El Tigre copyright Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua
The MASK copyright Dark Horse Comics/New Line Cinema
The MASK of Miracle City
Chapter 14: Plan of Attack
While El Tigre And The Mask Were On There Way To The Desert Base...
Dr. Chipotle Jr. And Senior Siniestro Were Putting There Plan Into Action.
Frida (Who Was Still Shackled) Was Being led To The Main Laboratory On There Base.
The Room Itself Was Huge, With Several Levels Worth Of MAD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY.
Chipotle & Siniestro Led Her To There FRIDA PROJECT.
Where Several Shadowed Pods Were Contained.
"Okay, Frida...Here Is Our Lab, Where PROJECT: FRIDA Is Being Carried Out. Said Chipotle Jr.
"Project FRIDA?
Tsk, You Freaks Seriously Need To GET-A-LIFE!
Chipotle Ignored Her, And Pressed a Button.
Which Revealed a Single Pod, Connected To Two Other Pods.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS THING!
"Our CLONING CHAMBER... Began Chipotle Jr.
"We'll Put You In The Main POD, Then It'll Siphon Your DNA And, Using Our Cutting Edge, Super-Computers...It Will Create The IDEAL FRIDA CLONES!
"One Shall be a Cyborg, Like Myself.
"And The Other Will Be a Cowgirl, Eqipped With a MECH-SUIT. Said Siniestro.
"Sadly, You Will Not SURVIVE The Full Process.
"You Freaks Are CRAZY.
Siniestro Turned To Chipotle Jr.
"Shall We Proceed?
"Unfortunetly, No...
The Machine Needs Time To Charge, I Estimate It Will Be Ready In TEN MINUTES.
Frida Smiled.
"Manny Will Come For Me, And He'll KICK YOUR BUTTS!
"Oh, We're COUNTING ON IT.
Chipotle Jr. Pressed a Button, Lighting Up The Shadowed Pods Which Revealed Androids That Resembled FRIDA, All On STAND-BY.
Frida Gazed In Fear At These Mechanical Knock-Offs Of Herself.
"When El Tigre Comes To Rescue You, He Shall Only MEET HIS DOOM!
How Fitting That The IMAGE OF HIS LOVE, Shall Be The Instrement Of His Demise.
Frida Could Only Hang Her Head Low In Shame.
"darn you, chipotle...
darn you, siniestro...
"Yeah, Yeah...Sticks & Stones. Said Siniestro
"You Know, Frida...This All Could Of Been Avoided.
Had You Chosen One Of Us, We Could Of Made a Single Clone.
That Way, You Would Of Lived And We Would All Be Happy.
Frida Growled At Them.
"Get This Through Your THICK SKULLS I Love Manny, And I Will ALWAYS LOVED MANNY.
And Even If You DO Clone me, Chances Are...a Small Part Of Them Will LOVE MANNY, TOO!
And If I Die, Manny Will Never Rest Until YOU ALL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!
Chipotle Jr. And Siniestro Ignored Her.
They Could Only Laugh Evily At There Master Plan.
Meanwhile, From Far Away El Tigre and The Mask Were In The Maskmobile.
They Were From a Safe Distance Away And Had Seen The Entire Confronsation On a On Board Monitor.
"This Show Sucks. Said The Mask
"I Wonder What Else is On...
"HOW CAN YOU JOKE AT A TIME LIKE THIS! Yelled Out Manny
"THEY'RE GONNA KILL FRIDA AND DISRESPECT HER WITH KNOCKOFFS!
Mask Eyed Him.
"Yeah, Yeah...I Hear Ya.
Don't Get Your Tuffs In a Knot, I've Got a Plan.
"No Doubt a STUPID ONE!
I Say We Go In There and FIGHT REALLY, REALLY HARD!
"Good Plan...If You Want To LOSE REAL QUICKLY.
"Give Me ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T!
"I'll Give Your a Thoasand Good Reasons...
Mask Points At The Frida Androids In Stasis.
"Dr. Chip-n-Dale" and the "Looney Ranger" Are EXPECTING You.
They Have Built Dozens Of Frida Robots, All Programmed Go At You Like It's "TIGER SEASON"
You Go Out There With a Plan Like That, And THE LAND OF THE DEAD Will Be Your NEW PLACE OF RESIDENCE.
You Wanna Save Frida And Put Those Clowns In There Place, Then You Gotta THINK LIKE ME: Unpredictably.
