His mom wasn't there. His dad had left too. And Kyle was nowhere to be seen. Ike was afraid that the only company he would have was his aunt—or even worse: his cousin Kyle! That and his phone. He had tried to get in touch with Kyle, then with Wendy. Not even she replied. Since he had nothing else to do, he logged into Tik Tok.
There, he found the reason for the group's silence. A friend of his, Paul, was doing a streaming. He was showing his face full of zits at the forefront, behind him the street was full of people who shouted, shook their fists in the air.
"Death to Freedom Pals, yeah! They're gonna have it good!"
Ike gasped, dropped the phone and tried to get rid of all the tubes chaining him to that chair.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" A nurse saw him and ran to stop him.
"I have to go!"
"You can't leave!"
"I feel fine, leave me alone!" Ike protested, but he was pushed back to the bed.
"I said you are in no condition to leave yet, you still got wounds that will rip open if you move!" Ike couldn't fight a man so corpulent and had to do what he said. "If you're patient, you'll leave in no time, all right, buddy?"
"I'm not your buddy, friend!" Ike replied, angry.
Was that the only thing he could do? Witness through a screen how his neighbors ripped his brother and friends apart?
The Freedom Pals hesitated; the South Parkers did not.
Token's first impulse was to grab his partners and teleport far away from there. But it seemed the mob counted on it. Carl Denkins and Darryl Weathers shot him first, before he had the chance. Weathers missed the shot by a few inches, but Denkins got to scrape the side of his head, breaking his helmet and making him bleed so much it made him feel like half of his head was gone. He could only teleport some feet away just in time to avoid Weathers' redneck friends trying.
Timmy tried to convince them to go away, but they were too many. Their minds were too loud and furious to try to get inside and twist them.
"I must...I must...take Sharon...go home...watch Cobra Kai..." Randy tried to advance towards him, but those intrusive thoughts were driving him the opposite way. He was taking control of his body!
"You won't rape our minds, you fucking big-headed monster!" Garrison gave Timmy a punch in the face, and another one that knocked him down from his chair. Now that Randy was free from his influence, he joined him in kicking him while on the ground.
"Kill him before he makes us kill ourselves!" He shouted, kicking enthusiastically.
"Dad! Dad, please let's go home!" Karen tried to stop her father from joining the crowd, grabbing his arm.
"There are things we have to do, Karen, now go in there and break some teeth; people are looking at you!" He replied, jumping in anyway.
"Karen, honey, after what you did people expect you to have learned something." Carol stopped to place her hands on her daughter's face to talk to her close. "If the whole town wants to slit throats and hang people, you must slit throats and hang people, do you understand? It is the best for you. When you see Mysterion, don't hesitate."
Since Karen still didn't move, Carol grabbed her by the wrist to drag her towards the carnage. Karen resisted.
"Kenny! Kenny!" She called, looking for her brother among the impotent heroes, but she didn't see him.
"Holy s-s-shi...!" Was all Jimmy could say about what he was seeing. They were screwed, really screwed, so he thought the only way they could survive this was fleeing. He was about to run to grab Token, whose helmet was broken and threatened to show his face, when he was grabbed himself. Him and his attacker, Mr. Slave, fell to the pavement.
"I've got him! I've got him!" His former teacher assistant shouted, grabbing him firmly.
And Strong Woman did what all mothers wanted to do to Fastpass at some point after his scandal came to light: hit him in the stomach again and again, with all of her strength, which was much, like he was a punching bag. Nathan and Mimsy cheered.
"Quick! Get him before he transforms!" David Rodríguez shouted. Him, Bill Allen, Fosse McDonald, and Thomas, the Tourette guy,—all former schoolmates!—pounced on Scott. He had no sugar at hand to change, could do nothing but be grabbed from arms and feet and feel how they pulled as if they wanted his limbs to rip off.
Even with all of this mess, Sheila was able to feel the vibration of her phone inside of her pocket. The whole town knew what had to be done at this time, so she supposed whatever Mrs. Cartman had to tell her was important.
"Yes? ...Where?! ...But he's alive, isn't he? You didn't kill him, right...Very well! I'm going there right now!"
She hanged up and turned her head to her husband. She knew he would have followed her if he had known—after all, Ike was his son too. But this was something she had to do herself. It was something only a mother would understand. And they needed Gerald more in there. So he slipped among the crowd without telling him. Instead, she told Heidi, by her side.
"Come with me." She intructed her.
