CHAPTER 40 - LEOPARD

Australia.

Leopard popped the cylinder of Monkey’s revolver out with his thumb, then clicked it back into place. Click-clack. Australia. Click-clack. Never thought I’d be back in Australia.

He’d never expected to come back. He’d never wanted to come back. Even on the other side of the country, beneath a bizarre, shimmering sky, he was still far too close to the life he had escaped. The life Monkey had pulled him from. Click-clack.

They’d spent two days within the Western Australian Null Zone—the wanzed, as the locals called it. On the first night, he and Tiger had tracked down a base of operations. A suburban home with enough dust along every surface to make it clear that no one had lived there in a very long time.

It was a nice place—from what Leopard knew of houses, anyway. Big enough to have a garden but not big enough to have a dog. It’d been a long time since he’d sat in a kitchen, and longer still since he’d watched the sun come up. Click-clack. The fact that the house only had three bedrooms wasn’t a problem—he slept on the couch in the living room, which put him closest to the front of the house, and therefore the first to know if anything went wrong.

He didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t used to being normal. Impel didn’t get it—kept calling him Jack. There was a divide between Jack and Leopard, just as there was a divide between him and the world. Defiant didn’t like him, which was fine. But Impel kept knocking on the barrier. Jack felt less real than Leopard ever did.

Wear a mask too long, someone had said, and your face changes to fit it.

Click-clack.

Tiger stepped into the kitchen, yawning. She ambled over to the kettle and set it to boil. “What’s up, kid?” she asked. “You’ve got that face again.”

“I’m thinking,” he said.

“Really wish you wouldn’t.”

The kettle went off. Tiger poured herself out a cup and began stirring something into it. “So, you gonna tell me what it is?”

Click-clack. Leopard set the revolver down on the table. “Monkey gave this to me,” he said.

“Okay.”

“It’s part of a pair. He always said they were lucky.”

Tiger took a long sip from her mug. “He always said a lot of things.”

“Yeah.”

“And he didn’t always tell you everything.”

“Yeah.” But he told me more than you.

“This coffee’s good,” Tiger said. “Nah, I’m kidding—it’s fucking terrible. You want some?”

“Monkey gave me this gun for a reason,” Leopard said.

He had to. There was always a reason. Always a method to his madness, a plan. He didn’t want to be here. With these people who thought they could be friends. He had a friend, didn’t he? Someone with whom he would’ve gone to the end of the world and back again. Someone who had always been there for him.

“Jack,” Tiger said, “don’t start this again.”

“Don’t call me that. He gave me this for a reason. He wouldn’t have given me his revolver if I wasn’t supposed to bring it back to him.”

“Nope,” Tiger said, setting her mug down. “Can’t deal with this. I’m going out for a walk, and I really hope you’ve gotten your shit together by the time I get back.”

But that’s what she didn’t get. He did have his shit together. She’d come around given time, wouldn’t she? When the time came, she’d have to side with him against Defiant, Impel, and the cyborg Revenant. When the time came, she’d remember that she was an animal as much as he was.

But it was a very nice kitchen.

Sighing, Leopard got up, and went out to walk the perimeter.

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Monkey had always said it was essential to know your living area like the back of your hand, to know it more intimately than a gun or a knife. And so, Leopard made a habit of wandering the halls and checking the rooms and walking the fences. Looking for sight lines, blind spots, choke points, how the place would be to defend in a worst-case scenario. It gave him something to do. Gave him time to think.

When he stepped back into the kitchen, Impel was cooking breakfast. “Jack, how do you like your eggs?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not hungry.”

“You sure? It’s real bacon.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, as Defiant stepped into the room. “Give my share to Defiant.”

“Aces,” she said.

“Where’s Sam?” Impel asked.

“Went out for a walk,” Leopard said, “why?”

“No reason. We just need to keep a low profile. Our identification got us into the country, but we might be in trouble if our old friend Great Barrier decides to check in. Australians are kinda nuts about defending the mainland.”

Leopard shrugged. “I’m sure Revenant can get us out of it. Do either of you really think she’s on the level?” SOLAR’s fingerprints were everywhere. They wanted him to lead their operative to Monkey. It’s the only thing that made sense.

