Chapter 3: An Entire Years Worth of Water, For Nothing!
[Night. Old Miracle City. Flashes of lights in the city's gay district, Manny's inside a nightclub, Gay Gallos, and is partying like there's no tomorrow ]
Manny: (excited) Woo hoo! Alright, party people! Who wants to dance and then sleep with this guy!?
[Partygoers cheering with glasses of beer in their hands as "Not Just (Knee Deep)" by George Clinton plays in the club]
Gay guy #1: (flirty) Come with me, sugar. We'll have a blast tonight.
Manny: Sorry, dude. I'm all front but your bottom needs work. Look at that flaccid thing. It's so tiny. I love them big and hard.
Gay guy #1: (dissatisfied) Your loss, bro!
Gay guy #2: Want to party with me, sunshine! We can rock it in bed and trust me, my thing is hard all night long!
Manny: So sorry, bro! I'm bi, but I'm not into bears. I'm more into trans and others like me.
Gay guy #2: (embarrassed) Oh! Pardon me, sunshine. My mistake.
Manny: It happens! ("Yo! There are so many potentials here! Let's pick a fling and get it over with! No! I'm a classic. Perhaps, I can freshen up a bit.") That's it! I'm leaving!
[Manny proceeds to the exit when he's approached by a latecomer. A tall, lanky, well dressed individual with messy hair and expensive sneakers.]
Manny: (approaches and stops near an alley while clearing his throat) Hey! Wait up! Name's Manny! What's yours?
?: (nervous) My name is Noah.
Manny: Like the ark?
[Both guys laugh]
Manny: (flirty) Is there room in your boat for me to climb into?
Noah: (nervous) I mean, yeah, I guess? Look, this is my first time coming here. I'm a trans man and I'm not sure where to begin…(gets cut off)
Manny: (puts finger in Noah's lips) Shh! Pre-op or Post-op?
Noah: (confused) Wha?
Manny: (repeats) Pre-op? Post-op? Which is it?
Noah: Pre-op?
Manny: So, you're still a guy stuck in a girl's body?
Noah: Yes! And I need to a sex change. (fidgeting) But it costs money. (tears up) And my parents won't let me. They say I'm mentally sick. (starts crying) And I just want to be who I am! And…(gets cut off)
Manny: (puts finger on Noah's lips) Shh! It's all right! We're here for you. I know people that can give you what you need. (wipes tears out Noah's face) All I ask is for you to accept this lifestyle. Are you sure you want this?
Noah: (sniffle) I don't know? (sniffle)
Manny: (calm) Once you accept this life, your old life is gone forever! You can't go back to your family like this. They will reject you heavily, given your mental and psychological state.
Noah: (confused) How do you know that?!
Manny: I have been there, Noah! Believe me, people I once called family have responded with gunfire rather than hugs. Threats of throat slitting than sitting in denial. I know this more than you do. But I don't cry about it because I accept the fact that I'm bisexual. And so should you and your transsexuality.
Noah: (sniffle) Really!?
Manny: Really.
Noah: (contended) Well, (sniffle) perhaps I too can love myself and be the man I really am!
Manny: That's good to hear! Now that that's taken care of, want to sleep with me?
[Noah loses his confidence and reverts back to nervousness]
Noah: (nervous) Uh? I don't know? I'm a virgin. I might not satisfy your needs.
Manny: Virgin? (laughs) Honey, let papa introduce you to the wild side.
[Screen fades to black and we see Manny and Noah on a hotel bed. "Walk on The Wild Side" by Lou Reed plays in the background as Manny proceeds to insert his penis on Noah's butt and humps up and down while Noah grabs the bed frame tight. Another scene shows Noah giving Manny a blowjob with Manny stroking his hair. The two then 69 each other throughout the night.]
[Intro]
[Morning. The sunrise shines and light beams at the two guys and they wake up. Both get dress, leave the hotel and say their goodbyes]
Manny: (satisfied) Well, that was an awesome night!
Noah: (empowered) That was awesome! I now feel like I can do anything. Thanks dude! (kisses on the lips) You make me feel like a real guy!
Manny: Aw shucks man! Now I feel silly! (gives a piece of paper) Here's the address! Tell them Manny sent you! They'll understand what that means. Now show them who Noah is!
Noah: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for doing this for me! See ya, loverboy!
Manny: Yeah, bye Noah! (walking) ("Trans man indeed! Needs to work on his kisses, though.") I wonder where Rasta's staying?
[As Manny flies upwards, Noah walks calmly to the place in the paper until four hooded figures grab him in a dark alleyway, never to be seen again. Manny, in the sky, starts looking in the various skyscrapers and spots Rasta sitting in the tallest one available.]
Manny: Ah! There he is! (soars upward) Hey! What are you doing up here! Surveying the city! Because, you know, that costs money, apparently.
