Maserati Jones became a very famous name in South Park. Her name was so cited in social media she became a recurrent trending topic. The searching engines showed a peak of interest in her name and life. The local television networks broadcasted special programs dedicated to her horrible story, to satisfy the great demand for information. The PC Children, as part of their deal, managed to get an exclusive interview for their YouTube channel, in which she gave them statements to highlight on their social media like this:
«...They just told me I couldn't say no to him...He's too powerful to reject...»
They also got declarations from the other Raisins girls in which they confirmed the abuse and added gasoline to the fire.
«Fastpass massaged my breasts without my consent. It was just a matter of milliseconds, but I swear I felt that, and he acted like nothing happened. Now I wonder if he went beyond, too fast to notice, to fight it, to leave traces to prove it happened...The thought of that is enough to bring me such anxiety...»
In the midst of these events, Nathan, the owner of the most popular casino in all of Colorado, jumped in with new allegations against Fastpass.
«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 of the browser 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. He had always defended and excused him, saying he wasn't that bad, mistaking his hate for 'little disagreements which don't mean a thing'. 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 an immature, like all children! He hated Jimmy back then because he needed attention desperately and Jimmy was stealing it, enough reason for a young boy to make an enemy! He didn't know Jimmy, 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 whose 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. There had to be a way to prove that everyone was lying. Perhaps he could get his partners' permission to unlock some brains and make them all spill the truth, who was behind all of this...Heck, perhaps he did it without counting on anyone! This had to be stopped right now. He couldn't take hearing all those lies about Jimmy, everyone around him consume those lies hungrily. He didn't need his powers to know he didn't molest anyone in his life. Jimmy didn't deserve this. He wouldn't let his reputation and well-being be ruined by some liars.
That is, if it wasn't too late already...It just takes an accusation to ruin a person's life forever...
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. Ike advised them all to wait and see what they could find out. Perhaps they just needed to wait until the people forgot about it, wait for the next fad or event attracting everyone's attention and outrage. Then Fastpass would reappear to save someone and everything would be forgotten.
Perhaps...Or perhaps it wasn't that simple.
That was what was on Timmy's big head 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 happened because some minds were not in much good condition because of drug abuse, brain damage or congenital illnesses affecting them, 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. Paranoid schizophrenia..., a life of drug abuse didn't make things better..., not to mention a very stubborn and violent personality. 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, deep down...He was dangerous...Timmy felt brains fading like blown candles all around, 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. Ackroyd 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 was still nowhere to be seen and no one knew when they would come. Timmy couldn't keep him under control until they arrived...He would kill him, and every other idiot who dared to try to oppose him, and everyone he came across...
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. The attacker's eyes opened wide in terror.
"N-No!", was the only word he could utter as he watched how the knife sank in his own neck. A stream of blood gushed out.
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. The noise inside their heads was very loud.
He's killed him!
He made him...!
Jesus!
Goodness gracious!
Couldn't have he just paralyzed him?
The mental rattle 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 dropped on his knees in front of the television, slammed his fists against the floor.
Dad had all the right to be furious. His children couldn't believe what they were hearing, either. Doctor Timothy 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 worse Doctor Timothy's action was.
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, when he almost killed the clerk.
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! No one would have!
On the Internet there were posts of witnesses who claimed that Doctor Timothy did not even try 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 as they are, 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 commited by someone in a somewhat high position of power, and were willing to listen to iconoclastic opinions. The proportion of likes and dislikes this one got was much more balanced this time. 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, and they were really influential! These followers shared their video with their followers, making it viral. 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. Their voice was finally heard.
«People from all over the state are coming here to leave flowers and candles in the memory of Melman Ackroyd, victim of what some are calling '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..."
Gerald had to agree. He shook his head, so shocked, so...disappointed.
"Who would have said it. They looked so nice, all of them..."
"Advertisement, that's all..." Sheila turned her eyes to her youngest son, who was walking towards the door. "Take the garbage out before you go."
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 the team 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 the door.
["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 surely don't think I did it because he was black, right?"]
"I know, Timmy, but still..."
"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."]
Kenny nodded in agreement, his arms crossed, a very serious expression on his face.
"There had to be something else!" Ike replied. "Now everyone thinks the Freedom Pals are a bunch of murderers, just like you! The reputation of the whole team 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, people I saw die right in front of me, and think HE is the victim. Someone has created a dramatic 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..."]
"Timmy, we don't want to do this, really. It hurts us like you've got no idea." Wendy said, trying to calm him down.
But he was the mind-reader. He spotted lies instantly. He saw beyond pretty words. He couldn't be fooled. When he frowned at her, she hushed and didn't dare to speak again.
His eyes turned to Jimmy and he felt so extremely uncomfortable. He didn't speak, either. He even avoided looking at him.
["...I supported you, Jimmy..."] His voice in Jimmy's mind was almost like a whisper. A lament.
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 continue to be a burden to the team. 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 he closed the curtains in his face. 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.
Kenny kept his eyebrows furrowed, his disapproving silence. He did nothing wrong, he would defend till the day he died. He would have done the same in his place. In all of his years as a vigilante, he had seen that sometimes one had to choose the less bad option. He wished the decision had been a little more democratic, so he could show Timmy it was not an unanimous measure.
"It's still fucked up, isn't it? I agree with Timmy on that." Token said. "People seem to have forgotten why Timmy had to intervene in the first place..."
"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 a visit, Kenny." Kyle said to his friend then, when he looked around and saw Wendy was already too far away to reach—it seemed she left as soon as she could and tried to avoid people.
"Mmm..." Kenny doubted.
"I called him a million times after reading Wendy's post about the pregnancy and to discuss Timmy's issue and he's been hanging me up. I forgot to ask her now, with all this shit going on, but have you seen her? She didn't look very happy. I mean, of course not, this is very serious, but I mean...You know what I mean. Maybe if both of us talk to him face to face..."
"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.
Kyle was right about something: Wendy didn't want any more people to congratulate her for her upcoming motherhood. She hoped the issue they had in their hands distracted everyone, and so it happened. However, some of their friends remembered, it seemed.
"Wendy!" Scott caught up with her. "I forgot to tell you...I read your post...Congratulations!"
"Ah, thank you, Scott..." Wendy drew a smile. She didn't want him to know how little she wanted to hear that.
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"I don't know yet, Scott..."
"Ah, right. It feels so weird, you know? Classmates getting married, getting pregnant...My father's asking me all the time: 'Look at your friends, Scott, when are you moving out and getting a life?'. It's so stressing. But I barely listen to him anymore. Everyone-"
He interrupted his verbal diarrhea when he noticed the look on Wendy's face.
"Don't worry. I know Timmy. He'll stop being mad at us soon."
"I know. It's not that..."
"So? ...What's wrong?"
Wendy blinked multiple times.
"...I'm feeling a little dizzy..."
She turned her face to Scott and eased his worry with a weak smile.
"I guess it's normal in the first stages to feel like crap...You guys are lucky your contribution in making a baby is minimum."