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Chapter Text

Butters sighed, sitting on his bed after getting grounded once again, and for yet again a completely ridiculous reason.

It'd been around a week since he'd saved Imaginationland and it's residents, even though some of them were kinda mean and putting everything on him when he just wanted to go home, but he understood why it was important! He'd be stressed out too, if his home and friends were being threatened and killed like that, but he still wished they were a bit nicer. He also wished his parents hadn't grounded him after he saved Imaginationland; saving all of imagination was more important than cleaning the basement, darnit.

Everything was just... normal, now, and it wasn't that Butters wanted attention or anything, he just wanted to go a day without getting grounded, damnit!

Sparks crackled in his hands as he grew more frustrated, and he yelped, scurrying back on his bed, the electricity surging a bit before vanishing. His breathing sped up as he started to hyperventilate, looking at his hands with wide eyes as he tried figuring out what just happened. He hadn't just done that, had he? He must've been seeing things; there was no way that had just happened!

He wasn't in Imaginationland, he'd tried imagining things all week, especially not being grounded anymore, and none of it worked, so he was definitely back in the real world. So how...?

Realization hit.

He'd been trying to help against the evil side of Imaginationland, and after failing to bring Santa back, he'd figured he'd try something else. He'd tried imagining Professor Chaos into existence, albeit with a few tweaks so he wouldn't attack the good side of Imaginationland, but it hadn't worked either, despite the weird feeling he'd gotten after he'd tried it. So he hadn't given much thought to it not working at the time, and instead went back to focusing on reviving Santa Claus.

It had worked in a way from the looks of it. Butters was Professor Chaos, so by trying to bring him into existence, he'd just brought him into existence through himself, meaning.... Butters focused again, gasping as the electricity formed in his hands again, forming a crackling orb in each of his palms, and it flickered out a few moments later. He couldn't believe he'd actually done this, oh his parents were gonna-! . . . Wait... what if he didn't tell them?... He was just gonna get grounded and blamed for it anyways, and he could only imagine how they'd react to their son having superpowers... so what if they didn't find out?

Butters hopped up from his bed, starting to pace in his bedroom as he started to think, eyes narrowed a bit in thought as he contemplated what this meant. He'd always wanted to be Professor Chaos- to be able to be strong, fly, control lightning, and now he could! Well, probably! If he had the lightning, he could probably do everything else, too!

Butters didn't want to try testing that right now, though, just in case he accidentally broke something and got in trouble for it again, which he didn't want to happen right now. So instead he started getting to work, fishing through his closet for the old costume he'd made a bit ago, looking through some boxes before finding the helmet, gloves, boots, cape, and cape clasps. It was all made of tin foil except for the dark green cape, but Butters could worry about materials later! It wasn't like there was a superhero that could show up and stop him from completing his evil plans of exacting his revenge on the world that had shunned him, so he didn't need actual armor!!

Butters let out a quiet, evil and menacing giggle laugh, as to not alert his parents he was awake and prompt them to investigate, and he paused in thought. He'd need more than just this for a good costume, so he started searching around in his closet, finding a dark gray t-shirt and black jeans. Perfect! Butters set up all the articles of clothing on his floor, nodding to himself before pausing, rubbing at his left eye.

He'd lost it a while ago after Kenny, Kyle, Stan, and Eric had been playing with ninja weapons, Butters going outside dressed as an evil ninja to play with them after they wouldn't let him be a hero like them, but during their battle, he'd gotten a throwing star... well... thrown into his eye. Then he'd been dressed up as a dog as they tried hiding the fact that they hurt him, then he slipped away while they got into a fight with Craig, Tolkien, Clyde, and Jimmy. Once he'd gotten to the hospital, they thought he was a dog, sent him to the animal shelter where he got pooped and peed on, and even almost euthanized before he ran away from the animal shelter, and finally passed out at the fair after finding his way there.

Once the doctors finally helped him, they couldn't save his eye, and he was left with a scar over it. He usually tried wearing a contact lens over it to hide it, despite the discomfort it caused, and his mom let him use concealer for the scar, but it hurt too much on a good day, and as a supervillain as cool and fearsome as Professor Chaos, he could have a cool and scary eyepatch to hide his scar! Butters looked through his closet again, finding a black eyepatch he'd used for a pirate costume, and he grinned at it.

Within minutes, Butters had put his costume on, pulling the helmet on over his head and standing in front of his mirror, grinning at his reflection. The helmet was still a bit uncomfortable, but at least the opening at the top prevented his hair from getting flattened, and the tin foil was flexible enough for him to adjust as needed. His gloves were a bit pokey on his fingers, but his long-sleeved dark gray shirt protected his arms, the gloves going up to just below his elbows, and his boots ended just below his knees, not nearly as uncomfortable. 

 He looked so cool! Now, all he needed to do was find a good target for his first new evil scheme.... And he knew juuuuust who to target... But tomorrow. He had school and needed to sleep; if he didn't wake up in the morning, he'd get grounded for sure! So, with a dejected sigh, Butters removed his costume and got into his pajamas, hiding his terrifying, evil costume under his bed, prepared for tomorrow, and then he could exact his malevolent revenge!!

And his revenge did indeed come, after a long day of waiting for the night to come, mainly keeping to himself at school as he tried to contain his excitement. Butters stood outside of Hell's Pass Hospital the next night, long after his parents went to sleep, dressed in his full evil, terrifying costume as Professor Chaos. He had a few cartons of eggs he'd bought after school sitting stacked up on the ground next to him, the cardboard packaging casting a dark shadow on the sidewalk, a true testament to his evil plans for their contents... 

"Dumb doctors, thinking I was just some dog after I got dressed up like one with some socks, dog hair and grass..." Butters mumbled to himself, getting himself worked up, "This oughta show 'em what happens when they're a buncha... buncha dumbies!"

He was so mean!

Butters crouched down, flipping open an egg carton, and grabbing an egg, standing back up and looking back up at the hospital, his uncovered eye narrowing as a dark smirk spread across his face as he threw it, the shell shattering against the wall high up on the building. He could see it now- the people of the hospital unable to get the splattered eggs off of their high walls, and even the high horses they're on won't be tall enough to get them down! Butters let out an evil laugh, albeit a quiet one so he didn't get caught, and he threw more eggs, trying to get them as high up on the building as possible. Some even landed on the roof, much to his enjoyment! Once Butters ran out of eggs, he finally let himself laugh, hands on his hips.

"Hahahaha! Yes!! They'll never get those eggs down! They'll have to go to work every day, looking up at all those eggs, completely unable to get them down! Once the flies come in, they'll pester the staff, too! Constantly going in windows, getting in all the coffee! Well, hopefully not the coffee, that doesn't need to be wasted, but the flies'll mess with everybody else real good!" Butters grinned to himself after laughing, rubbing his hands together as he anticipated the chaos his plan would leave in his wake.

"Hey, little boy! What do you think you're doing?!" Butters yelped a bit as he saw security guards exiting the hospital, heading towards him with flashlights and handcuffs.

"Oh hamburgers!" Butters yelped, taking off down the side walk, cape flapping behind him in the wind as he ran down the street, the guards chasing behind him.

Butters made it to the streets, ducking into alleys, eventually managing to lose them after quickly climbing up a fire escape, hiding on a roof behind a chimney. That was close... Butters caught his breath for a few minutes, chest heaving, and he peeked over the edge of the roof, watching the guards look around in the street for any signs of him. They eventually gave up after fifteen minutes, Butters getting more than enough time to catch his breath before starting to make his way home, avoiding the edges since he didn't really like heights all that much.

He wasn't sure if he could fly or not, and he didn't want to get hurt, or wreck his costume by falling. He really needed something better than tin foil, even if heroes weren't an issue... Butters walked across the rooftops, tin foil crinkling slightly with each step, and he eventually found a fire escape, climbing down it before walking through the streets the rest of the way back, tin foil glinting under the glow of the streetlights. Once Butters got to his home, he looked up at his window, which was still cracked open from when he'd left, and he looked down at the heap of snow he'd made while playing earlier today so he could use it as a cushion, but now he had no way of getting back inside.

"Aw, damnit..." Butters mumbled, looking up at his window, and sighing, "It's now or never..."

Butters concentrated, and he felt his feet slowly lift up from the ground, causing him to look down as he started to float up from the ground, and he flailed in the air, trying to get some form of balance, and he grunted as he hit the ground, or well, the snow that somewhat cushioned his fall. He shook it off, shivering, and he focused again, floating up towards his window, pulling it open before entering his room, gently closing the window behind himself. He let his feet softly touch his carpet floor, tin foil slightly torn from his fall but in tact, and he started quietly removing and hiding his costume under his bed, changing into his pajamas. He glanced over at the alarm clock, wincing as he saw the clock read 4:08 AM, and he groaned, letting his head hit his pillow as he fell asleep.

. . . He regretted his nightly outing a little when his mom got him up earlier than normal for an early breakfast, but at the same time he didn't. That had been so much fun, and his only regret was that he didn't do it earlier! Butters got dressed in his light teal shirt, dark green pants, and black shoes, and as he walked into the orange bathroom, looking at his contact lens, he hesitated. Sometimes he really didn't feel like wearing it, and with how his eyes burned slightly from lack of sleep, today was one of those days.

He could still feel pain in his left eye, and he could feel discomfort from the contact, he just couldn't see out of it. He used the concealer to cover up his scar and some of the bags under his eyes, and he looked up to see if he missed any spots, but it didn't look like he had. He paused, looking at his left eye, grimacing a bit at the milky white pupil that had a jagged line down the middle, his iris a dull blue, and the white of his eye was reddened. He winced, knowing Kenny still felt bad about the accident, and Butters usually tried covering it up in order to keep everyone from being uncomfortable, but he didn't feel like making his eye agitated and achy for hours. So, Butters walked out of the bathroom before going downstairs, to the right and into the orange-walled kitchen where his mom was putting plates of pancakes on the kitchen table, his dad already sitting there.

"Morning, mom and dad!" Butters greeted.

"Hello, Butters!" His mom responded with a smile.

"Good morning, Butters." His dad said, looking up from his newspaper and seeing his eye, "You aren't wearing your contact lens today?"

"Well, I would, but my eye's kinda painful today. I figured I'd give it a break, like the doctor said to!" Butters replied, putting some syrup on his pancakes.

"You didn't sleep with it in again, did you?" He asked.

"No, I haven't done that in a while." Butters shook his head no.

"Alright, Butters. Just don't pay attention to if anyone looks off-put by your eye, alright? You know how it makes some people uncomfortable, especially the kid that threw that throwing star into it; that has to eat him up inside every time he sees it."

Butters looked down as his dad stood up, heading to refill his cup of coffee, guilt churning in his gut. He was right, I'm being selfish trying to keep my eye from hurting... Butters poked at his food, not feeling as hungry anymore from the shame pooling inside of him.

"Is there something wrong with the pancakes, Butters?" His mom asked as she walked over with her own plate, and he shook his head no.

"No, of course not!" Butters answered, and he started to eat, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

After finishing his food and doing the dishes, he headed to the bathroom, grabbing his contact lens before pausing. Wait a second.... Butters used it every day in order to make people more comfortable, so why couldn't he have just one day? Butters clenched his hands into fists before walking out of the bathroom and downstairs and walking out of the house, and he started walking to school. Sure, he could take the bus, but if there was one thing every villain needed, it was the stamina to run away from police or superheroes if their evil scheme failed. So he started running, sprinting as fast and as long as he could before needing to stop and catch his breath.

He seemed... faster almost, but not by much; just enough for him to notice, but maybe that was just him. Butters still made it to school a bit earlier than normal, taking a moment to catch his breath before heading into the school and to his locker. The hallways were already bustling with students, shoes squeaking on the brown floors as he made it to his teal locker. Butters was aware that he could've used an eyepatch, but he didn't want to make any connections between himself and Professor Chaos in case someone started looking for his true identity...

Butters paused, a thought occurring to him. He'd been so wrapped up in the revelation he'd had powers and plotting to exact his revenge on the hospital, that he'd completely forgotten to tell Dougie about everything yesterday! Butters hurriedly shut his locker and started looking for Dougie, finding him at the end of the hallway at his locker, and he ran over to him.

"Dougie! You're not gonna believe what happened!" Butters exclaimed.

"You egged the hospital last night? I saw on the news this morning that a supervillain was behind it, and I figured it was you." Dougie replied, voice quiet to avoid attracting attention.

Aw dang it, he was on the news and he didn't even see it!

"Yeah, that was me, but that's not the only thing that happened!" Butters grinned, "Meet me by the alley next to the school at recess?"

"The one by the goth kids?" Dougie questioned.

"No, the other one." Butters clarified, and Dougie nodded.

"Alright... . . . How much did you sleep last night, anyways?" Dougie asked, and Butters looked off to the side sheepishly.

"I uh... well... not much." Butters admitted, "Villains don't need sleep, anyways!"

"Well how can they think of evil plans if they're too exhausted to think clearly?" Dougie countered, and Butters looked down, seeing his point.

"Aw dang it..." Butters mumbled, "Alright, I'll catch up on sleep later, but I really wanna show you what happened! You're gonna freak out!"

The bell rang at that moment, and Butters's shoulders slumped, "Aww dang it... Well, at least we're that much closer to recess! See you later, Dougie!"

With that, they went to their own classes, and thus began the long wait for recess. It seemed to take even longer to get through classes, Butters not really paying attention to anything but the lessons, Kyle, Stan, Eric, and Kenny sticking to and talking amongst themselves, not paying him much mind, thankfully. Butters almost nodded off a few times during dull moments in class, but he forced himself to stay awake. Villains need to be able to stay awake even when tired, so Butters needed to get better at doing the same thing!

The final bell before recess rang, giving Butters a surge of adrenaline, causing him to bolt out of the classroom and out of the school, heading to the playground. He ran to and checked the alley next to the school, and he saw that Dougie wasn't there yet, so he waited. He waited for around five minutes before he finally showed up, a grin spreading across Butters's face.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Dougie asked as he walked over to him.

"Ok, so, do you remember the Imaginationland thing I told you about?" Butters responded, Dougie nodding, "Well, while I was there, I tried creating Professor Chaos to help, since he's super powerful."

"Wouldn't he have just started attacking the good imagination characters?" Dougie questioned.

"Well, technically, yeah, but he didn't show up. I am Professor Chaos, Dougie, so by trying to create him, and I think by not really having full control over my imagination, well... Something else happened." Butters explained, Dougie looking at him curiously.

"Like what?"

Butters smirked, holding out his hands before concentrating, electricity forming and crackling in his hands, causing Dougie to gasp. Butters was for a moment worried that he'd scared him, something he didn't want to do, but Dougie didn't look scared, thankfully. He looked surprised and taken aback, but not scared. Then, after a moment, Dougie started to get enthusiastic.

"Woah! How long have you been able to do that?!" Dougie exclaimed, Butters letting the electricity fizzle out.

"I found out yesterday, and I completely forgot to tell you! I was so excited about it it completely slipped my mind. Sorry, Dougie.." Butters apologized.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I know about it now, right? One day doesn't change the fact that you can do that! Have you found out anything else you can do?" Dougie asked, and Butters grinned.

"Well, I know I can fly, but I'm not really good at it yet." Butters answered, and he focused, feeling his feet lift off of the ground slightly a moment later.

"That's so cool! What are you planning to do with those powers, anyways?" Dougie questioned as Butters let his feet hit the ground again.

"Well, I don't really know what I'll use 'em for; electricity is dangerous, after all! I wanna get more into the supervillain thing again, though, and I was wondering if you'd want to help me?" Butters replied, and Dougie nodded.

"It'd be an honor to help your cause, Professor Chaos," Dougie responded, and Butters smiled, excited, "Wanna meet up after school and figure out everything we'll need to do for you to be successful? If you're a villain, odds are a superhero will show up and try to stop you."

"Like they could!" Butters replied, feeling confident in himself before pausing, "Well, maybe getting better at using my powers would be helpful, just in case...."

Dougie nodded, and proposed, "You wanna meet up at your house later? You still have that big dry erase board, right?"

"Yeah, it's in my closet." Butters confirmed, "See you after school?"

"Yeah, I'll let my parents know that I'm coming over to your house for a sleep over." Dougie responded, and Butters nodded, excited.

"See you in a few hours then, Dougie- I mean, General Disarray." Butters grinned, the two of them laughing quietly and malevolently before going their separate ways for now, Butters heading to the cafeteria once lunch started, Dougie sitting by him as they talked a bit more about Butters's evil scheme last night.

After lunch was over and classes started, once again, just like yesterday, school couldn't end fast enough. Butters barely stayed patient during the classes, paying attention but also counting the seconds down. He'd started to get some concerned glances from some of the other students, Kenny being one of them, but the glances were brief, ending as soon as he saw his eye, making some guilt form in Butters's gut again. Once the final bell rang, Butters bolted out of the classroom and out of school, running home- albeit taking breaks once he had to catch his breath. After he got to his house, he headed inside, managing to contain his excitement, but just barely.

His parents were both watching TV- some kind of soap opera by the looks of it, and he informed, "Hey mom, dad? My friend Dougie is coming over soon for a sleepover, just thought I'd let you guys know."

"Alright Butters, just don't stay up too late. It may be Friday, but you need your sleep." His dad replied, and Butters nodded.

"Ok!" Butters accepted before running up the stairs to his room, excited.

Butters opened the door into and entered his room, turning on the light as he started fishing through his closet for his dry erase board and markers, finding them and setting up the board on it's stand, it feeling much lighter than he remembered. He was almost tempted to put on his costume, but he didn't want to risk his parents walking in and seeing it, compromising his villainous secret identity and ruining all of this, so he decided against it. Instead, he kept his costume safe under his bed, and he waited for Dougie to arrive, practicing his control over his electricity in the mean time, slowly getting better at creating it at different strengths.

Twenty minutes after Butters had gotten home, he heard a car pull up outside, and when he looked out his window, he saw Dougie exiting his parent's car with a backpack and Star Trek sleeping bag, heading up to his front door before Butters lost sight of him. Less than a minute later, his bedroom door opened, Dougie walking in.

"Hey Dougie! I have the dry erase board ready, and plenty of markers!" Butters informed, a smile on his face as Dougie shut the door.

"Great! I grabbed some notebooks to keep track of everything, and I wrote down some stuff for you to look into for being a supervillain, like the necessities and all." Dougie informed, and he put his backpack on Butters's bed, grabbing a notebook and flipping it open before heading to the dry erase board, grabbing a marker, and writing things down.

SUPERVILLAIN NECESSITIES:

• EVIL LAIR
• GOOD ARMOR
• FIGHTING SKILLS
• EVIL MASTER PLAN
• BETTER CONTROL OVER POWERS
• ARCH NEMESIS
• SOURCE OF FUNDING
• MINIONS

"Uh... is all this really necessary?..." Butters asked, and Dougie nodded, "Well, alright... Where would a good base be, though?..."

"My grandma has a storage locker? I could ask her if we could use it?" Dougie offered, and Butters shook his head no.

"No, we'd need more room than a storage locker... I'll look into that later! What about armor? How am I supposed to get that?" Butters questioned, and Dougie shrugged.

"I don't really know... Could work on it later once you need it?" Dougie suggested, and Butters nodded.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can find. Fighting skills?" Butters paused, and he thought for a moment, "Maybe YouTube?"

"Or there's some karate classes through the school that you could take? Plus self-defense classes, too." Dougie said, "You need to learn how to fight sooner or later, just in case someone tries stopping you from your evil schemes."

"Good point... I'll look into them on Monday, or maybe I can find a dojo or something and stop by there after school." Butters replied, and Dougie nodded in agreement, "As for master plans... I don't really have one right now. We'll get back to that, and the last three. I... I don't really know what I wanna do for a master plan, or how I'll get minions or money..."

"We can workshop it later." Dougie offered, and Butters nodded, "Any ideas on armor materials for once the opportunity comes along?"

"Well, steel would be kinda nice with how strong it is, but I'm not sure who would make me armor. An evil blacksmith?" Butters asked, and Dougie shrugged, not seeming to know either.

"Yeah, I figured we wouldn't have anything on the list..." Dougie sighed.

"Hey, we don't need to! It's like... I dunno, a bunch of goals? It's all things we need to look into, and learning how to fight is probably a good thing. I mean, electricity can really hurt someone, and I don't wanna do that! A punch would probably be a lot less harmful!" Butters said, and Dougie laughed a little.

"Yeah, you have a point." Dougie told him, "Once you get an evil lair, maybe you can train with your powers more?"

"That's kinda the plan.... Hang on, I could use my computer to look up abandoned locations no one goes to?..."

"Good idea." 

And so began a search for different abandoned buildings that became an hour long discussion of pros and cons before finally, they seemed to find the perfect spot. An abandoned amusement park, with plenty of room for evil plans, not to mention resources for evil gadgets and practically anything evil! Besides, what was more menacing and scary than an abandoned amusement park?! Once getting that situated, Butters planned to stop by it and investigate it tomorrow, and in the meantime he pulled up videos on YouTube about self defense tips, everything the best villains had, and he stayed up for a while watching those, even after Dougie went to sleep.

He was a creature of the night now, after all; he'd need to get used to staying up late. Sure, he eventually fell asleep to a video of how to do a villain laugh, but he still stayed up late! The next day Butters bided his time, waiting out the day. He was on best behavior so he wouldn't get grounded, playing the role of a sweet, innocent boy, but once nighttime came... Professor Chaos made his mighty, terrifying return!

Butters, now dressed in his costume of tin foil, dark green cloak, and black shirt and pants, made his way stealthily out of his room after an hour of going to bed. He made his way to the amusement park, sticking to the shadows like a true villain, and finally, he made it there. He stood before the abandoned amusement park, looking at the barricaded entrance, and he knew it was a good spot. There was no way in currently; Butters walked around the whole perimeter of the park, but he couldn't see a way in.

"Aww man, how am I supposed to get in?..." Butters mumbled to himself.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, he had no way in- Butters paused, looking at the fencing surrounding the building. He could try flying above it, couldn't he?... No, no way! It was way too high up! But... If he could get in, it would be the best base ever. Dougie had offered to ask his grandma if they could use her storage locker, but that didn't feel evil enough... Butters looked up at the fencing again, eyes narrowing a bit as he made up his mind. It was now or never...

Butters squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated, and he felt his feet leave the ground. He hesitantly opened his eyes, seeing him raising above the ground, and he yelped as he looked down, "Oh hamburgers! Maybe this was a bad ideeeeaaaaaaaAAAAA-! AHHH!"

He plummeted, and he squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for impact, only to feel himself abruptly stop. He hesitantly opened his eyes, seeing himself hovering a few feet above the ground, and he looked around, spinning slightly in the air in a way that made him slightly nauseous, but he pushed it down.

He looked up again, then down, and he narrowed his eyes again. He was a supervillain now! He couldn't be scared of heights when he could fly! That wasn't very villainous, now was it?

He looked up again with newfound determination, and he focused, shooting up in the air. He started to scream, the freezing wind rushing through his hair and pelting his face, before starting to laugh, the adrenaline washing over him exhilarating. He stopped, floating high above the ground, and he slowly looked down. Seeing nothing there filled him with panic, but he pushed past it, knowing he couldn't afford to get scared now.

He pushed himself forward, zipping through the sky at high speeds, and despite the freezing cold air, he wasn't letting it bother him. He flew around for a bit longer, turning, spinning, flipping, and despite getting nauseated, he didn't let it bother him, having more and more fun the longer he flew around, laughing with excitement. He eventually stopped after a bit of flying, hovering high above South Park.

The buildings were dots and lights specks from this far up, and he grinned, shouting, "This town shall know the meaning of true chaos soon, if my name isn't Professor Chao- Ack!" A bug flew into his mouth, causing him to go into a coughing fit, coughing into his hands before finishing hoarsely, "Chaos..."

Butters looked around again, seeing he was quite the distance away from the amusement park, and he lowered his elevation as he flew back to it, slowly letting himself descend in the middle of the park. The inside was worn down and desolate, long abandoned, and it stayed that way as Butters snooped around. Then, he found it. The entrance to one of the scary tunnel rides, closed down and the cardboard cutouts inside broken down.

Butters walked down the rails, tin foil crinkling against the metal tracks, and it quickly grew dark. He paused, looking at his hand as he focused, a ball of electricity forming in his palm and serving as a make-shift light. The crackling electricity revealed spiderwebs, long unused by the bugs that made them, and it allowed Butters to watch his steps much more easily. As he kept walking, he looked over at a large cavern, once home to a scary scene, but it was large enough to serve as a hidden lair, especially with some renovations!

Butters walked into the area further, and he saw an 'employees only' door, but it was locked. Butters frowned, before smirking, testing his strength and kicking the door. The hinges broke, and Butters gasped as it fell inwards to a room, one wall covered in computers.

This must be the security office... Butters realized, yelping as he hovered above the ground as a rat ran past him. If he could restore power to this, he could have visuals to his whole new base at once! He exited the security office and the area that would soon be his new main headquarters, and he walked further down the tracks, seeing a few more areas, like maybe for vehicles if Butters ever got one. Every villain, even flying ones, needed some kind of vehicle, after all!

It was a goal for the future, but it was still a plan. Butters's imagination went wild as he looked around the area, already thinking of renovations, but he wasn't sure how to go about it. Then it came to him.... Mexicans! They would do anything for some cash, and they were super handy with construction!

He'd need to find some who would help him, but only once he made a floorplan of what he wanted it to look like. With the location known, Butters kept looking through the amusement park, finding some awesome stuff while he was at it! He even stopped having to rely on his new electric powers as his eye got used to the darkness! Wait... Butters looked at the sky, seeing the sun rising in the sky. 

"Oh hamburgers!!" Butters yelped, leaping into the air and flying home as fast as he could. 

His parents would kill him if they found him absent from his bedroom, and if they didn't by some miracle wring him a new one, he still couldn't let his secret villainous identity get found out! Thankfully, he got home and changed into his pajamas, hiding his costume once again and getting under his covers and snagging a few hours of sleep before his mom came to wake him up.

Phew, crisis averted... But he couldn't stay out like that all night again, the exhaustion he dealt with the whole day was so not worth it...

Chapter Text

Butters.... spent most of his weekend at the amusement park, heading there during the night to explore it and try and find other methods inside of it so Dougie could come and go, not to mention for the Mexicans to be able to get inside so they could do the renovations. Butters wanted to start small; one building at a time, but he also needed to get enough money to pay for everything. He didn't have much money saved up, unfortunately, so he needed to find a way to get cash, but in the mean time.... school. 

Butters walked up the steps, his contact in but concealer sloppily applied to attempt to hide the scar and the bags under his eyes. He'd gotten... very little sleep over the weekend, and it was showing, despite how much he was trying to hide it. It was exhausting being a villain, but it would be worth it! When starting something, be it a game, a project, or in this case, supervillainy, it was always a lot of work at first, but as things continued, it got easier!

Butters just had to work through the slow start, and once he got things up and running, it would require less work to keep it going! Of course, that didn't make things easier for right now, as he was exhausted, but he had something to look forward to! He was at his locker, sorting through his stuff, hiding away small maps he'd made of the different areas of the amusement park when he saw movement from the corner of his right eye. He quickly hid the maps within an inner pocket of his backpack as he looked up, seeing Stan and Kyle walking over to him.

"Oh, hey fellas!" Butters greeted, "What's up?"

"Well, we were just wondering if you were ok. You've looked exhausted since like Thursday, dude." Kyle replied, Stan nodding.

"Yeah, and you haven't really sat by us either. I know Cartman's a dick, and if he did something, you know you could tell us, right?" Stan added.

"Yeah, I know, it's not that!" Butters reassured, "Eric hasn't done anything, I've just been workin' on something, that's all!"

"Like what?" Kyle asked.

"That's a surprise, fellas! Heck, it might not even work out anyways." Butters replied, and it was definitely gonna work, but he didn't want anyone but Dougie knowing about his secret villainy.

"Alright... just wanted to make sure you were ok, and try getting some sleep, ok? You look like you're about to pass out." Kyle requested.

But he couldn't sleep; not when he had so much to do! He hadn't caused chaos at all over the weekend, too busy trying to get his base set up, or at least plans for it, not to mention figuring out a payment method for the Mexicans. He still had to get supplies to cause chaos tonight, and he couldn't do that for free! He was a villain, not a robber!

"-tters! Butters!" Butters was jolted from his thoughts by Kyle, who was shaking his shoulders, "Dude, are you ok? You just completely zoned out!"

"Oh, sorry! Just... thinking about something, that's all!" Butters answered, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Dude, are you sure you're ok?" Stan questioned, and Butters nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure!" Butters insisted.

"Alright... just make sure to take a break or something, alright?" Kyle told him, and he nodded again.

That... wasn't the end of the concern. Was it really that obvious that he wasn't sleeping? He got worried glances from the others too; could hear the hushed mumbling and whispering when they thought he wasn't paying attention, and when he was eating lunch, the next confrontation. He sat over by the others today, remembering Kyle and Stan mentioning how he hadn't been hanging out with them as much.

It was true, Butters always tried being included in their group; wanting to have friends, and it worked to varying degrees! Eric wasn't that bad sometimes, but then again, Dougie had a... fair amount of things to say about him, too, and Butters didn't want to get Dougie upset by defending Eric, and he also had his own.... few complaints.... That turned into an hour or so rant.

. . . Ok so maybe Eric wasn't the best, but sometimes he was nice! Butters sat down at the table, trying to hide his exhaustion somewhat, but he clearly wasn't successful.

"Woah, Butters, what happened? Your dad punch you in both eyes this time?" Eric questioned, and Butters looked off to the side, jaw clenching slightly.

. . . Ok, so him and exhaustion didn't mix. He got more set off by things than normal, and for some reason, Eric was pissing him off the most. 

"Lay off of him, fatass. He's been overworking himself lately, we already asked." Kyle glared at him.

"Yeah, well, it was a reasonable guess he got beaten up." Eric huffed.

Kenny said something Butters thought sounded like, "It's a reasonable guess that your mom was getting beaten off last night."

"HEY! Watch it, Kenny!" Eric snapped while the rest of the table held back snickers, Kenny flipping Eric off. 

Butters looked down at his food, trying to focus on it instead of the growing argument at the table, and he started thinking about after school again, or specifically, where to prank. He'd gotten Hell's Pass already, and he didn't want to go back there with the security guards probably on high alert, so he needed a different target...

"-is he even listening?"

"I don't think so... He was doing that earlier."

"Butters? BUTTERS!"

Butters yelped, barely suppressing sparks that tried to form in his hands as he was startled, Stan shaking his shoulder.

"Dude! Get some sleep!" Stan demanded, Kenny nodding.

Kenny said something, and after a moment, Butters discerned it as "Go the fuck to sleep!"

"I will, I promise!" Butters reassured.

However, he wouldn't be doing that. 

That night, after a lot of waiting and planning, Butters was standing in front of Eric's green house, a package of streamers he'd grabbed from the garage in his hands. Eric didn't have trees in his front yard, but what he did have was a roof. Dougie was next to him in his General Disarray armor, holding some nails and a hammer.

Did exhaustion make him take things a bit more seriously? Maybe. Did it make him petty enough to do something like this after Eric's remarks before? . . . Alright, so Butters was still bitter about Eric pretending to be him over the phone and getting him beaten up, and sure, showing everyone the video he'd gotten of Eric dancing around in his backyard as Britney Spears with a Justin Timberlake cutout was somewhat satisfying, it just...

He was still upset about it, was all. It didn't feel good enough, and Butters wasn't a malicious person; he didn't hold grudges or nothing like that, but... Butters hadn't done anything to Eric in order to deserve that. It was just fun for Eric to get him in trouble, something he was realizing was a trend. If Butters was being honest with himself, being tired of the world wasn't the only reason he chose this dark, villainous path, it was that no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried to do everything right, he still ended up in trouble anyways.

Eric got his help with things all the time, and Butters always tried helping, since Eric was his friend and it was the right thing to do, since friends helped friends, but Eric hadn't really been helping Butters... If anything, he only ever made things worse for him, and things were already bad most of the time, and if they were actually going well, helping Eric always ruined that. Fun and relaxing and peaceful family nights were disrupted, Butters got detention in classes for talking to Eric while nothing happened to him, and when Butters risked it and went out while grounded to help him, Eric got him into even more trouble.

Eric never got in trouble, though, maybe a slap on the wrist compared to what happened to Butters. Everyone always assumed the worst of him, no matter how hard he tried to help, no matter how hard he tried to be a good kid, he was always viewed as a bad one. So, he might as well have fun with being bad, right? It was what was expected of him, after all. No point in trying to change that anymore, it'd been shoved in his face time and time again that that was futile.

"Are you sure about this?" Dougie asked, and Butters looked over at him as he was pulled out of his thoughts.

"Of course! He'll never be able to get these down! They'll be too short for him to reach, and the wind won't blow them away!" Butters grinned, enthusiasm bubbling up inside of him.

It wasn't for revenge he didn't think, right? Just karma? . . . Really well deserved, long time coming, karma. Yeah, that's all this was. 

"And you can get up there?" Dougie questioned.

"Well yeah! I told you I got better at flying, didn't I?" Butters asked, Dougie nodding, "Well, watch this!"

Butters grabbed the package of nails and the hammer from Dougie, holding the box of streamers under one arm as he focused, flying up. He heard Dougie gasp, and he smiled as he floated above the roof, grinning down at Dougie proudly. He was about to shout, but remembered the point of this was to do this without waking up Eric. So, he landed on the roof, setting the boxes down and opening the one containing the streamers, grabbing one and unrolling it enough to get the end.

He held it there with his foot while he opened the box of nails, and he moved his foot, keeping the streamer there with the side of his hand, the nail held with his thumb and pointer finger. He used his free hand to use the hammer, softly pressing the nail into the roof through the shingles, and one by one, the streamers were nailed to the roof, unrolled and hanging down just high enough to where no one could get them down. Butters closed the now empty boxes before grabbing them and the hammer, and he flew back down to Dougie, giggling.

"Woah! You have gotten better!" Dougie managed between snickers.

"Yeah! And here's another part! We run before we get caught!" Butters told him, and he took off down the sidewalk, Dougie right behind him... until Butters skidded to a stop after a few steps, seeing a kid watching them from the end of the street, jaw slightly dropped.

The kid was a boy around a grade above Butters, with brown hair, tan skin, a red shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. Butters recognized him from school, but he didn't think he knew his name. What he did know, however, was that they'd been caught red-handed, and they might be in trouble.

"Hey, umm... how much did you see?..." Butters asked nervously.

"Well, I saw you fly up to the roof and nail a bunch of streamers to his roof." The kid answered, "And that's Eric Cartman's house."

Upon closer inspection, Butters saw a package of eggs in his hands, and his eyes widened as he made the connection. He was coming to prank Eric too!

"Wait, were you coming to-" Butters started.

"I've been doing this like one a week when I can." The kid shrugged, opening the box and throwing an egg at Eric's house.

So that's who'd been doing that... Wait a second...