Rasta Vampiro: Just looking around. (spots wall) Can't believe that wall is still there! I wondered why the people didn't tear it down already. Massive eyesore, if you asked me.
Manny: You know why? Rich people don't want to see us rags. They want to see potential beachfronts or their opulent houses. The middle class, on the other hand, will do anything to become one of the rich folk eastward. As for the rest of us, lower class and farmers, the class worse than homelessness apparently, are prohibited from tearing down institutions like that wall for example. The government here says they represent our past and are of "historical value". Tearing down these buildings would be seen as "destroying Mexico".
Rasta Vampiro: "Historical value"? What kinds of bumbaclots think border walls represent historical value? Especially ones that are 2000' tall? That thing represents more about separation out of fear and disgust of their pasts as it does the city's history!
Manny: Yeah, it does. But in 1884, the Rodriguez family here were very insistent about separating the classes because the poor side of Miracle City was a cesspool of crime and villainy. A middle class was burgeoning and of course we needed them to thrive. "Screw the poor and save the vittles!" That's what the rich say. So they, the poor people, farming community and migrants, constructed a gigantic border wall to save the middle class and ever since then the wall has been praised for saving the city from being ruined. Or whatever those government written history books say. There's a reason why public transportation lines just stop at the wall. According to the east, buses, trains, and subways lower the housing value of the middle class.
Rasta Vampiro: Such a shame. Even in this day and age, with climate change happening, they choose to ride automobiles with abysmal gas mileage. You know, I and I see the future of this world is more energy efficient transport and not excessive oil wasting.
Manny: Yep!
[Noon. Vampiro Canal. Several Vampiros, in disguise, are waiting for the two to come back. Civilians, from the Alazraqui District, are there too marveling the construction and progress]
Elderly citizen: This is amazing. A 78 mile long canal stretching to the countryside. This will save our dying food source for sure.
Ernest: Yep! Once we connect those pipes and install the desalinator, fresh water will hydrate the farmland and that 3 week no rain report will be subsided.
Civilian 1: You know? You don't have to wear masks! We know and support you and El Tigre from building this project from the government's back for our sake.
Jewish Vampiro: I understand. But, you should know, there are spies around these fields. People who work for that schmuck of a governor. People who want us to file redundant permits that take 4 years to process. People who our kind (yiddish word for child) have wanted posters plastered all over Ubach Street.
Civilian 2: Not true. We managed to rip out 33% of those posters. Then my wife was arrested for loitering and destruction of private property.
Jewish Vampiro: Point proven!
[Manny and Rasta fly down to the canal. There, the people and vampiros are wondering how things went.]
Ernest: Well?
Mexican Vampiro: How did it go?
Manny: No luck. The secretary was just an android and then exploded. And after that, I barged in and there was nobody in City Hall. What kind of building has no people inside? That to me is a waste of money.
Civilian 3: Oh! Right! I forgot to mention something. (remembers now) Yeah. Municipal President Rodriguez had his office moved from the Jorge R Gutierrez District to the Grey Griffin District.
Manny: Grey Griffin? Where the fuck is that district?
Civilian 3: The east.
Manny: Fucking rich people! I spent a day trying to give a piece of my mind about these boondoggle projects he's proposing and he moves to the rich side of town! I'll kill that pinche mierda.
Civilian 1: (confused) So? Are you going to finish the pipes?
Manny: You're missing the point. Without talking to Rodriguez, I can't secure the permits. And with no permits, the canal project is on hiatus. For eternity.
Civilian 2: But you built it illegally?
Rasta Vampiro: He meant to say, since there is no chance to talk to that bumbaclot, we essentially build an empty swimming pool.
Civilian 3: Just build the pipes! What's stopping you?!
Jim-Bob: First we need the permission of the MP. Then, that idjit talks to the government of Mexico to verify it. Then, the government gives us the permission to build the pipes necessary to transform seawater into freshwater. If we ignore rule 2, then we have to deal with the Mexican Government and we need to hide ourselves from the world.
Civilians: (after they put 2 and 2 together) Oh!
Manny and the Vampiros:: (in unison) Exactly!
[Bummed out, Manny and the rest of the Vampiros walk and converse]
Manny: Mutafukah! All that hard work and for what!? (stammers) I mean…I just want those villagers to forgive me…and now Miracle City's governor is in the rich part of town…A drought is about to happen…SO IRRITATING!
Rasta Vampiro: Relax, youth! We can't end up being frustrated over cowardice. We just need to head to Mexico City, find the Presidential Palace, talk to the President of Mexico, and explain in full detail why our canal is necessary for the villagers out there in the fields.
Manny: We could do that, if I wasn't already in Mexico's Most Wanted list.
