Guest: I am not going to give away anything, but you will find out in just a couple of chapters ;-) The story is coming to an end!

Although his friends had a good reason to investigate the attacks they had suffered and thanks to them he had obtained some information that could be useful, Kenny did not tell them a thing about his fight against General Disarray, Butter's threat or anything related to the subject. It was not that he didn't trust them, but they were not the most adequate partners precisely: they only knew the basics about their powers, and he was the one who held a legit secret identity since he was a fourth grader while they were playing the superheroes. No, they wouldn't be much of a help in that aspect. Also, Butters could rip his head off and he would still be standing, which was not their case.

...He didn't want to admit that his last words to him had sowed suspicion to people around him...

That was a pretty quiet night. It seemed that the criminals had been so intimidated about the Coon and the rumors of other masked freaks that not many dared to risk their necks. Mysterion found himself with very little to do apart from going over and over that matter which was obsessing him. He could only sleep taking little naps now and then, when his job allowed him. That horrible feeling that something would happen was slowly draining all his energy. In those moments he wandered the rooftops, feeling the air waving his cape and clearing his mind.

"No! Wait! Wait!"

"Charlie, what's wrong? You look like you'd seen a ghost!"

"Worse than that...We've been invaded!"

Mysterion stopped and leaned forward, so much that he looked as if he was going to fall to the ground, to see the origin of those voices three stories below. But he saw no one. Only something white that was lying on the pavement. Wait...Mysterion squinted. Then, he slipped down a downspout to get to the ground and listened closely. What he had seen were underpants, of different sizes and forms, and they were not just lying there: little men, half their size, with pointy hats, were carrying them.

"Rays?! What do you mean rays?!"

"He killed them! He just...He just appeared and...Rays came out of his hands and...Oh, gosh, that awful smell!" the gnome dropped on his knees and cried hysterically.

"No..No, it can't be!"

"Don't listen to him, he must have been drinking again!"

"Tell us you're joking!"

"I wish! I was close enough to the exit to escape in time..."

Mysterion didn't wait to hear the rest. He left the scene as if he had never been there, and, still like a ghost, he crossed the town towards the woods. He still knew the way, after all those years—one couldn't easily forget the place where a cart crushed him.

PHASE ONE: Steal underpants

PHASE TWO: ?

PHASE THREE: Profit

Professor Chaos smirked. He looked away from the planning to observe the wide dome above him, stepping on the little, fried corpse of a gnome, without even noticing. Next, he cast his eyes upon the five tunnels around him. If he was not mistaken, those connected to the different areas of the town.

He took a step towards the nearest one—but he stopped. Mysterion, behind him, prepared to punch. Chaos discharged a ray in his chest, making him fly across the cave.

"Mysterion! You found me!" Professor Chaos opened his arms, still emitting sparks. "I knew you would."

Mysterion got up with a groan.

"I would have felt really disappointed if you hadn't. You're my favorite game partner. All the people I've found to these day were no fun."

"So that's what this is all for you? A game?"

"You know what they say: if you have to do something, try to make it amusing."

Mysterion had no intention of losing his time with useless chatter and tried to take the most of his opponent's will to talk attacking him. But Chaos was not that distracted, and grabbed his hand, throwing him another bolt which made him fall to the ground.

"...You killed people..." Mysterion grunted.

"They were not that innocent. No one here is."

"Well, I came to put a stop to this once and for all." the masked vigilante got up.

Professor Chaos approached him, his blue eyes shining with a tiger's ferocity while smiling like a little boy.

"You've never killed anybody in your life. You don't have what it takes."

Mysterion held his stare. Two sapphires in a black background.

"There's always a first time to everything."

He didn't give Chaos time to react. He punched his stomach as hard as he could. A groan escaped from the Professor's lips and he bent. But that didn't mean he was at a disadvantage. He grabbed Mysterion's arm and produced a discharge which made Mysterion convulse and feel he was burning. After that, he elbowed him in the nose, and Mysterion heard and felt it break. With a kick in the abdomen, he was sent to the ground, still shaking because of the electrocution.

"It hurts me to do this to you, Kenneth." his actions contradicted his words: he pressed a foot on his chest, making it difficult to breath or stand up. "Out of all boys in class you were the most acceptable. Look, why don't you leave all that hero crap? Don't you feel tired?"

"I...ung...said it to Disarray and I'll say it to you...Whatever happens, I will never do anything that will harm this town."

"Will you let yourself die for it?"

"Yes."

Professor Chaos clicked his tongue.

"Well, alright. Then I guess you can bury yourself with it."

He stood straight and closed his eyes. Whatever he was doing, he was making the ground tremble. A bit of rubble fell over them. One could hear the pillars crack. Mysterion looked around, and he understood. He had come there to provoke an earthquake. The gnomes built their galleries under the whole town and even beyond. The whole place was supported on those wood pillars. If the violence of the shake increased, South Park would crumble.

"Don't do it!"

"Oh." Professor Chaos grinned. Like a brat, he did totally the opposite of what he was being told. The sounds Mysterion was hearing were not promising at all.

"If this place goes to hell, you will be buried too!"

Professor Chaos laughed again. 'I love it when people take me as some kind of idiot', his lips muttered without pronouncing them aloud. Although he wished Mysterion to know about the protection his cape conceded him, he was in the best part of the night and he was not going to spoil it with explanations.

Above them, Big Gay Al, after feeling the bed tremble, told Mr. Slave not to make love to him so hard, because they would wake their baby up.

"Seriously, Butters, you need help." Chaos grinned wider. Oh, he loved that music, hearing Mysterion talk desperately. "The electrocution had to melt some wire in your brain. You were never like this. You were a good guy."

The other's smile disappeared suddenly.

