¨ look calmly, I am not a gangster. is a guitar. ¨ the child answered casually to the worried man in charge of the baggage check. He put the the black leather sheath on the machine . when it passed to the other side they had already verified what he had already claimed. one man said with relief ¨¨ you were right ,is just a guitar ¨ Fausto glared at him with a expression that would make shake the very Lucifer.
¨ is not just a guitar ¨ the boy said while he was crossing through the metal detector. when he reach the other side he began to open the case. ¨ Road Worn'60s Fender Stratocaster, perfect. all you can ask in a guitar is inside this beauty. ¨
He never liked these kind of compromises but Takumi insisted until Fausto accept to take the guitar.

It was not surprising that they did not understand the beauty that was before their eyes, the wonderful thing was that he understood Spanish perfectly, and he doesnt did any effort to adjust the words of a language he never learned.
The guitar now rested on his back by the straps . hanging like a sword. he did not like to receive things from others when he should go out . if he didnt accept the guitar Takumi would think that he would not return. he could not explain to him that although he wanted to come back he could find unexpected situation ... the child did not want to think about it but always was there the possibility he died. Colombia was a country almost dominated by the hostile guerrillas.

¨ I can not let you pass until I review your papers ¨ a very kindly lady said it to the boy . she was behind the counter. ¨But I do not have them, my mom has them. she should be here ...¨ ¨ sorry but I would not let you go through without it.
The seconds passed slowly , he was so anxious to get out of there and move towards the point of reunion that latter seconds seemed to be eternal. where was she ?

Almundena Gonzales found the way to the airport too slow. The 37 year old woman shook her head slightly at the cab driver and looked at her watch worried. She needed to be at the airport in 5 minutes and they weren’t even near it. She worried that the boy that hired her, el niño con los ojos azul (the boy with blue eyes), wouldn’t pay her the remaining money if she won’t get there in time. And she needed the money. She was a strong woman. She had dealt with many harsh situations in her life. And the hardest of them wall was the death of her husband, two years ago. Her kids, two boys and one girl, needed money for growing up. And her job en el mercado (at the market) didn’t help her much. So she occasionally did illegal jobs for money. Like this one. She knew that once she got to the airport she would no longer be Almundena Gonzales. She would be Almundena Martense, mother of Fausto Martense and she was there to greet him from his studies abroad. She had repeated her name and his and looked at the picture of the young boy countless times. Failure was not an option. She held her cheap purse tight to her body. She didn’t have much money in it, just enough to pay the cab and a few pesos if something came up, but the fake leather small bag held something much more important. The fake papers she needed to get the boy named Fausto in Colombia ‘legally’.

Twenty minutes later, Almundena was running trough the airport, her feet carrying her to the terminal Fausto was supposed to be in. The plane had landed about 15 minutes ago, and she couldn’t remove the worry from her thoughts. With his face carved in her memory, her eyes began to search trough the abundance of people and when she finally spotted him fake tears of joy appeared on her wrinkled face. The result of years of practice, pain and true tears. For her it was a habit to cry over her dead husband’s picture every night and curse her fate. Her legs moved faster and as soon as she was close enough, she pulled her fake son into a fake hug, eyes closing as more tears were spilt. “Fausto, mi niño! Mama te ha extrañado tanto! (Fausto, my boy! Mom missed you so much!)” she let sobs alter her voice and hoped that the young boy was a good actor.

There she was, his fake mother. it would have been much nicer to see his real mother again, alive , smiling, shining. but it was not the moment yet . no one could revive the dead.
he has to comfort himself with the substitute mother that Slate had pay for him at least until they arrive to the school in ruins.
She ran towards him, smiling but also crying. her acting was very good and also his act was.
the years on the street had taught him to hide the truth, to tell a lie mixed with truth . that was the easiest way to act. he had no need to work hard to get some tears in those eyes of a black as deep as the pain and despair he had felt the day his parents died.
the tears began to fall, while they where still in his eyes seemed to be black but upon leaving they were totally transparent. if those tears could clean all the impurities on the World ...
the tears rolled through his smile . the smile was the only thing that was true in that act.
¨mama!! yo tambien te extrañe mucho! ¨ (mom ! i missed you a lot!) he said while hugging her tightly with an emotion that was not from him and it was at the same time. he did not know that woman but hugged her as his mother. his words were totally sincere. ¨te extrañe muchisimo , no veia la hora de verte de nuevo .¨ (i missed you so much , i couldn't wait for the time to see you again .)
Fausto was sad that Arthur was not there to take them to their destination, the driver was the most reliable and faster he know .they would have to make it with any other driver. luckily he had some dollars, which will be worth much more than in his own country. unfortunately the economy in these countries was not very good.