"Hey... you wouldn't be opposed to teaming up, would you?" Butters asked, "Or well, working for me? I'm a supervillain- and sure, I'm new at it, but it'd be nice having some help! I'll even pay for the eggs so you can keep egging his house!" Butters gestured at Eric's house for emphasis.

". . . Sure, why not." The kid shrugged after a moment of thinking, throwing a few more eggs, "You pranked anywhere else?"

"Well, I got the hospital last Thursday." Butters mentioned.

"So that was you! I heard about that on the news!" The kid exclaimed, quickly throwing the rest of the eggs before closing the carton, "Wait, hang on... do you think I could call some of my other friends? They might wanna help out with the pranking stuff; it's kinda difficult to pull some stuff off, and if you can fly, they'd probably prank wherever you told them to if you helped them out with some stuff."

Butters paused, exchanging a look with Dougie. A bunch of other kids who liked causing chaos, and would prank where he wanted them to?... . . . Minions....

"Yeah, that would be great!" Butters responded enthusiastically, "Tell them to meet me at the U-Stor-It parking lot tomorrow at like midnight?"

"Sure." He accepted, "What's your name, anyways?"

"Oh! I'm Professor Chaos, and this is General Disarray!" Butters gestured to Dougie, a proud grin on his face, "What's yours?"

"I'm Noah." He introduced himself, "Nice villain names."

"Thanks!" Butters smiled happily.

Someone liked his name!!! But wait, villains were supposed to be all serious and cheerful! First impressions and all, so Butters cleared his throat and straightened up while forcing down his bright smile into a confident smirk, trying to play off his reaction.

"I mean uh... thank you." Butters said, "Remember tomorrow, ok?"

"Sure thing!" Noah nodded, and he ran away, pulling out his phone and exclaiming, "Dude, I just met a supervillain! You're never gonna guess what he just said!"

Once he rounded the corner, Butters couldn't keep his composure, jumping up in the air, pumping his fists towards the sky before turning to Dougie in excitement, "We've got minions!"

Dougie laughed a bit before paling, and he shook his shoulder, pointing to Eric's window, the light turning on. Uh oh!

"Oh hamburgers!" Butters cursed quietly, and he took off down the street again, Dougie right behind him. After the prank, Dougie went home, Butters spending more time at the amusement park before heading back home himself, practicing his powers and some fighting moves he'd watched on YouTube on some old cardboard cutouts. He found himself getting better at controlling his electric blasts and the amount of charge he put behind them. 

At school the next day, specifically at lunch, Butters was struggling to hold back his laughter as Eric ranted to the other boys sitting at the table.

"That fucking asshole egged my house again, but this time something else happened too! There were streamers nailed to my fucking roof! Who the fuck does that?!" Eric exclaimed while Butters ate his sandwich.

"Dude, you heard about the hospital, right? Someone egged it too, and the news said it looked like some kind of villain? Like, armor, cape and everything!" Kyle mentioned.

"Son of a bitch!" Eric swore, "What kind of monster eggs a hospital and nails streamers to the roof of an innocent kid?! And the egging again!"

"You? Innocent?" Kyle laughed, "Not sure about the hospital, but you definitely had it coming!"

"Shut up you fucking asshole! I'm gonna find this guy, and when I do..." Eric trailed off, angry.

"I'd be careful, Eric. This guy sounds pretty powerful, if he was able to do all that messed up stuff." Butters advised, not wanting to risk a confrontation just in case he was recognized.

"Dude, it was eggs and streamers. Odds are it's just someone from North Park hazing us or something or some prankster." Stan stated, and Butters glanced off to the side.

"Well they can fuck off!" Eric exclaimed.

"I think I'm actually on Cartman's side on this one, these petty crimes are kinda annoying." Kyle admitted.

"See?! Even the Jew agrees with me!" Cartman grinned.

"Goddamnit, Cartman!" Kyle snapped.

It looked like he wasn't being taken seriously... Good, because he was just getting started...

Recess came and went after lunch, Butters eagerly waiting for nightfall so that he could meet his new minions, and the moment he was sure his parents were asleep, he put his costume on and snuck out of his window. He snuck across the sidewalk, making sure Eric wasn't watching for him from next door, and he ran towards the U-Stor-It. He could fly, but he didn't want to attract too much attention, so he ran, tin foil crinkling quietly with each step.

He didn't want just anyone knowing he had powers, or at least, right now he didn't. Otherwise the military or something could be called in before he could learn to properly defend himself, and he could get locked up in a top secret government facility! So he snuck through alleyways, trying to be as stealthy as possible and he flew up to a roof to look out over the U-Stor-It parking lot. The streetlights were flickering, and there were seven other kids with Noah, ranging from third to sixth grade, and if Butters had a sixth grader working for him, he knew he could cause a ton of chaos for sure!

He flew back down, and he walked through the alleyway, which was dimly lit, and he tried making an intimidating first impression, like villains do! Whenever Butters saw them on TV, they always stepped out from dark doorways, and sure, some heroes did that, but they stole it from the villains! Butters made his steps a bit louder, gaining their attention, and he walked over to them, trying to seem confident by squaring his shoulders.

"So, you're the kids I heard so much about?" Butters asked, deepening his voice a bit.

"Holy shit, you weren't kidding.." A kid whispered to Noah, who shook his head no.

"No, I told you guys!" Noah smiled before looking back at Butters, "They wanna work for you, too! They said if I was telling the truth, that they would be interested!"

Butters had to fight to keep the excited smile off of his face, instead narrowing his visible eye as he smirked, trying to make it seem evil, but he wasn't sure how successful it was... He probably still looked pretty excited...

"That's wonderful news!" Butters said, still trying and failing to contain his excitement.

"I also asked my big brother Todd- he goes to South Park High School, and he knows some guys who know some guys. Point is, teenagers are uh... they go after each other, but most of the time there's curfews and stuff, not to mention not wanting to get caught.." Noah explained.

"So I'm the fall guy?" Butters questioned, not really a fan of that.

He was always the fall guy.

"Not exactly." Noah responded, "Teenagers get jobs off to the side, for like... responsibility and stuff, meaning they get paid. The point is, these guys are willing to pay you to prank houses, and maybe even provide supplies if they're eager enough to feel more involved."

". . ." Butters caught on, his eyes widening.

Funding. If Butters was a villain for hire, it would allow him to perfect his craft for his own villainous schemes while saving up money to work on the amusement park! Granted it would take a lot more than a bit of cash to make his lair, but this was a good start!

"How many clients do you think you could get me through that?" Butters questioned.

"Considering how much teenagers like going after each other, meaning you could get jobs from both sides, not to mention if other people get word of it..." Noah trailed off.

"You could bank quick." One of the older kids said.

"Hmm..." Butters pretended to think it through, and he nodded, "Get me a list. Meet me here again Sunday night at midnight, and if you can't make it, leave it here for me under a trash can or something."

"Got it." Noah accepted, "Oh, uh- My friends are Spice, Etta, Shade, Carl, Steve, Flower, and Sil!"

Noah gestured to each of them as he introduced them. Spice had dark brown skin, black hair, dark eyes, and wore a red coat, light tan pants, and black shoes, and she seemed to be the oldest. Etta had pale skin, light blue eyes, blond hair with pink highlights, and was wearing a sparkly pink shirt with a fairy on the front, a dark pink jacket, dark blue pants, and pink sneakers, and she was probably in third grade. Shade had long black hair that was almost dark blue, pale skin, a bright blue and a pale blue eye, but there was no injury to the paler blue eye, and she was wearing a blue coat with white sleeve cuffs, black pants and black sneakers, and was likely in fifth grade.

Carl had tan skin, fluffy brown hair, a dark green jacket, blue jeans, and dark brown shoes, and Steve had darker tan skin, black spiky hair, and was wearing a dark gray jacket, black pants, and green shoes, both of them in fourth grade. Flower was mainly wearing lighter grays and white, and she had pale skin and almost white blonde hair, along with dark brown eyes, and she was in fifth grade if Butters had to guess. Sil had light brown skin, short black hair, dark blue eyes, and was wearing a dark purple jacket, dark gray pants, and black shoes, and he seemed to be in sixth grade like Spice probably was. 

"Nice meeting you, my name's Professor Chaos!" Butters introduced himself.

"Sick.." Steve muttered.

"You have anything big planned for tonight?" Shade asked.

"Yeah!" Butters answered.

"Like what?" Spice questioned.

. . . Well shit. He needed something, quick! He needed- Oh!

"I wanna cover the floor of the skating ring with marbles!" Butters eventually blurted out, the first thing he could think of.

". . . What?" Flower asked.

"Well, think about it! The floor's too slippery for anyone to be able to pick them up easily, and the balls will just roll all over the place!" Butters exclaimed, everyone exchanging looks.

"That... is fucked up." Spice said, before smirking, "I like it."

"But where the hell are we gonna get all the marbles?" Shade asked, and they exchanged glances.

"I think Arty's Crafts is still open? He has these huge hauls on crafting stuff no one ever buys, and I know the guy working the register." Spice mentioned, "He's my big brother, and he'd probably appreciate some excitement."

"Well let's go!" Butters exclaimed, "Lead the way."

Spice nodded, and the nine of them started heading to the store, Butters trying to think about this. Villains were cunning, and they always took everything into consideration, something Butters was trying to for his villainous misdeeds. If he could get a good supplier for his instruments of chaos, then that would mean he could pull off bigger and better evil schemes! The skating ring was just the beginning, he was sure of it! A brisque walk down the street led them to the craft store, which was shutting down for the night, and Spice knocked on the window.

"Hey, open up, Jay!" Spice said, and the door cracked open.

A teenager with dark brown skin opened the door, with short black hair, light brown eyes, and a way too bright and colorful, a nametag reading 'Jake =D' on it, and he was also wearing dark blue pants and red shoes. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder, some notebooks poking out of the top, since he was probably doing homework during the slow shift.

"Spice? The fuck?" Jake asked, "What the hell are you doing out- Wait, who the hell?..."

Jake was looking past her at Butters, and he forced himself not to tense up.

"He's that villain running around. Y'know, the one on the news?" Spice explained, pointing her thumb at him, "Look, you still have those marbles?"

"The ones Arty can't sell even at half off? Yeah." Jake nodded, "They're taking up a whole wall."

". . . How much do you want for them?" Spice asked, and she looked back at the rest of them, "You guys up for splitting the cost?"

"What're you guys doin' with these, anyways?" Jake questioned.

"We're gonna fill up the skating ring with them." Spice smirked, and Jake laughed a bit.

"Oh shit- sis, that's kinda fucked up." Jake laughed, "Tell ya what, how about a hundred bucks?"

"That's it?!" Spice exclaimed, and he nodded a bit before nodding, "Deal!"

"Well come on in, come get a look at the merch." Jake invited, holding the door open.

The nine of them entered, and Butters's eyes widened when he saw the marbles. There were oil drums of them. Marbles were filling entire heavily decorated oil drum bins with wheels on the bottoms, and Butters grinned. He had twenty dollars from his allowance, and he was quickly pulling it out of his pocket as Spice, Carl, Shade, Noah, and Sil each pulled out cash from theirs.

With their contributions, they were able to afford the marbles, and they were out of the store a few minutes later, each of them pushing one of the oil drums with Shade leading the way, the eight of them wearing some black ski masks Jake had thrown in for free, which was a really good idea. After a half-hour walk, they got to the ice-skating ring, and sure, he'd been meaning the roller-skating ring, but... this could work too! A little more dangerous to people, but there was no way anyone would go out onto the ring with all these marbles.

Butters turned to the other kids, a dark smirk on his face like he'd been practicing in the mirror, and he said, "Well, fellas, let's fuck shit up."

They quickly got to work, with Butters checking for cameras and sending a concentrated zap to them to disable them. The kids watched him in amazement, questions in their eyes but none voiced, and Butters made quick work of the surveillance, and after checking again to make sure he got all of them, he went over to his barrel, opened it and picked it up, and flew it over to the ring before tipping it over, letting them spill out. He laughed a bit as they started bouncing, scattering over the slippery ice, and once it was empty, he flew it over to the other kids.

"You can fly?!" Etta exclaimed in excitement and amazement.

"Yup!" Butters grinned proudly, not even trying to hide his enthusiasm.

"Damn, Noah really wasn't kidding..." Shade muttered.

"Told you!" Noah responded.

Butters grabbed the next oil drum, which had already had it's lid removed by Sil, and he repeated the process, flying it to the ice and pouring it out. He did this for the rest of them, and soon enough, the ring was covered with marbles and the oil drums were empty. They returned the oil drums to Arty's, and since Jake had left by this time, they left them next to the building in the alley where they hopefully wouldn't be stolen.

"That was so much fun!" Shade giggled, "We've gotta do this more often!"

"Yeah, you fellas were great!" Butters agreed.

"Can we exchange numbers? You know, so we can arrange meetups?" Carl asked.

Oh yeah, that was a good idea, actually...

"Yeah, sure!" Etta handed over a pink sticky note and pen, and Butters wrote his number down on it before handing it over to them to look over and add to their phones.

"We'll text you verification texts and stuff later so you can save our numbers, and uh... yeah, we should probably get some sleep." Noah chuckled a bit, "Text us when you need us?"

"Yeah, of course!" Butters nodded, "And text me if you find anyone willing to pay for pranks, or if you wanna prank someone."

"Yeah, of course." Shade nodded, "Oh, and one more thing! Your fly isn't zipped."

Butters looked down and checked his pants, only to see that no, his fly was up, and he laughed a bit, looking back at her as the others started laughing, Sil really quiet as Butters smiled, "Ha! Good one, Shade!"

"Thanks!" Shade grinned, "Oh, Noah didn't mention it before, but don't mind Sil! He's really shy and doesn't talk much, so we call him Sil because he's so silent, but his real name's Dorian!"

"Oh, cool! I have a nickname everyone uses as my name, too!" Butters mentioned, "But uh... story for another time. Secret identity and all."

"Understandable." Flower nodded.

After that, they went their separate ways, all heading home since it was... yikes, two in the morning. Butters made his way home, sneaking through empty alleyways for a bit before he stopped, looking up at the rooftops. He traveled by them before, back after the hospital, and maybe it wasn't a bad strategy... Butters flew up to a roof, and he landed on it softly before he started running over the buildings, jumping over the gaps and having a bit too much fun.

He was actually disappointed when he ran out of rooftops, as he was almost to his street, and he flew the rest of the way in a quick burst of speed. He silently got to his window, opening it and slipping inside before shutting it behind him. He let out a deep breath before quietly squealing, his excitement surging forward and being released the moment he allowed it to be. He changed out of his costume, hiding it under his bed before putting on his pajamas and getting into bed, checking his phone. He saw some unknown numbers that had texted him, and he read the texts, seeing who they were from.

Hey Chaos! If that's your number, that is ;) Shade here!

Hey Chaos, this is Spice! That was fun as hell tonight, can't wait for our next club meeting! >:)

Hi Chaos!! This is Etta! Lots of hugs for all of the excitement! That was so much fun! Text me if you need anything! <3

Hey, this is Carl, just texting so you have my number and know who I am lol

Steve here, text when you need my help again!

Hi! This is Noah! Awesome working with you on that prank, that was one of the best pranks ever! 

Hello, Chaos, this is Flower. My little sister Etta just texted you so I thought I should as well. That was a pretty fun prank; a nice way to blow off some steam. Text when you need our help again, Etta is excited for it.

Hey, this is Sil. Not really sure what to say, so umm...👋

Butters saved their contacts, texting back to each of them so they knew that it was him before texting Dougie to check the news in the morning. After that, he went to sleep relatively easily, thoroughly exhausted. The next morning he bolted awake, jumping out of bed and darting downstairs after putting his contact in, eagerly looking at the TV, which was turned on to play the news.

"Good morning, Butters!" His parents greeted as he came downstairs, his mom still making breakfast.

"Morning mom, morning dad!" Butters replied, watching the news as a commercial break ended.

"Good morning, South Park! Tom Pusslicker here reporting live! It seems South Park does indeed have a supervillain on our hands! The egging of Hell's Pass hospital- and apparently the home of Eric Cartman, were only just the start of his attacks on our town! In a shocking turn, citizens found our local ice-skating ring filled with marbles! All cameras at the building were deactivated, seeming fried by some form of electrical shock, and employees are struggling to clean up the mess!"

The TV screen turned to a video of employees slipping and sliding on the marbles, and while Butters felt a little guilty about them getting hurt, he knew it was necessary. Villains hurt people, and if Butters was a villain, he would have to. He did that enough without trying anyways, so this couldn't be too different... He'd get over it, eventually. In the mean time, he could get excited over being on the news again!!

"Oh, and we found something else at the scene! On the wall, in bright blue spray paint, is graffiti reading 'VIVA LA CHAOS!' It truly does seem like we have a villain on our hands. Stay safe out there, South Park! That might get harder in the future with how things are going, but still try not to get caught in the middle of one of these schemes!"

"Wow, that villain sure sounds like trouble!" Butters mentioned to his parents.

"Yes, he does!" His mom agreed, putting his plate in front of him on the table, which he started to eat.

The morning was thankfully uneventful, and Butters decided to walk to school again today instead of taking the bus, and on his way there, Dougie text back.

Oh my god! Talk to me at school at recess! Tell me EVERYTHING!

Butters texted back, 'of course!' and continued to school, a smile on his face. As he walked up the stairs, pep in each step, he looked around at everyone on their phones, talking about the news from that morning. They had various expressions on their face, ranging from excitement, enthusiasm, nervousness, and the comic book nerds were all gathered around each other, geeking out. Butters's morning just kept getting better, it seemed! Hopefully the day would continue like this, because he already had another idea for a prank, and this one would be even better than the last, and now he would even have more help!

Chapter Text

It had been two weeks since the skating ring, and Butters was having the time of his life! He kept pranking different spots, be it switching mayonnaise and whipped cream at closed restaurants after disabling their cameras so he could sneak inside, supergluing yoga mats shut, and he even put a few cars on the roof of a few car dealerships! His control over his powers was getting better, he was hanging out with the other kids working for him after their successful pranks, but this time he'd decided to go it alone. As promised, Noah met up with him outside of the U-Stor-It, with him a massive list of prank requests and prices.

Noah had enlisted the others to help, and they arranged methods of payment and the prices, and when Butters wasn't pulling off his big pranks, he was doing those! There was never a dull night, and he got paid in full the following nights, Noah handing over the cash in envelops that Butters hid under his bed with his costume. His last week had been almost completely filled with those pranks, and the reports on the news were growing more frequent. Butters was starting to be more cautious and careful, traveling only by rooftops so he wasn't directly seen just yet, and he had his minions, now named the 'Agents of Chaos', get his supplies discreetly during the day, dropping them off or bringing them with them to the pranks.

Some teenagers were merciless, Butters would say that much, but the profits... they stacked up quickly. Tonight was pure Chaos, though. The requests were fulfilled already, and he felt like entertaining the comic book geek kids at school. Which is how Butters got to where he was, which was, after opening a gate with carrots in his hand, leading cows to the football field at school. Yes it was meant to be ironic, and he was already giggling as he thought of the reactions of everyone else tomorrow morning.

"Come on... Come here fellas, just a little more!" Butters coaxed gently, leading the cows into the football field and closing the gates. 

As he turned to leave, he was suddenly hit in the chest by... a rock? Butters looked down at it in confusion, and he picked it up, seeing something written in green on it's surface. 'UP'. Butters looked up, and his eyes widened as he saw someone watching him from the top of a fence. It was a boy with tan skin and blue eyes in a light purple suit, a dark purple cape and hood with a green question mark on a spring attached to the top.

The hood made the shape of an 'M' over his face, everything above his nose covered by a black mask with white around the eyes, and it was honestly a bit intimidating. He had a bright green 'M' spraypainted on his chest, and he was wearing a black belt over his... underwear? Yup, those were white underwear... He was also wearing green gloves and brown boots, but Butters wasn't paying attention to that.

This kid, while the rest of his costume was honestly really cool.. pfft... WAS WEARING UNDERWEAR OVER HIS PANTS! Butters couldn't help himself, doubling over laughing as he walked closer.

"S-Sorry, I am so sorr-e-he-he-he-he-he!" Butters apologized, laughing, "You- are you wearing underwear over your pants?!"

"Better than tinfoil for armor." The other kid responded, voice seeming to be darkened dramatically, and Butters huffed a bit, making a practiced dark smirk appear on his face.

"Is it, though? Mine doesn't make me look like a dork." Butters retorted, "What's your name, anyways? Underwear-Boy?"

"I am Mysterion." He introduced himself dramatically.

. . . Aw dang it, that was honestly a good name...

"And... why are you here?" Butters asked, and he looked at the rock in his hand, "To throw a rock?"

Mysterion dropped down from the fence into a crouch, and he responded, "Nope, I'm here to stop you, Chaos."

Looks like he had a nemesis- wait, how did he?...

"Wait, how do you know about my name?" Butters asked, a bit confused.

"It's been spraypainted almost everywhere big you've hit. It was a reasonable guess, and I was right. For being a force of chaos, you're quite predictable." Mysterion mentioned, and Butters bristled a bit.

"For your information, it's Professor Chaos! And I am not predictable!" Butters shot back.

He wanted a better nemesis...

"Sure you aren't." Mysterion rolled his eyes.

"I mean it!" Butters glared, crossing his arms, "That rock hurt, by the way!"

"I wanted it to." Mysterion growled, "You've made the people of this town feel unsafe, and they need someone to stop you. Someone to show them they have someone looking out for them. Someone to-"

"Look," Butters uncharacteristically cut him off, something that felt really weird to do, "I'm the supervillain here, so leave the monologuing to me, will you?"

"Very funny." Mysterion scoffed, and he lunged forward, aiming a punch for Butters's chest.

Butters side-stepped and dodged though, but just barely. Once Mysterion was past him, Butters turned around and attempted to kick him. His foot was caught, though, and he was pulled forward, slammed roughly on the ground with a grunt. Butters pushed himself to sit up with his arms, glaring up at Mysterion with his visible eye, only to yelp, duck, and roll out of the way of a punch.

He pushed himself to stand up, and he brushed himself off a bit before starting to circle him. Sure, he'd practiced against training dummies with the stuff he'd watched on YouTube, but this was so much different. This was a moving opponent- someone who could dodge, block, and attack back. Sure, Butters had seen quite a few fights at school, but he didn't involve himself in the fights as much as he liked watching them from the sidelines.

Eric usually got into the most fights, Craig and Tweek fought once, and Timmy and Jimmy had fought each other in what the others called a 'Cripple Fight'. Butters really only fought Bebe after being told to be strong and assertive by the public image business, and she was the one beating him up if anything, he didn’t hurt her since it wasn't right to hurt a girl. Butters... he didn't realize how often he got his ass kicked before, and now that he was a villain, he wanted to change that somehow. He didn't need to be Butters right now; he could be the all-mighty, all-powerful Professor Chaos!

He just... didn't wanna hurt this guy too bad. He was a killjoy but he was doing what he thought was right, and Butters didn't really like hurting anyone to begin with. Fighting back typically wasn't his thing, but he could at least try it now, couldn't he? Sure, he might get his ass kicked again, but he could at least try.

Villains didn't back down from fights, after all! Villains were calculating, smart, crafty, and Butters was a villain now! He looked Mysterion up and down, hands clenching into fists at his sides as he tried looking for a weakness. Butters was aware his blindness in his left eye was a blatant vulnerability, his eyepatch making it obvious he had a blind spot, and Mysterion didn't have that problem.

So Butters tried watching his feet, seeing if he could predict when he would lunge at him again, since he seemed like someone to fight directly more than anything. Sure enough, he saw one of his feet shift back to push himself off of the ground and towards him, and Butters dove out of the way to dodge another flying fist, and he spun around on his own feet, aiming a punch for his jaw. The hit connected, and Mysterion stumbled back with a yelp that wasn't as gravelly as his voice had previously been. Butters looked at him to see him rubbing his jaw with a grimace, his lip a bit busted, and he looked down to see some blood on his tinfoil glove, the sharper edges having scratched his jaw a bit.

Butters internally winced, having not meant to hurt him that badly, since hurting people really wasn't his thing. He bit his tongue to force back an apology, and he got back into fighting position as Mysterion collected himself, and Butters was quick to bring up his arms to block another punch, this one stronger than his previous attacks. Butters peeked over his arms before bringing them back up to block another punch, and he dropped down and used one of his legs to swing out and sweep his feet out from under him. Mysterion fell to the ground with a grunt, falling hard on his tailbone, and Butters made himself smirk, hands on his hips.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it, hero?" Butters questioned, and Mysterion clenched his jaw, growing more agitated.

"You pack more of a punch than I expected, with how scrawny you are.." Mysterion grumbled, "I won't make that mistake again..."

Butters... found that he was underestimated a lot, be it by his parents or his classmates. He was a pushover to them- someone not really worth worrying about, and he was usually the butt of jokes, pranks, etc. Butters didn't want to be underestimated as a supervillain; that was something he definitely didn't want, especially from a nemesis. He didn't want it to be common knowledge that he had superpowers because of the government, but did that mean he would be underestimated?

No, he could still let Mysterion know he was strong; he could still keep him on his toes, he could just have some tricks up his sleeves... He didn't need his powers for fighting, anyways. Electricity was dangerous! So, Butters responded by making his smirk larger, narrowing his visible eye at him.

"You're one to talk." Butters retorted, since Mysterion wasn't exactly brawny either; his costume wasn't quite form-fitting... In fact, it looked like it'd been sewn and folded over itself a bit to fit better, Butters could see the stitching. "And at least my costume isn't horribly made."

He didn't like being mean, not really, but villains were mean, and they usually provoked a lot of people, especially heroes. So, Butters figured he could at least be a bit of an asshole as a villain- it was practically a must!

"Mine isn't made out of fucking tinfoil." Mysterion countered lowly, aiming a punch for Butters's face, but he stepped to the side and grabbed his wrist before pulling him up before letting him fall to the ground.

Mysterion grunted, and he yanked his arm down, pulling Butters down with him. He hit the ground hard, and his free hand snapped up to prevent his helmet from flying off, pushing it back firmly onto his head. He pushed himself up, only for Mysterion to grab his ankle, yanking him down again with a yelp.

"Ow!! Stop that!" Butters snapped.

"Stop terrorizing the town!" Mysterion shot back.

"Never, you human plum!" Butters glared, and Mysterion looked at him in confusion.

"What?" Mysterion asked, seeming genuinely confused.

"You heard me, plum!" Butters responded.

"What the hell is a plum?" Mysterion questioned, tilting his head, and Butters had to fight down a laugh.

"You- You don't know what a plum is?" Butters asked, stifling giggles.

"No! I don't even think it's real!" Mysterion replied, and Butters was unable to contain his laughter, though he made it sound as villainous as he could.

"Y-You're kidding, right?!" Butters asked through giggles, "Please tell me you're joking!"

"No! If anything, I think you are!" Mysterion snapped, and Butters wheezed.

"O-Oh my god!" Butters laughed, using one of his hands to rub away tears before wincing from the tinfoil.

Yeah, he should probably get better armor...

"It's not that funny, asshole!" Mysterion barked, and it only made Butters laugh even harder... until he received a punch right to his jaw.

Butters winced a bit, biting his tongue hard enough to draw blood, and the action shut him up. Instead he scowled at Mysterion in the most intimidating way possible, though it probably just looked like he was pouting, and he leapt to his feet, punching Mysterion on his way up. Mysterion fell back before pushing himself to his feet, and when he tried sweeping Butters's feet out from under him, Butters jumped up, using his flying ability to get a bit higher to ensure he wasn't tripped.

He landed back on the ground, and while Mysterion was getting back into a fighting stance from the ground, Butters did a side kick, his metal boot impacting against his chest and sending him stumbling back and into some cow shit. Butters gasped a bit, hands flying to his mouth, having not known it was there, but it did work out perfectly- if not tragically. Mysterion pushed himself up, glaring daggers at him with some turds stuck to his hood, and Butters took that as his cue to run. He bolted away from the football field, laughing hysterically as Mysterion chased after him.

"CHAOS!!!" Mysterion yelled, and Butters laughed harder while sprinting away, trying to stifle it since it was slowing him down.

Butters sprinted down the sidewalks past the school, heart pounding in his ears as he ran away from Mysterion. The freezing night air was stinging his throat and making his teeth ache, and he almost needed to find a warmer costume. His cape was billowing out behind him, he could see it in his shadow from the streetlights, and he could see Mysterion's not far behind him... and he was gaining. Butters quickened his pace, tinfoil crinkling with each step, and he got pretty far! All the way to the crosswalk past the Community Center!

That is, until Mysterion managed to grab the end of his cape and yank him back. Butters yelped from surprise at the sudden action and then from pain as his tailbone hit the pavement. Hard. He blinked back tears from the stinging ache from his butt, and turned his head to glare at him. Mysterion was still clearly pissed off, the smell of cow manure practically steaming from him, and Mysterion had a turd in his free hand... Oh no. Butters tugged his cape free and scrambled to his feet with a frantic yelp that he would not admit to later, and he fled down the streets.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!" Mysterion snapped.

"No way!!" Butters refused, racing across the road to the next sidewalk, passing the houses on that street while trying to gain distance from Mysterion.

He knew these houses, as classmates and friends lived down this street, and he took off through the snow through Clyde's yard, heading for his backyard. Snow got through tears he hadn't even noticed in his tinfoil boots, making his socks wet and feet freeze. He scrambled over the fence, subtly flying in order to clear it faster as he kept running, and he ran through the snow past that. He could hear Mysterion's footsteps behind him, feet going into the indents left by Butters's feet in order to move faster while Butters was slowed down by the snow.

There were several pine trees around him in this area, and he made a snap decision and climbed up one, getting wacked and scraped by the branches and pine needles, and he leapt from the top and over the next fence. He glanced behind him to see Mysterion right behind him, looking mildly surprised but pushing it aside as he kept chasing him. Butters made it through the snow of another house's yard, back to the sidewalk, and down the street. He made it past more businesses, chest heaving and fueled only by adrenaline, and he bolted into the playground.

He raced into the restrooms, into a stall, and he locked the stall door, knees pulled up to his chest as he sat on a toilet. He tried catching his breath, taking quick, deep breaths as his heart pounded in his ears, his hands over his mouth. His tin foil armor had several rips in it, and Butters knew he'd need to make more if he didn't get a new material entirely, and his breathing quickened as he heard the door slam open.

He could smell the cow crap and he heard Mysterion's boots on the floor, along with the other boy's labored breathing, and he heard him going from stall to stall, checking under each one. Butters stopped breathing, despite the struggling, and he waited for Mysterion to walk past his stall. He refrained sighing in relief as he walked past it, checking the others, and then he finally allowed himself to try catching his breath again as he heard the restroom door slam shut.

"Phew..." Butters sighed in relief.

"Boo." Butters yelped as his gaze shot up, seeing Mysterion peeking over the door of his stall, holding himself up with his hands, glaring down at him.

"AAHHHHH!" Butters screamed, and he shot out of the stall, going under the door as Mysterion lunged at him.

Butters ran out of the restroom and then out of the playground as Mysterion chased after him, and Butters could tell he was slowing down. He could see the illuminated U-STOR-IT sign in the distance, and he knew if he would have any chances of losing Mysterion, it would be there. He put the rest of his stamina into bolting towards it, despite the aching in his legs and how much he'd slowed down since the chase first started. His legs felt like they would give out, his lungs felt like they were about to collapse, and the freezing cold air was going to give him a sore throat for sure.

He made it past the two houses on this street before bolting towards the storage locker facility, and he climbed over the gate, losing a metal boot in the process as he used his toes to get between the links of the fence, and he pushed himself over the gate. He made it inside, and he bolted with the last of his strength through the lockers, waiting to be out of sight before flying outside of the facility and to the billboard, hiding behind it. He took the opportunity to catch his breath, sinking to his knees as his legs gave out, feeling like they were made of jelly, and he took a long while to recover while Mysterion searched for him inside.

He shivered, pulling his hood up over his head as he tried to warm up, well aware Mysterion was in the building behind him searching for him and possibly catching onto the fact Butters was no longer there. He was freezing, he was exhausted, and he didn't think he had it in him to keep running. So he took a risk and flew to the warehouses across the street, over the fencing to the construction site, and he snuck on trembling legs past Kenny's house. He went over the train tracks, and he flew the rest of the way once he was sure he wasn't being followed, flying behind the houses on the street until he made it to his own, and he flew up to the window before creeping inside his bedroom.

He let himself drop to his bed after that, shivering and wrapping himself in his cape. He was still freezing, and he definitely needed something warmer for winter nights, that was a given. Maybe a coat or something? Ugh, just thinking about the weather was getting him cold again...

Butters, after a few minutes of regaining his bearings, pushed himself up and changed out of his cold clothes, switching into pajamas while pushing his costume under his bed. He really wanted a hot cocoa, but he still needed to sleep, and it was... Butters pulled out his phone and he checked the time. Five in the morning?! Granted it took a while to get the cows from Jenkin's farm over to the football field, but Mysterion fighting and then chasing him probably took a long while...

Ugh he had school in a few hours... He curled up under his blankets, still shivering a little, and promptly passed out. He slept well, until his mom came to wake him up, and after that... he just felt dead. His throat ached from the freezing cold air that he rapidly inhaled, his legs felt like string cheese, his arms not much better, and his tailbone still hurt.

He ate breakfast, used some concealer to hide the bags under his eyes, his scar, and he put his contact in. He didn't bother walking to school, getting on at the bus stop, and while Kenny, Kyle, Stan, and Eric were all talking to each other, Butters just... didn't have the energy. He climbed into the bus when it arrived, heading into the back, and the bus ride was honestly really blurry, since he passed out again on the way to school. He was only woken up when he heard Kyle yelling at Eric, who was holding a Sharpie.

"Goddamnit, Kyle! I could've drawn a mustache on him!" Eric pouted.

"Well too bad! Dude, he looks like shit!" Kyle responded, and he looked back at him, "Butters, dude, seriously, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just... studied a lot, that's all.." Butters reassured.

"Sure, 'studied'. That all you did last night, Kenny?" Eric questioned, looking at the other boy in the orange parka, "Or were you up masturbating again?"

Kenny said something that sounded like "Shut the fuck up, you blood-belching vagina." while holding up his middle finger, and Butters snorted.

"Something funny, Butters?" Eric asked.

"N-No, of course not!" Butters replied.

"Then why'd you snort?" Eric narrowed his eyes.

"Probably because he was doing an impression of you." Craig shrugged.

"Shut the fuck up, Craig!" Eric snapped.

The resulting fight was something Butters desperately wanted to sleep through, even though he loved watching physical fights. Loud ones with yelling, though... those were something Butters didn't like all that much. He could tolerate them, but they always got him a bit nervous. So, he buried himself against the wall of the bus as everyone started one big yelling match, and he tried blocking it out.

It didn't help that he had a headache coming on, or that Eric's voice right now sounded like nails on a chalk board, or that he was starting to get kind of dizzy... The bus skidded to a stop in front of the school, everyone funneling out slowly but surely, and Butters followed as the last one out. He still wanted hot cocoa but didn't have a good excuse for why. And everyone wouldn't shut the fuck up.

