Wild Tiger Chase - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

— Léon —
There was a loud crack overhead as white energy arched across the sky. It crossed the darkness above like a bolt of energy and plunged in front of the group, ripping the thin fabric of reality before them. A wave of warmth and power came from the tear, crashing against Léon with something akin to familiarity.
As the tear spread, Léon frowned. He could almost see the woven threads of reality being torn apart and pushed aside to show a dark, flicking tunnel that looked a lot like an undimension. A twisted undimension.
It was a beautiful sight if only a little violent; enchanting and destructive, like a meteor shower.
And that's when he realized it.
Goddess. Léon never thought he'd see the step-through from outside!
A hand shot out from the portal and found support on one of the metallic columns. Its owner, Antônio McCockay, left the dark mist of his undimension and crossed over to the cracked asphalt of the street outside.
Antônio looked nothing like the person Léon had seen in the Mayor's lab, four years ago. He was panting and pale; his lips, the bags under his eyes, and his hands were cracked and yellowish like an old, lifeless doll made of wax. And as if he really were one, his movements were hard and slow, a mix of limping and marching that accompanied the hard, unblinking stare of his cerulean blue eyes.
"Rob," he said. Toni's voice was a low, dangerous thing that reached them despite the shouts and the desperation in the city. "Robbie, where are you? I can feel you, husband."
And in answer to that voice—or those words—something stirred inside Léon. Without a word, he tugged on Rob's shirt and hooked Satina and Amma's arms, all but dragging them back inside the half-destroyed house. With a wave of his hand, he caught Rafa and Phillip's attention and motioned them to follow. They spread around the living room, hiding behind half-destroyed walls, sofas, and armchairs.
Toni laughed. It was a hollow sound, and it only stopped when his cracked voice said, "Why are you hiding from me? Please come back." He let out an exhausted sigh. There was a dull thud of knees hitting the ground before he said, "Don't make me come to you, Robbie. You... I want you to come to me." He lowered his head to his hands and rubbed his face with a long grunt. "I used to say I want you to come too, didn't I? Or I never said it, I don't know. What I—how did I—? Ugh, my head."
A knot formed in Léon's throat. He peeked over the edge of the broken wall and looked around, searching for a way out. The more he listened to Toni, the more certain he was they needed to get out of that place. More than the innuendo about Rob, the sheer wave of power coming from him made Léon's eyebrows knit together in a mix of anger and agony.
The portal waved, wobbled, and shrunk behind Toni, who raised his head and stared at it as if waiting for someone to come through. He sniffed, his shoulders trembling.
Rob's muscles bulged as he knelt and hoisted his body up. Like Léon, he studied Toni's figure.
Unlike Léon, there was sadness and shock in his eyes.
"You've been living in this city for a while," Satina said. She looked from Kali to Rafa. "Where can we hide? Maybe he won't notice us if we sneak away."
"Why bother?" Phillip whispered back. "The motherfucker can find Roberto wherever we go, can't he?"
Rafa frowned. "He shouldn't be able to. I don't understand; this connection, this... this thing that chains Beto and Toni, it's—it's not right." She looked at Léon. "Beto should've.... He should've broken that already."
"I'm right here, you know," Rob mumbled.
"Why, it doesn't look like it," Rafa snapped back.
Kali sighed, tugging Pipo closer. She dried his silent tears and kissed his forehead.
"I don't know what a traceless woman can teach a group of supers," Kali said in an ironic tone, "but what you described doesn't sound like something out of a science article to me. I'm yet to find a power trace that can control people like that." She rested her heavy eyes on Rafa, then moved them to Léon. The scarce light aged her, cutting sharp, deep shadows on her face. "The chains we create are not always made of love, baby boy. Remember that."
Another laugh cut through the charged atmosphere.
"Oi, I can hear you." Toni sniffed and grunted. His shadow elongated against the floor, surrounded by strong oranges and purples from the columns. He was getting up. "I'm glad you're here too, Birdie. I missed my little sister-in-law. You can visit us when I bring Robbie back home."
A scuffle at his right caught Léon's attention. Rafa struggled against Phillip's grip, her voice muffled against his palm while he tried to keep her from getting up.
"Calm down," Phillip growled. "We can't fight him head-on, Rafa. Calm down!"
"Since you know that, just come here and make this easier on all of us, all right?" Toni said. "We don't have time for games, I'm... I'm so fucking tired. Please, just... just come here. Let's end this."
Toni's legs wobbled and he stumbled forward, falling down on his knees again. He grunted, coughed, and groaned, breathing hard and desperate enough to look like a drowning man.
"Holy fuck, he looks so weak," Satina said.
Something crossed Amma's eyes. "We should take this opportunity to run. I don't think he can do much in that state."
"I said I can hear you!" Toni shouted.
