Clean Fall Chapter 7, an el tigre fanfic

You really liked that last chapter. Yes, it was wonderful. I don't normally take this much pride in my work, especially since it was so cliché. Seriously. I had a shape shifter masquerading as a military leader. Surely you all will see this coming, I said. But it seems you didn't. And it gets better. Acosta is right; read his review and see.

"And our weather report from Hell… bit of a cold front moving in."

- Unknown

Chapter 7, Assassin

Skies of Miracle City, 4:17 PM

Puma Loco was spiraling out of control for a time, having been hit hard by Black Cuervo's boosted laser again and again. Though he would not admit it to himself, and probably anybody else, he was loosing this battle, which struck him as odd. It was rare that a battle with a Flock member was this one-sided. He landed his mech hard on a nearby rooftop, and once stable, Puma looked through his cracked windshield and growled. She was laughing at him.

"Poor Puma… getting a little too old for this? Don't worry, it'll be over soo-."

"It's done."

"What?"

She had been interrupted? This drew the old man's attention, though he dared not attack; this may prove informative. She was looking back toward the sector of the city she had appeared from, which made Grandpapi think for just a moment that maybe…

"Manny?"

"So you just want me to leave this unfinished?"

"I'll let you scrap him later. Right now, I need you back here."

"Roger that. Bye bye, Puma. Say goodbye to Manny for me!"

She flew off with a cackle, cutting through the air in the volcano's direction. Never the type to give chase, Grandpapi looked in the direction of the fading smoke, the general area that Cuervo was just gazing at. What she said stuck with him, making him cold inside. So he had no problem with firing up his jets and flying that way in search of his grandson.

The Rooftop, 4:17 PM

He watched silently, though his body was anything but quiet; with each hard breath, Tigre filled his ears with the sound of his raspy voice and his own erratic heartbeat. His skin felt so hot, and he could feel sweat coming out of ever pore in his skin. The cold sweat seemed to put him under immense pressure, for he couldn't move. And though he could not hear the shouting soldiers below, he knew he should probably run away, but he didn't, he couldn't. He happened to turn his gaze toward the ambulance that pulled in below, followed closely by a dull green jeep. Out of the jeep came another familiar face: Lieutenant Gutierre. The lieutenant forced his way toward Fitzgerald, who was just now being visited by the paramedics.

"General! What happened?"

"Gutierre… El Tigre…"

"What?"

"Up top," the general forced a gesture to the building directly in front of him as the paramedics moved him onto a stretcher, starting to bring him to the ambulance. "You have to catch him!"

"Yes sir."

The lieutenant tried to climb into the vehicle, but was stopped by Fitzgerald before he could. He looked at his general with sad, questioning eyes, almost begging him to be allowed inside.

"Gutierre, you have to stay…"

"Sir?"

"You are in charge now… understand me, lieutenant? You are in charge…"

"… Yes sir. Private, go with him. I want him under your watch the whole time."

The nameless soldier who had found the general in the alley nodded and climbed into the vehicle, struggling to keep his equipment from hindering the busy paramedics. The lieutenant, meanwhile, could only watch as the doors were shut and the ambulance sped away, lights flashing and siren wailing. After a moment of crushing silence in which Gutierre could only here a dull whistling sound, he turned to the rooftop angrily.

"Find El Tigre! Catch him!"

This got Mr. Rivera's attention… though he could still find it impossible to move. Even as the soldiers poured into the building, he didn't budge. But he heard a sound that made him tilt his head back, looking up toward the sun. Lucky for him, a huge, slowly descending mech was blocking out the golden star's light, permitting Tigre to keep his eyesight. When Puma Loco landed, he slid his windshield back.

"Manny! Get inside!"

The door from the stairwell burst open for the second time that day, and several soldiers rushed out onto the roof, immediately taking aim. Not wasting another second, Tigre jumped into the suit. He and his grandfather escaped through a wave of bullets, disappearing from sight. Lieutenant Gutierre joined his troops just in time to see the target escape. He growled angrily and started back down toward the street.

The Ambulance, 4:26 PM

"Is the general alright?"

The paramedics busied themselves with bandaging the many claw wounds on Fitzgerald's body, barely acknowledging the soldier's question, much less the soldier himself. He waited patiently for the answer, trained long and hard by the government to be obedient. Despite his patience, he found it necessary to ask again.

"Is he alright?"

"Yes, he'll be fine."

"What? But his injuries-."

"Copy that, command," the driver said, though the soldier clearly remembered not hearing the ambulance radio being used. Furthermore, since when does an ambulance driver refer to the hospital as command? The driver said something else that was troubling. "Is the double ready?"

"What's going on?"

The soldier was met with a gun to the face, held by none other than General Fitzgerald. He was leaning up toward the soldier with a heavily bandaged chest, a grim look plastered all over his face. When he spoke, it wasn't with the general's voice.