He was just so tired, especially after running through South Park last night. He knew he would probably fall asleep in class unless he got some form of sugar or... caffeine.... The community center had a soda vending machine... Butters looked over at it, the building seeming so close, yet so far. Just thinking about running towards it was making him even more exhausted... Ugh...

"Butters?" Dougie shook his shoulder, and Butters looked over at him, "Woah, you look like shit. What the hell happened?"

"Mysterion happened..." Butters mumbled.

"Mysteri-who?" Dougie questioned.

"Recess." Butters sighed, "I just need caffeine..."

"You do realize you aren't supposed to have any of that, right?" Dougie mentioned.

"I don't care." Butters replied, "I just... can you take a dollar and get me a Mountain Dew or something? Please... It's so far..."

Dougie sighed, before relenting with a nod, and Butters perked up as he fished a dollar out of his pocket, giving it to Dougie, who took off down the sidewalks. Dougie was back a bit later, a Mountain Dew in his hand, and Butters accepted it, opening it and taking a drink. The carbonated liquid burned his agitated throat and made his good eye water, and he coughed a bit. He rubbed at his burning eye, and he screwed the cap back onto the bottle.

"You ok?" Dougie asked.

"Y-Yeah, just... never tried soda before... please don't tell my parents." Butters pleaded.

"Butters, I am the last person you need to worry about when it comes to telling your parents something." Dougie deadpanned, "Seriously, how exhausted are you?"

"I slept... maybe two hours?" Butters guessed.

"Butters!" Dougie scolded.

"I know, I know!" Butters sighed, "It wasn't supposed to take so long, and then there's the problem I need to talk to you about..."

"Wait, what wasn't supposed to take so long? What'd you do? I thought you were taking the night off?" Dougie asked.

Oh yeah, he had said that....

Right as Butters was about to start to respond, Tweek started screaming, "AAAHH! THERE'S COWS IN THE FOOTBALL FIELD! ARRGGHHH!"

Dougie gave Butters a flat look, and Butters fought to stifle his laughter. Dougie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before starting to follow him, Butters following after him, taking a few more swallows of his soda. The soda, despite it being horrible for him, was currently his saving grace. He poured it into his Hello Kitty thermos, to be discreet, and he took it with him to class after him and Dougie parted ways. He sipped on the carbonated green liquid throughout Mr. Garrison's class, using it to stay awake, and it worked! It didn't keep him very attentive and he wasn't able to concentrate on the lesson that much, but what he was concentrating on was the clock. He watched as it's hands ticked by in different classrooms all until it was time for lunch. He didn't sit by the others, despite originally heading over to them. Instead, Dougie had cut him off, grabbing his arm with his free hand and pulling him to one of the quieter parts of the cafeteria.

"Alright, I can't wait until recess. Who the hell is Mysterion?" Dougie asked, and Butters groaned, head thumping forward onto the table, Dougie pulling his tray out of the way just in time.

"My new arch-nemesis..." Butters mumbled, raising his head slightly to give Dougie a tired look.

"Huh?" Dougie questioned, "Wait, already? What happened?"

"Well, I did the cow thing-" Butters started.

"Which everyone thought was hilarious." Dougie mentioned, Butters smiling a bit.

"And then he showed up. He was in purple, green, and... pffft- underwear." Butters started snickering despite himself, "He thought he could be intimidating with white boxers over his tights, Dougie!"

Butters giggled, and Dougie laughed a bit, "And was he?"

"Oh he kicked my ass..." Butters groaned, mood quickly falling, "Well, it was a mutual ass-kicking but I accidentally got him a little too mad.."

"Wait, you fought back?" Dougie asked, seeming surprised.

"Yeah? I mean, villains fight heroes, don't they?" Butters replied, "And sure, I wasn't the best, but he wasn't experienced either... neither was his costume- Well, ok, it was really cool, but obviously cheaply and poorly made."

"And tinfoil is better?" Dougie questioned.

". . . Mine looked cooler, and speaking of, I need new armor, I lost a boot last night and the rest of it is all banged up..." Butters mentioned.

". . . Do I even wanna know how you lost a boot?" Dougie asked.

"Well, uh.. while we were fighting, I kinda accidentally pushed him into some cow poop, and uh... well... he got mad. So, he uh... well... he chased me through South Park..." Butters admitted, rubbing his knuckled together.

". . ." Dougie was silent for a moment, digesting that information, before asking, "How much of South Park are we talking?"

"Well umm..." Butters rubbed his knuckled together a bit more, agitating some small pokes from the tin foil last night, "From here to the U-Stor-It?"

"WHAT?!" Dougie exclaimed, gaining the attention of some other students. The two of them waited for everyone to get distracted again, Dougie lowering his voice and whispering, "What?"

"Yeah, he chased me to the playground, where I briefly caught my breath in the restroom, and then once he found me, I ran to the U-Stor-It and lost him there. Then I caught my breath and snuck home." Butters replied, and he started eating his lunch- he hadn't even noticed it was sloppy joe day until now... He hated sloppy joe day.

"Butters, that's all the way on the other side of town. How did you even make it that far??" Dougie questioned.

"Adrenaline?" Butters guessed, "I've been running to school for two weeks now- well, running in bursts... I guess I got my stamina up, even though I feel like I'm made of jelly today... I got home at five in the morning. Five, Dougie..."

"Ouch..." Dougie winced.

"I just wanted to fill the football field with cows, Dougie." Butters whined.

"I know, Butters..." Dougie sighed.

"And then I got my ass kicked by a plum in underwear." Butters added, and Dougie let out a surprised laugh, "He didn't even know what a plum was, Dougie..."

"No way!" Dougie gasped, "Seriously?!"

"Yes!" Butters confirmed, laughing quietly.

The two of them laughed for a bit before starting to eat lunch, and sure, Butters didn't like sloppy joe day, but it was food, and food gave him energy... To get through the day and hopefully be able to sleep tonight. . . . Oh who was he kidding, something was gonna pop up for sure...

Butters pulled out his phone as he got an invite to a group chat, and he tapped accept.

720-445-5647 has been added to the chat.

Shade
Hey!

Shade changed 720-445-564's nickname to 'Prof. Chaos'

Noah
Hey Chaos!

Prof. Chaos
Hey, fellas! What's this?

Spice
Shade made this stupid-ass chat.

Etta
It's not stupid!

Flower
Yeah, it's more like... idk, a waist of time?

Shade
Fuck you both

Steve
Language around the child!

Etta
🤐

Shade
. . . WE ARE ALL CHILDREN, STEVE!

Butters rubbed at his temples, not ready to handle all of this chaos right now, despite it being his namesake.

Prof. Chaos
Would you fellas mind if I muted this for a bit? I had a rough night and I have a really bad headache...

Shade
Cow trouble?

Prof. Chaos
Hero trouble. A vigilante showed up last night, we fought, then he chased me across South Park. I only slept like three hours or less after that

Spice
Go the fuck to sleep!

Prof. Chaos
I'm at school! No!

Shade
. . . Alright, where tf are you.
This is not a question.
Tell me.

Butters was slightly offput, and he looked around the cafeteria, and he saw Shade on the other side of it, and then their eyes met. She looked down at her phone, typing something, and his phone pinged quietly.

Shade
Nevermind.

Shade stood up from her seat, leaving her tray behind, and she started walking over to the two of them. Butters winced a bit, hoping she wouldn't call him out in front of everyone here, and he decided to play it off.

"H-Hey, umm.. can I help you?" Butters asked.

"Yes. By sleeping." Shade replied.

"Do I know you?" Butters tried to be oblivious.

"Oh please, you're the only one here looking completely exhausted, not to mention how after I texted in the chat you looked at your phone." Shade pointed out, and Butters looked off to the side, "And I take it this is Disarray?"

Shade and Dougie had met a few times now for pranks, but they hadn't exchanged phone numbers, as Butters usually communicated for the both of them. They didn't interact too often with how much Dougie focused on school, but they'd met up a few times.

"Yeah..." Dougie sighed, "We aren't subtle, are we?"

"Oh you are, I only put two and two together because I've seen him exhausted before and he was looking at his phone after I texted." Shade replied, "Look, me and the others are eating lunch over there. Wanna join us?"

Butters and Dougie exchanged a glance before nodding, gathering their trays and following Shade back over to her bench, where the others were sitting.

"Hey!" Noah greeted, waving when he walked over, "Wait, it's really you?"

"Yeah, it's me." Butters sighed, fidgeting with his knuckles a bit, "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Heh, yeah, small world." Noah chuckled a bit, "You mentioned something about a hero?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you during recess..." Butters nodded, before frowning, "I wasn't trying to get figured out..."

"Ah well, don't worry about it too much." Shade said as she scooted to sit next to him, slinging an arm around his shoulders, "It makes things a bit easier to exchange info. Now will everyone tell him to go the fuck to sleep."

"Yeah I'm with Shade, you need some rest." Spice said.

"And a new set of armor. Tinfoil just isn't cutting it..." Butters sighed.

". . . Y'knoooowwwww, Sil's dad makes armor for the Ren Faires in Colorado, he might be able to hook you up." Shade mentioned, "Think you can arrange that, Sil?"

Sil tensed when eyes were on him before nodding a little bit, mumbling, "I'll text back after I talk to him."

"Yay!" Shade grinned, and then she poked Butters's chest with her free hand, "Now sleep, mister."

"School isn't over yet..." Butters pointed out.

"Well I don't care." Shade huffed.

"I don't either, right now." Dougie added.

"She's really stubborn." Etta mentioned, "And I don't think it's a good idea to sleep so little..."

"I'll be fine, really." Butters reassured her.

"Oh don't let that innocent act fool you. That little shit knows the recipe to chloroform and has used it." Spice mentioned.

". . . I just wanted to not give a shit about anything in peace." Flower sighed.

"Hey, uh... sorry if this seems weird or rude, I don't have much of a form of censor when I get tired, but um... how come you don't hang out with the goth kids?" Butters asked, "I mean you seem kinda gothy? Aside from wearing all white, that is! I- I don't mean to assume nothin', I just-"

"Hey, buddy, it's ok." Shade patted his shoulder, "You're not wrong, that's for sure! Flower here is goth!"

"She is?..." Butters questioned, "She doesn't look it..."

"I'm not gonna conform to the goth culture of dressing in all black, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and hanging out in the dark alleyway next to the school." Flower stated, taking a bite of her sloppy joe.

"That... actually makes sense..." Dougie muttered.

"Yup! But she does smoke though. In secret." Shade smiled.

". . . Soda doesn't seem so bad now." Butters said to Dougie, who sighed, face-palming.

"Wait, soda?" Shade asked, "Now that's worse. Where?"

"Hello Kitty thermos." Dougie informed.

"Dougie!" Butters exclaimed in betrayal.

"Hey, come on, soda's gonna fuck you up." Spice mentioned.

"Cigarettes will give you lung cancer!" Butters pointed out.

"Welllllllll I personally say that's a skill issue." Shade smiled, and everyone else at the table face-palmed.

"Not this shit again..." Spice groaned.

"Yessss, this shit again." Shade smirked.

"Oh boy..." Noah winced.

"Hey, Butters!" Eric called out, and Butters internally winced before turning around to look at him, "The fuck, dude? You're not sitting by us?"

"I invited him over." Shade shrugged.

"Cartman, dude, let him be." Clyde told him, moving to stand next to him, "He got invited to sit by a chick. Leave him."

"But-!" Eric started to protest.

"Leave. Him. Be. For he has achieved what few can." Clyde said.

Eric sighed, before reluctantly relenting with a huff, frowning before sitting back down. Butters sighed in relief, and then he looked up as Etta gasped.

"You said Hello Kitty before." Etta said, a smile on her face.

"Oh here we fuckin' go... Time for the geeks!" Shade grinned.

"I'll still never understand your thing with Hello Kitty..." Dougie mumbled.

"It's amazing for one!" Etta replied, "She's so adorable! And the coloring books!"

"I've been wanting one of those, but my parents won't let me get any!" Butters exclaimed.

"I don't think Etta would mind you coming over to hang out to color or something." Flower offered, "She might chloroform you, though."

"Tattle tail..." Etta mumbled with a frown.

"Damnit, Flower! You gave away the plan! How else can we get him to sleep with soda involved?!" Shade groaned in exasperation.

"We could ask Mysterion to knock him out." Dougie supplied.

"Who?" Noah asked as the bell chimed.

". . . Alright, this is gonna be a long conversation, and no, I'm not sleeping yet..." Butters sighed.

And it was a very long conversation... Especially since most of it consisted of them telling him to sleep, but he couldn't afford to do that. Not right now. He still had to figure out a new costume, dang it...

Chapter Text

"So, uh... you're sure his dad'll help?" Butters asked Shade as they walked towards Sil's house after school had ended, Sil behind them.

His body still hurt from the fight with Mysterion last night, along with his lungs from the following chase. He didn't even want to go out as Professor Chaos later tonight, but he knew that he had to. Noah got a new list of pranks along with prices a half hour ago, and Butters was slam packed for the night! With Mysterion an issue, Butters knew he would need to cause a distraction so that the others would be safe to carry out the pranks so that he could be paid, otherwise they could have a problem on their hands.

With this next collection of payments, Butters would be able to afford some important things for his hideout, which he would be able to now if he didn't need new armor. He'd also gotten signed up for the martial arts class tomorrow, he just needed armor right now, because unfortunately for him... tin foil wasn't cutting it. 

"Of course! Sil knows what he charges for stuff like this, too, so you should have all the money you need for basic stuff. Just stick with the story: you're cosplaying as a comic book character and wanna win best in show." Shade answered, "Works better than the whole 'hey I'm a supervillain who needs armor in order to not get my ass kicked again'."

"I didn't get my ass kicked..." Butters mumbled, "I just- I got some good hits in, ok?!"

Shade laughed a bit as they approached the house, which was a dark purplish gray color with a black roof, windows, and it had an attached garage. The garage in question was open, the sound of welding audible, and there was pieces of armor hanging up on the walls, ranging from chest-plates to helmets, gloves, boots, you name it. There was a man with a dark gray shirt, blue overalls, and dark brown welder's gloves and boots standing over an anvil, where he was welding things into place before sighing, muttering curses.

He also had a black welder's mask, and his head raised as he saw them walk up, the man turning his torch off. The anvil had a helmet on it- a spartan style without the top attached, and the pieces of metal covering the cheekbones was just welded on, the piece that went between the eyes on the anvil. It looked just like his helmet as Professor Chaos, and Butters really wanted it. 

"Dorian!" The man greeted, pushing his welder's mask up, and Sil waved a little, looking embarrassed.

His skin was a bit darker than Sil's, and he had black hair and grayish-blue eyes. He had a few scars around his face, and he had a scruffy black beard. He seemed a lot more outgoing than Sil was, and a lot more friendly.

"Hey Mr. Smith!" Shade greeted, walking over to him, "It's been a little while, how've you been?"

"Good, thank you! I see Dorian's got another friend? Good to see him finally coming out of his shell!" Sil's dad walked over to him, holding his hand out, with Butters shook, "It's good to meet you, kiddo. My name's Clint, but you can just call me Mr. Smith. What brings you kids by?"

"Well, our friend here is signed up for this big costume contest for Comic Con, and we were hoping you could help. He's got a decent allowance he's been saving up to pay for everything, he just needs some metal gear. Y'know, some gauntlets, boots, etc." Shade responded, "Dorian here personally suggested your help."

"He did?!" Mr. Smith looked heart-warmed, and Sil shot a subtle glare at a smiling Shade as his dad hugged him.

"He did!" Shade nodded, despite Butters knowing that wasn't the case.

"I appreciate that, Dorian! With how slow business has been, this helps a lot! So, uh... sorry, I didn't get your name, kiddo." Mr. Smith released Sil and looked over at Butters.

"Oh, sorry, sir! My name's Butters!" Butters introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Butters! Now, come on over here and tell me what catches your eye. I have some premade armor, but I can also make some for you. It might take a while, but you could tell me whatever you want them to include." Mr. Smith beckoned him over to the garage, walking back over to it, and the three of them followed him, with Sil heading into his house, "Now, some of this is pretty heavy, and if needed, I can use a lighter-weight metal to make you the pieces you want and it'll still look real."

Butters looked around at the armor hanging on the walls, not wanting anything too flashy but he didn't want it plain either. There were some gauntlets with engravings in them, others with brass or copper between them, and then there were the solid steel and iron ones, and Butters's attention was grabbed by a pair of steel gauntlets. They weren't decorated much, but they were sleek, with black visible under the steel plating. The hands had several pieces of armor to make them flexible, and from the wrist to the elbow was a solid piece of steel. They were also just his size.

"What about these?" Butters asked, pointing to them.

"Hmm? Oh, good eye!" Mr. Smith grabbed them from their rack and held them out for him to try, "Hold out your hands."

Butters did so, and he put the gloves on him, making some adjustments to the gloves, using small straps Butters hadn't noticed to tighten the gloves around his hands to fit much better, and they fit amazingly, with Butters easily able to move his fingers within the gloves once they were securely on.

"Perfect fit! Are they something you'd be interested in getting made with a lighter material?" Mr. Smith asked.

"Actually, can I just get these, please? They aren't that heavy." Butters requested, and they really weren't.

He barely noticed they were there.

"Well sure, if you want." Mr. Smith nodded, despite his evident surprise as Butters removed and held the gloves under one arm.

"Thanks!" Butters thanked him, and he saw a pair of boots underneath where the gloves had been displayed, along with shoulder, elbow, and knee pads on smaller hangers. They weren't decorated and were overall plain, but Butters loved the look of the black fabric visible between the pieces of metal. There was also a cape clasp similar to his current one, with two metal circles with a chain between them. "How much for the whole set?"

"Well... these are steel, so they have really good longevity and don't need a whole ton of maintenance, so they're a bit pricy. I'd say around.... A hundred and ninety dollars." Mr. Smith answered.

Holy shit!

Butters's eyes widened a bit, the price expensive, but he supposed it wasn't as bad as it could be. With his income from the pranks in the last few weeks, he actually had enough, and he'd brought it all with him. Butters looked over at the helmet on the anvil again, and he decided to ask about it.

"How much for that one?" Butters pointed at the helmet on the anvil.

"I was actually just about to throw that out. I forgot the notch for one of the pieces and trying to add it now... You're sure you want it?" Mr. Smith questioned.

"Yup!" Butter nodded.

"Alright... give me around ten minutes to add some cushions to the inside for you, just to ensure there's nothing sharp in there, and I'll throw it in for you." Mr. Smith answered.

"Really?!" Butters asked, surprised and excitement.

"Well, sure! I was just gonna throw it out anyways, and you'll get much more use out of it. I'll round you up to two hundred bucks total for the padding and a chin strap, though, how's that?" Mr. Smith offered.

"I'll take it!" Butters accepted, using his free hand to reach into his pocket, pulling out the white envelop, "Hey, uh.. Shade, can you hold the gloves for a second please?"

"Sure thing." Shade nodded, and she took the gloves from him while Butters counted out the money in the envelop before handing it over to Mr. Smith, who re-counted it before putting it in his pocket, Butters returning the envelop to his pocket.

"Thanks, Butters." Mr. Smith thanked him before grabbing the helmet and getting to work, grabbing glue, a black strap, and some padding, "Oh, and you see that fridge over there?"

Butters looked to where Mr. Smith nodded his head, seeing a fridge off to the side, "Yeah?"

"Feel free to grab a water or anything, alright? You too, Shade." Mr. Smith said.

"Thank you, Mr. Smith!" Butters thanked him.

"Thanks, Mr. S!" Shade thanked him as well.

After a moment of debating with himself if he was thirsty, he went over to the fridge, grabbing two waters before heading back to Shade, giving her one while she handed him the gauntlets.

The two sat in comfortable silence on a work bench while Mr. Smith worked on the helmet, Butters wearing the gauntlets happily while Shade played a game on her phone. The water felt relatively good on his throat, which still ached a bit from his rapid breathing of the cold air last night. Butters thought for a moment before heading over to the other armor he'd purchased, removing his shoes and putting the armor on, seeing how it looked on him.

"Hey, Shade! What do ya think?" Butters asked enthusiastically, and Shade looked up at him before smirking.

"You're gonna win that contest for sure!" Shade answered, taking a picture of him while he grinned triumphantly.

Butters bounced happily on his feet, noticing the lack of much noise, and he looked on the bottom, seeing rubber secured firmly to the bottoms as soles, reducing the noise. Yet another advantage, and an amazing one! Let's see who the sneaky one is now, Mysterion!

"Alright, try this on." Mr. Smith called Butters over, and once Butters reached him, Mr. Smith put the helmet on his head, "How's that?"

The helmet was secure, the padding soft on his head and filling in any gaps between his head and the helmet, and as Butters saw his reflection in a metal chest piece hanging on the wall, he beamed.

"It fits amazing!" Butters answered, feeling giddy, and he slipped the gloves off to reach into his pocket for the envelop again, holding the gloves under one arm as he grabbed twenty dollars from the envelop and held it out to him.

"Butters, you only have to give me an additional ten, kiddo." Mr. Smith told him.

"Well yeah, that's what ya said, but consider the extra ten a tip! I know you said business was slow, and an extra ten dollars can go a long way! If not as a tip, think of it as payment for the waters!" Butters insisted, Mr. Smith looking at him in surprise before smiling a bit, accepting the money.

"Thank you, Butters. You're a good kid, you know that?" Mr. Smith told him, catching Butters a bit off guard.

His parents didn't think he was, and neither did anyone else, so why- no, he couldn't think about this right now. He was a supervillain. He just got supervillain armor. There was no being a good kid, and just because one guy thought that he was a good person, it didn't mean that the rest of the world did.

"You're welcome!" Butters responded instead, not responding to the good kid bit.

Butters removed the armor, put his shoes back on, and put the armor into a large bag Mr. Smith gave him. As him and Shade walked to her street, the silence wasn't as comfortable now, not with how Shade kept giving him glances that Butters was trying to ignore, but he could see them out of the corner of his good eye.

"So," Shade eventually broke the silence, "What was up with you back there?"

"What do you mean?" Butters asked.

"Back there, you were all excited and giddy like a kid in a candy store, and then when he mentioned you were a good kid you just... deflated a little? What was up with that?" Shade elaborated, and Butters looked off to the side, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, that? That uh... that was nothin', really. I just didn't expect him to be so happy, that's all." Butters answered.

". . . Sure." Shade said despite the frown on her face, evidently not believing him, "Alright then, what's on our agenda tonight?"

"I still have to look over the list Noah gave me, then I'll map everything out. I'll take the bigger, more obvious prank to get Mysterion's attention while you fellas take care of the smaller, easier pranks." Butters answered, "I'll text in a little bit in the group chat."

"Works for me." Shade nodded.

They parted ways after that, and Butters made his way to his house. His parents were at work, so getting his costume inside wasn't difficult, allowing him to hide it under his bed and have time before they came home. He looked over Noah's list before comparing it to the map of South Park he put on his desk, putting Monopoly pieces on each target, and he decided on doing the prank furthest away from everyone else, that being Skeeter's Bar and Cocktails. Someone had requested for him to put laxatives in the alcohol, but he felt like taking things a bit further. He had some fireworks he'd gotten from Arty's the last time he'd been there, Jake having found them in the back and gave them to him instead of destroying them, and Butters was desperate to use them. So with that in mind, he went into the group chat, texted everyone the locations for their pranks, and all before his parents got home. At dinner, his mom had made chicken, peas, rice, and french fries, and Butters ate quietly.

"So, Butters, how was school?" His dad questioned, and Butters looked up at him.

"It was pretty good!" Butters answered.

"That's a good thing, Butters. We read your report card from last week, and we were thinking about taking you to Bennigan's." His mom told him, and Butters perked up.

"Really, ya mean it?!" Butters asked in excitement, his parents nodding.

"Well, sure! So long as you don't get into any trouble at school and get good grades this week." His dad confirmed, and Butters felt his hope sink a bit.

Odds were he'd get in trouble somehow, but the promise of Bennigan's made him really want to try not to get in any trouble, and he also had to work on homework... This would be a long night. Butters focused on eating quickly, helping his mom with the dishes before heading back upstairs to his room, going over everything that had been discussed in school. His exhaustion made it difficult to concentrate, but he knew he couldn't leave to start working on his villainy until after his homework was done, and after that he needed to get ready for bed and painstakingly wait to make sure his parents were asleep.

Once the homework was done, Butters almost falling asleep while trying to figure out math problems several times, he waited for his parents to fall asleep. He stood by his door, listening with his ear pressed against the wood, and he finally heard the snoring start. With no hesitation, he quietly bolted to his bed, reaching under it and pulling out his armor, changing out of his confetti-patterned pajamas and putting on his dark gray shirt, eyepatch, and black pants. He put on thick wool socks before slipping the boots on, then the elbow, knee, and shoulder pads.

He put on his cloak, attaching the new clasps to it before putting on his helmet, then finally his gloves. He grabbed the fireworks from his closet and slid his window open before flying out, shutting it behind him, and he flew to his backyard before dropping down to land in the snow before traveling through it to the road. He walked down the street, not causing too much pain to his aching throat as he walked up the road. He knew he would need laxatives for the alcoholic drinks, but he had no idea where to get them, or where to get enough- Walgreens.

He took a detour into an alley, flying onto the roof of Jimbo's, stashing the fireworks there before he flew as fast as he could into the sky, trying to get high enough so no one would notice. The air was ice cold, and Butters had no intentions of staying up here for long, just long enough to get near Walgreens quickly. He made it close enough to Walgreens before dropping down onto the roof, then down the fire escape before finally hitting the sidewalk.

He stepped into the pharmacy, the bell chiming as he entered, and he barely prevented himself from tensing up as the bored cashiers looked at him curiously. With his objective in mind, he walked through the aisles, grabbing several bottles of maximum strength laxatives before heading to a cash register, doing the math to ensure he had enough cash left over to purchase the medication. He put the bottles on the counter before reaching into one of his pockets, grabbing the required cash.

"So, what's all this for, kid?" The cashier- Susan, asked.

She was older, with dark brown and gray hair, black-framed glasses, a few wrinkles, and tan skin. She was wearing a red shirt with the nametag, and she had a few bracelets around her wrist, seemingly made by her children.

"Oh, umm... I just... have constipation issues and my parents told me I should stock up?" Butters attempted, but she looked unconvinced.

Drat, Shade made lying look so easy... Butters didn't like lying, but sometimes white lies weren't bad, his parents taught him that. Sometimes the truth was worse than the lie, or the lie was more convenient, and sometimes lying was just... needed. 

"Right..." Susan said, starting to ring him up after a moment, "That's all this is for, because this is a lot. You're not doing something stupid, are you?"

Putting laxatives in all the alcohol at Skeeter's wasn't stupid, was it?... Nope!

"No, it's not stupid, ma'am." Butters answered, and she sighed a bit.

"Alright, well, hopefully your parents know what to do with half a thousand pills of maximum strength laxative." Susan sighed, "Sixty five ninety."

Ouch...

Butters reached into his pocket, grabbing the cash before holding it out to her as she handed him the bag. Susan handed him the change next, and he stored it in his pocket.

"Have a good night, ma'am!" Butters told her as he headed towards the door.

"You too. Don't do anything too stupid, kid!" Susan called out, and Butters quickly exited the store.

He made his way to Skeeter's, laxatives in hand, and he flew high into the sky again, speeding up his travel before getting close to the bar, which was thankfully closed for the night. Skeeters was a brown building with a dark gray roof, two light gray doors at the front with a circular window at the top of each one, which was too high up for Butters to see without flying. He went over to the rooftop of Jimbo's guns, which very poor choice of having a gun store next to a bar, and then he surveyed the bar. He used some quick zaps to take out the cameras before climbing down from the roof, heading to the door before pausing.

It probably had something to notify the police if the doors were forced open, so then how could he get in?... Butters circled the building, and he saw the back entrance, a door which was mainly used to transport alcohol out of trucks to the cellar easier, and he smirked a bit. He inspected the door, and he hesitated for a moment before backing up before stepping forward quickly, swinging his leg up in an attempt to kick the door open, putting a decent amount of strength into it. The door flew open with a loud bang, Butters wincing and looking around to ensure no one heard that before quickly bolting inside, shutting the door behind him.

He couldn't see anything, and he frowned, holding his free hand up, letting electricity form in it. He kept it small and concentrated, momentarily admiring how it looked as it reflected off of his armor before he stepped forward, moving his hand where he needed to to try finding the light switch. Once it was found, he flipped it, the lights turning on, and he let the electricity spark out. The cellar had dark gray floors, walls, and ceiling, boxes, kegs, and crates of alcohol throughout, along with pool tables, juke boxes, and old signs.

He moved quickly and carefully, opening alcohol closest to the main door into the bar, and he opened them up. He opened the laxatives next, pouring random amounts into each keg and then shutting them. He knew that the smaller bottles of alcohol had caps that showed if the bottles were tampered with, and he knew that the kegs were overall his safest bet. He did open the other bottles of alcohol that didn't have these caps, and he slipped some of the pills in there.

It didn't take him long to run out, and he shut off the lights and locked the back door behind him as he exited the cellar, running over to Jimbo's, grabbing the fireworks before flying over to the roof of Skeeter's. He opened the boxes of fireworks, set them up, let some electricity form in his fingers before pinching each fuse. The fuses lit up and traveled up the fireworks, and he ran off of the roof, flying over to Jimbo's before watching with a grin as the fireworks shot into the air, exploding in the sky.

The bright explosions of lights lit up the sky, the smell of gunpowder thick in the air, and he laughed, watching the fireworks pop and crack. He didn't let his guard down, though, looking around at all times to ensure he wasn't being watched. Then, he saw him, and his hands clenched into fists as he saw Mysterion watching him from the roof of Crunchy's Micro Brew two buildings over, a pissed off look on his face.

"Chaos!" Mysterion shouted, "What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Fuck off I'm playing with fireworks!" Butters responded.

He wanted to put more... vulgarity into his villain persona. He didn't often swear at people, not really, and especially not around his parents. As Professor Chaos, though, he could change that, and not only would it better hide his identity so he wouldn't get recognized as easily, but it also brought him out of his comfort zone a bit. The swearing only seemed to irritate Mysterion further, which made an actual smirk form on Butters's face. Mysterion leapt from the roof of the coffee shop, running across the roof of City Wok before jumping up to the roof of Jimbo's, Butters taking several steps back as Mysterion pulled himself up onto the roof.

"Fireworks are illegal, asshole." Mysterion growled, "Especially these."

"Oh, fIrEwOrKs ArE iLlEgAl, I had noooo idea!" Butters responded, putting sass into his voice, a broad smirk on his face, "I'm so sorry, hero! So sorry that I don't give a shit!"

Butters laughed after that, enjoying this way too much. He usually didn't enjoy seeing people upset like this, but damn if it wasn't satisfying.

"Fuck you." Mysterion responded, and he lunged forward, aiming a punch at him.

Butters brought up his arms to shield his face, and he felt Mysterion's fist connect against his gauntlet before the hero yelped, gruff voice gone as he stumbled back, and Butters momentarily felt satisfied before seeing the look on Mysterion's face, along with the way he was clutching his hand to his chest. Butters saw tears in his eyes before they squeezed shut, and Butters felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't meant for him to get hurt that bad...

"Aw h-" Butters stopped himself, clearing his throat, "Oh shit- what the fuck did you do that for?!"

"What the fuck happened to the damn tin foil?" Mysterion croaked, his voice a mix between the forced, smoker's cough voice of one of Butters's grandparents and a voice that actually fit his age.

"I improved my armor! You didn't notice?" Butters responded.

"Of course not! Otherwise I wouldn't have punched you that hard, shit!" Mysterion replied with a wince, shaking his hand in pain, which definitely looked swollen.

"Well I'll let you know the next time I upgrade my armor, then!" Butters replied, a mix of exasperation and sincerity in his voice.

He went to step forward before pausing, unsure of what to do, and he hid his hands behind his back as he fidgeted with them, rocking back and forth on his new boots. He sighed, unable to take the sight of Mysterion struggling to keep his composure anymore, and he climbed down from the roof. He grabbed some snow in his hands before getting back up to the rooftop, walking over to Mysterion with snow in his hands. Mysterion stepped back, sending a dark glare at him.

"Don't you fucking dare throw a snowball at me, asshole." Mysterion snapped lowly.

"I'm not-" Butters started, and he supposed Mysterion suspecting the worst of him was valid, and he sighed, "Just come here."

Butters shot a hand out, grabbing Mysterion's wrist, who yelped in pain, and Butters quickly put the snow around his hand, holding it there. Mysterion looked at him in surprise and confusion, and Butters avoided looking at him, focusing on holding his wrist still.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mysterion asked.

"Helping you. You probably sprained your wrist trying to punch me so hard, so you need to put ice on it." Butters informed, rolling his eyes.

". . . Why?" Mysterion questioned.

"Unlike you, I don't like hurting people... much. Ok, so fighting you was kind of fun last night, but... I never wanted to hurt you this bad." Butters sighed.

". . . Thanks..." Mysterion grumbled reluctantly, looking off to the side. 

Butters nodded with a hum, not replying, just keeping Mysterion's hand steady, his wrist surrounded in the snow. He could hear a quiet growling coming from Mysterion, a sound Butters immediately recognized as a stomach growling, and he narrowed his eyes a bit, paying attention for if he would hear it again. A few moments later, it happened again, and Butters had to fight to prevent his hands from fidgeting. That was a hungry stomach growl, something Butters knew well from experience, having been sent to his room without supper quite a few times after he was bad, and he frowned.

No one deserved to be hungry, that was a different kind of pain Butters wouldn't inflict on anyone. Especially when someone didn't deserve it. Butters was a bad kid, he knew that, and everyone saw it, and now he was starting to embrace it, tired of trying to change the inevitable when it wasn't working or worth it.

Mysterion, though... he was a superhero. He didn’t seem to have powers, but he was trying to be a hero regardless, which was a lot more than Butters could say about himself. Butters didn't like Mysterion, but good kids didn't go hungry, that's what his dad always told him.

"Hey, uh... when's the last time you ate?" Butters couldn't prevent himself from asking.

"Why?" Mysterion responded.

"Because I'm asking." Butters replied, glaring at him a bit.

"It's none of your business." Mysterion glared back.

Butters sighed before pulling him off of the roof, Mysterion yelping a bit before following behind him. Butters lead him down the fire escape down the back before leading him down the street, past the police department, then past the Community Center, and then further down the street without saying a word. Mysterion quickened his steps to walk next to him, looking less than pleased about this.

"Where the fuck are you taking me?" Mysterion asked lowly.

"You'll see." Butters sighed.

"Your hideout?" Mysterion questioned.

"Nope, that's too far away." Butters answered, continuing down the street, sticking to anywhere where there wasn't a lot of people, maybe an occasional hobo or two, "Besides, I don't have what we need there."

"What we need?" Mysterion asked as Butters rounded a corner, heading to Walgreens, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Relax, I met the cashier earlier tonight and she was real nice!" Butters reassured, pulling a now struggling Mysterion through the door, practically dragging him to the medical aisle, "Hey, I can't help you if you keep fighting me!"

