Chapter 6: The Captured Tiger
[Morning. Calavera Prison. We pan out the prison and inside are rows of "prisoners" wailing in anger and clattering the bars. Guards respond to the noise by firing their guns at the jailbirds. A guard then walks a corridor and enters the death row section and tons of dissidents are jammed into the cells, begging for air. The guard then continues walking and briefly passes a room where a blood curdling yell was heard. And then the guard enters a dark, dim room where Manny Rivera is suspended in chains.]
Raul: (snidely) Here's your water ration, dumbass!
[Raul hands Manny a water filled sponge and rams it to his mouth. Manny responds by biting the sponge and sucking it dry. The guard freaks out a little.]
Raul: Woah, hombre! This is a ration. Use it wisely, tonto!
Manny: I thirst! What's your excuse?
Raul: The imbeciles here would kill you for water like this!
Manny: You mean the journalists and activists who were dragged from their homes for bad mouthing Mexican Napoleon!
[Raul yanks the chains to inflict pain. Manny responds differently.]
Manny: (aroused) Oh, harder papi!
Raul: (embarrassingly disgusted) What?!
Manny: (aroused) You got another one in you, senor?
[Raul runs in vomit inducing terror as Manny laughs at the weak spirited guard. Unbeknownst to them, another convict was watching the whole experience.]
[Intro]
Beto: You know, BDSM is socially acceptable in other places.
Manny: Yeah, try telling that to the pansy guard there.
Beto: Honestly, you are correct about Rodriguez. We journalists are just doing our jobs and given our honest review of the Municipal President and his ideas, had we known jail would be our punishment, we would have focused on crop reports than governmental funding.
Manny: The point of journalism is to seek the truth. If governments were more cooperative, then journalism would've been more casual than high risk and reward.
Beto: Exactly. There are governments and politicians who have done great sins and giant blunders but when we try to ask questions, they overreact and insist nothing happened.
Manny: And that doesn't begin with the politician's worst enemy: activists demanding change.
Beto: You know, Rodriguez gets irate whenever farming communities ask about taking their farmland for oil refineries and environmentalists chaining themselves to trees to prevent middle class expansion.
Manny: Or perhaps the 9/6 incident.
[Beto goes silent when Manny brings that up. The room remains eerily quiet for a while until the door opens. Out comes Jessica, in kinky boots, flirting Manny while torturing Beto.]
Jessica: (flirty) Hello, handsome. (coldly) Criminal!
Beto: Ah, Eligos' devil. How's your father doing? Still pissed off about the police brutality segment?
[Jessica kicks Beto in the nuts. Beto yells and cringes.]
Jessica: (outraged) YOU DO NOT TALK TO MY FATHER LIKE THAT! What happened to those villagers was their fault to begin with.
Manny: So, you still mad about the soul removal?
[Jessica panics and knocks out Beto with her boots. She confronts Manny by placing her finger at his mouth.]
Jessica: Shhhh! Don't talk to the shill right there! And no, I'm just confused about that. On a lighter note, where is it!?
Manny: What?
Jessica: That orb you swallowed. Where is it?
Manny: I returned it.
Jessica: To whom?
Manny: Frida.
Jessica: Why?
Manny: Because it's hers, you thief. Who else has her soul? And who put it inside you?
Jessica: If it was my soul, then you stole it from me hermoso!
Manny: It's not yours! That soul smelled like conchas. Your soul would have been more lavender.
Jessica: Lavender!? Wait, what do you mean conchas?
Manny: It's a long story but every soul has a distinct odor to separate themselves from others. For example, Delisa would have a burnt charcoal smell. Yours would smell like lavender. Beto there has a freshly printed book smell. My soul has a tepache al pastor smell. The point is your soul wasn't that orb but instead your sister Frida.
[Jessica tries to smell Manny to verify but nothing happens.]
Jessica: You don't smell like fermented pineapple and tacos.
Manny: Only I can smell souls. Anyone else would be mistaken for a weirdo.
Jessica: How?
Manny: That is a secret you are not prepared to understand.
Jessica: Try me, hermoso!
Delisa: (bombastic) THAT'S ENOUGH! Jessica, don't converse with the captured criminal! Hello there, menace!
Manny: (dry) Hello there, Delisa. I see your temper is still hot.
Delisa: I still haven't forgiven you for what happened to my brother.
Manny: I don't know what you're talking about.
Delisa: You stabbed my brother in the stomach.
Manny: You meant my shadow stabbed the rich boy.
Delisa: I refuse to accept that response! Also, return my soul.
