CHAPTER 21 - LEOPARD

It felt good to be working with his hands. It helped Leopard take his mind off things. Turning the building into a defensive position, blocking up windows and seeding entrances with phasmite traps, kept him busy. They had until nightfall, according to Monkey. With everything that had happened, Taurine would need to move at night. She didn’t control the city. Not yet.

But eventually, there was nothing else to do. Eventually, as the sun set, there was nothing else to fortify. No more ways to stack the board against Taurine’s inevitable reprisal. So Leopard took apart his rifle, cleaned it, reassembled it, raised it to his shoulder, sighted in, squeezed the trigger, and took it apart again.

And again.

“Hey, Spots,” Monkey said, setting his rifle down. “You good? Couldn’t raise you on comms.”

“Fine,” Leopard said. “Thought I’d go radio silent for a bit.”

Monkey nodded. “I didn’t tell you to do that.”

“You didn’t tell me a lot of things.”

“Ah,” Monkey said. “Well, how about you put the gun down, and we can talk about whatever’s bothering you.”

Monkey reached out his hand. Leopard realized, as if waking from a dream, that he was holding his handgun. Holding it so firmly that his knuckles were stark white against the black metal.

“Is it true?” Leopard asked.

“About Rooster and that Mike guy? Yeah, it is.”

It didn’t hurt. He already knew it, after all. It was nice to know that Monkey wouldn’t lie to him. Leopard considered the paths available to him, then turned the gun in his hand and held it out to Monkey, grip first.

“I was just cleaning it,” he said.

Monkey popped the magazine out. “It’s loaded.”

“Yeah.”

A strange look passed over Monkey’s face. There was something interesting about that, to Leopard, in some distant way. It was like when he had hurled a rock into a cave, had listened to the way it had bounced into the deep. The way actions prompted certain responses. Even in Monkey.

“Spots, if I knew it would upset you this much...” Monkey began.

Hot spiders sprinted up the nape of his neck. “I’m not upset.”

“Okay.”

It was like someone had punched him in the throat. No, that wasn’t right. It was like someone had lodged their fist in his throat and got stuck. He cleared his throat, but that didn’t help. He tried again, and still nothing. What was so hard about telling Monkey that something was wrong?

“I know things aren’t great at the moment,” Monkey said. “I always try to do the right thing. But last night, I had to make a quick call. Maybe it was the wrong one.”

His hands were shaking. Leopard shoved them under his biceps, to conceal the tremors.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I told you not to shut me out.” God, did it sound as pathetic as he thought it did? Like a puppy begging for scraps. A puppy that knew it might get hit. It would’ve been easier if Monkey just hit him—better, simpler. He didn’t want him to, and yet, he did.

“Like I said, I had to make a quick call,” Monkey said. “I didn’t want to risk an argument. Rooster wouldn’t ask questions. I should’ve told you, man, I’m sorry. You sure you’re okay?”

Say yes, some part of him said. Say yes, and walk away from this. His instincts were screaming at him, like Monkey had leveled his revolver at his head. The barrier between him and the rest of the world was so very thin, and fragile.

“Spots, you okay?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe. Kind of. Not really.” Nothing was making sense. “I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“I hear you, buddy.”

“No, you don’t,” Leopard said, but it came out as a growl. “An apology won’t do this time. No more little subterfuges, no more looking out for me—I don’t need your fucking protection. Tell me everything.”

Monkey’s eyes widened. Something like shock rippled across his features. Then he sat back heavily into the torn seat of the forklift.

“You’re going soft,” Monkey said.

“What?”

“You’re losing your edge,” Monkey said, like he was discussing an inconvenient shower. He should’ve socked him in the jaw. That would’ve been easier to deal with, to understand.

“Ever since the mission with the Adriatic, I’m not sure I can count on you to do what needs to be done. You blinked, you hesitated.”

What needs to be done? What needs to be-

“I hesitated about committing a massacre. I hesitated about bringing SOLAR down on our heads. It didn’t need to be done.”

“The point is that you hesitated at all. You’ve never done that before.”

“We’ve never had civilians caught in the crossfire before!”

Monkey shook his head. “You know that’s not true, Spots. What do you think separates the people on that ship from anyone else we’ve hit? Absolutely nothing. At the end of the day, they’d happily let us starve in the gutters. It’s us versus them. Always has been. Don’t ever forget where we came from.”

The memory of the old man leapt unbidden to Leopard’s mind. The way he had tried to stop him, the way he had asked him to just sit with him. The way Leopard had emptied his magazine into his chest, the kick of his handgun. Hesitated? He hadn’t fucking hesitated.

“I get that you’re upset,” Monkey said. “I would be, too. But this is bigger than us. If we don’t topple the IESA, who will? We’ve come so far already. We just need to go a little further. And I need to know that I can count on you, no matter what.”

“Whatever you say,” Leopard replied. “You don’t need to worry about me, man. I’m fine. I’ll finish up here in a few.”

“Sure,” Monkey said, nodding. Leopard heard his booted steps recede, and something bubbled over in his throat before he could stop it.

“Did you fuck her?”

Monkey stopped. Leopard rose, turning, staring him down.

