Even though they had decided it would be wiser to forget about the team, the superhero stuff, everything, once again the Freedom Pals met at the base. The situation required it.
"Is he all right?" Wendy asked.
Timmy placed a finger on his temple and searched Scott with his mind. He tried to connect with his mind. Instantly he started shivering, his skin lost a bit of its color.
["Not quite...He's not being treated well...They are using his illness to torture him for information...But he won't talk. His will is strong."] His eyes turned to Kyle. ["I don't like it, but I'll have to agree with Cartman on one thing: your mom's a bitch. She will stop at nothing to find Human Kite."]
"Maybe I should...surrender..." Kyle sighed, his arms crossed.
"Are you crazy? Don't you know your own mother? She will kill you the very second she sees you!" Stan replied.
"But she will kill Scott! Maybe if I do things right she will...She will understand that I only wanted to help Ike...I'm her son, she wouldn't..."
Are you sure about it?, his friends seemed to ask with their faces. Kyle doubted.
"Well, we can't just keep our arms crossed and let them hurt Scott!" He said.
"It should be easy, right? Token teleports inside the station, grabs Scott, leaves." Craig shrugged, his head resting on his hand.
"I can't teleport into places I don't know or I've never seen before." Token said.
["They know what we can do. They are waiting for us. Scott is under the custody of several cops armed with semiautomatic guns, ready to mow him down, and anyone who comes in there unauthorized."] Timmy said.
"If we do it quick, we shouldn't h-have much of a problem." Jimmy said. "I could make myself inv-v-visible, and take Scott the very second they op-open the door. Before they got the time to shoot, we'll be o...we'll be o-o...we'll...lll...we'll be out!"
"Waiting till they open the door to feed him or interrogate him doesn't seem like a good option. Scott could be dead by then." Tweek said. "And who knows if they got cameras that detect the body temperature, or traps, or lasers or..."
"It's the police station of a little town, not Guantanamo." Stan said.
"But, still it would be better to give them an excuse to open that door for us." Token said.
"If Barbrady was still in charge, it would have been perfect, he could have helped us..." Clyde sighed.
"But he's not, and his phone and social media have been tapped. We can't count on him on this." Wendy said.
Token frowned. "Unless..."
He glanced at his partners.
"Wait a second." He said before teleporting away, not giving his partners time to ask what he was thinking.
"I will have everything ready for Scott. Documents with a new identity, a disguise...He'll have to disappear for a while, until all clears up." Wendy said.
"We could also try to clean his name. It will take us longer, but it might save us the trouble. We need to find more proof that Ike was not attacked by Human Kite. Makowski's words don't seem to be enough." Tweek said.
"That crazy bastard..." Kyle grunted.
"Not his fault. He's just not right in the head and that Mitch Conner guy took advantage of it." Clyde said.
His words had an unexpected effect on some of his friends. Kenny stood up as if he had a tack in his butt. Stan turned his head to him with his mouth open. Kyle looked at Clyde eyes open wide.
"What did you just say?!" He exclaimed.
"Uh...I said some guy called Mitch Conner convinced Makowski to go around biting people and blaming it on me and you." Clyde repeated, not sure of what he had said.
"Mitch Conner!" Wendy exclaimed. "That's the influencer who's turned the public opinion against us!"
"Worse...That's one of Cartman's alter egos..." Kenny muttered.
"Cartman?" The group exclaimed.
"But Timmy fucked his brains and made him...!" Tweek said.
["He couldn't have..."], Timmy said.
"Cartman's always been a dirt bag of surprises...Perhaps your powers weakened with everything going on, or he's been faking it." Kyle said, walking around the room nervously, just thinking.
"That...asshole!" Craig frowned, standing up.
"Of course it had to be him! He's a vengeful, jealous bastard! If he couldn't be the hero, no one could..." Stan rubbed his chin.
"If we want to stop this, we'll have to take care of him." Wendy said.
"I'll go. I'm gonna break his fat ass for targeting my brother." Kyle said.
"Me too." Stan joined him.
"And me. The rest of you should be able to free Scott without us." Kenny said.
"Yes, but, h-how, again?" Jimmy asked.
