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crank it up
Helloooo Mask or Menace! I'm Jenny, Newt's player, and I come bearing a plot of the zombie-ish nature. So I don't think we've had enough virus plots, and I'm here to fix that! This plot is going to be bringing in a virus from Newt's world that is extremely contagious (unless you're Immune, but we'll get to that). This post is pretty long so I've broken it up under cuts so it doesn't clog up the comm too much.
A Little Backstory
Newt is from a world that has been ravaged by sun flares, and in their wake rose a disease that decimated even more of the remaining population. That disease is V3FLR, otherwise known as the Flarevirus. It's airborne, highly contagious, with a 100% fatality rate. People infected by the virus have been labeled as Cranks. The virus targets the brain, and over time deteriorates it until all that is left is insanity and animalistic instincts. Depending on how much stimulation your brain experiences decides the rate of decay. Nasty, right? Good thing it doesn't exist here!
Well, until now. Actually, it's been here for a while, but it's been dormant. You may recall Thomas mentioning he's infected with it and going into hiding for a couple of weeks. He didn't really need to, because though he didn't know it at the time, he's immune. So are Minho and Teresa, for that matter. But Newt? Yeah, he's not immune. He was a control subject in the experiment to find a cure for the Flare. He's had the Flare, but the Porter froze its progress and its ability to be spread. But such things have a nasty way of glitching sometimes, you know?
Newt will be porting out for a canon update on April 13th and will be returning on April 16th, very cranky and very contagious, with an extremely accelerated version of the virus. He will be spreading this awful disease like wildfire simply by breathing near you, and then you can spread and so on. He will announce the disease on April 18th, after he's wandered around Heropa for a while to really spread the disease (unintentionally, of course) to imPorts and natives. You're not limited if you live elsewhere, though! After all, plenty of people travel between the cities that could be carriers.
So let's get down to some specifics on the Flare before you decide whether or not you want to participate in this Crank outbreak.
The Flare
In canon, the Flare has an incubation period of 5-7 days before symptoms begin to show. But in Mask or Menace, incubation will be 1 day so these symptoms will begin to show on April 17th if you were infected by Newt. If you're infected by someone else, it will be from the date you were infected. These symptoms are separated into early symptoms and advanced symptoms.
Early warning signs include:
-Changes in personality (irritability, unprovoked anger, indifference, depression)
-Decreased cognitive abilities (difficulty in making decisions, learning new tasks, loss of short-term memory)
-Problems with balance
-Involuntary facial movements
Some of those can be pretty easy to miss, which brings us to:
Advanced warning signs:
-Muscle spasms
-Disorganized and/or aggressive speech
-Auditory hallucinations
-Severe paranoia
-Dementia
-Sudden aggression
-Self-mutilation
-Cannibalism (this isn't on the official flier but uh it's pretty canon, so you can use it if you want)
Much easier to notice, yeah?
For the sake of a plot that won't drag on forever, the early symptoms will begin immediately following the incubation period (you can pick and choose the symptoms or use them all if you want!), and the advanced symptoms will begin to show within one week of incubation. If you'd like the symptoms to show up quicker, you're free to do so! This means anyone infected will be experiencing advanced symptoms by April 24th if infected by Newt. If infected by another carrier, that dates could change a little.
Usually by the time advanced warning signs begin to show, Cranks are starting to look a little.... Well, gross and unpleasant. They have a harder time taking care of themselves, either from poor hygiene or getting into nasty fights or having someone straight up rip off your goddamn nose, which lends to wounds and sores and festering stuff. So basically zombies, except you're not dead. Yet.
I did say that the Flare was fatal, though, didn't I? Well, if you don't end up killing each other or finding a cure, the Flare will kill your character and any native that has it by April 30th, ridding them of the virus regardless of when they were infected. You'll still need to get this death approved by the mods, of course! NPC deaths must also be registered with the mods!
But death is not the intended end game for this plot. We're looking for a cure.
TheDeath Cure
So, here's the bad news. There is no cure in Newt's canon. There is never a cure. But the good news is that this isn't Newt's canon! This is a place where you have nanites in your blood and the technology to pause such a radically devastating disease in the first place. Which means here? There might actually be hope for a cure that doesn't involve putting children through trials that are most likely going to kill them. Basically what this means is that we're going to bullshit the hell out of a cure (maybe even multiple cures!!) and it's going to be great.
