It was the dead of night in the quiet little mountain town of South Park. By now, most residents were either asleep or out working their late-night jobs. Some were out late-night shopping or hanging out, but at this hour the streets were quiet enough that one could hear a pin dropping from a mile away.

Some, however, took advantage of this dark, quiet time to engage in social injustices. Not the kind that PC Principal might break your legs over, but the kind that Batman might break your legs over.

For instance, three burglars that had just broken into the bank, hoping to make off with the town's money long before the cops could show up. And they had a good plan, too; prior to their break-in, they were sure to tip-off the South Park Police Department to a wealthy African-American man at Stark's Pond, prompting a 'Code Black' which diverted all police resources to that area. By the time the police realised that it was a hoax call, they would be well on their way.

Unfortunately, they had made one miscalculation. They had not factored in the masked vigilante who watched over this town, keeping it safe from scum like them. They had not accounted for Mysterion.

Red and blue lights filled the streets as police cars surrounded the burglars, who were now hanging from a streetlight, bruised and battered. The green question mark left at the scene told the police who they had to thank for cleaning up their mess, but Sergeant Yates didn't see it that way. "Alright people, I want a full sweep of the area! Tonight we're gonna catch that little masked bastard! When you arrest him, plant this on his body." He handed out small bags of white powder to his officers, and then they split into teams to find their man.

They wouldn't find him, though. Mysterion always eluded the police, and they were so easily distracted that it never took much to lose them. By now, he was already on a rooftop several blocks away, watching over the city for any further signs of trouble.

This was how his nights typically went. Ever since the New Kid thwarted Mitch Conner's plans, the other boys at school stopped playing superhero and moved on to other things. Not Mysterion though. Or rather, not Kenny McCormick. To him, this was never simply a game. He may have enjoyed playing with his classmates for a time, but the reason he had adopted the Mysterion persona was to make a genuine difference in this town. To use his power to make things better.

He turned to Call Girl, who was using her various phones to quickly scan the town. Her real identity was Wendy Testaburger, a girl from his class who used to date one of his friends. She was always one of the more active students in their school when it came to enacting meaningful change, and certainly the most outspoken about supporting the less-fortunate, so the fact that she wanted to help others wasn't surprising. But the fact that she would be willing to risk her life to do so, and at such a young age, was.

"Looks like all is quiet right now," Wendy said, turning to Kenny. She was smiling, despite the fact that only moments ago, she was in a life-or-death situation against three grown men armed with guns. She hadn't hesitated when she came in armed only with her selfie sticks and numerous smartphones, and yet with only those tools, she was able to blind one of the men and disarm the other, leaving Mysterion to handle the third and tie them all up to that light. Kenny had to admit, it was pretty hot, especially in that superhero outfit of hers. "Another job well done, Mysterion!"

"Yes. You were a big help tonight, Call Girl." In this persona, Kenny kept his voice gruff. It made him sound more intimidating, and it helped conceal his identity from those who didn't know it. It also just sounded cooler than his normal voice, he thought.

"We make a pretty good team."

Kenny couldn't argue with that. Wendy, being the brains of the two, had helped a lot in ensuring the two were able to outmatch even well-armed opponents, like the ones they faced tonight. Still… "You should be more careful next time. Those were real guns out there."

Wendy simply giggled. "What, and let you have all the fun?"

"I'm serious. What if you had been shot?"

"Well I could say the same to you."

Kenny didn't respond right away. He had tried to tell his friends of his power many times, begged them to try to remember, but whenever he died and came back to life, certain memories would vanish or be altered slightly. Memories of his death were wiped, and events that happened between him dying and coming back to life would be remembered as though he was there the whole time.

For example, after he sacrificed himself to undo the events of the war and went up to Heaven, he awoke the following day in his bed. Nobody remembered what he had done, instead believing that Satan had had a change of heart all by himself, and that Kenny had been right there with them, fighting to save Terrance and Phillip as part of La Resistance.

He hadn't even bothered trying to tell Wendy about his power, since he knew it would just end the same way. But he still couldn't help but feel guilty, feeling that he was dragging her into dangerous situations, where he had a get-out-of-death-free card, but she didn't.

"Why do you do this, Call Girl?" he asked, turning his head away and looking out over the town. "Is it for fame? For glory? You rarely if ever take any credit for your deeds. Are you simply bored and trying to pass the time?"

Wendy cocked an eyebrow, putting her phones away as she approached Kenny. "What are you talking about? I'm doing it to help the people of South Park."

