Chapter Text
The jet black night hid the beauty of the stars and the only light visible other than local streetlights was the piercing moonlight. The glaring glow grinned down at Stan Marsh as crimson blood dripped down from his nose to his lips.
“Where is it?!” The masked man yelled.
“What are you even talking about, dude?”
Stan’s back ached terribly after it had been slammed against the brick wall. There was a piece of chipped brick that dug deeper into Stan’s back the more the man kept pushing him backward. Stan could feel blood drip down his back and only became more annoyed than he was before he got attacked.
“You know what we’re talking about! So where is it?”
The two other men crept up behind their leader and began to raise their hands in Stan’s direction. Suddenly, this dark gray shadow flew down from seemingly nowhere and knocked out the three attackers. The other two quickly got up and started to run off while their leader stayed behind.
“We’ll be back, Marsh! You just got lucky this time.”
After the petty threat was made and a rock had been thrown, the masked man ran away as well. Stan stepped away from the wall, but lost his balance due to the pain in his back. Fortunately, the mysterious hero helped Stan steady himself. The hooded hero felt the blood on Stan’s back and loosened his grasp on the other boy.
“You’re hurt.”
The mysterious hero’s deep voice rang through Stan’s ears. Stan pulled up the sleeve of his black shirt under his jacket and wiped away the blood under his nose.
“It’s fine. I’m on my way home anyway, I’ll just fix it there.”
Stan was in a bad mood and he really didn’t feel like pretending like he was happy even if he was in the presence of a superhero.
“Let me help you. They could have damaged your spine and it is no good if you walk on your own. Besides, it’s not like you have much balance without me holding you.”
Stan looked at the hero who wore a black mask and a midnight navy hood with a green question mark attached to the top. At first he wasn’t sure if this was someone who was pretending to be a hero, or an actual hero with a low budget for a costume. Regardless, Stan looked at him with disdain in his eyes.
“Look, you can stand here and hate me all you want, but if you don’t hurry and tend to your injuries, things could get worse for your health. Just at least let me carry you back to your home. It would be a lot quicker than walking there by yourself in pain.”
Stan didn’t reply. The hero picked him up, careful not to hurt him any further, and leaped into the moonlit sky, carrying Stan home.
The cool breeze felt good against Stan’s face as he closed his eyes. When the flashy movement came to a stop, Stan opened his eyes and saw his home in front of them.
“My bedroom window is open.” Stan said, not wanting to go through the front door.
“Alright.” The hooded hero made his way up to Stan’s window and helped the boy get in.
“Well,” Stan carefully moved his body aside to make more room in front of the window. “Are you going to come in and help me with my injuries?”
“I thought you didn’t want my help?” The hero smirked.
“You were the one that insisted I check on my injuries before they worsened! But if you don’t want to help then, I’ll just do it myself.” Stan started to close the window when the hero stopped him.
“No, you’re right. Let me help you.” The mysterious hero climbed in through the window, his midnight navy cape following behind.
Stan lifted up the back of his shirt but it got stuck on the dried blood. He tried to pull it, but the pain was too much to bear.
“I’ll get it.” The hero gently lifted up the shirt, causing Stan to wince only slightly. “Do you have any peroxide? I need to clean this before I put a bandage over it.”
“Uh, yeah. Look in the bottom left side drawer of my desk. There should be a first aid kit and stuff in there.” As the hero got up, Stan spoke in defense of himself. “Before you worry as to why I have that stuff in my room, I use some of it to help clean my piercings. I mean sometimes I get in fights and need to patch up my face a bit, but I mainly use that stuff to clean my piercings. So don’t worry, I’m not doing anything bad.”
The hero looked over his shoulder and smiled, “I believe you, no need to stress.” He picked up the bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a paper towel, and the first aid kit.
Stan bit hard on his lip to distract the burning sensation he felt from the peroxide being rubbed onto his back. Finally, the hero finished by applying Neosporin ointment over the gash and then covered it with a bandage.
“All done. Is there anywhere else that hurts or that you want me to check?”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you for helping me… uhh, what’s your name?”
“Mysterion. What is your name?” The charming hero smiled.
“Oh um, my name is Stan.” Stan pulled down his shirt.
“Well it was nice meeting you, Stan. Is there anything else you need my help with?”
“No, I’m all good.” Stan’s bad mood was almost completely gone. “Thank you again for your help, and for rescuing me.”
“Of course. It was my pleasure.” Mysterion lifted his hand up to Stan’s lips and wiped away some of the blood with his thumb. “Be more careful with biting yourself. If something hurts let me know so I can stop or approach things differently. My intention is not to hurt you, Stan.” He looked down at his watch, “Well, I best be going. If you’re ever in danger, I’ll be there. Goodbye, Stan.”
He leaped from the window and vanished in the pitch black night. Stan didn’t get to say goodbye but he figured that this wouldn’t be the last time he’d see Mysterion.
There was a knock on Stan’s door and soon his mother walked in.
“Stan, honey are you okay? I heard some loud noises and voices in here.”
“Everything is fine, mom. I was just on a call with Kyle and I accidentally dropped my peroxide bottle.”
“As long as you’re okay. How are your piercings doing now?”
“Good. I really like them, and I’ve gotten lots of compliments. Thank you for letting me get my ears pierced.”
Sharon smiled. “You’re welcome, hon. Well, I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay.” With that Sharon walked out of Stan’s room and closed the door.
Once she was down the stairs, Stan actually called Kyle. After a few rings, the other boy picked up.
“Hey Stan, what's up?”
“Do you know anything about this new superhero or whatever, called Mysterion?”
“Mysterion? Uh yeah. He’s been around for a while now, Stan.”
“Oh shit, really?”
“Yeah. There have been news reports on him and everything.”
“Well, if I hadn’t been grounded for the last two weeks, I probably would have known sooner.”
“Why did you ask?”
“Oh well I was saved by him earlier tonight. Some random guys attacked me out of nowhere and luckily Mysterion was there to stop them.”
“Oh damn. Are you alright?”
“Yeah I’m fine, I just…” Stan’s thoughts trailed off as he stared at his floor.
“You just what?”
“Never mind. What are you doing?”
“Oh I’m just reading this cool new book I got. It’s actually really interesting. It’s about this demon and angel that have been assigned to look over the antiChrist and-”
Stan continued to talk with Kyle about the book before Kyle hung up due to his curfew. Stan stared at his ceiling with little plastic, glow-in-the-dark stars scattered across. He looked at the time and got up to take a shower. Stan hoped that maybe tonight he’d get to sleep, but his insomnia got the best of him and he ended up staying awake all night.