Here's a couple of options I've tossed around myself that you can expand upon, but I am COMPLETELY open for suggestions on creative ways to cure it! This is a world with superheroes and magical powers, anything is a viable option.
-Nanites
How did the nanites freeze the Flare in the first place? What caused them to malfunction? Can they be set to re-freeze it, or can they be altered to reverse the effects and cure it all together? If your character is working with the nanites, this could be something they look into! Keep in mind this method won't help the natives that are infected.
-Healers
Does your character have healing abilities? Then this may be something they can help with. It would be healing on an incredibly intimate scale- it would involve healing actual damage to the brain from the Flare's effects and basically re-writing their blood not to have the Flare in it at all. But I know we've got a lot of healers here with some creative abilities, so we can definitely have fun with that!
I'm sure there are a million and one ways you all can think of to cure it that I didn't even consider, so please don't feel confined to these! Finding a cure at all will depend entirely upon player participation, so make it something you want to have fun with!! We can absolutely have more than one cure too, we don't have to stop at just one.
Cranks
Okay, so that all sounds great, but maybe you want to be infected instead of working towards the cure. After all, who doesn't want their character to be a crazy kind-of zombie? I gave you all the symptoms up above, but it might help to see how they are in canon, so I've collected several excerpts from the books to show you how they act. There are some examples of the early stages and also some of the advanced stages, or Cranks that are "beyond the gone". Please check them out below.
Example 1: Nosey (beyond the gone)
Example 2: Note-Passing (early stages)
Example 3: Bowling Alley (early-advanced stages)
Example 4: Denver Bound (beyond the gone)
Sound fun? Well, maybe not for the characters. Anyway, this is one of your other options if you'd like to participate in the plot! Any deaths in regards to your characters, whether from time running out on finding the cure or being killed by someone else or even killing someone will still need mod approval.
Alright, so I said that you have a few options on participation. Your options are crank, immune, cure-finder, and obligatory opt-out if you don't want to participate at all. As a Crank, you can spread the disease to others, will display symptoms, and if you're so inclined you can offer blood samples in a search for the cure. If you're Immune, lucky you, you can walk around and breathe their contagious air all you want and be fine, but blood samples would probably be appreciated from you too in a search for the cure. If you want to help find the cure, you can be Immune or a Crank, we won't discriminate! You have a very limited time to find a cure, will you make it in time?
If you'd like to sign up for the plot, please respond to the comments below stating if you'd like to be infected or immune, and if you're interested in helping with the cure! If you have any ideas on cures, please let me know in the appropriate comment and we can hash stuff out. Feel free to also use this post as a place to plot with each other! I'll make another post to kick off the plot with Newt's return from his canon update, as well as Newt's post on April 18th, announcing the Flare to the imPort populace.
A Little Backstory
Newt is from a world that has been ravaged by sun flares, and in their wake rose a disease that decimated even more of the remaining population. That disease is V3FLR, otherwise known as the Flarevirus. It's airborne, highly contagious, with a 100% fatality rate. People infected by the virus have been labeled as Cranks. The virus targets the brain, and over time deteriorates it until all that is left is insanity and animalistic instincts. Depending on how much stimulation your brain experiences decides the rate of decay. Nasty, right? Good thing it doesn't exist here!
Well, until now. Actually, it's been here for a while, but it's been dormant. You may recall Thomas mentioning he's infected with it and going into hiding for a couple of weeks. He didn't really need to, because though he didn't know it at the time, he's immune. So are Minho and Teresa, for that matter. But Newt? Yeah, he's not immune. He was a control subject in the experiment to find a cure for the Flare. He's had the Flare, but the Porter froze its progress and its ability to be spread. But such things have a nasty way of glitching sometimes, you know?
Newt will be porting out for a canon update on April 13th and will be returning on April 16th, very cranky and very contagious, with an extremely accelerated version of the virus. He will be spreading this awful disease like wildfire simply by breathing near you, and then you can spread and so on. He will announce the disease on April 18th, after he's wandered around Heropa for a while to really spread the disease (unintentionally, of course) to imPorts and natives. You're not limited if you live elsewhere, though! After all, plenty of people travel between the cities that could be carriers.
So let's get down to some specifics on the Flare before you decide whether or not you want to participate in this Crank outbreak.
