Luke stood just outside the door that led into the danger room. After a conversation with Silver Streak about how the danger room worked and how to set up programs the blind man had gone through the task of verbally entering commands for the kind of training he wanted to work with. Luke didn't really think that Iron Mouth was ready for combat training but he had to do something in order to placate the young man. Focusing on stealth would help keep Fausto alive, and maybe help keep a few others alive as well.

He could feel the nervous energy building up inside him. There had been so many things go on over the past few weeks that he had to admit it would feel nice to burn off a little bit of his own energy too. As such, Luke was dressed apropriately in black sneakers, dark gray sweat pants, and a white t-shirt. While not fancy it would provide him with all the ease of movement he might need.

"Almost time... he should be showing up any moment."

Fausto was late, a few days earlier he had received a message from Luke for a date in the Danger Room .
Sam was teaching him some of self defense. Luke certainly would choose other option, for some reason he saw Iron Mouth as a murderer, a threat to society. without Neena , Luke options drastically drop . he had to choise between train Fausto or let him being his own teacher with the enormous possibility of injury to himself or harm to others.
Nobody seemed to understand the meaning of his Justice. would he be able to find someone to understand it?The child had been distracted writing some ideas for songs, but he didnt get anything ,just a couple of pieces.

When he arrived to the Danger Room, Luke was already waiting there and dressed for the occasion. Fausto had chosen an appropriate dress too, he worn a 3 / 4 pants with a shirt a bit longer than usual, probably a bigger size.
¨ Luke hello! long time no se ya, how is everything? ¨
Fausto greeted him kindly, he was really glad to see Luke. it was nice to chat with him and analyze differents points of view .

"I'm doing just fine Fausto." Luke replied with a slight smile as his student walked up. He didn't think that the boy would ever give up his idea that killing was OK but perhapse Luke could at least slightly change his view. "How're you doing? I hear you've been getting some self defense training. Is it going well?"

From what he knew of CS, there was no way the defense instructor would teach Fausto anything that he could use to kill another person. Fausto would learn to defend himself but at least he wouldn't be learning any killing blows from that source. More than likely he would find someone to teach him the kinds of things he wanted to learn, but it wouldn't be anyone here at the mansion.

¨I'm fine, thanks. I'm a little busy lately with ... some things. but all is well. yes, Sam is teaching me some things but he dindt taught me a lot. he is busy most part of time and I dont like to bother him with my lessons, so we do not have many opportunities to train. last month a lot of new residents enter in tha mansion and only two people are in charge of greet, and one of them is Sam. he doesnt have much free time to train me. ¨

After thinking a few seconds, he said aloud the question that was turning on its head. he wanted to be like Wraith , a hero that fight against injustices. Wraith didnt kill the bad guys and perhaps that is the better way . he was his model to follow but Luke didnt wanted to believe he was a good boy . He saw Fausto like a monster with the unique goal of killing people . a animal that enjoy eating the flesh and bones of people .

¨do you think that some day i would be able to fight alongside Wraith?¨

Luke smiled slightly at Fausto's question as he turned around and keyed open the door to the danger room. "Once I'm sure that you have the skills to stay alive out there, you may just get a chance to run with Wraith. But first, we need to make sure you can survive."

Trusting that Fausto would follow him in, Luke walked through the now open door into the danger room. Having already activated the program it was as if the two had just stepped into the streets of London. Thick fog banks rolled in, masking everything. Luke could feel the moisture wanting to bead on his skin as he walked through the clouds toward a streetlight that Fausto would only be able to make out by the slight glow.

"This is London. Perhaps one of the easiest places to remain concealed in the whole world. The fog masks shapes, movement, and even light. One of the first things you have to learn if you want to be stealthy, is how to spot those that are trying to be stealthy. You learn from their mistakes... from their mis-steps."

