Line in the Sand Chapter 11, an el tigre fanfic

I have to give shout outs again. I have to. After the last chapter, I received four reviews, all of which stated that my story was both enjoyable and intriguing. But one of those four told me something that just made me smile with unbelievable joy. Supermacho, thank you very much!

Moving on. I named this title because of the change in relationships people go through when they find someone they want to be with. Our attraction to one person often leads to the repulsion of others. There is a point in this chapter where it may be wise to bump up the rating to avoid bureaucratic static, a point influenced by the art of a deviant named Garabatoz. Heard of him? Well, whatever. We'll see how it goes.

"Never will those who wage war tire of deception." – Sun Tzu, the Art of War

Chapter 11, Attraction and Repulsion

Suarez Residence, Monday, 7:45 AM

Frida glanced at her watch again, and started whining when she realized how late in the morning it was getting. She clenched her toes and stood on the tips of her boots before dropping back down her heels.

"Manny… where are you?"

Frida Suarez was not alone in terms of running behind today. Her father, Emiliano, was vexed by the failure of his alarm clock this morning; seems a brief power outage in the night made it so his electronic clock no longer functioned. He may have to just take Frida's primitive, gear based model and pretend that he had no idea where hers was. When he was out the door, he noticed his daughter had not yet left for school. He sent her out some fifteen minutes ago.

"Frida? Why are you still here?"

"I'm waiting for Manny, papa," she said frantically, "he's never been this late before, though. Do you think he's alright?"

"Bah, the Rivera boy! Mija, you know that I think he's a bad infl-."

"Yeah yeah, bad influence."

"Well," he replied, not happy with being cut off, "get in the car, I'll give you a ride. He's probably just busy being a deviant."

"Thanks papa."

Frida climbed into the passenger seat of Emiliano's police cruiser, and in moments they were off down the street. Frida sat staring out the window, worried about her friend. The only times he never showed up were those days when he was too sick or injured to go to school, and he always called ahead to tell her about it. He didn't call her, so something must have been really wrong. Wouldn't be a surprise though. The car pulled to a stop as a line of military trucks drove through an intersection. If Emiliano wasn't in such a hurry, he'd pull them over. Just because you're the military doesn't mean you can run a red light. But he had neither the time nor the patience. Seeing the soldiers, Frida jumped on the opportunity.

"Papa… why is the city under martial law?"

"It's for your own good, Frida."

"But, that doesn't answer my question. What really happened? I mean, this isn't the first time super heroes died."

"No… it's not," he answered solemnly. "But things are different now. The way the villains have been working together, and the way that the Golden Eagle Twins were attacked… it suggests that something has changed in the underworld. Gang leaders have been turning up dead. So have police officers."

Frida looked at him, staring at his profile as he only looked forward. He didn't want her to see his lip quivering. Things were bad and getting worse, and first and foremost on his list of priorities was to keep the peace. Letting Frida learn about his unease would not result in peace. Once he had stifled the feeling of dread, Emiliano turned to his daughter.

"It's not permanent, mija. The city will be kept under close watch until the military and police can regain control of our home. All you have to do is keep to the curfew, and stay in groups. Listen to everyone with a uniform, and you'll be fine. Can you do that for me?"

Frida nodded, eyes shimmering with mild fear. She tried her best not to cry now, to be strong like her father was. It was hard, though, because she'd never really had to be strong on purpose. She always had Manny or her father to do that. The military trucks finished passing, and Emiliano drove forward. After a ten minute ride, Frida opened the door and was about to step out. She stopped, though, so she could hug her father, grateful for his calming words in these unsettling times.

"Bye, papa."

"Have a good day at school, Frida."

The walk to the door was sad for her, not having Manny with her to make it more exciting. She was inside before she could see a sight that would later completely inflame her: Manny Rivera walking through the awestruck crowd holding the hand of her long time nemesis, Zoe Aves. This would promise to be an exciting day. Back inside, Frida had stopped by a drinking fountain, seeking to refresh herself before the long day of punishment for a crime that she allegedly committed. All figuratively, of course. When she stood, she brushed her hair with her hand idly, at first not noticing Lupita approach. Turning, Frida almost walked into the Mohawk bearing girl.

"Whoa, Lupita. What's up?"

"Hey Frid… wow, uh, I'm not sure how to tell you this."

"Tell me what?"