It was then when Token reappeared. His friends couldn't help noticing he had changed his clothes: now he was wearing a cream-colored summer suit by Hermes, white Nikes, sunglasses by Dolce & Gabbana and a very shiny Rolex. In his hands he was carrying blue clothes.
"I got it." He announced, dropping those at his feet. "Barbrady had a spare cop uniform in his house. One of you guys will act like a cop."
"And is there any reason why you're dressing like that, or you just wanna brag about your bank account?" Craig asked, pointing at him.
"I'll be the excuse to get in." Token smirked, pointing at himself.
Sun was setting, dying the mountains red. The orange sky and the soft breeze blowing were a good incentive to go outside and have a walk. It was a pity that Butters couldn't leave the house, Father Maxi thought, as he closed the door. It had to be so mortifying, being in there all day long, only hanging out with him, not able to participate in the community life, or just the wonders of the Lord...His poor Butters was living inside of a cage, like a birdie. If only he could do something to make his house less of a prison...Perhaps they could take a walk late at night, when everyone else was sleeping and those still up were drunk and couldn't recognize him...
When he came into the house, he found that Butters was about to get out.
He was wearing the same costume he was wearing two years before when he found him unconscious at the cemetery.
"...Butters? Where are you going?"
Butters looked extremely guilty.
"...Forgive me, Father...I didn't think of saying goodbye..." He said, looking at his own boots like a little boy caught doing mischief. "I hate saying goodbye...All of this time...My conscience has been torturing me...I have a big stain in my soul and I need to clean it somehow...You were right: I still care about my friends. They need me...Bullies don't stop until their target is destroyed, until they have sucked all life from him...Then, only then, they move on to the next...The only way people will forget about them is that someone worse shows up. Someone so bad they can say their crimes were not as bad..."
Butters finally was able to raise his eyes to Maxi.
"I am a villain. Monstrous. I am full of rage and dirt. It won't be difficult to me to outshine their wrongdoings. These powers I have...I will use them for good..."
"But you know what the consequences will be for you..." Maxi muttered.
"...I know. But it's nothing worse than what I'm going through right now. I mean, I don't mean it's been a pain being with you. These years with you have been the best in my life...I wish I could stay like that forever...But I've got to do it. Something inside me tells me it's the right thing to do. I will die as something more than a sinner. And you...thank you so much for everything..." Butters' eyes were getting wet. "There are so many things I-I would love you to know...I'm gonna miss you, Father..."
The priest closed his eyes, letting out a sorrowful sigh, and embraced Butters, a gesture he returned tightly, with all tenderness in his heart.
"May God bless and protect you." Maxi finally said.
"It's fine for me as long as He forgives me..." Butters replied.
"He sure has, Butters. He sure has..."
They looked at each other for one more second. How he had grown, Maxi thought; he still remembered when he was a child who barely reached his knees, and now he was a man...As for Butters, he thought, on the other hand, that Maxi was always the same, not even his idea of him had changed—not even after what he did...
He left quickly, because if he stayed longer, he would think it twice, he wouldn't want to leave the only man in the world he was glad to call 'father'. Maxi could only see him leave, a silent prayer in his lips.
"Wendy..."
They were all getting ready. Each one had a task and they were reviewing it in their minds, careful not to mess this one up because the life of Scott and their own were at risk. Stan had his belt full of tools and a drill in his hand already; Wendy was thinking that her uniform was starting to need some adjustments when Stan approached.
"Yes?" She asked.
Stan glanced at the rest of the team, as if he didn't want them to hear.
"I don't know what will happen tonight..." He started to say.
"Please, Stan, try to be optimistic just this once." Wendy smirked.
"Let me finish. I don't know what will happen tonight, but in any case, I want us both to take a long break from all of this superhero stuff. You deserve a peaceful pregnancy and I want to take care of you. We will stay away from the whole world, go on long vacations, move out of South Park if we need, but we will forget all of this nightmare, until the baby is born...You need time, I need time...It's not easy for dads, either, you know? To be honest...I don't know a thing about girls."
"I never noticed." Wendy mocked him.
