Brainwashed Hatred

Chapter 10

Karen stared at the basement ceiling, watching as small flakes of concrete floated down toward them. "Uh, guys?"

"Yes, Karen?" Tweek asked, turning his head to look at her.

Craig looked as well, following her gaze up toward the ceiling. "Shit," he muttered. He tightened his grip on Tweek's hands as he spoke up, "We need to get to ground level."

CC and Butters looked up at the ceiling as the rumbling became louder. Larger flakes began to rain down, cracks forming all along the concrete. As she tried to stand, her legs buckled under her, causing her to collapse. "Ah, CC!" Butters yelled, hurrying over to her.

"I'm fine. Ngh!" She pulled herself up using the table, which was still shaking with every quaking footstep from above. "We need to get out of here before the ceiling falls on us!"

Tweek started to hyperventilate, gripping on to Craig's shirt and burying his face into the fabric. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!! OH GOD MAKE IT STOP!!!" He was screaming, his voice muffled by the fabric. Craig held him close, staring up at the ceiling as the cracks widened. Before any of them could move again, the shaking stopped. Then, they heard a scream. It sounded like...

"Cartman's mom..." Butters muttered, looking towards the stairs. They had completely disregarded her the entire day. With the scream came the recognizable earsplitting roar and then something else they couldn't place. They didn't need to wait long to figure it out, though: They watched, horrified, as an icy claw broke through the concrete ceiling of the basement. As the ceiling opened up, chunks of concrete fell around the heroes. They huddled in the center of the room, the beast looming over them. The house was ruined, torn open to such an extent that the upstairs was completely gone.

Butters and Tweek screamed at the sight of Frostbite, the others too shocked to make any sound. "Oh, god," Karen murmured, gaping up at the humongous monster. "We are going to die."

"N-No! We can take him!" Tweek encouraged, a brave smile on his face. Craig looked at him, shocked by the sudden courage, before nodding. "That's right," he muttered.

Frostbite leaned down, his mouth foaming. The monster's eyes fell on Butters, a look of recognition seeming to flash in them. CC gasped. "Guys, I know what we have to do! Everyone, take each others hands!"

The others looked at her in shock. Hold hands? What was this, Care Bears?! Craig grabbed hold of Tweek's hand, flashing CC an approving smile. The rest of the heroes followed suit, lining up, hand-in-hand. Frostbite roared again, an expression of distress forming on his face. Something was happening to him. The wind picked up, seeming to encircle them as it picked up speed. The monster took a step back, clawing at its face and letting out a deathly scream. It began to turn back, its ice flesh melting away. It stumbled forward as he shrank, falling down into the basement. Before them lay a drenched Noah, injured from both Karen's punch and the police's attempts to kill the beast. They gathered around Noah, uncertain if he was alive or not.

"Is he..d-dead?" Tweek stuttered

Craig stared at Noah in confusion. "Who is this guy?"

"Noah, he is... WAS my assistant," Butters explained to Craig, holding himself in an attempt to calm down.

Karen turned and walked away from Noah, anger boiling in her chest. After what happened at the U-Stor-It, she couldn't give him sympathy. She would punch him again if given the chance. 

CC stood and breathed out a sigh of relief. Her idea had worked better than she expected: show the monster humanity. Seeing them together in a row, hand-in-hand, had reached through Frostbite and to Noah, turning him back. It was more like a last resort on her part. She knew, as well as everyone else, that they would've all died. 

Blue. As Mysterion opened his eyes, that was all he saw. The blue sky.

He coughed, blood spurting out of his mouth and pain striking through his body. As he moved to sit up he winced. There was nothing but pain. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. The lair was in pieces.

He stood quickly, doing his best to look around. He pulled his hood off and ran his hands through his unkempt hair. His right arm felt like it was on fire, the purple fabric of his costume darkened with blood. He turned in circles, staring dumbfounded at the carnage around him. Buildings were going up and smoke, the roads imprinted with giant footprints, sloping ice blasted haphazardly along building walls and sidewalks and pointing upward in sharp points at the sky.

He took off running, barely making it over the fence, and hurrying down the road towards Cartman's house. Police sirens seemed to blare on repeat, tainting the smoke that trailed towards the clouds shades of red and blue. As he made it to the street that Cartman's house was on, he stopped dead and gaped. Even from where he was standing he could see the destruction. Tears began to well up in his eyes, but he quickly wiped at his eyes and kept running. 'They are okay," he assured himself, his voice barely a whisper. "They are alive." He pulled his hood back over his head, picking up his pace to a near sprint.

Mysterion made it to the steps of the house and walked into the house where the door would've been. Much of the first floor was still intact, with only the stairs remaining of the second floor. The right wall was completely gone and the basement gaped open. He made his way to the stairs, standing where the wall used to be, and looked down into the lair.

The other heroes, who were still gathered in the basement, turned up towards him in shock. They stood in silence.

Suddenly, Karen rushed forward, practically flying up the staircase and into her brother's arms. They held each other tightly, Karen beginning to sob loudly. "I'm so sorry, I ran back cause I knew, I fucking knew I shouldn't have left you. But when I went back, you were gone and that THING was there and it attacked me! I fell unconscious, I-I only just woke up..." He began to choke on his words, holding back his tears. He spoke in his normal voice, which was shaky with fear. Karen led him down the stairs to the others, taking his hand in hers.

Butters stared at Mysterion, afraid to speak to him after what had happened earlier that day. As the two made eye contact, a weak smile crossing Mysterion's face. He stepped forward, but he immediately collapsing to the floor. Karen goes down with him, still holding his arm. 

"It seems I've McFallen and can't get up. Can I get some bandages, maybe?" He said, chuckling slightly before coughing up more blood.  Butters moved quickly, grabbing a roll of bandages that had fallen off one of the shelves, and hurrying to Mysterion's side. "A-Ah, jeez, here ya go," Butters stuttered with a small sigh.

CC looked over at Butters as he bandaged Mysterion. She gave a small sigh before turning away from everyone. She looked at the sky. The sun looked like it was aflame as smoke rose from the burning building of the town, the blue of the sky replaced with shades of red and orange and pink. 

What a day.