Jessica: Too late. He gave them to Frida.
Delisa: Frida. The baby of the family. Why?!
Manny: Because it was hers to begin with.
Delisa: You realize my father will kill you for harming an officer of the law.
Manny: You are not officers. Nor are you working for the law. You and the MCPD are thugs with guns. Harassing and murdering innocents for whatever political gain you seek out of this.
Delisa: I hope you enjoy being chained up because this is the last time you will ever see the light of day again!
Manny: (sarcastic) Oh no! I'm going to be in prison for eternity. I might as well commit suicide like a coward.
[Manny blows a raspberry and spits at Delisa's face as a taunt. Delisa responds by yanking the chains for a painful response. Again, Manny yells something different.]
Manny: (aroused) Oh, mami! Give me something harder!
Delisa: (losing stoicism) Well, good for you. Now feel this!
Manny: Agh! Oh, that's nice! Harder, mami!
Delisa: I am not your mami!
Manny: Well, it's either you or Jessica over there. But, pull it harder!
Delisa: Fine!
Jessica: Lucky bastard!
[Mid morning. Grey Griffin District. Sergio's mansion. Both Sergio and Frida are having brunch outside and Sergio is talking to Frida in a condescending worry tone.]
Sergio: You should know better than to leave unattended, Frida! Making me waste precious hours finding you while my machines are in desperate need of repairs. Not only that, I'm in the process of inventing what might be our military miracle!
Frida: Yes, Sergio.
Sergio: And another thing, call me husband! We are getting married and I demand you refer to me as the husband of your dreams!
Frida: Yes, husband.
Sergio: Geez, you're dull! Once we get married, I'm drilling a happy chip onto your skull and you'll never be this boring at me ever!
Frida: Well, I'm sorry. I'm just overwhelmed with the wedding we're having. After all, you proposed to me after my brief introduction and my entire family only agreed to it for the technology you promised.
Sergio: Yes, it was love at first sight. I saw you, your blue hair, your skinny body glistening in the sunlight. I knew from day one, you were the girl meant for this genius!
Frida: Uh huh? Want to tell me more about this "military miracle" you're building?
Sergio: Well, I'm glad you asked! I'm in the process of building mega mechs for the generals. Armed with locked on nuclear missiles, magnetic hands, heat signature vision, gatling cannons, and on the inside enough room for 600 soldiers. This mega mech can fly, walk on water, is EMP resistant, invisibility, and is made from a lava resistant metallic alloy I invented, making it invincible. The military will offer me an enormous check for my creations.
Frida: (worried) Nuclear missiles? But what about the innocents who are caught in the crossfire?
Sergio: Bah, innocents sminnocents! It's their own fault for living in war torn countries! What matters is the money I'll receive from my hard work!
Frida: But why is money more important than life? If we get married and have kids, doesn't ethics make you…
[Sergio spits his coffee and slaps Frida in the face after she mentions kids.]
Sergio: (angry) Kids! Kids! KIDS! I have told you from the minute I laid eyes on you, I DON'T WANT KIDS! YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON I WANT IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! HAVING CHILDREN WILL DISTRACT MY HAPPINESS WITH WHINY BRATS! ONCE WE GET MARRIED, I'M RIPPING OUT YOUR OVARIES AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY ABOUT THAT! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!
Frida: (sotto) Yes, husband.
Sergio: Now, go to your room! I'm too upset to look at you right now!
[Frida, in upsetting terror, gets up and walks to her room]
Sergio: And no food for you tonight! I want you to remain skinny until you die!
[Just after Frida leaves, Police Chief Evaristo Suarez starts clapping his hands over Sergio's "performance".]
Evaristo: (curious) What a performance? Want to tell me what was that about?
[Evaristo, bearing his medals, sits down to converse with Sergio while pouring some espresso in a porcelain cup.]
Sergio: (flustered) Oy, don't remind me! I'm just upset right now. She keeps talking about ethics and she starts begging for mercy towards the innocent people!
Evaristo: I apologize. My daughter should know better than to question our fair legal system. I just wished the rest of Mexico would put me in charge of their police system. I would make this forsaken country's crime extinct.
Sergio: Once my mega mechs have been assembled, we shall discuss our plans for the future.
Evaristo: You mean Operation Castellian!
Sergio: Yes. Until then, give me some more time! I need to focus on regiment #6.
Evaristo: Of course, fellow inventor. Thanks for the cake slice.
[Evaristo then leaves the table with a tiramisu slice in hand.]
Sergio: Tiramisu, senor! And you're welcome.
[Evaristo opens and closes the door.]