"I don't need your fucking help." Mysterion hissed.

"Well how the hell can you fight me with a sprained wrist and empty belly, huh?" Butters replied, "Answer is: you can't. Now c'mon, work with me here. I'm buying, anyways."

With what little money he had left.

Mysterion sighed, relenting, and Butters grabbed one of the child-sized wrist splints before leaving the aisle, taking Mysterion with him. Mysterion was grumbling behind him, melting snow dripping on the floor leaving a trail of water drops behind them.

"How the fuck are your steps so quiet?" Mysterion asked after a moment as Butters reached the food aisle, looking through the items.

"A villain never reveals his secrets." Butters replied with a smirk, which fell slightly seeing Mysterion's pained expression again, and he kept looking through the foods, "So, you hungry for anything? And don't pick out the most expensive thing to be a jerk, I don't have much and I'm not stealin' nothin'."

"You don't steal?" Mysterion questioned.

"I'm a villain, not a crook." Butters answered, mildly offended, and he grabbed a box of Cheerios before exiting the aisle, pulling Mysterion with him as he grabbed some paper bowls and a bottle of chocolate milk and some plastic spoons.

Mysterion remained silent as Butters lead him to the cashier, Susan again.

"You do something stupid?" Susan asked with a sigh.

"Uhh... no?" Butters answered nervously, and she sighed again, scanning the items and ringing him up.

"Yeah, he did." Mysterion spoke up, and she laughed a little.

"Oh I figured." Susan sighed with an eyeroll before she finished scanning and bagging the items, and Butters paid for the food with the last of his money, "Take care of yourselves, and you." Susan gave him a pointed look, "Quit being stupid."

"No can do!" Butters answered, heading for the exit with the bag of items in his free hand, walking through the automatic doors.

Mysterion grumbled behind him again before Butters pulled him up the fire escape of a nearby building, quickly getting to the roof before sitting down, finally releasing Mysterion's wrist. He dug through the bag, grabbing the splint's box and opening it, grabbing the splint. Mysterion rolled his eyes, holding out his injured wrist, which Butters put the splint on, securing it to keep it stable.

"Better?" Butters asked, and Mysterion sighed, looking off to the side before nodding a bit.

"Yeah, thank you..." Mysterion answered reluctantly.

Butters nodded, opening the cereal box and the pack of paper bowls, grabbing six and separating them into halves, with one bowl made up of three bowls. He knew these things could be flimsy, and Butters couldn't exactly wash his costume very well. He poured the cereal into each bowl, then opened the bottle of milk and poured half in each bowl before putting the trash back in the bag. He grabbed two plastic spoons from their package, putting one in each bowl before handing one of them to Mysterion.

Mysterion accepted it before starting to eat, using his lap to hold the bowl while his uninjured left hand held the spoon. He was right handed by the looks of it so holding the spoon was awkward, while Butters was ambidextrous and would never really have that problem. The two of them ate in silence, Mysterion starting a few moments after Butters did, seeing how it wasn't a trick.

". . . Why did you do this?" Mysterion questioned, and Butters looked at him in confusion.

"Hmm?"

Mysterion sighed, "The cereal. Why? Why care if I'm hungry or not?"

"Because I felt bad because I didn't have a big neon sign screaming 'REAL ARMOR, PLUM!'!" Butters responded, Mysterion shooting a glare at him. 

"I looked up what that was by the way, and I am not a plum!" Mysterion responded, causing Butters to laugh, though he made it come out all evil and menacing.

"Suuuuuure, Mysterion. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Butters smirked.

"I don't sleep, not as long as there's crime in the world." Mysterion responded, back to being dramatic again.

Butters rolled his eyes, "You can drop the dramatics, y'know? It's kinda annoying."

"Then I'll do it even more, knowing it can wipe that smug fucking smirk off your face." Mysterion replied.

"Well, it's more successful than your fists are." Butters remarked, and Mysterion glared at him before he stifled a laugh, "Ha! I got you!"

"Shut up. You did not 'get' me. You can't just 'get' Mysterion." Mysterion responded.

"Oh, talking about yourself in third person, now? Now that is dramatic, hero." Butters smirked. 

"At least I'm not a corny morning TV show comic parody of a villain." Mysterion retorted, and Butters frowned a bit.

"Ok come on that was kinda mean." Butters said before mumbling, "I got you a splint and breakfast and you go an' say that..."

"Then what was so evil tonight besides the fireworks, Professor?" Mysterion questioned with a smirk, and Butters went to answer before he caught himself.

That slimy little...

"What? Think I'm gonna fall for that?" Butters asked, and Mysterion's smirk fell.

"Damnit..." Mysterion muttered, and Butters snickered.

"Nice try, Plum. But alas, I'm too smart for you! My mighty intellect is far too powerful for your underwear!" Butters let out a villainous evil cackle.

"The underwear fits the persona, ok?!" Mysterion snapped.

"Your persona's a slut?" Butters asked in genuine confusion, and Mysterion started laughing despite himself.

"No! Like- You know how Batman wears them, right? Not the new version, the old one!" Mysterion elaborated.

"Ohhh... wait didn't he have Robin running around in a shirt, cape and speedo?" Butters questioned.

"Yeah, that's probably why they redesigned the costumes." Mysterion nodded, "Boy Wonder? Boy I Wonder why that kid's running around in his fucking swimwear."

Butters laughed, snickering, and Mysterion was quick to start laughing too, despite how much it sounded like he was coughing with how much he was trying to disguise his voice.

Butters took a few more bites of cereal before saying, "What were you saying about Batman running around in his underwear fitting your persona again?"

"I have no fucking idea, I haven't slept much. I spent most of last night searching for you at those fucking storage lockers." Mysterion admitted, Butters smiling slightly, "I think it just... I dunno, looked cool?"

"Well at least I can call you Pajama Boy." Butters smirked.

". . . Nope, you can't." Mysterion denied.

"Why not?" Butters asked.

"Because I'll beat the shit out of you, that's why." Mysterion threatened.

"Whatever you say, tripod." Butters grinned.

"Fuck you." Mysterion growled, and Butters started snickering, "Also, how the fuck did you think of this?"

"What? The chocolate milk and Cheerios?" Butters asked, and Mysterion nodded, "Isn't that a common thing?"

"I never had it." Mysterion said, and Butters's jaw dropped a bit.

". . . You poor bastard, no wonder why you don't know how to have fun..." Butters frowned, forcing down a smirk.

". . . You're an asshole, Chaos." Mysterion stated.

"Ouch, and here I was introducing you to your new favorite food..." Butters smirked, and Mysterion rolled his eyes.

"It's not my favorite." Mysterion responded, "Is it yours?"

"No, not really- I mean it's good for breakfast, but it's not my favorite food." Butters answered, "Unlike how it's yours!"

". . . I will push you off of this rooftop." Mysterion deadpanned.

"That's not very heroic." Butters mentioned, Mysterion flipping him off.

"I'm beating up a supervillain, I think that qualifies as heroic." Mysterion countered.

"Oh, so you admit that I'm a supervillain, not a... what did you say? A 'corny morning TV show comic parody of a villain'?" Butters grinned, and Mysterion groaned.

"A horrible supervillain." Mysterion appended.

"Still a supervillain, and I'm just getting started!" Butters smiled.

"I'm so worried, cow herder." Mysterion replied sarcastically.

"You gotta admit that prank was a good one!" Butters laughed, and Mysterion sighed.

"I won't admit that." Mysterion rejected.

"You won't admit it, but you think it!!" Butters smirked.

"I do not-! Do you ever shut up, by the way?" Mysterion asked.

"Why? Don't like me havin' a good time while you wanna sit on a gargoyle and brood?" Butters retorted, "Or maybe you're just tired of making yourself sound like someone with throat cancer."

"I don't sound like that!" Mysterion snapped.

Butters snickered, "You do! You sound like Mickey Mouse trying to do a Batman impression!"

Butters broke down into giggles, and Mysterion huffed, rolling his eyes, "I do not sound like that!"

"I do not sound like that!" Butters parroted, doing an imitation of Mysterion's voice, which made him start coughing.

"Serves you right, jackass." Mysterion smirked, finishing his cereal.

"At least- cough -I'm not running around- cough -in my fucking underwear!" Butters giggled, Mysterion scoffing and flipping him off before standing up and walking away, "Oh come on, where're ya goin'?! I was just teasin'!"

"I know, but I can't sit on a rooftop when I need to be able to get up for school." Mysterion replied, "It's too late to shoot the shit with you."

". . . What?" Butters asked.

". . . Do you have no concept of time? It's four in the fucking morning!" Mysterion exclaimed, and Butters looked at one of the signs at the gas station, seeing the time above the prices.

It was 4:07 AM. Shit!

"Oh shit!" Butters yelped, hurriedly finishing his bowl.

"You do too?" Mysterion asked.

"Of course I do!" Butters exclaimed, running past him, "And don't forget to ice and rest that wrist! Don't use it too much!"

"I'll be fine." Mysterion brushed him off, and he dropped a roll of firecrackers, the bright flashing lights and small explosions blinding him and covering up the sounds of Mysterion's steps, and he covered his eyes.

"Fireworks are illegal, asshole!" Butters shouted after him, a call back to Mysterion's earlier words, and he got no response.

Once the fireworks finished going off, he looked around, finding himself left alone on the rooftop, and he sighed. It was the middle of the night, he needed to sleep, and his vision was still spotty. He started making his way home, giving a homeless man the remainder of the cereal and bowls while throwing away the rest of the trash. He made it home, slowly and carefully, sticking to the rooftops until those ran out, then he went through backyards and down streets until he got to his backyard.

After making sure no one was watching, he flew up to his window, opened it, and flew inside before silently shutting it behind him. He breathed out a quiet sigh now that he was back in his room, changing out of his costume and back into his pajamas, hiding his costume and flopping down on his bed. He needed to get a good amount of rest tonight so he could do in school tomorrow so that he could get Bennigan's this weekend! It might not happen, but Butters wanted to make his chances as good as possible!

. . . Aw, dang it. He still hadn't gotten hot chocolate either... Chocolate milk in Cheerios didn't count...

Chapter Text

"KENNY, WAKE UP! YOU'VE GOT SCHOOL!"

Kenny's eyes cracked open as he heard his mom calling for him to get up, using his hands to push himself to sit up. He was in his orange parka again, which always happened the morning after his deaths, which had him thinking about last night. Why the fuck did that Professor Chaos brat have access to fucking steel armor? Seriously, how the fuck does that happen?

Kenny was limited by hand-me-downs from his brother Kevin, shit his dad wore when he was his age, and stuff he found outside in the trash. At least Chaos having tin foil evened the playing field, but nooooo, he had to be even more of an annoyance and get steel fucking armor. What Kenny hadn't been expecting, though, was for Chaos to try helping him after he hurt his wrist, going as far as getting him snow to hold the wound in place and cool it down to reduce inflammation, then get him a wrist brace and then feed him. The kid was a prick, but he didn't want to severely hurt anyone it seemed...

He still remembered the panicked look on his face after that pigeon flew into his head, sending him falling off of the rooftop before being stabbed through the head by a fucking closed umbrella, the sharp tip stabbing right through him and sending him plunging into the black void again. The human brain remains aware for seven minutes after death, Kenny had confirmed personally from experience, but getting stabbed through the brain always reduced that awareness, at least, it seemed like it. Getting stabbed through his frontal and parietal lobes removed his ability to feel pain, along with regulating his emotions, so he was just... floating, almost. His thoughts were scattered, disconnected, just like he was from his body.

He got flashes of bright light or a burning fire, feeling himself rising or falling towards it, only for a purple fog to seal it off. Then he was grabbed, purple tendrils wrapping around him, even though he wasn't sure what he was, but he assumed it was a soul, and then... he woke up. In his orange parka. With no one aware of his death but him, and he went on day by day, sometimes getting lucky by not dying, but other times... not so much.

"KENNY! GET UP FOR SCHOOL!" His mom yelled again, drawing him out of his thoughts, and he sighed quietly.

He looked up at the poster next to his bed, smiling slightly as the girl in the bikini cheered him up a bit before he got up from his bed, walking across the moldy and dry dark mustard-colored carpet before walking out of his room. He rubbed at his eyes again, his wrist perfectly fine now. That was one plus side, he supposed.

"Good morning, Kenny!" Karen greeted cheerfully as she exited her room.

She was wearing her green button-up long-sleeved shirt, the shirt having a magenta collar, dark gray pants, and black shoes. She had her magenta bows in her ponytails, and she was also wearing her magenta gloves. That's right, his parents probably forgot to pay the damn heating bill again, the heat probably going out last night while he was out going after that Professor Chaos dork, and Kenny internally sighed, knowing he'd have to try a scare tactic or something on them to get off their asses. It wasn't what he was doing this for, but it might be necessary.

"Morning, Karen." Kenny responded, voice muffled through his parka.

The two of them headed to the kitchen where his mother was heating up some somewhat expired waffles for breakfast, sitting on the wobbly chairs by the table. They'd been on closeout for almost nothing at the grocery store and Kevin had snuck them into the cart, their parents too drunk to realize he'd done so. His dad was sitting on the couch, watching TV with a tattered old blanket over himself to keep warm, because of course the grown-ass adult couldn't get a job or pay the fucking heating bill so his children didn't freeze.

"How'd you two sleep?" His mom asked from where she was over by the oven, kicking it a few times to get it to keep running.

Kenny muttered a response, feeling well rested but not exactly viewing his night as the best since he fucking died again and had a 'supervillain' pitying him.

"I slept ok I think, it was just really cold..." Karen replied quietly, shivering a bit from where she was sitting on the stool next to Kenny's. 

"I'm sorry sweetheart, I wish it would've been warmer, BUT A GODDAMN ASSHOLE CAN'T GET OFF HIS ASS TO PAY THE FUCKING BILLS!" His mother shouted, glaring at Kenny's father.

"WELL IF YOU HADN'T SPENT THE CASH ON DOPE THIS SHIT WOULDN'T'VE HAPPENED!" His father replied.

"WHY'S IT ALWAYS GOTTA BE ON ME, YOU LAZY, USELESS SON OF A BITCH?!" His mom snapped, and Kenny sighed, pulling the strings of his parka to further cover his head, trying to block out the yelling argument.

Kevin grumbled under his breath as he walked over to the table, sitting on the other chair, already looking fed up with this bullshit. Kenny just fell off a fucking rooftop and got stabbed through the head by a closed umbrella, and yet he didn't draw this much damn attention to it. But he kept his mouth shut, knowing no one would believe him, and also knowing that getting upset wouldn't help Karen. The waffles were finished, Kevin perking up slightly as his mother brought the plates over to them, and the three of them started eating. His mother ate hers by the sink, spitting on the other plate next to her that was his father's.

"Where's my plate?" His father asked.

"Coming, dicksucker." She replied, and she grabbed it and hers before walking over to the couch.

Kenny sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he heard another fight starting, him and his siblings hurrying to eat their food so they could get the fuck out of the house. Kevin put his waffle in his mouth before he left, not even saying goodbye to their parents.

"Goodbye mommy, goodbye daddy." Karen said by the door, the fight momentarily ending.

"Goodbye, pumpkin! Bye, Kenny!" Kenny's mom replied kindly before going right back to fighting with their father.

Kenny sighed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders before leading her outside, walking down the street to the bus. It was colder outside than in the house, despite the sun rising in the sky. Karen needed warmer clothing, but there wasn't much he could do for her, not when he had no way to get money and his parents just used it on drugs or other shit. He didn't exactly have any warm clothes for her either, neither did Kevin. She went to a different bus stop for first grade, while Kenny went to wait for his bus with Stan, Kyle, and Cartman, seeing Cartman's house covered in broken eggs on the way over.

"Hey Kenny," Stan greeted when he walked over, Kyle and Cartman silently glaring at each other.

"The fuck happened now?" Kenny questioned, and Stan sighed.

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened!" Cartman said, Kyle rolling his eyes, "My house got egged again!"

"Which is deserved." Kyle mentioned.

"And someone left shit at my doorstep, which I stepped in! I had to go back inside and change shoes!" Cartman complained, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny snickering, "Shut the fuck up, Kenny! If it happened to you you wouldn't be laughing! You'd be walking around fucking barefoot!"

"Fuck you, dude!" Kenny glared, flipping him off.

"It gets better though, it gets so much more ridiculous." Stan laughed quietly, "Cartman thinks Kyle is the mastermind behind it!"

"He is! It's always the Jews, I'm telling you!" Cartman exclaimed.

"Fuck you, fatass!" Kyle snapped, Cartman blowing a raspberry at him.

Kenny personally knew that Kyle wasn't, mainly because Chaos was blonde while Kyle was ginger, and besides, Chaos had blue eyes while Kyle had green. It just didn't correlate, even if targeting Cartman's house seemed like a good idea. Still, with all of the attention on Cartman's house, Kenny could probably watch it for leads, to try and figure out who kept hitting it. Chaos couldn't be pranking the town alone, he had to have help, since all of this happened last night, and Kenny didn't see any signs of a prank when he left to look for the little shit.

Chaos couldn't have hit Cartman's house and anywhere else last night while on the other side of town, there was no way he could travel that much that fast, which left one option: Chaos having help. Kenny didn't like the idea of having to fight someone other than Chaos, but it would be needed. He hadn't gotten the chance to bring up the sparks he'd seen coming from Chaos's hands after scaring him when he'd been trying to catch his breath in that bathroom stall, but it was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him or something. He hadn't gotten much sleep before he died last night, which reset his exhaustion, but still.

"Where the fuck is Butters, anyways? We live on the same street, why doesn't he wait for our bus?" Cartman asked after a few moments of silence.

"I think he walked to school again, he's been doing that." Kyle shrugged, "I saw him heading down the street again."

"It's all the way across town! Why the fuck does he keep doing that?" Cartman questioned.

"Maybe because unlike you, he's not allergic to exercise?" Kyle replied with a smirk.

"HEY!" Cartman snapped as the bus pulled up, Kenny sighing again.

The four of them got on the bus, making stops around the neighborhood to pick up more kids before heading to school. Kenny blocked out the chaos on the bus, instead looking out the window, trying to think. He still hadn't figured out how that little bastard had gotten access to steel armor like that, or how he was even moving around in it. That armor had to weigh like twenty pounds, but he acted like it was nothing.

He couldn't have much money, either, not enough for metal armor unless he had a large allowance or something, but even then... Kenny sighed, knowing there wouldn't be a real way to figure out who that little shit was and tell him to stop, because despite how much fun it probably was, it was scaring Karen, and that's where Kenny drew the line. The bus ride passed in a blur, the bus stopping in front of the school drawing him out of his thoughts. Butters somehow fucking made it there before them, heading up the steps into the school, talking with a kid from the second grade- Dougie, Kenny thought his name was?

They talked for a few moments, Kenny narrowing his eyes as it looked like Dougie passed an envelop to Butters, but he didn't think much of it. Butters was a good kid and Dougie was harmless- top of his class in math. Everyone started getting off of the bus, Dougie and Butters parting ways as Kenny got up from his seat, heading to the doors. He hopped out of the bus before walking towards the school, Cartman chasing after Kyle, and he already knew this would be a long day.

He had to wait until recess to meet up with his little sister to see how her day was going, but until then he had classes. In the hallway, at their lockers, while Kenny was flipping through a Playboy magazine he'd snuck into it, he caught a glance of Butters. Butters looked fucking exhausted, like he had for like two weeks now. He was hiding it, but Kenny could see how his eyes were drooping. He almost worried Butters would see him watching him, trying to figure out why the fuck he didn't seem to be sleeping before remembering the other boy couldn't see him, as Kenny was to his left.

He still felt bad about the throwing star incident, but Butters had repeatedly reassured him that it was alright, that he had forgiven him for it and that it was an accident. Still, Kenny tried somewhat having his back, considering the shit Kyle, Stan, and Cartman dragged him into half the time. While he'd been cremated, he'd heard some of the shit Butters had done for them while he was 'on vacation', and personally? He was not too happy about some of it, but there wasn't much he could do. After flipping through a few more pages, he closed the magazine, grabbing what he needed for class before shutting his locker, Butters flinching a bit before looking over at him and shutting his locker, having probably not noticed him.

"Oh, hey Kenny!" Butters greeted, trying to play off his surprise, "When uh... when'd you get there?"

"A few minutes ago." Kenny shrugged, "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm alright! Just homework, y'know?" Butters replied, "Dougie's been helping me with some math, but it's still kinda tricky."

Kenny nodded a bit, understanding. He typically just focused on boobies or vaginas and replaced the numbers with those, and that seemed to help him most of the time... Except for when he got too focused on them instead of the number on them, so he probably needed a different strategy. Times punching Chaos maybe? That might work better.

"It'll probably get easier, just don't overwork yourself, ok? You look like shit." Kenny mentioned, Butters laughing a bit.

"Yeah, I uh, I keep hearin' that! I'll be alright, though, I'll get the hang of it eventually!" Butters responded, and the bell rang, "Crap, we gotta get to class!"

"Oh, dude!" Kenny spoke up, Butters turning towards him after he turned to leave, "Yeah?"

"What was up with sitting at the other table yesterday? How'd you get invited over too sit by a girl?" Kenny questioned, needing to know.

"Oh uh, I don't really know? It was kinda nice, though!" Butters replied, and with that he started heading to the classroom, Kenny sighing before following after him.

Class passed in a blur, honestly, Kenny trying to figure out how he could stop that armor-wearing brat while absentmindedly paying attention to Mr. Garrison. Class after class, all the way to recess, where he met up with Karen. She walked over with her backpack, a smile on her face.

"Hi, Kenny!" Karen greeted, hugging him, an action he quickly returned.

"Hey, Karen. How's your classes going?" Kenny asked.

"Really good! It's warmer there than at home!" Karen answered, and Kenny's heart twisted a bit.

Not literally, that hurt way more, but figuratively. He needed his parents to start making his sister's life better. She shouldn't have to be cold or hungry all because they were drug addicts. They were adults, they had a responsibility to their children, something they were neglecting. He was getting fed up with it.

"That's good. Hopefully mom and dad will pay the bill soon." Kenny responded, and she nodded, smiling a little.

"Kenny, dude! You gotta see this!" Stan called out from across the playground where he could see several kids gathered around a wall, and Kenny sighed.

"Sorry, Karen, I gotta go." Kenny apologized.

"It's ok! I'll see you at home!" Karen replied, hugging him one more time before running off to go talk with some of her friends.

"Dude, Kenny, come on!" Kyle yelled, and Kenny sighed before walking over.

When he got there... his eyes widened in shock and surprise. By the goth kids usually hung out, every single area of the alley had glitter all over it, a glitter bomb seeming to have been dropped from the wall, based on the glitter covering the disgusted goth kids. On the wall, spraypainted in glittery dark blue, were the words 'VIVA LA EL CHAOS!'

Great, so the little fucker had been here again. So, not only had he been at Cartman's, done something around Skeeter's unless it was just the fireworks, but he'd also been here? Granted it was probably in the area, but still... he couldn't be working alone.

"Dude, that supervillain hit the school again!" Stan said as Kenny walked over.

"If this was the same guy." Kenny shrugged, knowing for a fact that it was.

"It had to be! Who else could've been behind the cows?" Kyle asked.

"This guy sure seems like trouble..." Butters said, looking at the wall.

You have no idea.... fucking metal armor, what the fuck?

"It sounds like it was the guy I saw last night! AAAAGH!" Tweek exclaimed, and everyone turned to look at him.

That's right, Tweek lived a few buildings over from Skeeter's Bar and Cocktails, odds were he saw the fireworks and saw Chaos...

"Wait, what? Dude, you saw who did this?" Stan questioned, and Tweek started fidgeting a lot more as all eyes were on him.

"AAAGGH! YEAH!" Tweek confirmed, twitching, "He set off fireworks over on top of Skeeter's, I live right by there! He was standing on the roof, wearing metal armor and a green cape I think!"

"Like Doctor Doom?" Clyde asked, Kenny laughing quietly.

"Yeah!" Tweek nodded, "But what's weird is someone showed up to stop him! He was standing on my roof, I heard him land up there! Then he jumped over to City Wok! AAGH!"

Shit, I got spotted too...

"Did he look like Mr. Fantastic?" Craig questioned.

"No! More like a purple Batman?" Tweek replied uncertainly, "I didn't get a good look!"

Now that was just an innacurate description, his costume was fucking unique damnit. He wasn't a Batman knockoff... Kenny smirked a bit, Unlike how Chaos is a fucking bootleg Doctor Doom!

"Did uh... Did you hear anything they were sayin' over the fireworks?" Butters asked.

"AAAGH! Yeah! The Batman guy called the Doctor Doom guy 'Chaos'!" Tweek confirmed.

"So we're getting pranked by a fucking supervillain?" Cartman questioned, "Wait, I'm getting pranked by a fucking supervillain?!"

"He's probably the one who egged Hell's Pass, too!" Butters supplied.

"Yeah, he fits the news report." Kyle nodded, "And he was probably behind what happened at the Skating Ring, and a bunch of the other shit over the last few weeks."

He definitely was... Little fucker...

"That's not all I heard, either!" Tweek spoke up, "Chaos called the other one 'Mysterion'!"

The kids all glanced and murmured amongst each other, and Kenny tensed up a bit. Damnit, he'd been trying to be secretive about showing up to stop Chaos, but it looked like he'd be getting a lot more attention.

"Were they working together?" Kyle asked.

"No! Mysterion actually started fighting Chaos! I think he's a superhero! AAGHH! Oh my god, I had a superhero on my roof!" Tweek exclaimed, pulling at his hair.

"At least someone's doing something about this..." Wendy sighed, "The last thing we need is some kid running around cosplaying and thinking he can get away with whatever he wants..."

"I dunno how successful he is, he sounds like the kind of guy to wear underwear outside his pants." Butters shrugged.

How the fuck?...

"AAGH! I THINK HE WAS!!!" Tweek exclaimed.

"Wait, really?!" Butters asked.

"HA! Sounds like a dork!" Cartman laughed.

"At least he's trying to help, fatass!" Kyle glared before looking at Tweek in confusion, "Seriously though? Underwear?"

"Underwear!" Tweek nodded.

"Maybe he could be Captain Underpants instead of Mysterion." Cartman snickered.

"That's taken, dumbass." Craig said.

"WHICH IS WHY HE PICKED MYSTERION! HA!" Cartman grinned.

Shut the fuck up, Cartman...

"No wonder you get so many eggs thrown at your house. The one kid trying to stop this asshole, and you're mocking him!" Kyle glared.

"Well he's clearly not good at his job!" Cartman remarked, and Kenny walked off, fighting the urge to punch him in the face.

For the rest of the school day, his anger was steadily increasing, and while he calmed down after spending time with his siblings, he was still a bit pissed off. His father had been having diarrhea ever since he came home from the bar, something mildly satisfying, if not concerning, considering Professor Chaos had been there last night, but the kid probably wasn't evil enough to fuck with food or drinks... Probably.

After saying goodnight to his siblings, he snuck out of his room through his window, and he went into the alleyway near his house, picking through the trash for something to throw at Cartman's window. He eventually found a box of old moldy pizza and a package of old fish, and he hesitated. He was trying to stop Chaos, not lower himself to this, but... he really wanted to do worse than some fucking eggs.

Besides, he wouldn't do it at Mysterion, just as Kenny, and he'd hope that he could avoid getting caught. He walked down the street, box of pizza and fish in his hands, only to see...  Professor Chaos was already there? Yup, Chaos was in front of Cartman's house, eggs and a jug of milk in his hand, and Kenny held back the urge to go get his costume and track this little shit down, since he'd probably be done here before Kenny got into his costume.

"Ugh, what is that smell?..." Professor Chaos mumbled, "The milk didn't smell that bad before..."

Chaos looked around, and Kenny tensed up as he was spotted, and Professor Chaos tensed up upon seeing Kenny. His eye flicked down to Kenny's hands, which were holding the pizza and fish, and he blinked a bit before perking up.

"Hey there!" Professor Chaos greeted quietly with a friendly wave, "Let me guess... he pissed you off too, huh?"

Kenny hesitated before nodding a bit. He hadn't seen Chaos outside of being Mysterion before, so seeing him so friendly was honestly surprising. Then again, he'd been nice enough to try helping him after he fucked his hand up after trying to punch him... But still, he was a prick.

"Yeah..." Kenny admitted.

". . . You want help?" Professor Chaos offered, surprising Kenny, "I mean, if that fish got on his roof, he'd never be able to get it down."

Kenny paused, hesitating. Was he really lowering himself to this?... . . . Fuck Cartman.

"Sure, I guess.." Kenny shrugged, opening the package and almost vomiting. Professor Chaos gagged, waving his hand over his mouth, coughing.

"Where the fuck did you find those?!" Chaos whisper-yelled.

"In a dumpster by my house!" Kenny answered quietly. 

"Ugh!" Chaos coughed, grabbing the eggs, placing them on the sidewalk before walking over to Kenny with the carton, "Put them in here!"

Kenny, coughing, slid the fish into the egg carton, Professor Chaos's face green as he flew onto the fucking roof, putting the fish on the peak and burying it in some snow to keep it there. Kenny just stood there, dumbstruck, trying to come to terms with what the fuck he just saw. This kid, this fucking kid, just FLEW ONTO THE FUCKING ROOF!!! He could fly!! How the actual fuck?!

Chaos flew back down, coughing, before vomiting in one of the bushes by Cartman's door. Kenny was tempted to do the same, except he was still trying to process how the fuck Chaos just did that. 

"Dude... The fuck?!" Kenny exclaimed, and Chaos looked back at him sheepishly.

"I uh... sorry, I don't tend to do that all that much, it just..." Professor Chaos coughed, "It smelled so fucking bad..."

"You can fly." Kenny deadpanned, "How?!"

"Shhh!" Chaos shushed him, giving Cartman's window a wary glance, "It's complicated! Look, just- we should really hurry up, K-kid."

Kenny sighed, knowing he wouldn't get an answer out of him, and he nodded. Professor Chaos walked over to the eggs, quickly grabbing and throwing them as Kenny threw the pizza, the pieces falling into bushes. As Chaos threw the second to last egg, it crashed through Cartman's window, and the two of them both paled.

Shit!

"Go!" Chaos pointed back the way Kenny came while he took off in the opposite direction, Kenny hiding behind Cartman's garage as the window flew open.

"Hey! The fuck?! Hey! So you're the fucker who keeps doing this!" Cartman yelled, Kenny peeking around the corner to see Cartman's window open, Professor Chaos standing on the sidewalk in front of Butters's house.

"Uh... yeah?" Chaos responded, looking back at him, and he grinned, "What're you gonna do about it?"

"I'm gonna kick your a- THE FUCK IS THAT SMELL?!" Cartman exploded, Kenny snickering quietly, Professor Chaos laughing, "Hey! The fuck did you do?!"

Kenny saw Chaos grin, and he saw him reposition the final egg in his hand. Oh boy... Kenny watched Chaos bring his arm back, his eyes following the egg as Chaos threw it forward at Cartman, and it landed right on his forehead.

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMM!!!!" Cartman shrieked, Kenny doubled over laughing behind the garage as Chaos cackled, running down the street.

Kenny snuck his way to his house, giving Chaos a small head start as he changed into his costume before exiting his house, running down the street to try and track him down. Cartman was still yelling, Kenny smirking slightly as he heard him before grimacing, gagging as he smelled the fish. He took a while to find Chaos, but the knowledge that the little shit could fly meant that he could be pretty much anywhere at this point. Kenny, after around an hour of searching in the freezing cold, couldn't track the asshole down.

He'd stopped some muggings, chased off vandals and some burglars, but no signs of Professor Chaos. Maybe that was his one prank of the night? Maybe getting spotted spooked him? Kenny wasn't sure, but he was either elsewhere or just not out pranking anymore, and this whole chase was just pointless. 

He was about to throw in the towel when he saw a purple and green quilt outside of a Goodwill in a donations box. He hesitated before climbing down the fire escape of the building he was on, walking over to it. He picked it up, seeing the fluffy, warm fabric, and he thought about his little sister. It was even colder tonight, she needed something to stay warm, he knew that.

He grabbed it, folding it up in his arms, grabbing another two larger multicolored quilts that had been underneath it, and he started heading home, giving up the search for Chaos for now. He snuck over rooftops, between houses, and across roads, finally managing to make it home. He crept inside his window, putting the two larger blankets on his bed before silently walking through the room and to his door, exiting his room.

He went over to his sister's room, cracking the door open to see her shivering on her bed, buried in her blanket and her old clothes she'd outgrown, all in an effort to stay warm. He clenched his jaw, seeing her so cold making him angry at his parents, and her eyes opened slightly, having either been sleeping light or maybe she was just already awake. She gasped quietly upon seeing him, and he was worried he'd scared her.

"Hello?" Karen tried as she sat up, sounding shy, "Who... Who are you?..."

"Someone who wants to help." Kenny said, making his voice more unrecognizable than he usually did in costume, "No child deserves to be suffering in this cold."

"I-I'll be ok... My brothers, they could-" Karen started, and he held up a hand.

"I have two more blankets, one for each of them. You won't freeze tonight, Karen." Kenny reassured, walking over and holding the blanket out to her.

"How do you know my name?..." Karen asked, and Kenny internally cursed himself, "Are you... are you my guardian angel?"

"You could say that." Kenny said, and she smiled a bit, accepting the blanket, putting it off to the side before hugging him.

He was surprised, but he hugged her back, "Thank you, guardian angel."

". . . You're welcome, Karen." Kenny smiled a bit, holding back tears from how precious his little sister was, "If you're ever in need of anything, I'll do what I can to help you get it. I will always protect you, alright? No matter who it is, I will always keep you safe."

"Thank you..." Karen thanked him again, pulling away from the hug and heading back to her bed.

Kenny left the moment her back was turned, swiftly exiting the room and hiding in his own. He heard her door open, Karen likely looking for him, but it shut a moment later, the thin walls allowing Kenny to hear her going back to bed. Kenny looked down at his bed, grabbing the larger blanket of the two left before exiting his room again, walking towards his brother's room. He opened the door, finding his brother deep asleep under his blanket, shivering.

Kevin always slept like the dead, barely waking up for anything besides the waffle maker, but Kenny moved swiftly regardless. He unfurled the blanket before putting it over him, exiting his room without another word. He went back into his own room, exiting his window before pausing, looking back at his house, eyes narrowing.

He told Karen if she ever needed anything then he would do what he could to get her what she needed, and what she needed right now was warmth. He stalked towards his parents' bedroom, finding them awake and doing meth, and he silently opened the window, climbing to perch on the windowsill. He quietly cleared his throat before narrowing his eyes in a menacing glare, something that didn't take much effort.

"Carol and Stuart McCormick." Kenny snarled, the two of them yelping, the lighter falling onto the blanket, the two of them hurriedly batting out the small fire.

"Wh-Who the fuck are you?!" His dad exclaimed.

"Someone who doesn't approve of your choices." Kenny growled, hopping into the room, "Your children are suffering in the cold, all because you can't stay sober. It's disgusting."