“She’s gotten us our guns and gear, everything we could ever need,” he continued, “and she hasn’t even given us her name.”

“Hey,” Defiant said, around a mouthful of bacon. “Leave her alone.”

He had to dial it back slightly. Couldn’t let them think he wasn’t anything but on their side.

“I’m just saying,” he said. “She’s obviously tied to SOLAR somehow—so, why aren’t they doing this themselves?”

“Politics,” Impel said.

“Yeah, and how’s that worked out for everyone who doesn’t bow and scrape before the new world order?”

Something chimed. The doorbell.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Jack,” Impel said, “How about you focus on doing your job. Which is to tell us where Promethea is and get us on Monkey’s trail.”

The doorbell rang again. Maybe Tiger had locked herself out.

“Sure,” Leopard replied, something bitter on his tongue. And then, “I’ll get that.”

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It wasn’t Tiger. There were three men on the other side of the door. Leopard slipped bullets into Monkey’s revolver. Once, he’d asked Monkey why he used a weapon that he had to reload in six shots. Monkey had said the trick was to never get into a situation where you needed more than six.

Two each was more than enough.

Leopard pulled the front door open, keeping it between his weapon and the people on the other side. He stared around it blearily, like he’d just woken up.

The three men wore buttoned shirts and jeans. Neighbors, perhaps. Leopard scoped them in a second—no visible weapons. Could be empowered. But the apparent leader of the three caught Leopard’s eye and revealed the artifice for what it was. The man had a blazing red prosthetic jammed into his right eye socket. The sort of enhancement that drew attention to the replacement, the sort of decision that made it clear that the person didn’t belong to polite society and had no intention of doing so.

Monkey’s revolver didn’t have a safety. It felt good in his hand.

“Hey, neighbor,” Red Eye said in heavily accented English. Japanese, by the sounds of it. “We’re from the house down the street and figured we’d welcome you to the neighborhood.”

“Yeah,” Leopard said, and yawned. “Thanks. We just moved in.”

“You don’t say. Well, where’re you from? There aren’t many people coming to this little patch of paradise these days.”

Who were these people? A protection racket? Who on Earth would think extorting this place was a good idea? Well, Leopard thought. Fuck it.

“Look, this isn’t a good idea,” Leopard said. “Whatever racket you’re running here, take it somewhere else.”

Red Eye raised his eyebrows—eyebrow, the right side of his face didn’t quite match his left. “I’m not sure what you mean, friend.”

“Listen, my family and I—” Somewhere, Tiger laughed, “—don’t want any trouble. Take it from someone who knows what he’s talking about. Walk away. Whatever you’re selling, we don’t need it.”

Leopard pressed the door closed, and it met the toe of Red Eye’s boot. Good, Leopard thought, then I haven’t completely misjudged the situation.

“Are you sure?” Red Eye asked, staring him down. “See, I’ve seen you walking around your garden. And I thought to myself, well, doesn’t he look familiar? Maybe I know him from somewhere.”

“I get that a lot,” Leopard replied. It was a bluff. Had to be. An old trick, and the Animals had so rarely removed their gear in the presence of outsiders. The number of people who knew his face, Leopard could count on his fingers.

Maybe Star Patrol. No, that was a stupid thought. Whoever these people were, they weren’t lawful.

“I’m sure,” Red Eye said. “But you don’t know who you’re dealing with. Maybe you should think real closely about honesty.”

Leopard felt his body waver on the edge of the cliff that heralded violent freefall. The man was of a similar height, similar build under his clothes. Didn’t know he was armed, but probably assumed it. He could get one, maybe two, if he fired first. But Impel and the others would hear, and then what would they do—bury the bodies in the backyard?

But.

Still.

“Neither do you,” Leopard replied. This was what he needed, this was where he had to be. “But if you don’t think we’re from around here, then maybe you should think that’s why you don’t want to fuck with us.”

“You think we’re local?”

“I think you’re stupid.”

Red Eye frowned. The decision to act came alive on his face. Leopard squeezed Monkey’s revolver tight.