Rasta Vampiro: That accident was not your fault! And the criminal who did it is still on the loose and they just slapped your face to prevent worry amongst the populace.
Manny: I know that! The President of Mexico. Not so much.
Mexican Vampiro: We know you were somewhere in the Zocalo high on your medicine and that the accident took place somewhere in Benito Juarez International Airport. The question then becomes: How can you be at two places at once when you're gazing at the flag for 5 hours?!
Manny: Look, I was at Zocalo because a pink cactus told me a nose goblin was on the loose and after women's breasts or nipples. Next thing I remember, I'm in Lorenzo Boturini street looking for pulque. I think I killed the real criminal. Either that or a goat. Anyway, talking to Mexico's President is never going to happen!
Jim-Bob: Then we're done for. The farmers are still going to be irritated, our workforce are gonna have to rebury the canal and that nitwit got away with the crime!
[Up on the hills, something redirects sunlight at Manny. He then flies towards the light and spots something that outrages his entire self, a massive dam with water collected from the rivers and streams of Mexico. Manny is flabbergasted]
Manny: (flabbergasted) A dam. A dam! A DAM! A FUCKING DAM! I have spent 2 fucking years surveying, digging, and brick layering a canal for seawater and now I find out that there's a DAM filled with enough freshwater to save the farmland! WHY ARE THEY NOT TELLING US THIS!
[Suddenly, the vampiros arrive to calm down Manny, only to witness the biggest environmental disaster that is: wasteful water usage]
Rasta Vampiro: Motherfuckers!
Mexican Vampiro: Pendejos!
Jim-Bob: (irritated grunting)
Ernest: Dingbats!
Jewish Vampiro: I don't know what to say? But, PASKUDNYAK!
Manny: (outraged) I know how you all feel! We wasted how many years with that canal!? And suddenly, there's a dam, filled with water, sitting here and for what! NOTHING! WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS, THIS, THIS ATROCIOUS ACT OF WASTE!
Rasta Vampiro: Hey, I found out who's responsible!
[On a railing, there lies a plaque. The plaque then says: "This plaque is to commemorate the anniversary of Miracle City's beloved Municipal President Pietro Rodriguez and his efforts to supply the city with enough water to create a prosperous life." The reaction of everybody is summarized in 1 sentence: BLOOD BOILING anger!]
Villager 1: (sarcastic) Oh! It's you, again! You know, this dam is the exact reason we never needed your canal! Why, thanks to MP Rodgriuez, our farms can finally flourish and our families can thrive like the old days! Now, what do you have to say about that, traitor!
[Unbeknownst to the villager, the group is still fuming over their wasted effort. When they turn around, the Vampiros are shown with gritted teeth and clenched fists. Manny, already pissed, has his eyes turn demonic (red irises and black pupils), his veins protrude and turn translucent, and he unveils his wings, now bigger, emitting blue fire, and the tendrils are black with white lightning. The villager looks with pants-shitting horror as Manny pulls out his spinal cord katana and places it next to his throat uttering blood curdling words]
Manny: (demonic) HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!
Villager 1: (terrified) Please…I have a family to feed! (begging) Don't kill me! I'm sorry! I won't ever insult you ever again!
Manny: (demonic) HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY YOUR VILLAGE IS STILL DRY! HAVE YOU EVER CHECKED THE DAMN PIPES!
Villager 1: What? Of course! The MP's bodyguards told me that all pipes connect to the people!
[Manny then strikes the ground with his katana and unveils to the villager where the pipes really connect to. The villagers are horrified as they witness the ground shaking, the pipes beneath them pop up off the ground revealing to everybody that they do not lead to the farming villages but to the eastern parts of Miracle City. The villager is then reduced to a sobbing mess as he was lied to by their MP. The rest follow suit. The kids of those villages are witnessing Demon Manny and have regretted their actions.]
Villager Kid 1: (regretfully) Dios Mio.
Villager Kid 2: (shameful) What have we done?
Villager Kid 3: (tearful) Mommy!
Elder Villager: Quick, kids. Head to the church! It's not safe here!
Manny: (demonic) AND NOW! SOMETHING THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE A LONG TIME AGO!
[Manny pulls his katana out of the ground and slices the ground, pulls the dirt out, magically places bricks and mortar to form a wall near the dam, connects it to the canal, slashes and vaporizes pieces of the dam, and watches as the freshwater flows from the dam into the canal. The rush of the water is so fast, the vampiros working at Mansiones Miracales spot the rushing water and alert the others of the rising tide.]
Cowboy Vampiro: The water is coming! Everybody out!
[All the vampiros get out of the canal and see the waterflow hit their dead ends and continue flowing towards the farming villages. The villagers are at awe when the water finally arrives and one of them takes a glass and sips from the canal]
Elder Villager: (pulls a cup) Hmm? (proceeds to drink, tastes, and responds by pulling the ear of another villager)
Teen Villager: Hey! Ow! What are you doing!?
