Lusborn settled into the dimly lit internet café, the hum of outdated computers and the murmur of patrons creating a backdrop for his clandestine activities.
The flickering fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting long, distorted shadows on the grimy walls.
The keys of the ancient computers clicked and clacked, a discordant symphony accompanying the hushed whispers and furtive glances of the patrons.
Lusborn wrinkled his nose at the smell of someone's pungent curry emanating from the corner.
The air thick with the scent of stale coffee and cigarette smoke, but he paid it no mind.
His focus was singular: to orchestrate a heist that would provide the financial foundation for his ambitious plans.
He began by creating an anonymous account, drawing upon aliases he had meticulously crafted in his past life.
With this digital persona, he delved into researching the most formidable banks within the Marvel Universe.
His criteria were stringent: the institutions had to be affluent, with security systems he could outsmart, and their loss should cause minimal disruption to the average citizen.
The first step was looking at the top five banks in the world.
Names like the World Central Bank, Roxxon Global Holdings, and major financial institutions based in the United States, Europe, and Asia dominated the list.
He then narrowed his search to their headquarters, pinpointing locations where security might have exploitable loopholes.
That led him to research the key figures behind these institutions—the CEOs, shareholders, and powerful individuals who controlled them.
After extensive analysis, two banks emerged as prime targets.
The first was the Metropolitan National Bank, a private institution known for discreetly handling the accounts of the world's elite.
Its security was state-of-the-art, but Lusborn knew from his past life that no system was perfect.
Because he was sure they had no cameras that captured mosquitoes, even if they did. Who would care about a mosquito?
Meaning he could practically enter in and out without even being noticed at all.
The second was the Vault's Financial Annex, a lesser-known subsidiary of the supervillain prison, The Vault.
Funds here were often untraceable, amassed from confiscated assets of incarcerated criminals.
If he stole from them, there would be no victims in the traditional sense—just money sitting in limbo, waiting for someone daring enough to take it.
These institutions, while formidable, presented unique vulnerabilities that Lusborn was confident he could exploit.
He could now buy the needed basic machinery to start developing even more high tech machines.
Machines he was going to use in his research on genes and DNA, a necessary research if he wanted to use his ability to get strong as fast as possible.
Because if he wasn't, then Marvel would swallow him whole, meaning he would not be able to accomplish his life's goal.
To get a family, something he didn't get a chance to experience in his previous life.
He couldn't allow himself to live the same life in this universe.
Needless to say, even to have a peaceful family in Marvel required you to have the strength to protect them.
But before he could proceed with the heist, he had another task at hand—finding a proper base of operations.
With potential funds in sight, Lusborn turned his attention to securing a location where he could work without interference.
The Marvel Universe was replete with iconic locations, but many were entangled in significant events or under constant surveillance by intelligence agencies.
He needed a place that was secure yet inconspicuous, somewhere with little to no oversight, where he could build without drawing unwanted attention.
He thought of America first, but there was hardly a place where he wouldn't be monitored, especially after pulling off a heist of this scale.
Europe was out of the question as well, with most major countries having interconnected banking systems that would make his movements easier to track.
Then, he considered Asia—places like Hong Kong and Singapore had dense financial networks that could provide cover, but they were still too tightly regulated.
That left Africa.
While he could think of better places other than Africa mentioned in the movies and some comics, he didn't want anything to do with any of those places.
Because most of them were talked about because of the events that take place there.
Plus from his past experiences traveling, he knew that certain African countries were lenient when it came to foreign investments.
Some leaders cared only about money and power, and as long as he presented himself as a wealthy entrepreneur, they wouldn't question his activities.
He wasn't looking for a place that was lawless, just one where people could be persuaded to mind their own business if enough money was involved.
Plus this decision was driven more because Africa was abundant in natural resources and great for agriculture.
This was the opportunity he wanted to exploit.
Agriculture stood out as the most profitable and sustainable industry to invest in.
The world could survive without new tech, but no one could live without food.
If he could control even a small percentage of the global food supply, he would become more powerful than any billionaire.
Meaning governments would have to think twice before doing anything stupid to him.
Stark may have built his empire on weapons and energy, but Lusborn would build his influence on the one thing no one could live without.
He smirked at the idea. With enough capital and the right technology, he could revolutionize food production, bringing in millions—if not billions—of dollars.
Unlike Stark Industries or Oscorp, his company wouldn't need board members or public investors.
It would be his and his alone.
If history had gone differently, and that Gaddafi guy had successfully united Africa into a single economic powerhouse, they would have controlled nearly half of the world's food supply.
That was the kind of influence Lusborn was thinking about—not just wealth but absolute control over resources that dictated life itself.
And the best part? It would just be a side project. His real goal was still to strengthen himself, but it wouldn't hurt to secure his future in the process.
But first, he needed to enhance his body. His ability to transform was powerful, but his physical body was holding him back.
In this world, he wouldn't survive long without superhuman strength.
Three days. That's all he would give himself. In three days, he would train his body to at least the level of Captain America.
At least then he could transform into most of the middle class creatures without much problem.
Meaning he would become stronger faster with him getting his hands on stronger DNA.
Lusborn nodded to himself, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he reviewed his plan. Everything was falling into place, at least in theory.
He had his targets, he had his method, and now he even had a destination in mind for his future research facility.
Africa.
Now he just needed to decide which country would serve his purpose best.
With that in mind, he pulled up a detailed map of Africa, his eyes scanning the various nations sprawled across the continent. So many options, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
So he studied the map of Africa, his finger tracing the borders of several countries.