"Oh, so you don't actually know then? Great, that makes this harder…"

If one were standing across the hall, one would see this even unfolding something like this: at first, Frida stood smiling, wondering what this secret was. Her face turned to a frown, one of complete disbelief. After a moment of that, Frida burst out laughing, letting denial take its course. But when Lupita pressed the subject further, Frida's emotions shifted once more. She lashed out at her honest friend, demanding her to shut up, to stop telling lies. Lupita sighed in sad defeat as Frida stormed off towards her class, cheeks burning with rage. How dare she say such things? Manny was her best friend, he knew how she felt about Zoe Aves. That he would much less like her, let alone kiss her, was just absurd. But Frida's fury died in a single second. Her blood froze, her breath stopped, and her books fell to the floor. As the color left Frida Suarez's face, she watched in disbelief as Manny leaned in close and kissed Zoe gently on the lips. It was in that one way, that special way that all girls want to be kissed. That way Frida herself wanted to be kissed. Tears wanted to break free of their prison and streak down her face, but Frida, not wanting to look weak, willed them back into hiding. She couldn't deal with this right now… she had a class to get to. That's right… she'll, she'll just have to take care of this later. There wasn't any time. Manny, however, felt that there was plenty of time. He kissed Zoe again and again, each time closing the gap faster. She started to giggle as his lips touched her cheek, her jaw, and inevitably her neck.

"Manny, please! I think-," she was interrupted by another giggle, triggered by his tickling her neck. "I think we need to get to class. We can continue at lunch." She ran a finger across his face seductively, smiling a temptress's smile.

"Of course, of course… adios, mi amor." He bowed with a wide smile and started off towards the first of his classes.

"Adios cariño."

Zoe waved as he walked off, smiling out of the pure bliss that perforated her heart. When Manny was gone, a voice emerged from the void. She turned to see its source: Diego. What he said chilled her.

"Enjoying your spoils?"

"What are talking about, spoils?"

"Zoe, please. I know exactly what you did. You went to him."

Zoe stood silent, trying not to reveal any emotion, not wanting to let him know what she was thinking. How did he figure it out, though? This was a great curiosity.

"You have no idea what you got yourself into! He'll own you!"

"Shut up, Diego. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"For once in your life, will you listen to someone else?!" The hall, though emptying quickly, stopped to look at the two as they squabbled. Diego looked around, shook his head, and sighed. "No, I suppose you won't. You Aves women are too stubborn!"

Before Zoe could retort, Diego was off, walking out the front door. He wouldn't show up in his classes today. He had more important things to take care of.

Miracle City Police Station, Chief Suarez's Office, 8:30 AM

Emiliano was busy at work, going over each and every report about the rise in criminal activity over the past month. Following Sartana's defeat at the beginning of the month, crime had been at an all time low. But in the past week alone, illegal activity had quadrupled. Each report that Chief Suarez read over filled him more and more with disgust. How could things have gotten so bad so quickly without anybody noticing anything? Have they been too complacent? Did they expect the good times to last? He was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"Hey jefe, something just came in for you."

The officer came in and set an envelope on the desk. Looking it over, Chief Suarez found no information whatsoever. He opened it cautiously, expecting just about anything in these horrifying times. He pulled out a piece of paper and a CD case containing an unmarked disk. Opening the folded sheet, he read the words out loud.

"View by yourself."

Chief Suarez nodded to the officer who had also grown suspicious of the eerie package. Following his boss's orders, he stepped out of the office.

"If you need anything, I'll be right outside the door, jefe."

Popping the disk into the drive, Chief Suarez clicked the icon and loaded its contents. What he found was a wealth of previously confidential information gathered on what appeared to be an individual named M. But as Emiliano waded through the documents, it started becoming clearer to him. He was startled when his phone rang, jumping a bit after loosing his focus. He picked up the receiver carefully and held it to his ear.

"Suarez."

"Hello, Chief Suarez."

"Who is this?"

"Just a concerned citizen. You need not worry about my identity."

"… Dr. Chipotle Jr.?"

"Oh come on!"

Emiliano pulled the phone away from his ear as Diego began shouting wildly, upset by the loss of his anonymity. Hearing the name of a villain, the officer outside the door barged in a second time, hand on his gun. Chief Suarez waved him down, and the officer closed the door again.

"Fine, I don't know who you are."