Elder Villager: (indignant) We are going to church! Do not talk until we arrive!
[Manny, now reverting to his regular self, let's Villager 1 speak, broken and angry.]
Villager 1: (sniff) I sorry! I mean, we're sorry! We shouldn't have ignored you! (sniff) We thought the MP was going to help us. (punches the ground) I was lied to! I was a fool! I was…
[Manny slaps Villager 1 in the face]
Manny: THAT'S ENOUGH! What happened was indeed your fault! And yes, everybody there fell for that lie! But languishing about it like an infant is not an excuse for your failures! MP Rodriguez lied to everybody! I have no idea why and how he does these bullshit ideas but I know he's fucking corrupt! I will talk to that bastard tomorrow and settle this score. But until that happens, SHUT THE FUCK UP, DRY THOSE DAMN TEARS, AND FARM YOUR ASS LIKE YOU NEVER FARMED BEFORE!
Villager 1: (blubbering) But, (sniff) nobody like us has ever crossed the border and lived! You'll be…
Manny: (demonic) I WILL TALK TO THE BASTARD TOMORROW!
[Villager 1 nods in agreement and runs as fast as he can to his village. Manny, reverting back to human, falls to his knees and walks back to Mansiones Miracales. Night. Construction site. A bonfire is lit up as the Vampiros celebrate their canal being full of water. Manny is in his house, feeling regretful]
Rasta Vampiro: Oy, child! What are you doing in there! We're celebrating today! We and the villagers out there! (no response) You don't want your usual?
[Rasta shows a platter of the following: Tonkotsu ramen, ribeye tacos, guamuchiles, a slice of dragonfruit, and a bottle of rum, vanilla flavored.]
Manny: (regretful) No thanks. I'm not in the mood.
Rasta Vampiro: Want to talk about it?
Manny: Please, I like to be alone.
[Rasta Vampiro leaves. Manny tries to process the events that took place.]
Manny: (demonic) HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY YOUR VILLAGE IS STILL DRY! HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! I WILL TALK TO THE BASTARD TOMORROW!
Manny: (thinking) What was I thinking? Going all demon on that villager when I'm trying to save his stupid ass. How can I be a hero if my impulses are going to get the better of me? All I can do is try to regain their trust, again. I'm tired. Tired of all of this. Just give me a fucking break already!
[As Manny lies in his bed alone, the rest are busy goes to sleep and the screen turns dark. Morning. Construction Site. Manny wakes up and finds that everyone went home after the party's over. While the Vampiros are cleaning up and working the fields, he notices several helicopters heading towards the damaged dam. He flies towards them and spots several construction workers there fixing the big hole he created. Upset, he flies down and confronts them.]
Manny: (uptight) Hey! What are you tontos up to?!
Construction foreman: (snarky) Hey! It's you! What the fuck are you doing here, chamaco! Are you here to fight me, baby boy! (arrogantly teasing) You know, I still haven't forgiven you for that remark, you bastard! And I want to see what a lazy, stupid looking, selfish momma's boy like you have against a competent, hard working, ambitious man like me…
[Manny puts his two fingers in the foreman's nose, turns El Tigre, pierces his nose, and lunges him to a standing rock. The sheer force rips his skin and his entire skeleton flies out his body and lands on the ocean. The entire construction workers are shocked by the revelation as Manny gives them a violent death glare, leaving them paralyzed. Manny then punches the ground and the reconstruction shatters to pieces. The workers then flee from the wreckage and Manny reverts to normal]
Manny: Finally. It's over.
?: In the name of justice, we order you to freeze!
?: Stop right there!
?: Prepare for a world of hurt!
?: You messed with the wrong team!
Manny: (ear twitch) I spoke too soon.
[Suddenly, four hooded figures surround the hero and reveal themselves to Manny as the Miracle City Police Force]
Anita: My name is Anita! And I'm the 1st Lieutenant!
Nikita: My name is Nikita! And I'm the 2nd Lieutenant!
Jessica: My name is Jessica! And I'm the Captain of the Guards!
Delisa: And my name is Delisa! And I'm the Warden of Calavera Prison!
Manny: (scoffs and grins) So, they sent the clowns after me? I can handle these buffoons with both hands tied behind my back. Bring it on, pendejas!
[The female police force respond with shock and bewilderment]
Nikita: You do know we're women right?!
Manny: So?! Man, woman, monster, skeleton, lion, crocodile, or that bear who stole my salmon that one time, I don't care. You're all enemies who dare fight me! So, I'll say it once again: Bring it on, pendejas!
[Manny smiles and prepares to fight the police force and the image stands still]
End of Chapter 3