"It wouldn't be so bad if he could get off his ass-!" His mom started.

"Don't." Kenny cut her off, voice low, and she was quick to shut up, "You will pay that bill, I don't care how, but you will do it by tomorrow night. Get your fucking heads out of your asses. Your children are suffering, burying themselves in old clothes to stay warm. You should be ashamed of yourselves, if you're not too high to be."

Kenny walked forward, snatching the pipe from his father's hand, dropping it to the floor and stepping on it with a very satisfying crunch.

"Hey-!" His father started to snap.

"Do not start with me, Stuart." Kenny glared, clenching his fists, "Get off your ass and get a job, and keep it. No drinking, no drugs, and no stupid shit. If things haven't improved by tomorrow, I will be back, and I won't be as friendly."

He dove out of the window after that, hiding before the two of them could find him, since they were probably looking. He waited a few minutes before creeping back into his bedroom, getting out of his costume and hiding it before putting his orange parka back on with a shiver. He laid down on his bed, pulling his blanket over him, along with the quilt he'd grabbed, and it didn't take him too long to fall asleep, despite how late it was.

Shit, he had school tomorrow, too. Fuck.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week after Butters and Kenny pranked Eric's house was... interesting. Sure, he'd been surprised to see Kenny there, though he really should've expected it. Kyle, Stan, Eric, and Kenny usually found several ways to mess with each other, be it through pranks or other means, and Eric probably received and played the most pranks on his friends. Kenny was actually a really good prankster; the fish and pizza were amazing instruments of chaos, and while Kenny would've been a good Agent of Chaos... he still knew Butters as a civilian, and that ran the risk of Butters getting figured out.

Besides, he didn't have to offer a job to whoever pranked Eric, he wasn't running a Eric Cartman Hate Club or anything, he just wanted to cause chaos through the town! Besides, Kenny was a good kid, despite his... occasionally perverted nature, and Butters didn't think he fully had it in him to cause that much chaos in the town. So, everything was as it should be, and Eric complaining about getting an egg thrown into his forehead was hilarious! He hadn't expected his aim to be that good, but he was happy that it was!

That amusement kept him going through the week in a good mood, trying to be on his best behavior in order to get Bennigan's on Friday if he didn't get into any trouble at school! Everything was going great until Friday! Pranks were successful, Mysterion unable to stop them due to Butters keeping him busy, and he had a decent amount of money in his pocket after getting paid by both South Park High School and North Park High School to prank each other! With some convincing from Shade, they hit both of them in a single night, pinning the blame on each other so the high schools would fight, and chaos ensued! Aside from causing a small war, he really hadn't caused much trouble! . . . Until Friday.

"Good morning, class!" Mr. Garrison greeted as he entered the classroom, writing some things on the chalkboard, "Today we're going to be learning about-"

The lesson was just on addition and subtraction, something Butters was practicing a lot. Between doing calculations for his funds, pricing out things he needed for his evil lair, keeping those remnants of money in mind and figuring out how to pay for everything else he needed, not to mention adding new sums of cash into the total... Butters was highly skilled at it now, he liked to think, despite the trouble it'd been giving him earlier in the week. Besides, Dougie helped him a lot, too, and in exchange Butters printed out copies of his homework sheets and gave them to Dougie for him to practice, and then they'd compare Butters's graded papers with Dougie's to see how well they'd done. Suffice to say, they were both doing reasonably well. So well Butters hadn't been concentrating on the lesson, instead visualizing a math equation punching Mysterion, when Mr. Garrison called for his attention.

"Butters!" Mr. Garrison called out, Butters flinching before looking up at him, "Earth to Butters!"

"Y-Yes, sir?" Butters asked nervously, fidgeting with his hands under the table, rubbing his knuckles together.

"Am I boring you or something?" Mr. Garrison asked, crossing his arms.

"N-No, sir! Not at all! Why do you say that?" Butters replied.

Oh crap, no no no no no no no no no no. He didn't get through this whole week flawlessly to get in trouble now!

"Because you keep spacing out at the chalkboard, that's why! Am I boring you or something?" Mr. Garrison interrogated.

"No, of course not! I was just p-payin' attention to the lesson!" Butters insisted.

"What's forty eight plus fifty two?" Mr. Garrison asked.

"A hundred." Butters answered.

"Sixty seven plus thirty three?"

"A hundred."

"Sixty nine minus thirty four?"

"Thirty five!"

"Ninty eight plus twenty eight."

"A hundred and twenty six?"

". . ." Mr. Garrison looked over him analytically before sighing, "Alright, fine... I guess you were paying attention..." Butters breathed out a sigh of relief, "Or you were cheating!"

"What?! How would I cheat?" Butters asked, "Those were questions you were asking, how would I have known what the answers were?"

"Oh, you wanna be a little smartass now, huh?" Mr. Garrison frowned, tapping his foot on the ground.

"N-No, I-!" Butters started.

"Well, Mr. Know-It-All, go march yourself down to the Principle's office, will you?" Mr. Garrison pointed to the classroom door.

No no no no nonononononononononononono-

"But-" Butters tried one more time, only to be cut off again.

"Principle's office. Now." Mr. Garrison repeated firmly, Butters's shoulders slumping before getting up from his desk, heading out of the classroom.

Mr. Garrison shut the door behind him, Butters walking through the hallway, looking down at the floor. He was doing so good, he just had to go ahead and mess everything up, didn't he? Oh, his parents were gonna be upset for sure! No wonder he was a supervillain, he always did something to mess everything up! Sure enough, Butters got detention, his parents heard about it, and he was grounded once he got home. Without supper, after an hour or two hour of being scolded and yelled at, barely he was sent to his room after getting home, his door slamming behind him, his father locking it.

"Think about this next time you decide to cheat during your math class, Butters! You were doing so great, weren't you? Probably because you were cheating! I knew something was off!" His father's voice boomed through the door, Butters shaking on the other side of it, sparks crackling between his fingers, "Use your brain next time! For practice, think about what cheating just cost you!"

Butters flinched as he heard the final deadbolt lock, suddenly feeling trapped in his rooms, the walls feeling confining. He was hungry, he was tired from prank requests, he was... he felt like his world was shrinking around him, getting smaller and smaller. It hadn't been his fault he'd gotten grounded, right? He hadn't been cheating, he hadn't been doing anything wrong, but he still got punished for it!

He was just a bad kid, this stuff happened, and Butters couldn't do anything about it, no matter how hard he tried. This was just how it was. His parents wouldn't be checking on him tonight, he knew that, which meant he could finally get out and into the town, to try and escape this trapped feeling. Sure, his door was locked, double locked and triple locked, but they didn't expect him to be able to get out through the window...

If he was already a bad kid by default, what was the problem with being a little worse? If he got in trouble no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried to be on his best behavior, then what was the point of staying in his room as punishment? Butters didn't want to be trapped in here, not when he was a supervillain. Supervillains didn't get trapped or locked up except for by heroes or police, and they always escaped, so why couldn't he?

Butters, after being locked in his room for less than a minute, had removed his contact lens and was on his knees by his bed, grabbing his costume and quickly changing into it. He grabbed the envelops of cash and putting them in his pockets, and as he pulled his helmet on, he was already walking over to his window. Butters pushed the window up, looking around to ensure no one was watching, and he snuck out of it, shutting it behind him. He flew up onto the roof before shooting up into the sky, wind pelting his face.

His uncovered eye burned, and he winced, pausing to reach up and rub at it, only to pause, realizing his metal gloves wouldn't feel the best either. Butters sighed, knowing he definitely needed a visor of some kind if he was going to be flying more often. He thought for a moment, hovering in the air as he made up his mind, heading towards Arty's.

If Butters was lucky, Jake would be behind the counter again, and there might be something there. He made it there in record time, squinting as the icy air burned his good eye and face, biting at his skin, and he dropped down once he got close to the prank store. He walked around a corner of an alley before walking up the steps to the store, pushing the door open. Butters saw Jake thankfully behind the counter, flipping through a History book, and he looked up in surprise upon seeing him.

"Chaos! What do you need this time?" Jake asked, setting his book aside.

"Well, uh... I was wonderin' if you had a visor of some kind?" Butters answered, uncertain if Jake would ask questions this time.

Thankfully, like usual he didn't, as he nodded, heading across the colorful floors and down a few overly-decorated aisles, looking through them before pausing, "Come look at these."

Butters headed over to him, looking over the selection of goggles, glasses, and visors, trying to find one that caught his attention before pausing, smirking as he saw one that caught his interest. It was a light blue plastic visor with a black rim and band that went around someone's head, and it looked like it would fit him. He grabbed it from the shelf, turning it over in his hands. It was fifteen dollars, something he had more than enough money for. Butters exchanged a nod with Jake, and the two of them headed back to the counter for Jake to ring him up.

"So, what's the agenda for tonight?" Jake asked, scanning the visor before handing it back to him.

"I don't really know, I haven't thought of anythin', really..." Butters admitted, grabbing the necessary cash from his pocket and giving it to him.

Even the craft store felt too small.

"Really? You guys taking the night off or something?" Jake questioned, and Butters shrugged a bit.

"I'm not sure? I had a bad day and didn't wanna drag them into it, I was just hoping to blow off some steam.." Butters admitted, fidgeting with his hands, Jake nodding.

"Yeah, I get that. Who pissed you off the most?" Jake asked, "Just to narrow down who you might wanna prank."

"Uh... I don't know? My teacher, mostly..." Butters answered, Jake nodding a bit.

"You could always prank him?" Jake suggested, and Butters shook his head no.

"Nah, I couldn't do that. It's too specific, I'd get busted right away!" Butters pointed out.

The thought of getting caught- of his parents finding out, made a chill shoot down his spine. He absolutely could not let that happen. He'd be grounded for life!

"Hmm... How about getting the whole faculty?" Jake got Butters's attention with that.

That... might just work! It'd definitely decrease the amount of suspicion if all of them got pranked at once!

"I... I actually could! Thanks, Jake!" Butters thanked him.

"Sure thing. Anything you need for pranking them?" Jake asked, and Butters paused, thinking for a few moments and looking around the shop.

Butters could see countless large 'PUSH' and 'PULL' stickers used for doors for sale in big packs, and he got an idea. He'd wait for a while to teach the school a lesson, but in the mean time, he needed to let off some steam. He walked over to the stickers, grabbing them and walking over to the counter, putting them down on it.

"Change in plans, how much for all of these?" Butters questioned, looking down at the stickers.

". . . I'll give you a twenty five percent discount for all of these, but you do realize there's like five hundred of these each, right?" Jake replied, and Butters nodded.

"Yeah, I know! I just need something to do, that's all! Besides, it's not a school night or nothin' tomorrow!" Butters replied, trying to do the math in his head to price everything out, but he was struggling a bit.

"Alright, it's gonna be around a hundred and fifty bucks total." Jake informed, and Butters grabbed the money from his pocket, counting it out and putting it on the counter.

Jake counted it out before putting it in the register, handing Butters the stickers in a large bag, "Thanks, Jake!"

"Anytime. Don't stay out too late!" Jake advised as Butters started heading for the door.

"I know!" Butters answered as he walked out of the store, pushing the door open with his foot.

He grabbed one of the stickers from the bag, a 'PUSH' sticker, and he used it to cover up the 'PULL' one on the handle. He giggled, seeing Jake snort and shake his head before going back to reading his book. Butters ducked into the alley next to Arty's, unlatching the strap under his chin, pulling his helmet off and putting the visor on and securing it before putting his helmet back on, latching the buckle under his chin. He looked at his reflection in a broken piece of glass by a dumpster, smirking at how cool he looked before he grabbed the stickers, getting to work.

Butters went along the street, putting 'PULL' stickers over 'PUSH' ones and vise-versa, snickering to himself at how much chaos it would cause. People would be trying so hard to get into all of the businesses, only to find that they couldn't! They'd think they were locked out of every building, like everything was closed, and it would cause absolute chaos! Butters moved quickly from store to store, street to street, keeping a close eye out for Mysterion.

Well, his only eye he could really see out of, actually, but the point stood! There was no signs of the hero, however, but then again, sometimes there wasn't. He didn't see him last night, but that didn't mean Mysterion wasn't active, just that he wasn't anywhere Butters could see. He bit back a yawn as he replaced another sticker, and he kept moving, the bag slowly getting lighter and lighter as he weaved through the streets, making sure they were vacant before he got to work.

He glanced at the digital clocks displayed on the buildings, watching the time tick by. After around two hours, Butters yawned, putting the last sticker on the store, throwing the wax paper and the bag in a dumpster before leaning against the wall. His stomach growled, something he realized it'd probably been doing for a while now, he just hadn't been paying attention. He was hungry, he was tired, and he was tired because he was so hungry...

He hadn't deserved to get in trouble so much, he hadn't done anything wrong, right? Just because he knew the answers didn't mean he'd been cheating, so then how?... Butters sighed, electricity crackling in his hands as his eyes narrowed a bit, anger fighting off the returning anxiety. He'd done his damnedest to be on his very best behavior, and because he was smart, he lost that?

No. He was a supervillain, if he wanted Bennigan's, he could have Bennigan's! Couldn't he?... It's not like his parents would find out about it, and he would be paying for it! Come to think of it, the others had been doing really well with the pranking, they could use a treat! Butters slipped one of his gloves off as he grabbed his phone, going into the group chat.

Prof. Chaos
Hey fellas, anyone hungry? I have enough cash and I was wondering if you guys wanted Bennigan's?

Butters waited anxiously, one of his hands fidgeting at his side as he waited for a response, and it took his full concentration to not zap his phone from his nerves, the anger fading. He'd never really done this before, not really. When he was really bad, he went without food, that's how it worked. He'd never gone against that before, ever. His money was supposed to be for causing chaos, not for deliberately going against his parents' discipline... 

Shade
Bennigan's? Huh, never been. I'm in.

She'd never had Bennigan's?!

Noah
I'm in too!

Spice
Yeah, I'm in. How are we gonna hide our identities and shit?

Shade
Halloween's this month, Spicy! It's a costume birthday party!

Oh, that was right! It was this month! In a week, actually! This could work perfectly!

Flower
Wish we could, Etta's got a cold and I have it too. Pretty sure Sil's busy helping his dad out and I wanna say Steve and Carl are busy with their families.

Dougie
I can't either, sorry! Me and my parents are watching Star Trek tonight! 

Spice
Damn, so it's just us then?
Lemme ask my bro if he can pick us up, he's got a car.

Prof. Chaos
I actually stopped by Arty's earlier tonight and he was there!

Shade
Stirring shit up without us, huh?

Butters felt guilty about that, quickly typing out an apology, not changing any typos despite the part that screamed at him for not using proper grammar.

Prof. Chaos
Soeey! I husy needed to bkow off sone steam! J wandt trying to leave tou guys out or antrhing!

Butters was in the middle of typing more when Spice sent a message first.

Spice
Woah woah woah, relax! Chill!
It's ok, she's just kidding with you.

Noah
U ok?

Butters hesitated before typing his response, fixing his typos this time.

Prof. Chaos
Yeah, I'm ok! When will you guys be ready to go?

Shade
Give us like 10 mins, Spice you calling your brother to ask for a ride?

Spice
Yeah.
Where r u rn Prof?

Prof. Chaos
Uh... in an alley? You want me to head to Arty's or something? I can make it there, I think I'm pretty close?

Spice
Alright, I told him you'd be swinging by.

Butters pocketed his phone after that, putting his glove back on before flying up onto the roof of the building he was next to before looking around for Arty's, hesitating before flying over to it as fast as he could. He dropped down into the alleyway, stumbling and tripping over some trash before running out of the alley as Jake exited the craft store, locking the door behind him. The teen had his phone pressed against his ear, probably still on the phone with Spice, and he looked up at Butters as he ran out of the alley.

"-he's actually here now. I'm heading your way now, sis." Jake said, and there was some silence, "Yeah, I can handle that. Can you grab my costume from the closet?" More silence, "Thanks. Be there in a few."

Jake hung up, putting his phone in his pocket, "Hey, Chaos. You have fun?"

"Yeah!" Butters nodded, a forced grin on his face.

Jake laughed a bit before heading over to the car parked in front of Arty's, a red Saturn, and he grabbed his keys from his pocket, unlocking it. Butters headed over to the passenger seat, opening the door and climbing inside, careful not to scratch the paint around the handle. The interior was tan, the seats covered in black seat covers, and there was an air freshener tree hanging from the rearview mirror. Butters buckled up as Jake got situated, buckling up and starting the car, Butters watching him closely to see how he did it.

It wasn't that he had plans of driving or anything soon, he just wanted to learn how to do it! It wasn't bad to know, really. The radio turned on, playing some upbeat rock music playing. Jake backed out of the parking space after putting the car in reverse, looking behind him to make sure he didn't run into anyone, then he switched it to drive, heading down the street. =

"You can change the station if you want," Jake spoke up, Butters looking up at him, having not been paying attention to what he said.

"Huh?" Butters asked.

"The station, if you wanna listen to anything else." Jake explained.

"Oh, I'm ok! Thank you, though!" Butters replied, and Jake nodded a bit.

The rest of the car ride was mostly quiet, Jake stopping at Noah's house first, Noah crept around the back of his house, which was a dark tan color, and he was dressed up as a werewolf, with some makeup on his face for bits of fur, fangs, and a black nose. He ran over to the car, hopping into the backseat, the car chiming quietly as the door opened, the overhead lights on.

"Hi, Noah! Awesome costume!" Butters greeted, turning to look at him as he buckled up in the back seat behind him, trying to seem more excited than he felt.

"Hey, Professor Chaos!" Noah greeted, a grin on his face, "What's the occasion?"

"Well, I just figured it'd be a job well-done reward, that's all! You guys have been awesome, and I wanted to do somethin' to thank you fellas! We can pick up dessert to go for the others too!" Butters replied.

"That's awesome, thank you!" Noah thanked him.

"Of course!" Butters replied as Jake drove away from the house, stopping at Shade's a few minutes later.

Her house was blue, with cream white window frames, a dark blue door, and black roof. She ran out from around the back of her house, dressed up as a blue and black jester, the sleeves paned and mismatched, with her right sleeve white with blue between the ruffles, the other black with blue, both having ruffled white sleeve cuffs. Her shirt was otherwise black with white ruffles around the neck, a large blue diamond on her torso, and her pants were also black, a blue diamond on her right leg while her other leg had two. She had two coattails behind her, the undersides of them light blue fading into dark blue, her shoes black boots with black laces on one and white on the other. She opened the car door behind Jake, sliding into the car and closing it behind her as she sat in the middle seat, buckling up.

"Hey, guys!" Shade greeted.

"Hey, Shade! You look great!" Butters complimented, and she smiled.

"Thanks, Chaos!" Shade replied.

"A jester, really?" Noah asked.

"What?~ You know I'm the life of the party!" Shade grinned, and Noah snorted before sighing.

"Yeah, you definitely take the cake on that one..." Noah said, and she snickered.

Jake started driving again, only driving a few more houses down before stopping again. Spice came running over, dressed as what looked like a warrior princess, as she was wearing a red dress with pieces of plastic gold armor, like shoulder and elbow pads, a chestplate, and she was wearing heeled dark red boots with dark yellow soles. The dress itself had golden accents and a few fake rubies on it, along with a foam red and black axe attached to the dark brown sash over her shoulder. She ran over, a bag in her arms as she visibly tried not to trip from the small but still present heels, and she opened the car door, sitting down before shutting the it.

"That costume's amazing, Spice!" Butters informed, and she smirked a bit.

"Thanks!" Spice grinned, "Jay, I have your costume."

"Thanks." Jake nodded, and he started driving away from the house, putting Bennigan's on the GPS on his phone before he started driving there, following the directions.

Butters was hoping they would get there before it closed, and his hands fidgeted a bit, steel-covered knuckles rubbing together as he kept a close eye on the time, glancing at the clock every few seconds. He looked out the window, looking to see if Mysterion was around or following them, but he didn't see him anywhere. 

"So, what're you thinking on getting from this place? Like what's the menu?" Shade asked curiously, starting a conversation.

"Well, I was kinda thinkin' about the Turkey O'Toole, that's always really good!" Butters answered, looking back at her, briefly glancing at the rooftops behind them.

He hadn't seen Mysterion for two nights now. Was he stalking him?

"Didn't you eat dinner already?" Shade questioned, and Butters paused, knuckles rubbing together a bit more.

"W-Well, umm..." Butters wasn't sure what to say, caught off guard.

"Wait, you haven't eaten yet? Kid, it's fucking nine thirty!" Jake exclaimed, Butters flinching a bit and biting down an apology, "I get the villainy thing is fun and all, but you can't neglect to take care of yourself."

"No, it wasn't that, really!" Butters reassured, "I got trouble at school, they said I was cheating even though I wasn't, I got detention, my parents found out, and I got grounded and sent to bed with no dinner!"

". . . Wait, you haven't eaten since fucking lunch?" Shade questioned, "The fuck?"

"It's not that bad! I mean it's happened in the past, they just-" Butters was cut off.

"Woah woah woah, hold up. They do this shit often?" Jake questioned, looking over at him, and Butters tensed up.

"W-Well, umm... kinda?" Butters answered nervously, a few sparks forming in his hands as he fidgeted, but he tried to prevent his hands from touching anything.

He didn't want to burn something or hurt any of them...

The car felt a lot smaller now, with the back seats full, the doors locked, and everyone looking at him, and he could hear his heart racing in his ears. He felt trapped. He needed to get away, he needed to get out, get fresh air, get-

"Hey, calm down, it's ok." Jake reassured, pulling over and unlocking the doors, Butters quickly exiting the car and getting some distance from it, trying to get his breathing under control.

In, and out. In, and out. In, and out...

"Hey." Jake said, and he flinched, looking over at him as he crouched next to him, "Kiddo, you ok?"

Butters gave him a shaky nod, knuckles rubbing together, and he took deep, shuddering breaths, "Y-Yeah, I umm... am I... am I in trouble?..."

"Huh? No!" Jake exclaimed, and Butters flinched again, and Jake lowered his volume, "No, of course not. Why would you be in trouble?"

"I... I dunno..." Butters looked down at his hands, seeing the electric sparks crackling around them.

Jake followed his visible eye, eyes widening a bit at the sparks, but he didn't mention them, instead saying, "Hey, look. If you can't think of any reason why you'd be in trouble, then you're not in trouble, ok?"

"Ok..." Butters nodded a bit, taking a few more deep breaths, watching as the sparks coming from his hands vanished.

"You good to get back in the car? I... I really wanna talk about this with you more, but you need to eat, too. Would you be able to talk about it in the car or the restaurant?" Jake asked, and Butters thought for a moment before nodding a little.

"I th-think so..." Butters answered, and Jake nodded, patting his shoulder before standing up, heading to the passenger door and opening it for him.

Butters hesitated for a moment before hurrying over to the open door, getting into the car and making sure his cape was out of the way before Jake shut the door, walking around the front of the car to sit back down in the driver's seat, starting to drive again. The silence was suffocating, making his hair stand on end, or maybe that was just the electricity?

"Why would you be in trouble for your parents not feeding you?" Jake questioned, and Butters paused before looking back up at him.

"I don't know?..." Butters replied, not entirely certain, "I probably shouldn't be going to Bennigan's, though. Maybe this was a bad idea, we should turn around-"

"Hey, nuh uh. No." Shade cut him off, "You shouldn't lose food just because you got in trouble for something. Why'd you get in trouble, anyways? You just said something about being wrongfully accused of cheating."

"My teacher thought I was cheating in my math class even though I wasn't, and I got sent to the principle's office and got detention." Butters answered.

"And you still got in trouble?" Noah questioned, and Butters nodded a bit.

"Yeah... My dad told me he'd take me to Bennigan's if I did good in school all week, but uh... that's not happening, so umm..." Butters fidgeted, looking away from them.

"So you wanted to go there with us..." Spice put the pieces together, "You know you were grounded for no reason, right?"

"Well, they thought I was cheating! I know I wasn't, but they were just trying to-" Butters was cut off again.

"Do what was best for you?" Jake guessed, and Butters looked up at him, "That isn't what's best for you, Chaos."

"I'm a bad kid, everyone says so." Butters said.

"We don't." Shade spoke up, "You've been nice to all of us, making sure we're all getting paid for our efforts and letting us know we're appreciated. You won't even treat yourself to the dinner that you know you deserve without bringing us along to reward us. To not make it about you. So you can reward us and have justification  for getting it too. You're not a bad kid, Chaos."

"Does this mean you don't wanna work for me since you don't think I'm evil?" Butters asked.

"Fuck no!" Shade exclaimed, and Butters flinched, "Chaos, look, you're our friend, and you're fun. You've been stepped on, and you have every reason to be upset, even if you won't admit it to yourself. You deserve to be able to lash out, and we're all gonna help you. Just because you're a good kid doesn't mean you can't be evil, it's called you being pissed off and wanting to do something to deal with it."

". . . Ok..." Butters mumbled as he looked down at his hands, unsure of what to say.

The rest of the drive was quiet, but he wasn't sure what to say or if he should say anything. Jake pulled up outside of Bennigan's, and Butters got out of the car, taking a moment to breathe the fresh air after the stifling car ride. He composed himself though, trying to act calmer than he was, and while being at Bennigan's was exciting, he was still on edge, fighting the anxiety and doubt in his gut. Was this really the right choice?...

"Hey, Chaos! You ready? They close soon!" Shade asked, and Butters looked back at them, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm ready!" Butters nodded while Jake pulled on a black cloak and Scream mask, tilting it up to rest on the top of his head.

The five of them entered the restaurant, which thankfully wasn't closed yet. Butters wasn't sure how the costumes would go, but there was one way to find out... right? The hostess looked them over in surprise, raising a brow. She had dark brown hair pulled up into a bun, blue eyes, red lipstick, and she was wearing a green shirt with a nametag- Marissa, and a black skirt and black heels.

"Well, you're all just in time! We were about to shut the kitchen down!" Marissa said, smiling, "Halloween party?"

"Yeah, we had a friend that threw a costume party tonight, and we figured we'd stop by while we were in the area!" Shade chirped, "If we're not bothering you, that is!"

"Oh of course not, sweetie! Come with me, I'll get you all nice and situated so you can order." Marissa responded, grabbing five menus from behind the desk and walking over to a large table, the five of them following her.

Butters sat down at the far edge of the booth, in view of any doors going into the building. Shade sat next to him, Noah further in on the booth, while Spice and Jake sat together on the other end. He was fidgeting with his hands under the table, avoiding eye contact. He could hear the clocks ticking, he could hear each footstep, he could hear his armored feet and knuckles rubbing against each other under the table-

"So, just to address the elephant in the room..." Spice started, Butters looking back up at her as she distracted him, "You doing ok?"

"I uh... yeah, I'm alright. It's just... its nothing, really!" Butters reassured.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Shade chimed in, "It's ok to have family problems, dumby."

"I'm not a dumby." Butters mumbled.

"If you weren't you wouldn't have needed to cheat at your math class." Shade smirked.

"I didn't-!" Butters started, but she cut him off, snickering.

"I kid, I kid!" Shade reassured, "I know you didn't. But my point still stands! It can't be just from getting in trouble, something else has you on edge."

"Shade, ease up on him a bit," Jake told her, giving her a look, "He's had a rough day, he doesn't need to be analyzed."

"Fine..." Shade relented, Butters letting out an internal sigh of relief, "But on Monday he's fair game."

"Fuck." Butters sighed, and Shade laughed as Marissa walked back over to the table.

"Y'all ready to order?" Marissa asked, looking them all over, notepad in hand.

"Yeah, can we get a... what'd you mention earlier?" Shade looked over at Butters, who fidgeted with his foot slightly under the table.

"Turkey O'Toole?" Butters answered.

"Yeah, one of those!" Shade nodded, "And... how about some souls of the innocent?"

Butters snorted, laughing a little, and Shade smirked.

"Can we get four slices of Legendary Death by Chocolate and four slices of Brownie Bottom Pie. That work, guys?" Jake questioned.

The others at the table nodded, Marissa taking notes before asking, "And would you five like anything to drink?"

"Can I get some water please?" Butters requested.

"Of course, kiddo. Anyone else?" Marissa looked around the table, writing on her notepad.

The others exchanged glances before shaking their heads no, Jake saying, "I think we're ok, thank you."

"Of course. I'll bring the deserts over in a minute." Marissa nodded with a smile before walking away.

Butters waited quietly for the food, stomach growling loudly, a sound that made him wince every time he saw the others look at him. He could see that they were concerned, but he was fine, really!

"Hey, Chaos? Would you prefer granola bars, crackers, or fruit?" Jake asked after a few minutes, Butters looking at him curiously.

". . . Why?" Butters questioned.

"No reason." Jake replied.

"Uh... I guess granola bars or fruit?" Butters shrugged, before asking again, "Why?"

"No reason at all, just uh... if you ever go without food or get hungry, swing by Arty's." Jake told him, and Butters sighed.

"Jake, I appreciate the offer, really-" Butters started.

"Then accept it." Spice cut him off, "C'mon, he's already worried you get punched or something and that's why you wear that eyepatch, at least let him know you're not hungry or some shit."

"Wait, that's why you think I wear the eyepatch? Really?" Butters asked, and Jake nodded.

"I mean, we've seen you at school, we know there's nothing wrong with it, right?" Shade mentioned.

"Uh... about that... I kinda wear a contact lens and concealer? I got hurt a while ago, and uh... I kinda can't see outta that eye anymore. I just keep it covered since it feels better and hides my identity." Butters explained.

"Ooohh, cool!" Shade nodded, "Can we see?"

"Shade!" Noah scolded.

"What?" Shade asked innocently.

"You can't just ask something like that! He might be sensitive about it!" Noah told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well if he is, he can say no." Shade responded, "I just wanted to see how cool it looked."

"Don't feel pressured to show us or anything, Chaos. You don't have to." Jake said.

"It's alright, I uh... I don't always wear my contact anyways, so uh.." Butters hesitated before reaching up, flipping his eyepatch up, earning some gasps.

"Woah! Dude, that's fucking hardcore!" Spice exclaimed, and Butters looked at her in surprise.

"Wait, really?" Butters asked in surprise, having not expected that.

"Fuck yeah!" Spice nodded in confirmation.

"Spice's right, every villain is like... fifty times more badass with a scar or injury." Shade mentioned.

"I uh... jeez, thanks..." Butters thanked them, blushing a bit and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Of course!" Shade responded, and Butters quickly flipped his eyepatch back down as Marissa walked over, bringing their food and drinks.

He hadn't been expecting them to find his injured eye cool, or for Jake to try ensuring he was fed. Jake wouldn't even let Butters pay for their food! Sure, Butters snuck and gave Marissa the tip, but otherwise Jake was pretty stubborn about it. While they talked, Butters found himself relaxing bit by bit, easing into comfortable conversation with them as the day's anxiety bled out of him.

Despite how on edge he'd been the whole day, and how it hadn't even been his parents to take him here, this was probably his best experience at Bennigan's. He'd have to find a way to get everyone back here soon enough, and he had to figure out a way to sneak and pay for everyone's food before Jake could get the chance to do so. He wasn't sure how, but he'd find a way! He'd make sure of it.

Chapter Text

A bit after his dinner at Bennigan's with Shade, Spice, Noah, and Jake, Butters split off from them to wander around the town a bit, keeping mental note of shortcuts from one place to another. He crossed his arms, rubbing at them with his hands as he looked around, due to it being extremely cold tonight. He knew he needed a way to stay warm, but he would worry about that later. All he knew was that it was technically Saturday, and he had no school until Monday, which he was guessing would be his demise from getting interrogated.

But until then, he got to have fu- Shit! A weak shingle gave out under Butters's foot, due to him having not noticed he was walking on the roof of an abandoned building. The roof gave out, and he yelped as he fell, reflexively flying to break his fall. He hovered in the air, looking around the inside of the structure, seeing it was an old, abandoned warehouse.

He let his feet hit the ground softly, the soles of his boots making his feet nearly inaudible as he held a hand up, letting electricity spark and crackle into a ball that hovered in his palm. He looked around, trying to see any details of what was here, but it seemed mostly abandoned. Butters sighed, flying back up to the roof, hovering there before carefully walking in the air, an inch above the roof to avoid it caving in under him before jumping over to the next rooftop, which was stable. He sighed, brushing some dirt and splinters off of his costume, relieved he didn't have the tinfoil costume anymore.

In all fairness, it was a relief he had powers in general, otherwise his villainous schemes would be much more difficult! He did need to get some sleep, though, he realized with a yawn. The food from Bennigan's was a relief to his stomach, getting rid of his hunger, but with a full belly, Butters was even more exhausted... but he didn't want to go home yet... He didn't want to go back to his room, to that feeling of being trapped, but he couldn't just stay out all night.

Even though he wasn't trapped- even though he could fly out of his room at any time he wanted, it didn't get rid of that anxiety that he felt every time he thought about going home. He knew he would need to suck it up, but... he really didn't want to yet... Butters sighed, shoulders slumping as he started to make his way back home, knowing he needed to sleep, and with his luck he would be so exhausted he passed out as soon as he got changed into his pajamas. That didn't mean he was rushing to get home, though, not by any means.

He took his time walking across the rooftops, taking the scenic route... Something he would regret, as by the time he got home, it was three in the morning. Butters looked around, ensuring he wasn't going to be seen before flying up to his window, opening it and slipping inside. His boots landed soundlessly on the carpet as he shut the window behind him, and he removed his armor, stashing it under the bed along with the rest of his costume, pulling on his pajamas before crawling into bed.

The warmth of his room and the blanket felt much better than the icy air outside, but that trapped feeling still lingered. Granted it didn't last long, as he passed out in record time, but still! At least the weekend was a bit better, but Butters was hyperaware of every single thing he did, trying to stay out of trouble to avoid more of his father's wrath in such a short period of time. He wasn't sleeping the best, either, as he was either out in the town, at the amusement park, or just laying in bed awake, staring at the ceiling. Just like he was right now after roaming the town for a few hours, trying to think of a way to cause chaos.

He still wanted to get back at the school faculty, knowing that he wouldn't have gotten grounded if Mr. Garrison hadn't accused him of cheating. What was it about him that made him such an easy target, anyways? Butters tried to be nice to everyone, to be the best son he could be, but in the end, all he was viewed as was a pushover... He hated it. Shade was going to interrogate him on Monday about his homelife, which was fine, he was fine, everything was fine.

Butters gasped as his blanket caught fire from electricity crackling in his hands that he hadn't noticed, and he hurried to pat it out, hoping it didn't leave a burn mark. Thankfully it didn't, but the adrenaline did jolt him awake. He looked over at the clock, seeing it was five in the morning, and he sighed, dragging his hands down his face.

"Fuck..." Butters muttered.

It was too close to when he'd need to get up for school for him to go out again, and he didn't see falling asleep as a likely event. His door was still locked, meaning he couldn't leave his room, and all because Mr. Garrison felt like being a jerk, and the principle hadn't believed him either... . . . The school was doing a Halloween party on Friday on the thirtieth, and everyone would be there, faculty included... Maybe, just maybe, he could capitalize on that.