The sound was so sudden and so loud, Léon's shoulders jerked up.
All around Toni, the orange and purple died down, sucked into Toni's shadow as if hiding from the outside world. In their place, a strong red light shone, generating a strong wave of energy that broke down walls and pushed everyone and everything away.
"And I'm not weak. I'm strong and I'll have my family back!" Toni roared. "I'll protect them. I'll protect them cause nobody else can!" Red energy crackled around him, reaching out with webbed thin cracks that looked like lightning.
Léon couldn't stop the little something stinging his chest. He knew that feeling—wanting your loved ones back—but he couldn't let himself feel anything for Toni, being it pity, empathy, or anything else. He couldn't forget all the pain Toni had caused him.
Most of all, he couldn't forget all the pain Toni had caused Rob.
"He's forcing his powers past the point of control," Rob said. "He must be so used to it by now, he doesn't even think about it anymore." His voice was low and hurt. "He doesn't care about who he hurts, Leo. I hate seeing him like this," Rob said in a mumble, averting his eyes.
When his gaze set on Léon, he recognized the fear in them. The conversation they shared in the forest came back; Rob didn't want Léon to become Toni.
"You need to go." Phillip swallowed hard and took in a deep breath. He reached for the daggers at his back and unsheathed them, activating their power. "My shadow trace can hold him back until you run away." The light from his weapons glimmered against the black veins in his arms, tainted by the sickness. "I'm dead anyway, so if I can hold—"
"Shut up, Phillip," Rafa said. "You just said he'll find us no matter what, and you just stopped me from biting his bloody head off for what he did to my brother. What we need is to find a way to stop Toni from finding us, and what you need is to stop trying to do the sacrifice thing. It stopped being cute a while ago, mate—around the time we became a team."
Phillip opened and closed his lips, then looked aside and furrowed his brows.
Satina chuckled, but her face soon hardened. "Okay, listen. Something tells me we're running out of time. First, he's not attacking. Second, well, look." She jerked her chin towards Toni. "The portal behind him is still open. He might be waiting for someone, and I don't want to wait around and discover who."
Léon's eyes widened. Satina was right.
Shit, he couldn't even imagine how strong Toni was if he could keep a path open for so long. Léon usually felt spent just by stepping through with a group of people! He could never keep a pathway like that.
As if reacting to those thoughts, the portal rippled.
And Rio came out.
For a second, it was as if time hadn't passed. Sure, the lines in Rio's face looked deeper, his eyes sadder, and his hair bluer, but despite all that, Rio looked nothing but a good old friend. For only the part of a moment, Léon considered getting up and opening his arms to receive the warm, friendly hug Rio would give him every time they saw each other.
Maybe Satina was mistaken. Maybe Rio was still the sweet Rio who helped everyone in their fight against The Mayor. Maybe Rio was still his friend, the assertive, gentle, and handsome young nurse who took care of Phillip. Besides, Rio and Amma worked together for so long. She was the one who introduced them to each other, right? Or... or was it Satina? Or did Léon meet him first?
A frown creased Léon's forehead and something bitter threatened to cover his tongue. He swallowed and took in a deep breath. It was a long time since he felt like this—since he couldn't remember something he knew that should exist. The feeling was as awful now as it has always been.
Bile climbed up stronger as Léon sifted through his own memories, plucking the false ones like thorns stuck on his fingers. Satina was right. Rio was a fucking liar and he had played a cruel joke on Léon.
A very cruel joke.
Rio winced and pressed a hand against his temples. "Shit." He let out a weak, mirthless laugh. "Focus. One problem at a time." Like the fearless little thing he was, he braved through the tendrils of red energy and knelt beside Toni, placing a small medical bag at his side. Rio pulled Toni's face up to study his eyes, checked his pulse, his temperature, and fished a small machine from the bag to take a sample of his blood. The machine let out a beep, and Rio finally sighed.
"Were you worried about me, nurse Gregorio?" Toni asked in a sweet voice.
Rio's eyes snapped open and zeroed in on Toni with a type of anger Léon had never seen on him before. Toni's red energy licked his face and body, but Rio didn't seem to care. He didn't seem to fear the man before him.
"Of course I was worried about you," Rio answered. "Don't do that to me ever again, Toni. Did you listen? Don't run off like that; you're in no shape!"
"What a fucking clown!" Phillip growled. "I'll—"
It was Rafa's time to restrain him, covering his mouth like Phillip had done for her a moment before.
"Satina, we really need to go," Rafa whispered.
Satina nodded, her eyes widened. "Right. Sorry, I just... I know I was the one who told you, but it's fucking hard to accept this shit."
"I... left the pathway open for you," Toni said. "For all of you." He pointed an outstretched hand towards the portal. "I'll bring the rest of them here, don't worry. I can guide them."