Almundena found herself breathing relieved as the boy was a very good actor himself. A quick peek in the authorities’ direction and she could almost see them wiping a tear or two of their faces as well. Mother/child reunions were always touchy. She pulled from the embrace of her ‘son’ and proceeded to show the fake papers to the lady behind the counter. Occasionally, she would glance up and caress the cheek of the young boy and whisper inaudible words to him, just like a mother would do with her child. In the same time, she couldn’t help her self to wonder what a innocent child like this one would do in this country. Considering the sum of money the blue-eyed boy gave her, she doubted it was something good. But it wasn’t her business, and she had learned to mind her own business long time ago. Nobody liked nosy persons. That’s why she was well known for her discreet ways and the non-questioning. As long as it brought money in her pockets and enough food for her three little angels, she didn’t care.

And what she needed now was to get this boy to the location specified by her employee. And then, she would be gone, her money all paid up and she wouldn’t have to worry finances for a long time from now. She wondered if it was a blasphemy to ask god to help her in this. But God had to understand her. She was doing everything for her children. There was no other way, there was no other choice. Honest work didn’t pay the bills and didn’t make food magically appear on the dinner table. There were so many days when her stomach would yell for food because she chose to let her share for the next day so her kids would have something to eat. It brought tears to her eyes whenever one of them would come and tell her “mama, tengo hambre (mom, I’m hungry)” and there was nothing in the old, worn out wooden cabinets from the small kitchen.

It didn’t take long until the paper problems were solved. She was certain that the emotional scene displayed minutes before had to do with the smoothness, too. And now, Almundena and Fausto were walking toward the airport exit. Her face kept the tenderness, as it was a part of her personality, but the tears and the joy faded away as soon as they were safe. “Tu tienes mucha suerte. (you are very lucky)” she said, as they were getting out of the airport. “El niño con los ojos azul. (the boy with blue eyes)” Almundena added, so the boy would know why she was considering him lucky. And indeed, he was lucky to have someone who was ready to pay any price to get him in Colombia without any troubles. “Ven. Tenemos que llegar en el pueblo antes de la noche.(come. We have to get to the village before the night) ” Stopping a cab, she waited for the boy to have his luggage put in the back and got in. Ayúdame, madre santa, the woman prayed in her thoughts.

¨si lo se . yo siempre digo que soy el hijo de la Fortuna , de la buena suerte pero en realidad no lo soy tanto . pase muchas cosas dificiles . por suerte pude superarlas pero si , tube mucha suerte de conocer al niño de los ojos azules como tu lo llamas . el y yo compartimos la misma vision del mundo , es por eso que estamos trabajando juntos. ¨ ( yes, I know. I always say that I am the child of Fortune, good luck but in reality I am not so lucky .i pass through many difficult things. Luckily I was able to overcome them but, i was very lucky to meet the blue eyes child as you called him . He and I share the same vision of the world, that is why we are working together.)
the child asked and answered himself, perhaps she would be interested to know what they were doing there, he could not say specifically what they were doing but after all everything was to improve the country. ¨ por que en Colombia? no tengo la menor idea ... ¨. (Why in Colombia ?. i have no idea ...) he simply answered to a question she had not asked.

The sky darkened quickly , Fausto simply stayed almost the entire trip watching the landscape change from a big city to the suburbs with more small humble houses. all the houses packed together semeed like shoeboxes of different colors left there below the sky with the hope that someone took them. surely there lived very humble people.
In a little corner wrong illuminated , two men grabbed a girl, there was not much to think they were stealing her or they wanted to rape the girl . the situation would not end in anything good ... the driver strongly disagree with Fausto but anyway he stopped a few meters away from them.

Fausto left the car quickly and went running towards them with a determination .
one of the men, the one that was not grabbing the girl turn back with a gun pointing to the child. if he wanted to shoot he would had done it , his hands trembling slightly, that was a good sign. he didnt wanted to shoot. or he did not like the weapons or he did not wanted to ended the life of a child.
The boy approached towards him, the closer he was the most the man trembled, for the surprise of all , Fausto put the gun in his mouth. the man trembled more than ever, he put his finger away from the trigger but he hold the gun as stronger as he could. he knew he had to pull the trigger if he wanted to finish the job quiet, or the boss would be mad. and nobody likes to see the Jefe(Boss) angry.

