...
"No problem, you're clear. Move along!"
The soldier at the border checkpoint glanced at Gabriela's documents and waved her through.
Gabriela let out a shaky breath, her grip on the steering wheel finally loosening slightly. Her biggest fear had been that the border guards—regular American soldiers—had already been bought off by the Institute to detain them. Now, it seemed she had moved fast enough to stay one step ahead of the laboratory's reaction time.
"Thank you!"
She took back her ID and floored the accelerator, heading toward El Paso.
El Paso County is the westernmost point of Texas, right on the border with Chihuahua, Mexico. According to the intel she had scavenged from the Institute, the legendary Wolverine, Logan, was currently hiding there, working as a mundane limo driver.
She had actually tracked him down with Laura the day before to beg for help. She had assumed that the Wolverine of legend would naturally lend a hand to those in need. Instead, Logan had coldly rejected her.
That was why she had risked going back to her boyfriend to get cash. She hoped that if an appeal to his heroics failed, she could simply hire him to escort them to North Dakota.
*SCREECH!*
However, they hadn't even traveled two kilometers past the border station when a black SUV suddenly accelerated from the side, trying to ram them off the road.
Gabriela slammed on the brakes and yanked the steering wheel, narrowly avoiding a collision that would have reduced her small sedan to scrap metal. But the maneuver forced her to a dead stop.
Before she could restart the engine, four more SUVs roared into position, boxing her car in from every side.
Only then did the realization hit her: the border post *had* been compromised. They hadn't arrested her at the checkpoint likely because there were too many witnesses; they didn't want to cause a public riot.
Over twenty highly trained mercenaries scrambled out of their vehicles, surrounding the car in a tight perimeter. Cold sweat poured down Gabriela's face.
In the alleyway earlier, the thugs had worn civilian clothes and carried handguns to keep a low profile. These men, however, were decked out in full tactical gear—bulletproof vests, submachine guns, combat knives, and grenades. They were a completely different tier of lethality.
Even knowing that Goku and Laura were powerful, she felt their luck had finally run out.
"Auntie Gabriela, are these more bad guys chasing you?"
Goku watched the mercenaries closing in with their submachine guns raised. He sounded more curious than afraid, but Gabriela was too tense to notice.
She nodded grimly, her mind racing to piece together a desperate strategy. "Listen to me. Stay put for a second. I'll go out first to draw their attention. Laura, you sneak out the right side and look for an opening. Once they're focused on us, Son, that's when you move..."
Her plan was to fake a surrender to lower their guard. If they stayed in the car, the mercenaries would just riddle it with bullets, and they'd all die. Once the enemy's guard was down, the small and agile Laura would strike.
She chose Laura for the initial distraction because of her healing factor; even if she took a few hits, she'd survive. Laura's weakness, however, was her raw strength—without her claws, she wasn't much stronger than a typical girl her age. If she were pinned down, it was over.
Goku, on the other hand, was clearly a powerhouse. She'd seen him kick a grown man across a room. He would be their heavy hitter. And even if he didn't have a healing factor, he could catch bullets, so he shouldn't be easily taken down by the submachine guns.
"Do you both understand?" she asked, turning around to check on them.
On the left, she saw Laura, claws out and eyes feral, ready to pounce. But on the right... the right side was empty.
"Wait... where did he go?"
She blinked. Goku, who had just been asking her a question, had vanished. The rear door on his side hung wide open.
"Oh no!"
She whipped her head around to look outside. Sure enough, Goku had already stepped out and walked straight up to the nearest mercenary.
"Hey! Is your 'world's strongest master' here yet? I really want to spar with him!"
"Who the hell is this brat?" The mercenary was caught off guard—there hadn't been an Asian boy in their target briefing. But as an elite soldier, his reflexes were sharp. He immediately drove a brutal knee toward Goku's midsection.
The knee never connected. Instead, the mercenary found himself airborne, letting out a strangled cry before blacking out from a single, lightning-fast counter-punch.
The other mercenaries' pupils dilated. Recognizing the threat, they didn't hesitate—they opened fire.
A hailstorm of bullets shredded the air toward Goku. He didn't even flinch.
"Afterimage Technique!"
The bullets passed through Goku's body as if he were made of mist. The "Goku" they were shooting at was actually pulling a funny face at them, but the lead just whistled through the air where he stood.
The mercenaries stood frozen in shock.
"He's a mutant! He can create illusions! Watch out!" the captain roared.
He mistook the Zanzoken for a mutant superpower, but his warning came far too late. Having left behind a mocking afterimage, the real Goku had already blitzed into the center of their formation.
It was like a tiger among a flock of sheep. With a series of blurs and sharp *thwacks*, Goku delivered a single strike to each man. In the blink of an eye, the entire squad was sprawled unconscious on the asphalt.
"So weak... I guess that 'strongest guy' didn't come after all." Goku sighed, looking genuinely disappointed. He couldn't get any stronger if his enemies were this easy to beat.
Just then, the radio on the fallen captain's belt crackled to life. "Bill, report. What's the status? Have you secured them?"
Curious, Goku picked up the device and yelled into it. "Hey! These guys you sent are way too weak! Next time, send that 'world's strongest master' you've got!"
With that, he tossed the radio aside.
Gabriela, still paralyzed by shock in the driver's seat, finally snapped out of it. she scrambled out of the car, grabbed Goku, and shoved him back into the seat before speeding away.
"That boy... why is he taunting them?" she muttered, her heart hammering. "If they actually send the X-24, we're finished!"
Yet, beneath the fear, a surge of hope rose in her chest. Goku was far more powerful than she had imagined. With him by their side, the journey to Eden didn't seem so impossible anymore.
'If we can just get Logan on board,' she thought, 'nothing will be able to stop us.'
...