Waving a hand at the surrounding fog Luke continued his description. "Hidden within a two block radius are four men. They are stranglers that like to assault single women that are making their way through the fog. Your mission is to stop them before they can claim any more victims. Any questions?"

while Luke was talking Fausto couldn't contain a big smile, maybe the blind man wouldn't be capable of perceiving the subtle change in his face. but the situation draws a smile from him.he never went to London . that simulated London didn't seemed very friendly, everywhere fog, the fog was so dense that when you walk toward an enormous spider web . ¨ any question?¨ that question opened a world of possibilities for the little boy,he had so many questions about Luke^s dual life , how do he fight against evil and his normal life and how he became Wraith, who taught him to fight?. also he had many questions about the training, he couldn't understand how he would be able to found these men in a place so full of fog, there was a time to accomplish the mission? there was a single woman to protect ? what had to do when he find the men? he should try to kill them or leave them behind unconscious, where is the police at that time? it would be appropriate to let them unconscious ?. he leave aside any questions, he don't wanted to lose much time .Luke surely would have plenty to do after training. so he answered simply saying "no question, everything is clear ... I can not see anything in this fog ¨

Luke made it simple to see. But the situation was complicated . Fausto could hardly differentiate their feet, the fog is really so dense in London? or luke configure the danger room so it could made the mission more difficult?
visibility was virtually null so he choose to use his other senses, the hearing would be the greatest help in a situation like that. he was silent a few minutes to listen and try to locate any unusual sound. he got to hear some sounds, but it were normal sounds, a cat walking on a roof, a dog barking in the distance. Fausto sometimes forget that he was in the danger room, everything seemed so real. the smells, sounds, surfaces, light and shadows, everything was played by the danger room almost perfect.
almost without realizing it he began to walk to the left along the dark street.he wasnt sure if they had heard anything or not, he seemed to have heard something but he was not sure.
he walked a block to the left and again he took the time to listen for something, to stay quiet was not one of his specialties, he felt the desire to shout out to the villains in their hideouts, but the idea of the training was different.
He reached the corner and tried to look through the dense fog .

Luke remained silent as he followed behind Fausto. Part of the reason he had picked this sort of camouflage simulation was because his sonar could sweep the area without the slightest problem. Fausto would have to learn how to deal with the elements while Luke kept an eye on things and made sure that the young man didn't get hurt.

Reaching out a little further with his sonar Luke could pick out the first of the four targets that Fausto was searching for. Hidden in an alley about one block further away, #1 was in a crouch, his head swiveling back and forth as he looked for his next victim.

Moving forward so that he was a little closer to Fausto, Luke spoke in a soft voice that wouldn't carry any distance in the dense fog. "You're sight is almost useless in this mist but be aware of any movement. Use your other senses to try and figure out what's around you and even more important, pay attention to your instincts. The subconscious mind will alert you to things that your conscious mind doesn't notice. That is what your instincts truly are."

Fausto was so focused on try to hear something that doesnt hear absolutely nothing. as he didnt hear Luke when he approached, he scared Fausto almost to dead.
if Luke could know that my instinct is somewhat animal. it only suggests to me things that are related to my evolution . bite, tear up, spit, lick. nothing useful in a situation like this.
he had used his instincts only in fights.he had also relied on his instincts that night he was leaving his house, that house was so full of memories. Fausto ran away of that place, he ran with no apparent direction with the hope that the direction it took was the right. that time his instincts let him lost almost for a week. the ears werent helping a lot, most of the sounds that seemed clear were tricks his mind played to him. If you want to see ghosts you ended seeing ghosts, but not because they are there just because your mind wants to believe they are there.
use his nose seemed something more related to the instinct, but the normal human had stopped using his nose to track persons since a lot of centuries ago. with few exceptions among some mutants that still held that ability, fausto wasnt one of them. so their attempts to use his nose were almost useless, all he could smell was the water in the air, the smell soaked grass and earth, and some garbage near there.

