CHAPTER 30 - LEOPARD

“Monkey!” Leopard roared, slamming his hand against the button to close the main hatch. “Get us in the air!” Revenant was already moving, weathering the storm of bullets from his last magazine like it was nothing but sea spray.

All thoughts of camaraderie were forgotten now, even any he might’ve wanted to extend to Tiger. If they didn’t leave now, then no one would be getting away.

The hatch closed just before the cape reached it. She leapt high, heels igniting, jacket hurled free, and Leopard heard her come down on the top of the craft with enough force that it rocked. Heard her stomping her way to the cockpit, moving over the fuselage, and he hurried to match her.

She dropped into view, hanging from one hand above the cockpit armorglass. Her silver mask might as well have been the face of the angel of death. Monkey—in between Leopard’s rifle and the cape—kicked in the engines and the shuttle rose, slowly.

“Cut your engines immediately!” she commanded.

“Shake her free once we’re in the air,” Leopard said and then, in that moment, realized they would never get the chance.

Keeping her grip with her right hand, Revenant raised her left arm and pumped it at the shoulder like she was cocking the limb. There were lines along her olive skin, a jigsaw geometry of panels...

Time slowed, in the same coldly familiar way it always did when he recognized a threat. An instinct as old as his ancient ancestors catching sight of a lion in the brush.

The panels popped and shifted in an intricate dance. Her fingers, her hand, her wrist—they moved and whirled about, folding back into themselves, until the end of her arm resembled nothing more than some manner of exotic energy projector.

Golden energy arced and intensified within the center of the spinning barrel.

“Get down!” Leopard shouted and leapt forward, dragging Monkey to the deck. Head down, he saw the golden flare of the woman letting loose with her weapon-arm, a bright flash in his peripheral vision. And then a louder crash as the shuttle hit the deck, too. In the cockpit, alarms whined and screamed. He could smell smoke—the seals of his helmet had failed.

Leopard picked himself up as Revenant drew her arm back—now a fist once more—and punched her way through what was left of the armorglass.

Leopard opened up on full-auto, practically deafening himself. He roared along with his rifle, unable to miss at such a close, intimate range, until his weapon clicked dry. One of his rounds caught the cyborg in her left eye, sending her tumbling from the front of the shuttle.

Smoke curled out of the consoles. She’d shot the shuttle out from under them.

There goes our ride.

“Tell me you’ve got a Plan B,” Leopard said.

“Yeah,” Monkey replied, frowning. “Run for it.”

Monkey scrambled for the broken cockpit window and pulled himself out, sliding down the front of the jet. Leopard leapt after him.

Tiger was already there at the bottom, wrestling with Revenant, a knife in her hand as Rooster maneuvered to grab the cape from behind. As Leopard landed, the cape kicked Tiger up and back into the bottom of the fuselage, and then laid out Rooster with a single punch, nothing but an afterthought as she turned to set her sights on Leopard. Somehow, impossibly, she seemed none the worse for wear—if you disregarded her scorched, shredded clothing.

Monkey came up firing, rifle roaring, and then he was roaring, too, as he charged and swung his weapon high and with the whole of his body. "Go!" The blow caught the cape across the face, whipping her head about and sending her mask flying across the bay. Tiger, scrambling to her feet, emptied her shotgun into the superhero's back on full auto before she could recover—both tubes, fourteen slugs. Enough sheer kinetic force to keep her suppressed for just a few more seconds. Leopard grabbed Rooster, yanking him to his feet, shouting at him to fucking move. Just a few more seconds, but it was enough time for them to get clear.

Daylight receded behind Leopard as the Animals plunged back into the labyrinth of metal corridors. There was no sense of order or organization this time—just the drive to get as far away from the unstoppable cape as possible, following Monkey blindly. Leopard knew that their head start would diminish with every second.

Some part of Leopard had always wondered what it would be like to tangle with a truly powerful cape—a member of SOLAR or a Golden Age demigod. He’d always figured he’d find some way to come out on top. There was always that little voice in your head that told you that you were the best. It was the part of a person that assumed that, sure, you could beat a gorilla bare-knuckled if you had the right prep work, or if you were just cool enough under pressure. No matter what, the human mind could overcome any obstacle.

It’d always been reassuring to Leopard, even if he had always known, on some level, that it was one part bizarre overconfidence and one part naked stupidity. It was a part that reminded him of Monkey. It was a part of him that hadn’t said a word since Revenant had shown up.

“Come on!” Monkey shouted. “Move! Keep up or you’ll be left behind!”

Left behind? Left behind where? They were on an island. If they couldn’t get away, then it was only a matter of time before the law caught up with them. But he didn’t need any further encouragement—every step he took put him that much further away from being caught. He just had to keep running. Monkey had a plan. He always did.

“Monkey, what’re we doing!?"

“We’ve got something up our sleeve! Trust me! Keep mov—shit! Contact, intersection ahead!”

There, back-lit by daylight, Leopard caught sight of what might as well have been a sheer mountain face.

Ahead of them, arms crossed, legs planted as if to make him an impossible barrier, was another SOLAR cape. Despite the back-light glare, rainbow light seethed around him, casting impossible shadows. Funny, Leopard thought. He’d never thought of a rainbow as being particularly threatening.

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“Left!” Monkey hissed, and the Animals bolted in that direction, down a side corridor. Unable to stop himself, Leopard turned to look. He caught a glimpse of the second SOLAR cape, striding in their direction.

With each step he took, the corridor buckled and broke around him, a cyclone of debris building in his wake.

“He’s seen us!” Leopard shouted.