"And you see what I got for being a good guy?!" Professor Chaos stomped on his chest, making him lose his breath for a moment. "All my life I've been pleasing others, they've pushed me around and I never complained!"

The anger triggered more sparks that covered his body.

"The electrocution gave me clarity. Too bad it didn't have the same effect on you. I really regret having to kill you, but you leave me no choice."

It was Mysterion's turn to let out a bitter chuckle.

"You think you can kill me...Tell me more..."

That was enough chatter, Professor Chaos thought, irritated by his opponent's laugh. He would kill Mysterion and then get the job done. Rays concentrated in his right arm. He was ready to give him a fatal shock, even greater than the one which killed and ultimately gave him his powers. But everything happened so quickly he couldn't defend himself: Mysterion slipped beneath his legs to then hit his lower back. Mysterion immobilized him on the ground, making his helmet fall. Chaos extended one and to grab his face and discharged. It burnt Mysterion's mask and left ugly marks on his face, not to talk about that terrible dizziness, but he didn't back down. Although stunned, he grabbed the arm and with a brusque movement he made it crack in a very painful angle. While Professor Chaos was screaming, Mysterion grabbed the other and hit it too near the elbow, breaking it.

The trembling stopped and the ground seemed static again. Professor Chaos gritted his teeth. He didn't scream anymore. He didn't want to die screaming. He didn't want him to see him scream. He waited for the final blow looking at his killer with all the ferocity he could inspire.

The end never came. Mysterion's face remained cold as stone but he didn't move.

When he did, he removed his mask and hood, showing his rival the face of an old friend, a person he had grown up with, side by side. A trace of blood coming out of his nose had dried, although his nose was now intact.

"Come on...Come on! What are you waiting for?!" Professor Chaos shouted.

"..."

"Do it!"

"...We can go on like this all time you want, but you will never kill me. You can't win, Leo."

"Professor Chaos!"

"Leo...Don't you feel tired?"

The villain tried to kick him but he had little strength left. It was something painful to see, how he struggled to keep doing harm when he was more or less able to bear the pain. Mysterion, out of pity, gave him space to breath, and he tried to electrocute him, but he was barely able to produce a few sparks. Mysterion crouched by his side.

Butters finally closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. That was the kind of sigh Kenny had seen in old people close to death, on his own father coming come after two or even more shifts of work. He was so tired. And accepting it seemed to relieve him. He hoped he had finally understood it was senseless to go on like this.

Mysterion helped him stand up, careful not to do more harm to his broken arms. Butters seemed like a puppet whose strings had been cut off, silent, motionless, breathing painfully.

"What did you call me before?" he asked in no more than a whisper.

"Leo. Leopold. That's your real name, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's just that...People have always called me Buters..."

Silence. Butters snorted—was it a laugh or a groan?

"I really admire your sacrifice, Kenny...But...it's heartbreaking how you sacrifice yourself for people who have been stabbing you in the back..."

"There's good people in South Park dying for."

"I am not talking about the town...But a certain person. Someone you call a friend..."

Butters took a pause to breath deeply.

"You know him. Oh, yeah, you know him veeery well...He's been playing with you. He's been playing with everyone. We have been acting like pawns without knowing it...I didn't open the portal to Imaginationland, and I have nothing to do with people attacking the gang—but he wanted to put the blame on me. He wanted you to follow the wrong people."

"...Who are you talking about?"

"Think. I created chaos for my own amusement and recruited people who believed in chaos just for the sake of chaos. But who actually benefits from this? Who would want to see vigilantes in South Park? Who makes a profit out of all the situation?"

The wrinkle in Mysterion's frown made Butter's eyes gleam.

"I was being honest when I told you I really appreciated you. That's why I am going to give you a clue...Have you examined the gun General Disarray had? He gave it to him...to make things more interesting."

Mysterion took a step back and used the radio he had in his suit.

"Barbrady!"

"Who-What-Wh-!"

"Officer, the gun confiscated to General Disarray! What can you tell me about it?"

"The gun? Ah, yeah, I have the inform here...Somewhere...Do you mind waiting a second? I don't know if it's in this folder or...Ah, no, this is the fridge..."

"This is not the end...We will meet soon...Friend..." Mysterion didn't hear those words coming out of Butter's lips—they were too low for him to catch them, anyway. He was too focused on what Barbrady was telling him from the other side of the radio.

"Oh, come on..."

"Ah, here! No, wait, this is not it...'Buy eggs?' Ah! Here! Here it is! Mysterion, you there?"

"Yes, I am!"

"Good! Uhm, it is an assault rifle, a new model with all the technological advantages. The company is pretty recent but seems to know how to do things right, because is becoming very popular these days. The other day I commented to Jimbo Kern that most of his stuff comes from this company; since all this riot stuff happened folks have been buying guns from them in mass. Effective range of 330 yards, fully automatic firing..."

"Did Kern tell you if Disarray bought it from his store?"

"Well, if he did he didn't use his ID as Doug O'Connell. We are still figuring out where the heck he got it from—you know that there are states in which you can buy a gun without having to identify yourself. It didn't have the serial number, you know? Perhaps it was a defect in its manufacture..."

"...What is the name of the enterprise which commercializes those weapons?"

"Here it is. Uhmm..."

Mysterion's eyes opened wide when Barbrady pronounced the words.

"That son of a bitch!" he exclaimed.

He cut the communication right after that. He turned towards Butters, to find out that he was alone. When did he leave and where? What did he plan to do, with both his arms broken? He felt a pressure in his chest, but he didn't think much longer about him. They would meet again. He was sure of that. But now, now he had to warn his friends.

He didn't stop cursing under his breath as he ran. That son of a bitch, that big motherfucker...