"Can I borrow your phone for a moment?" Rowan Mercer asked as the truck rumbled back onto the road.
Before he could even think about rescuing Tony Stark, he needed clarity. This world wasn't exactly the one he remembered. Assumptions could get people killed. The fastest way to sort truth from half-remembered fiction was simple: the internet.
"Of course." Gabriela handed it over without hesitation.
Rowan searched until dusk crept across the horizon and the truck crossed the Mexican border. Only then did he return the phone, eyes sharper than before.
"So that's how it is."
This world's history mostly aligned with what he knew, but with fractures running through it.
Mutants had entered public awareness in 1973, after Mystique's failed assassination of Bolivar Trask. Instead of becoming a villain, she'd become a symbol. Acceptance followed, slowly. By 1977, Quicksilver had shattered multiple athletic records, prompting bans on mutants in professional sports. That alone confirmed this universe wasn't the movie timeline. Quicksilver shouldn't even have been born yet.
Which meant one thing clearly.
He couldn't rely on future knowledge completely.
The X-Men rose to global fame, inspired comics, and became cultural icons. Many stories were based on real events, others pure fiction. "Eden" was one of the lies. Then came the catastrophe.
The Westchester incident.
Professor Charles Xavier lost control during a seizure and killed nearly every mutant at his school, along with hundreds of civilians. The U.S. government labeled him a weapon of mass destruction. Mutants vanished from public life.
Two decades later, most people believed mutants had never existed at all.
Governments helped that lie along.
Rowan exhaled slowly.
"Have you ever considered looking for Wolverine or Professor Xavier?" he asked.
He already had a rough plan forming. He couldn't depend on Stark alone. He needed experience. Power. People who had survived the worst of this world and kept moving.
Stane was almost certainly behind Stark's kidnapping. But Rowan couldn't extract that information himself. His mental abilities weren't strong enough.
Xavier's were.
Even diminished, Xavier could still read memories. He still spoke to Laura from time to time. And with Wolverine acting as a shield, a rescue mission wasn't impossible.
Old or not, Wolverine was still terrifying when cornered.
And unlike Rowan or the children, those two knew how to plan and execute an operation.
Gabriela sighed. "We thought about it. We searched. The only lead we ever found was a man who looked like Wolverine working as a driver in El Paso. Nothing else. As for Professor Xavier… he's a wanted man. We didn't think he could help."
"That's fair," Rowan said.
They were barely surviving themselves.
Then he spoke again, carefully. "I have a plan. If it works, these kids won't need to hide anymore. They won't belong to anyone. They'll live like normal people."
He laid everything out. No half-truths. No pressure.
If Gabriela agreed, he would commit fully. If not, he'd escort them to the border and walk away, carrying out his plan alone. Canada might still be the better option. He wouldn't pretend otherwise.
Gabriela fell silent.
She didn't trust governments. Growing up in Juárez had cured her of that illusion long ago. But Rowan's plan was dangerous. If they failed to rescue Stark and missed the Canadian extraction window, the children would be hunted down and killed.
And there was no guarantee Wolverine or Xavier would help.
Seeing her hesitation, Rowan added, "If they refuse, or if we aren't back by Friday at five, you stick to the original plan. Cross the border."
It was Saturday. Six days remained.
Six days was enough.
Gabriela nodded at last. "All right. Rowan… thank you."
He could have left. He didn't have to do this. And yet he stayed.
"We're the same," Rowan said quietly. "All of us came out of that place."
She smiled faintly. "By creation date, you're actually the youngest of them."
Rowan laughed under his breath.
She wasn't wrong. This body wasn't even a year old.