Line in the Sand Chapter 10, an el tigre fanfic

((Loaded a second time because of an error I could NOT ignore.))

What a horrible week… but at least now it's done. This chapter has been inside my head since the very beginning. It will probably upset you die hard Frida x Manny fans, but be sure to pay attention not only to what's written, but to obvious notions that I've used for the writing.

Now to answer the question: who is M?

Chapter 10, M

Miracle City Airport, Saturday, 4:30 PM

Two days… it has been only two days since the attack. But the people had to keep moving; letting their lives become disrupted by such a brutal and heartless maneuver as that done two days ago would only give strength to the perpetrators. Most industries, though taking a day of silence in remembrance of those lost, have returned to business as usual, though somewhat quieter. A young American sat at his gate, waiting for the arrival of his plane. He was innocuous: brown hair, brown eyes, a white business shirt and dark gray pants. He read a newspaper quietly until a burly, thick bearded man emerged from the crowd and sat down next to him. There was silence between them, until the bearded man turned to him.

"Transferring to Egypt?"

"Absolutely… it will prove to be most marvelous."

"… You sure you don't want me to go instead?"

"Completely," M said, not even shifting his gaze a little, "and you should be more careful with your speech. I might suspect you're not from around here."

"Sorry senor… but…"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. No one knows anything anyway. I'm a little concerned about the littlest Aves, though. She hasn't reported in since the 'take over'."

"I'll keep an eye out."

"Good. If you need me for anything, I'll keep my cell on."

"Flight 778, non-stop to Egypt, is boarding."

"That's my plane, Nicky." Standing and folding his paper, M smoothed his hair out. No one even noticed him. No one ever did. "Oh, I do have one more thing."

"Da?"

"Careful… make sure Aves and Rivera solidify their relationship."

"… I don't get you. I know you, you're a cutthroat. Why do you want them to be together?"

"Because deep down under this cutthroat skin beats the heart of a softy, who also just happens to be an opportunist. You know, Nicky, you should read the Art of War. You might learn something about declaring war."

Nikolai watched M leave out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to draw anymore attention to them. The real reason he wanted to go to Egypt himself was because he hated being in charge, hated having to copy his friend more than anyone else. It just felt unnatural. But orders were orders, and Nikolai always followed orders.

Casa del Macho Entrance, 4:40 PM

It has been a long 48 hours… and after all that time, White Pantera was just beat. He searched every corner of the city worth searching, turned over every scummy little rock he could find. None of his contacts knew anything about the attack. They all seemed too on edge to know anything, which was the disturbing part.

"Hola White Pantera."

"Hola Ms. Chichita…"

That at least brightened his day a little. No matter what happened, little old Ms. Chichita was always kind enough for a friendly hello; refreshing in a city overrun with brutal criminals and frenzy-prone monsters. Too tired to walk much further, Pantera pressed his finger against the elevator call button, pressing his face against the wall as he leaned forward. And until the elevator arrived, he remained in that position, dazed by his exhaustion, haunted by his inability to find anything out. He was starting to lose patience with whoever was really behind this… and he knew someone was.

Rivera Estate, 4:45 PM

In a mad attempt to block out his personal outrage, Manny busied himself with running on the treadmill. He had been working out since this morning, moving from one machine to another to keep his body burning. But it was not helping as much as he thought it would; he was still angry, smoldering inside. He worried maybe he would accidentally let that fury boil into hate. One should never let hate ooze into their heart. Even Grandpapi warned against that. After the treadmill beeped, signaling the end of the trial, Manny stopped pumping his legs, letting the remaining momentum push him to the edge of the machine. When at the end of it, he jumped down, and sat down upon the hard plastic of the device. Rubbing his eyes to rid them of the odd burning sensation, he found that he was indeed very warm, but not sweating very much. Okay, maybe more water was in order. It was a short walk into the kitchen, and upon retrieving a pitcher of not water but horchata, Manny walked away from the refrigerator. He stopped when he saw a pair of boots up in the air in his father's favorite chair. Investigations led to the discovery of a very tired, very much asleep White Pantera.

"… Where have you been?"

"… Wha, huh?"

"Come on, dad. You'll hurt your back again if you sleep in the chair like this."