All were petrified, the man didnt shoot and after 3 seconds that seemed eternal the child take off his mouth from the cannon of the gun ,it had been cut in half in some way. the frightened man ran away.
the other man only had enough time to drop the girl and draw a gun. anyway the girl did not move from there, she dropped on the wall and stayed there praying for nothing bad happens to anybody.
Fausto jump hitting the man with a kick with his left foot in the male weak point ,when his foot touch the ground again he use a front kick to the stomach and demolish him . the gun had fallen to the floor, as a precaution Fausto picked up the gun and awkwardly took off the clip and ate it in three bites.
He helped the girl to get up , when she started running in the opposite direction Fausto went to the car again . ¨ perdon , no soporto la injusticia . ¨ (sorry I did not tolerate injustice)

The drive was quiet, both Almundena and Fausto just taking in the scenery. It wasn’t like they actually had something to talk about. Almundena had a job, and she knew that the job involved a lack of curiosity as well. And talking in front of the cab driver was never safe. Maybe she exaggerated a bit. It wasn’t like this man was here to take over the country or so… Almundena mentally laughed at her idea. It was stupid to even think that. Who could take over a country without a war starting?

And when the kid asked the cab to pull over when he saw men attacking a young woman on the street, her heart stopped. What was he doing? Her arm tried to grab him and tell him to stop, it was dangerous. Things like that happened all the time and what was the use of him interfering in that? One crime stopped didn’t mean all the crimes would end. It was no longer the money that made her think that… But the boy, he was so young, and she didn’t want him hurt. “Nino!” she called after him, but the boy didn’t stop. She rushed out of the cab after him, trying to get to him before he would go against the men.

But she stopped dead in her tracks, her hand finding the way to her mouth and covering it. The boy… he was a mutant. Almundena had heard about the mutant phenomenon going around the world but she never had to deal with one before. She didn’t hate mutants like some did… While the registration act, everybody was talking about mutants. With time, the subject faded away. But she clearly remembered the ‘tenemos que matar esos criaturas’, ‘el gobernó tendría que llevar esas cosas en una isla y una bomba solucionaría todo’ comments her neighbors shared. Almundena had listened and only thought that they were human beings alter all. Of course, she kept her opinion for herself. She didn’t want to be classified as a mutant lover, she had enough trouble as it was. Her eyes remained widened with fear and shock as she continued to watch as the boy was making his own justice.

Luckily everything was going well, the child had stupidly risked his life for a person who did not know and never would know. the girl had already disappeared from sight, sure she would take refuge in her house and call the police.
the day that Slate had recruited him , he had said that they will cure the disease instead of taking care only of symptoms but what was going to happen to the people already infected? Johnny had been part of those people ... Slate but surely was not talking about not help to relieve symptoms.
they had to have a proper balance between relief of symptoms and cure of the disease . because the girl had suffered one of the symptoms but the disease causing the problem was the need of money . people had to do things like that even when they did not want to, sometimes there was no other option, because one can stop eating for a few days or eat any shit but when you have someone who depends on you to survive, you can not let the fate bring food to the table .
Unfortunately, many people resort to this kind of job in the absence of other more worthy to be called ¨work¨.

The trip continued without problems for a while but it seemed that peace was a blessing for a few. the streets were virtually deserted, it was almost midnight. Nothing could make them think something was going to happen in that quiet night where the wind was blowing slowly and the heat rising quickly
Suddenly a car appeared behind them ,it was quite old and dented in many places.
the child was the first to see it, he did not want to frighten the woman and the driver but it looked like they were awared of it .
The gang would not had liked a mutant disturbing they people or if things worked as in his country it could simply be people with an irrational hatred toward mutants.

The car lunged on the other strongly from behind. the driver was doing everything possible to keep the car stable but when he barely managed to keep a bit of the control the car was rammed again.
¨What can we do?¨ the boy asked aloud to no one in particular, and to himself at the same time. the only thing that he could though was to stop in some way and fight them . but the two men in the car that hit them did not seem so timid or patients as the last ones , the will not even hesitate to shoot a child. Why they had not done it already? because they wanted him alive. they wanted to use him as a tool or tortured him to death only for being a mutant.

CLOSED

IM and his substitute mother reach the town almost at midnight . the gang understood who was Iron Mouth .