«Yes, he was very interested in having girls in his private rooms, and his instructions were, and I quote: 'the youngest and prettier you can find'. He's got that taste: the more innocent-looking, the better. He paid a good sum for these services and, most of all, for our silence. He was a celebrity after all...I didn't even know it was Fastpass until I saw those pictures on the television...»
Timmy closed the tab feeling disgusted to the core. He knew it was a mistake not to have erased Nathan's memory when they had the chance. Jimmy just didn't want to acknowledge that Nathan had always loathed the very air he breathed and would take any chance he found to fuck him. And now there he was, helping portray him as a molester in interviews.
It pissed him off so bad. It was kind of ironic it was so, since he had managed to have him kicked out of the Scouts with a similar dirty trick when they were eight, but...But it was different! He was immature like all children! He hated Jimmy back then because he didn't know him, and Jimmy didn't know him well enough either not to make fun of him! But with time and forced coexistence they got to know each other and now Jimmy was his best friend! And how horrible it was to see someone who's only wish was to give people a good time suffer so bad. Surely those Raisins bitches were framing him...Was someone else involved?
He was supposed to use all of his brain capacity to buy the supplied the kids of his class needed, but he just couldn't leave Jimmy in the lurch. And people wondered why the Freedom Pals had not made any statements about this yet, even though Fastpass had not been seen in public lately and many supposed he had been dismissed.
When he heard the tires screeching and the screams, it was too late to move out of the way. The van grazed him and just made his chair rock—the woman by his side was not that lucky and after the hit ended up under the vehicle. He could hear her bones cracking.
The main street became an inferno of screaming and running people trying to escape from the white Volkswagen that ran in zigzag running over everyone in its way. The pedestrians ran to hide inside the shops; the workers closed their shutters and doors as quickly as possible and trying not to leave anyone outside.
Timmy also left as quick as his wheelchair allowed him, but into an empty, isolated alley. There, he put on his suit and mask.
The Volkswagen continued its deadly race, leaving a trail of blood and crushed bodies, dead and alive. Wanting to run over an elderly couple who was running inside an optical store, a hydrant got in the way and finally stopped it. Then, the driver's door opened and a muscled, bald, black man stumbled out. He had a kitchen knife in his hand. Screaming nonsense, the man started to stab everyone in his grasp. He grabbed a child who was lost, calling his mommy, and stabbed him three times in the head, then a man right in the heart.
["STOP!"]
The man wobbled. Doctor Timothy approached slowly, careful, diplomatic.
["Melman...Your name is Melman, right? Listen, you are going to drop that knife and turn yourself in..."]
He was rejecting him, he managed to move and grunt.
"Screw you...you...in hell...rotten...cocksucker...Crippled...!" He managed to grumble.
["Melman, drop the knife."]
He kept moving towards him, wanting—Timmy saw his intentions as clearly as if he had a neon sign over his head—to gut him like a fish.
The connection was weak. Timmy felt he couldn't keep him under his control for long. These years, after tons of experiments and missions, he had come to hypothesize that this was because some minds were not in much good condition because of drug abuse, brain damage or congenital illnesses affecting it, a particularly strong willpower...He had never had much control over his parents or Jimmy, for instance, because of their brain palsy...This Melman dude was apparently all of them at once. No surprise he went around driving over and stabbing people. He was not of sound mind. There was a big probability that he wouldn't pay for his crimes because that was one big extenuating circumstance...
...But he knew what he was doing...He was dangerous...Timmy felt brains fading like blown candles, so much agony...
["Drop the knife."]
"Ngaaaa!" The pressure was too much for the attacker, but he still resisted. He didn't listen. He wouldn't. And Timmy could only control him for a few seconds. He kept pushing him out of his brain.
It was a pit of lunacy...Timmy cringed seeing what was inside of it. He was sick, but he knew damn well what he was doing. He wanted to kill for the sake of domination, people knowing he had the power to wipe people's existence if he wanted to. He wanted blood. He wouldn't stop until he was dead. And if he survived, he wouldn't go to jail, because he would claim he was not right in the head...
The police didn't come yet. Timmy couldn't keep him under control until they came...He would kill him and someone else...
He regretted to think that there was just one way to stop this.
Since he could only keep the connection going for a few seconds, he tried to do things as quick as possible.