Manny Eyed The Mask.
"How WOuld Yo-
"Hey, I May Be CRAZY...But I Am Not STUPID.
Even I Wouldn't Jump Into Danger Without a Plan That's "Logical"
Manny Thought a Bit, Then Sighed Sharply.
"Okay...What's The Plan?
Mask Smiles a Wide Grin.
[Later, At Chipotle & Siniestro's Lab]
The Cloning Chamber Hummed a Little, then Beeped Loudly.
"CLONING CHAMBER READY. Said The Computer Voice "About Time. Said Siniestro
Chipotle Deactivates Frida's Shackles.
Frida Then Kicks Siniestro In The Rear And Tries To Run Away.
Chipotle Calmly Presses a Button.
a Single Frida Android Comes To Life, It's Optics Glowing Red.
The Robot Blasts Off Towards Frida And Grabs Her By Her Hair.
"OW!
LET GO, LET GO!
"Negative.
Order Has Been Ignored. Said The Android In a Robotic Tone Of Frida's Own Voice
The Android Restrains Frida And Brings Her To Chipotle.
"Objective Obtained.
Returning To Base For Stand-By Mode.
The Robot Flies Back To It's Pod.
"Nice Try. Said Chipotle
"Can't Really Blame Me For Trying. Said Frida With a Smile
Chipotle Grabs Frida And Tosses her In The Glass Tube The Door Shuts Tightly With a Whooshing Sound, Frida Pound The Glass, But To No Avail.
"DNA Extraction Commencing.
Cloning Operation Has Begun.
Frida Suddenly Felt Herself Getting Weaker She Saw Formless Plasma In The Other Pods, Slowly Forming Into Humanoids.
"you'll...n-never...get away...with this. Said Frida, Dazed.
Chipotle and Siniestro Laughed Cruely.
"Oh?
And Who's Gonna Stop Us?
As If On Cue, The Building's Doors Broke Open.
Everyone Looked To See None Other Than EL TIGRE.
El Tigre Leaped Forward, His Claws Fully Extended.
"VILLAINS!
RELEASE FRIDA, OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES.
Frida Smiled.
"manny...
Chipotle and Siniestro Also Smiled.
"Welcome El Tigre...To Your DOOM.
"We've Been Expecting You, Rivera.
Chipotle Presses a Button.
All The Pods Containing The Frida Androids Activated.
"FRIDA ANDROIDS!, DESTROY EL TIGRE!
"Affirmative. Said the Robots In Union.
The Frida Robots Blasted Towards El Tigre.
They Punched Him, Kicked Him, Tossed His Body Around And Shot AT Him With There Blasters.
El Tigre Slashed At The Robots With His Claws, Ripping Them Into Scrap Metal.
But There Were TOO MANY ROBOTS, And They Were Out-Numbering and Over-Powering Him.
"MANNY! Shrieked Frida
"YES!, YES!
"DESTROY HIM!
Soon, An Entire Squad Of Frida-Bots Surrounded Him.
They Charged There Weapons, Which Glowed WHITE HOT.
"Target Aquired.
Termination In Three...Two...
Frida Stared Horor-Struck El Tigre Looked Back At Her.
"one.
All The Frida-Bots Fired There Weapons, Blasting At EL Tigre The Explosion Was So Great, That It Blinded Everyone.
"MANNY!
When the Dust Settled, All That Was Left Was a Torn Up Mask.
"Target Has Been Terminated.
"YES, YES, YES!
AT Last, EL TIGRE IS NO MORE! Shouted Chipotle Jr.
"REVENGE IS FINALLY OURS! Shouted Siniestro
Tears Streamed Down Frida's Face
"MANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNY!
!
Frida Fell To Her Knees And Cried.
"you killed him, YOU KILLED THE MAN I LOVE!
"Yes...Your Point.
Frida Furiously Punched The Glass, Ignoring The Pain.
"I'LL KILL YOU!
I'LL #$%*% KILL YOU #$%&*!
Chipotle and Siniestro Laughed At These Threats.
Just Then, The Frida-Bots Alarms Sounded.
"ALERT, ALERT Unknown Bogey Detected.
Everyone Looked To See a Shadowed Figure Emerge From The Dust.
"I-Impossible...
"It, IT CAN'T BE!
"manny?
Every Looked On At The Figure As The Dust Cleared And They Were All Shocked To See That It Was...