Butters got up from his bed, grabbing a notebook from his desk and uncapping a pen, starting draw the outline of the gym by memory, drawing important things he remembers like where things were located, like support beams, sprinklers, and smoke detectors. He wasn't sure what the plans would be regarding lighting placement, chairs, or tables, but he could probably get a good idea of it. This would be the first time he'd pranked a crowd- the first time he'd purposefully been somewhere around a lot of people, and if he decided to make this his official debut to South Park as a supervillain, the first time he'd stuck around for a bit after being spotted.

The idea of revealing himself in front of his classmates and teachers made him nervous, but the thought of being treated somewhat seriously instead of as the others had said 'a nuance that did lame pranks'... it got him excited. Butters grabbed his helmet and visor from under his bed, securing the visor to his helmet, putting the band between the pieces of foam and supergluing it there, putting it back under his bed to let it dry. He went back to his desk, thinking about everything the party would have and how to take advantage of it. Butters wanted to make it clear he was a supervillain who was just getting started, that he wasn't someone to be messed with!

Being Professor Chaos would finally give him a chance to not be viewed as a pushover! It would give him control over his life, something he'd been wanting for a while now, and this would be his chance! Of course he would need to sit out the party in order to be able to pull this off, which meant he would need to be grounded... That probably wouldn't be too hard to pull off.

Friday night would be the first time for a lot of things, really! His first time making a large public appearance, his first time pranking people and being there to witness their reactions, and his first time getting grounded on purpose! Butters spent the rest of his morning planning everything out, along with figuring out exactly how he wanted to pull this off. He would need all hands on deck for this one, along with methods of subtly communicating with each other. Butters had seen ear pieces on TV, but he didn't have the budget for that, so maybe wireless earbuds would work?

They were cheap and he might be able to get lucky and find some on clearance at Walmart or something! He knew he couldn't just target the faculty, and well, he could, but he didn't want to. The best way to cause chaos was to prank everyone, and this was a prime opportunity to do so! So, Butters planned it all out.

These parties always had food and drinks, so hot sauce could be slipped into the punch they provided, and while Butters was tempted to mess with the food, he wasn't sure how he'd be able to pull it off. So it was a maybe on the food, but the punch was definitely going to have a punch! Butters laughed quietly at his own joke, looking at the entrances and exits of the gymnasium, knowing it would be smart to have someone near each door to watch for Mysterion. He would be up in the rafters, able to see if Mysterion snuck in through a window somehow, which he probably would.

As for the main prank of the night, he wanted to mix in a ton of green glitter into the fire sprinkler system and trigger it, knowing how impossible it would be to get the glitter out. He knew there was a separate water supply for it, which was located on the roof, and that meant he could easily access it. Then he would just need someone to trigger the sprinklers, and that shouldn't be too much of a problem- Butters heard movement outside of his door, the locks clicking open. His eyes widened in panic as he hid his notebook before lunging out of his chair, landing on his bed before pulling the blankets over himself, shutting his eyes as he pretended to be asleep. He got situated just as the last lock was unlocked, his mother's voice soon following the sound as his door opened.

"Butters, it's time for school!" She informed, Butters slowly opening his eyes to see her peeking in, rubbing at his eyes to feign sleepiness.

"Thanks, mom.." Butters thanked her, and as she walked away, he got up, starting on his usual morning routine.

He tried leaving the house as soon as he got the chance, backpack slung over his shoulders as he ran to school. Sure, he hadn't slept in over twenty four hours, but he was alright! Sure, he was slightly fatigued, but he was used to running for long periods of time by now, and it wasn't nearly as cold as it was at night. So, he once again made it to school before the bus did, heading up the stairs and into the building, making sure he was ready for his first class.

Despite the lack of sleep, he was able to somewhat pay attention to his classes despite how they seemed to blur by, but then he was confronted by a new problem: it was time for lunch. Butters entered the cafeteria, grabbing his tray and getting his food from the lunch lady. He could see Shade waving him over expectantly, Dougie, Spice, Etta, Flower, Carl, Noah, and Steve sitting there already. He sighed quietly before walking over to them, sitting down at the empty spot on the bench.

"Hey! You look like shit!" Shade pointed out.

"I haven't slept since yesterday..." Butters admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I could-" Etta started, sounding stuffy, and Butters remembered how her and Flower were sick.

"No, Etta." Flower sighed, cutting her off, "He just needs to take a break."

"Yeah, like now." Spice said, and Butters started eating his lunch- ham and turkey sandwiches with some chips.

"It wasn't that, really, fellas!" Butters said, holding his hands up, "I just couldn't fall asleep."

"You're getting too used to the night life, C." Shade whispered, and Butters sighed.

"I guess so, but at least I figured out something that'll be the best unpaid prank yet, and it'll get us a better reputation." Butters whispered back.

"Oh?" Spice asked, and the others were listening closely, "How?"

"I'll send you the details after school, but we need to get this done ASAP. We only have until Friday to get it done." Butters told them quietly, "And I need all of you in order to make this work."

"Think he's gonna show up?" Noah asked, and Butters shrugged.

"No clue, but there's one way to find out." Butters replied, a small smirk plastered on his face, and the others nodded.

"Got it.... Now, let's talk about what happened Friday night." Shade said, and Butters sighed.

"Yeah, I heard about that... Are you ok?" Dougie asked.

"I'm fine, really." Butters told them, "I just... I don't feel like talkin' about it, please?"

Shade sighed, not looking pleased but she thankfully relented, "Fine..."

"Thanks.." Butters thanked her as he continued to eat his lunch, hearing Eric and his other friends talking a bit away from them at another bench.

He was just trying to get through the school day, text everyone what he needed them to do, and try getting some sleep. Of course, that was easier wished for than accomplished. By the time school was over and he was home, he was still wide awake and feeling trapped within the confines of his room. So, Butters was relatively quick to put on his costume and sneak to the amusement park, trying to explore more of it and find anything useful, which occasionally happened.

He actually managed to find a several large containers of glitter, and that night he mixed it into the water supply connected to the fire sprinklers! Butters had texted everyone their instructions and what he needed them to do, with Shade, Noah, and Carl volunteering to help set up the party, sending him details on where things were, which he added to his map of the gym. He could figure out where pretty much everyone needed to be, and Jake had managed to find several earbuds on clearance for them, Butters giving cash to Spice to pay him. Everything was done by Wednesday, everything except getting grounded, that was... Butters wasn't looking forward to that part.

He hadn't slept at all Wednesday night, despite how hard he tried. There was a lot riding on this prank, after all! He would be revealing his supervillain self to his classmates, their parents and their teachers, and he ran the risk of being recognized. So Thursday night, as Butters couldn't sleep, he spent it at the amusement park, pacing inside the spot he'd found in the tunnel ride, The Mine Shaft.

After the Haunted Manor had broken down a long time ago, The Mine Shaft had been converted into a horror ride, as everyone missed the Haunted Manor. Now, it was Butters's main hide-out, with a few things he'd found inside of it. Like an old green couch in one of the employees break rooms, and he'd moved it here since it was fairly comfortable. He'd been trying to practice his most villainous impression he could, but he was having some... problems...

"It is I, Professor Chaos! Fear me, foolish mortals!" Butters yelled, before pausing, mumbling, "No, that doesn't sound right either..."

He'd been at it for a half hour now.

"Uh... students of South Park Elementary! I am Professor Chaos, the most feared villain in the world!!" Butters did an evil laugh at the end, but it faded to an unsure, awkward chuckle, "Aw hamburgers, I really suck at this stuff..."

"Victims of my newest scheme-! No..."

"Partygoers-! . . . No..."

"Residents of South Park-!" Butters hesitated, "Maybe, I mean it's not just students there... maybe 'people of South Park'?..."

"People of South Park!" Butters yelled again, putting on his best evil tone, and he smiled, "Hey, that sounded pretty good!"

He cleared his throat, making his tone sound dark and villainous, "People of South Park! My name is Professor Chaos! Prepare to face the wrath of the greatest supervillain of all time!" Butters ended it with an evil laugh, hands on his hips, and he paused, "Wait, is that corny?..."

Dang it, it was probably corny...

Ugh, who knew evil speeches were so hard! He sighed, his pacing quickening before he stopped, shoulders slumping. 

"Could I improvise?..." Butters thought out loud before shaking his head no, "No, that would go horribly! I'd make a fool outta myself! I need to rehearse this, otherwise everyone's just gonna think I'm a dork like Mysterion does!"

Butters didn't really wanna scare people, he just.. well, maybe he did, a little bit. Everything was always much more chaotic when people were scared, be it from panic or just uncertainty... it made them unpredictable, and that was something that scared Butters a bit. He wasn't sure what they would do, and that meant his prank might fail, or at least not have the intended effect. Then again, villains scared people, it was what they did. If they made people feel safe, they weren't doing their job right- that was the hero's job... Maybe scaring people wouldn't be too bad...

"People of South Park, I am Professor Chaos! I've been terrorizing this puny town for a while now, and I've been informed you all think of me as a joke! It's fitting how this takes place at a school, as I'm going to be teaching all of you a lesson to not underestimate me!" Butters declared evilly, and his shoulders slumped, "That definitely sounds corny, fuck..."

Did he even have to address them? He probably should...

"Students, parents, and school faculty! My name is Professor Chaos, the greatest supervillain of all time! It's come to my attention that you don't take me seriously! Tonight will change that!" Butters grinned, trying to sound malevolent, and that.. actually sounded the best out of anything he'd tried so far.

He just needed to figure out how to act so completely opposite of himself that no one would figure him out. He didn't think they would be above going to his parents if they figured him out- especially Eric, if he didn't hold it over his head for blackmail. Butters had been pranking him pretty heavily, so he needed to be so blatantly not himself no one suspected him. He usually never swore at people, and while he'd been trying it with Mysterion, maybe it wouldn't hurt to do it tomorrow night?

Butters also knew that he needed to be confident- cocky; something he usually wasn't. He needed to overplay it to the point he felt it, which would probably be pretty difficult. He needed to make an impression- an impact no one would forget! He'd been a supervillain for around a month now, and it was high time that everyone knew about it, dang it!

"Students, parents, and school faculty! My name is Professor Chaos, the greatest, most powerful supervillain of all time! It's come to my attention that you fools don't take me seriously, and tonight I'm going to be teaching you all a lesson, if your feeble minds can comprehend it! It's a good thing you're already at South Park Elementary, because school's in session!" Butters ended that with an evil, menacing laugh, only to jump and scream as lightning struck outside, thunder shaking the ground under his feet.

He covered his mouth with his hands, looking around to make absolute sure no one had heard that. His hands had lit up with electricity from his fear, something he really needed to work on. Butters had to fight down or hide sparks every day now, for some reason extremely on edge. Well, he knew why he was, there was a lot riding on this prank, but still, it seemed like his powers were building up...

He let a ball of electricity form in his palm, holding it up as he watched and felt it grow in power. Butters let it expand, sparks coiling around his hand and fingers to converge into the ball, and he narrowed his eyes as he flipped his hand away from him, arm extending out as he let the blast fly free, which hit the wall and left a large, dark scorch mark. Butters had no intention of ever using his powers on people, not when it came to something capable of so much destruction- that was capable of killing. He refused to risk that, but that didn't mean he couldn't use it on non-living things!

It would definitely scare people, that was for sure, but he was still unsure if he actually wanted to do that. Then again, if Professor Chaos was the opposite of himself, maybe he should cause fear? Butters knew how bad it felt to be scared, he didn't wanna wish that on others, but... but maybe he should still do it. Villains probably didn't worry about this, after all, so why should he if he was a supervillain? That meant he was super evil, right? Right. 

Still... the thought of actually hurting someone with his powers was a big no for him. He'd show his electricity off, sure, but not to the point the government looked into him. He'd flaunt it occasionally, maybe zap some lightbulbs or something, but not people. Butters let more electricity charge up in his hand, and he looked down at it thoughtfully. He could probably zap some of the lights or something at the gym if he needed or wanted to, but that was a big maybe. 

Butters sighed, flopping down on the couch, and he shivered a bit. Without his pacing, he was realizing it was really cold here... He pulled his hood up over his head, pulling the cape of it around himself, trying to stay warm. He needed to get some heat in this place; he knew they used to have it before the place shut down, but they didn't currently.

It would only get colder during winter, so Butters needed to save his cash up to buy a heater or something in order to stay warm. Maybe if his prank was a big success, he could get more business, and more business meant more money. He looked over at the security office, the door still where he'd left it in the doorway, and he got up from the couch, walking over to it. The screens were still all busted, but he could probably find a way to fix them... Once he learned about electronics, that is.

Butters could see a manual peeking out of a drawer, and he grabbed it, reading the title out loud, "Optiview Security System Manual and Handbook... Huh, this could be useful..."

. . . He couldn't sleep, so he might as well do something productive with his time...

Butters walked back over to the couch, sitting down on it as he flipped the book open, starting to read through the pages, skimming through the words and instructions. He couldn't see anything on parts he would need so far, but maybe Best Buy or Circuit City would have something? From what he'd seen, all of the cameras were in good condition, he just needed to replace the computers, but first he needed to get power back to this place... Butters set the book aside, and he flew over to the main fuse box, looking through the labels and turning off everything except for this area.

No outdoor lights, no rides, no anything, just power to this ride for the heating and power. The power here connected to all of the security systems anyways, and if it didn't, Butters could just turn on the power there and turn off anything he didn't need, especially lights. The amusement park was on it's own grid, if he remembered correctly, and he doubted anyone would look into it too much. There was a master switch that turned everything off, so that would make it easy for him to shut everything down when he left.

Was it illegal for him to reactivate power by messing with the powerlines to reconnect the amusement park to the power plant? Yeah, but he needed to be able to have heat and power here. He flipped the master switch on, and he saw some overhead lights turn on. He looked up, then back at the switch, his hand still on it, and then he glared back up at the lights that were smugly lit up.

"Wait... had this place had power the whole time?!?!" Butters yelled.

He'd been about to mess with the power grid and all he had to do was flip a switch! Butters laughed a bit at his luck, an he looked over at the computers, seeing a few of them lit up with staticky screens, the rest of them black, and he took a small mental count. There was an abandoned Circuit City in town, he could stop by there next week and grab everything he needed, or at least some stuff. It was abandoned, so anything there was finders-keepers, right? Probably... it's not like a big corporation would mind...

In the mean time, Butters started using the manual to set up the security system, occasionally glancing at the clock to keep an eye on when he'd need to go home to try and sleep. He got the system set up relatively quickly, and he took a bit to scan through the working cameras and everything else, trying to keep note of anything he would need. Once that was done, Butters shut everything down by flipping the switch, and he started heading home, knowing that if he was going to sleep, it would have to be tonight, since he definitely wouldn't be sleeping tomorrow night.

Once he got home, after ensuring he wasn't followed or seen, he changed into his pajamas, hid his costume under the bed, and began the process of trying to sleep. He somehow managed to drift off for a few hours, waking up in the morning, beginning his normal routine, but he skipped on his contact. If he was going to ensure he got grounded, he needed to every single thing he'd been told not to do. He was going to make this morning... chaotic... and possibly a death sentence.

So as he got ready for school, Butters kept his shirt untucked from his pants, he rolled up one sleeve slightly more than the others, and to finish it all off... he double-knotted one shoelace and not the other. He was so evil... He headed downstairs, humming to himself as he saw his father sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper while his mother made breakfast.

"Mornin', mom and dad!" Butters greeted cheerfully.

"Good morning Butte- Butters, what are you wearing?" His father exclaimed, and Butters felt his heartrate jump up.

"Well, what do you mean, dad?" Butters asked, trying to act innocent.

"Oh, Butters!" His mom gasped, "Come here so I can fix your clothes, sweetheart!"

"Huh? My clothes are fine!" Butters told her.

"What? Is this what you've gotten from all those years of us teaching you how to look like a respectable young man? March your butt right upstairs this instant, mister!" His dad ordered.

"I don't think I will, dad!" Butters shot back, knowing this could spell out his doom, and it took all of his effort to not start panicking.

"What did you just say to me?!" His father snapped, "Don't you get that tone with me, Butters!"

"Oh Butters, what has gotten into you this morning?!" His mom questioned, seeming shocked.

It was now or never... goodbye, world...

"Nothing at all! I just didn't wanna go to school looking like I was compensating like dad does!" Butters replied, mentally digging his own grave.

"WHAT?!?!" His father exploded, "That's it, you're grounded, mister! Straight home after school, no TV, and no trick-or-treating! And you can kiss that party of yours goodbye too!"

"Oh no!" Butters cried, exaggerating his distress.

"Oh yes! Now march your ass to school! Me and your mother had called out of work to go with you, but it looks like we'll have to find something else to do with our time!"

"I bet that's devastating.." Butters muttered before walking out the front door.

"BUTTERS!" He heard his dad yell from inside of the house, and he sprinted towards his school, trying to ignore his racing heartrate that was not from running.

He was so dead, this prank had better work...

Upon getting to school, everything was mostly normal. The Halloween decorations were up, cobwebs, stickers, and fake ghosts lining the walls, plastic jack-o-lanterns on top of the lockers, and there were fake plastic spiders in the cobwebs, high enough so no one could reach them. All in all, it looked nice, but he knew the gymnasium and everyone inside of it covered in glitter would look a lot nicer. He went through his classes as usual, then went to lunch, getting his food, before finally sitting down at the bench.

"How'd it go with your parents?" Dougie asked.

"Well, uhh... I might be dead tomorrow, but at least everything's good for tonight!" Butters answered.

"What'd you say to him? I gotta admit I'm curious." Shade mentioned.

". . . Shade, my homelife is fine, quit trying to piece it together." Butters told her, catching on quickly.

"Ooohhhhhh, so smart!" Shade snickered, "Alright then, Mr. Perfect-Homelife, how much have you slept?"

". . . I'm gonna go sit by the others-" Butters started to get up, but Shade grabbed his sleeve gently.

"Wait, sorry, fine, I won't ask." Shade huffed.

"Just be careful, ok?" Etta requested.

"I will be... what're we looking at for tonight?" Butters asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I texted you the map of everything, and everything is set up and ready to go. Got the buckets set up and filled-" Spice started.

"Woah woah woah, buckets of what?" Butters questioned, and the others exchanged looks, smiling.

"We took some... creative liberties. You'll have fun." Flower mentioned.

"Ah shit..." Butters mumbled, running a hand down his face, and Dougie patted his shoulder.

"You sure this is a good idea? I mean practically everyone there has met you at least once." Dougie whispered.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. I was practicing for a while last night and I know what to do. No one is recognizing me." Butters reassured quietly. 

"Full villain mode, huh?" Shade smirked under her breath, "Haven't seen that before. I can't wait for this one, Buttercup."

"'Buttercup'?" Butters questioned.

"Its a nickname." Shade shrugged, "I mean granted Butters is a weird name, but it can have it's nicknames."

". . . You do realize my real name isn't Butters, right?" Butters questioned. 

"Yeah, his parents aren't that cruel." Dougie mentioned.

"Dougie..." Butters started.

"Fine, his parents aren't that much of assholes." Dougie amended.

"Dougie!" Butters yelped.

"It's only gonna get worse." Dougie stated.

"Alright alright, if Butters isn't your name, what is?" Spice asked, "I mean in case you dug your grave earlier, I don't wanna learn by seeing your fucking tombstone."

". . ." Butters sighed, "It's Leopold..."

Five seconds later everyone else besides him, Dougie, and Sil started snickering.

"What?! Its not that bad of a name!" Butters exclaimed.

"How the fuck does someone get Butters from fucking Leopold?!" Shade wheezed, lightly pounding on the table with her fist.

"Its just a nickname, really! Everyone uses it so it just stuck! I dunno where it came from!" Butters told her.

"Oh my god, that's fucking amazing!" Shade breathed out through her laughter, "Fucking Leopold, who would've thought..."

". . . Am I just really sleep deprived or am I missing the joke or something?" Butters asked, clueless.

"First of all, sleep, and second of all, yes." Noah responded, laughing quietly.

Butters was torn between playing the 'I'm your boss' card and not, but he decided against it. He was saving his evilness for later. And later... oh did later come.

After school ended, Butters immediately headed home, finding his parents already gone. He headed up to his bedroom, finding a list of chores on his door to 'reduce his punishment sentence', which he would worry about later when he was more rested and thinking rationally. In the mean time, he dug his costume out from under his bed, changing into it and putting his other clothes in the laundry basket. In the mean time, he made sure no one could recognize him.

Butters took off his gloves and helmet before heading to the bathroom, carefully using concealer to cover the bags under his soon to be only visible eye. Next, he put his eyepatch and helmet on, and he tussled his hair up, making it more wild than usual, having it fall out over his helmet a bit while still remaining fluffy. He smirked, seeing a villain smirking back, and Butters laughed a bit before heading out of the bathroom, pulling his gloves back on. Leaving the house this early in the day was a first for him, but he knew to be careful.

He exited the house through his patio, locking it from the inside behind him before sneaking his way across the street, trying to use trees as cover before he could make it to rooftops. Butters took the scenic route to school, sticking to rooftops and staying out of sight from everyone out on the streets, slowly making his way to the school. One he got to the school rooftop, he saw some snacks left there, presumably by Etta based on the pink bag they were in. Butters sat down against one of the air conditioners, and he grabbed his earbud case out of his pocket, taking his helmet off and putting one into his right ear.

He quickly put his helmet back on, tussling his hair up again, and he dug through his bag, already feeling a bit hungry, and he saw some granola bars, trail mix, candy, frosted animal crackers, and some chips. Butters removed his gloves, setting them next to him as he opened the bag of frosted animal crackers while a small part of him panicked over dessert before dinner, and he went on his phone. He opened his YouTube, looking through videos on self defense, technology, pretty much anything that could be useful, and he did this for a few minutes before being invited to a call. Butters tapped on 'Join', and the earbud trilled in his ear, voices filtering in.

"Shit, shit, he's here. Oh, hey Chaos!" Shade greeted, "You find Etta's gift?"

"I was gonna ask him!" Etta exclaimed.

"Well I beat you to it!" Shade responded.

"Shade, you're such a bi-" Flower started, Shade laughing.

"Hey hey hey, not again." Noah broke the fight up, before sounding hesitant, "Uh... please?"

"Don't worry, no cat fights today!" Spice reassured.

"Thanks." Butters thanked her.

"Tomorrow, however!~" Shade giggled, and Butters groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose under his visor.

"Just... please make sure this doesn't fail, ok?" Butters requested.

"We've gotcha, chief, don't worry." Shade reassured, "Just feel free to eavesdrop, the party's starting soon."

And it did. Butters watched from his hiding spot as the parking lot of the school filled up, car by car, each of the families heading into the gymnasium. He stayed hidden the whole time, peeking over the edge of the rooftop as he listened to the call, keeping track of what was happening throughout the night, waiting for the sun to set so it would be dark enough for him to sneak inside.

"Punch has it's punch." Etta informed quietly earlier on in the party.

"And the entrances are clear." Carl said a few minutes later.

"No one's doing anything stupid yet."

"Mysterion isn't here."

"No signs of that hero guy."

The reports were mostly steady, sometimes the call filling up with idle chatter between his Agents of Chaos and other partygoers. Butters didn't really say too much, just snacking on the foods Etta had left for him, not realizing he'd gone through pretty much the whole bag. He felt a bit bad, but he probably burned a lot of energy as a supervillain, so it made sense in a way. It was after the sun went down fully that the real party started.

"Lights are on." Shade told him as he pulled his gloves back on and pocketed his phone, heading to the edge of the roof, ready to fly to the unlocked window.

"Let me know when I'm clear." Butters instructed, looking around for any signs of Mysterion, seeing none.

After a few minutes, he got his response from Steve, "You're clear."

Butters flew off of the roof, hovering in front of the window before cracking it open, immediately being met with the loud music from the DJ stand, and he slipped inside, crouching on the beam and shutting the window behind him, and he looked around. There were large beam lights set up, shining all over the ceiling, one of the lights almost blinding him if not for his visor. He could see his Agents of Chaos around the gymnasium, with Carl and Steve by the doors, idly chatting with people, which Butters could hear but wasn't really paying attention to, Sil staying off to the side, and he nodded at Butters once he saw him, Butters nodding back. Everyone was in their costumes, Sil dressed as a knight, Etta as a fairy, Flower not really in a costume, Steve was dressed up as a vampire while Carl was Michael Myers. Dougie was dressed as someone from Star Trek if Butters took a wild guess, but he wasn't sure who. 

"He's in." Sil said quietly.

"Hey, C? Look above the main stage where the teachers stand, will ya?" Shade told him, and he looked there, smirking as he saw the buckets.

"Use 'em when you're ready." Shade whispered before she turned to greet someone near her, acting friendly.

"Got it." Butters replied quietly, "Carl, Steve, anything?"

"Nothing here."

"Not yet, but once you really fire shit off he might show up." 

Butters nodded, staying hidden somewhere the lights didn't hit often as he waited for the music to quiet and the teachers to go up to the stage for the safety announcement for trick-or-treating. It took another ten minutes, towards the party's end, but once that happened, he smirked, knowing it was time.

"Etta, Sil, get the DJ out of the booth. Noah, Dougie, be ready to head there." Butters whispered, inching his way towards the beam with the buckets, hopping beam to beam, "Steve, Carl, stay sharp. Spice, get to one of the fire detectors."

"On it. I swiped one of my mom's lighters." Spice informed, and Butters watched them move around down below, getting into position.

"Excuse me, sir?" Etta pulled on the DJ's sleeve, sounding nervous and shy, getting his attention while the school faculty got up on stage, "I lost my teddy bear, can you help me?"

"Of course." The DJ nodded, and he knelt down, "Where's the last place you had it?"

"I think in my classroom? I don't know if I brought him home after school, and I miss him..." Etta frowned.

"Your teachers will probably take a bit to explain everything, we could check your classroom and hurry back, and one of your friends could tell you what you missed?" The DJ offered.

Butters felt bad about the plan taking advantage of the man's kindness, but it'd be ok... probably...

"Thank you!" Etta thanked him, and the two exited the gym, Sil following behind as security and 'help'.

Once they were gone, Butters got to the buckets, in the middle of the gym, and he got ready, whispering, "Spice, get ready."

She nodded with an acknowledging hum, and Butters took a deep breath before pushing the buckets over, the slime coating all of them, especially Mr. Garrison. Butters laughed quietly at that, and he nodded at Spice, who held the lit lighter to a smoke detector. The bell rang, the sprinklers turning on, coating everyone in glittery water, and once it was noticed, parents began to shriek in panic. Butters snickered, moving a few beams away from the stage as he started to laugh quietly before standing up, hands on his hips as he started to laugh, slowly getting louder.

He could hear hushed murmurs, and Shade said quietly, "Noah, show 'em where he is." 

Butters was soon met with the light on him, and he had himself grin, hands on his hips as he laughed, looking down at everyone, "Students, parents, and school faculty! My name is Professor Chaos, the greatest, most powerful supervillain of all time! It's come to my attention that you fools don't take me seriously-"

The airhorn went off, Butters pausing as he heard the window slam open, and he looked across from himself to see Mysterion crouched on the beam, looking pissed. Mysterion lunged at Butters a moment later, tackling him down to the gymnasium floor, with Butters slowing their fall as they crashed down into a tent that had the food and drinks under it. He heard the others cursing as he pushed himself up, glaring at Mysterion, who was a bit away, doing the same.

"You ruined my speech." Butters told him with a frown, brushing himself off, the fire sprinklers having stopped.

"You ruined this party." Mysterion countered, voice a low growl, and Butters scoffed, rolling his eyes as he laid the act on thick.

"Ah yes, because I give so much shit." Butters replied, and Mysterion clenched his jaw in irritation.

He could hear everyone around murmuring to themselves and each other, some of them recording the interaction, and he darkened his smirk.

"I'll make you care, Chaos. I knew you would probably pull something tonight, Chaos. Every villain has to have their 'dramatic introduction'." Mysterion growled, and Butters chuckled as they started circling each other outside of the broken tent, the crowd giving them room.

"Of course they do! I had to make sure my first public appearance- intentional at least, was something impossible to forget." Butters grinned.

"It's a good thing I had the police on standby, then." Mysterion smirked back as Butters's grin fell, and he saw red and blue lights outside. He turned and looked over his shoulder, seeing the lights through a window, and he heard the Agents of Chaos panicking a bit, "This is your last time terrorizing the town, Chaos. You are grounded, kid."

Butters went still as he heard that word, the week's anxiety flaring up again before his expression hardened, anger flickering up and replacing it. To say Mysterion had hit a nerve was an understatement. He had to fight to keep sparks from forming, but he could feel them under his skin, waiting to get out.

"Oh no, you are not grounding me!" Butters snapped at him, pointing at him as he glared daggers at the hero, "I'm not gettin' locked up!"

Not again. Not somewhere he couldn't escape from without revealing his powers, otherwise everything was all over...

"You definitely are." Mysterion told him as he saw Steve and Carl lock the doors before slipping into the crowd, Spice having done so already with Noah and Dougie.

"Not a chance, Mysterion." Butters growled, and he lost his grip on his powers, sparks forming in his hands..

Mysterion didn't seem too surprised- maybe a little, but otherwise he wasn't shocked or taken aback. If anything, he seemed ready for a fight. The police kicked the doors open, and he cursed under his breath, looking around for an exit strategy. Butters saw the fuse box, and he let a ball of electricity form in his palm before he sent it at the fuse box. The gym plunged into darkness, and Butters took it as his chance to fly back to the beams by the gym's ceiling, and he kicked the window open.

Butters turned around to glare at Mysterion, the police pointing flashlights at him, and he smirked, "Later, Myst!"

He pulled himself out of the window at that, quickly returning to the roof as he took off running, heart racing as the adrenaline kicked in. He made sure the police weren't watching as he flew over to the roof of the Community Center, then climbed down it and ran through the streets.

"He's after you, watch out!" Shade whisper-yelled through the call.

"Everyone's freaking out by the way, nice job!" Spice added quietly.

Butters just smirked, despite knowing they couldn't see it, and he kept running, glancing behind himself to check for Mysterion, seeing him bolting after him. He laughed a bit, trying to sound evil and cocky as he sprinted away, heading towards the large, busy streets before vanishing into an alley. He watched Mysterion run past it before he snuck over to a manhole cover, pausing before pulling it open, climbing down into it before shutting it behind him. The smell was horrific, but this would definitely be worth it.

No one would look for him down here, and it gave him an easy escape route that Mysterion wouldn't think or want to investigate. Butters flew through the sewers, making sure not to touch any of the sewage; it smelled awful but at least he wouldn't be caught. He used the tunnels to head towards his street undetected, the call breaking up and choppy to the point he hung up. He poked his head out of manholes every now and then, seeing if he was getting close, and slowly but surely, he was getting there.

Butters made it close enough before he climbed out, replacing the lid once he was out. The street was abandoned, and he could hear sirens in the distance, showing they were still looking for him, and he chuckled to himself. Butters raced over to his house, flying up to his window and prying it open before slipping inside, slumping against the wall as the adrenaline wore off and his excitement kicked in. He laughed quietly, despite his parents not being home, a proud grin on his face.

He'd done it! He'd really pulled it off! He'd pranked his whole school at once, and they had no clue it was him!

Butters let out a quiet, excited squeal, and he changed into his pajamas, hiding his costume before grabbing his phone, opening the group chat.

Prof. Chaos
Made it home! Thanks for the help, everyone!

Shade
Woohoo! Check the news tomorrow, too! You're absolutely going to be on there!

Dougie
Yeah!

Spice
Oh absolutely it will, that act was fucking awesome!

Etta
I wasn't there for it but I'm sure it was amazing! You'll definitely be on the news!

Sil
Yeah

Butters's grin widened, and he laughed a bit in excitement, bouncing on his feet as he text back.

Prof. Chaos
I think I will be, too! See you fellas on Monday!

Everyone typed out farewells, clearly still enthusiastic, and Butters headed to his bed. As the adrenaline and enthusiasm wore off, he was left even more drained than usual- so much so that once he crawled under his covers, he passed out moments later.

Chapter Text

The moment Butters got to school on Monday, he could tell something had changed. After the prank at the Halloween party on Friday, he'd expected things to be chaotic- that was the point! What he hadn't expected, however, was what he saw after running to school. His parents had taken his phone over the weekend, changed the password to his computer, and locked him inside the house with no contact with his friends.

His only way of clearing his head was going out as Professor Chaos, and even then he just went to the amusement park to work on the security systems, practice his powers, or just relax for a bit. So upon reaching school, he'd been completely caught off guard. Half of the students were either wearing a shirt of Mysterion or of his villainous alter ego.

People had green question mark stickers on their lockers, and others had lightning bolts, which had him confused. He'd been trying to prank everyone here- to cause fear and chaos amongst them, not gain fans. He yelped as his arm was suddenly grabbed and he was pulled over into an alley next to the school by the dumpsters, and the culprit was Dougie.

"Dougie? What-?" Butters started to question.

"Look, I know your parents probably took your phone over the weekend and you haven't seen our texts, but uh... you kinda went viral?" Dougie told him, and Butters looked at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Butters asked.

Dougie just sighed, grabbing his phone from his pocket, and Butters watched him pull up a video on YouTube through the group chat, and it went full screen. The video started with the teachers' startled yelling after the slime was poured on them, followed by the sprinklers turning on. Then he heard himself laughing in the video, and wow, he'd really pulled the evil laughter off! The camera darted around before focusing on him, where he had his hands on his hips and a grin on his face. 

"Students, parents, and school faculty! My name is Professor Chaos, the greatest, most powerful supervillain of all time! It's come to my attention that you fools don't take me seriously-" Butters had started to declare on the video, only for the airhorn to sound, a window to audibly slam open, and then he was being tackled.

The camera followed them down to the tent they'd fallen onto, and the words replayed from Friday night, Butters finding himself a bit intimidating. He looked so evil!!

"You ruined my speech." Butters glared on the video.

"You ruined this party." Mysterion had countered, and Butters rolled his eyes at how dramatic he was, smirking at how his villainous alter ego did the same thing.

"Ah yes, because I give so much shit." Butters had responded.

"I'll make you care, Chaos. I knew you would probably pull something tonight, Chaos. Every villain has to have their 'dramatic introduction'." Mysterion's words played again as they started circling each other.

"Of course they do! I had to make sure my first public appearance- intentional at least, was something impossible to forget." Butters saw himself grin, and his face lit up at how menacing he looked in the video.

He was so cool!

"It's a good thing I had the police on standby, then." Butters saw his own face fall, and he winced at how caught off guard he'd looked; he needed to work on that, "This is your last time terrorizing the town, Chaos. You are grounded, kid."

Butters saw the mild panic appear on his face for a split second before he'd glared at Mysterion, pointing at him, "Oh no, you are not grounding me! I'm not gettin' locked up!" 

"You definitely are." Mysterion had responded.

"Not a chance, Mysterion." Butters had hissed, sparks forming in his hands, and he heard the crowd gasp through the video.

