Line in the Sand Chapter 5, an el tigre fanfic

Shout outs to some peeps.

I'd first like to thank Sunny204. Sunny's the first person to add Line in the Sand to their favorites list. I'm hoping some other reviewers will as well.

I've already been asked if this piece is Zoe x Manny. And that's a secret, yo.

Chapter 5, The Horrors of Science… and Dating

Unknown location, 9:00 PM

M almost nodded off again as he sat listening to this garbage. Seriously, there was nothing interesting happening at all. Zoe would ask him something, then he'd reply. If M was lucky, Manny would reply with a joke. Though he found this all to be very boring, and regretted telling her he'd maintain a vigil, it could at least be said that the prospect was positive. Manny liked her enough to keep a conversation active for over four hours. There was not one silence that was wrong, not one word too out of place. And Zoe was loving it.

The Bandito Parlor, 9:00 PM

"… And that's how I got out of paying the damages for tipping the Churro truck over."

Zoe giggled behind her hand. Some explanations for stories are mundane. For instance, a normal person would get out of paying for that by running away. But not Manny Rivera. He'd much rather set up an elaborate chain of coincidences that all pointed to a rubber ball. The fact that he DID get away with is what makes it laughable.

"I can't believe they fell for that. You're good."

Manny smiled, tipping back in his chair. His ego deflated a little when compensated for nearly falling back by grabbing the table hard and tipping his glass over. Soda, all over his good pants. Zoe went beyond giggling at this point, but was still able to over him some aid.

"Here. Let me-," she forced through her laughter, "let me help you."

Now out of her seat, Zoe was at Manny's side, wiping away the soda with her napkin. He stood perfectly still while she did, and for a time he smiled, enjoying her company as well as her cleaning of his thigh. She stood straight and looked at him, and her face had a look of curiosity. Why was he smiling so… goofy? Manny became self-conscious again and quietly took his seat. Zoe smiled and returned to her chair. Another good silence, a place where nothing needed to be said. It dragged on forever until Manny's watch started to beep.

"Nine? Wow… where'd the time go? I think we should call it a night, don't you?"

Zoe frowned when he said that. The way he said it seemed as if he was already tired of her. "Okay… I guess so."

Manny stood and helped her out of her chair. "But, if you want, we could, I dunno', do this again?"

"Of course!" Zoe hid her jubilation well, not wanting to come off as too excited by the prospect. Her eyes betrayed her. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, I like to leave it up to the spur of the moment… I'll call you when I decide," he said as they walked out the door into the cooling night. "Oh, I'll also need your phone number."

Zoe smiled and stood up on her toes. So exciting! Having pocketed the pen left by the waitress, she took it out and wrote out her number. Not having any paper, she was forced to write it on his hand. She made sure to write it slowly, and when she was done she held on to his fingers for an extra ten seconds.

"I had a lot of fun tonight, Manny."

"Me too, Zoe. … Will you, you know, be alright on the way home? It can get pretty rough out on the streets at night."

"Oh, you're so sweet," she said, standing briefly on tip toe again. "But don't you worry. I can manage."

"Alright then. Good night, Zoe."

"Good night, Manny." She waved as he strutted off down the street. He had a lot more spring in his step than he had when they walked into the Parlor. Watching him walk off, Zoe sighed contentedly. "Perfect."

"…Finally."

Zoe's eyes shot open. "What was that?"

"…Nothing."

"That's right, nothing. I told you, you didn't have to listen in on me."

Zoe smirked and turned towards home. She too had a little extra pep packed in each step, and she hummed happily to herself.

Rivera Estate, 9:15 PM

Rodolfo was watching the clock. Manny had been gone for a long while, and there wasn't a call about how he'd be back late or if he had any plans for the evening. Frida was rarely allowed out past 8:30 anymore, which made it hard for Manny to spend much time with her afterwards. Finally, the front door opened, and through it came a happy Manny Rivera.

"Mijo, what were you doing out so late?"

Manny stopped dead in his tracks. The sense of trouble was all about him, which was strange because he hadn't even done anything. He turned around with a sigh and marched straight into the front room where his father sat.

"It's nine o' clock. Were you and Frida out past her curfew?"

Manny's eyes opened wide for a moment. Frida said she was going to meet him… he completely forgot about that. How to explain this… for this, maybe the truth; or something close to it.

"Frida had to cancel on me. I was hanging out with someone else…"

"Really?" Now Rodolfo's interests were piqued. Who else does Manny hang out with? No one really came to mind. "Who is this friend of yours? Why haven't I heard about him before?"