a sound draw his attention, despite the fact he wasnt trying to listen. a sound that could have gone totally unnoticed. it was only a moment but someone drag his feet on the floor instead of lifting them. that noise wasnt a very significant one but he had heard it for sure. he only had to follow a few steps further on the same block.
he find what he was looking for in the second half of the block , an alley that was hiding between two buildings. it was the perfect place for somebody to hide.
and indeed there was him , Fausto crawled doing the less noise moving quickly approaching towards him. when the man realized his presence Fausto already given him a strong blow to the mouth of the stomach that leave the stranger out of combat.
or the computer doesnt calculated very well the effects of the impact or he was such a weak person.
maybe just had to find the mens and the computer will automatically make their faint.
Fausto came out of the alley with a smile, triumphant. he crossed the street to reach the opposite block.

Luke nodded slightly, satisfied with the way that Fausto had handled the situation. This was a stealth exercise so his opponents were not masters of combat. Almost a firm breath would knock them over but it would teach Fausto the lesson that he needed to learn.

"Focus on your hearing... don't strain with your eyes just listen and let your subconscious notice the things you would normally miss." Luke lectured softly as he continued to follow the student through the fog banks. About two blocks away he could make out the second target. He was actually hidden half way up a fire escape, poised to jump down on the first unsuspecting victim that came along. The computer was even programmed to jump on Fausto if it had the chance. Obviously, Fausto would easily win the battle, but if he were attacked maybe it would teach him to pay even more attention. And if he noticed the man before he was attacked, then he was already paying attention like he should.

"Be alert... be very alert."

Fausto crossed the street toward the square in front of him ,it shouldnt be wise to try to listen or try to smell. So he tried to make his body relax and calm to just react alone.
the child knelt on the sidewalk a few seconds trying to relax every muscle in his body, he had to forget he want to listen to really listen, he had to listen instinctively. the animal instinct was asleep in the subconscious that had to record the sound he was looking for. so he tried to relax. After a few seconds he get up and walked in the same direction.
a clang announced the next target, this time not in a small sidealley. this time it was crossing a side road between several buildings,it would probably come across to the other street as well.
Fausto didnt think much, he quickly walked without running but pretty quick. he arrived at the other end into a few seconds . the other end was closed with a fence with a gate full of padlocks. surely one of those buildings would be a shop or factory with an side exit in the place.
Fausto licked the locks and the door openend . with a bit of propulsion he could have easily climbed the fence but that would have caused a lot of noise.
almost at the half of the alley he find another fence ,exactly like the one he saw before.he passed it as simple as the first.
Fausto from there could see that in the nearest stairway to the street there was a man hanging halfway to the first break.
the boy kneel down again keeping their eyes on the spot where the fire escape was. he looked in the floor for any blunt object . After a few long seconds he find what he was looking for, a metal tube .it was not very long but it would help him in his goal. The danger room seemed to have been programed to made lots of object that Fausto could interact with, which gave him different possibilities to faced with a situation.
without thinking twice he shorted the distance that separated him from the staircase with a jump. hitting the staircase with the metal tube, causing a metallic noise quite strong with a shake of the ladder. the man fell to the ground with his back in the floor .he didnt even get time to get up, Iron Mouth already jumped on him.

¨ hello Mr. Stalker, this is my neighborhood now. and you are in my alley. ¨

Fausto discharge all his fury in a single hit, he changed the direction in the last second to doesn't impact on the head of the stalker. the metal pipe broke in half. the piece of pipe was flying in the opposite directions .until it fell on the floor returning to the inertia that has before Fausto picked it .
The blow struck the ground near the head of the stalker,if he have beaten her head he would be soo dead with the half of his brain shed in the dark sidewalk.
Fausto throw the piece of pipe he was holding againts a wall and went to the exit of the side street.He was doing it really good .

