Brainwashed Hatred

Chapter 19

Everyone sat in silence on the living room floor. Mysterion turned his gun over and over in his hands; Butters watched with his head on Mysterion's shoulder. CC, Tweek, and Craig sat opposite the other two, all leaning against the couch. Rain sprinkled lightly through the open roof, mingling with the smoke from Craig's newest cigarette. They were waiting for something, anything, to happen.

"Craig?" Butters squeaked out. 

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shot Noah, I was just..."

"It's okay. I will take care of it with the police."

Butters winced and stared down at the floor. A few moments passed before he spoke again: "You said, downstairs, that Code is responsible for everything. How can you be certain?"

Craig sighed as he hastily burnt out the cigarette. "That mind control machine. You got it from Noah, who got it from Code. The machine is why everyone has gone crazy, all except a handful of the cops. The entire time, Code was controlling Noah, and in turn, controlling you indirectly. The entire plot to have you and Noah mind control all of us nearly worked, until you joined our side. So then, he went to Plan B, which saw Noah turn into Frostbite in order to get rid of us with force. At the last minute, however, when we all stood together hand-in-hand, he changed his mind and released Noah from his control. The reason Noah remembered nothing is because of the mind control, because of Code.

"Code decided he didn't want to kill us, so he went to Plan C: his fear gun. He planned on using the gun to get us to cooperate with him. Of course, as you all know, he needed to know Tweek's fear, which ended up being his downfall when we all went after him. When he was in the cage, he knew Plan C had failed, since I had deleted all of his files, which is why he told us about his plan. When you shot him, Mysterion, you did exactly what he wanted you too. He isn't dead, and he isn't done with us."

"Oh, how right you are."

Before anyone could react, a shadowy fist connected with CC's face, knocking her backwards into Tweek. CC held her jaw and growled, but the shadow was gone. "Where are you, you fucker?!"

Code laughed, his voice seeming to echo all around them. Craig stood up, but was immediately kicked in the back. He hit the floor hard, all the air knocked out of his lungs. "Craig!" Tweek cried out, but before he could reach him, Tweek was lifted into the air and thrown across the room into the kitchen. Mysterion took aim at Code and shot; he watched in dismay as the bullet went right through him. Code knocks the gun from Mysterion's hand before filling out, his body now completely visible.

"You- You bastard!" CC pounced at Code, who instead of moving away, grabbed her. She gasped in surprise as she tried to free herself from his grasp. Her gasp quickly turned into screaming as Code carried her out of the house. 

"CC!" The four yelled at once. Mysterion picked up his gun before the four ran out of the house and onto the road. They barely made it in time to see Code and CC heading out onto a side path. "Come on, let's go!" Tweek yelled as they all took off. 

Out on the path, CC struggled to get free from Code's grasp. "Let go of me, you freak!" She growled, biting down hard on Code's arm. He threw her down hard as he screamed in pain. He clenched his fists as he moved toward her, but before he could reach her, a bullet shot threw his left leg. CC watched in shock as he collapsed and the four ran towards her. "Nice shot, Mysterion!" CC called out.

Mysterion smiled as he and Butters crouched down next to her. "Are you alright?" Butters gasped as he tried to call his breathing. CC nodded, then turned her attention to Tweek and Craig. Tweek held Code down on the ground; Craig stood in front of them, holding in his hands a phone. Code's phone. With a few clicks, Craig pointed the phone at Code as he pressed another button. At that moment, Code's screen went black, his body still.

Everyone stood up, staring in surprise at Craig, who dropped the phone onto the ground and stomped on it repeatedly until it was completely in pieces. 

"Craig, what did you-" Mysterion started to say, but Craig spoke before he could finish.

"There was one file on the phone I didn't delete: Terminate. Somewhere down the road, I imagine Code planned it out, in case he ran out of options. But now, it's over."

The five heroes looked around at each other as they all began to laugh. They moved together into a group hug. 

"Craig?"

Craig turned at the sound to see CC standing behind him. "Hey Marie."

She moved to sit next to him on the sidewalk. She glanced at Tweek, who was asleep on Craig's shoulder on his other side. "For the first time in 3 days, everything has finally settled down."

"Yeah, I think everything can finally go back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be."

"Yeah..." Marie stared up at the sky. "Where did Butters and Kenny go?"

"Kenny's house, I think, to get some sleep."

"You need to get some sleep."

"I know, I know. But I still need to take care of everything with the police and Noah and Code."

Marie turned to him and sighed. "You've done so much already, you owe yourself at least a few hours of sleep."

"I guess."

Marie turned away, staring down at the concrete. She leaned onto Craig's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Thanks Craig."

Craig smiled softly. "Of course, Marie." Then, he fell asleep.