"I've known her from school for a whi-- uh, we're new friends." There was an awkward silence, a moment where Manny stared at his dad without moving a muscle. "But now I have to go to my room. For, uh, a reason."

Rodolfo watched his son leave the room, plagued now with disbelief. Finally, when he heard Manny's door close, he let tears well up in his eyes. "My son! He has a girlfriend!" He jumped up happily and ran off toward the kitchen, flailing his hands about. What a glorious day. "Strange… I always thought it would be Frida."

Manny, meanwhile, was busy copying Zoe's number down onto a piece of paper on his desk. He stared at it smiling, tapped it a couple times, then went to lie down on his bed. This time he was staring up at the ceiling not out of boredom, but contentedness. A thought troubled him, though. What happened to Frida? He looked over at the phone, and for a moment or so he contemplated calling her to see what was up. Instead he talked himself out of it. It was probably that her dad checked her homework and found out it wasn't as done as she claimed it to be. Yeah… probably just that.

Suarez Residence, Wednesday, 7:20 AM

Manny waited patiently outside Frida's house, mind buzzing with questions. One of them was why it was taking her so long to get outside. If she took much longer, they'd have to rush to school again. If she was doing her hair over because she didn't like it the first time, he'd give her such a pinch.

"Come on, Frida! We're gonna' be late!"

As if on cue, the front door opened and out came Frida, joined by her family's Dobermans. They ran to the fence and barked ferociously at Manny, who backed up when they did. He never got used to that.

"I heard you the first time. Bye papa!"

"Bye Frida. Have a good day at school. Rivera! Don't get her into trouble!"

The door slammed shut as Frida hopped the fence. She smiled as she fixed her goggles and fluffed her hair. "How do I look?"

"Looking good. Come on," he said impatiently, forgoing the usual chatter. "We'll talk on the way."

"Geez, chill out. Since when did want to go to school?"

"I don't," he said, turning. "I just don't want to be late again."

Frida rolled her eyes, but conceded to his line of thinking. She had quite the tardiness problem herself. "But don't you wanna' get into trouble first? Just a little?" As she asked that, she clasped her hands together and held them low, stretching her arms and causing her head to tilt. She knew that Manny couldn't resist it when girls pulled that move on him.

Manny stood watching for a moment. "Well…"

One unexplained exploded mail box later and the two were running like hell to school, laughing madly as they did. Morning mayhem safely accomplished, Manny and Frida strolled safely into the school courtyard, breathing hard to recover from the unexpected sprint.

Frida laughed uncontrollably as she recalled the lead up to that explosion. "Man, I love blowing things up! Don't you Manny? … Manny?"

But Manny was gone… mentally, anyway. He waved at a girl across the courtyard, a girl dressed in black and waving back while wearing an attractive smile. Seeing this display made Frida a little unhappy.

"What are you doing?" She pushed him by the shoulder, not hard, but still slightly aggressively. "Don't wave to Zoe Aves."

"Not this again," Manny sighed, "you know how I feel about this argument."

"I don't care. Zoe's pure evil. You're not allowed to wave to her."

"Frida!" Now he was becoming upset. "Why won't you drop this?"

Without a response, Frida only turned away with loud "hmph," tired of him defending Zoe for what seemed to be no reason whatsoever. Aren't friends only supposed to side with their friends? For some reason, it didn't click in her mind that that logic could work backwards.

"Come on, we better get to class," she finally said, pulling at his jacket. They didn't have much time left to get through the crowded hallways, and she no longer had the patience to listen to another speech about showing up to class on time.

Zoe watched Frida's display from her end of the courtyard, and when she and Manny were gone, she let her smile degrade into something a little more foul. She laughed quietly as the pieces started falling into place. Diego was curious what had her in so "good" a mood.

"I'm glad to see you're laughing, Zoe. What is that has your attention?"

"Quiet, Diego," she said softly, "I'm plotting evil things."

Diego smiled too, for two reasons. One, he always loved plotting evil things. Two, she had been gentle in asking him to stop talking. Usually it was just a harsh "shut up" paired with an insult. He inched closer, hoping to capitalize on her not so violent emotions.

"No, you're not getting lucky tonight. Now come on, time for class."

Diego sighed in defeat, but smiled when Zoe grabbed his arm and led him off much like Frida had led Manny into the dungeon that was the school. He would have a great deal on his mind today, and not a lot of it would revolve around learning anything. Already his mind swam with a blend of vile food-based monsters, deceptive ploys, and Zoe holding a rose. He dwelled on that last one for almost an hour…

Unknown Location, 9:15 AM

M sat in his chair, just thinking. The experiment was moving at almost twice the speed he anticipated… if this kept up, the subject would be ready before the power amplifier was. He leaned back in his seat, recalling the haste with which the program was undertaken and advanced…

Flashback Sequence

"As you can see, we are very optimistic about the level of mutation his cells can handle," said Dr. Chipotle Sr., pointing at a meaningless red line on a chart.