Satina bristled at Léon's side. "Yeah, we're leaving this place right now. Right now! Can you carry Rob?"
"Yes," Léon whispered.
"I'll help," Rafa added. "Toni's distracted, but not for long." She tugged at Phillip's arm. "C'mon. Deep breaths, mate. We need you."
A few meters from them, Rio scoffed. "I don't care if you left the path open or not, Toni. We talked about this before we left NC. If you're not ready to follow my directions and behave yourself, I won't let you search for Roberto." Rio let out a shaky breath. "Fuck, Toni. Leo just discovered about me. Things will be harder from now on—I can't help you if we're not careful. Please listen to me."
Rafa sneaked one of Rob's arms around her shoulder, and Léon did the same with his other one. Together, they lifted Rob, keeping to the shadows.
"There's an unbarred window in the back. We can use it," Amma whispered.
"Half of the house is broken, can't we just... go?" Phillip said.
"Toni... is right in front of us, mate," Rob whispered. He clutched at his temples again; beads of sweat rolled down the side of his face.
"Yeah. It would be too easy to spot us. You might be used to your powers hiding you, but we don't have the same luxury," Satina said.
"Or the time to let you expand your powers and hide us," Rafa added.
"Huh. I didn't know he could do that." Satina raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, keep going."
"I know all that, Gregorio. I swear I do," Toni said. He sighed and slumped forward to hide his face on Rio's shoulder. "But he's here, Gregorio. They're all here. I found them!"
"Ah, shit," Léon muttered.
Rio tensed up and looked around as more people crossed the portal.
"Thank you for finally showing the way, McCockay. After what felt like 84 years, that is." A huff. "You can close the damn thing now," the woman said.
Amma was the first to reach the large window. She let out a long line of swearing and put Pipo on the floor, reaching for the heavy padlock on the wooden shutters. "Fucking locked!"
Léon studied the piece of metal. "Breaking it would make too much noise. Goddess. What do we do?"
"Amma, I'm scared," Pipo whispered with a teary voice. "Don't let anyone take me again, please. I want to stay with you, Leo, and Tiny."
Léon's heart clenched inside his chest. "We'll never let that happen, Pipo. We're staying together, no matter what."
"Exactly," Amma said. "We're here, munchkin." She leaned down and hugged him tight. Amma handed Pipo to Léon and stretched a hand towards Satina. "Do you still have that Christmas gift I gave you?"
Satina first widened her eyes, then grinned. "Of course, Auntie. I carry it everywhere," she said, undoing the clasp of her wrist gadget.
"Wait," said a familiar voice. Modraniht's voice. "Shouldn't we see if we're all here before closing the portal? Cae was there too, so I thought he'd come with us."
"I forbade him to come. Wouldn't let those people get near my project; not again. If he gives me that whole he's only a child speech another time, my stress-induced gastritis will end me." The woman clicked her tongue and groaned. "There's someone else too, but not in the portal, so don't worry. I made sure to cover all the possibilities. I'm not playing around anymore, Doctor. Remember that."
Léon hugged Pipo tighter, and Amma knelt in front of the window. She pressed a finger on the gadget's side and pulled two metallic, foldable stems from it. She took her glasses from her pullover's cleavage, put them on, and started to pick the lock on the window.
Rio got up. He looked from the woman to Modraniht, then set a heavy stare on the first. "Jackal, they're here. Rob and Léon, I suppose. And if what Cae told us is true, the kid is too."
Truth be told, Léon wasn't new to this type of venture, but whatever the jumble of feelings in his heart was, it was messing with his head. Hard. He tried to blink away the tears forming in his eyes, but they kept coming, so he stepped back and hugged Pipo even tighter, praying for whatever force would hear him.
Please help me protect my family.
"Are they?" Jackal let out a satisfied sigh and completed, "Well. No sense in waiting, then. Let's do the thing."
"I hope it works, Jackal," Modraniht said. "Those kids suffered enough already."
"We all do, Doctor. And I'm saying this for both sentences."
A click.
"Go it," Amma said. She pulled the padlock and placed it on the floor.
The wooden shutters swung back without a sound, revealing a black NAV at the other side of the street. Upon seeing them, the driver widened his eyes and jumped off with a phone pressed to his ear. He rushed to open the passenger door and motioned them closer with a plasmetallic hand.
"Holy shit, it's Marlo!" Rafa said with a laugh drenched in disbelief. She was the first to jump out of the window and wave back. "C'mon, he'll get us out of here!" Rafa turned around with a grin and offered a hand to help Satina jump down.
"Are you sure we can trust him, Rafa?" Amma asked. "You heard what that Jackal woman just said, right?"
Rafa opened her lips to answer but didn't. The smile disappeared from her face and she furrowed her brow, looking at something at Léon's back. As her eyes widened, a dense, red fog swallowed the group.