Soldier of Time

XLI: The New Nation (3)

Jerome stood dumbfounded, his face twisted into a scowl of Wrath. Simon couldn’t help but laugh a little when the girl walked past him. Jerome heard him and glared at him as he asked, “Do you want me to erase that smile?”

Simon broadened his smile even more, looking at the boy, and said, “You don’t have what it takes...”

Jerome took a step forward when the refrigerator door opened. Troy left, followed by the Deer, who was holding the young woman in his arms.

Troy looked at the two men facing each other and said, “J, stop looking for trouble, or you will be taught a lesson.”

“But they…!”

Troy took the young man by the shoulder and seriously placed his hand, making a three with his fingers in front of Jerome’s face.

“Understand, being strong is not being a bully. And look for fights with everyone. That is being reckless. You must be a nice old man. It’s free. Especially if people come with kindness, don’t make the mistake she made. Be better. It is not able to fight, and it is able to avoid it, son,” Troy said seriously.

The boy relaxed his posture and looked down at him as he said, “It’s okay, Troy. Uncle.”

“Find Trixie. I need her”.

The young man left the kitchen while Slevin placed the unconscious girl on the table. Karen stared stunned at Troy as he looked at Simon with a smile.

“Maturity is not a matter of age,” Troy said while looking at Simon with a complicated smile.

Simon nodded and looked at the ground, a little embarrassed. He had also fallen for the boy’s game. That made him remember that he still had a lot to grow, no matter how long he went through.

“Troy?” Slevin asked while looking at the young woman. He then questioned further, “Do you believe what she said.”

The young man with the braids approached the Deer and said, “Yes. I would have told the truth.”

Karen looked at the Deer and then asked with unmasked confusion, “What did you do to her?”

The Deer looked at her and smiled before he replied, “I hypnotized her.”

Simon laughed and said teasingly, “Nasuma’s trick, right?”

The Deer nodded, and they both smiled.

Troy looked at the young man curiously and said, “You are a very strange boy, and it seems that you have been alive for a long time, but you are not much older than Jerome.

“It’s because of how I perceive time,” Slevin replied with a mysterious smile.

“Hello... Wait a minute, I’m still here,” Karen said when she felt ignored. “What trick? What did you do? How did you make her talk?”

The Deer smiled at the young woman as he made sure the girl couldn’t touch anything with her fingers when handcuffing her.

“Nasuma, the leader of my vanguard faction. He learned a very strange trick in his native country. When you are very sore, your brain looks for ways to mitigate the pain and opens up to different states of mind. When you are so susceptible, you can be hypnotized more easily. Then it is a matter of asking the key questions.”

“And what did she say?” Karen asked.

“That she was hired by phone,” Slevin said while looking at the young woman. He then added, “That Hanibal is smart. He didn’t trust these thugs much, so he hired them over the phone to do this job just like the ones who attacked Amber.”

“In what way?” Troy asked curiously, “Who was attacked?”

“When they attacked your neighborhood, they also attacked mine, three strong but independent mercenaries none had information,” Slevin replied.

“Did you leave them alive?” Simon asked with a raised brow.

Slevin shook his head before he replied, “They were rookies, and it was not necessary to kill them.”

“Did also send a robot to El Morro?” Simón asked as he approached, while the Deer shook his head once more. Simon added, “Against Julia, they did send a robot, one just like the one you fought with.”

“I don’t understand what he’s doing,” Slevin said with a deep frown. He continued, “But the girl didn’t name Hanibal as a contractor. She named Steve.”

“And not only that,” Troy said, “The remains of the Robot that attacked Julia’s house. They destroyed themselves.”

Karen looked at Troy, surprised. She then asked, “How the hell did that happen?”

“I don’t know,” Troy replied, clearly bothered. He then continued to explain, “When my men collected them, the remains began to emit a super strange sound and a moment later puff. They exploded with mini-explosions that were enough to pulverize the remains.”

The girl took a chair from the kitchen and sat down. Her aching body couldn’t stand up anymore.

Her hands-on face seemed to hold back her tears when she said with so much in willingness, “That damn murderer. He won’t get caught.”

“Do not worry. Johan will track him down,” Slevin assured with a forced smile.

The girl looked at the Deer wishing his words were true.

On the other side of the bar, the young Julia was sitting while she ate, she chewed slowly, letting her thoughts fly and her gaze lost in the color of the table. Suddenly a person took her shoulder and said.

“Julia, here, someone came to see you.”

She raised her smiley gaze to her friend, and her eyes settled on a face that was not so familiar. Trixie left them alone, and young Johan asked, “Can I sit?”

The girl looking at her plate said, “You are much more educated as a man, it seems...”

The boy smiled, but his smile did not last. He sat at the table and watched the girl in silence for a few minutes trying to find something to say.

He thought deeply, but when he was going to speak, the girl asked, “Why?”

The young man knew what she meant, but he didn’t want to answer, so he asked, “Why what?”

The girl raised her gaze with force. She was fixed and implacable, implying that she was no longer lost as the first time they spoke.

 Johan felt the power of that look and continued, “I’m sorry... I did it because it was easier. They hurt me in my last job, and it was ugly, I hardly survived it. So I decided that I didn’t want to work anymore...”

“And you decided to take advantage of the first i***t you saw.”

“No. It wasn’t like that,” Johan said with anguish. “No. The truth is that I didn’t plan to be a pet. I was going to be a cat. I would steal food, yes, but I wasn’t planning to be a pet. I wasn’t planning to do that to you...”

“And why did you do it?” The young woman pressed with a complicated expression on her face.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” The young man said, trying to lower his voice so as not to upset the girl.

“You remember that you took me and saw that I had that ugly mark on my shoulder. Well, it was nice. Being an animal, people don’t usually treat you as a person. There are clear and nice friendly people, but few give you the identity as you did with me.”

“And why did you used me if I made you feel so good.”

“I did not want to do it. Actually, once I saw you, I tried to approach you as a man. But you didn’t pay any attention to me. You were very hurt in the past, I know, and there was no way to be close to you as a man, so...”

The girl looked at him with the boredom of confusion in her eyes, Johan was honest, but he knew as much as that would not be enough.

The young woman looked at him, and then she said, “So being a pet, you took advantage of me, you ate my food, and you saw me like no one ever did. How can you justify that?”

“I can not. Nobody can. I just wanted to be your friend, and it was impossible for Johan. But Mozart, he had no problem supporting you and taking care of you when you needed him.”

The girl looked at him and was silent. Johan got up and very calmly said, “What I did is not justifiable. What I did doesn’t make sense, and I’m sorry. But the truth is that I feel everything that you feel. All those times you wanted him to be a man, I wanted to tell you that he was, but I didn’t have the courage. I know you can’t understand the truth, I don’t think I could, but although you can’t forgive me, I hope at least that you believe me when I tell you that Mozart was what he was for you. It was real. I was.”

With those words, the young man got up and began to walk away from the table. He walked slowly, trying to think of something else to say, but he couldn’t, he walked a little more, and Trixie saw him. Suddenly he heard.”

“Mozart.”

The boy turned his gaze to see Julia, and she was with tears in her eyes and a small grin. She asked, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Johan. It’s a pleasure.”

The girl sat down again and began to cry, Johan thought of approaching to comfort her, but a hand stopped him.

Trixie watched him and said, “Give her some space. Everything will be fine. You have something to do. Go.”

The young man looked at Julia one more time and walked to where his friends were waiting for him, and he had to find Hanibal.