Heidi couldn't take her eyes off the lynching going on before her very eyes. She had to make a very hard effort to obey Sheila and leave that behind, not to see...
And while his wife and daughter-in-law left, Gerald, along with Big Gay Al, Red, Lexus, Doctor Mephesto and Lola had cornered Wendy against a wall. She had taken her selfie stick out but she knew perfectly she couldn't use it on them, the only thing she could do was use it as a fragile, almost imaginary barrier between them. She saw them take out their phones. Log into Twitter.
Skankhunt42. Her heart skipped a beat.
Then, they started spilling all hate their hearts could produce into the hashtag #CallGirlOut. The stick slipped from her hand.
Lu Kim was coming towards Tweek with his sword in hand. Mr. Mackey with a baseball bat to the left. DogPoo to the right. And behind him, his own parents-in-law, the Tuckers.
"There you are, you son of a bitch…" Thomas grunted. He was carrying a kitchen knife, surely the biggest he could find.
"Oh, man...Oh, God...!" Tweek gasped. He was so scared he was afraid it would happen the same as the last time, when he electrocuted all that people at school. He breathed deep, tried to figure out a way out of this, but he was surrounded, there was no way he could break out of there without hurting someone!
He turned his head to Craig, hoping he knew what to do.
"Are you all fucking crazy?!" He was shouting, pushing Stuart away when he pounced on him, then getting Towelie out of his face.
"ARE YOU CRIMINALIZING PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISORDERS?! ALL RIGHT, THAT DOES IT!" PC Principal roared and sprung on him.
Although the principal was quite muscled, Craig had the advantage of having a super-human strength. Getting rid of him was as easy as shaking a bug off. His children ran to help him get up.
"Get him, Dad!" Emory encouraged him.
"Oh, no, you didn't!" Classi tried to scratch his face with her long nails, and Craig made her fall on her butt. That only angered her enough to try harder. PC Principal too. Mr. Turner joined in. After him, Mark Cotswolds. The more he pushed them away, the more he angered them, making them try more viciously. The more people coming towards him, the more he had to deal with.
"Wait! No, wait! Everyone calm down, people!" Barbrady made his way among the people, tried to stop them, but his voice wasn't even heard. Without the badge, after all, he was no one.
"There he is, quick!" Jimbo pointed at Clyde, flying over their heads, and immediately after him, Ned and the local rednecks shot without aiming.
Clyde got to make a lamppost get the shot, but that was too close. His only way of escaping was hiding among the rooftops. The men followed him quickly. Bebe watched how Clyde flew in the most different ways trying to avoid the shots, but couldn't help some pellets grazing his skin.
"Oh, my God!" She exclaimed, her voice muffled by the animal-like screams. "Stop! Stop, please!"
It was then when she saw Wendy.
«Bitch», «Cunt», «Slut», «Witch», «Ugly». All those words filled the monster on the Internet. Each of them was a bullet to her chest. She found short of breath; not even opening her mouth wide was she able to get the oxygen she needed. Her legs couldn't hold her anymore. The group didn't feel any kind of pity for her. Their insults got uglier. Gerald used all of his bile. Being an Internet creature that meant that her life depended on her digital life—and he was a master in destroying those. He couldn't say he wasn't enjoying it.
"Wendy!" Bebe cried, and ran towards her.
She was dying! She could see it, how she was losing all of her strength, how she ended up writhing in pain on the ground.
Stan!, was Wendy's last word before losing consciousness.
It was crazy to defend her in front of such a mob, but she couldn't let her friend die!
"STOP! STOP, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" Bebe shouted to the top of her lungs, standing in the way with her arms open. She then knelt before Wendy and held her in her arms, shaking her, trying to get a reaction. "Wendy! Wendy! Oh, please, Wendy!"
"What?" Big Gay Al looked around, only to find people as confused as he was. Upon hearing that name, his husband Mr. Slave turned his head towards the fallen heroine, muttering that name.
"Wake up! Please, wake up!" Wendy needed air. Bebe removed Wendy's face mask and touched her face, white like a sheet of paper.
That made Red and Lola let out an exclamation.
"Wendy?!"
"Oh, my God! What?!"
Gerald was left with his finger about to touch the 'send' button, astonished. Wasn't that...? Wendy?! Wendy Testaburger?!
Jimmy's stomach was probably reduced to foie-gras at that point; Mr. Slave was the only thing that kept him standing. Strong Woman, even if she was very strong, needed to stop and breathe, and so she removed his helmet to spit on his face. When his face was revealed, they saw that it was a familiar face...