He guided Melman's arm and everyone in the street saw how he stabbed himself in the neck multiple times. "N-No!", was the only word he could utter as he watched how the knife sank in his own body and streams of blood came out of his neck like a competition of which one went the furthest.
Timmy knew he was dead when the connection between them was lost and the man's arm finally went limp, letting go of the knife.
He turned his wheelchair around. Usually, after the heroes' interventions people cheered, clapped. This time, few moved and nobody talked out loud—but everybody looking at him.
He's killed him!
He made him...!
Jesus!
Goodness gracious!
Couldn't have he just paralyzed him?
The mental noise was starting to make Timmy nervous. He made his wheelchair turn around and drove away as fast as he could. He could choose not to look at these people, but he couldn't keep their thoughts away...
"This is outrageous! Had he been a white assaulter, he would have been handled much more carefully! How many more black people have to be brutalized in this country? When will this end?!" PC Principal shouted to the television.
Dad had all the right to be furious. His children couldn't believe what they were hearing either. Doctor Timothy had killed a person. He made him kill himself brutally in front of the whole crowd. True that he had ran over and stabbed five people to death and injured twenty-seven, but the more information was shared on the Internet about the attacker, the more wrong Doctor Timothy's action seemed to him.
That man was called Melman Ackroyd, forty-nine. An African-American misfit who most probably couldn't afford his medicines. He had had many unqualified jobs but couldn't keep one due to his schizophrenia making him a very troublesome employee. He had charges for domestic violence against his ex-wife—sending her to the hospital twice—, theft and armed robbery at a liquor store.
The widow and orphans showed up on television crying their hearts out, with pictures and Ackroyd's face on T-shirts because Melman was maybe a little 'short-tempered', but he was a good man, he really was. He...drunk a bit too much, was addicted to cocaine since he was thirteen, but was that a crime? Nobody was perfect! Sure he had murdered people, but he had no chance against a telepath, poor Melman, poor daddy dear!
On the Internet there were posts of witnesses who claimed that Doctor Timothy had not tried to neutralize him, but straight up murdered him. In such a horrible way!
Using this and the family's own arguments, the PC children made a new video titled: 'DOC TIMOTHY, THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR LIVES'.
«We trusted Freedom Pals because they were not as brutal as the police is, but it seems they are as prejudiced and a lot more dangerous. Doctor Timothy cannot be trusted Think about it: a man who can get into our minds and force us to believe or do anything he wants. You saw what happened to Ackroyd. What will be next? Are our brains safe with him?»
The video got a different reception than the others. People were shocked by this crime and were willing to listen to iconoclastic opinions. The proportion of likes and dislikes this one got was much more balanced. Finally there was a fair debate on the comment section, with people both agreeing and disagreeing with their points of view. The views took off when their admirer shared it on their own social media.
The PC children couldn't resist checking it. He had hundreds of thousands of followers, they were really influential! This was the push they needed for their voice to be heard and reach all of South Park.
Thanks to their supporter Mitch Conner, they finally got the recognition they deserved.
«People from all over the state are coming here to leave flowers and candles in the memory of Melman Ackroyd, victim of what some call 'heroic brutality'. A vigil has been organized in his memory, while more and more citizens demand Doctor Timothy to be brought to justice.»
Sheila shook her head. "See, Gerald? This is what I was talking about! Can you trust someone who invades a person's most private place and twists it as he pleases?"
"Well, it's true that that was going a bit too far..." Gerald admitted.
"A bit too far? Come on now, what will be next? Making us jump off a roof for not recycling? That was abominable, and I hope they give that 'hero' what he deserves!" Sheila used a magazine to fan herself, because, in spite of the clouds in the sky, it was a very hot day. "First a child molester, then this..."
"Who would have said it. They looked so nice, all of them..."
"Advertisement, that's all..." Sheila turned her eyes to her son, who was walking towards the door. "Take the garbage out."
Ike grumbled, but he had no choice but to turn around and obey. Anyways, that was in a way what he was about to do...
As soon as they arrived, the Burches rode out of the house and past them. 'Richard!', 'Helen!', they friendly said to them, like good neighbors. They left the door open. Timmy was waiting inside, his back turned on them.
["I heard your mental noise approaching, so I suggested my mom and dad to go have ice cream."] He closed his eyes for a moment, taking deep air. ["So...You have heard all the things they are saying about me...And I see you don't support me..."]
"Timmy, you killed a man." Token said.