"Don't move, don't make a sound."

The ambulance pulled into an alley in a rather filthy part of town, populated by the poor and controlled by, until recently, the drug lords and mobsters of Miracle City. The ambulance doors opened, and the soldier was met by several of M's men in black, who all held handguns with silencers to the poor young man. He exited the vehicle with his hands up, allowing the paramedics to seize his weapon. Nikolai emerged from the ambulance next, stretching gently and wincing every now and then.

"Are you alright, sir?"

"Da… the double is ready?"

"Yes sir. What should we do with the soldier?"

Nikolai walked around the side of the ambulance without answering; not a good sign. Closing his eyes without a sound, he was ripped apart by several quiet bullets, backing up against and wall and sliding down slowly. Two men in black dragged the bleeding soldier away while the others helped the paramedics move a rather awkward package into the back of the ambulance. Taking on the shape of the now dead soldier, Nikolai returned and looked at the subject: a perfect mannequin resembling General Fitzgerald, made from polymers that perfectly resembled organic tissue. And filled with real blood? Surely this couldn't be in the budget. This should draw attention away from M long enough to seize the city.

"I'll put the finishing touches on him on the way to the hospital. We're done here."

The doors were shut, the engine was started, and the ambulance backed out of the alley. Anybody who could have seen something didn't, and nobody was any the wiser. It was a good day to be on team evil.

Rivera Estate, 4:28 PM

They practically crash landed at the estate; it was only with expert manipulation that Puma Loco managed to not land head first on the patio, though the furniture that decorated it was destroyed by his suit's sloppy movements. Once its feet were on the ground, the windshield was opened and Manny jumped out, losing his Tigre powers in the process. Grandpapi too returned to civilian dress, hurriedly pushing Manny into the house.

"Come on! We have to get ready!"

"For what?"

The sound of sirens far below confirmed Grandpapi's fears. Something bad had certainly happened under his watch, and as such, he was working hard to fix the problem. Manny would have to leave for while until all of this was cleared up. But the matter of where came to mind… in the event of capture, he'd have to be somewhere where extraditing him would be difficult. And while Grandpapi pondered this, there came a hard knocking at the door. They remained silent, unsure what the next move should be, until there was a voice to go with the knocking.

"Rivera! Open the door or I'll kick it in!"

"Great," Manny sighed, dropping his shoulders in despair, "Chief Suarez."

Before anyone could reach the entrance, Chief Suarez decided to keep his promise, and the door was forced open with a powerful kick. Suarez came stomping in, which was imposing in and of itself, though Manny did notice one other thing.

"Where are the other police officers?"

"I had them wait downstairs. I wanted to do this alone."

"Fine, but before you haul me off like you always wanted, can I at least explain myself?"

There were explanations for murdering high ranking officials? Now, as nonsensical as this was, Emiliano did recall one thing: that Manny Rivera had never done anything like this before. And part of righteousness was equality.

"Very well. What is your side of the story, Tigre?"

M's Command Center, 4:37 PM

Watching his computer screen with a devious smile, Maxim hummed idly as the news broadcast just got better and better. Normally plans don't come together so well; Miracle City must have just been on the edge with the whole El Tigre argument. Is he good? Is he evil? Well, television like this… it just makes deciding so much easier for people. Maxim thought about running for president should this whole villain thing fall through.

"We are in front of Casa del Macho, where El Tigre and Puma Loco are engaged with an exchange with the police. The military is sending spare units to help stabilize the situation, but at the moment, Police Chief Emiliano Suarez is inside attempting to apprehend-."

An explosion rattled the camera man, who could be heard shouting as he struggled to regain control of his heavy equipment. Chaos erupted on the street as a small amount of rubble fell from the estate above and the police officers began firing their ineffective weapons at something off screen. Once the reporter had regained his composure, he pointed to the source of the bedlam.

"What is that? Get the camera on it!"

Maxim leaned forward when he saw the great black mass come into focus, and his smile faded. It looked a lot like Puma Loco's mech, if it was designed to be a war machine and painted black. Apparently the Riveras were going to make their get away in this behemoth; what was strange was that it wasn't firing back, simply flying off in another direction.

"The police are apparently giving chase! Get in the van! Come on!"

He tapped his fingers on his keyboard warily, replaying the footage again and again in an attempt to clarify something. What he saw didn't seem quite right… but zooming in did nothing for him. He couldn't see through the tinted windshield. Why would Puma Loco just run, though? Well, there could be any number of reasons. They were already in a great deal of trouble, so making it worse by killing police officers on national television was probably not high on the list of things to do right now. But still, what was the purpose of the battle mech? A thought occurred to Maxim then, and he rewound the footage further, playing it back before the explosion.

