El Tigre: Evolution
"Always nice to meet a fan."
-Diego Luxe
Chapter 3
The excited class pushed through the glass doors of the LuxeCorp building, chattering. Grandpapi was following behind, trying to keep them under control. They stopped in awe once they were fully inside, though. The interior was right out of a sci-fi movie. People were floating around in LuxePods, zooming between floors. A large hovering platform served as an elevator. This platform settled on the ground with only one occupant, who approached the group. He seemed fairly young, handsome, but his dark hair was already going slightly gray, giving it a salt and pepper effect.
"Greetings, Children!" he said with open arms. "I am-"
"Diego Luxe!" a girl squealed. The teacher glared at her. Grandpapi coughed.
Diego Luxe just smiled. "Always nice to meet a fan."
Everyone laughed politely. Luxe continued.
"It's our policy here at LuxeCorp that "Children Are the Future." No one believes that more than I. Let's start our tour in the Hall of Memories, with a brief summary of my childhood, and the dreams that led me to where I am now…" He trailed off as he led the group to another hall. Manny and Frida lingered for a moment.
"Now's our chance to sneak off!" Frida whispered.
"Not now, Frida! We have to be sure everyone is totally distracted, especially Grandpapi!"
They turned to see Manny's grandfather chatting up the attractive blonde who had greeted them outside earlier.
Manny rolled his eyes. "Okay, he's distracted."
Manny and Frida darted into another hallway. Not much later there was a resounding slap, and Grandpapi walked away from the woman, face stinging. He looked around, and headed off in a totally different direction from the others.
A man walked down a hallway, stopping by a fancy trashcan to deposit a tissue. The trashcan cheerfully responded, "Thank you for using LuxeCan, always grateful to accept your garbage!"
When the man was further down the hall, Frida and El Tigre popped their heads out of the trashcan. When he turned the corner, they hopped out completely.
Unfortunately, this triggered the trashcan to say, "I hope you enjoyed your stay in the LuxeCan!"
The man peeked back around the corner. He saw…an empty hall. He shrugged and went on his way.
El Tigre dropped Frida down from the ceiling and then dropped down himself.
"That was close!" said Frida.
"Yeah," El Tigre acknowledged. "His office has to be around here somewhere."
"It's a little, empty, isn't it?" asked Frida. "Kinda creepy. And where's all the security?"
"Are you going to complain, or are we going to do this?"
"Sorry."
They reached the end of the hall, where a set of double doors and keypad awaited them.
"That would be the security." Frida pointed out the keypad
El Tigre thought for a moment. "The code could be his birthday. If only we had stayed for his childhood story!"
"It's not," said a voice behind them. The kids jumped. They were busted. They turned to see…the blonde woman from before.
Diego Luxe led the group into a large room.
"This is where we test all of the Luxe vehicles," he said with a flourish, "from LuxeScooters to Luxe-brand mini-vans."
A hand was raised in the back. Luxe nodded.
"We have a question, Miss…?"
"Aves," said the familiar voice as she stepped forward. "Zoë Aves."
"And your question?"
"I was wondering if you would show us the weaponry you design for certain military…ventures."
Luxe laughed. "I am afraid you are mistaken, little lady. While LuxeCorp does design products that keep our soldiers safe, we don't deal with any direct weaponry or anything too…what would be the word…dangerous?" He smiled and motioned for everyone to move on. Zoë stayed behind for a second, arms crossed, thinking, but then caught up.
El Tigre and Frida stood facing the blonde woman.
"We weren't doing anything!" said Frida.
"We were just lost!" said El Tigre.
"I blame the media!" Frida came back.
"Relax," said the woman. "I'm not here to turn you in. I'm here to help."
"You're not?" asked Frida.
"You are?" asked El Tigre.
She rolled up her sleeve, revealing a jeweled ruby bracelet.
"My name's Trina, and I'm on your side, fellow object-wielder."
El Tigre was confused. "What now?"
Trina looked confused now as well. "You are El Tigre, are you not?"
Frida was getting frustrated too. "Of course he's El Tigre! Are you blind?"
"Then you must know you are an object wielder, chosen by the gods!"