“Did you fuck her?”

Monkey’s gaze wandered to the distance between them. Then he scoffed, shaking his head. His expression darkened, and he glowered at some invisible point at the far wall.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I fucked her. Shouldn’t have, because it made her feel like she could pull that stunt with my name. I wasn’t aware that I had to get your approval for my sex life, Spots.”

“Is that why you recruited her?”

“Well, it wasn’t her combat ability, was it?”

“Fucking Christ.” Leopard threw his arms out to either side and stalked away, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “Jesus.” But this was easier to deal with, a tactical issue to plot. “We’ve got a security breach because you couldn’t keep it in your goddamn pants. She knows our location, our faces, our associates. Your name.”

“People tend to like sex, Spots. So, I screwed up—fine, but I own it. Once we’ve handled Taurine, we’ll figure out what we can do about Snake. It’s an island, she can’t be far.”

“And if Tiger kills us in our sleep?”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Monkey blinked.

“What?”

“She’s planning a coup. Took me aside three days ago. Practically told me.”

“Okay,” Monkey said. “That’s a problem, but we can handle it.”

“Exactly,” Leopard replied. “We can. From now on, we’re on the same page. Whatever you’re gearing up for, you tell me everything. I’m fine with being a pawn, man, but the game has to make sense.”

Monkey’s face softened. He crossed that gap between them with three quick strides and set his hand on his shoulder. “You’re not a pawn, Spots. You’re my black knight, my rook—everything but a pawn.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I need you to prove it.”

Monkey laughed. “Man, you’re kind of an asshole sometimes, but I love you. I’ll fill you in on it—all of it. And I bet you’ll figure it out before I get to the end. Let’s start at the top: what’s unique about Asclepion?”

Leopard uncrossed his arms, opened up his body language. That fist in his throat began to melt. Hard question. There were a few things that were unique about it.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere?”

“Close, Spots,” Monkey said, smiling. “I’ve been doing some research. Asclepion’s got this remarkably centralized infrastructure system. Everything runs through the Citadel. Communications, finances, fusion plant output, traffic lights—the whole deal. The Citadel is Asclepion.”

“Okay.” His mind began to tick over again, like a comet approaching the sun, picking up speed, igniting as he assembled the pieces.

“Think IESA’s flaunting their AI ban?”

“Could be, yeah,” Monkey said. “Might just be a powerful dumb system. Doesn’t really matter.”

“If it doesn’t matter then how does it help us?”

“Because if it’s that powerful then I’m willing to bet it’s got a direct link to the IESA security database. Maybe even SOLARIA. Every major city has one, right? Why would Asclepion be any different?”

Leopard nodded. Made sense.

“Okay. So, we need access to the Citadel, why?”

“Everything’s going to fall into place, Spots, you’ll see. Why does the IESA want to control Transcended artifacts? Why did we take that job for Gate?”

“Because they’re powerful. Because the IESA doesn’t want anyone to challenge them. Anyone who’s got power is afraid to lose it.”

“Right on. Whatever was on that ship was so powerful, so dangerous, that Gate would rather get us killed than risk us saying it was in his possession for even just a moment.”

“You really think it was one of those things?”

“I don’t know what else it could be.”

“But he doesn’t have it anymore,” Leopard said. “And we don’t know who he was representing.”

“But there’s more of those artifacts out there,” Monkey replied, blue eyes bright. “If we can get inside the Citadel, we can figure out where to find a weapon that’ll really allow us to kick the IESA in the teeth.”

Leopard wasn’t sure if he’d call it a good plan, but it was certainly grandiose. It was exactly the way Monkey liked to think. It was like they were already there, at the top of the tower, looking out over the whole of the city. But they’d never get there if he hesitated again.

He could go further. Just a little further. Monkey always had his reasons. No more doubt, no more hesitation. It was time for tactics.

“Problem,” Leopard said. “We can’t assault the Citadel. Disregarding the garrison, the moment we launch an attack, they’ll lock everything down.”

Monkey nodded like he’d said just the right thing.

“We can’t, true,” he said. “But Taurine can. She wants to take control of Asclepion. To do that, if I’m right, she needs the Citadel. We’re just going to give her a push, make her accelerate her timetable. I had this idea brewing since we took on the Adriatic job, but I didn’t have all the pieces until last night.”

He had said that he could get Taurine the opportunity of a lifetime, hadn’t he?

Leopard ran his tongue along his teeth. “Then why did we piss her off?”

“Because after everything that’s happened, I’m not about to let her have something she wants,” Monkey replied. “And, like I said, we needed to drag her away from her followers. If this is going to work, we need to be the one calling the shots. Is the game making more sense now?”

“Yeah,” Leopard said. “A bit. One more thing, though. Once we’ve got this information, what’s our exit strategy? Not many places to hide on an island.”

“The Citadel’s got hangar facilities. I figured we might as well just fly on out of there. Bail out in Australia or South America. Maybe find asylum in the Imperium, who knows.”

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Leopard said. “What if we don’t get Taurine?”

Monkey slapped him on the shoulder, grinning brightly.

“Don’t worry, buddy—we will.”

