Cinereous Skies is the first Arkham Files story to overtly reference the master art thief Klaus Mansfeld, Neal's former mentor. Up to a month ago, the White Collar team believed he was dead. Now they know his brother Rolf wasn't the only one to fake his death.
Warning for spoilers to Arkham Files
When Neal worked for Klaus, his mentor called himself the Leopard. Klaus liked to think of himself as roaming the jungle of art museums, unfettered by society's rules and laws. Klaus is believed to currently work for the criminal syndicate Ydrus. Is the Leopard growing restless at the constraints imposed by a large organization? In Raphael's Dragon, Azathoth appeared to mock Neal for being a leashed lion because of his work with the FBI. Now the tables are turned. Neal has more freedom than ever. Peter is portraying himself as being a lenient, indulgent boss. The team wagers Klaus's situation is not so comfortable. Does he resent taking orders? The White Collar team suspects Klaus's connection to Ydrus is a key vulnerability that they can exploit.
In Cinereous Skies, the leopard is not an animal to be admired. Instead he is loathed and feared by all who know him. Phineas explains that the Ymar, a hostile race of aliens, have taken a leopard and devolved him into Sornoth. The saber-toothed beast is now their tool on a level with the unthinking ghast. Sornoth lives purely to execute the Ymar's orders. Whatever free will he once possessed has been snatched away from him. The portrait of Sornoth must be particularly galling to a thief who boasted of his independence.
Klaus likes to think of himself as Neal's older brother. White Collar's analysis of the virtual reality program Neal was subjected to leaves little doubt that Klaus craves Neal's admiration. That's hardly likely when Sornoth viciously slices his fangs into Neal's flesh. Will Klaus believe that's analogous to Ydrus's treatment of him? Peter rescued Neal. Is he willing to do the same for Klaus?
White Collar is not finished rattling the Leopard's cage. I'll have more about their strategy next week.
Cinereous Skies on Archive of Our Own
Cinereous Skies on FanFiction
No comments:
Post a Comment