Seemed logical… pushing himself up off the arm rest, Rodolfo found his chest was sore from being draped over the harder part of his otherwise comfortable seat. He couldn't walk straight, so Manny, smiling tiredly, supported him on the walk to bed. Dropping down, Rodolfo hit the soft mattress with such a sigh that he was immediately asleep. Manny further aided him by removing first his mask, letting his face breathe a little, and his boots. He left immediately with a green face after removing the boots. But before he could return to his workout, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Manny."

"Hey Frida… how… how are you doing?"

"'Bout the same as you…"

"Yeah," Manny sighed, leaning against the wall as he spoke. "So what's up?"

"… There has to be something up?"

"Well, no, but…"

"I was thinking that, I dunno, we could hang out today… we haven't hung out all week."

"… Sure, I can see that happening."

"Do you want me to come over?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice. Be careful, okay?"

Aves Residence, 5:03 PM

Zoe hugged her pillow tight to her chest, drifting into sleep every now and then when the moment seemed right. But she was having some difficulty with staying asleep. At first she thought it was her conscience, and that she was simply having dreams that she couldn't remember afterwards. But the real reason was even less complicated: she was just hungry. Her body was crying out for lunch, or dinner, or whatever meal was appropriate for the time of day. Her mind, however, decided she should suffer, if only for a while. She heard the phone ringing, but did nothing. After four rings it stopped, and she forgot about it. But a minute later it rang again, this time only twice. There were words exchanged, a raised voice, then quiet. A knock on the door.

"Zoe, phone for you."

"Who is it?"

"… M."

She leaned forward, immediately wearing a scowl. Him? What did HE want? As far as she could tell, he was the source of all her pain. Well, her current pain. Normally when she felt this bad she'd get numb by now. But it seemed murder was harder to get used to. She stood, shaking a bit from her hunger, and opened her door. There stood her mother, who, despite the turmoil of the event two days ago, was no less powerful looking. But her eyes seemed more sunken. They exchanged gazes for a moment, each thinking exactly what the other was, but not vocalizing it. Zoe picked up the receiver, apprehensive about what would happen now.

"What do you want?"

"Don't be rude, brat."

"Did you just call me brat?!"

"…"

"You listen to me! No one calls Zoe Aves a brat! So help me, if you even THINK about insulting me again, even a little, I will find you, and slit your throat."

"I'll keep that in mind… but now that you've spoken your mind, may I proceed with my business?"

"Whatever…"

"Fantastic. Now, you've gone on two dates with Rivera."

"Yeah."

"When's the third?"

"We haven't planned it yet."

"Well, plan it. If he's reacting at all like he… I planned, then Rivera's going to be in a fragile state. He'll be glad to see that someone is upset about him being upset."

"I'll keep that in mind…"

Without another word, Zoe hung up, no longer afraid of M, just what he would make her do. She now felt that she had made a deal with the devil. And a white devil, no less. She set about returning to her dark pit of a room, when out of nowhere her mother took her by the shoulder.

"Oh no you don't. You're eating something, young lady."

"… You don't have to drag me to the table, though."

Rivera Estate, 5:45 PM

Baking in the afternoon sun; now there's a relaxing activity. Manny took a sip of his soda and sighed, smiling as he leaned back into his sun chair. Frida, meanwhile, was busying herself with a UV reflector and basking in the added warmth it gave her face. Which was starting to get a little too warm… far too warm. She quickly grew too sweaty to deal with it any longer.

"I'm going swimming."

"Alright," Manny replied, not really listening. In his mind, he was far off, somewhere where he didn't have to worry about the crap of everyday life. Things have always gotten bad, but they did eventually bounce back too. And things have gotten really bad. This was troubling to him. If things got bad enough, would they bounce back? Without opening his eyes, he asked his friend something. "Frida… how long do you think this whole crackdown thing is gonna last?"

Manny sat up when he heard a splash, recalling her saying something about a swim. That actually didn't sound like a bad idea. He approached the edge of the water about the time that Frida surfaced again, arching her body to press the water out of her hair. She looked… refreshed. Frida turned around to see Manny just staring at her, which caused her both to smile and raise an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"Oh, right!" He bent his legs to jump in, but heard the phone ringing. What now? "Huh, hang on."