The Flare
In canon, the Flare has an incubation period of 5-7 days before symptoms begin to show. But in Mask or Menace, incubation will be 1 day so these symptoms will begin to show on April 17th if you were infected by Newt. If you're infected by someone else, it will be from the date you were infected. These symptoms are separated into early symptoms and advanced symptoms.
Early warning signs include:
-Changes in personality (irritability, unprovoked anger, indifference, depression)
-Decreased cognitive abilities (difficulty in making decisions, learning new tasks, loss of short-term memory)
-Problems with balance
-Involuntary facial movements
Some of those can be pretty easy to miss, which brings us to:
Advanced warning signs:
-Muscle spasms
-Disorganized and/or aggressive speech
-Auditory hallucinations
-Severe paranoia
-Dementia
-Sudden aggression
-Self-mutilation
-Cannibalism (this isn't on the official flier but uh it's pretty canon, so you can use it if you want)
Much easier to notice, yeah?
For the sake of a plot that won't drag on forever, the early symptoms will begin immediately following the incubation period (you can pick and choose the symptoms or use them all if you want!), and the advanced symptoms will begin to show within one week of incubation. If you'd like the symptoms to show up quicker, you're free to do so! This means anyone infected will be experiencing advanced symptoms by April 24th if infected by Newt. If infected by another carrier, that dates could change a little.
Usually by the time advanced warning signs begin to show, Cranks are starting to look a little.... Well, gross and unpleasant. They have a harder time taking care of themselves, either from poor hygiene or getting into nasty fights or having someone straight up rip off your goddamn nose, which lends to wounds and sores and festering stuff. So basically zombies, except you're not dead. Yet.
I did say that the Flare was fatal, though, didn't I? Well, if you don't end up killing each other or finding a cure, the Flare will kill your character and any native that has it by April 30th, ridding them of the virus regardless of when they were infected. You'll still need to get this death approved by the mods, of course! NPC deaths must also be registered with the mods!
But death is not the intended end game for this plot. We're looking for a cure.
The
So, here's the bad news. There is no cure in Newt's canon. There is never a cure. But the good news is that this isn't Newt's canon! This is a place where you have nanites in your blood and the technology to pause such a radically devastating disease in the first place. Which means here? There might actually be hope for a cure that doesn't involve putting children through trials that are most likely going to kill them. Basically what this means is that we're going to bullshit the hell out of a cure (maybe even multiple cures!!) and it's going to be great.
Here's a couple of options I've tossed around myself that you can expand upon, but I am COMPLETELY open for suggestions on creative ways to cure it! This is a world with superheroes and magical powers, anything is a viable option.
-Nanites
How did the nanites freeze the Flare in the first place? What caused them to malfunction? Can they be set to re-freeze it, or can they be altered to reverse the effects and cure it all together? If your character is working with the nanites, this could be something they look into! Keep in mind this method won't help the natives that are infected.
-Healers
Does your character have healing abilities? Then this may be something they can help with. It would be healing on an incredibly intimate scale- it would involve healing actual damage to the brain from the Flare's effects and basically re-writing their blood not to have the Flare in it at all. But I know we've got a lot of healers here with some creative abilities, so we can definitely have fun with that!
I'm sure there are a million and one ways you all can think of to cure it that I didn't even consider, so please don't feel confined to these! Finding a cure at all will depend entirely upon player participation, so make it something you want to have fun with!! We can absolutely have more than one cure too, we don't have to stop at just one.
Cranks
Okay, so that all sounds great, but maybe you want to be infected instead of working towards the cure. After all, who doesn't want their character to be a crazy kind-of zombie? I gave you all the symptoms up above, but it might help to see how they are in canon, so I've collected several excerpts from the books to show you how they act. There are some examples of the early stages and also some of the advanced stages, or Cranks that are "beyond the gone". Please check them out below.
Example 1: Nosey (beyond the gone)
Example 2: Note-Passing (early stages)
Example 3: Bowling Alley (early-advanced stages)
Example 4: Denver Bound (beyond the gone)
Sound fun? Well, maybe not for the characters. Anyway, this is one of your other options if you'd like to participate in the plot! Any deaths in regards to your characters, whether from time running out on finding the cure or being killed by someone else or even killing someone will still need mod approval.