"Forget it, the moment is ruined…"

"What do you want?"

"The same thing you want… an end to this nonsense. The disk I sent contains information about a man named M. At least, that's what he wants you to call him. He has traveled the world, destabilizing countries already suffering from the influence of their powerful criminal syndicates."

"I see," Suarez responded, "in each of these countries you highlighted, the organized crime rates have sky rocketed. Just like-."

"Just like in Miracle City."

"… How do you know these things?"

"I've met him… I know he's here."

"Where is he?"

"I can't tell you that yet. I only know where he first met with the villains of Miracle City. He's moved to another location since then."

"Can you find out where that is?"

"It will be hard with the military being everywhere… but I am a genius. I'll have that information soon as well."

"There's one thing I don't understand. How can one man cause so much havoc?"

"The United States government believes it is one man…"

"But you think otherwise?"

"I do… you'll find something that confirms that at the end of the disk. Goodbye, Chief Suarez."

There was a click, followed by silence. Despite that, Emiliano kept the phone to his ear. After a moment he hung it up, and scrolled down further on the list of documents on the CD. The final document was an FBI file on the subject, and when he opened it he found a short report regarding information taken from a laptop after a raid in Morocco performed by UN authorities. The laptop was mostly destroyed, though a few files were recovered. The most important one? The world belongs to us.

Miracle City High School, the Courtyard, 11:55 AM

Frida Suarez shuffled her way to the end of the lunch line, physically exhausted from bottling up her emotions. She felt broken… she didn't know why, but seeing Manny kissing Zoe was incredibly destructive for her. Why it mattered so much could not be explained fully by something as petty as a vendetta. It was deeper. Frida just didn't know it yet. But things were about to get worse. Far worse.

"Uhh… hey Frida."

She turned to see Manny, who was smiling shyly as though he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have. Frida managed to smile, being a little relieved to see her friend, but sank back down when she saw Zoe was right behind him. Finally she could contain it no longer.

"What the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?" Manny asked this attempting to sound innocent, but that wasn't working here. Frida taught him that trick, so how could he hope to use it on her?

"Zoe Aves."

"Frida," Zoe replied, actually acting civil to her old nemesis, "I know we've had our… differences, but I'd like to change that."

"You see Frida? She wants to fix this. Zoe's been worried all day that you wouldn't accept her. Can't you just be her friend?"

"… Manny, we need to talk. Alone."

Zoe put on an innocent face as Frida dragged Manny off. When they were out of sight, she smiled wickedly, reveling in Frida's final defeat. How very delicious this all was; Diego was wrong about her involvement with M. How could someone who gave her so much be bad?

"Manny, the answer is no. I'm not gonna be Zoe's friend, I'm not even going to pretend that I'm okay with this!"

"Frida, seriously. Zoe's being cool about this. You're my best friend, and I want you to be cool too."

"Manny!" she shouted. "What part of 'I'm not' aren't you getting? I've ALWAYS been Zoe's enemy." Frida turned away from him, crossing her arms in anger. "I'm sorry, but I forbid you from dating Zoe Aves."

"You can't forbid me to do anything!" He shot back, now completely angry himself. "Frida, you're being ridiculous!"

"Oh, I'm being ridiculous? Fine, I guess your BEST FRIEND is just being ridiculous. You know, go! Go kiss Zoe in public! Go be in love with her…"

Manny's anger dissipated now, now that he started to get what she was trying to tell him on some subconscious level. He heard her sniffle a bit, like she was about to cry. "Frida?"

"Shut up! Go away!"

"Frida, I'm not going to-."

"Fine! I'll leave then…"

Manny wanted to stop her, thought that more than anything the right thing to do would be to stop her. But the part that wanted her to walk away won out, to the dismay of both. Once Frida rounded the corner, she leaned against a wall, sliding down as she finally broke down. She pressed her hands to her eyes and sobbed madly, letting out four hours of torment in a single burst of tears. Manny, too proud to change his mind now that he was so far in, sadly turned and walked back to the lunch line.

"What happened, Manny?" Zoe rubbed his arm innocently, trying to comfort him, though she knew deep down what had happened and loved it.

"… Don't worry about it, Zoe."