Apparently Cold Steel's defensive training had begun to take a hold in Fausto's brain and Luke had to admit that he was impressed. Having seen the young man go completely animal and wild against his enemies by tearing out their throat and using his saliva in every situation, it was nice to see the more controlled and restrained young man that now stood before him. His blow with the pipe could easily have killed the stalker, but instead he had controlled the blow and simply rendered the man unconscious.

"Note... compliment CS on his training. It's definitely doing some good."

As they continued to move through the fog Luke maintain his silence. His sonar had already picked out the last two targets but it would be up to Fausto to actually find both of them. One was standing in a small clump of trees just outside of a pub. He was hidden by a combination of fog and shadows and was just waiting for a victim to leave the pub and fall into his snare.

A block to the east, stood the fourth target. He was playing it casual by sitting on a bench underneath a lamp. A paper was held out in front of him as though he was reading it, but anyone paying close attention would see the handles of his strangling noose sticking out of his coat pocket ever so slightly. All he was waiting for was a woman to walk by, alone with no one to help her. He would be one of the hardest to pick out because it wasn't obvious that he was hiding but he was still there and was still a threat.

"Two down... two to go." Luke murmured quiet to Fausto as they moved through the fog, "You're doing well."

The next target appeared much more difficult to find, for Luke was easy to locate him .the water in the air acted as an amplifier .for Fausto the fog was canceling his sigh. he should rely more on his ears and instincts that in sight. his sight staying in the background to detect any subtle movement in the fog or a change in the lights. he didnt bother to pay much attention with his eyes. he walked following the same direction.
something draws his attention, one person was sitting on a bench reading a newspaper.
The odd thing was that he didnt found anyone else since the simulation started, the only people he had crossed had been the stalkers.
from where he was , he couldnt see any detail in the man to suspect about his intentions , so he didnt have any other option but to approach the man . obviously who would suspect something from a 15 years old boy ? nobody. the boy approached the man, his face changed to show worried, scared. Fausto was good acting, he always liked to act. he did it since he had left his home. For gather information or to earn food in some stores. it was easy, he simply had to mix what he wanted to show with something that caused a similar feeling in him . so he approached the man with the face full of concern.

¨ pardon mister ... i am a little lost ... ¨

the man didnt move , the man did as he couldnt heard Fausto but now that the distance that separated them was minimal . he could distinguish a few details . he didnt seemed like a man who harassed womens at night but there was it , in his pocket was a piece of rope. No one wears a rope to walk at night if he dont plan to lock anybody.
a strong kick in the knee did him bend enough to let Fausto kneed him in the head.the man fell on the bench. he had lost consciousness with some teeth. his nose was bleeding a lot, the stalker looked so helpless in that situation. Fausto was almost being to feel guilty but then he remembered who the man was..

Where could be the last? ¨ the answer was immediate, a woman's cry alert Fausto about the direction.he quickly started to run to where the cry seemed to come.

As Fausto went through the motions of taking out the third stalker, Luke knew that the time had to be running out. He had set this particular training exercise up so that it would only run for a certain amount of time and, if his internal clock was correct, that time was almost up.

As the younger man finished up with this third stalker, a scream echoed down the foggy banks.

"And that would be the two minutes mark... if he doesn't find them before enough times passes that she could have been raped and murdered, he fails the exercise." Luke thought to himself as he watched Fausto closely. The young man's reactions were almost instantaneous as he sprang forward and began to run down the street. Nodding in satisfaction, Luke broke into a run of his own in order to keep up.