“Hold him off!” Monkey replied. “I’ve almost got it!”

“With what?!” Leopard barked. “Sticks and fucking stones?”

Tiger stepped up next to him, laying down fire. The cape raised his arm, and the air shimmered between them, walls, floor and ceiling crumpling outward. Shells spalled around her and Leopard, ricocheting wildly, and he had the sick feeling that the fact that neither of them had been hit was intentional.

“Yeah,” Tiger shouted, “Fuck that!” And she turned and ran for it.

Leopard was only a pace behind.

Ahead of them, Monkey had paused by an unassuming bathroom door. Rooster was nowhere that Leopard could see. Taken out, maybe, in the pursuit by one of the SOLAR capes. He hadn’t noticed when.

“We’re not getting out of here,” Leopard realized.

“Sure we will,” Monkey said airily. “With a distraction.”

“What’re you talking about?” Leopard snapped. “You think they’re not going to know we came this way?” He shoved his way past Tiger, angry, aware that he was thrashing in a trap when he should've been calm. “The door is right there. Are we going to climb out the fucking bathroom window and make a run for it?”

Monkey paused, hand on the door. “Look, Spots, I need you to understand that this has nothing to do with what we were arguing about.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Look, if we’re going to go, then we have to go!”

“Spots,” Monkey said. “I’m sorry.”

Something kicked Leopard in the chest, hard enough to wind him through his armored vest. The force of it sent him crashing backward, into Tiger, and the pair of them tumbled to the ground.

For several seconds, Leopard lay there, his chest aching, blinking against the visor of his helmet. He wasn’t sure how he ended up there. Had he been shot? No, then he’d have fallen forwards. And there was a boot print on his chest.

He had been kicked.

Monkey had—

But— No. That was impossible.

Leopard was on his feet, banging his fists against the door. And then it occurred to him to open it, and he wrenched it wide.

Beyond, there lay nothing but a bathroom. Terrified faces stared at him from the stalls. Leopard cast his eyes about, frantic. Looking for that red mane, even if he knew he wouldn’t find it.

Monkey was nowhere to be seen.

Gate, Leopard realized, feeling sick. But how?

Tiger had already picked herself up, was busy loading her shotgun and aiming down the corridor. “Looks like it’s just me and you, I guess. So much for ‘one for all.’” Her helmet was off, thrown to one side.

She’s been expecting this. This… this…

He couldn’t even bring himself to think the word. Treachery. Betrayal. Leopard felt his jaw work, his lips move, but no sounds came out.

Tiger was sifting through her pockets for something, not looking at him. “You better get ready,” she said. “I don’t rate our chances against those SOLAR capes but, hey, maybe we’ll get lucky.”

He couldn’t get ready. He had a gun with no ammo. He had a club. He was a caveman facing down a titan. He was dead.

He was fucking dead.

They were both fucking dead, and Tiger had seen it coming.

“I’m sorry I didn’t support you,” he said, finally, and pulled his helmet off. “Your coup with Snake or whatever. We’d probably be in a better position if I had.”

Tiger stopped her search and looked at him, an odd look on her face. “My what?”

“I thought you were going to take leadership away from Monkey. I should’ve said something. Maybe we could’ve avoided all of this.”

“Hah,” she said, returning to her search. “Funny. I never wanted to lead, kid.” She found what she was looking for: her pack of cigarettes.

Leopard frowned. “That can’t be...” He’d seen it on her face. His instincts had been screaming at him—

“Sorry to disappoint,” she replied. “What, you’ve never heard of projection before?”

Tiger tapped a cigarette out of her pack, set it between her lips, and tucked the pack away.

Clasping the cigarette between her lips, Tiger said, “Hey, Jack—light me up, will you?”

Someone else got there before Leopard could. A golden bolt struck Tiger in the side, and another took her in the chest, flashing holes in her armored vest. The aroma of burnt armorweave and scorched flesh and pungent smoke curled into his nostrils.

Tiger’s gaze caught his own. Her eyes were wide, her expression incredulous.

Tiger went down.

The two capes came up the corridor. Revenant had recovered her mask and her outstretched limb was collapsing from that horrifically potent energy projector, to a hand, back into her wrist and then into the rest of her cybernetic arm. As she strode forward, she gave the limb an experimental flex.

The man hovered at her side, arms crossed and chin canted—like his very bearing would deflect any attack where his telekinetic abilities failed. That bizarre rainbow corona shifted and pulsed around him.

Disabled, Aegis had said, not destroyed.

They were going to take him alive.

Only one option, then.

Leopard drew his sidearm, shoving it under his chin as he spat, “Death first,” and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened. Not even a subtle click. Leopard compelled his finger to act, and it did, but the trigger wouldn’t budge. There hadn’t been any fear—the action had been the only reasonable response to IESA captivity, a decision he had made years ago—but now there was.

“No,” the male cape said, “that won’t do—we’re not done with you yet.”

He tried to open his mouth, but something was clamping his jaw shut.

Panic, pure and animalistic, swamped his senses—and yet something held him fast. The SOLAR cape looked to Tiger, as if only just realizing she was present.

“Revenant,” he said, “Inform Aegis that we have two of the attackers in custody. Inform her...” A pause. “Inform her that both of the attackers require medical attention.”

The force relaxed. Leopard opened his mouth to say something, to spit some final curse, and the man waved his hand, rolling his wrist in a lackadaisical motion. In that moment, as Leopard’s legs went out from under him, and his body lost the certainty of which way was up and which was down, a single blazing thought came to him.

Monkey had left him behind.

And then his jaw hit the ground, and he didn’t think anything at all.