Maybe that was for the best, Tweek thought...
Thomas tried to stab him in the heart. He only got to cut his uniform because Tweek drew back on time, but that was too close to a flesh wound...If he had ended up wounded, his powers would have protected him and he could have killed all people around him! He saw there was no choice...
"Thomas! Please, stop! It's us!" He shouted, and removed his mask.
Thomas and Laura's jaw dropped.
"...Tweek?!" They exclaimed at the unison.
"Tweek Tweak?" Mr. Mackey exclaimed too, letting go of his bat.
"Yeah, Mom, Dad." Craig walked towards Tweek and removed his mask in front of his parents. "It is us."
"Craig!" Laura exclaimed.
"What the hell are you doing dressed like Super Craig?!" Thomas shouted.
"What do you think, Dad?!" Craig said, exasperated, rolling his eyes.
Randy crouched down to remove Timmy's mask as well, since he didn't seem to be in condition to attack back.
"Holy crap, Doctor Timothy is one of Stan's friends!" He exclaimed.
"Take that, you freak!" That guy who used to bully all of them fourth graders at school was breaking the remains of Token's mask with a baseball bat with nails. Clyde flew to stop him before he unmasked and killed him, and he got hit by Nichole with a rake, falling to the ground.
Token had this unbearable ringing in the ear that had been shot, but managed to put his mind into work and teleported by Clyde's side.
"Come on, get up, buddy..." He said to him. Jimbo, Ned, Denkins and Weathers all approached ready to finish them off. Token grabbed Clyde and held him tight.
He didn't even notice his helmet crumbled completely, but the others did. A scream was heard.
"STOP! STOP! THAT'S MY SON! IT'S MY SON!" Steve pushed everyone in his way and pounced on Token to protect him.
"Wendy! Oh, no, Wendy!" Mr. Testaburger also ran towards his daughter the very minute he saw her lying on the ground. She still had a pulse, but it was weak! He and his wife tried to make her react, called her endlessly.
"GIVE HER A LIKE! A LIKE, QUICK!" Bebe screamed full of anguish.
"Wendy is Call Girl?! Does Stan know?!" Sharon also approached, her hand on her chest.
"Wonder Tweek is actually Tweek!" Francis exclaimed, wholeheartedly surprised.
"Laura and I loved you and accepted you into our family and that's what we get!" This reveal seemed to make Thomas angrier at Tweek.
"I-I didn't intend to kill her!" Tweek walked to Laura and took her hands. "Please forgive me! I...! I...!"
"I didn't think you'd be a danger to society, Tweek!" Richard confronted his son.
"He's not! It was you who cornered him and left him no choice but to defend himself! You all came here tonight to kill us!" Craig answered for him, since he was getting so anxious he couldn't even talk.
"Because you hurt people!"
"You hurt us first!"
"Because you hurt people!"
"Please, Dad, you don't understand...!" Tweek was finally able to say.
"Come on, you have them! They're right in front of you!" Bailey exclaimed.
But no one wanted to fight them anymore...
"They are still the Freedom Pals! They must pay for their horrible behavior!" Harper said.
"We can't, mkay? We know these people! They're not bad!" Mr. Mackey helped Timmy get back on his chair.
"I know my son and I can't believe he could have done all the things Fastpass' been accused of!" Ryan said, approaching Jimmy.
"Sure I woul-wou-wouldn't, Dad..." He replied.
"Liar!" River shouted at him.
"You say that because you are his dad!" Harper replied.
"Timmy..." Timmy started to say, his nose surely broken and with a notable commotion which prevented him from addressing those around him telepathically.
"Shut up, you are a murderer!" Emory interrupted and pointed at him with an accusatory finger.
God hated lies and false testimony. Mrs. Harrison couldn't take it anymore and stepped forward to say: "Well, I was there the day he killed Ackroyd and I must say my daughter and I would have died if it wasn't for Doctor Timothy stopping him."
"Yeah, Ackroyd had it coming." Bob White declared.
"Section 46 of the Criminal Procedure Code" His daughter Crystal intervened, "states that the police can use force extending up to the causing of death, as may be necessary to arrest the person accused of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life."
"She's studying to join the Police." Bob said to those close to him, so, so proud of his girl.
"Shut up, you White bitch! Of course you would defend this racist fuck! He's not a cop!" Riley replied.