El Tigre shrugged. "I have a belt…"
Trina took a deep breath. " Then obviously you have not been fully educated as to the source of your powers. But right now we must focus on what is inside this room."
Trina punched in a code on the keypad and the doors opened.
"I've been working on the inside for several months now. I just recently got the code. When I sensed another object-wielder sneaking around, I figured now was as good of a time as any."
El Tigre and Frida looked at each other. It was Frida who spoke up.
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you looking for, and what does this have to do with Luxe?"
Trina grimaced.
"Have you ever heard of the Tome of Torment?"
Diego Luxe was explaining the complexities of some gadget when it hit the teacher: I haven't seen You-Know-Who Numbers One and Two in awhile. The teacher sighed and turned to look for Sr. Rivera. She looked...and looked...and looked.
Where could he have gone? Maybe he took them to the bathroom. Let's hope…
That hope was shattered as the alarm sounded. A voice came over the loud speaker saying, "Alert, alert. The main vault has been compromised. I repeat, the main vault has been compromised. All security personnel report to Sublevel 3."
The kids started chattering excitedly. The teacher put her head in her hands. Diego Luxe ran off, assuring the group everything would be fine along the way. No one noticed a certain dark-haired girl sneak away…
El Tigre, Frida, and Trina were in Luxe's office when the alarm began to sound.
"Uh-oh. Is that us?" asked Frida.
Trina shook her head. "No, someone's broken into the vault."
El Tigre and Frida exchanged knowing glances.
Trina continued. "But still, we have to hurry. Luxe might come up here. Security control can be wired through this office.
El Tigre produced a folder and placed it on Luxe's desk.
"There, I'm done," he said.
"What is that?" Frida asked.
"It's a résumé," EL Tigre stated simply. "I'm applying as an intern. I figured he be more impressed if I could get it to him personally, using my mad ninja skills!"
"Or you could have just given it to him at the end of the tour," Frida pointed out. "Besides, why would you want to do something nerdy like be an intern anyway?"
Manny grinned evilly. " Just imagine what I could do, what I could get away with if I were Diego Luxe's intern!"
Dream Sequence
Manny walks into school, and Vice Principal Chakal immediately confronts him.
"You're late!" he roars. Manny pulls out a badge and flashes it to the Vice-Principal.
"Billionaire's intern," he says, walking by.
Chakal's demeanor changes instantly. "Oh! So sorry, sir!"
A long line stands outside a building marked "Lazer Tag." Manny struts past the line. A large staff member tries to stop him.
"Whoa, buddy. You's got to wait in line like everybody else."
Manny flashes the badge again. "Billionaire's intern."
"Oh, that's cool then." The man lets him pass.
A baker enters his shop, only to find it ransacked.
"My pastries!" he cries. A bloated El Tigre sits in the middle of the mess.
"You…" the baker threatens.
"Billionaire's intern," El Tigre says, once again flashing the badge.
"Ah," says the baker. "Well I can always make more!"
End Dream Sequence
Frida thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, that would be awesome!"
A sudden grinding sound turned their attention back to the room's other occupant. Trina had just found a switch behind an ornate painting that caused a large section of the wall to open up, causing the aforementioned sound, and revealing a secret room.
"This is it…" Trina whispered breathlessly.
"What is it?" asked Frida.
The secret room was empty, except for a pedestal, on which there was…a book. The book was bound in some scaly material, with dark symbols etched into the cover.
Trina, Frida, and El Tigre approached the pedestal.
"Dude, that is totally evil," said Frida.
"Nonsense," said El Tigre. "Like my mom says, you should never judge a book by its cover." With that, he opened it. The sound of suffering souls escaped it, and tendrils of dark mist shaped like reaching hands emerged from the page, groping for the three present. El Tigre slammed the book shut.
"Yup, it's evil."
"But what is Diego Luxe doing with it?" asked Frida.
"What indeed?" came the reply from behind them. They whirled around to see Luxe standing at the secret room's entrance with three others; a man with jet-black hair, and a man and a woman with snow-white hair.
"Los Alados, if you would please?" Luxe requested, gesturing toward the three intruders.