"Don't take forever!"

The tiles of the entry way were surprisingly cool, causing Manny to walk on the ball of his foot. Must have been hotter than he first thought it was. He reached the phone in time to avoid that whole missed call nonsense.

"Hello."

"Hello Manny."

"Oh, Zoe…" he responded quietly, looking out the window to see Frida just floating on the water. "Uh, what's up?"

"Nothing… I was just thinking maybe you would like to go out tonight."

"I, uh, don't think tonight's gonna work for me."

The silence that followed was a little unsettling. Manny wondered now if that was the wrong choice. He was trying to form something with Zoe, wasn't he? Should he have just said yes?

"Well, how about tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night would be perfect," he said happily, and then he recalled something. "Better yet, how about tomorrow, at about six, in the park. I know it's not really, you know, your style, but I found something yesterday that I'd like to show you."

"That sounds nice. I'll be there."

"Great! Bye Zoe." Hanging up gently, Manny returned to the pool with a smile born from far more than just satisfaction. Frida took notice of this when he was about to jump in, and waited for him to surface to ask about it.

"So, who was that?"

"… Uhh… wrong number."

Chipotle's Secret Lab, 6:04 PM

Diego paced about, variously clenching and unclenching his robotic arm. It goes without saying that something was bothering him. At its simplest value, it was the fact that his friends had sunk to such depths to get what they want. Sergio had always been fairly Machiavellian, but not once had he ever considered killing anybody. … Anybody who wasn't El Tigre. Let's face it, every villain in Miracle City wanted to kill El Tigre. But now Diego couldn't, for the life of him, figure out Sergio's motivation. What could drive him to serve M so viciously? And the Flock of Fury, which had always been amongst the most isolationist of the villains, was essentially acting as M's private strike force. M… that was the common denominator. But M was a tough mystery to solve. You can't Google M. You can't find him anywhere. And to ask him who he is? Well, no one dares to do that; Diego wondered why. Who was M, really? Who would know?

"Think, think! Oh, the pentagon."

Returning to his computer, Diego clicked open his web browser. Moving the cursor up over Favorites, the list opened and showed your standard array of web sites: favorite recipes, web comics, online games, Wikipedia, and there at the end, the pentagon. That's certainly reassuring. Opening the window to what one would hope was a secure network, Diego proceeded to open the United States government's international files. He searched for M, and was surprised about what he found.

"Peru, Russia, India, Japan, most of Africa, half of China… M operates in all of these places? But, isn't he just…"

Cairo, Sunday, 6:00 AM

M was riding in a limousine, barely awake after the long flight. And to think the jet lag hadn't even set in yet. This is why M hated these summits, just hated travel in general. But, this guaranteed more money for hot spots like Miracle City. It also gave him a chance to make sure everybody was still playing the game by his rules. The limo stopped in front of a rather elaborate hotel, the finest in Cairo. Wasn't really hard for it to be the best, though, considering the state that Egypt was in; those same economic and political hardships that made the country ideal for the annual summit also made it a little nasty to be in. Far more used to comfortable settings, M frowned when he saw the hotel, a testament to old European interferences and a general resistance towards updating. But it would have to do; no other hotel had what he was looking for. The limo driver opened the door, and out he stepped.

"We are here sir."

"I gathered… be back here tonight, eight sharp."

The Park, 6:00 PM

Manny stood at the entrance, breathing hard, trying his best not to let his heart explode. He grew more and more excited as he recalled his grandfather's words, the best dating advice the old man has ever given him:

"Flowers and sunsets, mijo. The ladies love them both. So both together just makes perfect sense."

That was the secret? It didn't seem like much, but the more you thought about it, the more it made absolutely perfect sense. If someone likes two things separately, then both of them mixed together had to be great. This logic, naturally, should not be applied to food. Beware of combining food. Manny, in his anxiety, turned to look down the street, the most likely direction Zoe would come from. He was wrong.

"Hello Manny."

"Gah!" Falling over from his shock, and the sudden release of his anxiety, Manny rolled over to look up at Zoe. "How do you always do that?"