"Anyway, I seriously doubt any tribunal will punish a mentally challenged man for self-defense." Victoria said.
"He may be challenged, but he's still white, so he's more privileged than Ackroyd was, so that…that means…!"
The PC children were starting to get more and more nervous, because they were not finding support around them.
"But...But...are you gonna let them get away with that they did?!" Bailey exclaimed.
Scott got up from the pavement and looked around him. He was afraid the attack would resume in any second. But he found friendly faces around him. Several people placed their hands on him to show support. His mother made her way through the crowd to hug him.
"After all they have done for us all of this time—yes, I think so." Nurse Gollum said. She looked around her and found some people were nodding.
"We can overlook some things. I mean, no one's a saint." Skeeter said.
"Overlook it?! People who do wrong don't deserve any kind of consideration! They have to...!" River said.
"Why are we listening to these whining kids anyway? What a waste of time! Get yourselves a life, you nagging little pricks!" Garrison asked, looking at the PC children with despise.
"Yeah, I've got no problem with the FP." DogPoo said.
"Me neither!" Big Gay Al said. "I guess we all were kind of pressured into this..."
"I thought the whole town was gonna kick my ass if I didn't come here!" Jimbo said.
Me too!, more and more people admitted.
"We were afraid we'd end up like Mr. Hankey!" The two farmers said.
"Why did we let us get carried away by five fucking kids who've never done shit for anyone?" Classi said.
"It's not true! We were changing the world for the best!" Riley couldn't hold the tears and ran, with her siblings, into her parents' arms.
"Token, but...why didn't you tell us? Since when do you...?" Steve used his own jacket to try to stop Token's bleeding. His wife, in the meanwhile, held the boy's hand.
"Uhm, remember two years ago when I almost die?...It...sort of...gave me...superpowers..." Token avoided looking at his father to the face.
"Wait, what?" Mr. Stevens exclaimed.
"Does that mean...that all of you who got shocked...?" Roger looked at his son Clyde with his eyes wide open.
"Stan too?" Jimbo exclaimed.
"What?" Randy managed to chuckle nervously, shaking his head. "No, impossible...Stan..."
But the way Token and Clyde were looking at him made his smile fade.
"...Are you serious?! Stan?! My Stanley?!"
Sharon gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.
"Damn!" Shelley exclaimed, and this was all she could say—she wasn't very sure of how to feel about this.
"No way...Did you hear that?" Michael turned his head to his goth friends.
"The jock's a superhero too?" Pete raised his eyebrows. "...Wow, he couldn't be any more lame and conformist..."
"Kyle was in that ride too!" Gerald approached Randy.
"And Kenny!" Stuart joined them.
"Kenny is Mysterion, Dad...That's why...I didn't want you to come here and..." Karen shyly admitted.
"Kenny?! Really?! And you knew?!" Carol looked at her husband. "Stuart!"
"Oh, are you fucking kidding me?! All of these years we've been terrified of our own son?! And that little shit got to squeeze us good! I'm gonna kill him..." Stuart protested.
"Shut up, you idiot, we almost killed our son tonight!" Carol replied.
When Gerald realized of something, he let out a gasp. He almost looked like the beginning of a heart attack.
"...Is...Is Kyle like you?" He asked the group.
"Yeah..." Jimmy approached, needing his crutches more than ever.
"...What is his superhero alias...?" Gerald was so afraid to ask.
"Human Kite..." Clyde replied.
NowGerald did look like his heart stopped.
"Sheila! SHEILA! S-Sheila?" He started looking for his wife among the crowd.
"My son and daughter-in-law are superheroes..." Sharon muttered, so shocked she seemed far, far away from there.
"Yeah...This is gonna be great for business!" Randy exclaimed.
"Where are Kenny, Stan and Kyle?" Karen muttered, looking around. Did they escape, leaving their friends there? No, impossible...
"We're not dead...This...This is a relief..." Scott chuckled nervously, although still sore.
Perhaps a bit soon to say that. Some sudden shots made him jump—no, not that. It was the light bulbs in the street exploding. One by one, they burst, leaving the street in the dark in the end. The South Parkers looked around, confused.
"Everybody calm down!" Barbrady exclaimed.
He then let out a startled yelp when a lightning fell near on one of the nearby building's rooftop.
"Look!" Someone shouted.
A person was standing right where the lightning fell. They were wearing a cape that waved with the wind. The thunder followed, right when Butters showed his face to the crowd.
"Did you expect to see monsters tonight? Here I am!"