He eliminated some – too much international presence, too many existing power structures. His gaze settled on Uganda.
Seeing this, he chuckled, letting his index finger hover over the screen before reciting, "Eanie meanie miney mo."
He drew the words out slowly, drawing out the suspense even though he was the only one witnessing this absurd little game.
When he opened his eyes, his finger had landed squarely on Uganda.
"Hmm… the country famous with gorillas, is it?" he mused, recalling some vague details from his past life. "The Pearl of Africa."
Truth is he really didn't choose randomly, no, that would be too stupid.
He just used the eanie meanie miney mo for the sake of it. He had long chose this country. It had nothing to do with luck.
Uganda's political instability, while unfortunate for its citizens, was an advantage for him.
He could leverage the corruption and competing factions to secure land and resources without attracting too much attention from international authorities.
Plus its population was too little compared to its land, meaning more land for him.
"This should work," he murmured, solidifying the choice in his mind.
With that, the wheels were officially in motion. But before he could start making serious moves, he needed more information.
He already had some little idea on how Uganda works, he just isn't sure if everything is still the same or something.
So specifically, he needed to figure out exactly how this universe functioned.
Was this version of Marvel based on the comics, where every event was convoluted and retconned at least three times?
Or was it closer to the movies, where things followed a more structured—albeit still chaotic—timeline?
He prayed it was the latter. The movies, for all their insanity, were at least linear. Predictable, to some extent. If this was the comics, though… well, that was a nightmare he didn't want to deal with.
Lusborn spent the next hour doing extensive research. He checked if certain notable companies existed, confirming the presence of Stark Industries, Oscorp, Roxxon, and even the Baxter Foundation.
So far, everything lined up with the movie continuity. That was a relief.
But when he looked into the X-Men?
That's where things got… weird.
Lusborn frowned as he scrolled through news articles about Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
The photos showed a man in his late thirties, not the old wizened professor he remembered to be in this timeline. He clicked on a link to a video from a "Mutant Rights" protest.
The date: 1998. 1998? That was… wrong.
He distinctly remembered Xavier addressing the United Nations years before that in the movies.
And with a little bit more digging, he found out that in this world mutants had apparently been "discovered" in the 1990s, which was way later than it should have been.
He searched for information on Apocalypse's attack on Cairo. Nothing. It was as if it never happened.
However what he did find, was the News about Bolivar Trask, a certain shorty that was researching about the X-gene.
This alone was enough to tell him that he was in the timeline if Days of the Future X-men movie, which by the movies, should have happened by 1973, at least in the movies.
"Seems the timeline here is jumbled," he muttered.
Frowning, he clicked into a link about Bolivar Trask but did not find any mention that he will have a meeting with the government.
Meaning Lusborn still had some time before the events started.
And he was really worried about this one since if the Sentinels were really allowed, then he would face problems as a mutant.
Anyway, Magneto had already been branded a terrorist, but it had only been a few years since he'd officially taken that title.
That was problematic.
According to Lusborn's knowledge, by 2010, most__ if not all of the major X-Men events should have already happened.
Apocalypse should have destroyed Cairo years ago, mutants should have been a known global force, and the Sentinels should have been an increasing problem.
But none of that had happened yet.
Instead, things seemed… delayed. As if the timeline had been pushed forward, overlapping with the main Marvel Cinematic Universe. That was bad.
"Fuck," Lusborn muttered under his breath, rubbing his temple.
If Marvel events and X-Men events happened simultaneously, then there was only one way to describe this world: chaotic as hell.
Okay, maybe not as hell. Thing is he had never gone to hell so he wasn't particularly sure how chaotic things were down there.
But according to how religion painted it in his previous life, then he took it to be really ridiculously chaotic.
That aside, it was already bad enough dealing with one major storyline.
But now, instead of these events playing out separately, everything was about to crash together like a train wreck in slow motion.
Lusborn already knew how dangerous Marvel was on its own. But add mutants into the mix?
Add Omega-level threats that could bend reality and rewrite history with a thought?
Yeah, this wasn't going to be easy.
Still, information was power.
And now that he knew what kind of world he was dealing with, he could prepare accordingly.
He still had time before everything spiraled out of control. Magneto hadn't tried to turn the entire world into mutants yet, which meant Lusborn had a small window before things reached true insanity.
For now, he was ready to move forward.
He already had a money source, he had a place for his research facility, he now had information on what kind of Universe he was in, all that was missing was where to get the start up machinery.
He could get most of the tech from legal sources and industries, but some, some will bring questions on him.
He will be asked this and that and might attract unwanted attention, so he would have to rely on the black market for those.
The problem though was getting into the black market.
He had absolutely no idea where to start.
Even with all the knowledge from his past life, accessing the underground world of illegal trading wasn't as easy as typing "black market" into Google and clicking the first link.
These networks were highly exclusive, requiring connections, credibility, or—more often than not—access codes.
Most high-level black market deals were conducted through encrypted USBs, invitation-only servers, or hidden software that required a special passkey.
Lusborn had none of that. No connections. No access. No way in.
That was frustrating.
It meant he'd have to find another way—either by getting his hands on an access key or finding someone who already had one.
And he could already think of a few.
Either way, it was a problem for later. Right now, he had everything he needed to pull off his first heist.
He deleted his entire browser history, ensuring there were no traces of his research left behind.
Then, he shut down the computer, grabbed his bag, and slung it over his shoulder before making his way out of the café.
Now, how to quickly get to the first bank?
Teleportation would have been ideal, but he didn't have that ability—yet. However, there were millions of creatures that could help him with that.
But he knew just what he wanted.