysterion, wake up!" When there was no response other than the breathing of the unconscious blonde, Human Kite looked over at where Tool Shed and Damien were now standing. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's just unconscious," Tool Shed reassured, "he'll be fine in a few hours."

Damien nodded and said, "Thank you, everyone. Now that I have Pip back," he wrapped an arm loosely around the thin blonde's waist, "I'm no longer enslaved to that fat ass and his bitch." He bowed his head just slightly. "I'm indebted to you." Pip nodded as well and bowed formally.

"Oh, uh, think nothing of it Damien," Human Kite said a little awkwardly.

"No, I have to. Look, aside from trying to seduce you, Stan saved Pip from The Coon and Professor Chaos. I have to repay all of you, somehow."

"I have an idea," Tool Shed said. "Tell us, are there others like you? Slaves to The Coon that are being held against their will because he has someone they care about as a prisoner?"

Damien nodded. "Yes, quite a few. Actually, every single person in The Coon's 'villain army' is a slave. You guys already saw Craig standing guard outside of the cabin, The Coon has Tweek. If they even think about resisting, the person The Coon is holding prisoner will be punished in their place, I've already seen one killed from it."

"Already?" Mosquito was astonished. How did The Coon manage to work that fast?

"Yes. The Coon is actually aiming to destroy all of you, and he wants it done fast."

Tool Shed nodded. That was no surprise; he figured that was The Coon's goal, you know, aside from world domination. "How many people?"

"At the very least, I'd say sixty."

The noirette cursed and kicked the ground. There was no way they could take on at least sixty people plus The Coon and Professor Chaos, that was impossible in itself. "Dammit, we can't fight that."

"Well, I'm sure if you can liberate more prisoners then you can recruit the former slaves to your side. I'm fairly sure they'd be more than willing to help take down The Coon."

Tupperware nodded. "He's right Tool Shed. It's a good idea."

Tool Shed sighed deeply and, seeing no other alternative, nodded. "Okay. We'll have to do that then. But we need to wait until Mysterion wakes up again to start that way we can have a time frame for the final battle."

"'Time frame?'"

"Is Mysterion a seer?" Pip asked with an intrigued tone to his voice.

Human Kite nodded. "He is."

"Oh wow! That's amazing!" Pip smiled widely, truly impressed.

"It is," Damien agreed. "Look, me and Pip should go so that you guys can get back to town and put Mysterion in a bed for now. If you ever need me, just call out to the sky, 'Fallen Angel' and I'll be there. Remember, I'm with you guys." He pulled Pip to him and flew up into the sky and back into town.

Tool Shed knelt down in front of Human Kite, still holding Kenny in his arms. "Put him on my back, I'll carry him back to City Hall."

Human Kite nodded and did as he was told. Once Tool Shed was sure he wasn't going to drop Kenny, the group began walking back to City Hall. Hopefully the mayor couldn't see the pillar of flame from her office; otherwise they'd have to explain the entire situation with The Coon, Professor Chaos, and their "army."