----------------------------------------

“Contact,” Tiger rasped in Leopard’s ear. “Four SUVs approaching from the north. Definitely Taurine’s people.”

It was an overcast night. Leopard rolled his head about, stretching. Monkey stood at his left, arms crossed.

“Confirm that she’s with them,” he said.

“Got eyes on,” Tiger said. “Riding on the back of the lead vehicle.”

“Excellent. Fall back to our location.” Monkey said, drawing his revolver and peering into the cylinder. Blue light glimmered against his black visor. “Alright, people, let’s get ready.”

Leopard took a knee, set his rifle against the top of a set of stacked pallets, and took aim at the loading bay entrance. There were two possibilities at this point. The first, that Taurine would simply storm the place with her people en masse. How many people could you cram in four SUVs? Two dozen? Even with their gear, Leopard considered that a dicey prospect.

The second, and the strategy Monkey was counting on, was that Taurine would elect to finish them on her own terms with her own hands.

Tiger came jogging in, and slid to a stop by Leopard. “Ready to die, kid?”

Leopard froze, wondered if he could swing his rifle to bear before she could knife him in the throat. Decided it didn’t matter.

He shrugged. Tiger laughed.

Outside, the vehicles pulled up, headlights cutting through the gloom. Doors popped open and slammed shut, and shadows and shapes slipped through the halogen glare. Leopard popped his safety off and set his finger on the trigger.

Taurine stepped through the loading bay doors, clasping the shoulder straps of her ballistic vest.

“Showtime,” Monkey murmured. “Hold your fire. Spots, standby.”

“I thought you’d be stupid enough to stand your ground,” Taurine said, taking slow, deliberate steps. Leopard sighted in on her left kneecap. “How nice of you to oblige me. Makes gathering my trophies so much more efficient.”

“I think we’re even now, Taurine,” Monkey said. “No more games, no more jerking us around. We can all help each other. You’re not going to get another warning.”

“You’re outnumbered and severely outgunned, meat. The only thing we’re going to talk about is the terms of your surrender before I send you back to Gate in pieces.”

“Sounds good,” Monkey replied. “Spots?”

He squeezed the trigger, put a breaker bullet into Taurine’s leg, and blasted her kneecap out.

Taurine stumbled forward, gasping, crashing down on her good knee. Her eyes were wide as blood seeped down her leg, through her fingers. He watched the emotions play out across her face. Could guess the thoughts behind them: I’m not healing—why?

She rose up, snarling, only to stumble and fall. Her people weren’t coming. Taurine hadn’t considered the Animals a threat. Probably hadn’t even contemplated what to do if they could stop her. And now, Leopard figured, compassion for her people and her own pride would trap her.

Feelings got you killed. He had to remember that, too.

Monkey crossed the floor, drawing his revolver, and pressed the barrel against Taurine’s forehead.

“If I didn’t need you,” he said, “I’d double-tap you right now. I’d get to tell everyone I ended the legend of the savior of San Diego. Brought down one of the last, great supervillains. But I’m not a short-sighted man.”

Taurine spoke through gritted teeth.

“What do you want?”

“I told you back when we first met that we could profit together, Taurine. That hasn’t changed. I want a little bit of rep and a little bit of power, just enough that I can determine my own future.”

“And?”

“And that’s it. Our interests align, y’know? All you had to do was show me some respect, and it wouldn’t have had to come to this.”

Taurine’s shoulders heaved with her breathing. Her chuckle might as well have been thunder on the horizon.

“What, are you asking me to step aside, let you take what I’ve worked so hard to accomplish? You think because you’ve stripped me of my gift, that I’m just going to let you fuck me over? I see what this really is, and I haven’t survived for thirty years by being stupid. I’m no fall girl.”

“Shit,” Tiger muttered. “Hope I look that good in thirty years.”

“We want the same thing, Taurine,” Monkey said. “You want Asclepion—we’re happy to help you get it. Whatever you need to say to save face, we’ll let you say it and we’ll go along with it. But while you run amok and rip Star Patrol to pieces or whatever else, you cover us while we do what we have to do.”

“A fall girl.”

Monkey spread his free hand wide, palm open. “Only if they can bring you down, which I doubt—especially while they’re dealing with us at the same time. I shot you in the leg, Taurine, and I wasn’t aiming for your confidence. Once we’re done here, this island will be yours. Destroy it if you want, I don’t care.”

Taurine stared up at Monkey, her expression as grim and stoic as it had ever been.

“And if I say no?”

“Then we’ll find someone else. And while you might beat them, might know you came out on top afterwards, you’ll always know that you’re just picking through the scraps. That’s if you survive two to the dome,” Monkey added with half a shrug. “Haven’t heard of a cape who can regenerate their grey matter but, hey, I’m happy to be surprised.”

Taurine grunted, shut her eyes. Blood seeped around her fingers.

“That’s a lot of blood, Taurine,” Monkey said. “Time’s ticking.”

Monkey stepped back and drew his revolver away. He popped the cylinder out with a subtle, metallic click, and then in. Out and in. Tick and tock.

Taurine opened her eyes.

“I’m listening,” she said. “Tell me what you need me for.”