Alright, so I said that you have a few options on participation. Your options are crank, immune, cure-finder, and obligatory opt-out if you don't want to participate at all. As a Crank, you can spread the disease to others, will display symptoms, and if you're so inclined you can offer blood samples in a search for the cure. If you're Immune, lucky you, you can walk around and breathe their contagious air all you want and be fine, but blood samples would probably be appreciated from you too in a search for the cure. If you want to help find the cure, you can be Immune or a Crank, we won't discriminate! You have a very limited time to find a cure, will you make it in time?
If you'd like to sign up for the plot, please respond to the comments below stating if you'd like to be infected or immune, and if you're interested in helping with the cure! If you have any ideas on cures, please let me know in the appropriate comment and we can hash stuff out. Feel free to also use this post as a place to plot with each other! I'll make another post to kick off the plot with Newt's return from his canon update, as well as Newt's post on April 18th, announcing the Flare to the imPort populace.
Nosey
He was like an apparition - there was something unreal about him. He leaned to the right, his left foot and leg jiggling slightly, like he had a nervous tic. His left arm also twitched, the hand clenching and unclenching. He wore a dark suit that had probably once been nice, though now it was filthy and tattered. Water or something more foul soaked both knees of the pants.
But Thomas took all that in quickly. Most of his attention was drawn to the man's head. Thomas couldn't help but stare, mesmerized. It looked like hair had been ripped from his scalp, leaving bloody scabs in its place. His face was pallid and wet, with scars and sores everywhere. One eye was gone, a gummy red mass where it should have been. He also had no nose, and Thomas could actually see traces of the nasal passages in his skull underneath the terribly mangled skin.
And his mouth. Lips drawn back in a snarl, gleaming white teeth exposed, clenched tightly together. His good eye glared, somehow vicious in the way it darted between Brenda and Thomas.
Then the man said something in a wet and gurgly voice that made Thomas shiver. He spoke only a few words, but they were so absurd and out of place that it just made the whole thing that much more horrifying.
"Rose took my nose, I suppose."
[...]
The man took a lumbering step toward them, having to wave his good arm to keep his balance on his good leg.
"Rose took my nose, I suppose," he repeated; the bubble of phlegm in his throat made a disgusting crackle. "And it really blows."
[...]
"Get it?" the man said, his snarl trying to morph into a grin. He looked like an animal about to pounce on its prey. "It really blows. My nose. Taken by Rose, I suppose." He laughed then, a wet chortle that made Thomas worry he might never sleep in peace again.
[...]
And then others appeared. A group of two. Then three. Then four more. Men and women. All dragging themselves out of the darkness to stand behind the first Crank. All just as gone. Just as hideous, consumed fully by the Flare, raging mad and injured head to toe. And, Thomas noticed, all missing their nose.
Note-Passing
Minho winced. He looked more shocked than angry.
"Whoa, Newt," Thomas said. "Things suck, yeah, but slim it. What's wrong?"
"I'll tell ya what's bloody wrong. You go all tough-guy without a plan, leading us around like a bunch of chickens lookin' for feed. And Minho can't take a bloody step without askin' which foot he should use."
Minho has finally recovered enough to get ticked. "Look, shuck-face. You're the one acting like a genius because you figured out some guards took weapons from the weapons room. I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt, act like maybe you'd discovered something deeper than that. Next time I'll pat you on the freaking back for stating the obvious."
Thomas looked back at Newt in time to see his friend's expression change. He seems stricken, almost teary.
"I'm sorry," Newt murmured, then turned and walked out of the room.
"What was that?" Minho whispered.
Thomas didn't want to say what he was thinking: that Newt's sanity was slowly being eaten away.
[...]
Newt got to his feet, gingerly touching at a red spot on his cheek where Minho must have connected. "It's my fault. Everything's just tickin' me off. You guys figure out what we should do - I need a buggin' break." And at that he turned and walked out of the room again.
[...]
Thomas went out into the hall; Newt had taken a seat on the ground about twenty feet away and was leaning back against the wall.
"Don't say a bloody word," he grumbled when Thomas joined him.
Great start, Thomas thought. "Listen, something weird's going on - either WICKED is testing us or we've got Cranks running around this place killing people left and right. Whatever it is, we need to find our friends and get out of here."
"I know." That was it. Nothing else.
"Then get up and come back in there to help us. You were the one all frustrated, acting like we didn't have time to mess around. And now you want to sit out here in the hall and pout?"
"I know." The same response.