"I really don't know what's inside your head...I never understood you...I know nothing about the period, or fashion, or good-looking boys, rainbows and sunshine, ponies...But I want to learn. I'm gonna learn how to braid our baby's hair and the names of the members of her favorite boy bands. If I have to take her to concerts of guys I despise, I will. If there comes a day when a boy breaks her heart, I will dry her tears then look for that motherfucker and break his legs. I will play make-believe tea parties and give her piggy rides with a unicorn headband on, I'll even let her put make up on me...I want to be the dad I wish I had myself. I want to have a family I never want to escape from...Wendy...When this is over...I wanna do things right. I wanna marry you."
Wendy gazed at him, a smile forming on her lips.
"Well, I know this could have been done better, with...a ring, kneeling down and all that jazz...I promise I'll get one and I'll do it in public, so everyone knows I'm not a pussy who's running away from responsibility and I love you and want to spend my whole life with you." Stan kept saying.
"No need to do that." Wendy replied, leaving her multiple cell phones on the nearest surface to embrace him. "I do."
They joined in a deep, long kiss.
"Ready, Stan?" Kyle called from the distance.
"Be careful, okay?" Stan said to Wendy, giving her a last peck.
"You too. And, Stan..." Wendy's expression turned a bit more serious. "Give Cartman a big kick in the balls for me."
The agent in custody of the entrance didn't really take a look at those who were coming in. Something was wrong with his Facebook account: all messages he had been sending his lover Christine were being sent to his wife! She was calling him over and over, to demand an explanation, surely! He had such a mess in his hands he didn't pay attention to anything that was not his phone. The squad was free to come in.
Officer Mitch Murphy, unaware of this, glanced through the window, drumming his fingers against the frame.
"Any signs of them yet?" He asked a man behind him.
When he said 'any', the lens of one of the cameras in his room was painted with dark spray. By the time he said 'signs', another one was rendered useless. When he finished the phrase, the only change he noted in the room was that there was an air current that made some papers fly away from the desk.
"No, sir." He replied.
Murphy then used his walkie-talkie. "Do you see anything? Over."
"Nothing, sir." The agents in the roof replied.
Murphy frowned. "Where are they? What are they waiting for?" He muttered. He took a cigarette out of the package inside the pocket in his shirt.
While he was doing this, something passed by the window, something that made a very loud sound, almost like a motorbike. He was so focused on it he missed it, but the agent by his side saw the shadow and jumped.
"Hey! Did you see that?!" The agent said.
"See what?" Murphy asked, turning around quickly, lighter in hand.
"It was...very big!" The agent assured him, but Murphy didn't see anything as much as he looked.
"Let's take a look." Murphy took his gun and was ready to follow his men, when another agent came in, surely one from administration, because he was a crippled, moved around in a wheelchair.
"Sir, we got a prisoner." The agent said, approaching. With one hand he controlled the joystick of his chair and with the other grabbed a young black man.
"I did nothing! I did nothing!" The man complained, resisting.
That didn't speak much in his favor, just like the expensive clothes and accessories. Another rich African-American bastard...
"Here you go, sir." The disabled agent said.
"No, take to the cell him yourself, I need to..."
"Mind to lead the way, sir?"
For some reason, that seemed like a very fair request...The other cops could deal with that strange form without him...
"...Sure...This way..."
All agents had ran after the apparition outside. No one was around to call his attention to the curious fact that this agent's lips were moving but no sound was coming out of them.
["Thank you so much"], Timmy said telepathically, and followed Murphy to the holding cells. He had to keep grabbing Token a bit rudely for a little while, until they got rid of the guards.
"Come on, let's go." Jimmy whispered, vibrating so quick he turned invisible, by his side.
They followed Murphy upstairs, into the authorized area. They found cameras in their way, but Wendy had it all under control. So many cameras in the market required an Internet connection, and that was her element. The agents in charge of the cameras—a usually very boring job— didn't even notice that she had replaced the video signals with the recording of two days before. The other problem they had were the agents working in the building. It was best that nobody else but Murphy saw them. And so Craig went to help.
He slipped into the parking and observed how nice their cars were. Some were brand new, full of toys to chase the bad guys with...What a pity...Using his fists, he hit three of them until they ended up like a tinfoil ball. But that wasn't enough for him. He allowed himself to let off some steam grabbing a matchbox then and setting another two of them on fire.