Sergio: (perplexed) What a strange man, he is?
[Noon. Calavera Prison. A guard, Tremone, is busing a cart and shouting at the prisoners that lunch is ready. Manny, sleeping, ignores the shouting as Beto groans about the meal he'll receive.]
Beto: (upset) Oh great! It's Tremone. He's coming with that cart filled with slop. All I want is some real food.
Tremone: All right, ya lousy jackassess! Time for me to give you the meal du jour! You, journalist, here's your lunch! That'll be 500 pesos!
Beto: Last time it was 100 pesos. What happened?
Tremone: (cocky) Nothing. I just fucking hate journalists!
Beto: Ground beef and lettuce? These aren't real tacos.
Tremone: (cocky) Yeah, well that's what you get for being a journalist. American food! Hey! You! Stop sleeping! Lunch is ready!
[Manny ignores and snores louder. Tremone responds by tying a knife with a broomstick and waking Manny up painfully.]
Tremone: This will wake you up for sure!
[Tremone sticks the improvised tool up Manny's chest and pokes it. The result is Manny yanking his left chain and a chunk of rock shard crashing down to Tremone's foot. He responds in anguish.]
Tremone: (anguish) Ay! MY FOOT! A ROCK STABBED MY FOOT!
[Tremone tries to pull the stalactite out of his foot, yelling in excruciating pain, and succeeds but falls on the lunch cart and breaks his back as a result.]
Tremone: OW! My back! My fucking back! Now I'm a homeless cripple!
Beto: Karmic justice, if you ask me!
[Manny wakes up and proceeds to excoriate the guard.]
Manny: Hey! The term you meant to use is physically disabled! And also, try to understand your karmic punishment is the result of you insulting both the physically disabled and homeless people!
Tremone: OW! My wife will completely divorce me if she finds out!
Beto: The term you are looking for is hyperbole.
[Just then, numerous guards enter the cell and some take Tremone away in a stretcher. The rest, meanwhile, arrive with several chains and padlocks to restrain Manny while Beto is taken to another cell.]
Beto: Don't worry! I'll be fine! Freedom of the press is freedom for the people!
Hamie: Shut up, tonto!
[Mid noon. East Miracle City Hospital. Candi Milo District. Alphonso is stationed at the hospital with numerous policemen standing at the waiting room, protecting their precious intelligence officer. Doctors are working frantactly as the massive gash on Alphonso's body keeps bleeding, making his readings spike on and off.]
Ferdinand: How is he, doctor!?
Doctor 1: We have no idea! His readings are off the charts and the numerous bandages we used aren't stopping the hemorrhaging!
Astra: Do you think he'll make it!?
Doctor 2: To be honest, we're just amazed that he made it in one piece!
Jorge: So, he'll die?
Doctor 2: At this rate, pulling the plug might be our best option.
[Just then, the doors slam as Carmelita and Evaristo enter the waiting room, looking aggressive. At attention, the policemen salute as both parents walk towards the waiting room and into Alphonso's room.]
Doctor 1: Excuse me! Only the patient's family and friends can enter. I need you to fill out these papers before entering.
[Just then, Astra and Jorge beat up the doctor for his disrespecting tone.]
Doctor 2: Excuse my colleague. He's a bit unaware of who you are, Senor and Dona Suarez.
Carmelita: Where's my son!?
Doctor 2: He's in his room, resting. We tried the best we could but to no avail.
[Carmelita, irked, responds by slapping the doctor in the face and kicking her with her stiletto.]
Carmelita: (outraged) Idiota! Tonta doctora! What do you mean "no avail"?!
Doctor 2: (shakingly) Umm! We tried to stop the bleeding but it kept spouting.
Carmelita: What do we pay you doctors for anyway!?
Doctor 2: You don't pay us anything?
Carmelita: Shut up, bitch or I'll have you arrested for sexual harassment!
[While Carmelita continues berating and beating the doctor, Evaristo heads into his son's room to check the damage. He then walks out and the monitor responds with stable beeps, confusing the hospital staff.]
Evaristo: (calm) I just went inside and my son's feeling alright to me. Perhaps you need to get reeducated, doctors.
Doctor 1: (flabbergasted) That's impossible! He was in near death condition. How is it?
[Suddenly, the staff were paged into the room over the surprising result, the gash in Alphonso's body was instantly healed.]
Doctor 1: This can't be right! Can it?
Doctor 2: No! He was bleeding profusely! We had to call other hospitals for more gauze because we used up what we had! How is this possible?
Carmelita: What really happened inside, husband?
