Misfits, Part V: Deaf, Dumb, and Blind

Once they had reached the base of the mountain, the journey to the top wasn't a very long one, just a hard one.
“Come on, Buster,” Cathy encouraged from an outcropping to the climbing figure beneath her, “Just a little further and we can take a rest.”
“You go on ahead. I'll catch up.” He panted.
“Sickle isn't complaining.”
“Sickle's a robot!” He shouted and slid against the rock face into a sitting position.
“Buster, come on! This is serious.”
“Hold your horses.” He staggered to his feet, then blew a chunk of rock away from the mountain as he launched himself to the plateau about ten feet above Cathy and Sickle's position. “Resting now!” He announced as he crumpled onto the orange stone.
“Guys...” Buster opened his eyes wide as he gazed up at the sky.
“What is it, Mister Buster?” Tangerine asked from Sickle's steadily-advancing shoulders.
“Do you see the big rock in the sky too?”
As they climbed, the three of them looked up. Sure enough, there was a boulder the size of a carriage suspended in the air, a perfect sphere. And it was descending.
Buster scrabbled to his feet and backed away, the boulder crashing into the mountain ahead of them and driving in about a third of its mass. Standing atop the boulder was a figure in a dark green hooded cloak.
“What's up?” It said as it nonchalantly descended from the rock.
“Guys I'm gonna explode this one, allright?”
“No, talking first!” Cathy insisted as she climbed hastily, despite Buster having already launched himself at the figure.
The hooded figure waved a hand, and Buster was intercepted by an object flying at speed into his midsection. As Cathy and Sickle came over the edge of the plateau, Buster flew over their heads.
The object floated back to the figure as he rose into the air, a sphere of metal a little bigger than a fist. It came to rest just over his shoulder, and from under his cloak several smaller balls floated out and began orbiting him.
“Who are you?” Cathy asked as Sickle set Tangerine on the ground and stood in a protective stance in front of her.
“I'm the Pinball Wizard.” He threw out a hand, and three of the small balls flew at Cathetal at a tremendous speed, making dents in her breastplate and knocking her back over the cliff.
“I've got you!” Buster declared, grabbing her by the midsection as he arced back at the plateau, having launched himself to safety. They both landed face down on the rock.
“Stay back, Mistress.” Sickle's weapons clicked out and she made a dash at the wizard, dodging two flying spheres before aiming a slash that he floated away from, only tearing the edge of his cloak. He span in the air and a ball caught the android in the neck, making a sickening crunch against spinning gears.
“Sickle!” Tangerine cried out, making to move forward. Cathy blocked her passage with the flat of her sword.
“No! It's too dangerous. Just stay back.” She nodded to Buster, “Bring him down.”
Cathy charged the wizard as Buster leapt into the air with an explosion, bracing herself against multiple balls and taking a few wild slashes alongside Sickle. Buster collided with the wizard in the air and grabbed hard onto his cloak, pulling him towards the ground.
In a single motion, the wizard threw off the cloak and rose higher into the air, a metal ball flying out in every direction. Buster hit the ground hard, and a ball struck Cathy in the shin and Sickle in the shoulder. With a roll of his arm the Pinball Wizard brought the larger orb down onto Sickle's back, knocking her to the ground, and opened his mouth to speak.
“STOP HURTING MY FRIENDS!” Tangerine screamed into his ears and into his mind. The ensuing mental wave was enough to disrupt the wizard's flight, causing him to drop unsteadily to the top of the boulder he'd flown in on. The was followed with a bolt of lightning that struck him squarely in the chest.
“Woah. Wipeout.” He declared to no-one in particular before fainting.

“Please can I kick his head off?” Buster pleaded to Cathy.
“For the last time, no.”
“Please don't kick my head off...” The boy mumbled as he came to.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” Buster gave him an unnecessarily forceful nudge to the cranium with the tip of his boot. “What?” He responded to Cathy's glare, “It's still attached, isn't it?”
“He's just a kid, Buster.”
“Subject is a late adolescent.” Sickle responded icily, one of her hands placed on Tangerine's shoulder.
“I've just about had it up to here with wizards trying to kill us, if I'm frank.”
“Your name isn't Frank...” Tangerine pointed out helpfully.
“I'm not a wizard, actually.” The boy said blearily from his place on the floor as he dragged himself into a sitting position, “Not really. I was only called Pinball before he added the Wizard. It's a joke, I think. I'm not sure. I can just do stuff with balls.”
“I bet you can, mate.” Buster put in as he lit the last of the roll-ups he'd been given.
“And I wasn't trying to kill you.”
“Could have fooled me.” Buster cut in again.
“Honestly! I was only meant to test you, see if you were good enough for the boss.” He lifted a thumbs-up into the air weakly, “Good job. You passed! Ten out of ten. Gold star.”
“Well I still think you're a meanie.” Tangerine stuck out her tongue and Pinball's weak smile faded.
“And this boss you're talking about?” Cathy pressed.
“The Overlord.” Pinball confirmed, “The greatest wizard in the multiverse! He was putting together a cabal of wizards to work for him, but the fire guy burned himself up and the little lizard guy refused so he's in the dungeons so it was just me. And he made me more powerful and he kept giving me free food and stuff! I couldn't say no!”
“I swear I'm gonna punt this guy off the mountain.” Buster paced away from Pinball to remove temptation.
“Where can we find this Overlord, Pinball?” Cathy asked gently.
“That way. Just walk for a little while longer and there's a door in the rock. Leads right into his great hall.” He exhaled deeply, “Don't worry about him seeing you. I was the guy who flew his crystal balls around, so his eyes in the sky are gone.”
“Take a walk, Pinball. Come back here at sunset and we'll see what to do with you.”
“Yes ma'am.” He saluted wearily and got to his feet, stumbling forward aimlessly until he came to a drop in the stone, which he promptly fell over. At this point he elected that the next leg of his journey would be performed via a shuffling crawl.
“We're just letting the weed go?” Buster took a long drag. He'd saved the strongest cigarette for last.
“He'll come. He doesn't have anywhere else to go. If we can, we should try to get the poor child home. I don't think he belongs in this world any more than we do.”
They set off walking towards where he'd told them the entrance was, “Can I at least explode the Overlord?”
“If you're a good boy.”
“And if I don't get him first.” Tangerine added.