Then the moment passed. Red Eye pulled back and away from the door. From beyond, Leopard heard Tiger’s voice. “Hey,” she said, as if pleasantly surprised. “Visitors.”

There she stood, and Leopard recognized her stance, the way her jacket was bundled in her hands. She was concealing a weapon, and she was just about ready to swing it to bear. No matter what Red Eye said, no matter what he thought, they were both amateurs compared to her.

“Yeah,” Leopard said. “Just that. Visitors. And they were just leaving.”

Red Eye nodded, smiling. “Of course. Wrong address. My apologies to you and your family for any inconvenience caused. Sir, ma’am.” He stepped away from the door and led his thugs past Tiger and off the property.

Leopard watched them until he couldn’t see them anymore. He knew the true meaning of those words: we’ll be back, and we’re going to fuck you up.

“I leave you alone for, what, an hour and you go and start making friends,” Tiger said. Then she sniffed the air. “Is that bacon? I knew I should’ve put a ring on this guy years ago.”

“Tiger, I want you to follow them.”

“What, before I’ve had breakfast?”

“Yeah. You heard him. Whoever they are, I think they’re stupid enough to come back and take a shot at us. I’d like to know what we’re dealing with. There’s something weird going on here.”

“Yeah, you’re making friends.”

Leopard reached up to the hat tree by the door and passed an old baseball cap to Tiger. Superheroes needed their disguises, after all. “If they see you, and you get into trouble, call me.”

“If they see me,” Tiger said, adjusting the brim of her new hat, “I’m not the one who’s going to need backup.”

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He didn’t tell the others. There was no need to cause them any stress until he and Tiger knew what they were dealing with. He spent the next few hours in the garage, cleaning his guns and checking his gear. That was where Tiger found him.

“So,” Leopard said, “What’d you find out?”

Tiger propped herself on one of the larger cases that Revenant had brought with them. Leopard didn’t know what was in it. “They’re not a local gang,” she said. “I counted eight people operating out of a house about thirty minutes east of here.”

“By car or by foot?”

“Car. Those guys had pulled up three streets away. Had to steal a car to keep up with them.” She grinned, showing off that gap between her teeth. “Don’t worry, I drowned it afterwards.”

“Right.”

“Anyway,” Tiger said, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling, hands behind her head, “I’m betting they’re some kind of mercenary group, maybe covert paramilitary. The obvious cyber-eye is a dead giveaway. Might even have subdermal comms. If they’re empowered, they’re not the bright and flashy sort. Fuck all idea what they’d be doing here, though.”

“And they just happened to show up on our doorstep?” Leopard asked.

“You know our luck.”

“Did we ever deal with someone with an eye like that?”

“Not that I remember,” Tiger said, shrugging. “But, shit, kid, we could’ve given him that eye.”

Leopard considered it. His conclusion was the same as he’d come to before. Tiger knew her stuff, and if she thought they were quality mercenaries, then they were. But short of some unlikely alliance of frustrated employers or slighted victims pooling their resources, Leopard couldn’t think of anyone who’d be willing to pay someone like that to track them down, and so quickly...

And for what?

“Maybe,” Leopard said, and ran his tongue over his teeth.

“Might not even be us.”

“Doubt it.” That cliff loomed before him. “I don’t like this.”

Tiger poked her head up. “You don’t like anything.”

“No, I mean it. You heard them, they’re going to come back. And if we get into a fight here, that’s it for us. It’ll fuck everything up.”

“Fuck them up, more like.”

“I’d bet on us over them. Impel wants us to get some intel? Fine, we’ll do that.”

Tiger’s grin grew bright and dangerous, strangely playful. “You saying what I think you’re saying?”

Leopard never felt normal, but there was something about Tiger that made the abnormal less obvious. It was a strange kind of intimacy. Nothing sexual, sex would only fuck it up. Of course, what’d he know about that, anyway?

“That we go and hit them before they hit us? You bet.”

Tiger sat up, rolled out her neck and shoulders. “Works for me.”

“Tonight,” Leopard said. “Once Impel and the others are asleep. Then we get our gear, arm up, and go and get some answers. Just like old times.”

“Sure,” Tiger said. “Providing we can skip over the part where we got left for dead.”