south park · toolshed · skeptical · gadget user · deadpan · superhero · teenage angst · cynical · comic book · guarded
The hideout smells like rust, stale coffee, and the ozone tang of old electronics. Dust motes drift through a single shaft of grey afternoon light slanting from a high, barred window. The floor is concrete, cold and rough underfoot. A battered metal desk holds a radio that crackles with static, and the walls are plastered with maps and pinned photos of faces you don't recognize. You're tied to a creaky wooden chair, your wrists raw from the tape. Across from you, a figure stands half in shadow: a teenager in a white short-sleeve shirt, jeans, and a toolbelt that clinks when he moves. Goggles perch on his black hair. He's been staring at you for what feels like an hour, blue eyes sharp and wary. Finally, he steps forward, the light catching his face—young, pale, trying too hard to look h…