"Just follow the screams... this should be the easiest one to find of any of them. Just listen." Luke thought to himself. For this stalker he wasn't going to lecture to make suggestions. It was up to Fausto to find his target and then neutralize him.

the small Iron Mouth ran zigzagging through the streets filled with fog, the screams were not continuous. but were clear enough to be followed.
he turned to right at the next corner and continued to run two blocks in that direction.
each time the screams stopped , the seconds become eternal to Fausto. the silence seemed to announce the end of the simulation, the end of the life of the girl that he was protecting. but the scream always returned , Fausto thought that the girl should also be fighting for freedon and scream to capt the attention of someone.
The noise of the footsteps of Fausto bouncing into the empty and cold street alerted the stalker that turned to look towards him .dragging her outside the circle of shadow . The man grabbed her from behind, his left hand covered her mouth and in his right hand a knife of a big size.
Fausto stopped running when he was barely able to see the stalker, they both looked defiant at the other .the stalker had Fausto between the wall and the sword . if he attack, the woman would die. he couldn't just jump on the attacker to tear up his throat. he should think otherwise or she would die. this time the decision wouldn't affect anything, if the girl get killed that would end the simulation and he might try again. the important thing was to do his best, there was no possibility of mistake, if the situation would happen in real life, Fausto should be prepared to make the right decision after all a life depended on his decision.
Fausto suddenly smiled, the situation wasn't to smile .if the danger room would do a good simulation he could be able to influence the man who carried the knife.

¨ what happen ? do you have parkinson or you are trembling for fear ? you don't know who I am? do you know that I am a mutant? do you know that I can kill you without moving a single muscle? you are drowning yourself in your hatred to my kind.you hate us but you got a lot more fear than hate, you recognize our power. Now this is my neighborhood, all the things that are here belong to me, dont you dare to move a muscle, or i gonna ... ¨

Indeed, the danger room simulated the man reaction very well . the reaction fit perfect with the behavior of someone in that situation.the men react almost instantly. he showed furious to attempt to hide the fact that he really was afraid, despite the fact his legs where trembling he was still holding strongly the girl.
The man tried to mask his fears with anger but he did a serious mistake, he was carried away by anger that he was pretending to had. the man take off the knife in the throat of the woman and turned it into Fausto in a thrust , he was still grabbing the women.
That was his fatal mistake, Fausto approach of that mistake. With his right hand he grabbed the wrist of the stalker , the thrust was canceled while he used his left hand to turn the stalker^s hand backwards to make him drop the knife.
the stalker drop the knife while Fausto forced to let the girl free . in one movement he turn the stalker^s arm and went behind him. making all the effort with the left and helping with his right hand he twisted the stalker^s left arm immobilizing it with a lock on his back, the pain that he was inflicting made the stalker unable to react.
A kick behind at the height of the knees made him fall to the ground. Fausto was still twisting the arm. that was not enough, the arm pain is not enough punishment for a man who tries to rape and kill a woman.
Iron Mouth ducks behind him without let his arm , Fausto^s head was at the same height than the stalker^s head . with a bite he cut his right ear, the cartilage came off quickly. it was gone before Fausto closed his mouth . he didn't feel the meat melting in his mouth.perhaps the danger room didn't know how to simulate the feeling or it couldn't do that .
Where before was the ear now only had a several skin burnt full of blisters.
the simulation ended at the same time the stalker finally lost the consciousness. the danger room return again to his normal self.

"Maybe CS's training hasn't taken hold quite as strongly as I hoped." Luke thought to himself, "Well... at least he didn't kill the guy. That's progress."

"Learning to be stealthy in the shadows has to begin with you're understanding how everyone else uses the darkness to their advantage. If you can't spot other people that are hiding, then prowling through the shadows is useless unless you're just trying to hide. If you're trying to catch the criminals you have to combine stealth and awareness." Luke spoke up as the danger room changed back to its normal, standby form.

Standing firmly the blind man crossed his arms over his chest and then finally allowed a slight smile to appear on his face. "You did good Fausto. While that wasn't the hardest simulation in the world, it definitely wasn't the easiest. Trying to find anything in a fog bank that thick is almost impossible without some special senses. The thing you'll have to focus on learning is how to pay attention to your own senses. The subconscious mind will point out things you wouldn't normally notice but you have to listen to your subconscious. You can't just drown it out or ignore it... you have to listen."

Tilting his head to the side, Luke raised one eyebrow questioningly. "Any questions?"