"Cut the crap. There are plenty of ways you can make a difference that don't involve resorting to vigilantism. You already volunteer at the soup kitchen, and I've seen you raising money to improve the school's resources. With your smarts and resourcefulness, you could do a lot more good as Wendy Testaburger than you ever could as Call Girl."

"Well, if you want to know the honest truth… it's because of you."

Kenny turned to Wendy, surprised by her answer. "Because of me?"

Wendy nodded. "I was a fan of Mysterion ever since he first appeared in the news. Some kid was going around, trying to clean-up the trash around South Park, sticking up for those too weak to defend themselves. And you weren't even doing it for any rewards. I really respected that."

Kenny took a sharp breath, caught off-guard by the confession. "I… never knew that."

"But you're still only one kid, y'know? Cartman forced you to throw in the towel once before, and if it wasn't for the New Kid and everyone else, you probably would've died to that Shub-Niggurath," Wendy continued. "I just thought, maybe you wouldn't mind someone watching your back. Of course I tried asking the New Kid first, but he just sorta stared at me quietly for a bit, then left. I think he wasn't interested."

"Yeah, the New Kid's kind of a dick."

"And Mintberry Crunch is back on his home planet so, no luck there. None of the other boys would help you, so I figured I was all you had left." She shot Kenny a cheery smile. "We do make a pretty good team though, don't we?"

Kenny turned away again. This time he had to, to hide the red on his face. Perhaps he'd been spending too much time with her, because he was definitely noticing how cute she'd been lately. "I suppose." 'I see. She's doing this because she's worried about me… Great, now I feel like an asshole.' Kenny sighed. "You don't have to watch out for me. I'll be fine."

"But you said it yourself: these guys are serious. All it takes is one thing going wrong and-"

"Really, you don't have to worry." 'It won't work. It won't work. It won't work.' "No matter what happens, even if I'm shot or burned, I won't die. I can't die." 'Why am I telling her this?' "Any time I die, I simply wakeup in my bed the next day like nothing ever happened, and everybody simply forgets it even happened." He knew it was pointless, but he was still telling her.

Wendy, as he expected, regarded him with a mixture of scepticism and confusion. "Uhhh… Are we back to roleplaying?"

Just like all his friends, she didn't believe him. It wasn't like he could blame her, of course, but still, it would be nice if just once, somebody believed him. "I'm serious, Call Girl. Even if I jumped from this roof and went splat, I would be totally fine tomorrow morning." He felt something tugging on his cape and found Wendy holding it, a stern look on her face. "I wasn't going to-"

"Well the way you were saying it, it sure sounded like it!"

"What do you mean?" Did Kenny really sound like some suicidal nutjob? Maybe it was just the voice, although… maybe the pressure of being an immortal whose deaths go unnoticed by everyone was getting to him more than he thought. "Trust me, if I was going to kill myself to prove a point, it would be a way faster, and less painful method."

Wendy let go of his cape, though she still furrowed her brows at him. "You're not making this up, are you? You're… actually serious?"

Holy shit, was she actually believing him? "I wouldn't lie about something like this. I don't know where this power comes from, or why I have it. I've used it a number of times to help me fight crime. How do you think I knew the full layout of that Italian mobster's hideout? Or the names and faces of everyone involved in that trafficking ring? I scope out a place, get killed, and then wakeup with all that knowledge, and nobody is any the wiser."

"Come to think of it, I did think it was strange how you knew where I was being held that time I got captured by those Crab People…"

"We were both captured by them. I killed myself, then ran over to free you, but from your perspective, only you were captured."

"… Come to think of it, I don't even know how I knew where they were. I just sort of showed up there and started fighting them." Wendy gave Kenny an incredulous look. "Holy shit, you're really telling the truth, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Without thinking, Kenny spun around and gripped Wendy's shoulders, smiling as he stared directly into her eyes. Both of them were now blushing, and he had realised his normal voice had slipped out for a moment. He quickly corrected it as he let her go. "A-hem! I mean, yes, I am. Sorry, it's just that people don't usually believe me whenever I tell them.

"Anyway, my point is that I only decided to become Mysterion because I knew there was no risk to myself. You became Call Girl even though you knew it was dangerous. You say you respect me? It's the other way around. I respect you, for sticking with this superhero stuff even when everyone else called it quits. But at the same time, I don't want you putting yourself in danger like that, especially not if it's to protect me. If something happened to you on my account, I'd… I don't think I could ever forgive myself."

Wendy's blush deepened, taken aback by the sudden and unexpected praise coming from Kenny. "Wow, that's… I mean, I never thought I'd hear something like that coming from you of all people."