"… to help stabilize the situation, but at the moment, Police Chief Emiliano Suarez…"

And stop. He frowned in thought, trying to recall the name Suarez. He knew he was supposed to know that name, and for the life of him Maxim could not figure out how something important could have slipped his mind. But that's where the computer came in handy. Going to another screen, he entered in the name Emiliano Suarez… and what he saw brought the smile back to his lips.

Rivera Estate, 4:40 PM

Grandpapi watched with tearing eyes as his prototype super-mech flew into the distance, driven by its auto-pilot to simply leave Miracle City. It would probably be the last time he'd ever see the very expensive piece of machinery. Emiliano Suarez, meanwhile, watched it with subdued anxiety as Manny went about packing whatever he could afford to grab and stuff into his suitcase. Chief Suarez was nervous about this more than he could ever believe.

"I can't believe I'm about to help a fugitive…"

"Hey, you said you were cool with this," Manny called out as he returned with his suitcase.

Emiliano continued to stare out into the afternoon sky, no longer looking at the rogue mech playing the decoy. He really thought his police officers were smarter than that, but today was just proving to be a big day for disappointment. His gaze turned to the street below, where a man in a gray suit coat and a red and gold mask was seen running into the building.

"Your father is home…"

"What?! Aw man… this is gonna' suck."

"It'll be fine. I'll explain what you told me, but with better words."

That seemed a lot more daunting a task now that he said it aloud; it was a very complex story, if you thought about it. Emiliano practiced his exact words over and over again, and each time they seemed to make less sense, even though he believed every one of them. At this stage, he was willing to accept that a doppelganger pretending to be General Fitzgerald had staged an attempt on his own life by trying to kill El Tigre. After all, the words of Dr. Chipotle Jr. were still fresh in his mind: I do not trust General Fitzgerald. It now seemed possible, if not probable, that M was indeed pulling the strings of his beloved city. The people just didn't know it yet. Through the open door came Rodolfo, charging in with impressive speed. He stopped by the gaping hole in the side of the building, where Grandpapi sat whimpering and Police Chief Suarez stood tall and silent. This was… different.

"What's going on here? The news said horrible things!"

"Rodolfo, calm down. I think we need to have a chat."

"Chief Suarez… is it true?"

After telling his speech, Emiliano sat patiently at his end of the kitchen table. In five minutes, he had concisely said everything that Manny had told him, but Rodolfo, for one reason or another, refused to accept many things. Each doubt he had needed to be explained away, which dragged the whole ordeal out further and further. It wasn't that he didn't believe in his son's virtue… but how could the city have gotten so corrupted that a foreigner could just walk in and put them all in a corner? When did Miracle City become so broken down that a plot like this could go unnoticed? Complacency, it seemed, found its way even into the minds of Miracle City's defenders. After much argumentation, pacing, and words spoken in anger, Rodolfo sat down and with a single question accepted the harsh reality.

"… What do we do now?"

"Manny Rivera needs to disappear for a while."

"Great! I'm all packed, let's go!"

"Manny, go to your room."

While he didn't follow the order, Manny took the cue and remained silent for the duration. His father closed his eyes and took a cleansing breath, letting it out slowly in the form of a gentle hiss.

"If he runs, he'll remain a criminal."

"If he stays," Emiliano immediately answered, "M will destroy him."

"Where can he go that M cannot reach him?"

"I have a friend in Peru," Grandpapi chimed in, sitting far off in Rodolfo's recliner, "the three of us can lay low with him for a while."

"That arms dealer friend of yours? He's still in business?"

"… You have no evidence."

"You cannot go with your son, Rodolfo."

"What?!"

It was Manny who had questioned this, and with good reason. Now more than ever he needed his father, but he ignored the logic behind Chief Suarez's statement. Someone else needed him more, or rather, something else.

"You are the only Rivera that the city doesn't want strung up. You are the last pillar of justice available, and we need you here. White Pantera can't leave with Miracle City perched on the edge of the knife."

Rodolfo acquiesced… but Manny did not. He grew even more furious that there was any sort of reasoning to be paired with this separation. And as he fumed, he approached the table, mouth open to voice his objection. Rodolfo held up his hand to stop the rebuttal before it reached fruition.

"He's right, mijo. My place is here while you and Papi are away. Chief Suarez and I will try to straighten things out."

Anger melted into sentimental sadness, and Manny turned his head away to hide the tears that tried to force their way out. He couldn't very well show weakness when everyone around him was being strong, could he? Well, he could, but that wouldn't resonate well. His father stood and pulled his mask off, patting Manny on the head with a knowing smile.

"It's alright, mijo. Papi will look out for you. Besides, someone has to be here for your mother."

"… Alright dad."

Manny turned his gaze to the floor, staring at his father's feet for a moment before closing his eyes and stifling a whimper. Rodolfo pulled him into a hug, trying to comfort him in these most trying of times. Manny found one last sentence in his throat, and quietly spoke it in case his father wasn't already aware of it.

"Take care of everyone…"