Evaristo: A miracle, wife. A miracle.
[Night. Calavera Prison. Manny is chained down this time. Every limb is locked to the ground with Manny's head given a muzzle. While chained up, Manny thinks about the day he got captured.]
Manny: (thinking) How did I get locked up? I remember I was with Frida and then suddenly, I fainted. I mean, I must have been knocked out by something because I don't lose consciousness willy nilly. Unless I got drunk. Nah! It wasn't like Hidalgo that one time. Too much rum. I wonder if that cactus is still there? Wait, where was I? Right, the fainting spell. Okay, It was just me and Frida. And assuming I bit her neck. Oh shit, I bit her! I just hope the changes don't start now. That'll be something she isn't prepared to handle. Wait! But I went through those changes! But my Vampiros made sure I went naturally and not too far into that thing. (sighs) I know that I'm the only individual who can knock out enemies. Unless someone else drank that stuff, I'm assuming Django but even if he did, he probably wouldn't "pull a judas" on me. He hates the police here as much as I do. Unless, she's back. Or that guy. No, no, no! He's dead to me! And so is her! (sighs) Why did this happen? Why couldn't I live a normal life like everyone else?
[Suddenly, the prison walls explode as numerous Vampiros come rushing inside the cell for a prison break. Wearing masks, one Vampiro tears down the cell door to let the others rush inside and do the same to the other cells. Meanwhile, Shadow Manny and Django arrive to help Manny leave Calavera. Manny lets his shadow gulp him and rise up from the darkness while an alarm blares out and numerous guards rush towards the demolished cell wall. Manny, Django, and a small group of Vampiros (Rasta, Rabbi, Shaolin, and Mexican) fight the guards in an epic no holds barred curb stomp battle that leaves several prison guards bloodied and bones protruding their skin. The entire group, along with the prisoners, run towards a modified freight train to escape. Manny, however, stops as he senses something. He turns around and Delisa is there, seething in anticipation.]
Delisa: (seething) So! You escape the prison and expect to leave, unscathed? Hahaha, nonsense! I will be your final challenge and this time I will end you!
Manny: Bring it on, weakling!
[Manny charges towards Delisa until he senses a disturbance. Suddenly, he's whacked to the ground as Django runs back to help Manny. When he does, they're confronted by the police chief, content to bring them to the prison.]
Evaristo: So, you're the last remaining members of an infamous family. The last from the "of the Dead" family and the last of the Rivera family. Oh joy what it is to silence you failures from the light of day!
Django: I don't know what you're talking about! My nana wasn't really related to me at all so I'm not in trouble for anything!
Manny: Tell me something. The funny feelings I'm sensing. Is that you who's causing them?
Evaristo: (smug) I don't know what you mean?
[Manny detects something in the police chief's eyes. A closer look, he sees his retinal veins glowing blue, shocking him. He whispers to Django and his demeanor changes from cool to frightened.]
Django: How did you get it!? Who gave you that shit!?
Evaristo: What?
Manny: Listen to me, whatever it is that you consumed is going to kill you psychologically and physically!
Evaristo: Liars! Time to face my wrath!
Django: We need to leave, now!
Mexican Vampiro: Come on! Train's leaving!
[Manny and Django run towards the train with Evaristo in pursuit. Jim-bob responds by pulling a flintlock, shooting Evaristo in the chest and he falls down on his knees, clutching his chest, with Jessica running to aid her father.]
Jessica: Father!
Evaristo: It's nothing. Just blanks!
Jessica: But?
[Evaristo turns around and unclutches his chest. Jessica responds with a shocking stare as she finds no gun residue on her father's chest.]
Evaristo: See! Pure blanks!
Jessica: Yes. Of course, father!
Evaristo: And the train is gone. Somehow this is your fault, Delisa! If you were more attentive with your job, the criminals wouldn't have broken out their cells that fast! You are an incompetent warden and you, Jessica, should know better than to fraternize with the enemy!
Wounded guard: Excuse me, senor. The prison bars were kinda rusty. Maybe we should've considered repairs rather than excoriating the head warden.
[Evaristo pulls out a modified shotgun out of a wounded guard, aims at the wounded guard who spoke and blows off his head, leaving Jessica traumatically cowering. Delisa, however, remains stoic throughout the event. He puts away the shotgun and walks towards Jessica, menacingly.]
Evaristo: Get this through your head, daughter! If you mess up on the job, you're dead! If you continue with this flirty behavior, you're dead! IF YOU TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS, (puts 2 fingers on his daughter's head) BOOM! GOT IT!