Thomas has never seen Newt like this. The guy looked utterly hopeless, and the sight of it hit Thomas with a wave of despair. "We're all going a little craz-" He stopped; he couldn't possibly say anything worse. "I mean..."
"Just shut it," Newt said. "I know something's started in my head. I don't feel right. But you don't need to worry your buggin' panties off. Give me a second and I'll be fine. We'll get you guys out of here and then I can deal."
"What do you mean, get you guys out?"
"Get us out, whatever. Just give me a bloody minute."
The world of the Glade seemed like eons ago. Back there, Newt had always been the calm, collected one - and now here he was pulling the group apart at the seams. He seemed to be saying that it didn't matter if he escaped himself as long as everyone else did.
[...]
They walked a few feet from the door before Newt stopped and faced him, then held out a small sealed envelope. "Stuff this in your pocket."
"What is it?" Thomas took it and turned it over; it was blank on the outside.
"Just put the bloody thing in your pocket."
Thomas did as he was told, confused by curious.
"Now look me in the eyes." Newt snapped his fingers.
Thomas' stomach sank at the anguish he saw there. "What is it?"
"You don't need to know right now. You can't know. But you have to make me a promise - and I'm not messing around here."
"What?"
"You swear to me that you won't read what's inside that bloody envelope until the time is right."
Thomas couldn't imagine waiting to read it - he started to pull the envelope out of his pocket, but Newt grabbed his arm to stop him.
"When the time is right?" Thomas asked. "How will I-"
"You'll bloody know!" Newt answered before Thomas could ask. "Now swear to me. Swear it!" The boy's whole body seemed to tremble with ever word.
Bowling Alley
[...]
Hearing those words come out of Newt somehow let him know that it was over an done. Their friend would never be the same - he had only dark days ahead.
"We need to talk to you," Minho said, moving a couple of feet closer to Newt. He had to step over a skinny woman lying on her side.
"Don't come any closer," Newt answered. His voice was soft, but it was full of menace. "Those thugs brought me here for a reason. They thought I was a bloody Immune holed up in that shuck Berg. Imagine their surprise when they could tell I had the Flare eating my brain. Said they were doing their civic duty when they dumped me in this rat hole."
When Minho didn't say anything, Thomas spoke up, trying not to let Newt's words overcome him. "Why do you think we're here, Newt? I'm sorry you had to stay back and got caught. I'm sorry they brought you here. But we can break you out - it doesn't look like anyone gives a klunk who comes or goes."
Newt slowly twisted around to face them. Thomas' stomach dropped when he saw that the boy had a Launcher clutched in his hands. And he looked ragged, like he'd been running and fighting and falling down cliffs for three days straight. But despite the anger that had pooled in his eyes, he hadn't been taken by the madness quite yet.
"Whoa, there," Minho said, taking half a step back - he barely missed stepping on the lady at his heels. "Slim it nice and calm. There's no need to point that shuck Launcher at my face while we talk. Where'd you get that thing, anyway?"
"I stole it," Newt answered. "Took it from a guard who made me... unhappy."
Newt's hands were shaking slightly, which made Thomas nervous - the boy's finger hovered over the trigger of the weapon.
"I'm... not well," Newt said. "Honestly, I appreciate you buggin' shanks coming for me. I mean it. But this is where it bloody ends. This is when you turn around and walk back out that door and head for your Berg and fly away. Do you understand me?"
"No, Newt, I don't understand," Minho said, the frustration in his voice escalating. "We risked our necks to come to this place and you're our friend and we're taking you home. You wanna whine and cry while you go crazy, that's fine. But you're gonna do it with us, not with these shuck Cranks."
Newt suddenly jumped to his feet, so quickly that Thomas almost stumbled backward. Newt lofted the Launcher and pointed it at Minho. "I am a Crank, Minho! I am a Crank! Why can't you get that through your bloody head? If you had the Flare and knew what you were about to go through, would you want your friends to stand around and watch? Huh? Would you want that?" He was shouting by the time he finished, and was shaking more with each passing moment.
Minho didn't say anything, and Thomas knew why. He himself was trying to find words and coming up empty. Newt's glare shifted to him.
"And you, Tommy," the boy said, lowering his voice. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here and asking me to leave with you. A lot of bloody nerve. The sight of you makes me sick."
[...]
Newt didn't respond, just kept staring at him with hardened eyes, his arms shaking, his Launcher pointed at Thomas' chest. But then he stilled and his face softened. He lowered the weapon and looked at the floor.
