STORY.

born in las almas to olina parra and his father, who he was never given the name of, rodolfo is born into "la araña cartel."  during this time, the cartel was at its growing phase, with a minimal presence in las almas and gradually building its support and framework.  as a child, rudy struggled deeply with communication, speaking later than other children and finding social cues and eye contact difficult.  however, he was exceptionally smart and could problem solve and map things out at a very young age despite not speaking.

at four years old, he began speaking, wholly unprompted or pressured, but proceeded to be selectively mute - especially in the presence of new or unfamiliar company.  because of this, rudy was forcefully placed by the cartel into the company of other children (child-labourers for the cartel, unbeknownst to him at the time) and would spend much of his time there without his mother.

olina parra meant a lot to rodolfo, she was his security and she fought for him, insisted his usefulness and capability.  she never gave up on him and went out of her way to secure safety, food and comfort for him.  he would go on to serve the cartel like this for a year, assisting in completing small tasks such as counting money, refilling ammo, loading trucks, etc.  he was six years old.  throughout this year, there would be highs and lows, such as his mother becoming more involved in jobs and having to leave him for days or weeks at a time.

at the same time, he found a level of comfort in the routine and familiarity of his days, leading to him feeling more able to talk.  he showed great promise for the cartel.  towards the end of the year, olina would be killed in a confrontation between la araña and a rival cartel, orphaning rodolfo.  however, they did not inform she had been killed let alone that she was even dead, out of concern they'd push him back into mutism.  so, they told him she was busy doing her job and that he needed to follow in her footsteps - which he did.

at seven years old, a new, older child joins his team - alejandro vargas, and the two easily become friends, sharing similarities and with alejandro patient and kind to him despite his disabilities.  over two years, they grow very close, with rudy seeing alejandro as a brotherly figure, but when he starts going on jobs with his father to help the cartel, rodolfo grows anxious that he too, like his mother, will disappear from his life.  this is explained to alejandro, which prompts the older to suggest that he should ask about his mother's whereabouts because it was unusual for cartel members to vanish for so long.  it lit a fire in rudy, an innate concern for olina and he asked to see la araña himself - a big mistake.

rodolfo insisted on being told where his mother was, what'd happened to her.  it led to him being told that his mother had up and abandoned him some time ago and that he was now the property of la araña, that they didn't want to tell him because they knew it'd hurt him.  rudy could hardly believe this, the woman he loved so dearly, who loved him equally back, had vanished into thin air and abandoned him.

it didn't sound like her, therefore in rudy's mind: it couldn't be her.  he refused to believe this and told alejandro he felt they were lying.  that something had happened to his mother and he needed to know what.  alejandro tells him not to inflame the situation any further for the time being, but secretly goes to his father and asks him to look into what really happened to rudy's mother.

this would alter their future entirely, because the snooping of alejandro's father would end up getting him killed - someone else framed and the story told as "he died during a job" when really the cartel had him murdered for his digging.  this is because they didn't want rudy or alejandro, potential assets to the cartel in the future, to be disillusioned with the cartel and be at risk of leaving.  what they hadn't anticipated though was alejandro's mother, ramira, fleeing las almas with her daughters and the two boys, rejecting la araña's offers of protection.

by this point, rudy was 9 years old.  they would settle in a neighbouring district of las almas with the help of ramira's estranged parents and rudy would be unofficially adopted into the vargas family, even taking on the surname of vargas himself in order to appear less suspicious to others.  the two boys miss la araña's total occupation of las almas, stepping out of the dark and taking the streets, corrupting law enforcement and ruling the lives of civilians.  they are able to see the tyranny from afar without being directly involved, and feel fuelled by the injustice.  as for rudy, he's determined to learn of what happened to his mother.

as the years pass, he dedicates what he learns in school to asking around - reading papers and looking up information.  at fourteen years old, he finally learns that his mother was killed during a confrontation with a rival cartel - that la araña had lied to him for years and tried to convince him she'd callously abandoned him.  with a newfound need to avenge his mother but also not have her death be in vain, alejandro and rudy come to the conclusion that they will join the mexican army in order to help fight back against the cartel and get their home back.

rudy struggles to adjust to his new family, having never truly had siblings before - he has to be taught to share and to have patience.  his neurodivergences are difficult for the vargas family to make space for, to begin with, but ramira does a good job of supporting him and making him feel included / like one of her own.  when alejandro drops out of school to help his family financially, rudy continues his education until just before sixteen and then also drops out to help.  by now, alejandro has already signed up to the mexican army and within a couple of years, rudy is swift to follow and the two are deployed together.

rudy changes his surname back to parra - not out of disrespect but to show that the cartel have the power to make a positive change in themselves, that they can choose their own paths regardless of how deeply rooted they are, but equally that they had no power over him.

the lads serve for a handful of years before they're invited to apply for fuerzas especiales - they pass selection and join.  here, they meet valeria garza, former army and navy with her own history with and hatred of the cartel.  rodolfo remains unimpressed by her, disapproving of the way she hides things from her teammates and acts rather selfishly, however alejandro seemed to fall head over heels for her which meant he often had to bite his tongue and be civil.  rodolfo focused on his work, dedicating his life to his mother, keen to make her proud.

alejandro and his team would garner the name 'los vaqueros'.  after a couple of years, the chance arises to perform a raid on the son of la araña, the cartel's leader, but, unbeknownst to them, valeria and a collection of her team have been corrupted and are working against los vaqueros and the son of la araña is taken by valeria and executed, with her filling the power vacuum.  years would pass post-betrayal and los vaqueros' new objective became to take down las almas cartel and it's leader, 'el sin nombre,' who, little did they know, was actually valeria.

VERSES.