"Mutation? Are you gonna' make me into a monster?"

There was silence. Dr. Chipotle smirked as he watched the Cactus Kid squirm in his seat, fearing the ideas that those around him were discussing. M watched from his seat, calculating the numbers again and again, making sure this project wouldn't be a waste. Super villains were not an incredibly expendable resource. The Cactus Kid wasn't particularly impressive, not like some of the people M had met over the years, but Chipotle was right. It seemed he was the best prospect for this program.

"We might… we might not do anything. It's all up to your cells, my friend. In any case, you will be compensated. Twice your weight in gold."

"What?!" Dr. Chipotle Sr. was the source of this objection. That gold was supposed to be his payment for robbing the mint. And now he wasn't getting any of it? "You said—!"

"I said I would pay you. Are you calling me a liar?"

The good doctor remained quiet, though angry. As long as he got paid, he'd be quiet. But the loss of the gold was not one he would be happy with. "So, are we going to move ahead with this plan?"

"That all depends on the Cactus Kid. I don't wish to proceed without his consent."

The Kid sat still for a moment, staring down at the floor. His eyes twitched as he thought about all the repercussions of his choice. He didn't get far with it, but it was an honest effort. What could go wrong? He could use the money he'd get… "I'll do it."

M smiled.

Unknown Location, 9:32 AM

M looked at the computer screen when it interrupted his thoughts with a loud beep. After a few key strokes, the information he wanted was brought up. Projected level of mutation reached. Cellular degeneration, minimal; mental degradation, zero; emotional trauma, possible, but unlikely. M smiled, picking up a cell phone and pressing in a string of numbers. He listened to the ringing, and after the third time started to get impatient.

"Older."

"Hello, Buzz."

"Oh, hello boss. I presume you're calling about the amplifier."

"You presume correctly. About how much longer until the first model is complete."

"Well, after the first test set fire to the lab… we were set back about four hours. But we've got the battery working with the hardware now, so maybe another six hours."

"Good, good. Be sure to get it to me as soon as you can after you've finished.

"Yes sir."

M snapped the phone shut and looked at the screen again, smirking over the results. The Cactus Kid was going to prove a very interesting subject. He already showed potential in the desired fields… and the power amplifier would just make it crazy fun. M clicked a different tab on the screen, opening up newspaper and media reports on his foes. White Pantera, Puma Loco, and El Tigre… they were all very threatening. The project may not be enough until its final stages. He opened the phone again and punched in a different number. This time he was answered almost immediately.

"Da?"

"Nikolai… I have some good news for you."

Rivera Estate, 5:30 PM

Manny paced back forth in front of his desk, not once taking his eye off of Zoe's phone number. He liked spending time with someone different for once… he didn't want to feel bad about it. Plus Frida was too busy to hang out again… her teachers were really cracking down once they heard that Frida was actually going to be doing her homework from now on. He stopped pacing and picked up the tiny bit of paper that was causing him so much anxiety. He finally steeled up his resolve; there's no way this can be so hard. It's just calling someone on the phone. He took her number to phone and put the receiver to his ear, pushing each digit on the box as he focused hard. Once it started ringing, he started getting anxious again. What if it was too soon? Guys at school had always talked about waiting three days before calling back. Would Zoe think less of him for not sticking to that supposed protocol? Before he could hang up, though, someone answered.

"Hello?" But it was the voice of an old woman.

Manny coughed once, then responded. "Uh, hi. Is, uh, is Zoe there?" He held the receiver tight, fearing that she wasn't home, or that she was too busy to talk. His fears were unwarranted.

"One moment please… Zoe! Is a boy!"

Words Manny couldn't clearly hear were exchanged… something about not having to yell, and why it was okay to talk to boys, and why dinner wasn't being cooked until 7:30. It was a little awkward. "I don't know why, Grandmami. Now please, I'm on the phone. … Hello?"

"Oh, hey Zoe."

"Manny! Wow, you DID call!" she squealed, sounding flustered. She clearly had prepared herself for a long siege.

"Are you busy tonight?"

"Uhm," there was the sound of shuffling papers. "No…"

That made him smile. He seemed to be doing that a lot now, especially when he thought about her. "Well, do you wanna' do something tonight?"