The Park, 12:45 PM

Frida had moved her sobbing to the park about ten minutes ago, after a period of wandering aimlessly down the streets. She once bumped into a soldier, who turned and shouted something cruel at her. This made her cry even harder, and the soldier's friend punched him in the arm. Now Frida sat on the park bench which Manny and Zoe sat upon just last night, unaware of the events that had occurred there. But she wasn't alone. Catching his breath as he leaned against a tree, Diego watched Frida cry her eyes out. He spotted her walking into the park from about a block away and ran the distance to catch her. But he was not in the best shape, and found it difficult to breathe once he had crossed onto the park property. Diego planned this out as he slowed his heart beat, though: he would calmly approach the bench, pretending to be out on his own business. Then he would "find" Frida sitting there, and console her. Perfect. But something happened that Diego did not expect.

"Ciao, bella."

Enter Sergio. Standing tall and proud, it seemed that the past five years had been much more kind to Sergio than Diego, and in some ways even Manny. Frida only looked at him out of the corner of her eye, not really recognizing him. That makes sense, though, as she never really paid any attention to him before.

"Why Frida… it's been'a so long."

"Do I know you?"

"I'm Sergio. You do not'a recognize me?"

"Sorry, no…"

"That's not a problem," he said with a wave of his hand. "Frida… why are you'a so sad?"

Frida, trying her best to quiet her raging heart, let loose another wave of sobs as she recalled her sorrow. Sergio immediately regretted asking that, and supplied her with a handkerchief taken from his back pocket.

"Here, bella."

Frida wiped away her tears and smeared make up, staining the cloth black. Sergio sat down next to her, looking at her weeping profile with sad eyes, waiting for a sign. Once Frida had stopped crying as much as possible, she handed the handkerchief back.

"Thanks Sergio… I, I think I just want to be alone right now."

"Oh… that sounds like a bad idea. You shouldn't be alone when you're'a sad."

There was a brief silence, one in which Frida just stared at the ground, Sergio waited patiently, and Diego watched in total disbelief. This was exactly what his plan was, except with an accent. The mad scientist thought he could do it better, though.

"You should have something hot to drink. Why don't you let me buy you a coffee? It might'a help you."

Frida continued to stare at the ground, eyes filling with water again. When Sergio handed her his handkerchief again, she took it slowly and wiped the newly formed tears from her eyes. She nodded quietly and stood with him, walking past Diego and out of the park. Diego watched them leave, eyes burning with anger, hand crushing the bark of the tree.

"Swine…"

Unknown Location, 1:00 PM

Nikolai leaned back in his chair, at least enjoying this part of being Maxim. He didn't have to do foot work so long as his friend was in Cairo. But there were those times he had to make decisions regarding the running of the organization. Dr. Chipotle Sr. was almost certain that something was up when Nikolai confirmed an order in Russian. But, being a smooth operator, Nikolai was able to misdirect the oafish scientist. He enjoyed this deception game. He didn't enjoy that the computer next to him lit up so it could forward a message. Leaning forward, Nikolai took in the message, reading it once or twice to compensate for a general lack of skills in reading English. He got the gist of it, though, and dialed Maxim's number.

"Nikolai… I hope this is important, I'm in front of the assembly."

"I think it is… your computer just got a message from the Pentagon."

"Well, that's interesting. What does it say?"

"The M files were accessed by someone outside of the government."

"Does it say where the hacker is?"

"No… just that they weren't based in America."

"Well then… we'll assume that someone in Miracle City is digging too deep. Call Older, and see if you can't find out who's going behind my back."

"Da."

Nikolai flipped his phone shut and leaned forward, staring at the message for a while longer. He hated computers almost as much as being in charge.

Rivera Estate, 3:40 PM

Manny had spent a short time showing Zoe around the veritable mansion perched atop Casa del Macho, and it ended in his room. He rested on his bed, and Zoe rested on him. Her head sat atop his chest, rising and falling with his slow breath. She lifted up over him and looked down, seeing a frown on his face.

"What's wrong, cariño?"

"I… I really hurt Frida's feelings today."

"Oh, Manny…"

She leaned in and kissed him, wanting to chase away thoughts of Frida Suarez at all costs. A thought occurred to her.

"Would it make you feel better if I… helped myself to a Churro?"

"What? How's that gonna help?" He tilted his head up, to see Zoe hovering over him, wearing her trademark seductive smile. She ran her finger over his thigh in small circles, causing him to blush. "… Oh."