"Well don't tell anyone. I've got an image to keep, after all."

"Your secret's safe with me. That, and your power, too." Wendy then thought of something, and asked, "Will I forgot everything you told me tonight?"

"Huh?"

"If you die. I'll forget you dying, but what about everything you told me just now? About your power, and about how you…" Wendy reached a hand up and started twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. "About how you respect me, and how you don't want me to be in any danger…"

Kenny thought for a moment before answering, "It's possible. I'm don't know entirely what memories do or don't stick around, but I do know that you will forget me telling you about my power."

Wendy grinned. "Well then it's pretty clear what I have to do, isn't it?" She took out her phones and resumed scanning the city for nefarious activities currently going on. "I don't want to forget anything you said tonight, so I'm going to have to keep being Call Girl so I can watch your back."

Kenny turned to her incredulously. "You…"

"Sorry, but I've made up my mind. I'm watching your back so I can keep you alive. If you want to make my life easier, do me a favour: don't die. Even if you think it doesn't matter, it does to me."

"Why?"

"… Because I can't even imagine how lonely it must feel to have a power like that, and not be able to share it with anyone. I know I would feel sad if I was in your shoes." She then surprised Kenny by stepping forwards and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Also, it was real sweet of you to say all that. It's nice to know you care." She gave an exasperated sigh. "If only the other boys could be more like you…"

Kenny blushed, taking a step back and staring at Wendy in shock. "I guess I can't stop you, huh?"

"Nope! You're stuck with me, Mysterion."

"Well, I can promise to try, but it might not be so easy. The universe seems to have it out for me. This one time, some big reptile-bird thing broke into the school just to kill me."

Wendy couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, now you're just making shit up."

"It's true. And this other time I got taken out by a stray bullet from God-knows-where. And then this other time I-"

"Okay, okay. I don't need to hear all the gruesome ways you've died," Wendy said.

"Fair enough. It would probably take all night, anyway."

Just then, one of Wendy's phones started to ring. "Looks like we've got a group of sixth-graders vandalising City Hall, and bragging about it on Facebook."

"Not for long," Kenny said, and together, he and Wendy descended from the rooftop, running through the dark streets. As they ran, Kenny glanced to his partner, and a smile crept onto his face. Just then, a speeding car ran him over, and the last thing he heard before blacking out was Wendy frantically screaming his name and calling the driver a bastard.

Kenny walked into school the following day, everything the same as usual. He was with Stan, Kyle and Cartman, the same as usual. And PC Principal was on a rampage, threatening to beat the shit out of some student for using a micro-aggression… the same as usual.

At recess, Kenny went off to the computer lab so that he could lookup the details of last night's hit-and-run. As expected, there was no such incident that took place. Instead, a speeding driver almost hit a couple of kids that were out playing late at night before crashing into a telephone pole, and that was that.

"Oh, hi Kenny," Wendy said as he left the room, the two bumping into each other in the hallway. "Pretty crazy what happened last night, huh? Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if one of the town's superheroes was taken out by a drunk driver?"

Kenny simply laughed. "[Yeah, that'd be fucking ridiculous,]" he said, his voice muffled by his hood.

"Well, thank god that asshole missed us. Still, I guess we should be more careful from now on." Kenny simply nodded. He knew it was coming, but the confirmation that Wendy had forgotten everything he shared with her last night hurt him. "Um, thanks for what you said last night."

Kenny nodded again, but then a few seconds later, he registered what she had said. "[Huh? Uh, what did I say?]"

Wendy was blushing. "You know, about how you respect me, and all that stuff about wanting me not to be put in any danger. It was sweet, but I'm not gonna let you keep putting yourself in danger all by yourself. So, let's just continue to have each other's backs, okay?"

Kenny was stunned. Even if it wasn't everything, she still remembered some small part of what he told her. Kenny wondered if it would be worth trying to convince her again, to tell her the truth of what really happened last night, but… 'Would she feel guilty for letting me die right next to her?'

"Kenny?"

Kenny perished the thought. There was no need to burden her with something like that. Whether she knew or not, she wanted to keep being Call Girl, and she wanted the two of them to fight together. And honestly, Kenny wanted that, too. "[Yeah! Let's keep kicking ass together!]"

Wendy laughed. "Cool. Then I guess I'll see you tonight."

"[Yeah…]" The two stared at each other for a few moments, before turning and walking in opposite directions. It was then that Kenny realised… he really couldn't wait for the night to come. And unbeknownst to him, Wendy felt the same way.