Just then the door had slammed open, the camera spinning to the source of the noise as the police entered, and the camera snapped back to Butters and Mysterion. The crowd was gasping as he formed a ball of electricity in his hand, and that's when he noticed something. His uncovered eye had electricity in it- like a bright glow that he hadn't been aware of.

It could've just been the visor, but it didn't look like it. Butters watched as he'd thrown it at the fuse box, the gymnasium plunging into darkness. Then the window opened, the video aiming to him, and Butters saw himself crouched by the window, flashlights illuminating him, and he saw 'CHAOS' spraypainted above the window in bright blue, likely by Shade.

"Later, Myst!" Butters had smirked, and then he was gone, having pulled himself out of the window.

"This goddamn fucking kid, I swear to god I'm going to kick his ass..." Mysterion growled under his breath as he ran past the person holding the camera, past the police, and out of the gym.

Butters snickered a bit, having not heard that Friday night, and the video ended a few moments later, the person recording the video- Clyde, muttering, "What the fuck just happened..."

"Wait, you said that went viral?" Butters asked as Dougie went to turn his phone off, and he paused before tapping on the link.

The video on YouTube pulled up, and Butters saw that it was Clyde's YouTube account, 'LOTRNerd003', and the video had... holy shit... it had a few hundred thousand views and thousands of likes, the title being 'SUPERVILLAIN AND SUPERHERO IN SOUTH PARK?!'. Butters, wide-eyed, looked over at Dougie, who was smirking. Butters couldn't contain his excitement, bouncing on his feet with a happy squeal.

"I did it! I actually did it! I pulled off the first impression!" Butters exclaimed quietly.

"Yeah, the school forums have been going crazy over the weekend, and apparently everyone's been making a bunch of shirts since the mayor is trying to make it a tourist thing." Dougie informed, and Butters frowned.

"Wait wait wait, they are profiting from it?" Butters asked, "I'm the supervillain, I should be getting paid for all of it-"

"Yeah, well, you just might." Dougie cut him off, holding a small black notebook out to him, which Butters accepted.

"What's this?" Butters questioned, opening it and seeing what it contained.

Prank request after pranking request, all down the whole page, and as Butters looked through more and more pages, he saw they were filled too.

"Your stunt caused a ton of requests to come forward on community walls, and we managed to take pictures of them before they got taken down. Someone also made a website, uh... I think I still have the link saved..." Dougie mumbled, scrolling through his phone before tapping on something, pulling the link up before showing Butters the screen.

It had a picture of him by the window in the gymnasium, flashlights pointed at him, and the web address was 'spreadchaos.com'. It mainly had a dark gray background with a light gray post section where everything was listed, the text black. There was a forum, comment sections, and a Q&A. The top of the screen had some text in bold letters, saying, 'Professor Chaos, please contact me, and I will give you the account I made for you to access everything! I will be at the dumpster by the Walmart at Main Street Monday night at 8!'.

Dougie handed Butters his phone, and he looked through the website, seeing more sections like for messaging people, but the ability was currently locked for him, likely only available for his account, which he would need access to. This website was... it would definitely be helpful. If this wasn't a trap, this could be huge for him. 

"How long has this been up?" Butters asked, looking back over at Dougie.

"I think around a day or so? I think some highschooler made it." Dougie shrugged, "The others have been wanting to spread it around to the usual clients, which means things would get a lot safer for us. If this becomes the main thing we use, we can accept more requests more discreetly, so we can avoid getting caught by Mysterion."

Butters gave Dougie his phone back, thinking for a moment before saying, "I'll meet up with them, see if it's a trap or not. If it's not, I'll message the group chat to start using it."

Dougie nodded, and the bell rang, Butters wincing a bit. One thing he hadn't taken into account when he decided on his prank was how Mr. Garrison might be in a bad mood, and that might be taken out on him... Butters gulped before he and Dougie started heading into the school, Dougie pocketing his phone after Butters handed it back to him. School was... surprisingly not bad, but it wasn't his main focus.

Sure, everyone still had some glitter in their hair, the gym was shut down for repairs to the fuse box and to attempt cleaning the glitter, but Butters knew that wouldn't happen anytime soon. He felt bad for the janitors, but it's what happened when you were a supervillain- you made people's lives and jobs harder. So, pushing down the guilt, he got through school before heading home, struggling a bit with some of the homework. His parents weren't home from work yet, and his door would be locked once they did since he was still grounded, which meant he needed to pack some dinner if he wanted to eat later.

Sure, Jake had started keeping snacks at Arty's, but Butters didn't want him to feel the need to! If he had to eat an early dinner to keep them from worrying, he could do that! So, heading to the kitchen, he looked through the fridge for something to eat, finding some leftover pizza and grabbing it. He put three pieces on a paper plate, then put the plate into the microwave, and he started heating it up for forty five seconds.

Butters leaned against the counter while he waited for it, watching it swirl on the glass tray, and once the microwave beeped as the timer hit zero, he removed the plate. He grabbed a napkin, and he sat at the table as he ate it, trying to hurry in case his parents came home. That's why he used a paper plate- so that there wouldn't be much evidence he'd eaten anything, especially since he shouldn't be eating since he was grounded for what he did on Friday. Which gave him all the more incentive to hurry up before they got home.

Butters hurried and ate the pizza, throwing out the plate and used napkin before washing his hands, getting rid of the grease on his fingers. He still didn't have his phone, but he did have cash from the pranks... could he get a cheaper one? Maybe Circuit City would have one; if he was still going to go there to look for computers, he might as well look for a phone too, right? Right.

So, Butters headed up to his room, drawing out plans for his hideout on the maps he'd made while he waited for his parents to get home, knowing that after that he would be able to leave. Thirty minutes later, after receiving another talking to about his attitude, he was locked in his room like he'd expected to be, and he wouldn't be checked on until it was time to wake up for school tomorrow morning. So Butters worked on the plans a bit more, keeping track of the time with the clock in his room, and soon enough, it was seven thirty. He hid the drawings before retrieving his costume from under his bed, changing into it, and within minutes he was on the roof of his house, flying high into the sky to avoid detection.

It was still freezing, and he still had no ways of being warmer, but at least the air wasn't burning his eye as much. He also knew he didn't need to leave this early, but if the person meeting him at Walmart was already there, he could get the credentials to gain full access over the website, and he could get to Circuit City ahead of schedule. After a bit of flying, he landed on the roof of Walmart, staying out of the way of the security cameras before looking down at the alleys next to the store, looking for someone. The first ten minutes were uneventful, Butters mainly staying mobile in order to stay warm, and the next ten minutes were more of the same.

He sighed, getting slightly impatient, but he finally saw someone walking over to an alley, and he ducked down on the roof, watching them. They were wearing a black hoodie, and had black glasses and dark blue jeans, along with black shoes. Their hood was up, but he could see the glasses, and they had their hands in their pockets. They seemed to be a teenager, too, and they hurried to the alley, seemingly nervous. Butters snuck down the fire escape above them, the rubber soles in his boots making him nearly silent as he crept down, and he heard them muttering to themself, seemingly a boy, and he could see some brown hair peeking out from under the hoodie as he got closer.

"Oh god, who was I kidding, thinking that guy would show up... He probably doesn't even know about the website, there's no way he's gonna show up..." The teenager muttered.

Butters knew one thing well; when it came to teenager, he needed to be cautious. Sixth graders were menaces to society, but high schoolers? He was out of his league. So, with this person seemingly intimidated by him, he knew he needed to live up to expectations. So, he climbed up onto one of the railings, looking down at the now pacing teenager, watching them. They were definitely nervous, a feeling Butters knew all too well, and the fact that he made someone feel nervous, much less a teenager... it felt weird.

"Yeah, this was stupid, I should just get outta here..." The teenager muttered, and that's when Butters decided to make his move.

"Not so fast." Butters said, trying to do his evil voice, and they jumped, head whipping up to look at him with wide eyes.

"H-Holy shit! You actually showed up!" The teen gasped, and Butters smirked, hopping back onto the fire escape before walking down, then finally sliding down the fire escape's ladder. 

"I did. I saw that website you set up; it's got some real potential." Butters mentioned, trying to be casual.

"O-Oh wow... I didn't think you'd pay attention to it..." They muttered, rubbing the back of their neck, "Can I just say what a huge fan I am? That prank online was amazing! I almost thought it was staged until all the announcements started being made on the school forums declaring there was an actual supervillain!"

"Uh... thanks?" Butters wasn't sure how to react to how excited they were to meet him; he didn't really get that reaction often, if ever.

"Oh, right! You probably want that username and password, right?" The teen asked, and Butters nodded, "Right, that's why you're here-! I'm just... sorry, it's just awesome to meet you!"

"Well, uh... it's nice meeting you too?" Butters responded, and their face lit up.

"Here's a sticky note with the username and password, feel free to change it after you log in." They said, holding a yellow sticky note out to him, which he took, "Well, I'll let you get back to your supervillain stuff, bye!"

With that they ran off, leaving Butters there with the sticky note, confused, and he replied uncertainly, "Uh... bye?"

He looked over the username and password before he put the note in his pocket, climbing up the fire escape again to get back to the roof. The Circuit City was on the outskirts of town, meaning he shouldn't be too disturbed while he was there. So, flying high into the sky again, Butters started heading there, trying to avoid detection, which he thankfully succeeded at. Once he got to the abandoned Circuit City, he dropped down onto the roof, zapping all of the surrounding security cameras before flying down, taking out the others when he saw them. They might be deactivated but he still wanted to be cautious. Once he got to the door, he hesitated, unsure of how to get inside past the closed automatic doors. 

"Uh oh... uh..." Butters mumbled, looking around the building for another way in.

Thankfully there was a metal employee only door at the back of the building, and he hesitated again, backing up a bit. Hopefully this one was weak like the ones at the amusement park and Skeeter's... He took a large step forward, bringing up one of his feet and landing a hard kick on the door... and it flew off of it's hinges, vaulting into the room. Butters gasped, hands flying to his mouth as he stumbled back, falling on his butt due to balancing on one leg. He hadn't just done that, right? The door couldn't have been that weak, not for that... 

"How the fuck did I just do that?!" Butters squeaked, pushing himself up and hurrying over to the doorway, seeing the hinges were ripped from the wall, and he felt his heartrate speeding up more than it already had.

He looked into the room, which was the warehouse in the back of the store, and he saw the door lying on the ground several feet away with a foot-sized dent in it. Butters hadn't known he was that strong, and the thought that he was... had he hurt Mysterion in their fights? He hadn't been trying to hurt him, but had he done so accidentally? They were enemies, sure, but he didn't want to seriously hurt anybody, even if it was someone annoying like Mysterion!

Butters fidgeted with his hands, anxious, trying to figure out if he could've accidentally hurt someone. Butters couldn't think of any times he could've accidentally hurt someone, but he needed to be more careful, just in case. He also needed to hurry up and get what he needed from this place, just in case someone noticed the door. He didn't think this was stealing anyways, not when the building was abandoned for this long.

So, pushing aside his worries for now, he walked further into the building, looking along the shelves, seeing boxes upon boxes of unsold electronics. He knew Circuit City had gone out of business, and while they'd tried selling or getting rid of pretty much everything, there was definitely some stuff they couldn't sell. So there was this. There was scraps of cardboard and toys all over, along with old vending machines, tables and chairs, and that wasn't even mentioning all of the carts!

Butters grabbed one of the more in tact carts, and he headed back to the warehouse in the back, seeing several computer boxes behind a locked glass case. He hesitated before punching it, the glass shattering, and he pulled any shards off before he reached in, grabbing the boxes and examining them. They looked similar to the ones at the amusement park- they were even the same brand!

Butters grabbed the boxes and put them all into the cart, unsure of how many he'd need or if he would need any spares. As he was putting the last box into the cart, he saw a bin in a corner of the room, and he flew over to it, temporarily leaving the cart. Once he got there, he saw it was filled with boxes and boxes of phones, and it had an old, stained note above it, which Butters read out loud.

"Due to the deal with Verizon, we can no longer sell these brands. Leave them here to be dealt with later." Butters read to himself, and he looked down into the bin again.

They were all old flip phones, all still in their boxes, and all unopened. He did need a new phone for when he was a villain, but he couldn't pay for the cell service... unless... Butters thought for a moment before reading some of the boxes, looking for if they had an app store, and he found one that did, and it had Bluetooth. It was called an Alcatel GO FLIP, and as far as he could tell, it would probably be his ideal pick.

He picked through the bin, grabbing every box he could find before putting them in the cart, and he grabbed extra charging cords, and he found some old extension cords on the ground, and he put those in the bottom of the cart. Soon enough, the cart was filled, but he had nowhere to go with it. He didn't have a car and he didn't know how to drive, and he couldn't exactly call someone to come pick him up.

"Aw hamburgers..." Butters mumbled, kicking a nearby can with his foot, and he looked around, trying to find a way to discreetly get all of this to his hideout.

The sewer system wouldn't take him to North Park, and he couldn't even get the cart down there. Which only left one option. Butters found an empty metal bin, probably used to hold DVDs for people to pick through, and Butters moved everything he'd found into it. He flew above it, trying to get a grip on it in order to carry it without it tipping over, and while he had no issues flying and lifting it with him, he wasn't sure he could get it to North Park without losing anything. He didn't have a box, he didn't want to take multiple trips, and he didn't know how much time he had before Mysterion decided to show up... . . . Screw it.

Butters lifted the bin, effortlessly lifting it from the ground before he flew out of the building. He flew into the sky, watching the contents of the bin carefully before he flew as fast as he could to his hideout, the world blurring by below him. By the time he saw the amusement park, it had to have been a few minutes since he'd started flying, and Butters quickly dropped down into the middle of it, putting the bin down. He let out a relieved exhale, seeing how he didn't lose anything, and he carried the bin into The Mine Shaft, putting it in the center of the area he used as a hideout to deal with later.

He still had to figure out his homework, but he didn't want to be stuck in his room all night, and it was already so late, if they heard him awake he would get into even more trouble... Butters sighed, and he started flying back to his house staying high above ground, then sneaking in through his window once he got back, and less than a minute later he was flying back out with a book held to his chest, pieces of paper, pencils, and a protractor between it's pages. He wasn't sure where a good place to read would be, but after a bit of flying, the roof of a Dick's Sporting Goods made a nice spot; maybe he could even get something to eat, he was a bit hungry...

So that's where he stayed, sitting against one of the HVAC units with a book resting on his legs. It was still freezing outside, but the heat coming from the machine helped a bit, and so did his gloves, the thick material underneath keeping out most of the cold. Butters read for a while, mumbling the words out loud to help remember them better, tracing a finger under each word as he read.

"The fuck are you doing?" Mysterion's voice came from above him, and Butters yelped, the book flying up before he managed to catch it, slamming it shut and holding it close as he scrambled up and away from the HVAC unit.

"M-Mysterion! I-I uh... wh-what are you doin' here?!" Butters asked, highly caught off guard as he tried keeping himself composed.

If he'd managed to hurt Mysterion in the past without meaning to, the hero would probably be a lot more wary of him, right? He just looked confused, annoyed, and mildly amused, something that mildly irritated Butters.

"Didn't know the big bad supervillain could get scared." Mysterion remarked, and Butters huffed, glaring at him.

"I am not scared!" Butters defended himself.

"I-I don't b-believe y-you!" Mysterion mocked his stuttering, and Butters pulled a bold move and flipped him off.

Mysterion snorted, sitting on the unit with his legs swung over it before he slid down onto the concrete roof. Butters held the book close, giving him an unamused look while he barely held back laughing, still probably trying to be all stoic and serious.

"Fuckin' asshole..." Butters grumbled, exaggerating his anger a bit as Mysterion walked over, unphased.

He definitely wasn't afraid of him...

"You never answered my question. What the fuck are you doing, reading on a rooftop?" Mysterion questioned, and in a quick motion, he'd snatched the book away by grabbing the bottom, sliding it out from Butters's arms.

"Hey, give that back!" Butters snapped as Mysterion held it above his own head and opened it up, looking up at it while Butters tried reaching for it without flying.

"Fourth grade math? You- you're studying?" Mysterion questioned, baffled, "It's one in the morning!"

It was that late?... No wonder why he was so hungry...

"Yeah, well, being up here helps me focus.." Butters huffed as Mysterion handed it back.

"Shit teacher too?" Mysterion asked, and Butters sighed.

"You have no idea..." Butters sighed, "He barely explains it and then we have to answer the school-issued tests. He doesn't even teach us what he's supposed to, he just-"

"Wastes your time talking about fuck all while insulting you for not knowing something he never fucking taught?" Mysterion finished, Butters blinking at him in surprise, "Yeah, mine too."

"Wow..." Butters mumbled, a bit surprised, "I uh... I actually knew the answers to questions on math and I got in trouble for cheating."

"Damn, that actually happened to a friend of mine too.." Mysterion muttered, "Were you cheating, though?"

"Hey, I might be a supervillain-" Butters started.

"That's a stretch." Mysterion mumbled.

"-But I don't cheat! And it's not a stretch! You saw what I pulled off at that elementary school!" Butters exclaimed.

"Wait, is that why you did that?" Mysterion questioned, and Butters nodded.

"It wasn't the only one I hit, just the only one I made an appearance at, just so no one figured out which one I actually go to." Butters lied, just to cover his tracks a bit in case Mysterion looked into that.

"Makes sense." Mysterion said after a moment, ". . . Your teacher go over math?"

"Barely, but I practice it a lot so I didn't need him to." Butters answered, "Did yours?"

"Not really..." Mysterion sighed.

". . . Do you want my help?" Butters offered after a moment, and Mysterion looked at him in surprise.

"What?" Mysterion questioned, eyes wide.

"Do you want my help?" Butters repeated.

"Why the fuck would you help me?" Mysterion asked.

"Uh... fuck the American school system?" Butters shrugged before trying to act more villainous, "Do you want my help or not?"

". . . Not a word of this is ever breathed to anyone. Ever." Mysterion stated, and Butters smirked a bit, moving back over to the HVAC unit, sitting down again.

"Of course not, your reputation is as on the line as mine is." Butters told him, opening his book as Mysterion sat down next to him, "Uh... no punching me tonight?"

"You haven't done anything illegal tonight, have you?" Mysterion questioned.

"Uh... no?" Butters replied.

". . . Fine. Besides, the prank on that school was kind of funny." Mysterion admitted, and Butters's face lit up, "Don't. Also, how the fuck did you do that electricity thing?"

"A villain never reveals his secrets." Butters smirked, and Mysterion sighed.

"Can we just get this over with?" Mysterion questioned, and Butters laughed a bit.

"Ok, ok... what are you struggling with the most?" Butters asked.

"The fucking angles of triangles with that... that thing..." Mysterion answered, clearly irritated, and Butters immediately knew what he was talking about.

"Oh, the protractor?" Butters asked.

"Yes!" Mysterion exclaimed, "That fucking thing! Subtracting and adding isn't horrible, but I can't figure out the fucking nines."

"Well, uh, the nines are actually easy." Butters mentioned, "Can I show you a trick?"

"Sure..." Mysterion grumbled, and Butters opened his book again, grabbing a pencil and a piece of paper before shutting the book, putting the paper on it's cover.

"Every multiple of nine adds up to nine, if that makes sense, like one plus eight is nine, so you can tell eighteen is a multiple of nine." Butters explained, and Mysterion's eyes widened.

"Motherfucker..." Mysterion muttered, and Butters laughed a bit.

"Same goes for twenty seven, thirty six, forty five, etc." Butters listed, "Did uh.. did that help?"

"Actually, yes..." Mysterion admitted, "What about the fucking protractor?"

"Oh, I still have no clue about that.." Butters admitted, "Temporary truce to fight it?"

"Can we even defeat it? Isn't it too powerful?" Mysterion questioned, and with the seriousness he was trying to put into his voice... Butters couldn't help but start laughing, "It's not funny, asshole!"

"S-Sorry, sorry!" Butters apologized through laughs, "It just- you sound so fucking serious, I can't-!" Butters burst into quiet snickers, and he saw Mysterion's composure slipping.

"You're such a fucking asshole..." Mysterion grumbled which only made Butters laugh harder, but he quickly managed to pull himself together.

"I- I don't know if we can beat it, but if we do, we could do something not many kids can." Butters mentioned, and Mysterion sighed.

". . . Screw it, fine." He sighed, "You were reading that book before, what could you figure out?"

"Well, I know the bottom edge can be used to make a line..." Butters grabbed the protractor from where it was sticking out between pages, putting it on the paper and making a line by tracing the pencil under it.

"How do we do the angle, though?" Mysterion questioned.

"Uh... no clue. Something about the hole being used." Butters shrugged.

"If there's a hole, there's a goal..." Mysterion mumbled.

"What?" Butters asked, unsure if he'd just heard that right.

"Nothing." Mysterion responded, grabbing the pencil from his hand and holding the protractor against the paper, "What angle should we try?"

"Uh... for the sake of being chaotic, pick a random one?" Butters shrugged, and Mysterion rolled his eyes.

"Sixty it is..." Mysterion sighed, and he traced the pencil up to the sixty degree angle marker, but it got wobbly once it went over the plactic's edge, "But how the fuck do people make it straight?"

"I don't know?" Butters shrugged, "Should we try looking at it from a different angle?"

Mysterion turned and gave him a flat look while a smirk formed on Butters's face, Mysterion scowling, "I fucking hate you."

"That's no way to talk to someone trying to help you." Butters teased.

"You can't even help yourself." Mysterion glared.

"Fair..." Butters sighed, looking at the paper again, "Wait, that bottom edge is used to make straight lines, right?"

"Right." Mysterion nodded.

"So, what if we..." Butters nudged Mysterion's hand away from the protractor, and he rotated the protractor, keeping a finger on the hole in the bottom center, lining up the bottom edge with the small line Mysterion had made.

"Son of a bitch..." Mysterion whispered, "You fucking evil genius.."

Butters grinned, triumphant, "And you admit I'm evil! It's a great night!"

"Ugh, don't get used to it, you dork..." Mysterion grumbled, and his stomach growled.

". . . When's the last time you ate?" Butters asked.

"Here we go again.. why the fuck do you keep trying to feed me- actually, why did you volunteer to help me?" Mysterion interrogated.

"Uhh-"

"And don't say just to flip off the school system, that's not enough. So why?" Mysterion probably wasn't gonna relent on this.

". . . Did I ever hurt you? Like- really hurt you? Not- not just you trying to punch me that night I got new armor, but.. otherwise?" Butters asked, and Mysterion looked puzzled.

"Uh... no?" Mysterion answered, "Why?"

"No reason." Butters replied.

"Chaos." Mysterion said sternly, "Why? Why do you care if you did?"

"I just... I recently found out I was a lot stronger than I thought I was, and I wasn't sure if I ever hurt you more than I was trying to, that's all." Butters answered, "I mean, I don't wanna severely injure anybody, not even you."

". . ." Mysterion was silent, and Butters sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm uh... I'm gonna go..." Butters decided, starting to put everything back into the book.

"Wait." Mysterion stopped him, and Butters looked over at him, "Just... don't worry about that, alright? You didn't. Now, I personally say I could go get us some hot food, but I don't have cash and I don't expect them to give it to me for free."

"I could give you cash for your food?" Butters offered, "I don't need to eat."

"I can hear your stomach too, dumbass." Mysterion stated, and Butters looked off to the side, "So, to celebrate defeating that fucking protractor, can we eat something and then go home? I don't feel like trying to track you down to beat the shit out of you all night again."

Butters thought it over before sighing, reaching into his pocket and grabbing two five dollar bills and holding them out to Mysterion, the hero accepting them.

"Be back in a few minutes." Mysterion informed, hopping up and over the HVAC unit, and when Butters stood up to try watching him, he was already gone.

Butters sighed, waiting patiently on the rooftop, trying to keep himself occupied by using the protractor to measure the angles of different things. Sure, most, if not all of them were right angles, but some were eighty nine or ninety one! Just slightly off in a small way that had no effect other than driving observant people crazy, something Butters found hilarious. He got so absorbed in checking the angles of everything on the roof, he barely even noticed Mysterion come back, a box of Pizza Hut pizza in one hand. Sure, Butters had already had pizza, but he wouldn't complain, not when he could smell the hot and fresh food... His mouth started watering as Mysterion walked over, putting the pizza on the ground in front of them, opening it up to reveal a pepperoni pizza, napkins in the box, along with bread sticks and marinara sauce.

"Huh, he threw in the bread sticks on the house..." Mysterion muttered.

"I can't complain about that." Butters said, pulling his metal gloves off, reaching a hand forward to grab a piece, mindful of not getting grease or sauce anywhere.

"Me neither." Mysterion muttered, grabbing a piece, and they both ate in silence.

"Hey, Mysterion?" Butters asked after a moment, his enemy looking over at him.

"What?" Mysterion questioned.

"You wanna hear a pizza joke? Fair warning, it's pretty cheesy." Butters grinned.

". . . If I didn't want to waste food, I would throw this whole fucking box at you." Mysterion glared, and Butters snickered.

"And after I helped you with math." Butters faked a sad expression.

"I thought we weren't mentioning that?" Mysterion huffed.

"Hey, you said not to mention it to anyone else. You didn't say shit about me teasing you about it." Butters pointed out.

"You're such an asshole.." Mysterion grumbled, flipping him off with his free hand while Butters stifled a laugh.

"I'm a villain, it's what I do." Butters smirked.

"If I admit you're a villain will you shut the fuck up?" Mysterion questioned, and Butters let out a dramatic sigh.

"Ugh, fine..." Butters relented, but the smile on his face probably gave him away.

"Alright, you're the worst, most evil villain in Colorado ever. Happy?" Mysterion grumbled.

"Yeah!" Butters chirped, taking a bite of a bread stick, and Mysterion scoffed, rolling his eyes as he kept eating.

Butters, as promised, stayed quiet until they were both full, Mysterion taking the leftovers with him, probably for homeless people or something. It was around two in the morning when Butters got home, though, but after getting changed into his pajamas and hiding his costume, he was asleep within minutes. 

Chapter Text

TW: A building on fire and descriptions of dehydration, blisters, and burns.

It was lunch time, and Butters was holding his head up with his hand, idly picking at his food. Despite being able to fall asleep pretty much immediately last night, and it was only two in the morning! Though when he'd said that, the table looked at him like he'd grown a second head. In his defense, he was usually out late every night, so two in the morning was much earlier than three or four all things considered. He was well aware it was also probably the other late nights that were catching up to him, but he hadn't fallen asleep in class yet, so he was counting that as a win.

"Dude, you've gotta try and get some sleep." Noah pointed out, and Shade nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, otherwise you'll stop growing!" Shade told him, "What'll you do when he hits his growth spurt? Roundhouse his knees?"

"Sleep doesn't actually affect-" Dougie started.

"Shhh, he doesn't know that!" Shade shushed.

"I do now." Butters said with a yawn, poking at his food with his fork. 

"Fuck." Shade cursed, and Butters rolled his eyes. 

"Butters, seriously, take the night off." Dougie told him, "I'll cover for you if you want?"

"You can't cover for me, you'd get your ass handed to you in a fight with him if he showed up." Butters sighed.

"Ouch." Flower said, looking between them.

"Sorry, I- I didn't mean it like that." Butters apologized, "It's just... he's really strong is all, and you're two years younger than me and probably him. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"You fight him." Dougie pointed out.

"I can also kick a door off its hinges and across a room." Butters muttered, "And carry who knows how many pounds into North Park into my hideout without even feeling it."

". . . Since when?" Shade asked, and all eyes at the table were on him.

Butters rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, looking off to the side as he rubbed his knuckles together, "I uh... I raided an old Circuit City last night and got a ton of burner phones and stuff. I have everything at my hideout, and I could bring you guys by tonight if you wanted? I don't think I've shown you yet."

"Wait, you're taking us to the hideout?" Shade exaggerated how important it was, and Butters sighed.

"Yeah, to the hideout." Butters replied with another yawn, eyes drooping.

"Do you promise to sleep there?" Etta asked, looking up at him in concern, "You look awful..."

"And he's not bouncing off the walls cheerful, either." Spice mentioned before smirking, "Bro's fucked up."

The other laughed a bit, and Butters sighed, looking down at his food, and Dougie patted his shoulder. He started eating again, because he was hungry, he just didn't have the energy to eat. Granted he would get energy by eating, but he was still so tired... Spice's phone started ringing, Butters looking up as she answered it.

"Jay? Wh- Wait, WHAT?!" Spice stood up abruptly as she started shouting, panicked, the rest of the table flinching, including Butters.

"What's wrong?" Butters asked.

"There's a fucking fire at his highschool! He's stuck in his classroom because some fucking dipshits in the chemistry lab were being morons!" Spice exclaimed.

"WHAT?!"

"Holy shit!"

"Oh fuck!"

And that was enough to wake Butters the hell up.

"Oh hamburgers!" Butters yelped, his food forgotten as he started running out of the cafeteria.

He needed to help him. He might be a supervillain, but Jake was his friend. 

"Butters-! Damnit!" Shade cursed behind him, but Butters was already out the door.

Butters ran through the school, feet squeaking on the floors as he sprinted as fast as he could through the hallways, heading for the back of the school. His heart was racing, adrenaline flooding him as he threw open the back door and bolted for the manhole. Butters pulled it open, going down into it before shutting it behind him, flying towards his house while covering his nose with his shirt. After the Halloween Party, one of the others had gone down into the sewers and marked with silver chalk on the walls where he needed to go to get to his house.

He had no idea how they did it- probably blueprints or something, but it was turning out to be highly useful right now. Butters made it home in record time, exiting the manhole cover, making sure no one was around, and bolting to his front door. He grabbed his key from his pants pocket, since he had one due to getting home before his parents, and he unlocked the door with shaking hands and restrained urgency to avoid breaking something. The door opened, and Butters bolted inside and up the stairs, flying up the steps all the way to his room, opening his door and bolting to his bed, grabbing his gear out from under it.

He grabbed his new phone and activated it, turning it on and turning on the notification sounds, due to them having been muted. Butters grabbed one of the earbuds he'd connected to it that morning, putting it in his ear before texting Shade's number to let him into the group chat. He wouldn't be on the call long, just enough to explain himself so maybe they wouldn't be too pissed at him after this. Once she did, he started a call while he changed into his costume, discarding his regular clothes into the hamper. He pulled his black pants up, and as he was pulling the dark gray shirt over his head, someone else joined the call.

"The fuck is happening?!" Shade.

"I'm headin' over there to help him! That's what's happening!" Butters responded, sliding his hands through the sleeves before grabbing the dark green cape, securing it around his shoulders before grabbing his eyepatch.

"The fuck you are! It's way too dangerous!" Shade snapped, and someone else joined the call.

"Shade's right, you can't go in there! You're in metal and fabric! You'll burn and cook!" Spice told him while he secured his eyepatch, covering his scar, "I said it as an 'oh fuck, we need to get there', not as 'Butters, run into a fucking burning building!'!"

"I don't care how ya meant it, I'm still gonna help him!" Butters responded.

"I want to help him too, but I can't! We're just kids! Stirring up shit is fun, so is pranking everyone, but this- you could die!" Shade exclaimed, sounding like she was running.

"I won't!" Butters reassured as he pulled his helmet over his head, rustling his hair up to be more wild and unruly while he grabbed his boots, pulling them on as someone else joined the call.

"You might!" Noah said, "Look, I know you wanna help, but-!"

"When I said I would look out for you fellas if you worked for me, I meant it! That includes Jake, he's my friend too!" Butters told them, and he heard the others joining the call.

"Damnit, Butters.." Carl sighed as Butters left the call, pulled the earbud out of his ear and returned it to its case, put his gloves on, and he took off down the stairs.

He peeked out of the door to make sure no one was around before he exited his house, locking the door again before flying into the sky, trying to get out of sight as fast as possible. Butterscould see the smoke coming from the high school in the distance, telling him exactly where he needed to go. It wasn't that far, and he got there pretty quickly, landing on a rooftop across the street from the burning building.

It was ablaze, the roof lit up, and so was most of the building. Debris was visible through the window, likely blocking the door, and odds were the other exits were blocked off too if there were people still inside. Fire trucks were parked outside of it, so were police cars, news trucks and ambulances, and the sirens were loud. Butters cursed, trying to find a way to get into the building without being noticed.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Butters jumped with a strangled scream, whipping his head to the left to see Mysterion next to him in his blindspot again, costume disheveled like he'd put it on in a hurry. Considering the situation, he probably had.

He'd probably heard about the fire, too.

"I'm tryin' to find a way in!" Butters answered.

"So you didn't do this?" Mysterion questioned, crossing his arms.

Butters was actually pretty offended.

"Of course I didn't do this! I'm a supervillain, not an arsonist!" Butters snapped, "I wouldn't put people in danger like this! Who do you take me for-?!"

"Alright, alright, fuck!" Mysterion exclaimed, cutting him off, "I get it, you didn't do this, fucking hell! Do you know who did?"

"No! Why would I know who did this?!" Butters asked.

"I don't know! I was just wondering how the hell you were here!" Mysterion shot back.

"Look at the smoke! I'm not an idiot!" Butters responded, pointing at the smoke rising in the sky.

"Weren't you in school?" Mysterion questioned, "You know, like a normal kid?"

"Well for your information, I was! Until I heard about the fire!" Butters replied.

"From who?" Mysterion crossed his arms.

"From the fucking news! Don't you see the news trucks down there, Plum?!" Butters exclaimed, throwing his arms out in exasperation.

He didn't even need to pretend to be evil- Mysterion was pissing him off regardless.

"Alright, fine. So you have no idea who did this?" Mysterion asked again.

"I've been saying that! No!" Butters groaned.

"So you're here to help?" Mysterion questioned.

"I'm a supervillain-!" Butters started.

"I know what you are. Now answer the fucking question, you prick." Mysterion snapped.

Butters sighed, gritting out through clenched teeth, "Yes, I'm here to help."

"Then come on, you're helping me." Mysterion said, and he started heading down the fire escape.

. . . What?

Butters stood there, processing that for a moment before following after the hero, right behind him. The two made it to the ground, running over, and Mysterion held his hands up as the police went for their guns, eying Butters warily. While the sight made him scared, he knew it was because they were scared of him. He hadn't intended to scare everyone this much, but he wasn't about to do anything about it.

"Stand down! He's with me this time!" Mysterion told them.

"Mysterion, are you sure-?" Officer Barbrady asked, and the hero nodded.

"Yes. This time, he's here to help. He didn't do it." Mysterion responded, and he looked back at Butters, "What's your plan?"

Butters was silent, his eye flicking to different locations on the building, trying to find the best way in. The main entrance could be the most useful, but the fire around the windows inside told Butters it might be a bad idea... then again...

"I'm gonna get that door opened." Butters responded, running past the vehicles as fast as he could, Mysterion right behind him.

"Are you fucking crazy?! If it could be opened, it would be wide fucking open right now!" Mysterion told him as he got to the door, already feeling how hot the fire was.

"Well it couldn't be opened because I wasn't here!" Butters shot back.

"The fuck does that mean?!" Mysterion demanded, "Or are you such an egotistical jackass and so trapped in your own fantasy of being a supervillain that you don't realize how damn helpless you are in something this real-?!"