["I know, Token. I had no choice. He was too stubborn and damaged to convince him. I had to put him down like the rabid dog he was."]
"You could have done something less drastic!" Ike said.
["There was nothing else I could have done. Not without risking lives unnecessarily. I had to think fast."]
"There had to be something else! Now everyone thinks the Freedom Pals are a bunch of murderers, just like you! Our reputation is in question!"
Timmy frowned and turned his wheelchair around to face the group.
["...I perceive that some of you believe my disability clouded my judgement...I wonder what you would have done in my place...since your brains are obviously in a much better condition than mine..."]
"Come on, Timmy, you know we wouldn't..." Tweek muttered.
"You are being unfair now." Kyle said.
["You are being unfair! Do you think I like having a kill in my conscience? Hearing all those things about me from people who have no idea of the pressure I had in my hands? They will never know what that man really was. They didn't see what I saw. They have forgotten about the innocent people he reduced to bleeding messes in that street and think he is the victim. Someone has created a juicy story and you are buying it. You have come here to kick me out from the group, because you are on their side..."]
"We are not on their side." Clyde replied.
["You aren't on mine, that's for sure..."]
His eyes turned to Jimmy and he felt so extremely uncomfortable.
["...I supported you, Jimmy..."] His voice in Jimmy's mind was almost like a whisper.
Jimmy took his time to reply. "...I am with you, Tim-Tim, of course..."
But it seemed his thoughts didn't match his words, because Timmy's expression didn't soften, but hardened.
[..."Don't worry...I will not be a burden to the team anymore. I quit."]
"Oh, come on, Timmy." Token reacted, walking towards him.
"Timmy." From then on, Timmy used the voice that came out from his throat, and his first words were an invitation for them to leave his house.
"Listen..." Tweek protested.
"Ti-mmy." Timmy remarked, and used his powers to make their legs move against their will, out of the house, then closed the door with a bump.
Jimmy still wanted to talk to him, walked to the window, but the curtains closed telepathically. He sighed and turned to his partners visibly hurt.
"It was for the best, guys." Ike said, his hands inside his pockets. "That is a scandal we can't afford. And I don't know if it will be enough..."
"So I s-suppose you'll do the same to me, ri-right?" Jimmy frowned. "These long v-vacations will be very long indeed..."
"Please, Jimmy, not you too. We've had enough for today." Craig sighed.
"Being friends doesn't mean we approve all of our friends choices, even the terrible ones." Kyle said.
"It's still fucked up, isn't it? I agree with Timmy on that." Token said. "People seem to have forgotten Ackroyd was killed because he was killing people..."
"Heroes do have to deal with hard dilemmas..." Scott said, mostly to himself.
Since everything was said, each of them went back home.
Would they get there before it started raining? Craig looked at the sky, at the dark clouds covering it quickly.
"Tweek."
"Hm?" His husband replied.
"Are you okay?"
"...How do you want me to be okay? This sucks." Tweek replied, walking with his stare fixed on the ground at his feet.
Craig looked at the clouds again. He could bet Tweek was stressed by all this. And he was right: the only cool thing happening to him in their life and these scandals were ruining it...He took Tweek's hand in an attempt to comfort him, while in his mind he still thought that he didn't know how to feel about this, angry or sad.
"And you stop walking around like you were our boss!" Kyle gave his little brother a hit in the head.
"Ouch! Hey! I am a gamer! I know much more than you do about reputation! I am trying to save your ass here, you ungrateful jerk!" Ike replied, rubbing his head.
"Maybe we should go pay Stan and Wendy a visit, Kenny." Kyle said to his friend then.
"Mmm..." Kenny doubted.
"Wendy said she didn't come because she was feeling sick and...I think Stan's no better than she is. I called him after reading her post and to discuss Timmy's issue a million times and he's been hanging me up. I went to his house and Wendy told me he was not in there, but I know she was lying, and she didn't look very happy. Maybe if both of us talk to him..."
"Something tells me he didn't take the news well..." Kenny muttered.
"Yeah, I think so too..." Kyle nodded. They had been friends for so long Stan was transparent to him. He was not alright and he was not going to leave him alone with that.
"If you make me an uncle one day, don't tell me with a text, okay? That's so lazy and pathetic." Ike said.
"Who asked you to butt in, you little rat?" Kyle frowned, and gave him another hit.