Jessica: Yes father.
Evaristo: Good! Now, you and Delisa go home! I'll send an ambulance to pick up these corpses!
Delisa & Jessica: Of course!
Evaristo: And tell your mother about your mistakes! I'm sure she wants to know the blood smears on your outfits.
[Night. Xocolitzo railways. Somewhere in West Miracle City. The freight train carrying the Calavera prisoners stops and the railcar doors open. The escapees exit and take a moment to feel and breathe the fresh cool air. Manny, however, is laying on the railcar floor, feeling anxious.]
Manny: Hehehehe. Hehehehe. Hehehehe.
Django: (concerned) Dude, are you okay?
Manny: Hehehehe. Hehehehe. Hehehehe.
Mexican Vampiro: Senor, he asked you a question?
Manny: Hehehehe. Hehehehe. Hehehehe.
Rabbi Vampiro: I think he's having an episode.
Rasta Vampiro: Has he been taking his meds recently?
Django: He's been chewing that weed gum. But since that stint, I don't think so?
Rasta Vampiro: This is serious! I'm off to get his medicine. Stay here before he goes wild!
[Rasta Vampiro runs towards the ruined construction site for medicinal stashes while Django tries to comfort Manny. One of the escapees notices Manny and responds crudely.]
Prisoner 1: Jeez. How creepy is he, right?
[Django punches him in the shoulder.]
Prisoner 1: OW! What did I do?
Django: You don't understand that my friend is traumatized. He's going through "bad moments" right now.
Prisoner 1: What "bad moments"?
[Manny creeps onto the escapee and responds cringy.]
Manny: Hi there. Want to tell me something?
Prisoner 1: What?
Manny: Where's my mother?
Prisoner 1: What?
Manny: You know. My mother. The woman responsible for candidate Allende's campaign.
Prisoner 1: Umm. You know that's old news, right?
Manny: My mother went to the plane and exploded with people celebrating her death.
Prisoner 1: Woah! That's not how it happened!
Manny: And then my father spanked me, beat me, and made me wear a dress because I came out gay. Then the policeman took off his pants and rammed it on my butt saying "calm down boy".
Prisoner 1: Okay! You need to slow down and try to explain this in a professional manner. I'm getting really scared from these revelations.
Manny: Why didn't you protect me? Why was I a mistake? (pants) Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP. STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!
[The prisoners look at Manny with horror and mutual disgust over the revelations Manny told aloud. Django, however, tries to look stoic as his best friend has a PTSD panic attack. By the time Rasta Vampiro arrives with a cannabis blunt, Manny's PTSD attack ends with him angrily crying. The Vampiros tend to his whim while Rasta excoriates the prisoner who snidely remarked about the crisis.]
Rasta Vampiro: You see what you have done! Instead of pointing out how weird he is, you should understand how PTSD can make the strongest people out there fragment from bad memories!
Prisoner 1: He mentioned his parents. The candidate Allende. A plane crash that was responsible for Rodriguez's rise to power. What happened to him? Who is he first of all?
Rasta Vampiro: That's Manny Rivera! A.k.a. El Tigre!
Prisoner 2: Liar! Everyone knows that Manny Rivera died from a building fire!
Prisoner 3: Yeah! And there is no El Tigre. That's just an old wive's tale passed down from grandparents to their grandchildren!
Prisoner 4: And besides, White Pantera never had a child! He hates children!
Prisoner 5: And also, the Rivera family was never the same since Justice Jaguar! After him came the nuisances, Puma Loco and White Pantera!
Rasta Vampiro: Then who is this boy that saved your butts?
Prisoners: Some rando who dresses like a tiger?
Django: Wrong! It's the real Manny Rivera! El Tigre the 3rd!
[An unconscious Manny changes from his El Tigre outfit to his regular clothes. The prisoners are shocked at the revelation. Baffled, some begin to question the obvious.]
Prisoner 2: Wait? If he's Manny Rivera, how come he never saved Miracle City from disaster?
Prisoner 3: Yeah! Why did he leave us?
Prisoner 4: Yeah! Why didn't he prevent Calle Porqueira from blowing up!?
Prisoner 5: Yeah! How do we know he won't end up like his father or grandfather!?
Prisoner 1: Better yet, what happened to him that made this soldier turn into a screaming child!?
Rasta Vampiro: You really want to know the story?
Prisoners: Yeah!
Mexican Vampiro: Are you sure?
Prisoners: We're journalists! We demand the truth!
Django: Fine. This is the story of a boy who was born from a wonderful family and then life broke his psyche!
End of Chapter 6