"Newt, I don't get it," Thomas persisted quietly. "Why are you saying all this?"
Newt looked up again, and there was none of the bitterness that had been there just seconds earlier. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry. But I need you to listen to me. I'm getting worse by the hour and I don't have many sane ones left. Please leave."
When Thomas opened his mouth to argue, Newt held up his hands. "No! No more talking from you. Just... please. Please leave. I'm begging you. I'm begging you to do this one thing for me. As sincerely as I've ever asked for anything in my life, I want you to do this for me."
[...]
"I don't expect you to understand, but I can't be with you guys anymore. It's gonna be hard enough for me now, and it'll make it worse if I know you have to witness it. Or worst of all, if I hurt you. So let's say our bloody goodbyes and then you can promise to remember me from the good old days."
"I can't do that," Minho said.
"Shuck it!" Newt yelled. "Do you have any clue how hard it is to be calm right now? I said my piece and I'm done. Now get out of here! Do you understand me? Get out of here!"
[...]
"Go!" Newt stepped closer and aimed more fiercely. "Get out of here!"
Thomas hated what he was seeing - the complete wildness that had taken over Newt. His whole body trembled and his eyes had lost any hint of sanity. He was losing it, completely.
[...]
"I'm sorry," Newt said, and there were tears streaming down his face. "I'm... going to shoot you if you don't go now."
Denver Bound
Newt.
Newt looked horrible. His hair had been torn out in patches, leaving bald spots that were nothing more than red welts. Scratches and bruises covered his face; his shirt was ripped, barely hanging on to his thin frame, and his pants were filthy with grime and blood. It was like he'd finally given in to the Cranks, joined their ranks fully.
But he stared at Thomas, as if he recognized that he'd stumbled upon a friend.
[...]
Thomas walked half the distance to Newt, then stopped. The worst part about his friend was the wildness in his eyes. Madness lurked behind them, two festering pools of sickness. How had it happened so quickly?
"Hey, Newt. It's me, Thomas. You still remember me, right?"
A sudden clarity filled Newt's eyes then, almost making Thomas step back in surprise.
"I bloody remember you, Tommy. You just came to see me at the Palace, rubbed it in that you ignore my note. I can't go completely crazy in a few days."
Those words hurt Thomas' heart even more than the pitiful sight of his friend. "Then why are you here? Why are you with... them?"
Newt looked at the Cranks, then back at Thomas. "It comes and goes, man. I can't explain it. Sometimes I can't control myself, barely even know what I'm doing. But usually it's just like an itch in my brain, throwing everything off-kilter just enough to bother me - make me angry."
"You seem fine right now."
"Yeah, well. The only reason I'm with these wackers from the Palace is because I don't know what else to do. They're fighting, but they're also a group. You find yourself alone, you don't have a bloody chance."
[...]
Newt laughed, and when he did his head twitched strangely a couple of times. "Get out of here, Tommy. Get away."
"Just come with me," Thomas begged. "I'll tie you up if it makes you feel better."
Newt's face suddenly hardened into anger and his words shot out in a rage. "Just shut up, you shuck traitor! Didn't you read my note? You can't do one last, lousy thing for me? Gotta be the hero, like always? I hate you! I always hated you!"
[...]
"It was all your fault! You could've stopped them when the first Creators died. You could've figured out a way. But no! You had to keep it going, try to save the world, be the hero. And you came to the Maze and never stopped. All you care about is yourself! Admit it! Gotta be the one people remember, the one people worship! We should've thrown you down the Box hole!"
Newt's face had colored to a deep read, and spit flew from his mouth as he yelled. He started taking lumbering steps forward, his hands balled into fists.
[...]
"I hate you, Tommy!" He was only a few feet away and Thomas took a step backward, his hurt over Newt turning to fear. "I hate you I hate you I hate you! After all I did for you, after all the freaking klunk I went through in the bloody Maze, you can't do the one and only thing I've ever asked you to do! I can't even look at your ugly shuck face!"
[...]
Newt screamed and rushed forward. An arc of Launcher lightning shot from the van, skidding and crackling across the pavement, but it missed him. Thomas had frozen in place, and Newt tackled him to the ground, knocking the breath out of him. He struggled to fill his lungs as his old friend climbed on top of him and pinned him down.