"I lurk in the shadows waiting for you to turn your back," she replied with a coy smile, glancing at her nails in a relaxed fashion. She restrained a giggle when Manny stood, trying as hard as possible not to smile himself. "So, what is it you wanted to show me?"

"Well, it won't be ready for another half hour or so… so let's just go relax a bit, okay?"

"Hm, what are you setting me up for, Rivera?" She leaned in close, running her fingers under his chin. "Is this some insidious trap I'm falling for?"

He smiled and presented his arm, wanting to be gentlemanly in every fashion. She took it eagerly and together they walked into the park. At this stage in the day, people were still out and about; families enjoyed this last day of play before having to force the inevitable week ahead, and the birds flew about as they sang their song. Under any other circumstances, this would all drive Zoe crazy. But she wouldn't let it get to her, not while she had Manny. That he would let her old him by the arm, let her touch him… it lifted her up. Now it didn't matter how much she hurt before. His presence was more than healing for her, it was purifying. It was all that mattered to her now. Lost in her light-headed world of school girl love, Zoe at first did not notice when Manny had stopped and broken contact with her. He was bending over to get something, and when she looked around she saw an entire row of red lilies. When he stood again, he had plucked one off the stem and turned to her, gently planting it in her hair. She blushed so badly she could feel her face heating up, and turned away to hide her reddened face. Manny laughed a bit and took her hand, continuing the walk through the park. Time passed, and the couple found themselves sitting on a bench. Zoe sighed looking out into the city, marveling at the beauty she had never realized existed or even cared to think about. The sun set sent rays of vibrant orange and red shimmering across stone and glass, making the windows seem like thousands of diamonds cut from the sun itself. She leaned forward to take it all in, eyes shuddering as though they would shed tears at any moment.

"Manny, I… this is just."

"You like it?"

"I love it…"

Zoe turned to him, face reflecting such unearthly joy that it seemed a great shame that her hair was covering her face. Manny slowly reached out and pushed away the hair that always seemed to cover this otherwise beautiful girl's features. But once the obstruction was gone, Manny could not remove his hand. Holding her gently, he pulled Zoe in close and the two shared the first of their many kisses ahead. But in the shadow of a tree lurked someone who had long waited for this to happen, for the chance opportunity. A young man, who couldn't be more than 13, watched with sharp eyes, smiling grimly as Manny and Zoe expressed what could only be love. He jumped on quite the coincidence: three teenagers, all of whom knew Manny Rivera well. Among them was a young woman by the name of Lupita, who always kept her hair spiked into her trademark Mohawk.

"Hey, is that Manny Rivera?" The three teens turned to see whatever this kid was talking about. Lupita, who was on good terms with Frida, could not believe her eyes. The kid spoke up again. "Who's that he's kissing?"

Cairo, Top Secret Location, 8:58 PM

Men and women from all over world were gathered into a dimly lit meeting hall. Each had a small fluorescent lamp over their position, and many had documents of various detail and subject. In all, these fifty-two representatives represented fifty-two countries all linked together by a common goal. They all represented criminal interests, all lusted for power and wealth, power and wealth given to them thanks to the founding of the organization known as M. Their goal? One need only look at the massive screen at the front and center of the room. The words were clear as day in the dark room: the world belongs to us.

A criminal ambassador from Germany leaned over to his companion from neighboring France. "Do you think he's running late?"

"Maybe… but I think my watch needs repairing."

"I told you last time that you need to keep it wound up. The parts get warped if you don't."

"Ladies and gentlemen, attention to the front please. Chairman Maxim has arrived."

The room fell mostly silent, but for the muttering of a few representatives who had to conclude their conversations. The lights at the front lit up long enough for Maxim, known to outsiders as the sole member of the secret organization of criminals called M. Two years spent setting it all up, and four years of existence, and what did Maxim have to show for it? The greatest assembly of illegal interests yet known. An evil UN. Maxim took his seat, and the lights dimmed.

"Thank you all for coming to the fourth annual Summit of M. In case nobody has been following the news, we will cover recent efforts to take control of Mexico. But first, old business."

The words on the screen were replaced with the image of an eight-pointed compass star, and within that star was the letter M.