When the gas tank of one of them exploded, practically all of them ran out, gun in hand, to see what happened. Only one wanted to stay in there, guarding the prisoners, and Jimmy took care of him with a punch in the head that left him unconscious.
["Poor guy, he's surely short on vitamin C. Let him rest, boss, let's go."], Timmy said to Murphy, who kept walking without a worry.
Murphy used his ID card to let them into the holding cells. There they found tons of rich, black men, but that was not what they were looking for.
"Scott must be in a special room..." Token said. Still, it hurt him to see all those innocent people in jail for the mere reason of being rich, so, before continuing, he took Murphy's ID and used it to open the cells.
"Thank you! But..." One of them told them, while the others rushed out.
"Just forget my face." Token said, and followed his partners.
["Where is Scott Malkinson, Mitch?"] Timmy asked the officer.
"This way...In a special room...where nobody can hear him scream..." Murphy replied slowly, like he was talking in his sleep.
In the meantime, the street was getting full of cops. Some didn't find that big thing flying near the window, others, after putting out the fire, could do nothing but stare at the disaster. They met at the parking, exchanged impressions. They all had been brought there by something they had heard or seen. Was someone left inside? No one?
"I don't like this..." Someone said. It was clear that something strange was happening, and so they decided they had to go back in quickly.
But they simply couldn't. When they realized, the pavement under their feet was covered by a thick layer of ice that also trapped their feet. As much as they struggled, they couldn't move.
"Timmy, can you hear me? You'd better hurry, I don't know how long that should contain them...", Tweek thought as loud as he could so his friend could hear him.
"Here it is." Murphy finally stopped in front of a door. 'Maximum Security', said a sign on it.
["How about you come in and say hello to the gentlemen in there?"] Timmy suggested Murphy.
And he, of course, thought it was a good idea.
He used his ID to unlock the door. Jimmy got in position to run.
Scott raised his head when he heard the door, shivering. He didn't get to see who it was, because everything happened so quick he found himself gasping in the open air.
What happened was that, the very millisecond the door was open enough for him to fit in, Jimmy ran inside, tried to untie Scott, since he couldn't he decided to grab him with the chair and all and ran out. Once Scott was with them, Token wrapped his arms around his friends and teleported out. While this happened, Officer Murphy peeked into the room, glanced at the armed soldiers, and said:
"Hello, I hope you boys are having a good night. I am very proud of you."
And he closed the door, leaving the men confused. Following Timmy's instructions, he went to serve himself a cup of coffee; he had earned it.
"WH-WHA-?!" Scott exclaimed, looking around.
"It's okay, Scott, it's us." Token said. Using his special punch, he got to break the shackles.
Scott needed a moment to realize in whose company he was. Then, he let out a relieved exclamation.
"Guys! I thought you'd never come...!"
"You thought we'd le-leave you there, silly?" Jimmy smiled. "How are you?"
"Now I'm fine."
Timmy gave his partners their uniform.
["We'd better hide our faces quick before someone relates us to this."] He said, putting on his suit as he spoke.
Their partners approached.
"Scott, you're all right!" Wendy smiled.
"Oh, thank God! I was starting to believe they were torturing you on the rack or something!" Tweek said.
"No, but Kyle's mom seemed like she was looking for one on Amazon..." Scott said, deciding not to put his mask on. What for? Everybody in South Park already knew he was Captain Diabetes... "Where is he, by the way?"
"Taking care of a fat little lump with Stan and Kenny." Wendy replied. "All right, now let's go before-"
She hushed, hearing a strange sound approaching. It was like a murmur. It was coming from all directions...The others were hearing it too. Clyde ascended to see what it was from the air.
"Oh-oh..." He muttered.
There was no need to ask him what he had seen: the rest saw it themselves. The street at their left was crowded with people coming towards them. Another group was coming from the opposite direction. A mob was also approaching from the front. Craig and Token turned back to find that there were others behind them.
All of South Park was coming for them, hand-made torches in hand, yelling, calling them names, wielding guns, baseball bats, kitchen knives, everything they were able to find. Their parents, their siblings, their neighbors, their friends. All of them were there, ready to lynch them.
"THERE THEY ARE! KILL 'EM!" Randy shouted at the top of his lungs.