Butters cut him off with a punch to the jaw. Not using all of his strength, but enough to shut him up. Butters panted, sparks crackling around his hands because he couldn't focus enough to stop them, and he glared Mysterion down where he'd stumbled back. The hero was rubbing his jaw, looking mildly pained, and he glared up at Butters regardless.

"I don't care if I'm just a kid, I don't care if you don't take me seriously, and I DON'T GIVE A FUCK if you think I'm out of my league! I'm here to help, I can help because I don't want to see anyone die! There's kids and teachers in there! People with families and friends! People who don't deserve to die even though they deserve to see the chaos that I'll bring to the world! I won't just allow people to die without trying to do somethin' about it!" Butters snapped at him, and Mysterion looked... actually really intimidated.

Wait, was that dark stain on the underwear outside of his pants always there? Why was it growi- did he just piss himself?!

"Ok, ok. Point taken." Mysterion said, holding his hands up and taking a few steps back while Butters tried figuring out how he could've scared him that badly.

Then he looked down at his hands, seeing them clenched into fists with electricity engulfing them before realizing that that had probably done it.

Butters forced down an apology, forcing the electricity to dissipate from his hands as he called out towards the building, "I-Is anyone in there close to the doors?!"

"Yes!" Butters heard distantly, "We're by the doors! What do you need us to do?!"

"Which way do the doors open?!" Butters asked.

"Inwards!"

"Get back as far as you can from them!" Butters instructed, and he saw Mysterion look at him in confusion.

"What?!"

"STAND BACK! If anything can fall towards you, MOVE!" Butters instructed, backing away from the door a few feet.

He gave them a few moments, and as the flames rose, he decided enough was enough. He formed electricity into his hands again, but not as much, and he turned around and sent small, concentrated blasts at the news cameras, causing people to yelp as the cameras were broken.

"Chaos, the fuck-?!" Mysterion started, and Butters ran forward and kicked between the doors with everything he had.

The doors exploded open with a bang, debris flying back from the door to the end of the hallway, everyone thankfully out of harm's way. Butters was hit by the full force of the heat a moment later, wincing, and smoke rushed into his lungs, causing him to cough. Mysterion's jaw was dropped, but Butters didn't pay it attention, calling out as loud as he could, "Everyone, out!"

People peeked around from the end of the hallway, running towards him while he ran past them, heading into the building while they fled out of it. His visor kept the smoke out of his eyes, and one of his hands gripped his cape, holding it up and over his mouth so he could breathe a bit better. He looked around, seeing flames lining the walls, classroom doors closed, along with restrooms and other buildings.

"Mysterion, get these doors open!" Butters instructed as he pointed to his left, shouting so he could be heard, and he turned around to see Mysterion holding the scarf of his cape over his mouth.

Butters headed to the right, kicking each door open. Sometimes people were inside, but most of the time they weren't. He could hear Mysterion on the other side of the hallway, ushering in fire fighters while he tried kicking others open himself, but he wasn't as successful as Butters was.

Door by door, Butters slowly made his way to the end of the hallway and looked at the charred map attached to the wall, looking for the classroom Jake would be in right now. Jake had mentioned having a History Exam today, and after seeing where it was on the map, he started running there. It was next to the Chemistry lab, which meant it would probably be worse there. Butters kicked doors open on his way, ignoring how hot he was getting.

The insulation between his metal gear and his skin was helping a bit, but it was still starting to burn him a bit, and he was sweating heavily, it clouding up his visor. The hot gear hurt, especially around his hands and feet, but Butters pushed through it, focusing on the task at hand. He pulled his hood up to block out some of the heat, trying to keep it from reaching his metal helmet, wincing how each step he took hurt, feet cooking due to fire occasionally being on the ground where he was stepping. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, his vision swimming and fogging up, but Butters kept blinking past it, not letting himself pass out.

He needed to get to Jake; he couldn't afford to pass out. His steps stumbled, Butters tripping over his own feet as he fell to the ground, metal boots scraping on flaming tile, and he held his torso up with his hands. Flames licked at his gloves, burning his hands, and he winced, a few tears leaving his eyes, his eyepatch growing a bit moist.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Butters cried out, quickly pushing himself up while coughing, pulling his cape back over his mouth with a grimace, and he started running again.

He kicked open more doors, each one taking more effort, and as people occasionally ran past him from opened rooms, he finally reached the History classroom. It had flaming debris from the ceiling in front of it, but he could faintly see the door. Butters ran forward, grabbing the debris and starting to throw it aside, trying to keep it in his hands for as little time as possible.

He grabbed piece after piece, sometimes chunks of bricks, other times burning wooden beams, but it was mostly a lot of bricks, which weren't really that heavy, but the flames engulfing them hurt his hands and made him want to drop them as soon as he could. Butters coughed, unable to hold his cape over his mouth and nose due to moving the debris, but he kept moving. Once the last of the debris was cleared- a large flaming wooden beam that he threw a few feet away, Butters was able to hold his cape over his mouth again before he kicked the door open and off of its hinges. He saw Jake there, eyes wide with his shirt pulled up over his mouth, along with his classmates and teacher who were doing the same.

"All of you, out! Hurry!" Butters instructed before he kept going down the hallway, kicking doors open just to make sure no one else was there.

The adrenaline was keeping him going, his heart pounding relentlessly, but he could feel his strength draining, his exhaustion setting in again. He made sure to hurry, using his time as best as he could, and he went upstairs, doing a check there, kicking open doors, and he freed those people if the fire trucks hadn't gotten to him yet. Sometimes he saw them in the process of getting people out, though; fire fighters actually started opening doors once they got people out of the rooms, showing him he didn't need to do anything, and he appreciated it.

Once he did a full lap, legs shaking and sweat pouring out of his body, he stumbled downstairs, trying to get outside of the building as the flames grew hotter. His legs almost gave out, vision swimming, but he forced himself to keep going. He tripped over some debris in the hallway, yelping as he fell to the ground, flames heating up his gloves again, burning his hands. He heard footsteps rapidly approaching him, his vision spotting with large black dots, and he coughed, struggling to breathe.

He felt a hand grasp under his left shoulder, another on his left wrist as someone pulled him up, slinging his arm around their shoulder. It was another kid, his foggy mind realizing it was Mysterion even though he couldn't see him- he was the only one stupid to come in here for him. Butters gripped his shoulder, his free hand holding his cape over his mouth while Mysterion probably did the same, and they both reached the door just as the building exploded. They were thrown out of the building, the blast knocking them forward quite a few feet, and Butters felt pain radiate from his chest and jaw as he hit the pavement, concrete scraping some skin from his jaw.

He pushed himself up, ears ringing, heart pounding, arms shaking, and throat burning. Butters coughed, trying to clear his lungs, and he could feel hands under his arms, pulling him up and rushing him over to... an ambulance? All he could see clearly was a white and red lob with flashing red and white lights, the brightness making him squint a bit as he was brought towards the vehicle. He was sat down on the floor of the… trunk?

Treatment area? Butters wasn't sure. He thought it was the treatment area? His head was ringing so loud it was hard to hear himself think.

Butters could feel an arm around his shoulders the whole time, and he felt thin, soft rubber brought up to his mouth, the edges covering his mouth and nose where they were visible around his helmet. He felt a hand nearing the chin strap of his helmet, but he raised a hand, albeit sluggishly, and he batted their hand away. There weren't any more attempts, and he let himself relax slightly, hand falling onto his lap, causing a brief jolt of pain that made him wince. The steady flow of air made Butters's head clear up a bit, and despite the still present ringing in his ears, his vision was slowly clearing up.

He tried blinking away the black blots that sporadically appeared and moved over his vision, some edges becoming more crisp for moments, but lights were still disorientating. Butters could feel some air pressing past his throat- he assumed he was groaning, despite being unable to hear it- well actually he could hear it a little bit, along with muffled talking in the background, but he couldn't really tell what was being said. He could feel his sleeve being rolled up, and he looked down at it to see an IV going into his arm, the needle pinching as it was pressed through his skin, and following the tube it was attached to, it was connected to a large bag of water. His ears finally stopped ringing, slowly, and he could faintly hear the medics helping him, watching them pull off his metal gloves and boots and setting them next to him.

"Kid? Kid, can you hear me yet?" The medic next to him asked, and he looked up at her, seeing a redheaded nurse with freckles and green eyes looking down at him, her face slowly coming into focus as his vision cleared up.

"Y-Yeah.." Butters answered hoarsely, coughing a bit.

Pain was starting to return to him, and the first thing to hit him was how cold it was now that he was out of the flames. The chill made his hands and feet hurt even worse, some spots actually bringing tears to his eyes, but he blinked them away. Supervillains didn't cry, especially not around other people. What if they just thought of him as some kid because he started crying?

Butters decided just to look and see what the damage was, because it couldn't be that bad, right?... He looked down, seeing blots of red and pink all over his hands, but as they came into focus, he could see that they were blisters, and they were spread across most of his hands, mainly around his fingers, but some of them went halfway up his arm. The sight made him sick, seeing the raised and reddened skin all over, and his throat burned even worse from the bile rising up in it. Butters could only imagine what his feet must look like- he'd been running through the flames, and they hurt much worse than his hands.

He could see ointment and gauze being wrapped around his hands, the bandages covering his fingers and going all the way up to his elbows, though they went around the IV, not covering it. The adrenaline wearing off was allowing the pain to set in, and it hurt. Butters took a few shuddering breaths, blinking back tears as he tried with everything he had not to cry.

The medic rubbed his shoulder, causing him to look up at her again, "Hey, it's ok. I know it probably hurts, but you'll be ok, alright? So will your friend."

"M-My friend?" Butters looked across from him to see Mysterion sitting there, an oxygen mask over his mouth when he wasn't drinking water, his costume scorched, but at least the soot and sweat all over him hid how he pissed himself earlier, which the hero probably appreciated, "He's uh… he's not my friend."

"Oh, sorry." She apologized, "Your... nemesis?"

Butters nodded, "Yeah, th-that's better..."

She nodded, and another medic held out a water bottle to him, "You're severely dehydrated, kid. You sweat your ass off in there."

"Oh, so that's why the IV..." Butters mumbled.

"Yeah, you're pale as a ghost, kiddo." The medic next to him nodded, frowning, "We're gonna get you to the hospital and call your parents, ok?"

Butters's heart dropped, and he looked up at her with his visible eye widened, "W-Wait, no, you can't call 'em!"

"Well not right now, we don't have their information." The medic laughed a bit.

"No, I mean uh... I don't..." Butters tried thinking quickly, "I uh... wh-which hospital is it? Hell's Pass?"

"Yeah, it is." She nodded.

"I uh... I can't go there. I've terrorized that place in the past, they wouldn't help me." Butters informed.

"Because egging it is so terrifying." Mysterion remarked from across from him in the other ambulance.

"Shut it, fire hose." Butters retorted hoarsely, and Mysterion bristled.

"Kiddo, hey, there's another hospital in North Park if you're interested?" She offered, "Your parents wouldn't have to pay either, not after what you did today, so if the bill is what you were worried about, there won't be one."

"I uh... I don't have parents." Butters said the first lie that came to mind, and he froze from the way all eyes instantly were on him at that moment.

It was just a little lie- he had great parents, he just didn't want them to know he was a supervillain, or that he'd run straight into a burning building. He would be grounded for sure, and besides, he didn't wanna worry them like that. Besides, like they said, sometimes little white lies were necessary to protect people, right? His parents told them all the time, sometimes to each other and other times to him, but it would be ok. It wouldn't hurt anyone… right?

"Oh... I'm so sorry..." The medic apologized, "What's your name? Just so they can get you into the database?"

Butters paused, trying to think of a good name to use before mumbling, "Victor."

He'd always kinda liked that name, honestly. It was better than Leopold, at least…

"Victor?" She repeated, and he nodded, "Ok, Victor, we're gonna get you to that hospital, ok? What's your last name?"

"I uh..." Butters hesitated, thinking for a moment before saying, "Chaos."

"Victor Chaos?" The medic asked, and he nodded after a moment.

"Yeah, umm… can you just call me Chaos? It's my villain name too but no one's gonna expect that." Butters requested, unsure if she was believing him.

Thankfully, she nodded in agreement, "Alright Vi- er, Chaos, we're gonna get you to the North Park Hospital Emergency Room, ok? Uh- Mysterion? Can you come over to this ambulance, please?"

"Why?" Mysterion questioned.

"Because they'll want to give you a once-over too." She answered, "Now come on."

Mysterion sighed, removing the oxygen mask from his mouth before grabbing his water bottle and walking over, climbing into the ambulance. The other medics stepped aside as the one next to Butters headed to the front of the vehicle, and Butters and Mysterion sat down and buckled into the seats in the back. He could see his friends watching from the sidewalk, and while he wanted to talk to them, to tell them he was ok, he knew he couldn't.

Not without showing that they were working with him and giving Mysterion someone to connect him to, and if he found out they all hung out together at school, then everything would all be over, especially if Mysterion told on him to his parents. The ambulance started, the rear doors shutting as the two of them were driven towards the hospital, Butters trying not to fidget with his hands from his anxiety. Not only would it hurt, it would show he was nervous, so he did his best to sit still.

"You ok?" Mysterion asked after a few moments, and Butters looked over at him, a bit surprised he was asking.

"I uh... I'll be fine." Butters responded, looking off to the side.

". . . I didn't know you didn't have parents." Mysterion said quietly, and that got Butters to look back at him immediately. Butters stayed quiet, looking down at his lap, and Mysterion sighed, "I didn't mean what I was saying before- well, I did, but... that was harsh. I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity, Myst." Butters told him.

"It's not pity, it's me saying sorry, asshole." Mysterion glared.

"Well it's me saying you don't need to, Plum!" Butters shot back before coughing, his voice cracking.

He doubled over, coughing worsening, and he pulled the mask away from his face. Mysterion patted him on the back, helping him cough up the soot, black flecks exiting his mouth onto the bandages, and he let out a hoarse wheeze.

"Here." Mysterion said, holding a water bottle out to him, and he accepted it without giving it a second glance, "And don't chug it."

Butters nodded as he drank, slowing down and pulling the bottle away from his mouth. His hands still stung, so did his feet and lungs, but the water helped his throat a bit. Mysterion got up from the seat, unbuckling, and Butters saw him scrounging around the ambulance's compartments.

"What're you lookin' for?..." Butters asked, watching him in confusion and curiosity.

"Food, since I get the feeling you never fucking eat." Mysterion answered, glaring at him over his shoulder.

"I was eatin' lunch before this!" Butters defended himself with a hoarse huff.

"And you just burned as many calories as a football player, probably not for the first time. You need to eat more than you have been with how active you are." Mysterion said, leaving no room for arguing.

"And I'm not gonna steal from an ambulance for-!" Butters started.

"Victor- Chaos, it's ok." The medic said from the driver's seat, and he looked over at her, "You're welcome to anything back there. It's there for a reason."

Butters sighed, shoulders slumping, Mysterion tossing a container of oatmeal and a spoon into his lap, and he looked back at the hero, who was now searching for more food. Butters grabbed the container with a wince, twisting the top off and peeling it open before starting to eat it. It felt heavenly on his throat. Mysterion, seeming satisfied with himself, sat back down, drinking another bottle of water.

Everything was silent for a few more minutes, then Mysterion spoke up, "Vic?"

Butters looked up at him in brief confusion before realizing he was talking to him, and he replied, "Yeah?"

"No bullshit, is your name actually Victor Chaos?" Mysterion questioned.

"Yeah?" Butters answered, fingers twitching a bit as he held back from fidgeting.

". . . That's actually a badass name, fuckin' A..." Mysterion groaned after a moment, and Butters snickered despite his relief.

"Oh yeah, and why is yours so lame? What's so bad about it?" Butters asked, a smirk on his face.

"Nice try, shithead. You know supervillains never know superheros' names, it's always the other way around." Mysterion smirked back.

How dare he use comic logic against him...

"You slimy little..." Butters started, before pausing, "Wait, you admitted I'm a supervillain without me having to snap at you!"

"Eat your damn oatmeal, Chaos." Mysterion rolled his eyes, but he paused, "Why the hell do you wear that eyepatch anyways? It's a complete blindspot for you. I've snuck up on you a couple times because of it now."

"I can't really see outta that eye..." Butters admitted, supposing he could say one truth, but he knew he had to throw Mysterion off of his medical records in case he looked, if he somehow looked, "I lost it years ago."

"When you lost your parents?" Mysterion questioned, and Butters glared at him.

He couldn't make an intricate lie on the spot, dang it! This is why he didn't like lying to begin with! One lie led to another, which led to another, which led to another, and every lie had to connect to each other so that it seemed true, and eventually you couldn't even keep track of what was true!

"Fine, sorry, I'll stop prodding." Mysterion huffed, sitting back down next to him, buckling up, ". . . By the way, your name's safe with me, Chaos. I won't say shit. You earned that much today."

". . . Thanks..." Butters mumbled after a moment, and Mysterion nodded.

"I gotta ask, though... You can be a hero, you showed that today. Why don't you want to be one, or at least try to be?" Mysterion asked.

"That's personal." Butters told him.

"I know, but I just want to understand. Is it the cash? The power? I'm assuming you're gaining quite a damn bit from this if you have steel armor." Mysterion mentioned, and Butters sighed.

"I have my reasons, alright? Maybe I'll tell you that the next time I have to save a burning building filled with people because you're too weak and slow to." Butters smirked.

"Listen here, motherfucker-!" Mysterion started to snap, Butters and the two medics in the front seats laughing.

The ambulance slowed down to a stop, and the medics got out of the vehicle, opening the rear doors. Butters and Mysterion unbuckled, and they were led into the ER to be looked over. Hopefully he would be able to be sent home and not have to stay overnight- wait, he couldn't go home like this, his parents would immediately notice the bandages! Oh hamburgers!

"Uh- is there a way that there won't be scars?" Butters asked, looking up at the female medic.

"Hmm... Austin?" She turned to the other medic.

"Uh... definitely not on his feet, yikes, but uh... his hands should be minimal?" Austin, the second medic, guessed.

"Shit..." Butters mumbled.

He had no clue how he would explain this to his parents- if he could explain this to his parents. What could he even say? 'Oh this? Yeah, this is from when I ran into a burning building and saved a bunch of people.' He would be grounded for life!

Sure, Butters could wear gloves, but that wouldn't work at the dinner table, or while he was sleeping or taking a bath. Besides, he didn't know how bad his feet were, but hearing a medic say 'yikes'?... It wasn't reassuring...

"Problem, Chaos?" Mysterion questioned, crossing his arms.

"I just uh... I dunno how I'll explain that at school..." Butters replied, leaving out the part about his parents since everyone else here thought he didn't have parents.

"Call in sick?" Austin suggested, "You shouldn't be walking around anyways, and we can write you a slip."

"Are you in a foster house?" Mysterion questioned, "Or just an orphanage? I know you said you didn't have parents, but if you had legal guardians..."

How should he do this? If he said he only had legal guardians for a foster home, that could excuse things with adults, but if he had roommates at an orphanage, he would need to come up with stories, and Mysterion could probably go to different orphanages looking for him if he wanted to track him down... yeah, foster home.

"Yeah, I'm at a foster home. It's just me there, though." Butters replied.

"And you don't want them finding out about this?" Mysterion gestured to Butters's costume, and he paled slightly.

"I uh... no, definitely not." Butters winced, "They aren't around much, but uh.. yeah, no, I don't want them knowin' about this or the burning building thing..."

"Alright, well, do you have any friends?" The female medic asked, and he nodded, "Stay with them for a while if you get cleared from the hospital. We'll prescribe you some pain medication, and you'll need to be supervised for a while to make sure you don't suffer from any complications."

Which left Butters wondering exactly where he could go... His first thought was Dougie, but he didn't want to put him at risk for all of this. He knew he could ask the others but he didn't know any of their parents besides Sil's, and on top of that he didn't want to burden them. He couldn't go to any of his classmates, not with how they were hyperfixating on him and Mysterion, and he could not go home. He didn't want to stay in the hospital either; while it wasn't Hell's Pass, Butters didn't trust doctors or the judgements of many adults. Granted his wasn't the best either, but his was better than theirs. 

"Victor?" The medic asked after he didn't answer, causing him to look up at her, "Do you?"

"Yeah, I do!" Butters replied, "Sorry, I was just uh... I was just thinking about where to go; I mean I know they would let me in, but I was tryin' to think about who to go to."

If he went to them at all. Part of him was tempted to ride this out at his base in North Park, but he was supposed to be supervised, and it wasn't the most clean. Dougie's parents would tell Butters's parents he was there, so there was no way he could go to him, or anyone else because he didn't know what their parents would do, which greatly reduced his options. He would just have to ride it out at his base.

"Alright..." She sighed, leading him to a small station with a stretcher on wheels, a medic bag next to it, along with cabinets on the walls behind it, "Chaos, if I could get you to sit down on the stretcher, please?"

"What about Mysterion? Isn't he gettin' examined?" Butters asked, eying the other boy as he climbed up onto the stretcher, sitting on it.

"He was in and out of the building and didn’t go very far in, and afterwards he went around the building from the outside and directed firefighters to where he saw people in windows. You on the other hand did a full lap around the base of the building, and you were on the second floor. Firefighters were talking all about you, you know? You didn't come out until everyone was out and you checked every room to make sure of that; they were watching you."

"Yeah, for a second I thought you died in there." Mysterion sighed.

"Is that why you came back in?" Butters asked, "She just said everyone was out, you had no reason to come back in except for-"

"Saving you? Yes." Mysterion sighed, "Look, you may be a pain in my ass, but... you don't want anyone dead, Chaos. You're not out to kill people, and... you're a kid, like me. And I deal with worse than you every day, the only difference is that you're the only one I can directly fight. Wanting to beat you up until you stop being a shithead is different than wanting you dead, Chaos. Besides… you might not be that bad of a kid, afterall."

"Well then I guess I just gotta prove mysel-" Butters started, crossing his arms with a wince, but Mysterion cut him off.

"You can't be worse than this fucker. You're still an 'evil' son of a bitch-"

"Mysterion!" The medics scolded, but he didn't care.

"But you don't actively try to get people killed or manipulate them. Besides... I owed you for that math homework bullshit."

"Oh that? That was nothing!" Butters brushed him off.

"That saved my ass, so now we're even." Mysterion said.

"Math homework help is as helpful as saving me?" Butters questioned.

". . . Alright fine, now you owe me one." Mysterion smirked, and Butters paled.

"W-Wait a minute now, actually we're even! My help is so valuable it can't be taken lightly!" Butters attempted, but Mysterion just laughed a bit.

"Nope, you definitely owe me one now." Mysterion responded.

"But what could I, a 'corny morning TV show comic parody of a villain', do about that?" Butters asked.

"First of all, you went from having insanely helpful help to being useless, and second of all, I think 'cheesy' would be a better word to describe you." Mysterion replied.

"Wh-" Butters took a moment to think of how to reply to that, too offended to speak, "I- I am not cheesy!"

"Bullshit! Chaos, You're so fucking cheesy you could give someone lactose intolerant the worst shit of their life!" Mysterion countered, and the medics started laughing despite clearly trying not to.

"You slimy little…" Butters started, Mysterion clearly fighting to stay serious, "At least I didn't pee myself!"

"Oh fuck you!" Mysterion snapped, and Butters smiled a bit.

"Wait, did you actually-?" Austin started to question.

"Screw this." Mysterion huffed, turning around and walking out of the ER.

"Hey! You still need to be examined!" Austin called out.

"She said it herself: I wasn't nearly as in danger as him. If he's mostly fine except for some burns, then I'm free to go. The city won't protect itself." Mysterion responded, and he walked around the corner.

Butters laughed a little, calling that a win, and both of the medics sighed before turning back to him.

The medical examination wasn't horrible, honestly. They stuck a camera down his throat to check for soot, they gave him water, some more oatmeal, cough drops, and an orange bottle filled with small purple pills. The label read:

'North Park Hospital
535 Westway St, North Park, CO 80540

Patient Name: Victor Chaos
Ibuprofen 100 mg
Take 100mg three times every 6-8 hours
Qty: 84
Refills Remaining: None'

They gave him three of the small pills while he was there, and they were chewable and tasted like grapes, so they weren't that bad. They monitored him for a few hours, making sure he wasn't allergic to it, and Butters could hear the staff talking about whether or not to keep him overnight. While he absolutely did not want to stay overnight, he knew he might not have a choice, which meant he would either need to sneak out, or he would have to wait until he was cleared. Waiting for them to decide if he could leave or not was… it made him anxious, and as he slowly watched the sun set outside, he grew less and less hopeful that he could leave. 

However, he had some luck today. The female medic walked over, paper in hand, and he looked up at her as she spoke, "Alright, so, you're going to be out of school for two weeks, alright? During that time, you're gonna be taking those prescriptions, and you're going to need to be supervised, ok? So I'll ask again, are you sure you have somewhere you can go?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Butters nodded, and she sighed in relief.

"Alright, good. As much as I want to keep you overnight, I know you'll probably just sneak out, and I don't want you getting hurt even worse trying to leave the hospital. So, as long as you agree to take it easy, focus on healing, and cause no chaos or any evil schemes, you're clear to leave, ok? If you don't, Mysterion has been given full clearance to call us and either drag you here or have us come to you, so no funny business, ok?" She said, and he sighed, looking down before nodding.

"Yes, ma'am…" Butters relented, and she smiled a bit.

"Do you have a phone?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do." Butters nodded, reaching into his pocket with a small wince, grabbing the phone.

It was slightly covered in soot but it was otherwise fine. He went to the messaging app, looking through the contacts until he saw Jake's number, since Spice had added him, and he tapped on his number. Jake was the only one who could drive, and odds were all of the others were with him. The line rang, and he grabbed an earbud from the case, maneuvering it into his ear under his helmet.

"Chaos? Holy shit, are you ok?" Jake asked once he answered the call.

"Hey, uh… would you be able to pick me up from the hospital?" Butters asked, and he could hear everyone else talking in the background, albeit distantly.

"Yeah, of course. Which one?" Jake asked, speaking up a bit, "Oh, everyone's worried, by the way."

"I can hear that." Butters laughed a bit, "I'm uh… I'm at North Park Hospital right now, and I'm cleared to go home as long as I'm supervised, but uh… I kinda need someone to pick me up."

"Sure thing, kiddo. We'll head out to the car." Jake answered.

"Who's with you?" Butters asked, even though he already had a pretty good idea based on the voices in the background.

"Well, after we saw you leave in the ambulance, we headed to Arty's to wait to hear from you. I got cleared by the medics there, and Shade, Spice, Dougie, Noah, and the others are here, too. Dougie bolted past me to the car, though, so he's definitely coming, and Shade and Spice are- hey, there has to be some room!" Jake exclaimed.

"Can uh… just you and Disarray come please?" Butters requested, "At least for now."

He got a headache just thinking about being swarmed by Spice and Shade being worried about him, he couldn't handle them right now. Jake would probably be calmer, and Dougie… Butters knew nothing could make Dougie stay back.

"Yeah, I'll let them know. We'll be there soon- maybe ten minutes if we don't get stuck in traffic?" Jake guessed.

"Alright, well uh… I'll be here when you guys get here…" Butters said.

"We'll see you in a bit, Chaos." Jake replied, "You never answered, though… Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm alright! I'll see ya in a bit!" Butters answered, and he left the call.

The next ten minutes weren't too bad; just waiting in the Emergency Room with his boots and gloves in a bag next to him since they would rub at his arms and legs, but he did get some chicken noodle soup from the cafeteria. He ate it while he waited, the broth soothing his throat, and while some of it got on his clothes, he didn't really care. They needed to get washed anyway, after all. Speaking of clothes, he'd noticed his cape might need to get a bit more than washed.

It was stained from the soot, and the edges and ends were scorched and charred, riddled with holes and tears that honestly looked really cool. He might actually keep the cape like this because of how villainous it looked, he just had to leave the backstory out! While thinking of evil backstories for his cape, chicken noodle soup finished, he saw Jake's red car pull up outside. Jake parked it by the door before he got out, wearing his Halloween costume while Dougie bolted out, wearing his General Disarray armor. Butters stood up once he saw them, letting out a quiet yelp as his feet hit the floor, and the medic steadied him.

"Hey, no, it's ok- Damnit, where did- Oh!" She lifted him back onto the stretcher before grabbing a wheelchair, quickly returning to him with it, "Here, this'll keep you off of your feet until you get to the car- those are your friends, right?"

"Yeah, that's them." Butters nodded, "I uh.. I don't need the wheelchair, though."

"Victor-" She started.

"Really, it's just out to the car!" Butters insisted.

"Chaos!" Dougie yelled as he ran in through the door, and Butters had almost never seen Dougie run this fast, "Are you ok?!"

"Yeah, I'm ok-!" Butters started to answer, Dougie reaching him and hugging him tightly, something Butters returned.

His hands and feet still hurt, yes, but he was sucking it up because he knew how worried Dougie must've been- it was clear on his face. Jake entered through the door next, sighing in relief under his costume, and he walked over.

"You scared the hell out of us. Never do that again." Dougie said, and Butters laughed a little.

"I won't, don't worry…" Butters reassured, and Dougie sighed in relief.

"Thanks for taking care of him." Jake thanked the medic, who nodded.

"Of course. Now, because he probably won't tell you, he does have some pretty bad burns on his feet and hands, and I have some prescriptions for him. It's just some burn ointment, and he already has the pain medicine. He mentioned staying with someone, and I just want to verify, that's you, correct?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, he knows he can always stay at my place if he needs to." Jake answered.

"Good. Now, we had to put him in our database since we couldn't find his legal name anywhere, but Victor doesn't have an emergency contact yet, and since foster homes can be so unpredictable, I'm assuming listing you would be much better than them, especially since you're probably the only one he'll want us to call." She said, handing him some papers, and Jake glanced over at Butters before accepting the paperwork.

Dougie was also staring at him, and he gave Dougie a look that said 'I'll explain in the car'. Dougie nodded a bit, and Butters watched Jake fill out the paperwork, not taking too long before handing it back to her.

"Is he ok to be walking around? Exactly how bad is it?" Jake asked her as she grabbed a white paper bag from a counter before handing it to him.

"His feet… are in a pretty poor condition, so keep him off of them. The burns were especially bad on his feet, so try keeping him from seeing them, but his hands aren't as severe. He probably won't be open about this- he's been trying to act tough the whole time, but he does need to be supervised." She explained, and he sighed.

"Yeah, I'll keep a close eye on him. He'll probably be out cold in the car, but once he wakes up I'll get some food in his stomach- my sister said he probably hasn't eaten since lunch." Jake said.

"He's eaten oatmeal and chicken noodle soup since I've seen him, but I do recommend giving him soft foods for his throat, along with cough drops, and a lot of water. We had him hooked to an IV since he got in the ambulance and while he's mostly stabilized since we took it out, I still recommend giving him lots of fluids." She told him, and he nodded.

". . . I'm changing your bandages once I get the chance." Dougie said, drawing Butters's attention.

"Disarray-" Butters began.

"Nope, don't Disarray me. It's happening. I wanna see how bad you're hurt." Dougie crossed his arms.

"Why?" Butters asked.

"Because he wouldn't tell me if he did it, and you definitely won't tell me." Dougie answered, and Butters sighed, knowing he couldn't deny his logic.

"Fine, fine…" Butters relented, and Jake walked over.

"Ok, so you're all good to go, but you are staying off those feet, got it?" Jake said, and Butters nodded.

"The wheelchair won't fit in your ca-" Butters started, only for Jake to pick him up, Butters yelping in surprise.

"Wh- Hey!" Butters exclaimed.

"Disarray! Grab the fearsome villain's armor so we can get him outta here, alright?" Jake instructed, and Dougie nodded with a small laugh while Butters huffed, crossing his arms with a small grimace.

Dougie grabbed the bag containing his gloves and boots, and he followed after Jake as he carried him out to his car, the three of them thanking the medic for her help. The cold air made him shiver once it hit him, but it didn't last long, since Jake hurried over to his car, Dougie opening the back door, the interior lights turning on in the process, and Jake put him on the back seat. Jake buckled him up, Dougie running to the other side of the car while Jake shut the door, heading to the front seat. Dougie got into the car, buckling up and shutting the door while Jake did the same, and the lights faded off. Jake started the car, the engine rumbling to life, and Jake removed the mask, looking back at him.

"So, Victor Chaos?" Jake asked, and Butters looked off to the side.

"It was the only thing I could think of…" Butters admitted.

"And foster care?" Jake added.

"Might be better, all things considered…" Dougie muttered as Jake backed out of the parking space.

"Also the only thing I could think of! I couldn't just let my parents find out about this! I would be grounded for life, not to mention how worried they would be!" Butters defended his decision, despite it probably not being the best excuse.

"We'll let the others in on the loop. It's probably better if Victor Chaos is as different from your civilian identity as possible, right?" Jake said as he drove away from the hospital, and Butters nodded.

"That would definitely be smart, especially if Mysterion looks into him or asks the cops to." Dougie mentioned, "Oh, I let your parents know you were going to a camping thing for the next couple weeks, just so you could focus on getting better. I told my parents the same thing. You do need to be supervised."

"You're two years younger than me, Dougie, I can't ask you to look out for me like that-" Butters started.

"You would do the same thing for me and we both know it. Besides, you need help, and if you're likely to let anyone help you, it'll be me. Besides, Jake's gonna be keeping an eye on us, too." Dougie mentioned, and Butters looked at Jake in surprise.

"I told my parents that I was gonna be staying with a friend who got hurt from the fire and needed supervision while having absent parents. They offered to have the friend come to our place, but I told them he'd probably feel better at home, and they agreed. So, since I'm pretty sure you don't wanna head to my place, where do you wanna go?" Jake questioned.

"Well, my base isn't far from here…" Butters said.

"It also probably isn't the cleanest." Dougie pointed out.

"It's cleaner than it was! Besides, it's the only place I can think of where there wouldn't be the risk of my parents finding out from someone else's parents!" Butters replied, and Dougie sighed.

". . . Alright, where is this place?" Jake asked.

"It's where North Park Amusement Park used to be! I uh… I've kinda been using it as a base." Butters answered.

Jake stopped at a stoplight, turning around to look at him, "You- Your base is a fucking abandoned amusement park?!"

"Uh… yeah?" Butters answered.

". . . Damnit that's actually kinda badass… Alright, I know where to go to get in." Jake sighed, turning to look back at the road.

"I'll let the others know where to go too, in case they wanted to stop by in the morning." Dougie said, "But I'm only texting them where in the morning."

"Thanks, Dougie.." Butters thanked him with a yawn.

It was only eight at night, it wasn't even that late, but he felt exhausted.

"Hey, Disarray, check under my seat." Jake instructed as the car started moving again, the light green, and Butters watched in tired curiosity as he reached under the seat, grabbing a blanket.

Dougie nodded up at Jake before covering Butters with the blanket, which was unreasonably soft, and he got a bit more comfortable. Jake turned the radio on low, and between Dougie and Jake whispering to each other and the quiet music, it didn't take Butters too long to pass out after that. It was the earliest he'd gone to sleep in weeks.