"What's your plan? Where are you headed?"
Seated in the back of the truck, George asked the nurse, Gabriela, and the chubby driver, Isa.
In the movie, Gabriela took the mutant children to the border of North Dakota, but it wasn't just because she read the comic book and thought it was the last sanctuary for mutants.She wasn't a child; how could she believe something from a comic book?
Plus, the oldest mutant child, Richter, had been in radio contact with some unknown group.
Given George's mutant status and the help he'd just provided, Gabriela now trusted him enough not to keep any secrets.
"We need to get to the North Dakota border by five o'clock next Friday and cross over into Canada," Gabriela explained.
"Why Canada, and why that specific time?" George asked, looking puzzled.
Gabriela continued, "We researched it. Before mutants disappeared, Canada was the friendliest country toward mutants. So before we decided to help the children escape, we reached out to the Canadian government. They agreed to take them in, but they don't want any trouble."
"So, we need to reach the border by Friday at five. They'll disrupt satellite signals in that area temporarily and meet us on the other side."
"Oh, the Canadian government," George murmured in understanding. He knew some background from watching the X-Men series, but certain specifics were unfamiliar to him.
He wasn't aware, for instance, that Canada had been friendly toward mutants or, at least, hadn't discriminated against them.
But a frown soon appeared on his face. He wasn't exactly trusting of the Canadian government.
Governments aren't individuals; they have to consider many factors. A change in leadership could mean a change in stance. Even if Canada had once been tolerant toward mutants, was that still the case? Would these mutant children end up as test subjects again once they got there?
He wasn't willing to put his faith in something so unreliable.
So he shared his concerns with Gabriela.
Gabriela was surprised that this mutant who had never left the lab had such a far-sighted perspective.
However, her response was tinged with helplessness: "We have no choice. Even if we know there might be danger, it's the only option we could come up with."
Working in that cruel lab, she was all too aware of human cruelty. Of course, she feared that once they reached Canada, they might be walking into another nightmare.
But they had no other options. They were just powerless people at the very bottom of society, whose small sparks of kindness had yet to be extinguished.
Leaving the children in the lab meant certain death. In Canada, at least, there was hope.
"Yeah, sometimes life is just that unfair," George sighed.
In his past life, he had also been part of society's lowest rung, forced into choices with no good options, though perhaps none had been as brutal as this.
He thought about it for a moment but couldn't come up with a better plan either. He was still unfamiliar with this world.
But he had no intention of leaving his fate in the hands of the Canadian government. Once he got these kids to the border, he would part ways and go into hiding.
Risking his life to save the children was already above and beyond. He wouldn't risk himself further by following them to Canada and subjecting himself to the whims of the Canadian government.
Escorting them to the border was the extent of what he would do.
By now, he had clearly forgotten the somewhat selfish reasoning he'd used to persuade himself back at the crossroads.
"We've arrived in Juarez. We'll stock up on supplies here, then head straight to the border and cross into New Mexico. From there, we'll drive north until we reach North Dakota. If all goes well, it'll take about two days."
Two hours of highway driving brought them into Juarez, a city in northeastern Mexico. George peeked out to take a look.
He'd heard of this city in his previous life, though not in a good context.
Juarez, located on the border of northeastern Mexico along the Rio Grande, opposite El Paso, Texas, was once dubbed one of the most violent cities in the world. During its most chaotic years, nearly 15,000 people were killed in crime-related incidents over six years.
This city was a hub for drug trafficking in Mexico and a primary source of narcotics for the United States.
"Breaking News: Stark Industries CEO and renowned playboy Tony Stark has reportedly been kidnapped in Afghanistan's Kunar Province. His whereabouts remain unknown."
While Isa and Gabriela went to buy supplies at a supermarket, George, left to guard the truck, was suddenly drawn to the news broadcast on a TV in front of the store.
"The event that gave birth to Iron Man!"
He felt a jolt, and a faint smile crept onto his face as he thought of something.
"Maybe… there's another way out of this."
Recalling every Marvel movie he'd ever watched, George pondered carefully, and a new idea took shape in his mind.
For him, it made more sense to trust Tony Stark's character over the whims of a government. Sure, Tony was a playboy, and a bit arrogant, but he was fundamentally a decent person.
And as one of America's biggest capitalists, even the government had a hard time controlling him. If Tony didn't want to hand over the Iron Man suit, he simply wouldn't.
Just like Professor X was able to run a mutant school in New York—aside from the strength of the X-Men, Professor X was also a wealthy tycoon, his family a significant capitalist force.If Tony Stark could be convinced to protect these mutant children, they might not only find safety but also enjoy a chance at normal education and life.
And George would have a safe place to study magic.
As for getting entangled in Tony Stark's life and the risks that could bring… well, that couldn't be helped. The priority was to solve their immediate crisis and buy some time to increase his strength. After all, power was the ultimate safeguard.
Besides, he had his own ideas about those future events.
If this world was based on the Marvel movies, he'd steer clear. Even if Thanos snapped his fingers, there'd be no need to get involved—someone would bring them back, and studying magic in peace was far more appealing.
But this wasn't the movie universe; it was an unknown Marvel universe mixed with mutants, which made it uncertain.There was a good chance that during a major event, Earth itself could be destroyed, and if he was living on this planet, there would be no escape.Rather than entrusting his fate to those superheroes, he preferred to rely on himself.
Maybe, at some crucial moment, his intervention could help avert those major disasters and ensure the safety of Earth—and his own.So contact was inevitable sooner or later.
"Now, the most important thing is figuring out how to rescue Tony Stark so that he owes me a debt of gratitude."
George rubbed his chin, falling into deep thought.
To win over Tony Stark, a billionaire, and gain his sincere support, saving his life was the only option.
But with his current power, how could he even think about rescuing Tony Stark? He didn't even know the man's exact location, only that he was held somewhere in a cave in the desert.